Their Story: How Many?!

I want to tell their story. In a few years when we (by God's grace) have more children, and our lives are crazy (crazier?) I don't want to forget a single detail of their precious lives. I want to remember everything about them, every second we had with them. This is their story, our story, His Story.

Everything was going well. Well, aside from crippling morning sickness. I had seen my midwife and she had done the necessary lab work. I was taking it relatively easy. All was well. Until July 2nd.

It was just about nap time (around 1:00) at our house. I was sitting on the couch with Wiggles, who was being silly, when my midwife called. Hey how you feelin's were asked and answered. Then she told me that she had gotten my labs back *small pause*. Anyone who's been pregnant knows when the sentence starts with "I got your _____ back," and then has a *small pause* that it's going to be, at the very least, interesting and probably bordering on scary. She explained to me that my HGC levels were higher than normal and I needed to get in for an ultrasound as soon as possible. 

I did a lot of phone nodding as she told me which clinic to call and how to make an appointment. Then I asked the question I was terrified to ask. "So what, I mean, how could, *pause*, what could it be?" Well, there were three possible explanations for high HGC levels. First, and most likely, we were wrong about our conception date. This seemed likely since we weren't really positive about that part of things anyway. Second, twins (or more I guess). This seemed unlikely to me. I know several of you might be thinking, "but Jillian, isn't your husband a twin?" Yes, yes, but you see, before I agreed to marry my husband I did my research. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. You see, my husband is an identical twin. Identical twins are not genetic. It's merely a fluke on a cellular level (or the hand of God, if you see things the way I do). Our chances of having twins was no greater than anyone else's. The third possibility was a molar pregnancy. I had to look this up. Basically it means that the way the sperm and egg met never made a baby, it just turned into a tumor in the uterus. The reason your hormone levels are so high is because your body is trying very hard to turn this tumor into a baby. It's totally treatable, but it involves surgery and it can turn cancerous. Scary right?

I must have sounded worried because the midwife told me to hang on a second while she made a phone call and by the time she called back she had us scheduled for an appointment less than an hour later. I quickly put Wiggle's down for a nap, dressed (yes, I was still in my pajamas. Morning sickness, remember?), and left my mother-in-law in charge. Pat and I were out the door within 20 minutes.

I remember feeling sick to my stomach in the car, in the elevator, in the waiting room. I remember praying. A lot. I remember the nurse calling my name.

And I will never forget the moment the nurse put the ultrasound wand on my stomach and announced without pausing for effect or preparing us at all, "Oh, there's two in there," as if she were discussing a particularly bad rainy season.

Pat had to sit down. It was sit down or fall down. Our world changed in an instant.

I love them.