the reason why I started this blog in the first place:

Look very closely!

Here's the Story:

Once I found out I was pregnant, I waited for a little bit before I called the doctor to set up an appointment because I had heard they don't really see you right away anyway. So I finally called into a doctor to set up an appointment, and they told me I had to have a "New to Nurse Interview" before I could make appointments, so they gave me the number to call for that. I soon discovered that the New to Nurse thing was really just a big orientation and the next one wasn't available for two and a half weeks. I got nervous because by then I'd be 11 weeks along, and I wouldn't even be seeing a doctor. They seemed to think that was fine, so I said okay.

Nick came with me to the orientation. It was a 2 hour long introduction to pregnancy and such, and I had already read most of what they covered, so that made me feel pretty smart. They took some blood, made an appointment with the doctor for the following week and then sent me on my way.

Nick also came to the first doctor's appointment. They had told me ahead of time that I would get a pelvic exam and would be able to hear the baby's heart beat, so I was half dread and half total excitement. When we were there the doctor started by asking us a lot of standard questions and then started talking about blood types. She asked Nick if he knew his, and he doesn't because the poor kid has a hard time giving blood. In fact I could tell that he was getting a little queasy just talking about it. I love Nick.

So after a bit she told me to get undressed and put on the little napkin dress they give you and that she'd be back in. I did so. Then she comes in and pulls out this big machine and I got a little nervous. I asked what it was, wondering if they had changed the procedure from the last time I had a pelvic exam. She said, "Oh, this is an ultrasound." I was really excited because I thought we'd just get to hear the heartbeat. I looked over at Nick and the poor, poor boy was just completely green. Evidently he hadn't forgotten our previous conversation. So I stopped the doctor and asked him if he was going to be okay or if he needed something to eat -- I didn't want him to miss the ultrasound. Nick was really honest, as he usually is when he gets queasy, and said he did need something to eat. The doctor ran out and came back with some banana bread and a huge mug of water.

Nick got to munching.

She started with the ultrasound.

She pulled the screen toward herself at first and was fiddling around, I assumed to make sure everything was okay. Then she finally turned the screen toward me and was moving around and I couldn't see a thing that looked like a baby. Then she exclaims and says loudly "There's not one baby in here!" So all I hear is "there's not a baby in here - my worst fears confirmed." Then she points to the screen and I see these two blobs and I'm thinking, "what a horrible way to tell someone they've lost their baby..." and then she says "There's TWO!" Then I could see the little floppers doing their thing. The one on the bottom was flopping against the wall behind it and the one above was all over the place.

It was so surreal. I think I said, "Oh my goodness! This is nuts!" among other things. I looked over at Nick and he was sitting there with the banana bread frozen halfway to his mouth. He had much better color though. It was really fun to see, and I've secretly always wanted twins. I think it's so crazy though. It doesn't run in my family or Nick's. My brother also randomly had triplets with his wife, and it doesn't run in her family either! What are the odds?

We don't know the gender yet, or if they are identical, but we'll find that out on January 14th at 9:00am. I can't wait.

We feel really blessed. Please keep us in your prayers!