AS LONG AS IT'S NOT TWINS!!!

OK... so yesterday was just a routine day at the Reed home. We got up, had breakfast, played, had lunch...and it was finally time for Gavin to go down for his daily nap. So unfortunately this meant that Jenny had to go to her first ultrasound appointment alone. ): It really didn't matter so much to me because my experience has been that you sit for an hour, and then when they do finally bring you in at the end of the appointment it's only for a lousy 30 seconds. After all that waiting you're lucky to get a solid minute (personally I feel you've earned more time) of seeing weird distorted shapes that you care barely make out on an ultrasound machine. Not too exciting if you ask me. Ok, so I put Gavin to bed and got to work on retouching some engagement photos. (coming soon) I went up to the bathroom just after three, and as I was returning back downstairs the front door swung open. I said "hi baby, how did that go?" and then I immediately said "just tell me it isn't twins...(and laughed)". Then time as I knew it froze, and my laughter ceased. For a moment we entered the weird and wacky world of the surreal. I looked at Jenny's bewildered yet concerned expression, and I knew this was no joke. (after all... not a funny joke, right?) I said "what?" You've got to be kidding me?" She didn't have to say a word. We stood in silence for a moment that seemed like forever, and she finally said "I'm dead serious...it's twins!" I couldn't believe it... as much as it was super duper exciting, it was also ridiculously frightening. We certainly never would've guessed this happening to us in a million years. After all, neither of us have ever had twins in our families. But here we are with not one baby, but two. We hugged and kissed as we were overcome with a crazy mix of emotions. I was shaking violently with chattering teeth for a good 15-20 minutes, and Jenny just paced the house with a look of shock riddled across her face. We then started making phone calls, and this put many friends and family members into shock too. Thankfully there was also a reverberating excitement that slowly started to calm our frazzled nerves.
Here is my call to our friend Alex (who is married to a twin) which she posted on my facebook wall because she it found quite hilarious...
Shane: Hey. How ya doin?
Alex: Fine
Shane: Well aren't you going to ask how I'm doing.
Alex: Sorry Shane - how are you?
Shane: I'm FREAKING OUT!!!....
Priceless!
So anyways here we are... having twins! And now that the initial shock is subsiding... we are thrilled!!! Our "plan" was to only have two kids, and we've said that all along. This was our "last baby", and we were totally cool with that. I guess God had other plans for the Reeds, and oh what an adventure it will be... (: I guess God didn't get my memo which clearly said "as long as it isn't twins". Funny thing is, my friend Tanya who grew up on the same street as me just announced twins a couple of weeks ago. And I was super excited for her, but remember saying to Jenny "glad it's not us" lol Jenny said "me too because I don't know what we'd ever do". Well I guess we're gonna find out... Tanya and Jenny are now twin buddies, and their due dates are only a week apart... so we could potentially have them on the same day. So crazy!
Our friends were recently home visiting from Iowa, and they came by our house the other day for a visit. Our friend Beth was asking Jenny if she would have more babies, and Jenny said "only if I didn't have to get pregnant again!" (because she gets so violently ill) When we called Beth yesterday to tell them the news she laughed as she reminded Jenny of her words, and said "I guess you don't have to get pregnant again!".
I hope this whole post isn't a random bunch of babbling, and if it is you'll have to forgive me... but I don't think my head is on straight quite yet. So many things have been racing through my mind since yesterday... like practical things such as woah! we need to move, we need a bigger vehicle...perhaps a mini van EEEK! Anyone wanna trade one for a Ford Focus wagon? lol We need two of every item known to man... How are we going to juggle two babies at once? How is everything gonna work out? etc... I guess it makes it easiest to trust God, and rest in His grace when you feel you have no other options.
Then some humorous things like...perhaps should we watch the movie Twins (I think not) to get ready for this experience? We better start looking for 2 for 1 specials...does this mean we won't have a middle child? (ok technically we will but you know what I mean) Could our twins possibly grow up to revitalize the fallen Doublemint gum franchise. I sure haven't seen a good Doublemint commercial in a while...(I love that song...so nostalgic) good thing I don't shoot with film...and lastly please for the love of God don't let our babies be born on May 4th. We don't want our babies to be tortured with "may the fourth be with you" every year on their Birthdays by Star Wars groupies. We don't want Star Wars twins...lol
It seems all throughout this pregnancy we've been randomly bringing up twins, and making jokes like "as long as it's not twins". We believe God has been speaking to us in order weaken the blow, and prepare us for yesterday. Jenny came in the door so worried about how she was going to break to news to me, and didn't I randomly joke and say "as long as it's not twins". Too funny! We are thankful that we've been entrusted with such an AMAZING and SPECIAL blessing, and can't wait to shower the new babies with the same love we have for Gavin.
In case you were wondering we don't know if they're identical (which are much more rare) or fraternal twins yet, and will find out on the 15th of December when we have our next ultrasound appointment. I won't be missing that one lol! As many of you know, we also weren't going to find out the sex... but in light of this twin business, we've decided to find out so we can be fully prepared.
Gavin currently doesn't want a brother or sister (in the singular) so how are we gonna tell him two babies will soon be infiltrating his little life?
Anywho, I will stop babbling now, and share a couple of our ultrasound pictures...We certainly never thought we'd see a Baby A, and a Baby B. Life can change in an instant! So weird!
Shane & Jenny