1 + 1 = 2

Sharing the news of our 3rd pregnancy with Blake is an entire other post... It was a fun surprise. 

Today I'm focusing on these guys. 

 Blake and I had discussed for several months before I was even pregnant whether we would tell the children quickly... When? Where? How? I am not a fearful person, but when I knew I was carrying such precious cargo, we felt compelled to wait until I had visited my doctor. We knew that due to some medication and my past pregnancy, that it would be an early visit and we figured I wouldn't even have any symptoms by my ultrasound - a day away from 7 weeks. We shared the news with a few choice friends and our immediate families (parents, siblings), but feared the beans would be spilled with the kids if we went beyond that. We knew this would be our last pregnancy and we enjoyed the little secret.

It was a blessing we hadn't planned to keep the news to ourselves that entire time. Only a day after I shared the news with Blake, I hit the 4 week mark and by the time we had shared the news with our parents 3 days later, I was sick. I mean really nauseous. I knew I wasn't wrong about the date, but I was sick weeks earlier then with the girls. And it was worse. Much worse. I felt like I was going to be sick with each of them... all of the time. But this time I was throwing up multiple times a day. And still feeling no relief from the sickness. I had a lot of pain, as well. Intense - keep me on the couch for the entire evening - pain. It had been a few years since I was pregnant, though, and I just assumed I wasn't accurately remembering carrying the girls. :)

Yesterday was our ultrasound. My precious doctor came in first and went over the basic pregnancy questions. We were relaxed and chatting about the decision to have #4 - We told her our house had just gotten a little quiet. :) The ultrasound tech came in and we got started. I saw the two dots immediately. As quickly as I recognized the 2 dots I moved on and forgot. But neither the doctor or the tech said anything. Back and forth and back and forth, from one dot to the other. I assumed the silence meant that something was wrong and felt panic starting to set in. I knew something was up by the look on the face of the tech as she turned around to let the doctor confirm what she had obviously recognized. "Yep, there's two of them," Dr. Thomas said.

"Are you kidding?" I whispered. The panic changed. My doctor and tech studied my face and Blake's for a few seconds each - I think they wanted to be sure they didn't miss us passing out if that were to happen. :) In the next instant the panic changed again - They were studying the babies to ensure growth and heartbeats. Relief. Two precious heart beats. Two precious dots on the screens. Two completely shocked parents.

There will be a lot of praying over the next few weeks. The twins are identical. They did not split early enough to have separate placenta's... So they will share a placenta which Dr. Thomas ensured us happens often in identical twins, but does mean an early delivery. The most concerning thing is that they could not distinguish yet whether there was a membrane separating  the babies in the sac. She said she thinks she saw one, but couldn't positively tell us that yet so we are scheduled to return in 2 weeks for another ultrasound. We aren't sure all that this means. I know that my doctor used the words "concerned" for the first time ever with me. And I thought Emery's pregnancy was stressful. :) I was instructed not to google. :) Can you tell she knows me fairly well?

Well, I googled. Just a little. Just to have in my mind a small idea of what it would mean if there is no membrane in 2 weeks. It would be rough. It will involve a high risk pregnancy doctor. And we are trying to not jump ahead. We are already praying hard for the health of these precious gifts. Please pray with us...

Shocked? Absolutely... But we were quick to assure the doctor and ultrasound technician that we felt overwhelming blessed by what the Lord had given us and wouldn't change a thing. And it's true. We wouldn't.