Hi my name is Ashley. I am a mother of three beautiful little ladies, Ava who is four, Laila and Leah, my twins who will be one in just two short weeks! My story is just like many other mothers, you wake up super early, you go to bed super late all to make sure everyone is taken care of.
Being a mom of 3 is not easy by any means, especially a mom of a toddler and twins. Two babies at once are crazy! All my girls are miracles and all special in their own way! Ava was two weeks early by induction on the 4th of July, just as the fireworks began. Every year I tell her the fireworks are for her. She is a handful all on her own and a true mommy’s girl. I love it but sometimes you know you want at least 5 minutes to yourself and you can’t tell your baby no when they haven’t seen you all day. She is my first love she holds a special part in my heart. Your first are always special you can’t say favorite, I’m not saying favorite but your experiences are different with them as with all of your children if you have more than one every one of them will be different.
Having twins is a whole other ball game. It’s extremely different. I remember when I found out I was having twins I cried because I was sitting there telling myself how am I going to do this. How will I be able to take care of 3 financially and emotionally? It’s a scary thought, you want to make sure you’re able to provide for them and that’s the only thought I kept thinking am I going to be able to do this. You know the saying, “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have”, has never been more true for me.
I knew my pregnancy with the twins was different from the start even before knowing I was having twins. My body hurt right away. The simple task of getting out bed was growing increasingly more difficult and I didn’t understand why when I didn’t think I was that far long yet. When I did go to the doctor I thought I was only 10 weeks, that’s how I timed it thinking about my last period from what I could remember because I am terrible at keeping track. When I went to my first sonogram I was in for the shock of my life, little did I know I was at the right place for my situation. I ended going to a specialist for my first sonogram because I opted for special testing to check and make sure there were no abnormalities. I remember talking to my husband the night before our sonogram appointment jokingly saying imagine if there were two in there and I laughed it off. So we went the next morning they did the normal vital check. I’m looking at the screen saying wow that’s a really big baby and the tech replies well yes that’s because there are two in there and your 17 weeks not 10 weeks like I thought. I was in such shock I didn’t know what to say, then she says I think we can see the sex of the babies do you want to know right away I saw one girl I knew already from before. At that point I was crossing my fingers that hopefully the other was a boy, and then she hit me it’s another girl. I wanted a boy because I have girls, either way I was happy that they are healthy and growing. During that appointment I also learned that they are identical and they shared a placenta but not the same sack. They were separated by a little membrane. They said that because they shared a placenta that placed me in the high risk pregnancy category. With twins your high risk anyway but now that risk was higher for pretty much anything. I had to see the specialist every 2 weeks because they wanted to make sure the babies were growing evenly. Sharing a placenta the risk of twin to twin transfusion was high that would mean one baby was getting more nutrients that the other.
Ashley Wilson 