Congratulations!!! It's...

Twins!!!! My prayer was answered and I was ecstatic. I fought infertility and I won! I would never have to go through what I went through again. Leo was happy but nervous. I think he still thought about Nico's labor and wondered how in the world I would do it with two. I was a regular on the website I wrote about and there were a lot of scary things that could still happen. My biggest fear when I first found out was "the vanishing twin". My doctor looked at me like I was crazy when at 9 weeks, when he was releasing me to my regular obstetrician, I asked him if I was still pregnant with twins and did I still have to worry about a vanishing twin? He said "Uh...you, my dear, are having twins...enjoy." I had really bad morning sickness and Nico was almost 3 so it wasn't easy. Another thing you should never say to someone that suffered through infertility or really any pregnant woman is, "I don't know why you are complaining. You wanted this." Of course I wanted to be pregnant but no one wants migraines, puking or sciatic nerve pain. That always bugged me when I heard that.

Leo and I took Nico to Disney World with my sister and her family. I was 5 months pregnant and though it was hard, it was fun. We went to a Beauty and the Beast play where they asked for volunteers for some of the parts. It was really quiet and all of a sudden I heard Nico say, "I'll do it!" He was 3 and marched up on the stage to play Gaston in front of a large crowd of people. They asked him to show his muscles and he did and everyone laughed and he wasn't scared at all. Then they looked out in the crowd and picked out Leo to be the Beast. It still goes down as one of the proudest moments seeing both of them up there. I remember being truly happy. Then, when it was over, Nico threw one of the biggest fits of his little life. I turned to Leo and said, "We are raising a monster." The moment was over.

Around this time, Nico developed a cough that was only at night. I took him in and the doctor said it was allergies and put him on medicine. That seemed to work so I didn't give it another thought.

We played around with names for the twins and if we were having two boys, we were going to name them Thomas Ernest after my Papa and my dad and grandpa and Joseph Rocco after Leo's grandfather and my great grandfather (grandfathers aside for this one, I just really liked the name). If we were having two girls, we could not agree. Leo loved the name Jessie and Jenna. I loved the name Alyssa. I loved Kylie and Kayla. For a boy and a girl, we had no idea. On June 22, we went in for the ultrasound. I was so nervous. The day before, I ran into a friend from high school that I had not seen for a long time and when I told her I was having twins she said, "Oh, are you afraid they will be conjoined?" Well, I wasn't until she said something. Just another example of when you don't know what to say, you shouldn't say anything. Anyway, the technician asked if we wanted to know what we were having and we said yes but first I needed to throw up. I don't know if it was because it was taking a long time and I was flat on my back or because she was about to tell us something that would have a major impact on our lives. I was either going to be the mom of 3 boys, a boy and two girls or two boys and a girl. Why that would make me nervous, I don't know. I threw up, collected myself and went back on the table. She said, this one right here is a boy. I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yay! Nico will have a little brother." Then she said, "This one is a girl." I wasn't ready for the show of emotion that poured out of me. Being from a family of all girls, I always wanted all boys. I really thought she was going to say I was having twin boys and I would have been fine with that. I just didn't know how much I wanted a girl until she told me I was having one. She said everything looked good as far as she could tell us and to go home and relax. I did feel sad a little that we weren't going to have a Joseph Rocco and then Leo and I proceeded to argue about names until the 11th hour. We almost had a Tommy and Taylor when one night we were watching Sopranos and there was a character on it named Isabella. We looked at each other and said, "That's it." I let him think he came up with the name but really it was mutual.

We went to Door County and Nico really struggled with his cough but only at night so we brought him to the doctor wanting stronger cough medicine. What we got was a referral for an allergist and orders for tests to rule anything major out. I saw what some of the tests were for and asked the doctor, "Some of these are really scary. Should I be worried that he has any of these?" She assured us that he might have asthma and the specialist were going to run these tests anyway so I should just get them done but she didn't think he had any of them. In fact, after his x-ray, she called, along with her physician's assistant and said, "No rush to get the sweat test. I just talked to the radiologist and I looked at the x-ray and he has the lungs of a child that has asthma." I told her we had an appointment on July 16th for the sweat test and she said to keep it but that it wasn't an emergency.

When I say that the events that followed were blindsiding, that is a huge understatement. It's proof that in a minute, your whole life as you know it can be changed forever.