Going to ignore that I’ve been MIA since forever and back up a solid year or so.
I found out I was pregnant in September of 2019. When the pregnancy test came back positive, we were SO EXCITED, and just assumed, as one does, that we had a single baby baking away in there.
When we went in for our first ultrasound, I just hoped for a healthy heartbeat and a healthy, growing baby.
In case you ever wanted to know what a twin sonogram/ultrasound looks like at 8 weeks.
Once the ultrasound started, they found the heartbeat right away and my DEFCON-5 level anxiety subsided.
Then the all of a sudden, the doctor went totally silent.
He angled the screen towards him, gave the nurse this odd look, and they both went silent.
Let it be known I’m a hypochondriac so I thought they found something on one of my organs or body parts and I was done for.
Then they both looked at my husband and I and said the phrase I’ll never forget..
“You’re having identical twins.”
Can I just take a moment to acknowledge that I’ve been saying for YEARS I thought we’d have twins? YEARS. Ask anyone.
I just had this feeling. VALIDATION.
So there it was - IDENTICAL TWINS.
Before I go on, a little twin intel for you-
Twins can be fraternal or identical. Identical twins happen when a single fertilized egg splits, into two identical ones. Fraternal twins are technically siblings with the exact same birthday and happen when a woman releases two eggs and both get fertilized.
Fraternal twins are genetic. Identical twins are not. So the question, “Do twins run in your family?” is a lot more complicated and loaded than it seems.
Identical twins typically share a single placenta and have separate amniotic sacs. They call these Mono-Di twins (Mono, meaning one, placenta and Di, meaning two, amniotic sacs). I had Mono-Di twins. In very rare cases, identical twins are Mono-Mono. Fraternal twins are typically Di-Di because they are a result of two fertilized eggs with separate placentas and amniotic sacs. #GreysAnatomy
Full term for twins is 36-38 weeks. Which means twins are typically born as preemies.
Twin pregnancies usually measure about 8 weeks ahead of a singleton (more vocabulary!) so you get bigger, faster! Spoiler: I WAS HUGE.
34-ish weeks
They call twin pregnancies high risk; we had ultrasounds every 2 weeks after 16 weeks, OB visits every 2 weeks after 24 weeks, and a fetal echocardiogram (or a deep-dive ultrasound to look at their hearts). I also had antepartum testing every week after 30 weeks. They check the size of both babies every other week because of something called twin-twin transfusion syndrome which can result in one twin getting more nutrients and growing at a faster rate than the other - and you don’t want that.
So we had our work cut out for us.
Right around 26 weeks the universe was like, it’s not enough that you’re having twins… HERE’S A PANDEMIC for ya.
From that point on, my husband couldn’t come to any of the ultrasounds or doctors appointments, masks were required at all appointments, and my anxiety going to the doctor/hospital was at an all-time high. I was basically convinced that everyone was going to give me Covid and that California wouldn’t allow a support person into the OR during delivery so I’d have to go through the c-section alone. (Spoiler, none of that happened.)
We were lucky in timing that we signed up for both the hospital tour and the infant CPR/first-aid courses pre-pandemic so we were able to do those in person. I’d highly advocate that you do them, even if virtual.
At first it freaked me out, going to the hospital so often, but honestly it was the best thing that could have happened because I got to talk to doctors and nurses, get talked off my “everyone has Covid and I’m just waiting to get it” ledge, and also get a lay of the land of the hospital.
So if that’s you too - don’t freak out. It’s quite beneficial.
At 36 weeks and 1 day, I had a scheduled c-section to deliver the boys. It’s pretty wild - you check into the hospital, you go to pre-op, you get a Covid test, and then it’s like, “Okay, time to have babies”.
To make a long story short, at 5:33 and 5:34pm on April 24, 2020, the boys arrived. (No they didn’t arrive in full pool attire, but quickly realized the poolside life was the life for them.)
Which brings us to present day.
OCTOBER 1, 2020.
It’s been a summer of twin newborns, global pandemic, California wildfires, heatwaves, moving, remodeling and sleep training.
You know how everyone tells you to sleep while you can?
LOLHAHAHA wish I took that advice.