Round 2!

A little over a year after my twins were born, hubby and I decided that we should get going on the next baby… the doc had given me the OK and my hubby really wanted a boy. Since I had wildly sporadic cycles and it took quite some time to get pregnant the first time around, I knew it would take some time to synch up my hormones again, but we hoped that by the twins 2nd birthday, that we would be in some stage of pregnant with Round 2.  I was reluctant, since my first pregnancy was terrible and I didn’t want to go through that torture again. Of course, I was delighted to be pregnant and enjoyed the essence of being pregnant and the attention I got… but I really had to think about it! Well, 3 weeks later - our 4th wedding anniversary - and I wake up nauseous again.

OH NO!
The stick screamed positive… 5 days before my period should have started. I made an appt at a high def clinic to get a detailed ultrasound ASAP. This time around, I didn’t want any delay on a “surprise” baby #2 hiding somewhere. I wanted to know what I was getting into right away. After all, I had just gone back to work 3 weeks prior.

My musings got out of hand! If I had one little boy, would he grow up wearing toenail polish, compliments of his big sissies? Would he be soft spoken and well mannered for having been surrounded by frills and butterflies his whole life? Or perhaps a little mama’s boy who got dragged to Fantasyland one too many times? Or would he be a terrible little monster child who disrupted the fairy tale world with that of bugs and scary monsters… where no damsel in distress was awaiting in a tall castle tower? Or, would he be his daddy’s best friend, leaving 2 little girls sad that he didn’t include them in their boys’ day outings?

What if we had one girl? Would she always long to hang out with her twin older sisters, but be shunned repeatedly because she’s not part of their clique? Would she be my little clingy baby forever, and fail to thrive socially?

And what would I do with just one baby? I’d have to hold it all the time!? Something maybe only twin moms will understand… we want to hold a baby all the time - to bond with it closely - but when you have one baby in your arms, the other ones needs you. You have to hold them both together, feed them together, change them together, bathe them together, sleep them together… it would be an odd adjustment to only do something once! I’d have serious mental issues … would I sleepily change his diaper twice out of habit if woken up in the middle of the night? Would I freak out if I got 3 hours of solid sleep the first week? Would I feed her too fast? I was, after all, used to scooping and feeding rapidly as an open mouth always awaited my spoon!

I decided early on that “twins twice” would actually be a good thing. Could you imagine two little girls fighting over just one baby? In their little heads, all births were litters, as evidenced by their handful of pairs of twin friends and the litter of puppies the neighbors just had. One baby for each girl satisfied my needs happily. Two boys… great! Two girls… even better! I already have the wardrobe! But what happens if I had one of each? I was actually horrified at the thought! I just knew that the girl twin would ignore her brother in favor of her older sisters, leaving me with a crying boy who would grow way too dependent on his mother for entertainment. No, that simply wouldn’t do. I needed another matching set.

At that first doctor’s appointment, I didn’t even need the ultrasound tech to read me the results… I definitely scored with the twin thing again.  And.... again with the non-stop nausea and vomiting. 

My little ones were just 15 months old when they ganged up on me and teased me nonstop!  I would quickly fix them their cereal then run to throw up in the sink.  They cried at first when I did that... I am sure I scared them to death!  But after a week of this new routine, as I was throwing up right after serving their breakfast, I heard little giggles and then weird gagging noises coming from the dinette.  As I turned to look at them, they both were "vomiting" up their rice cereal so that they were mimicking mommy!  Nice.  Punks.  Near the end of the nausous period, the girls bother developed terrible diarreah which lasted continually from January to April.  The whole month of January, I tried desperately to avoid throwing up while changing their dirty diapers, but at times, it couldn't be helped.  I was so worried they would develop a complex about pooping since I reacted so "violently" towards the diaper change.  When most moms would take the time to bond with their children during this time, I was avoiding it like the plague.

Also in Janaury, we found out the other news: 2 more girls!!  And of course soon following: another few months of bed rest, medical problems and challenges, which will be spilled in a future post.  So bookmark this blog now and keep reading!