My amazing husband Casey and I have been together for a little over 11 years now and we have two and a half year old identical girls, Madden and Taylor.
How we found out: Casey and I had two different ultrasounds at 8 and 12 weeks where we were told (quite specifically) that we were having one baby; we still have beautiful ultrasound pictures of our “one” baby. So I was quite surprised when I went in for genetic testing (ALL BY MYSELF!) at 13 weeks and found out that our one baby was actually two! The technician had no idea that I didn’t know, and just asked out loud why on earth someone would leave it off my chart that I was carrying twins. I thought she was joking. She thought I was joking that I didn’t know already. It was all very funny (as I’m sure you can imagine). The upside was being able to process it (ALL BY MYSELF!!) for a good couple hours before I got to shock Casey with the biggest news of our lives.
Pregnancy/Delivery story: My pregnancy was high risk, complicated, and completely uneventful all at the same time. Sometime between 18 and 20 weeks we went in to find out the sexes. On the same day that we found out we were having 2 beautiful girls, we also found out that they were identical, they were sharing a placenta, and they were displaying the alarming signs of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (long story short – one baby gets way too much amniotic fluid and one baby gets too little…definitely bad for both). I went on modified bed rest at home at 20 weeks and had ultrasounds twice a week for the rest of my pregnancy. The girls hovered in these fluid levels where it was bad enough for everyone to be worried about, but never progressed or got worse (thank goodness!!). But I got to rest a LOT for most of my pregnancy and I also got to see my babies on the big screen ultrasound monitors all the time which was very reassuring! When all was said and done the TTTS never caused any serious problems and stopped being a concern for everyone once we hit 30 weeks – which was right around the time that I developed preeclampsia.
I was admitted into the hospital immediately during an ultrasound appointment at 32 weeks only to be released a couple days later, only to come right back to the hospital after one night of being at home. My blood pressure and protein levels had gotten even worse and I developed a severe migraine that lasted for days. The girls and I made it as a unit to 33 weeks and 3 days when we all decided we had had enough pregnancy. So on May 27th 2009, Taylor Jaylee Knapp was born at 4:50pm weighing 4lbs 5oz., and her sister Madden Marie Knapp was born at 4:52pm weighing 4 lbs 11 oz. Despite being almost 7 weeks early, the girls were born at very healthy weights and spent 12 days in the NICU simply learning how to eat. They both caught on to feeding at the same exact time and were released on the same day. We were very grateful to take two healthy girls home and were very blessed not to have any complications afterwards.
Occupation: I’m at home full time with the girls but also work a full time job from home doing HR/accounting for Activate Wireless.
Favorite aspect of being a twin mom: My absolute favorite part of all this has been the fact that I am lucky enough to have two little girls in my life instead of “just one!” As overwhelming as some days can get, I get double the laughs, double the hugs, and double the love…these girls have a special way of making even those super tough days feel like a gift.
As an added bonus, having twins enabled me to join FHM and I’ve gotten the chance to be involved with a group of people that amaze me constantly and who I would never have gotten to be friends with otherwise.
Advice for new moms: Go to the monthly meetings!! No, seriously…try to get involved in FHM as much as you can because you will find a support system of amazing people who can relate to every single thing you say.
photo credit: www.catchlightsNW.com
Going to the meetings just happens to be a great way to meet new people and get out of your house!! If the topic hasn’t applied to you and the stage you’re in, chances are it will apply in the future so why not take the free information? And if it doesn’t apply to you because you’ve outgrown that stage, then you probably have a lot to share with a new mom going through it, so why not pass it on?
Also, do whatever it is you need to do to get you and your family through one more day.
Samantha K.
2011 Meetings Co-coordinator
Mommy to Madden & Taylor, 2 1/2 years old