The Name Game

When we found out that we are having girls, hubby was like.. oh they're gonna be like The Olsen twins. pfft. I don't even like them. If there's a twin that crossed my mind right there and then, its the Wakefield's!

I grew up reading all Francine Pascal and her ghost writers Sweet Valley Kids, SVH, SVU. For 3 years, the Wakefield's and their fictional school were given life through TV. I watched it alongside with Friends ( which my mom would always say too adult for you, that includes Danielle Steel in the too adult category!).

Despite my love for these twins, I never thought of naming them Jessica and Elizabeth. haha. But one thing I really hope to do as a soon to be mom is to treat them as individuals, not as twins, for them to be identified as their own person ( hahaha touche!). I wouldn't want a flirty Jessica as a daughter either, popular may be but not flirty. But  popularity comes when you are flirty and promiscuous, so forget popular.

I've already have in my list the name Sophia .. so we thought of finding the other girl's name. If you searched google, there are names that are really for twins. So Sophia's twin name counterpart is either Isabella or Olivia. But I'm taking the less conventional road, I opted for Emma. Emma, as a name, like Sophia sounds classy and simple.

As respect to my mother-in-law and to my mom, my girls will be named Sophia Elizabeth ( not because of SVH) and Emma Luz. I can add or change the middle names but they will be called Sophia and Emma. Besides, I painstakingly painted the wood letters for their nursery already!

Fetal Assessment 101

After my first ultrasound, I was scheduled for another ultrasound to assess the babies inside. I was told that multiple birth mothers usually make frequent trips to the hospital because well, obviously because its riskier than singleton pregnancy.

Again, took off from work and went to the Fetal Assessment Unit of St B. The office is so cute, it has a corkboard of pictures of babies. It inspired me to make those baby announcement postcards! ( if I can squeeze this in, I would).

The nurse was super friendly. She ushered me to the room to change and we had the ultrasound again. This time, Kevin was inside the room with me. The nurse was so informative, like a voice over on a uterus "tour". I had to cut her off midsentence because I  had difficulty breathing like I was straggled or something, started to sweat like a cow. The nurse stopped on her tracks and turn on the lights and gave me some water. I don't know what happened but my blood pressure abruptly shot up. Scary shiz.

I had to rest before we proceeded again. The nurse said it must be too much pressure laying down, so I have to keep my head elevated. The light-headedness disappeared and we continued. Unlike the first ultrasound, this time, I can really recognized their heart, limbs and how they moved inside of me. Here are some of the still shots given to us by the nurse

Twin A

twin B

Lovely, aren't they? BTW, they are both girls. They just can't figure out if they're fraternal or identical. I'm okay with both. I could have a blonde and/or brunette little girls. Best of both worlds.

Stuff I never used to care about

I have been a godmother for awfully dozen times but I had no idea a baby will need a lot of stuff. I have witnessed my friend having labour and how painful that looked.  Word around town is , its really painful but people still do it!

Anyways, reality sets in. We are having twins, nothing can stop it. Moving on, Kevin and I mulled over the stuff we need. Man, if I will seriously buy everything, we will be broke in a mere second. So we decided, its time to be wise in our purchases and just get what is necessary.

There's a long list of things that will never crossed my mind for a good 80% of my life. Yet, these days it has become so massively important to me. I didn't give a hoot about house equity, mortgage, education plans and furniture. But right now, I have been expending all my mental energy to these things especially furniture.

Since, its official that I will never have any baby shower ( calling all my friends, never too late to arrange for one ;)), I signed up for a baby registry at www.babiesrus.ca so I can "solicit" gifts from people. Off we went to the store, and my golly... babies need a lot of stuff.!! diaper disposal system, wipes warmer, bottle warmer, bouncer, swings, swaddler.. I don't even know they exist before! On top of that,  seeing all those beautifully decorated nursery rooms at the store, made me so preoccupied and obsessed with finding the perfect furniture for my dem babies ( to channel Mariah Carey). Perfect means quality + reasonable price.

But we are going to be parents. And parents are practical right? So I have to be practical by getting stuff that we need like crib for example. Back in the Philippines, babies sleep beside their mothers. Psychology books will tell you that co-sleeping is more of an Asian thing. So the average parents back home just use a Playard -- which I thought was just a more portable crib. But sleeping beside me is a no-go as I have two of them. It's hard to keep track and at the same time I'm scared to roll over them or something.

