Part 16 – Slip of the Lip

Christi and I wanted the sex of our babies to be a surprise. We fantasized about the moment the babies were delivered, me running into a crowded room, telling a room full of friends and family… We have [insert baby sexes here]. The surprise was on us, this secret upset our friends and family. Evidently, the fun for them is actually buying clothing and toys specifically for baby girls or boys (the androgynous stuff is boring). Either because we are hard-headed or we just enjoyed driving everyone nuts… we were sticking to our guns.

This secret was about to come crashing in on us. During a sonogram 6 weeks ago the nurse informed us that she knew the sex of Baby B and had a guess for Baby A. Dr. Seeker swooped in, wiggled the sonogram tool on Christi’s greasy belly, and immediately knew both baby's gender. The nurse and doctor disagreed and made a lunch bet. The loser would buy Taco Bell. Interesting that something so important to us only warranted a lunch at Taco Bell. I was expecting something a little more… pricey.

Two weeks passed and it was time for another sonogram. Our nurse walked in and explained that she was wrong on her guess of Baby A. More importantly, she hid the post-it note that had the terms of the bet from the doctor… Cheating! Not only a cheap bet but the nurse was squelching on it… I felt dirty. She then, as calmly as ever, said: “Well, we know Baby B is a boy for sure”.

WHAT! NO, WE DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW!

The look of horror on the poor nurse’s face was enough to allow Christi and I to forgive her for. She apologized profusely and left quietly when the doctor arrived.

That night Christi and I kept referring to our twins as Owen and The Other Baby. We were instantly bonding with Owen – how unfair. We decided to call the doctor’s office and have them write down the other baby’s gender and stick it in an envelope. It was Valentine’s Day and what a great gift to open at dinner that night.

We don't have much patience. I arrived home from work at 6pm and Christi was waiting at the door, envelope in hand. We sat together on the couch and opened the hand-drawn picture below:

We are having sons! Owen and Judsen.

Things start moving around in there

Part 15 - Rapid Growth

Over the past few weeks we’ve had quite a few new developments. The three that come to mind are Christi’s belly and each boob... all three are growing at an unbelievable pace. Each morning Christi looks like Bruce Banner after a long Hulk rampage... Exhausted, stumbling around the kitchen, in pajamas that are torn to shreds from the rapid growth.

Aside from a couple episodes in the car, Christi’s flown through the morning sickness that accompanies the first trimester. One interesting development has been her acute sense of smell. When most people walk into a kitchen and smell a cake baking, they smell cake. Christi can smell: 2 cups of white sugar, 2 cups of flour, 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, semi-sweet chocolate icing (that’s recently expired). The good news is that we can use her to find grub-worms in the backyard this spring.

Christi is now 14 ½ weeks pregnant. As each week passes, parenthood becomes more real. We’ve now transitioned from Dr. Vaughn (the in vitro doctor) to Christi’s regular OB-GYN, Dr. Seeker. There have been several sonograms and the babies are growing fast. They are now the size of lemons and are already fighting. Yes, even through the sonogram’s grainy picture, you can see a couple of little aliens punching each other like Rock‘em Sock’em Robots. I think we are in for a long, long 18 years.

NEXT!