38 weeks pregnant with twins - the day before they were born

by Gemma
(Chicago, IL)

This picture was taken with a wide-angled lens!!

38 weeks pregnant with twins - Gemma's Story

After unsuccessfully trying for a baby, my husband and I went through IVF. Our first attempt failed, and we were devastated. We thought that we would never be parents.

However, luckily for us, we had opted to freeze any unused embryos, so that we would not have to go through the whole process again. We had 2 embryos left, and both were implanted. To say that we were thrilled when we discovered they had taken is an understatement!

We went for our first ultrasound 5 weeks into the pregnancy, and as we looked at the image on the screen, we could see two small black 'blobs'. I asked the nurse if that meant there were two babies, and she casually said 'oh yes, that's twins!' We were speechless! However, we were over the moon - to go from thinking that we would never be parents, to having two babies was the best news ever!

They grew rapidly! I seemed to get bigger and bigger and from about 6 months, I already measured the equivalent of a full term single pregnancy! I became so uncomfortable, that I just wanted to have them. My husband kept telling me that the longer they stayed inside me, the healthier they would be. We fully expected to have them early, and were told by our OB that I needed to make it to at least 32 weeks.

However, I ended up having to schedule my C-Section (I wanted them vaginally, but one was breech and the other was transverse), and they were born at 38 weeks 1 day. I really did go to full term, and even my OB was surprised that I lasted as long as I did! I was huge!

Emma was born at 10.41 am and weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz. Caitlyn was born at 10.43 am and weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz.

I was very lucky and the baby weight dropped off - I lost all of my weight and was back into my jeans in 2 weeks! I gained about 50 lbs during my pregnancy.

There is no denying that being a mother to twins is hard work, but they are worth every minute. Even when they don't sleep at night, I look into their beautiful faces and my heart just melts.