MY IDENTICAL TWIN BOYS CAME AS A HUGE SURPRISE

by Michelle Hester
(Novato, CA, USA)

I found out I was pregnant at about 6 weeks gestation, I was surprised and a little bit in shock, as was my husband, since we were not trying to have a baby, nor preventing it, obviously. At my first pre-natal appointment at 11 weeks along, the doctor told my husband and I that my pregnancy hormone levels were on the high side, high meaning high enough to be twins.

He performed an ultrasound in his office that same day and though he was not 100% positive, he was pretty certain that there were two hearts beating in there. Three weeks later we had another, more thorough ultrasound done and sure enough, twins. Just so you know, I have an older daughter who was 15 years old when I first got pregnant with the twins, and I would be 37 years old three days before the twins' due date.

Together with being pregnant with twins and being in my late 30s, my pregnancy was deemed high risk.

As I blossomed out in every direction over the next few months I started preparing for these babies to come into our life a little in advance since I knew that at the end of my pregnancy I would be in no condition to decorate a nursery or anything of that nature. The morning sickness I endured during the first two trimesters was agonizing to say the least. My doctor prescribed me some medication for the nausea and those pills were my lifesavers. I couldn't even begin to function without them while I was having the morning sickness.

I worked as a legal secretary up until about 2 1/2 month before having them at which time my doctor put me on bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy. I was not experiencing any problems with my pregnancy and the babies were perfectly healthy and growing steadily and consistently. Though my feet and legs got really swollen over the last few months and my blood pressure was a little elevated at the end of my pregnancy, I felt fine.

My doctor recommended that a planned c-section be performed to deliver my twins for the simple reason that twin deliveries are much safer when done by way of a c-section. So, at 36 weeks gestation my little angels were born, just as planned. They came into this world weighing in at 6 lbs. 1 oz. for Twin A and 5 lbs. 9 oz. for Twin B. Both babies were 19 inches long. My twins never had to go into the NICU after they were born, they both stayed in my room at the hospital for the whole 5 days I was there. Neither had any problems whatsoever in terms of breathing or anything like that. Twin A was born with a slight case of jaundice which is quite common, but not bad enough to require any type of treatment.