The Speculation

It started the night I found out I was pregnant. We did not tell Sam the news, but we did ask him IF he was ever a big brother would he have a baby sister or a baby brother. His response, oh prophetic one he is, was "a baby sister AND a baby brother." Um...okay then! So here we are months later and about to find out if he was indeed correct.


The week is upon us - we find out Monday whether these babies are boys, girls, or one of each. Of course as people in our lives hear about the appointment there is always speculation. It is always funny to me the kind of questions people ask. The most frequent one is, "what do you want?" I'll be honest here: There are benefits and drawbacks to any answer.


If they are both boys I will save a ton of money on clothes, considering we have about 5 bins tucked away already just waiting. We have boy toys, boy sports gear, just boy stuff in general. The logical drawback then is that I will be living in a HOUSE OF ALL BOYS. Please help me now. :) It is kind of funny to think about living with boys. Those of you know me well can see how truly entertaining this will be. I like my "kids" clean. I'm laughing as I write this, but I really do. We've so ingrained this into Sam since he was born that he actually requests wipes and holds his hands up on his way to the bathroom to wash them after eating or crafts, etc. He just doesn't really like being dirty. I love that about him. But the chances are that three boy children may be a big cleaning challenge. Okay, DEFINITELY will be a big cleaning challenge. I'm up for it, don't get me wrong. I just need to mentally prepare for this! I also kind of feel sorry for their future wives if they are boys....I'm just not the typical female they will encounter in life....and I'm totally okay with that. I am very stoic and even unemotional about a lot of things. They are going to have a hard time dealing with overly sensitive women in their future, I think!!!! On the plus side, my boys (if there really are going to be three boys!) will be raised in a house where the mom is strong and does domestic stuff but also the professional stuff too, and the general household duties are shared happily by both parents.....so maybe their future wives will enjoy that the boys share in the fun of managing a home!


Whew....so onto the girls. Oh, girls. If these babies are both girls, I may well actually cry. My wish is for these babies to be healthy, whatever gender they are. But there's something about having a sister who is my best friend and thinking about the prospect of bringing two baby girls into the world to have each other forever...it just chokes me up a bit. On the flip side, girls will be SO much more expensive in every way and I hear from my friends who have girls that they are more temperamental, sassy and just downright overwhelming at times. I don't know how well I will deal with the emotional side of having girls. I tend to think instead of feel , and while I can see how that has made me very strong, in raising girls, I can also see how it would have its drawbacks. I just have a hard time relating to volatile emotional responses to life!!! And then adding TWO at a time to that....wow.

At this point, we are operating under the assumption from the first ultrasound that the twins are identical, which would mean that they are either both boys or both girls. The ultrasound tech did say she was fairly certain, but we hope to know "for sure" at this Monday appointment. Basically, there is just one placenta and two amniotic sacs as far as they can tell. Part of me is really hoping that they are NOT identical, because there are so many serious health risks with identical twins. Either way, it is pointless to worry about. It is what God made it and we're just waiting to see what he has in store at this point!


So now onto the speculation. Pretty much everyone I know is telling me they think these babies are both girls. With Sam I did not have a feeling any way whatsoever, but honestly this time I think about the babies as "he's" - I don't know why! I just do!! Maybe it is because they are...or maybe it is because since I had Sam that's what I know and how I referred to him so it is just natural! (I will interject here though that everyone thought "boy" with Sam and they were right!) I haven't had any dreams either way and Ben doesn't have a feeling either. So now it is T minus 3 days and counting until we can stop speculating and rejoice whatever the news!


In the end the thing that matters most to me is that these babies are born healthy. Boy, girl, matters not to me at all. My true answer to the speculation when people ask my preference is that I hope for two healthy babies. I just cannot wait to hold two happy, healthy babies in my arms, breathing in their new baby smell and (yes actually) shedding a tear or two at the amazing journey we have made it through.


We keep telling Sam the twins will be here sometime before Christmas and the snow. Now let's see if Sam was right about one boy and one girl. It wouldn't be the first time he predicted big news!