I thought I would come out of hiding to blog about what it's like to be pregnant with twins since so many people want to know how it differs from a singleton pregnancy. Let's just say that on Feb 5th 2009 I found out for certain that God definitely has a sense of humor. After 5 completely uneventful pregnancies I guess God decided that it would be a hoot to give Michael and me twins. Michael had a suspicion that we were having twins before that first appointment, I was completely blind-sided.
The first trimester was filled with shock and fear (as well as puking and overwhelming exhaustion). It took about a week for me to think about having twins without crying because I was so overwhelmed by what could go wrong. It really is amazing, though, how God kept reminding me that He is in control. A couple of days after finding out I was having a really rough time emotionally and I was digging through my purse looking for a pen or something and I found this: 
I'm not sure where it came from, probably something one of the kids made at church that had fallen to the depths of my purse but there was God's reminder that I could lean on Him. Then, that Sunday our pastor preached on fear. I was like, 'Okay, God, I've got it. You're in control and I'm going to trust in you'. That's not to say there haven't been days where I've started panicking again but for the most part I'm okay with it all.
The second trimester was better. We had our "big" ultrasound at 18 wks and 4 days. That is when we found out we're expecting identical girls. This can carry some risks since there's only one placenta but so far the girls are doing great and I haven't had any signs of premature labor. The all day sickness (I'm sorry, whoever coined it morning sickness had obviously never had a baby) finally passed at about week 20. I also learned during the second trimester how many great people God has placed in my life. I have some really awesome friends and family who have definitely stepped up to help out by offering to take the kids for me so I can rest to making us dinner because I was just too tired to cook. I've also had tons of people offer help for after the babies are born and for those of you who have offered and are reading this, you'd better be serious about your offers because I have a notebook with all your names in it and I will be calling you!!
I'm now in the third trimester and huge and uncomfortable. I can't stand for more than 10 minutes without getting breathless and needing to sit down but thankfully when you're pregnant with twins you can milk it for all its worth ;).
Here are some pictures to show you how quickly I've grown:
This is 14 weeks
This is 19 weeks
This is 23 weeks
And here I am last week at 27 weeks
I can't believe how big I've gotten and I can't even begin to imagine how big I'll be in 9 weeks when these girls are ready to come out.
As for how it feels when both babies are moving, I've heard it described in many ways by other twin mamas but I think my favorite and the most accurate way to describe it is "I feel like I've swallowed two monkeys but only one banana".
