I'm a happily married 31 year old mother of 4 year old fraternal twins- one boy and one girl. They are the light of my life. My husband and I were floored when we found out I was pregnant with twins. Even though we had gone through fertility treatments, our chances of twins were still fairly small and we "never thought it would happen to us." I remember staring at the ultrasound screen in awe, watching those 2 little hearts beating right next to each other. For the 8 months that followed, my husband and I kept saying to each other "HOW are we going to do this???" Well, we did it! My twins were born at 33 weeks gestation and were healthy and happy.
Fast-forward to now.... I guess we did it! Life has been SO much easier the older... they can do things for themselves, they communicate much better, and they're so much fun at this age! Life was great! Then I got the itch..... for another baby. "Just one, this time", I thought to myself. For sure we could handle one! It'd be a breeze compared to what we already went through! Plus we'd be able to experience what it's like to have just one baby instead of two at once... a whole new parenting experience for us. After much debate and much consideration, my husband and I agreed... let's go for it!
So we went for it.... and after a single embryo transfer IVF cycle (ONE embryo transferred to eliminate the possibility of multiples), we achieved our goal! I was pregnant! I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks and saw my one, beautiful little baby- heart beating away. I had a repeat ultrasound at 8 weeks just to double-check things before switching doctors, and there it was again- one gorgeous heart beat!
Then, the shock of our life came. I ended up in the ER with severe abdominal pain. I was petrified I was miscarrying. I was devastated. The ER docs believed it was appendicitis or a possible ovarian problem, so I had a bunch of diagnostic tests done. During a diagnostic ultrasound, I laid there thinking the worst. I looked up at the ceiling and thought to myself "Please let this baby be ok, God. I'll do anything." The u/s tech gave me a confused look a moment later. She said "You did a SINGLE embryo transfer?" and I said "Yes, just one embryo, and we're having just 1 baby... I've had 2 previous ultrasounds confirming it." She shook her head and then said to me, "No, honey. You're having twins. Identical twins."
Speechless. Stunned. I couldn't think or move. I began to argue with her, saying "NO, it's not possible! We've SEEN the one baby, and we transferred only one! We only wanted 1 more!!!" The tech told me to take a look for myself. She turned the screen to me, revealing two strong heartbeats beating next to each other in 1 gestational sac. She said "Your ONE embryo decided to split into TWO, my dear. Congratulations."
So here I sit, pregnant with my 2nd set of twins! It's been 2 days since we've discovered this news, and it's only just starting to sink in. We're looking at this as an unexpected blessing from God. He never gives us more than we can handle, right???? I really hope so......
No comments:
Post a Comment