My Thoughts On Twins

First off, I just wanted to say thank you for all of your comments and/or phone calls. They really helped to make Scott and I excited in this confusing time;) I will try my best to answer all of your questions. I've been reading a lot on the internet about twins, and a few websites that I've read said the most common question that the parents of twins will get asked is if it runs in the family. Yes, it does run in my family on the Irish side. I guess almost every generation has a set of fraternal twins back into the 1800s. I don't personally have twins in my immediate family or even in my extended family (my cousins/aunts/uncles). But, my grandma has cousins that are twins, my mom has cousins that are twins, and my mom's cousin has twins. So, my guess is that my twins are fraternal and somewhere I picked up that gene from my mom, but we won't know for sure until they have run some tests on them. Yes, they have their own sacks and placentas.

We will not be moving back to California after the babies are born. Scott will still have 8 months left in school, and then we will move where ever the job takes us. It would certainly be nice to have all of those extra hands to help, though. Oh, and no, we will not be going to the family reunion in August.

And finally, Angela, I would LOVE it if you took some pictures of them.

Alright, hopefully that answered all of your questions. Now, onto my thoughts and feelings about having twins. I always wanted to have twins when I was little. I used to pretend that my barbies were twins or that they had twin babies. In fact, I had two sets of quintuplet dolls that I used to play with a lot. I was down with any type of multiples. I also wished that I had been a twin. Then, when I started to grow up and become a little wiser, I realized that I didn't want to be a twin. How hard it would be to have to share EVERYTHING (I'm a selfish person) with someone else and always be compared with someone else. I've heard of people saying things like "He's the cuter twin" or "She's the smarter twin." Not only are twins often compared to each other, but they don't seem to have their own identities. They are always labeled as "The Sprague Twins" or whatever the last name may be and they always have to do everything together. They have to share the same birthday, clothes, friends, presents, etc., and I remember thinking how awful that would be.

After I got married, I decided that I didn't want to have twins because of that comparison/sharing thing, and also because it would be hard to raise two babies at once.

Well, now my mind has COMPLETELY changed. Scott and I are SO excited to welcome two babies into our home.

Let me tell you how it all began........ I found out a few weeks ago that I was pregnant, and I was really excited. We didn't tell our families until Christmas because we were afraid of having another miscarriage. All last week I kept joking about the fact that I could be having twins because my belly seemed awfully big for only being 8 weeks along (see Exhibit A). Of course I didn't really think that I was having twins, but it was always on my mind. Then on Monday I went in for my 8 week checkup, and the doctor felt my uterus and said that it felt pretty big. I knew I wasn't just imagining it. He scheduled an ultrasound for the next day to make sure we knew the exact due date. Monday night I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking what would happen if we were having twins. Then on Tuesday, the ultrasound technician did her magic and immediately said, "Well, I have some big news for you." I knew instantly that we were having twins. I started to cry and Scott just looked confused/worried the whole time. As the days have gone by and as we are finally starting to realize that we will have two more kids here in a short few months, we have grown incredibly excited. And as worried as I am about them having to share an identity, I've also heard of some amazing stories of how twins LOVE being twins. They always have a friend that they can count on, someone who knows them better than anyone else.

Sure, it will be hard. I probably won't get any sleep for months and months and will constantly be annoyed and impatient with people. I have no idea how I'm going to breastfeed two kids at once or how we're going to fit 5 people in this apartment and in our car. I feel sad for Hannah because she won't get as much attention anymore. But darn it, we are going to try to be the best darn parents that we can be. I will do my best to give all of them attention and treat the twins like they are individuals rather than two halves of a whole person (Sure, if they're the same sex, I might dress them alike occasionally, but not everyday).

I keep praying that they will be healthy and grow stronger everyday. I am still terrified of having another miscarriage. How sad I would be to lose one or both of these babies. Right now, I just feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has given us this opportunity to almost double our family size. It will be a long and hard ride, but I think we are going to grow tremendously from it.

Exhibit A