It was so exciting today when we went for our twelve week scan! I diligently drank the required litre of water first thing in the morning and then Tim and I sat patiently and waited in the maternity building for our scan. My eyes were wandering around the room, trying to compare tummy sizes, and quite relieved that there were women there for their 20 week scans who were definitely showing more than my 12 week belly! Waiting for the scan was the hardest part. I was desperate for the loo and kept looking across at the toilet where they had posted a prohibitive sign “DO NOT USE BEFORE YOUR SCAN”. That’s all well and good, but they were running about an hour behind schedule and my bladder was at bursting point! I think all the women were feeling the pressure. Every time someone in uniform came into the waiting room all eyes turned expectantly and gave the uniform their full attention.

One pregnant lady came back into the waiting room looking a bit dazed. She sat down. “I’m having twins!” she whispered. A midwife sat with her for a little while. “She’s had a little bit of a shock” she explained. Finally, it was our turn. We went into the room and the sonographer put the gel on my tummy. She started to do the scan and then told me that my bladder was too full. “Goodness, you must have good bladder control,” she said. “Can you go and half empty it?”. Hmm, not sure how much is half empty when it comes to one’s bladder. It’s a lot easier when you keep filling your glass up from a 1 litre jug of water – but there were no helpful markings on my bladder. I went to the loo and achieved what felt like semi-relief. When I returned, Tim was telling the sonographer how I was in the habit of nibbling Bitesize Shredded Wheat (without the milk) in bed. I’m not sure what else he’d told her about my pregnancy! I plonked myself back on the couch, half expecting to see little Shredded Wheat floating around inside my stomach – but instead we could see our little baby! “Just the one in there” said the sonographer (who had just diagnosed the twins). I kind of felt a sense of relief, mixed with concern that I’d been so hungry just because of one tiny little baby.

We could see the little heartbeat but our baby was very chilled out. “It’s asleep” said the sonographer, looking disappointed. “Let’s try and wake it up a bit!” she said as she bounced the thing up and down on my tummy. Thank goodness I’d just gone to the loo. Our little baby wasn’t so keen on moving about, so after a while they took pity on me. The tummy pummeling stopped and the scan was officially over. They said our baby was 11 weeks 6 days old which tied in well with what I thought (11 weeks 4 days). It was a wonderful feeling to have the pregnancy officially confirmed and to see our little alien-looking baby on the screen.

Today is Mothers’ Day in the UK (well, I should say Mothering Sunday as I have a Nanna who highly disapproves of the term ‘Mothers’ Day’ and insists that all of her children send her Mothering Sunday cards – but as she doesn’t use the internet I think I’m safe!) and it has dawned on me that this is the last Mothers’ Day before I become a mother. All Mothers’ Days from now on will be different! We drove down to where my brother got married last year and went out for a lovely family lunch. I’m only 11 weeks pregnant but my belly looked well-rounded even before I had lunch! One of my Nannas patted my stomach and said “Ooh Ruth, go careful love!”. I can’t help it that my belly totally seems to have a mind of its own! I normally have a fairly slim waist. My brother and sister-in-law had bought me a sweet ‘Mother-to-be’ card which was really lovely. My mother-in-law had also bought me one, as well as giving me some preventative stretch mark cream! I’m sure I’ll talk about the cream at some point… It’ll definitely be going on the belly sooner rather than later!

Well all this talk about big bumps has concerned me, so I’ve turned to the internet to try and shed some light on the matter. Maybe my bits are all just arranged a bit differently or something? I’ve been trying to find pictures of people who are pregnant with twins and seem to have my body type. To be honest it’s not that easy. I’ve not found that many photos of early pregnant bellies. But I’m definitely showing, when according to most things I’ve read my uterus should be really low down at the moment and hiding away.

I’ve looked at some of the ‘how do you know it’s twins’ type articles but it’s kind of inconclusive. Perhaps my baby is just floating around in an Olympic sized swimming pool enjoying the space? The thought of twins excites me as well as unnerves me. I’ve seen friends trying to cope with one baby – but two?! I’ve seen Octomom on TV but she has an army of helpers! I’ve been on some forums where everyone says that twins are double the fun. But it also sounds like a lot of hard work. Oh well, the way I look at it is that what we get is what we’re meant to have. So I’m going to try not to think about it!

We didn’t really want to rush into telling people our good news but the 60^th birthday seemed like the best time to tell our parents and grandparents about our baby. A lot of people wait until twelve weeks; some people announce it as soon as they know that they’re pregnant. I guess by chance, we’ve fallen somewhere in-between. We’ve also told some close friends but will wait until we’ve had the dating scan to tell uncles and aunties and cousins etc. Everyone asks about the scan anyway so it’ll save a few phonecalls and emails to have all the information to hand!

My parents were really pleased to discover that they’re going to be grandparents and Tim’s mum was simply overwhelmed when she opened a birthday card with ‘Nanna’ on it – and the penny dropped! Telling his parents was an emotional moment.

The next day we had lunch with all three Nannas as well as my brother and his wife and told them our news. My brother had already guessed (because we seemed to be seeing a lot of family in one weekend) and was very excited to know he was going to be an uncle! I think that this baby already has a lot to be grateful for. We have family and friends who love us and will support us now we’ve taken this step and are going to have a family. Now that the bump is no longer in disguise it is causing speculation. I’ve told everyone that I’ve gone up two trouser sizes and bought bras twice. My bump is too big a bump for a first pregnancy apparently. What’s going on in there? I think I’m having a baby elephant. It feels like it at least!