The Bet

After Christmas we celebrated Colleen's birthday at Ian & Kim's house. While relaxing after dinner Casey jokingly suggested we guess when the babies would be born. To my surprise everyone had an opinion! Their guesses began flying out across the table. Finally Casey grabbed a piece of paper and began taking official notes. Before I knew it, everyone was throwing in $10 to predict the birthdate, weight of each twin, gender and whether I'd deliver natural or c-section. The next morning my dad entered it into an Excel spreadsheet. We've opened it up to our friends and family and so far we have 23 guesses! Who knew my uterus could spur such debate! There's still time to enter the contest, so let me know if you're interested!

Double the Pleasure!

Our first "baby" appointment was Dec 28th. The office told me they don't recommend ultrasounds that early on (I was only 7 1/2 weeks preggo by then). So I told Mike it probably wasn't worth his time just to hang out in the lobby. However, I pursued it a little more when I was there. I asked if they could fit me in for an ultrasound sometime that week if possible. I explained that the whole Hanou family was in town and they'd love to see the first image of the baby. They said they had an opening for 2 o'clock that afternoon if that would work! I called Mike to see if he could make it. He was over at Ian & Kim's unloading the latest Home Depot run. According to Kim, Mike had trouble hiding his excitement!

As we approached the doctor's office, I got a text from dad, he, mom, Sev & Colleen were on their way back from the mountains and wanted to come by the office to wait in the lobby while we saw the baby for the first time. Isn't it just like my family to show up in droves!



It didn't take long for Mike & I to catch on, there was no denying the image on the large screen mounted to the ceiling was not one baby but two!

It wouldn't be right to withhold any information at this point, so I have to tell you the truth. I was a little freaked out! I remember telling the technician - "I really am happy", but telling my brain that was a little harder. I could not stop crying! My wonderful husband on the other hand, never skipped a beat. He was so excited! I remember him kissing me over and over again. And saying things like "I knew I married the right woman!" and "I always wanted a big family". Through my tears I couldn't help laughing and catching his enthusiasm! Even the technician was overcome with joy for us. She asked if she could follow us out to the lobby to observe my families reaction!

And, it goes without saying, EVERYONE is happy for US. The general consensus seems to be, it couldn't have happened to a better couple. I'm not sure what about our personality or lifestyle makes people believe this. Perhaps it's because I'm always taking on too much, or that I'm happiest when the house is full of friends and family, or that I've always said "I think staying home with one baby would be kind of boring". Well - it looks like I'll get to eat my words!

The zillion phone calls made later that afternoon (starting right there in the doctors waiting room!) are all a blurr to me. Kind of like a really long night of drinking! Although I assure you, I haven't had a drink for 6 weeks now! We shared our news with anyone and everyone that night! My dad went and bought Mike a congragulatory bottle of Scotch, Severin bought me flowers (in congratulations and sympathy I believe!). We had 16 friends and family over for an impromptu celebratory party! Even though the night is a blurr, I'll never forget it! As everyone toasted drinks and shared twin stories, I googled as much info as possible on carrying twins successfully!

We're having a baby!

On December 1st Mike and I were blessed with the news we were expecting a baby. The timing was perfect! We had just returned from Thanksgiving in Michigan with Mike's whole family and my mom, dad and Grandpa. We had such a nice trip. Sure, it would have been nice to share the news with everyone in person, but it was also nice to enjoy that life changing news by ourselves. At least for a few hours...

The news travelled fast! We couldn't contain ourselves, calling our parents immediately. The next day we called a few friends and more family. Unfortunately, my local family was hard to get a hold of. Ian, Kim and the kids were in Pennsylvania with her family and getting ready for Bobby Thompsons wedding that weekend. And tracking down Casey was difficult! I really wanted to tell her in person but she was getting ready to go to Pennsylvania too. Mike may never forget me making him drive over to Casey and Robs house at 9:30 at night after he played basketball for two hours earlier that night! But it was worth it. Casey was the only family member on either side that we were able to tell face to face!