Around this time last year, I took a pregnancy test that changed my life. We didn’t find out we were having twins until a few weeks after that. However, this is the year mark that we have been aware of the new lives we now know as Titus and Evi. In reflection, I came up with the following list of things that surprised me about being pregnant with twins:
- There are 2 in there?!?!
- I didn’t have strange cravings, however, I had some intense food-aversions, including chocolate-chip cookies all the way up until D-day.
- I threw up a total of 0 times during the entire pregnancy (but several times during the delivery!).
- That I lost 10 lbs during the first 3 months.
- The next 4 months, I had gained 10 lbs at each appointment. I knew I felt heavier every day, but 10 more pounds each month was a shocking number on the scale.
- I experienced hormonal shifts and acne reminiscent of my 13 year-old PMS days.
- How invaluable the Psalms of the Bible to keep me mentally and emotionally healthy during the season of unknowns.
- That I wasn’t bothered by people touching my belly.
- How I became really irritated when people tried to talk to or kiss my belly (except my husband).
- How much I cherished the candid humor and practical honesty of the book, What to Do When You’re Having Two.
- That I learned to smile and nod at people who said, “a boy and a girl? Now you’re done.” (even though we were already in the process of adoption before we conceived twins, and look forward to the day we bring our “world-traveler” home to make us a family of 5).
- I didn’t become a whale. Or a planet… In fact, the majority of commentators kept exclaiming how small I looked for twins (which wasn’t always comforting, by the way).
- The dreaded swelling wasn’t that bad.
- The sweating in summer heat WAS that bad.
- Twiniversity became my go-to website very quickly.
- How fun our gender-reveal party was.
- How heavy my belly really was.
- I actually stopped caring that I wore the same 4 maternity pants/shorts combo for the last 3 hot months of pregnancy.
- That all our baby-supply needs (and lots of our “wants”) were met by friends and family.
- That I would go stir-crazy for two months after everything was ready at the recommended week 30, “just in case.”
- That I never went into pre-term labor.
- I never felt braxton-hicks or contractions (until pitocin).
- Apparently my uterus is a fortress to write hymns about: “A mighty fortress is my womb, a cervix never failing.”
- I’d have more trouble getting babies out in time than keeping them in before it was time.
- My intense love for the humans growing inside me.
- How hard it was to keep our babies’ names to ourselves until their birth.
- The depth of truth found in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
Did you/are you expecting twins? What surprises you about your pregnancy?