This isn’t a normal weekend recap because there was one day that stood out far more than the rest – Saturday! That day we had a family photo shoot in our home and it brought up so many memories of how we even got to this point in our lives.

Here’s a little sneak peek of our family photo shoot!

Our photographer was my fellow Lebanese gal pal, Teresa Williams! She is a photographer based in Central, IL. Her specialties consist of weddings, elopements, and all those madly in love! The shoot was so easy and fun because she is not only talented but direct. Gotta love a photographer that tells you what to do and how to pose not awkward because I am a total awkward turtle over here! Click here to check out her website!

After our eventful morning, Matthew and I went through how we found out we were pregnant with twins and it had us laughing and laughing. Some of you may know the story from following me for awhile now, but the majority of you probably have no idea how we found out. Let’s rewind and go back in time!

It was my 8-week sonogram and I could not wait to see the proof that there was an actual baby in there! Of course, I took a few pregnancy tests but going in and getting everything confirmed by the doctor would make it feel more real. Matthew had a work meeting so my mom tagged along for the appointment. My OB made a joke as she was about to do the sonogram “Now there isn’t any family history of twins?!” My mom and I laughed and said no. I remember my exact words after that, “My husband would have a heart attack!” The sonogram was complete and I was handed a few photos to take home with me, showing just one little healthy baby!

Let’s fast forward to my second trimester, shall we?

I was almost 14-weeks pregnant and it will forever be ingrained in my mind trying on various outfits at Khols with my mom. I was on the hunt for clothes that would fit the small baby bump that was already forming. It was that stage where maternity clothes were not fitting right but neither was my normal clothes. My solution? Nonmaternity clothes in bigger sizes! There was this jean skirt (with a stretchy band) that I was desperately trying to get over my belly and in my mind, I thought “shouldn’t it be taking me longer to show this much?!” I could tell my mom was surprised by the growth of my belly but was trying not to say anything because:

1.) She was there for the sonogram and it was confirmed there was one baby in there!

2.) She knew I would bite her head off because I would take it as I was getting fat. Blunt, but that’s the truth! #pregnancyhormones

My next sonogram would be 20 weeks and that is when we were going to find out the gender of the baby. I could NOT wait! No seriously, I couldn’t! At 16 weeks, my cousin Brittney texted me and asked if I heard of the Mommy Vision Center. There you could find out the gender earlier. Well, that was all I needed to be told! The appointment was scheduled and Matthew and I were going to find out the gender at 17 weeks! Woohoo! We were feeling all the feels but mostly just excited… it was starting to get real! For fun, we decided to plan a small gathering at my parent’s house to have a gender reveal party. It was really just a good excuse to get all our family together! The plan was that after we went to our sonogram we would have the sonographer write down the gender and place it in the envelope that I would then give to my mom. She then was to get a cake from Trefzger’s and the icing would be blue or pink! Sounds simple, right?

Matthew and I arrived at the medical office where I then filled out the required paperwork. I’ll never forget the question asking how many babies were in there. I laughed a little and circled “singleton”. I legitimately thought that question was funny and I have no idea why. The other options were “twins” and “triplets”. Our name was called, it was our turn! We headed down the hallway and made it to our room. I wish I could remember the ladies name that did our sonogram because she was so cool and laidback. I am about to refer to her a lot in the next few paragraphs so let’s call her, Betty! It was about 2 minutes in and Betty looked super confused. Then she turned to Matthew and I and asked, “Wait, why didn’t you write on the paperwork you have two babies in there?” At first, we didn’t react. I politely responded, “No ma’am there is only one baby in there.” Betty then flipped the screen so Matthew and I could see and calmly says “No, look. Here is baby 1 / baby 2… baby 1 / baby 2. There’s two!” In silence, we watched as she switched between babies. One was sucking their thumb and the other was wiggling all over the place!

I heard Matthew softly say “Oh my god.” He stood up really fast and paced back and forth and then sat back down. It was hitting him right then and there but for some reason had not hit me. I looked at Betty and asked “well, do they both look healthy? How do their spines look?” (I was super paranoid about their spines because of my history with scoliosis). Betty looked at me, kind of surprised, and said they looked healthy from what she could see.  Then she said, “I’m surprised you aren’t crying right now!” I was surprised too… but I was in total shock, to be honest! I asked her if this has ever happened to her before while taking a sonogram and she said no… never in her 10 years of doing this. I then asked if I should be mad at my OB (hahaha). She tried to stay professional but made a point of saying “With the technology that we have, this should not have been missed.”

Matthew and I left the office feeling every kind of emotion there was to have. Pure happiness, fear, pressure, excitement, and anger towards our OB. However, I would just like to point out that the initial anger we felt towards our OB then turned into being thankful. If I had known there were twins in my belly since 8 weeks, my anxiety and worry would have been double what it was. Everything happens for a reason! Another feeling that I personally felt was stupidity! How did I not know? I remember laying down and feeling baby movement super early on, I am talking 14-15 weeks and typically I was told it would be more around 18-20 weeks. I called my mom on the phone claiming I felt this and she was like “hmmm are you sure? that just seems too early!” Every little detail adding up to this day all made sense now. What’s even funnier is that we do not know which baby showed up on that first sonogram. We decided that originally there was only was one baby and God blessed us with another because seriously, twins is a freaking blessing. We hit the baby jackpot and are fully aware of that. Every day we ask ourselves how we lucked out with these two.

There you have it! That is how we found out about Oliver and Olivia and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

FYI everytime somebody shares with me that they are pregnant I now always respond “Make sure your OB checks for twins!” Then, I remember my manners and congratulate them! hehe

Happy almost Tuesday- Stay Lively!