Molly Piper

One of the weird things about expecting twins is not knowing my timetable. When I thought it was a single baby, I was kinda like:

Okay, baby at the end of August. I’ll stop working at the end of May, and then I’ll have the whole summer to hang out with the boys and do fun and productive stuff.

Hmmm…

I get the most stressed out right now by the not knowing. Mostly it’s not knowing when I’m going to be basically incapacitated, or functioning at a very low level.

At my doctor’s appointment last week, she told me to expect to look and feel 40 WEEKS at 28 weeks. WHAT?!?!?

So now the twin-time time crunch is on! In the next couple months I need to:

• Buy a mini-van. We started the process on Saturday, and it was exhausting! I will definitely NOT want to be traipsing waddling around car lots when I feel 40 weeks pregnant.
• Get stuff! We now have our infant car seats, some hand-me-down cribs, and a double Snap & Go stroller (which I hear is an essential for twins).

Little Morrow excitedly checking it all out.

Funny side story: Morrow loves babies. He loves to say baby. He loves to wave his hands in front of babies’ faces and say, “Hi baby!!!” So when he saw Abraham out the back window bringing this loot home, he started yelling, “BABY! BABY!” I think he thought we were actually getting 2 babies, not just 2 car seats.

Anyway, back to my twin-time list:

• Get a bunk bed for the boys’ room. Our friend Phil is going to build one for us! By the way (shameless plug coming), Phil has his own custom woodworking and remodeling company. If you live in the Twin Cities and need anything fix-it related, he’s a trustworthy man who’s great at what he does!
• Transition Morrow and Orison into the same room. This was always the plan (because I don’t think kids need their own rooms), but now the timetable is really moving up!
• Set up the cribs and decorate the girls’ room. My friend Jenna is going to help me make the bedding. These are the fabrics I’m thinking of using:

Right now everything seems kinda moved up on the calendar.

In other news, my stomach issues have improved so much! Thank you for praying for me. I’m able to eat more fatty foods now, though I’m still staying away from pork. I’m able to eat beef, though, and my first cheeseburger over the weekend was glorious! And I can eat regular ice cream, which is simply awesome! I’m very thankful for this change, too, since I actually need a good bit of fat each day to support the development of two babies.

Well, I’m sure this isn’t the last of the news on the preparations we need to make for the twins to come. Thanks for being interested enough to read this!

I thought some of you would like to see the video of Abraham and me telling 5-year-old Orison about his twin sisters. Actually, I know some of you want to see this, because you specifically asked me to film it!

A little background…Orison desperately wanted a sister this time around. He’s been praying for another one for two and a half years! So this was a sweet moment all around.

Enjoy!

Thank you, thank you, thank you ALL for blessing my life in the last two days!!! I’m surprised my blog didn’t just go up in smoke or something–it has never seen so much action! I haven’t even been able to read all your comments fully (because I’m still on the phone all the time). I have no idea how some bloggers have traffic like this every day. I mean, it’s amazing, but I feel like I can’t catch up!

So this is kind of a brain-dump, because that’s literally all I can do now:

• We had NO idea that there could be 2 babies. I’d been to the doctor 3 times and the doppler always seemed to indicate one heartbeat, as did my fundal height measurement (the size of my womb).
• The babies are in two very distinct sacs (which wasn’t terribly obvious from the picture I posted). This probably means they’re fraternal sisters (66% chance), but there’s still a possibility of one egg splitting very early (which would mean identical). We have absolutely no preference on that issue.
• Just when you think you’re getting the hang of something (pregnancy in this case), God decides I need to learn something else new. It’s kind of overwhelming to be honest.
• My 40 week due date was supposed to be August 16. After looking at the babies (saying the plural still freaks me out), my doctor bumped my due date back 10 days. The babies seemed a little small for 18 weeks.
• My doctor said to prepare for early August. I pray they stay in there that long. PLEASE pray for them to remain healthy.
• I’m still fielding phone calls like crazy. The whole day Wednesday was so exciting, but by the end I felt like I had just had my wedding reception or something equally crazy. I was relationally exhausted (and I’m a true extrovert). If I skip your call, it’s probably because I’m trying to sleep, which leads me to the next thing….
• PLEASE pray for me to sleep at night. I feel completely exhausted when I go to bed, but then my brain starts going a million miles an hour and I can’t sleep. I think I slept 4 hours last night–not good for a woman in my condition.
• Some of you asked about Orison–he’s excited! Though mommy doesn’t look super pregnant yet, so it’s not as in-his-face as it will be (literally!).
• Morrow has NO idea, which is wonderful. He’s just as happy-go-lucky as ever and cracking us up at every turn. He’s a nice reminder to invest in the now.

