The Beginning

On March 15th, exactly 30 days from my last cycle, we had a positive pregnancy test. I don't know what prompted me to take a pregnancy test that morning, after not really even being late ... I just felt that I should.  When the test results came in, we were so excited to welcome another little one to our family! I didn't call my midwife right away because in my previous pregnancies my midwifes did not really feel a need to see me until around 12 weeks.  I had 3 previous low-risk pregnancies and I was kind of being lazy about it.  When I finally did call (around 11 weeks) they couldn't fit me in until June (I would be 15 weeks).  If I had it to do over again, I would have called sooner.  It is one of my "what ifs"... 

From that first day I suspected that we might be having twins.  Having a pregnancy test come back positive when only just 4 weeks pregnant, the discomfort I felt so early on, and the increased nausea and headaches were my biggest clues (it really felt like my abdomen was being re-arranged faster than my body was used to - I noticed the discomfort especially at night, having a really difficult time getting uninterrupted sleep from the beginning of the pregnancy).  I felt a little overwhelmed by the idea of caring for two newborns at the same time, and I didn't want to get my hopes up or talk about it too much before having it confirmed.

In May I began to measure my fundal height and found that my uterus was growing more quickly than it had in previous pregnancies, I began to really suspect that either there was something wrong, or we were going to have two babies.  I shared my concerns with my midwife at my first appointment.  My concern was heightened because I knew she would not be able to continue my care if I were pregnant with twins.  I would need to transfer to a high risk OB if that were the case.  She felt my uterus and left me with the impression that it was completely possible that this pregnancy was a healthy singleton pregnancy and that my body was just stretching and growing faster because this was my fourth pregnancy (she likes to help her patients feel as calm as possible about things until they know there is something to worry about).  I was grateful when the ultrasound office called to set up an appointment a short 2 weeks away, sooner than the normal 20 week scan I had been anticipating.