Double the Fun: Sharing the News Part 2

This is the third entry to my pregnancy diary. Read the first and second here.

Towards the end of the first trimester, we hadn’t yet told any of Steve’s family or my sister (who lives out of state) about our pregnancy. Once we found out we were having more than one baby, we decided to keep it a secret from my parents until my sister was in town a few weeks later, when we’d tell them all at once -- and have it be yet another surprise for my parents. 

Instead of texting my mom an ultrasound photo of the 2 babies together, I just texted her a single one. A few days later when talking with her on the phone, she told me, “You know, I was thinking about the ultrasound pic you sent me and how there’s only one baby. I know you really wanted twins, but in all honesty, that’s probably a whole lot of work. You really don’t want two babies at once.” I know she was trying to console me since she knew I wanted twins, but I was dying of laughter inside. If you only knew, mom! 

A couple weeks later Steve’s family (his parents, siblings/spouses & our 2 nephews) had planned a staycation weekend downtown Chicago. Since his sister & her kiddos live in Colorado, it’s always fun to have everyone under the same roof. We decided this would be a perfect time to tell everyone since we’d all be together.

The view from our AirBnB where we told Steve’s family.

We ordered t-shirts for his parents that said “Grandpa of Twins” and “Grandma of Twins.” The plan was to give his dad a shirt as a “late Fathers’ Day gift” since we didn’t see him on the actual day. When Steve finally had his dad open the gift, he pulled the shirt out of the bag, read it carefully, then looked at Steve’s brother with a VERY confused look on his face.

You see, Steve’s brother Tim & his wife Sara were expecting a baby at the time as well, and they’d just announced on Mothers’ Day. At this point, my poor father-in-law thought that perhaps Tim was trying to tell us all that THEY were having twins. We were very entertained at all of this.

“Dad, why would *I* be giving you a shirt that’s about Tim?!” Steve exclaimed. His dad’s face turned from confusion to excitement. “Wait, YOU’RE having twins?!” he cried. At this point my sister-in-law was crying and our 2 young nephews were just plain confused. 

The rest of the time was a bit of a blur, as we recounted our ultrasound appointment and gushed with Sara who was also pregnant. We talked of morning sickness and cravings and what I should expect in the coming months. 

What to Expect: My First Trimester Symptoms

Speaking of morning sickness, I’m very grateful that I didn’t experience it very badly at all. There were a handful of times where I felt like maybe I was going to get sick, but didn’t. But you know what was the worst? The food aversions. 

As a proud carnivore, what bummed me out the most was that I did NOT want to eat meat -- at all. Didn’t matter what kind of meat it was, for some reason the thought of it just plain grossed me out. I couldn’t look at it or smell it, let alone eat it. And most other foods just didn’t quite appeal to me much at all, actually. 

My appetite seemed almost nonexistent. Dinnertime at our house looked like me begging Steve to make something for himself, and him begging me to eat… well, anything. Some nights I forced myself to eat plain or lightly buttered noodles. I ate a LOT of bagels for breakfast. (Which, if you know me, isn’t completely out of character. But it was a good excuse to load up on one of my favorite foods!)

And of course, saltine crackers were a staple in my diet. This might have been one of the dead giveaways to my coworkers that I was expecting… more on that in another post. 

The other crazy symptom I experienced was an extreme heightened sense of smell. OH, the smells! I first noticed it in my regular 5am Orangetheory classes. The thing about the 5am classes is that it tends to be the same group of regulars day in and day out. You get to know them and become friends with them.

One morning I started smelling smells in class that I’d NEVER smelled before. There were no new faces in the class that I was aware of. This continued day after day. It was almost to the point where I was having trouble with my workouts because the smells were so foul. 

Thankfully, the workout class issue didn’t last long, but the heightened sense continued for several weeks with other things like food, cleaning products, perfumes, etc. It was kind of like one of those superpowers you wish you never had.

The other issue I struggled immensely with was extreme exhaustion. I’ve always been a super active “on-the-go” type of person with seemingly boundless energy. (Ask my mom; she nicknamed me the Energizer Bunny at some point.) But a few weeks into my pregnancy, there were days when I just could not keep my eyes open. I found myself nearly nodding off in afternoon meetings and wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier -- both of which are extremely uncharacteristic for me. 

Now, I’m also a huge coffee drinker, so the sudden exhaustion could have also peaked due to a combination of me growing 2 humans + a sudden decrease in caffeine. For the record, I didn’t go cold turkey on caffeine (nor did I ever give it up completely) -- but I did choose to carefully monitor my intake. Most days I only have one cup in the morning or order half-caf. Even so, I have to wonder if my body was basically in shock from the change.

Choosing Baby Names… Over Wine?

Over the 4th of July holiday, we’d planned to spend some time in Traverse City, a fun vacation town in northern Michigan. It’s a beautiful area, with lots of outdoor activities, restaurants and wineries. They also host their annual National Cherry Festival around this time, which provides plenty of other entertainment (doggo dock jumping, anyone?!).

The extended weekend for us was a balance of dune climbing, hiking, sleeping, and yes, even wine tasting (not for me!). We enjoyed being able to sleep in as long as we liked and then I would take long naps in the afternoon (one day Steve even had to beg me to get up so we could go to dinner… whoops!).

On the actual 4th, we chose to check out a few vineyards if nothing for the view. When we found a picturesque patio overlooking a vineyard we decided to camp out. Of course I posed for a photo with a glass of wine to post it on Instagram… you know, to fake everyone out. ;)  

But the best part of our time there was lingering over our drinks (iced tea for me) and talking about baby names. We’d discussed names before and were on the same page for a lot of them, but we took this uninterrupted time together to really nail down what our top choices would be. Since we knew we were having twins but didn’t know the sexes yet, we made sure to choose 2 boy names & 2 girl names, listing them in order of preference should we have one of each. Funny enough, we had a WAY easier time picking our favorite boy names. Little did we know!

Future Big Cousin of Twins

A week or two after we returned from Michigan, my sister & her 2 kids were in town from Connecticut. (Man, does it stink to have your siblings/their kids in other states.) We obviously made sure to have plans to see them, and my parents knew we would be sharing our “baby news” that day. At this point, they all still assumed we were having one baby.

Coming off of a trip made it super easy to have an excuse to give a random gift to my sister. “I got you something when we were in Traverse City!” I said as I handed her a gift bag. Inside was a custom bracelet I found on Etsty, stamped with dragonflies & flowers on the outside. The inside of the bracelet read something like, “The best sisters get promoted to aunties.”

She looked at the bracelet, glanced at the saying and said thank you. I stared at her for a few more seconds, realizing she didn’t fully understand what it said.

Then it hit her. “OH MY GOSH!” she exclaimed, nearly throwing the bracelet out of her own hands. “I thought it was talking about YOU being the aunt.” Cue the tears and hugs. She then let my niece & nephew read it. “Do you know what this means?!” she asked them. “Aunt Maggie is having a baby!” 

“Well, I have a gift for the kids too,” I said quickly, not letting things get too far. I handed my niece & nephew each a gift bag.

They opened their gifts simultaneously and pulled out matching t-shirts with sayings on them. “Harrison, what does yours say??” I asked him.

He slowly read it out loud. “Future big cousin… of twins!”

Everyone, including my parents, looked around in shock. My niece Maia’s jaw dropped and she smiled the biggest smile. Like the other moments we shared the news with family, the rest of the time together was kind of a blur.

I wish I had a video or even photos from that day because they were all just so elated and surprised. But I suppose some memories are meant to be left in your mind for only you to cherish.

Read the next entry to my pregnancy diary here.