Twins!

We elected to go through the first trimester screening (which checks for Down Syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities) mainly because it required an ultrasound, which would be the only opportunity we would have to see our baby before 20ish weeks. Two days before the ultrasound, we had the 12 week appointment, our first opportunity to hear the heartbeat. The doctor seemed to be in a hurry, so we listened the baby's (singular) heartbeat for about 10 seconds. We left completely unsuspecting of what was to come...

Before beginning the ultrasound the tech explained the purposed of the test. She told us she would be looking for triplets, then when she saw the looks on our faces, she clarified "three chromosomes, not three babies!". As she began the ultrasound, she ran the wand across my whole belly to get oriented and then paused and said "Um... twins? Did you know there were two in there?" And then she showed us that there were really two! We were totally shocked! Very nervous, but very excited.

Telling the family became much more interesting... no one in our generation had twins! However, the most annoying question I discovered from non-family members: "Do twins run in your families?" How many twins are really born because twins "run in the family"? (Hint: very few) I dreaded having to answer this question for the rest of my life whenever I told someone I had twins.

I quickly started researching everything twin - I found special cribs, play pens, Boppies, names, clothes... I signed up for the Greater Rochester Mother of Twins Club to get support from local mothers who could give advice.

We started thinking about names, but it was too overwhelming to come up with 4 full names (two boys, two girls - they were fraternal, so could have been any combination of boys, girls, or one of each), so we put that on hold until we could find out the sexes.