Monday, April 25, 2011

From death, life (Some Easter Monday news)

This is a much belated and long overdue THANK YOU for all of your prayers during the potential adoption ordeal.  I know I asked a lot from you over a long period of time and it was so humbling to receive all of your support.  It was a stressful and emotional couple of weeks and affected so many people who had never even met my friend, let alone the baby's mother (such is the way with abortion).

I know many of you agonized with me when the news of the abortion was final.  But to be honest, I feel a bit guilty allowing you to feel so sad for me.  Because as the adoption/abortion story was developing - the days literally paralleled - we found out...I'm pregnant!

You guys...this is something I never expected.  I'll elaborate on the whole story in days to come (you may have noticed I've been a bit MIA lately), but the short story is that I never even had a cycle after my surgery!

I had some pains and blood on a Thursday and I, of course, assumed I was starting my cycle.  But the blood didn't last more than a couple of hours, which was odd. I assumed I was still getting back to normal after surgery.  So I talked to the nurse the next day (Friday) and asked her what she thought.  She basically said it could be a million things and told me to take a test by the end of the weekend.  That same day is the day my friend called me with the potential adoption situation.  Of course, I jumped at the request.  My wonderful husband and I have always had a mutual understanding that if ever presented with the option of saving a child from abortion neither of us would hesitate to offer to adopt.

So, the days went on and as I was praying like never before for this young mother not to abort her child, I was also taking more pg tests, getting hormone blood tests done, and praying, yet holding back any excitement for fear of disappointment, that this was really happening!

Because we feared that our news might affect the birth mother's decision, we kept our news to ourselves (not to mention it was still very, very early).  However, we were fully prepared to raise non-biological twins if that's what God had in store for us.  In fact, we were pretty excited about the prospect!  It would be a challenge, but certainly a unique and exciting situation!

Well, as you all know, the adoption situation ended tragically in abortion.  We were devastated.  But we had to move on.

Back to my news.  Because I hadn't had a cycle since my surgery (I literally haven't had a period since January!), we weren't quite sure how far along I was.  So my doctor ordered an early-term ultrasound.  I was so thankful for that because I didn't even have a due date yet!

I had my ultrasound two Mondays ago.  They determined at the time that I was 6 weeks, 4 days, which makes me about 8 1/2 weeks now.  They also determined my due date to be Dec. 2.  They also determined another important piece of information.  You guys.........................



IT'S TWINS.


There's nothing I can type in a blog post that conveys my complete and utter SHOCK at hearing that news!!! Good shock!  But shock, nonetheless!  I don't have twins in my family.  I have friends with twins, but none that live nearby or that I've been a part of their growing up.  This was just out of the realm of possibility for me!  Twins aren't part of a world I'm familiar with!  Ha!!!  Mike's paternal grandmother is a twin, but could that affect me??  We're still working on figuring that out.  It was absolutely amazing, miraculous news!  The best part about it is: THE LAST FOUR YEARS FINALLY MAKE PERFECT AND COMPLETE SENSE.

I hope none of this information hurts any of you.  It may seem like this all happened very quickly for me, since I've only been a part of the IF blogosphere since January.  But rest assured, I have been carrying the IF cross for four years.  It's simply a miracle.  One that I don't even come close to deserving.

There are so many more things I want to allude to, like the fact that I visited St. Gianna right before my surgery, that my mom said the Mary, Undoer of Knots novena before/during my surgery, that despite the abortion we ended up with two babies after all and what that means, etc, but this post is already too long so I might have to elaborate in upcoming posts!

In the meantime, I'm still very early and twins are considered low-risk/high-risk, so any prayers are MUCH appreciated.  These kids have had me sick in bed for days on end (which is a good thing!), so please just pray that they're growing and developing like good babies should!  God bless you all.  I certainly don't deserve this.

40 comments:

  1. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Nicole, I'm over the moon for you! Just the pregnancy announcement alone has me teary let alone that you will have TWO more children!!! I'm elated for you and will keep you in my prayers as time marches on here. I hope you start to feel better soon too so you can ENJOY this time! Oh man, I'm so excited! God bless you and your beautiful family and your new babies! Happy Easter!!!

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  2. Praise God. Congratulations and prayers for a healthy pregnancy for all.

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  3. My jaw is on the floor! Twins! nope your dh gma could not have affected you!

    You popped out two eggs! That is crazy!

    I'm so happy for you! I can't even believe it!

    I knew it from the title of the post! I just knew it! OMGOSH, twins, I would be freaking out! absolutely freaking out!

    It's not even me and I am freaking out! Unreal! I can't believe it!

    Oh I love these types of surprises! aaaahhhh!!!

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  4. Surgery is so healing!

    Can you tell Im nervous! hahahaha

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  5. I cannot breathe. OH MY GOSH!!!!! Wow. Wow, wow, wow. CONGRATULATIONS! Obviously, the pain of abortion and loss are still there but what a blessing to be pregnant... with TWINS!!? Well, as you know, I am partial to twins. ;) Now I am curious to know more.. fraternal or identical? (I guess it takes time to know these things, haha). Wow... praying! :-D

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  6. Wow, congratulations! That is some incredible, amazing news!

