Ryan and I learned we were pregnant in late November 2015, on the very first day we could have possibly gotten a positive result on a pregnancy test. We were so excited but, as in our first pregnancy, decided to keep the news quiet until we made it through the 1st trimester.

As early as 6 weeks morning sickness and extreme fatigue started to hit pretty hard and I could tell this pregnancy was not going to be the easy-breezy experience I had with my daughter Campbell.  As a Type 1 diabetic I was considered high risk so we had our first ultrasound pretty early, around 7 weeks. Ryan jokingly asked if we were sure there was just one baby in there and ultrasound technician confidently said that yes, there was only one baby. I made a trip home to see my family over Christmas (and welcome my latest adorable nephew Andy into the world!) and realized there was no way I could hide the nausea and fatigue so out came the news to my family a little earlier than planned.

At 11 weeks I went in for my next ultrasound. I was by myself for this one and as I watched the screen I thought it looked a little different than expected. Just as I started wondering what I was seeing the sonographer said, “Now you already know there are two in there right?”. We were having twins!? My mouth literally fell open and I got in touch with my husband, Ryan, immediately to tell him the news. I remember that being the single most shocking moment in my life as I thought about the joy of having three children and impact this would have on our lives. The rest of my appointment was a bit of a blur that consisted of new nutritional guidelines, more instructions for carrying multiples and started the transfer process over to the Baylor Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) at Texas Children’s Hospital. Transfer to the MFM group would ensure I had the right team to manage our high risk pregnancy that now also consisted of 2 babies.

In my usual style I immediately began researching twin pregnancies to understand what I should be eating (protein and fat!), potential risks, delivery expectations, etc. One of the main things I learned was that, in addition to the normal “fraternal or identical?” question, there are several different categories of twins and different management and risks associated with each (learn more about that here). My first appointment with the MFM team was at 14 weeks and we established right away that I had what is known as a Monochorionic Diamniotic (Mono Di) twin pregnancy. The excitement of this was that our twins were identical! This also meant that our type of pregnancy had about a 15% risk of developing Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This could happen at any point of the pregnancy but there were treatments available if caught in time. We’d require extra monitoring and scans every 2 weeks from that point forward to track the growth of our babies. The other main instruction I received was to gain weight (whoo hoo!) and keep my diabetes in check.

At 14 weeks the babies were looking great so at that point we told a few more family members and friends the good news. Given my belly had already popped a couple of weeks earlier we also told our work colleagues and I started focusing on gaining as much weight as I could and keeping my blood sugars in tight control. We were ready for this!