My wife and I feel so blessed to be parents of twins. It's hard work, though. And my wife knows that better than I do. We've been so thankful for our family and church, who helped us through these trying times. Hopefully this blog can serve other parents, and become a place to learn from each other. As any parent of multiples knows, we can't do this alone!
As of this post, my boys are now three years old. Why did I wait three years to tell my story? Well, I tried, but life got so so busy. Having twins was a real shock to the system. But I feel like God has helped us finally start coming up for air, and I want to help others like us learn to breathe again too.
To that end, maybe it will help if I just start telling our story, as parents of twins. (Quite a crash course in parenting indeed, as we've never known what it's like to only have one baby. And we wouldn't have it any other way.)
To that end, maybe it will help if I just start telling our story, as parents of twins. (Quite a crash course in parenting indeed, as we've never known what it's like to only have one baby. And we wouldn't have it any other way.)
Surprise Surprise
When I graduated from the Moody Bible Institute, we found a slightly bigger apartment, with the intentions of rearing our first baby there. After we moved in, we had a little prayer time with loved ones from our church, and I asked for prayer that God 'fill this place with new life.'
Boy, oh boy, did he ever answer that prayer!
When I graduated from the Moody Bible Institute, we found a slightly bigger apartment, with the intentions of rearing our first baby there. After we moved in, we had a little prayer time with loved ones from our church, and I asked for prayer that God 'fill this place with new life.'
Boy, oh boy, did he ever answer that prayer!
It was only one week after we moved in that we discovered that we were pregnant! We announced this to our family. And the grandparents especially were super excited!
When we went in for our first ultrasound at 20 weeks, they spread jelly on Sara's belly--hey, that rhymes--and began. Instantly, as I looked at the screen, I saw my baby for the first time! It was so exciting!
As the tech moved the sensor thing, suddenly my baby seemed to switch from one position to another. Whereas he had been head-down, now, he was head-up.
As the tech moved the sensor thing, suddenly my baby seemed to switch from one position to another. Whereas he had been head-down, now, he was head-up.
I don't think Sara had gotten situated so that she could see the screen yet. "Our friends have been teasing us that we're having twins," she said, chuckling to the tech.
The tech just looked at her...
The tech just looked at her...
Sara got situated so she could see. And this was when the tech took what I was beginning to suspect from what I was looking at on the screen, and put it into words.
Here's one baby. And here's your OTHER baby!
Sharing the News
After being stunned--SHOCKED--by this news, we went to the waiting room, because they wanted us to see a geneticist. And while we waited, we decided to tell our loved ones. We tried calling our parents, who were nowhere near their phones for some reason. And then finally, we got a hold of Sara's sister. We actually have a recording of this conversation somewhere (I'll have to post it on here if/when I can find it.). When we broke the results of the ultrasound to her, her first response was just one incredulous word:
"What?!" Indeed
After waiting a while, we went in to see the geneticist. He told us that twins have a higher chance of Downs Syndrome or other genetic difficulties. And then he proceeded to give us options that made me want to say "What?!" but for an entirely different reason. He said that we could, if we wanted, have some tests done, and if one or both kids turned out to have something like downs syndrome, we could "terminate one or both of the pregnancies." That's a nice way of saying that we could murder one or both of our babies through abortion if either of them had genetic problems that we found inconvenient.
Needless to say, we both found the geneticist's suggestions preposterous. Life and death are in God's hands, not ours. And if we had a child who had some sort of genetic problem like Downs, we would love him or her and want him or her to live as full and as happy of a life as possible.
The story continues...
I look forward in the weeks and months to come, to share about more of our story. I want to share some books that helped us before and during labor, possibly share about our amazing Doula, do some much-needed verbal processing by writing about our very difficult labor and delivery experience, talk about how we've dealt with the many sleepless nights, share about the joys of getting to know our boys, and much much more.
What's your story?
The news that we were having twins came at 20 weeks into pregnancy. Life would be very boring without these kinds of surprises. Since that moment our life has never been the same. It's been one of the best and hardest things that have ever happened to us.
Such is the case with love. Something that is worth so much is costly. We praise our heavenly Father for this double blessing of our dear boys.
Do you have something you'd like to share about how you got the news that you were having twins? Please share in the comments section below! I'd love to hear your story. And if you'd like to hear and share more, please follow my blog. Thanks! :)
After being stunned--SHOCKED--by this news, we went to the waiting room, because they wanted us to see a geneticist. And while we waited, we decided to tell our loved ones. We tried calling our parents, who were nowhere near their phones for some reason. And then finally, we got a hold of Sara's sister. We actually have a recording of this conversation somewhere (I'll have to post it on here if/when I can find it.). When we broke the results of the ultrasound to her, her first response was just one incredulous word:
"What?!"I couldn't have said it better myself.
"What?!" Indeed
After waiting a while, we went in to see the geneticist. He told us that twins have a higher chance of Downs Syndrome or other genetic difficulties. And then he proceeded to give us options that made me want to say "What?!" but for an entirely different reason. He said that we could, if we wanted, have some tests done, and if one or both kids turned out to have something like downs syndrome, we could "terminate one or both of the pregnancies." That's a nice way of saying that we could murder one or both of our babies through abortion if either of them had genetic problems that we found inconvenient.
Needless to say, we both found the geneticist's suggestions preposterous. Life and death are in God's hands, not ours. And if we had a child who had some sort of genetic problem like Downs, we would love him or her and want him or her to live as full and as happy of a life as possible.
The story continues...
I look forward in the weeks and months to come, to share about more of our story. I want to share some books that helped us before and during labor, possibly share about our amazing Doula, do some much-needed verbal processing by writing about our very difficult labor and delivery experience, talk about how we've dealt with the many sleepless nights, share about the joys of getting to know our boys, and much much more.
What's your story?
The news that we were having twins came at 20 weeks into pregnancy. Life would be very boring without these kinds of surprises. Since that moment our life has never been the same. It's been one of the best and hardest things that have ever happened to us.
Such is the case with love. Something that is worth so much is costly. We praise our heavenly Father for this double blessing of our dear boys.
Do you have something you'd like to share about how you got the news that you were having twins? Please share in the comments section below! I'd love to hear your story. And if you'd like to hear and share more, please follow my blog. Thanks! :)