    TWINS!!!

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  7. And fwiw... last I checked, if the twins are identical there's no known genetic "passing down" with identicals. They just happen, and scientists aren't sure why (again, last I checked). A tendency towards conceiving fraternal twins can be passed down, though (through the maternal side).

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  8. Sarah, yeah, identicals are just a sort of freak of nature! Not genetic. But we're not sure yet which "kind" they are! Haha! Pretty crazy and exciting, huh?!?

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  9. BTW - I'm not saying that the *twins* are freaks of nature! :) HAHA! I'm saying that the way they occur is unknown!

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  10. Oh my goodness.. Congrats Congrats! This is absolutely wonderful news this Easter. God is so so good. Praying for you and the little ones. Happy Easter!

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  11. Love those babies. M says they are two brothers like her two brothers. Good luck to you! Lol!!

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  12. Oh yes! I am so so so happy for you!!! Will be praying for your sweet family!! :)

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  13. Nicole this is AWESOME Easter Monday news!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you and praise you Jesus for this miracle of conception. I will be praying for you too and wow, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow...this is just so wonderful!!!! God Bless you Nicole and Grow, BABIES, Grow!!!!

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  14. Lol, I got it!! So exciting! Just amazing.

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  15. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I am just over the moon for you!!! What fantastic, wonderful news!!!! Prayers and best wishes for a happy, healthy, uneventful pregnancy and the safe delivery of two wonderful babies.

    (By the way, we are pregnancy buddies -- I'm due December 16!)

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  16. YAY!!! This is brand new information for me!!! (hehehehehehhehe) God Bless you again!!!! I can not wait to hear updates and see that belly grow!!!!! Sending prayers!!

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  17. Oh, so happy for you!! TWINS! God is so good!

    Can I ask all you dear ladies to pray for my good friend who is right now miscarrying her 4th baby this year, she has not been able to sustain a pg since her little girl died at one day old (trisomy 18) in October of 2009...

    Thanks for the blessing of your prayers!

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  18. Wow wow wow!!!!!!! I am so happy for you!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!! Thank you for your prayers this Lent! Know that you will be in mine!!! Grow babies, grow!

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  19. *HUGE* SMILE over here!!!!!! SO happy!!!! Am still in total shock and awe. Praise God!

    What a good prayer buddy you have! :)

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  20. Wow, what wonderful news!

    praying and smiling for you and your family

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  21. HOORAY!!! You are making up for lost time, ha ha!
    Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

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  22. Congratulations!
    (and yes, I actually mean it though you may not believe me since I am most definitely in favor of access for all women to reproductive health care including abortion. I notice many pro-lifers seem to think we have no love for babies, pregnancy or feelings regarding miscarriage, so I want you to know I consider your news very happy news indeed).

    -gwen

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  23. Congratulations! Wow. How do you feel? Sick? tired? all of above? :) Congratulations! Thats just wonderful news. Please let me know if you need anything! God Bless you and your family!!

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  24. Incredible news! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!

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  25. Congratulations!! What wonderful news!

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  26. OH WOW! Congratulations, that is so amazing. I would LOVE to have twins. Take care, take care. Did I say awesome!!!

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  27. oh my word!! Congratulations!! :))

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  28. Congratulations! I am a quiet follower and have not commented yet, but this deserves a comment! I started reading your blog with the new of the possible adoption. So happy for you. Praying for you!

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  29. Nicole, this is so wonderful! Happy, happy Easter and congratulations!

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  30. Ahhh!! So amazing!! Congratulations!!

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  31. This is incredible news!! Twins!!! Congratulations!!! Praying for you and the babies!

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  32. Nicole, Congratulations!!! What wonderful news! I am SOOO happy for you!!! I love hearing about twins- my youngest sisters are twins (identical) and cousins who are twins as well (also identical). They have a build-in best friend for life! And I'm so happy for your son too - 2 siblings at once!!! :-D

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  33. WOO HOOOO I LOVE THIS POST! :-D Love those babies!!!!!!

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  34. Wow! That is amazing and so very exciting!
    Congratulations!!!! You will be in my prayers!

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  35. Congrats!!! I just saw this post today!!! What wonderful news..I'll be praying for healthy babies and mama :)

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  36. Ummmm.... how did I miss this!!!!!!????!!!! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! Yay!!! And yep... we so need to meet up when you are back in the Hoosier state!!!

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  37. Nicole - This is such wonderful news! Congratulations to you and your husband!!! :) Happy Easter!!!!!

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  38. I'm just finding out about this news, but CONGRATS! my older bro and sister are twins and i've heard its rough from my mom, but like you say, these last 4 years are put in perspective. my mom had twins accidentally so, i think that's why she always remembers it with such agony. anyways, praise the Lord! what great news!

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  39. CONGRATS!! What amazing news! Praying for the health of your pregnancy...

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