I’m hoping to have some time to write a few reflections this weekend on how things are going below the surface. I hope to be able to bring you along, if you want to come.

Many of you already know I’m pregnant.

And for those of you who have come along with me on my journey over the last couple years know that being pregnant carries a bit more extra baggage than it used to for me, since we lost our second child at full term.

Her name was Felicity.

After Felicity, we had Morrow. He’s an amazing baby—Abraham likes to call him perfect—and, though he filled part of the void left by Felicity, he obviously wasn’t a girl. And that was something I desperately wanted.

A girl.

I knew I couldn’t have Felicity back, but something about having a daughter felt like it would sort of round out my grieving. Not finalize it, but complete it in a way, if that makes any sense.

Well, we went in for our first ultrasound yesterday morning. Both Abraham and I were very nervous. I wanted a girl so bad that I didn’t know how I’d react if it was a boy. And then that terrible feeling was compounded by the guilt I felt for feeling that in the first place.

I ought to be happy with any baby! I know that. I know I shouldn’t expect a replica of my lost daughter.

But there’s a part of me that, no matter what, longs to have a girl in my house with me. I want to teach her to knit.

I laid down on the ultrasound table. The technician and the doctor were both in the room. The technician placed the camera doohickey on my belly and immediately said, “Uh-Oh.”

You wanna know what not to say during an ultrasound?

Uh-oh. Don’t freakin’ say uh-oh.

Then the doctor said it, too…

Uh-oh.

Now, in reality these two uh-ohs came about two seconds apart and then were immediately explained. But my heart stopped—along with the world.

The immediate explanation came from the doctor: “We’re looking at two babies.”

…What?!…

Abraham jumped up, yelled “Yeah!” and punched the air. I started laughing.

But we still didn’t know whether they were boys or girls. Fortunately, after about 30 seconds, our doctor said, “Twin A is a girl.”

I about melted.

A few minutes later they confirmed that, yes, Twin B is a girl, too.

I’ve never felt happier.

We’re in shock. We’re having twins. They’re girls.

*                 *                *

From this view, we’re looking down on Twin A’s face from a semi-top view, and we’re looking straight down on Twin B, so you can’t see much except that it’s indeed a whole separate baby!

***Many thanks to my amazingly supportive husband for ghostwriting this post for me. I was seriously on the phone all day yesterday and had no coherent brain space left. (Oh, and I wrote this disclaimer, but Abraham agrees that he’s amazingly supportive.)***

I am now 14 weeks pregnant. I had a check-up Tuesday morning, and things seem to be progressing normally. I say that with utter uncertainty and trepidation, and sometimes feel like I’m jinxing myself simply by saying it.

When I told you all about this pregnancy, I told you also about having a condition called gastritis. It’s an inflammation of the stomach lining, and it’s very painful. Bad news: I still have gastritis. I take medication to manage some of the symptoms, but I still deal with more than my fair share of gassiness and general nastiness. I’ll spare you more details than that, unless you’re curious. But suffice it to say, it’s really miserable. I had this condition during my pregnancy with Felicity as well.

This time around, however, I think I’ve been able to nail down a major trigger for my stomach pain. I used to think it was acidic or spicy foods. I’m still avoiding those, but I think the bigger trigger for me is fat. When I eat a lean diet, I don’t have pain. When I eat something fattening (even a very small amount), I’m curled into the fetal position, gripping my stomach and crying.

So, I’m eating a very reduced-fat diet. See, it’s not that we eat unhealthy at our house, but I’ve never had to deal with this dietary restriction. I feel like I’m learning to grocery shop and cook all over again. It’s really difficult to avoid fat!

I haven’t nailed down what kinds of fat are okay and not okay. I don’t know if it’s just hydrogenated oil fats that hurt, or all fats, including good fats in peanut butter & olive oil. I’m just taking it easy across the board.

So this is where you health nuts come in! I need some suggestions for what to cook for my family! I have a ton of boneless skinless chicken breasts, I just bought some tilapia (though I have no idea how to prepare it), I’ve got some ground turkey, and I’m open to vegetarian suggestions.

Keep in mind, they can’t be spicy recipes. I would soooo appreciate any guidance here. Like I said, I feel like I’m starting over.

So here are some options for sharing:

1. Post a quick recipe in the comments.
2. Leave a link to a post you’ve done that involves a low-fat recipe.
3. Write a new post and leave your link below.

More than likely, you’ll be helping more people than just me! I’m sure many of us are looking for healthy, easy alternatives.

And…my hungry husband and children will thank you as well! You can only eat so many turkey sandwiches. Morrow now gobbles when he hears the word “turkey”–cute…but sad.