Becoming a parent is never text book, but in our case, it was quite a whirlwind.  From conceiving difficulties to a miscarriage to early labour– this just scratches the surface of the adventure that has been and continues to be our lives.  A story in which I’m happy to share.

I thought getting pregnant would be easy; that it would just take a time or two before I turned into that glowing mass of expectant motherhood that so many rave about.  Little did I know that it would take months to conceive only to end in miscarriage.

Once my body healed, as well as my mind and heart…for the most part, the process of getting pregnant started again.  After close to a year of trying, checking ovulation charts, checking my temperature and the calendar, we scheduled an appointment with a fertility specialist to see what we were doing wrong, if anything, and what we could do differently.

The day before our appointment we received the shock of a lifetime discovering that we were in fact expecting.

Weeks later and almost a year since my first miscarriage I ended up back in the Emergency Room fearing the worst.  Had I lost this baby too?  After a terrible ER experience and what seemed like a lifetime of waiting without any solid answers we were told that we were, in fact, still VERY pregnant and that there was a chance of twins!  Excuse me?  You lost me at “you’re still very pregnant.”

After a two week wait for another ultrasound to determine if we were in fact expecting twins, many different emotions came into play:  Could we handle having twins?  Could we afford it?  Was our house big enough?  Was our car big enough?  And HOW would we be as parents to two little beings?

We finally received the news that yes, I was pregnant with twins and then all of those worries went out the window as we rejoiced in the news.

The pregnancy wasn’t an easy one.   I was never that ‘glowing’ pregnant woman I had thought every woman became.  I was nauseous the first trimester, had a terrible facial rash the second and was then put on bed rest for the start of the third trimester and at the 31 week and 3 day mark I went into early labour!

I was quickly rushed to a Toronto hospital by ambulance where I received an epidural right away and then waited, and waited….

After more than 15-hours with barely any contractions the nurse slowed my epidural, which then almost immediately resulted in labour starting up again.

My water broke for Baby A and I was rushed into the Operating Room (one thing I quickly had to discard as soon as I found out I was pregnant with twins, was any notion that I would deliver in a traditional birthing suite.  The majority, if not all twin pregnancies and labours, are considered high risk, so most deliveries take place in the O.R. just in case).

After about 15 minutes of pushing, Baby A arrived into the world, albeit very small, she was definitely a fighter with great vocal chords and a nice healthy pink glow.

30 minutes later with no success Baby B was still laying comfortably in my tummy in breach position with no indication that she wanted to come out.   Knowing this, the OB made the decision that she had to be delivered via emergency C-section.

Baby B finally entered the world in a very different manner than her sister.  She was very quiet and still and not pink in colour whatsoever.  She was rushed away by the nurses and after what felt like a lifetime we were given the thumbs up that all was well.

After a very unexpected entry into the world the girls called the NICU home for the next six weeks (check in later for a blog all about life in the NICU as well as what it entailed for us).

We finally brought our four-pound babies home and then realized what many first time parents do…“Oh my God, how do we do this?!  We don’t have any nurses or doctors nearby for help!”

I’ll be honest; the first few months were a blur and crept by very slowly.   I constantly questioned how I was going to survive on such little sleep while still meeting the demands of two thriving little babies.  As we all learn…we just do it, and we somehow survive.

After a very difficult time breastfeeding, the girls being diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (G.E.R.D.), the first three months being a blur as well as many other ‘learning experiences’ along the way, we just celebrated the girls’ 2^nd birthday!

I can hardly believe it!  When they say ‘time flies’ they aren’t joking.

In my blogs I’ll be giving you a glimpse into my life as a twin momma.  I’ll be including the good, the bad, the costly, the cost effective, as well as techniques and tools my husband and I have used to help our girls learn and grow.

If even one of you can take away something from our experience to help you in yours, then I’ve accomplished what I had hoped.