How did this happen - An introduction

Let's get three question out of the way before anything else.
Yes. This pregnancy was planned.
No. We we were not on fertility.
No. We do not have a family history of twins.

Here's what happened. The LONG version.

Back in August we decided that it was time to add to our family. So we did what everyone else does when they want to have a baby. You can use your imagination.

At the end of December / beginning of January I started to suspect that I was pregnant. For was a variety of reasons. Because pregnancy tests are so expensive and because I didn't want to get my hopes up too much, on the advice of a friend I invested in a few pregnancy tests from the Dollar Store (insert laugh/snide comment here). Each test came back negative. But I still had a hunch that I was pregnant and by this time I was late. So I sucked it up and invested in two digital, brand-name pregnancy tests. Lo and behold, on a Tuesday morning, both came back positive. Yeah for being pregnant.

So I called the OB and set up an appointment for what would be week six. The worst part of early pregnancy, in my opinion, is the fear that something will go wrong. Every twinge, pain, stretch, and trip to the bathroom comes with a sense of dread. In the meantime, the day before my first OB appointment, Dan rather unexpectedly lost his job. So there we were. Sitting in the OB's office, pregnant, and terrified because Dan is out of a job. In addition, my OB has a policy of doing early ultrasound. He does this for a couple of reasons. To confirm dates of conception and the length of pregnancy, and to make sure that the baby is healthy and viable. In his opinion, if there is a problem we'd rather know about it sooner rather than later. So of course I was panicking that they were going to find something wrong. No reason really, I just have a tendency to stress.

So they called us back, we chatted with the OB for a bit and went for the ultrasound. Because the pregnancy was so early, they couldn't find what they were looking for with the normal ultrasound. So they had to do it vaginally, which made me really panic because I thought they were doing it because they couldn't find the baby. Even though the tech assured me it was because I was only six weeks pregnant. And for those of you who don't know what a vaginal ultrasound is like, imagine a vibrator with a camera attached. And imagine being half naked and a stranger gently shoving it inside of you.

So there we were. I had braced myself for bad news (no reason, just be being neurotic). My uterus was flashing on a screen mounted to the wall. Just as I was about to say "what's that shadow?" The tech said, "Congratulations, you're having twins."

Needless to say, we were stunned. Seriously. I say with 100% certainty that was THE LAST THING we ever expected to hear. Dan was white as a ghost.

Just to recap. I'm pregnant. Dan's unemployed. And we're having twins. Don't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

The rest of the appointment was a blur. The only thing I remember clearly was the OB coming into the room and announcing that he wasn't going to examine me. In his words, "you've had enough shock for one day," (perceptive!).

I also remember asking ANYONE within earshot, "How did this happen???" When my friend Debbie heard this she said "What did you expect, that he was going to hand you the book 'Where Did I Come From?' "

The tears (mine) started in the parking lot. We told our parents, but no one else. A handful of people knew I was pregnant but we didn't want ANYONE know it was twins.

Random fact: With ultrasound technology improving and more and more OB's using it in early pregnancy, doctors have found that many singleton pregnancy's start out as twin pregnancy's (my OB had four last year). Many times, the second twin never develops and simply vanishes (vanishing twin syndrome). The fetus is quietly reabsorbed by the body. This is what we were afraid of.

So we kept the news to ourselves. Every two weeks after that first appointment we went back to the OB. And at each visit ultrasound confirmed that there were two sacs and two healthy babies.
At 12 weeks I saw my OB and said "apparently we're having twins." To which my OB laughed and replied, "Toby, it's not apparently anymore. You ARE having twins."

More stunned silence.

P.S. I WILL never use a pregnancy test from the Dollar Store EVER again. Seriously. How could I get a negative test when my period is LATE and I am having TWINS. Let this be a lesson to all.

P.P.S. For those not in the loop, Dan found a job two weeks later. Thank GOD!