Our Story: The Day Arrives

It was finally the day of the Christmas party for my family. I framed a 5 by 7 photo of the "oops picture" and wrapped it. I also had a 5 by 7 of the two black dots ultrasound framed and wrapped. The plan was to give them both to my mom as a gift and have the whole family watching.

It had to be strategic. One sister knew already. I had to tell her how we were breaking the news so she wouldn’t spoil it with the mention of twins. The plan was to have the oops picture opened, happy and disbelief and excitement and congratulations and then break the big news. One more picture turned out and we wanted to show you.

The family congregated: my grandmother, my mother, her twin sister my aunt, both of my sisters, a sister’s boyfriend, Ryan and me. I told my mom it was nothing big, just the photo shoot pictures that had turned out well. I’m surprised that everyone was so interested. Maybe it was because Ryan was video recording the goings-on. Maybe that drew everyone’s attention. None the less, it was showtime.

Mom unwrapped the present. Looked at it and said, “Is this a joke?” I had tested negative at the doctors office after all. We went to lunch that day and I told her how I was relieved, yet disappointed. She thought maybe I lied and really was pregnant. At that time, I thought I wasn’t.

Hugs and laughter and tears all around. The questions start: How far along? When are you due? How are you feeling? Which OBGYN? Was it planned? The whole gamut of questions. I was trying to not let the word “babies” come out.

Things calm down and everyone is satisfied that the excitement is over. Boy, were they wrong. I yelled aloud that I had one more picture that turned out well and it’s no big deal but that I want everyone to see. Again, I have everyone’s attention. Mom excitedly opens the second ‘no big deal’ framed picture.

The ultrasound picture is revealed. A gasp. “How far along are you?” Only seven weeks. She has the same excited and unknowing look on her face that Ryan had when he first saw the ultrasound. I thought, being a NICU nurse, she’d know. I use the finger circling each black dot method and say, “That’s a baby. And that’s a baby.”

She grabs her chest and almost falls backwards into the living room. She starts sobbing and kissing the glass of the frame. “TWINS? I love them already. They are so beautiful!” It was exactly the reaction I expected, but better. I knew the twins thing would make its mark for her. She loves being a twin. That her very first grandchild would be grandchildren was quite special also. But I think what made it special for me, was knowing that I could now share something with my mother that she had wondered about her whole life: the early years of what raising twins is like.

She hugged me and we both cried and sobbed. I took the frame from her hands and turned it out to face the group. I don’t know who grabbed it first, but everyone had a look. I got more hugs, more tears, more laughter, more congratulations.

It was a great day.


Here is the video Ryan took of the event. (It was the video setting on our digital camera, so it's pretty fuzzy.)