Saturday, January 24, 2009

on waiting

It seems like a greater-than-average proportion of my life is spent waiting lately. The days seemed to last forever back in October and November, when we knew we were pregnant, then knew it was TWINS, and were still waiting to tell people. I checked books and websites religiously to see how much the babies were growing every week--first they were the size of the head of a pin...then a poppy seed...then a sesame seed... It was amazing the week they hit an inch long. I think that was 8 weeks or so.

So there is the waiting to tell people, along with the waiting to be out of the "danger zone" of the first trimester. And the waiting until you finally feel pregnant, and finally LOOK pregnant. The waiting to feel them move. And then the waiting until you can find out what they are. And, different but still substantial, the waiting at doctor's appointments! We spent two and a half hours on Wednesday waiting for a ten-minute appointment--and that has not been the first time, nor will it be the last. As time gets closer and I have more frequent appointments and ultrasounds, I don't even want to think about how much I'll be there. I may take a cue from another patient next time and bring dinner...

But the ultimate paradox is that this process of making human beings goes by ridiculously fast. The pregnancy is halfway over. A very short time ago our lives were very different, and a very short time from now our lives will be indistinguishable from anything we've known before. The babies have gone from poppy seeds to nearly a pound apiece. They have gone from a vague, are-you-kidding idea to a very real, very tiny little boy and girl. And my stomach... well, let's not even go there. It's only going to get worse. Fast!

For now, more waiting. I am glad for it though. Good things take time.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

on discovering a winky

Here is the video from our 17.5 week sonogram. We added a little music and a few labels to help you know what you're looking at (and because we realize that you, unlike us, will probably not be enraptured by 6 minutes of grainy images of our babies without a little music to pass the time). Enjoy!