The sickness was gone, I was getting accustomed to being pregnant, and the easy breezy weeks were finally here. I was definitely starting to look pregnant and not just bloated. I couldn’t help but smile every time I looked in the mirror and noticed my tummy was growing more and more each day. My little humans were really starting to make themselves known. As the weeks went by, my shirts and pants were fitting so snug. My clothes not fitting were one problem, but even worse, the stretch marks were starting and it wasn’t even the third trimester yet!
The time had come for maternity clothes. I knew I couldn’t wear Oakley’s shirts out in public and I had grown out of all of my own. My mom, Oakley and I went to a local maternity store and started to pick stuff off of the racks. I had always loved shopping for clothes, I mean, what girl doesn’t? This just wasn’t quite as fun. We grabbed shirts, leggings, bras, underwear, pajamas. You think of it, they had it. The only problem was when I was in the dressing room anything and everything I tried on that I thought would be my size was just way too tight. I remember my mom making a comment about how she thought the shirts seemed to look super small. This was about the moment we all realized I was going to be getting really big. I thought the maternity store would’ve had a multiples section or even a plus size maternity section, but I was basically out of luck. I was stuck with a very slim selection of clothes that actually fit. I can vividly remember looking in the mirror in the fitting room as I tried on clothes and I couldn’t help but to feel extremely insecure. My stomach was growing so fast and my legs seems to be getting thicker than I ever even thought possible. Standing there staring at this new version of myself in the mirror, I felt my eyes begin to well up. The harsh reality of a twin pregnancy was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I knew my stomach was bound to get big, but how big? Will I ever return to my pre-pregnancy body?
This was a pivotal point in my pregnancy. I knew my emotions were taking over and it was such a hard thing to accept the changes that were occurring and just love myself for the miracle I was performing. I was growing two babies inside of me, I should be so proud of what I’m doing and embracing all of these changes. Instead, I couldn’t shake the worry about my body. Thoughts crossed my mind as to why I was so worried about myself and not my babies. Deep down I knew that the love I had for the twins was going to be so much greater than any negative feelings or thoughts I would have about my body. I began to try my best to embrace the growth and the journey of my belly growing at such a crazy rate.
As weeks went by, Oakley and I talked about the possibilities of what we might be having. We knew that the babies were fraternal twins, but would they be a boy and a girl, two boys, or two girls? There were so many possibilities. We both were so excited, we wanted to find out the sex of the babies as soon as possible. We started researching online when we came across a place that specialized in ultrasounds and revealing the sex of babies using a 3D, and 4D machine. The earliest we were able to find out the genders was fifteen weeks. I was hesitant at first. How would they would be able to determine that so early? What if they tell us the sex of the babies and they end up being wrong later? We decided to give it a shot and book an appointment. The ultra sound was scheduled during my seventeenth week. The drive to the ultrasound gave Oakley and I time to talk about what we wanted or hoped for as far as genders. As you could probably imagine, we thought it was be so cool to have one of each. Yet, we both agreed that we would be happy with whatever we ended up with as long as they were healthy.
Oakley and I were patiently waiting in the waiting room and our names were finally called back. Walking into the ultrasound room I felt super excited. It felt like butterflies were filling my tummy. This was it, the moment we had been waiting for. I laid down on the bed and the ultrasound technician put cold blue jelly on my tummy. As she adjusted things on her monitor she asked us questions like, what do you think you’re having? Do twins run in your family? What names do you have picked out? The small talk was nice and all but we were just ready to find out what we were having! With twins, the technician was struggling to get a good image of both babies because they were just so crammed into such a small space. They were wiggling around like crazy in my tummy the entire ultrasound. Baby A was facing the opposite way of the ultrasound monitor and Baby B was sitting vertically in my tummy. Finally Baby A moved just right and we found out we were having a baby girl! Oakley and I were so excited to find out we were having a mini me. It wasn’t long after the lady found Baby B’s little part and she announced we are having a boy! The room was filled with emotions. Oakley and I were both crying of joy. We instantly just felt so blessed. How could we really be getting one of each? While we believed the ultrasound tech and saw the pictures for ourselves, we still felt as if there was a small chance that it was a mess up. It wasn’t until our 20 week appointment at the hospital that we felt it was official. The hospital confirmed that it was one of each sex and that they were right on track for growth.
As the reality of having Boy/Girl twins began to set in, we found ourselves starting to get more and more impatient. Pregnancy is a long journey. I always knew that 9 months was a long period of time, but when you spend most of it either sick, extremely uncomfortable, or just downright miserable, time tends to go so slow. I continued to work throughout my second trimester and I stayed healthy. At every check up, my numbers were all good and the babies were always right where they were supposed to be. This was very reassuring and helped it all go by a little faster. Since we knew the genders, it was a whole lot easier for us and for the grandparents to start buying clothes. We knew even before the twins were born that they were going to be extremely spoiled. Once we shared the news about the genders with family, gifts began to pour in. The grandparents on both sides were ecstatic as these munchkins were their first grandkids. The excitement was just building and building. My stomach was just growing and growing. This twin pregnancy was full of so many ups and downs, but the third trimester held the most incredible changes of all.
-Annalissa<3
In Like Twin 