Now here comes the problem. I have to get two cribs yet we have a small space for the nursery room. This room, mind you, is at the moment, a cluttered "my office" space. It's our spare room. I have done a lot of research on nursery rooms and I have decided on having a Winnie the Pooh themed nursery. Which brings us back to my crib. It has to be white, immaculate white crib will look good on a yellow and green background with Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet murals. The cost of the crib is a whopping $300 each and that doesn't include the mattress another $150 and the crib set which is a good $180-200. And then I have to get two. Do the  maths and you will get the vertigo.

my style inspiration

Ideally, crib should be the first thing that we will buy but uhm.. we need to renovate their room first.. In other words, , I have to quit obsessing about the crib instead work on their room. Try as I might, I can't stop thinking about it, so I scoured for deals on the net and caught up with a friend working in the States. Must be loaded because I was told that this friend will buy me the cribs. I was overjoyed. I couldn't be more thankful but but... I will not get it till February. Hmmm.... just have to wait with good faith that I will get it :)

... that fateful day.

I've taken a month-long hiatus from blogging because I don't know how to articulate into words what I experienced since we went for our first ultrasound. Then I realized that I came up with this blog to chronicle my pregnancy. But one BIG surprise changed the entire course of my life, its not enough that being pregnant is a life-changer in itself.

A week before my first sonogram appointment.. I took a photo of me and posted it on facebook. Here is the photo----->>






This was the first photo with my burgeoning belly. Of course it generated quite a stir among my friends and left me with a lot of comments. But one comment from my cousin who is also expecting bugged me that time. She said I was way too big for 4 months, there might be two people "residing" in my belly. I shrugged the idea, I know some people want twins but I was so sure I'm not having one. I told Kevin about it, hoping to get the " no we won't...." answer. But then, he kept on teasing about the possibility, that we cant discount the fact that his mother is a twin and that the "odds" or "luck" might be on us.

I had an appointment with my OB two days before I was supposed to go for ultrasound. She didn't see anything extraordinary ... like a possible twin pregnancy so I was relieved. Then Thursday came, I took off from work and we went to fetch my mom-in-law and went to St. Boniface Hospital. This is the hospital where I will have my delivery. Too excited to know the sex of the baby, we were there an hour earlier. We killed the time at the waiting area talking about possible names when it was my turn. I rushed my way to the ultrasound room because my bladder was full yet I was told not to pee till the ultrasound is done. I just want to get it over and done with. I was all by myself in the room, as it was the hospital's policy that only the pregnant patient is allowed to enter the room, but family members will be asked to join after all the necessary check-up.

The nurse was friendly, had this small talk. uhm.. too chatty for me I guess. As she was doing the sonogram, I was not as enthusiastic as she was, I was more like anxious. Then she dropped the bomb by asking... " why didn't you say you are having twins?" BOY was i shocked?!? I almost fainted, like my jaw dropped to the ground. I was stunned. Catatonic to be exact. She asked me if I was okay? I said I had no bloody idea I'm having two babies! The nurse was soo excited, she said " I don't get a lot of twins lately.." I am 19 weeks pregnant and my OB didn't notice it? Wow.

I was on the verge of crying... I had a pseudo-anxiety attack like the world is closing in on me. As I was looking at the scan, I can't even make out the image. I felt so guilty because I can't recognize them, my thoughts were blurring my vision. I knew I should feel blessed but at the same time I was having a hard time picturing myself with a baby.. what more with two!

It took the nurse 45 minutes to check everything... till I was asked to call my family members. My mom in law and Kevin was impatiently waiting outside. Kevin asked me what it was... I just looked at him and said TWINS. They were both surprised but not as shocked as I was.

I think Kevin gets it now.. he's seen with his two eyes that indeed there is /are living beings in my belly with spine, legs, arms, heart and that they are moving. The "shock" subsided and I can now see the glowing white against the black background. It was surreal, how can they fit in there? The nurse told us that we will have to wait for my OB appointment for the sex of the baby. We didn't even know if they're fraternal or identical. Just that there are two!

The ultrasound is one of the coolest experiences so far... like your very own private camera. It was amazing..

On our drive home, it started to sink in. WE ARE HAVING TWINS. twins. two peas in a pod. Everything in twos. Funny how one hour before we went to the hospital,  I found this flyer from babies r us with a buy one, half prize on the next item on cribs... hilarious. I was like, who would want two cribs?! Tsk tsk.. didn't know it was meant for us. Good Lord, I didn't read the sign. :)