oh gosh not a problem!
Hello!
I'm Jessica, married to Johnny. (No we're not naming our kids with J names!) He's 28, and I'm 27 (maybe 28 by the time babies get here.) We're high school sweethearts and have been together 11 years, married for about 5.5. We're expecting fraternal twin boys in early May but more than likely late April, and these are our first (and 99.9% sure) only children. I'm also a fraternal twin, and they run in my family.
I have a BA in Sociology and a MA in Museology (Museum Studies) and I work as an operations manager at a museum. Someday I'd like to manage public programming at a museum.
Johnny's education and experience is in automotive restoration, and he was the manager of a small European restoration shop until recently. He decided he wanted something different since he's been working on cars his whole life, so he randomly decided to look at working at a credit union and he loves it.
We live north of Seattle in a house that is over 120 years old. We've spent the last few years fixing it up. Except major projects like beams and new electrical, we've done everything ourselves with the help of family and friends. Right now we're in the middle of a kitchen renovation. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely it will be finished before babies get here, but luckily we have left our regular, straight from the 1950s kitchen intact and can work with that. It's a little frustrating having things half done, though!
We have a dog who is a mutt but we're told is a herding dog mix, and a cat who is tiny and gray. They love to wrestle and play with each other. We like to drink beer (I miss beer...), go hiking and camping, work on our house, go to MLS and college football games, and travel. My husband has multiple car projects and I spend a lot of time sewing, crafting, and DIYing (I am addicted to Pinterest.)
We had previously talked about having kids before we were 30. It was ideal for me to have babies in the springtime/summertime, so we thought we'd start trying in October. Then we decided since I hadn't been on birth control in like 5 years (!!!), maybe we needed to start a little earlier than we planned in case we had some problems. Well, we got pregnant right off the bat. I had already been taking prenatals, but we were SUPER surprised.
Right away I was really sick, which sucked because I hate throwing up. I don't think I've thrown up in about 10 years, so I guess I had developed a bit of a fear of it :P Not anymore!! I was nauseated all day, every day, and threw up a couple times a day. I was so seriously miserable. A lot of our friends and family found out super early on because I basically dropped off the face of the planet.
I told Johnny I was never, ever, ever doing it again, and our poor kid would be an only child. I also joked that there had better be two in there because I was definitely never, ever, ever (can I say that a few more times?) going through pregnancy again. At our first midwife appointment in October the she brought in a portable ultrasound machine and immediately we all saw two babies. Neither of us even knew how to read an ultrasound but it was that unbelievably obvious. The midwife was so excited because she'd never gotten to tell a twin that she was having twins. haha. My mom just laughed and laughed when we told her, and everyone has been very excited for us.
After we found out it was twins was when I started experiencing serious anxiety about being pregnant and overworrying about everything. Every week is a new concern that freaks me out, but it's more like I just need something to worry about, and once I've worn out its' welcome, I move onto a new pregnancy worry or enter a calm period. I am also very nervous about dying either during pregnancy or during birth. I am not really nervous for the pain of giving birth, or necessarily even being a new mom, I just REALLY want being pregnant to be over with. It could be over today and I'd be happy, but I keep telling the babies they have to stay in until April. I'm visualizing April. Also even though I am huge (don't know my weight gain but it's definitely over 30lbs) and I'm very uncomfortable, I have had very minimal symptoms. I've been very lucky to not have many (any?) visible stretch marks or lower back pain. Sleeping is not happening, though, due to hip pain. I think it's pretty cool to see the babies moving around in my belly, but I really don't like it when they jump on my cervix.
We haven't figured out what kind of birth we want yet. We start a series of classes geared toward future parents of multiples in a little over a week, and we hired a doula to help us through all of our questions and experiences in these coming weeks and months. I also bought hypnobabies (recommended by my doula) and have it all downloaded to my phone so I just need to start listening and reading now :)
We have another appointment tomorrow along with a MFM ultrasound to check on the babies, especially their growth (they had a discordance of 20%) and Baby B's kidneys (one kidney had some cysts on it). I'm nervous and excited to see them! Now we start appointments every two weeks.
Here are the boys at 23 weeks and a few days. They have been measuring about 1 and 2 weeks ahead.
Here I am at 28 weeks!
This is my husband and I at my work holiday party.
This was at our 5th anniversary party this summer, when I looked normal :)
I think that's about it. I am very wordy, as you can see. If we met in person I would be the same way! :)
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