My first year with twins; where did they come from?!

As you can imagine the #1 question asked when we started telling people we were having twins was, "Who's side of the family does twins run on?" Now maybe this is just the scientist in me but really there is no possible way for the "man" to have any control over a woman having twins. I've in fact had a complete stranger tell me that fraternal twins come from the "dads" side of the family. When I hear things as ridiculous as this I just nod and agree. [I mean seriously, what does the mans sperm lure out a second egg???] But lucky for us there actually are 2 sets of twins on DH's side - one a second cousin, the other a second cousin by marriage. So this actually has given us the advantage of telling complete strangers, "Yes, twins run in the family" and it's also been a good cop-out at times when we weren't comfortable to say, "No, they are IVF" to those asking.

It's actually really amazing how telling someone you had help getting pregnant can make them really uncomfortable! And there are even people who think IVF is wrong (double middle fingers to those a-holes!) So I learned pretty early on to white lie (hey, there are twins in the family! And 2 sets even, so I feel that makes it even less than a white lie) and as time went on in my pregnancy to not even mention that I was carrying 2 babies. Some things strangers just don't even need to know. B/c as all preggo ladies know, everyone has something to say about it and add in the twin factor and oh my God!! And the last thing I wanted was to get the "sad eyes" after telling someone I had help. I wasn't ashamed or embarrassed and the last thing I was looking for was pity. Hell, I was super excited to be carrying twins - share in my excitement!!

It's really frustrating how ignorant and closed minded people can be! But I guess one can only understand if they were in a similar situation. [Except those uber-religous freaks.] If you asked me at the beginning of our infertility journey if I'd ever consider IVF I would have said no! I vaguely knew of all the shots I'd have to give myself and I couldn't imagine doing that! And frankly I didn't think I'd need that much help. But as we went through each step in the infertility ladder and things were not working the desperation set in and I'd have tried anything!! Especially b/c I knew I could get pregnant; I had been twice unsuccessfully already! So when the day came that the call was made and all the medicine showed up at my doorstep I learned to give myself shots because I wanted to be a mom more than anything! The first days it took me a few min. of pep talking myself and a lot of sweating but as time went on it was just a normal part of my daily routine. And I'm not sure I'd be a positive spokesperson of IVF if it didn't work or if I had to go through it multiple times before it worked b/c I know the disappointment of taking a negative pregnancy test month after month and I can only imagine how depressing it must be to get that phone call that your blood test came back negative after all that! Besides that IVF is the end of the road. But thanks to all the wonderful Dr.s that took us through this wild ride, I only had to do it once and what an awesome outcome we ended up with!! I can't say enough good about all of my Dr.s and I have a very special person who helped me emotionally through this journey by having paved the road before me herself. She gave me courage when I needed it and pepped me for procedures before I had to have them so I was able to go in a little more at ease. And I can only hope that having had to go through all this myself that I too will be able to be someones rock in the future.

And one day in the very far future I want my girls to know about our journey. I feel like I have a very different connection and appreciation for them b/c of our adventure. [No, I'm not saying I love them more than a mom that got pregnant naturally loves her kids. But it's definitely a much diff. experience that brings with it different emotions.] There are no words for how grateful I am!

Not many people know what their babies looked like at 5 days old. Love at first site!