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DOUBLE TROUBLE
by Sarah V. Richard

When my ob/gyn asked me, "What do you think about this?" I stared at the two boxes before my jaw dropped – TWINS! Oh, my goodness! Well, that wasn’t the exact phrase I used, but there are NO twins in my family - NONE!

The news caught me completely off guard, but what shocked me even more was the NEGATIVE reaction everyone else had. Soon many people were telling me my life as a free woman was over, but I knew the real adventure was only beginning.

Many people underestimated me as a mother of twins because I was only 20 when I became pregnant. They were naive to the fact that I was in my senior year of college, and helped raise my two younger brothers (My brothers and I are ten and twelve years apart). I understood babies and responsibility very well, but I wasn’t going to explain that to every person who said something negative about motherhood.

"You don’t know what you’re in for."

"You’ll never make it waking up with two babies at night."

"That’s two babies taking turns crying on you."

Blah. Blah. Blah. Why all the negativity? No one understood the reality more than me. I was the one with major morning sickness (because according to my doctor I had double the pregnancy hormones - hence double the dose of morning sickness). I was the one with the early back pains and growing belly. I was the one carrying them, preparing for them, and changing my entire life for them. I never said life was going to be easy, but I knew my life wasn’t doomed.

The doctor gave me an ultrasound picture of the twins at eight weeks. I could see four arms, four legs, and two heads, and I proudly displayed the portrait of my uterus to friends, family, and co-workers despite the head shakings. However, the taunting continued: "You’re going to have to buy double the diapers", "You’re going to have double feedings", and the most common rant was "You’re going to have to buy two of everything." (This isn’t true. The only thing you really need two of - at least in the beginning - are two swings and two car seats.) The only nice comment I got was "You don’t look pregnant with twins," but that would soon stop. None of these people even had twins, so how could they begin to tell me what I was about to go through?

The pregnancy itself was an interesting experience. When I started feeling the twins’ move, it felt like little, painless muscle twitches. As they got bigger, they felt more like two, rock solid knots. It wasn’t long before I could tell them apart by their movements. Baby A - the very active one - was positioned up front toward the left, and calm Baby B sat peacefully to the right in the back. One night they rolled over - at the same time - from opposite sides of my stomach. They bumped into each other, and I felt them both jump and immediately return to their respective sides. I laughed all night over that.

During one of my ultrasounds in the second trimester, the doctor asked me if I wanted to know the sexes or if I wanted to be surprised. I didn’t hesitate answering, "NO! NO MORE SURPRISES FROM YOU!" The doctor said that she thought they were both female and an amniocentesis test later confirmed the sexes (which by the way - an amniocentesis test looks worse than it feels.) About the end of the second trimester was when the "You don’t look pregnant with twins" comments were replaced with rather blunt comments about my swelling face.

Everyone seemed pretty sure I wouldn’t finish college. Sometimes I felt like my foreign language teacher would seal that fate because my grades dropped a little. By finals, I barely fit in the school desk, but when push came to shove, I did what I had to do to secure my Bachelor of Arts degree...and I was thirty-two weeks pregnant.

By thirty-six weeks, I went to the hospital for a mild case of shortness of breath among other things. The doctors decided to err on the side of caution and do an emergency C-section thus sparing me the pain of labor.

Two healthy baby girls were born. Baby A was named Tara, and Baby B was named Abigail, although strangely enough her nickname went from "Abby" to just plain "B."

The first week flew by, and the adjustment was not that hard for me despite what the naysayers would try to have you believe. I was so used to working full-time and going to school full-time that getting four-hour intervals of sleep seemed normal. Of course, when I went back to my ob/gyn for a follow-up visit, I refused to leave the office without a prescription for birth control. Two was enough for me, I will admit.

The next two years flew by, and I was so busy that the pregnancy weight melted away. I survived everything deemed impossible: exclusive breast-feeding, three schedules (the twins and mine), mild sicknesses, diaper changing, etc. If I had concentrated on the negative things I was told, I would’ve never made it. Truth be told I never found time to dwell on any of the bad stuff, and I always found motherhood filled with more positive things than negative things: the girls’ laughs, their hugs, their kisses, and the first time they told me they loved me are all I remember.

As they got older, we would spend more time at the park. They’d run toward two different slides, so I played centerfield a lot. We would stop at the snack stand for brunch. "B" took a while to understand the concept of a french fry. For months, she would dip the fry repeatedly into the ketchup and lick the ketchup off the fry. When the ketchup was gone, she’d throw away the fry.

They are two and half now. I dreaded the terrible two’s (everyone had a horror story to tell about that too), but they aren’t that bad. Of course, the only time Tara and "B" work together is if they are waking me up in the morning. Tara rips the covers off me and steals my pillow. "B" pinches my eyelashes and yanks open my eyelids. "Get up, Momma," they yell simultaneously.

Every day’s an adventure for me – an adventure I wouldn’t miss for the world. I’m proud to report my life has never been more fun and exciting, and I want any expectant mother to know "there are more rewards than there are ever sacrifices" despite what the critics would like you to believe.