Morgan Babies #3 and #4!

As the title implies, this is a baby announcement. And not just any baby announcement, but a twins baby announcement. Shocked? I know that we were!

Shocked, and excited. So very excited. At our 8 week ultrasound, we were excited to see the baby and heartbeat, but were no way prepared to see two! The tech was very gracious in telling us the news, thankfully. She said, "Here's the baby and the heartbeat," *pause* "and here's the second baby and heartbeat." We looked at each other and gasped out laughing. The next hour was filled with bursts of laughter in amongst the reality of life as we digested the news. It certainly managed to tickle our funny bone, as well as being exciting. We had family and friends coming for dinner that same evening for my Dad's birthday. We shared the news with them and it was so fun. The reactions, the joy, the laughter. 

Avie seems to understand - she understood enough that B was in my belly and then was a baby - and this time she seems to understand that there are babies again, and this time "2 babies" as she says very proudly. 

B definitely doesn't understand yet. But she liked the paper it was written on. So that's a win, I suppose. 

When we started trying for our first child I was 29. I knew we wanted 4 children and that time was starting to tick towards 35. Our plan was to try to have the babies all right in a row, but plans don't always go as one hoped. I had Avelynn 3 weeks before I turned 32. It was a deep time of growth and patience, as we struggled to conceive while so many of our friends (11!) had babies around us. I am thankful for that time, as we learned to rejoice with others, even as they experienced what we did not and so desperately wanted. The joy of finally getting pregnant with her was amazing - and the support of so many around us who knew our journey.

After we had Avie, we had no idea if it would take a while to get pregnant with a second, so we started when she was just 9 months old. It took only a few months and we found ourselves newly pregnant, announcing a sibling for Avie at her 1st birthday party. Bailey was born when I was 33, just 19 months after Avie. 

This time, we thought we would take a bit more time. The plan (laughably, we keep trying to plan) was to wait until this coming January or February to start trying. I had so loved having a winter/Christmas baby that I wanted to aim for that again. But God has other plans - and this time I know it's Him. Everything about this has felt ordained. Anyways, in late August I was hanging out with my sister and said I was struggling a little bit with weight and feeling a bit tired, and as I stood up to get something I felt a stretching in my ligaments - an experience I only get when pregnant. I made a joke to her about it - but that was it - just a joke in my mind. In the morning, I decided to take a test at home that I had around and was shocked to see it was positive. I hadn't even told Paul I was going to take it, since I was sure it would be negative. I came down the stairs as he was heroically feeding both girls, sat down next to him on the couch and showed him the stick. We were amused, shocked and happy. We had about 3 weeks until our ultrasound to get used to the idea of another baby. And now, 12 weeks pregnant this past Sunday, we've had another month to get used to the idea of two new babies. 

Our first ultrasound at 8ish weeks

Our second ultrasound 2 weeks later to confirm dating

I am due May 6th, 2 days before my 35th birthday. Being a twins pregnancy, I will most likely have the babies in mid/late April (near Avie's 3rd birthday). B will be 16 months the day after Avie turns 3 as well. To think, despite the delay, in the end, we will have our 4 children by my 35th birthday - what a blessing. It feels like God is working a plan to redeem the early years of seeming infertility. I am amazed and thankful and slightly scared. 4 kids, 3 and under. Oh, my! 

The morning after we found out it was twins, I had pregnancy insomnia (as I always do) and so I got up and spent time with God. I asked Him, "Is this a blessing or are you trying to get my attention?" His answer was a strong "Yes" to both. This is a blessing, AND I will certainly need God in this pregnancy, birth, and family in ways I have never encountered. 

Now for the nitty-gritty's: This pregnancy is certainly harder than the last two - much more nausea. That being said, I still feel pretty great. Same old pregnancy insomnia, restless legs and ability to eat EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Right now it's two lunches most days. The babies are HUNGRY. 

Our doctor explained to us that there is a chance we could have identical twins, though most likely they will be fraternal. They are something called di/di twins (which you can read about here) so they are in their own sacs, with their own placentas, which is the safest sort of twins pregnancy (despite all twins pregnancies being high risk). We won't know if they are identical or fraternal until they are born (unless when we find out the gender they are a boy and a girl, and then we would know they aren't identical, obviously). Which leads me to the next point, we will definitely be finding out the genders! We are all prepped for girls, and I always pictured us having all girls, so if it's boys I will need a couple minutes to wrap my head around it. I'd like to find out as soon as possible. In BC you get an ultrasound at 20 weeks, as part of your routine care, to check on the baby and you can find out the sex at that point. But there are other ways to find out sooner than that - 3D ultrasound places here and in the states that can tell you as early as 14 weeks! I'm debating doing that since I'm so so so curious and that's so soon. But we'll see - Paul is less sure that it's worth paying to do, and it's not like it really changes anything to find out sooner. 

As for this pregnancy and my rapidly growing belly, oh boy. With Avie, I started kind of showing at 17 weeks. With Bailey, I was showing closer to 12 weeks. With this pregnancy, I have been somewhat showing since 8 weeks-ish. It's been crazy. No weight gain, just a subtle moving of weight. I've been back in my maternity clothes pretty early on. There was no way around it. 

And with that giant amount of information, I will leave off. Hopefully, I find it in myself to blog more during this pregnancy, because I have already found it so reassuring and refreshing to look back at my last pregnancies to see and compare. It reminds me that, right this headache is normal, that always happens in my pregnancies, for example. I love documenting the moments and want to offer that to the twins as well, despite being a working pregnant mom of 2. Ha! Life is indeed full, and about to get fuller. But it is also so so good, and about to get even better.