The beautiful 1st half of my pregnancy

Lets see.... where did we leave off. Ah yes, we had just found out that we were pregnant with twins! The first trimester was not so bad.  I was really fortunate not to have any morning sickness whatsoever.  I was EXTREMELY tired though!  Before I was pregnant I was known to need a lot of sleep and loved my naps. After I got pregnant that pretty much doubled.  I was napping twice a day- once in my car at lunch and then again when I got home from work.  I usually fell asleep watching Jeopardy with Greg.

Baby A 12 weeks

The thing that I was coming to know about being pregnant was that time seems to stand still when you're waiting for the biggest event in your life. Especially because we were seeing the doctor every 2 weeks for ultrasounds.  Ultrasounds are like drugs when you're newly pregnant--quickly addicting.  After each ultrasound I had a few days of euphoria quickly followed by an impatient wait for my next visit so I could get my next glimpse at baby A and baby B (or Alpha Bravo as my family had affectionately starting calling them.)

Baby B 12 weeks

After the 12 week mark Dr. Bachus officially sent us off with his blessing to my regular OB/GYN.  I didn't have an established relationship with any doc so I took the recommendation of my friend Cecile and met Dr. Tool at my 12 week visit.  They listened to the heartbeats and took measurements and he advised us that we would have monthly ultrasounds and visits for the next few months then the visits would increase to every two weeks at about week 30. Dr. Tool and his nurse Donna were such a blessing throughout the whole process.  He was always so goofy and upfront that he made the whole process seem simple even when it wasn't. 

At Thanksgiving time we headed to Omaha to visit with family there.  It was a sweet time especially because Greg's sister was also pregnant.  She was about 3 months ahead of me so we got to share all of the baby talk: what baby stuff we absolutely needed, names, commiserating over tiredness, etc.


Christmas was spent at home this year, we decided that in the upcoming years we would be doing a lot of traveling in order to show off our twins so we would enjoy the holiday at home.  The next few weeks were pretty uneventful.  We were just anxiously awaiting our upcoming ultrasound so we could find out the sex of the twins. 

It was around the first of the year when we decided to take a class on the Bradley method for birthing.  The class met every Sunday afternoon for 10 weeks.  Yeah, that's a loooong birth class.  The basic idea of the Bradley Method is that it is a husband coached, natural birth method.  Lots of relaxation techniques, education on the different stages of labor, etc.  We hoped to be able to apply as many of the principles of the class as possible to our birth experience but were also learning through other research that carrying twins was going to make the whole process a little more difficult to use some of the tools.  Initially we hoped to have a completely natural birth, no medication, as little medical intervention as possible. 

We waltzed into one of our appointments with Dr. Tool and triumphantly announced our plans for a completely natural birth.... he kindly informed us of our ignorance. :) He told us that the first thing we needed to hope for was that, when it came time to deliver, both babies were head down.  Or at the very least, baby A needed to be head down in order to deliver vaginally. If baby B was breech, he could perform a breech extraction after baby A was delivered (basically he would reach inside and pull baby B out by the feet) but that I would not be able to "tolerate" a breech extraction without an epidural.  Basically the pain would be too much.  He also advised us that even if both babies were head down to begin with, it is not uncommon to have baby B turn breech after baby A is delivered. If that were to happen, and I had not had an epidural, I would have to be put under general anesthesia and the baby would be delivered by cesarean. He was willing to let me proceed without an epidural, as long as I understood the risk I was taking.  Boo. Not what I wanted to hear.

But anyways, back to the important stuff.  It was finally time to learn the sex of our twins!  We went in for the ultrasound and they quickly showed us that we were going to have 2 girls!! Sisters!! Although I had initially hoped for a boy and a girl, once they told us we were having 2 girls I couldn't have imagined it any other way!  We were thrilled.  I was excited about the bows and ribbons and sweet cuddles headed my way and Greg couldn't wait to have 2 little "daddy's girls."

We started talking baby names and Greg was of absolutely no help whatsoever.  He pretty much liked anything I came up with. I kept telling him that he needed to LOVE the name because the girls would be stuck with these names for the rest of their lives!  One day he called and said that he'd heard a name that he liked - Hannah. I quickly agreed, wanting to use any sort of imput that he was willing to give.  After thinking more about it I found the name very appropriate because of Hannah in the Bible and her struggle to have a child. I could relate with the story in 1st Samuel and found great hope in it. So- Baby A became Hannah.

I wish I could say there was some special meaning to Emersyn's name but it was simply a name that I loved.  I found it to be graceful, smart sounding and I loved the idea of being able to give her a nickname and call her Emmy. The middle names were chosen in honor of my Aunt Grace Ruth. She was a very special lady in my life and my heart was broken when she passed away.  I couldn't think of any better way to honor her than to give my girls her name.  I often think about how much she would have loved the girls.

²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there
My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn^[a] is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. ² “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. 1 Sam. 1:27-2:2