Well, friends. It’s been killing me…but I’ve been keeping a BIG secret!

Yes, TWINS!

We were/are just as shocked as you are!

As many of you know, I experienced a miscarriage over the summer. It was really hard. So I share this announcement with sensitivity and love for those of you who are in the waiting for your future baby or experiencing pregnancy loss. My heart breaks for what you’re going through and it is okay to skip this post if it’s not good for you right now.

The past few months have been a WHIRLWIND for our family. From fire evacuations, holiday travel, mudslides, to illness and hospital stays…and in the midst of it all we found out I was pregnant…with twins!

When we went in for the first ultrasound, we were just praying for one heartbeat (something we didn’t get to hear last time around). We were so focused on that ONE heartbeat that we didn’t even consider the fact that there could be TWO! I wish we could have caught our reaction on camera.

I just passed the 18 week mark and here’s a little recap of the first trimester, for those who are curious:

How have you been feeling?

Historically, my first trimesters have always been rough. But surprisingly, this one wasn’t quite as bad as my first two! Don’t get me wrong, I was terribly nauseous, extremely lethargic, and unmotivated as a whole. But given all that we were going through as a family, I don’t think I really had the time to think about it as much. I threw up a few times (only after flying on airplanes), but was mostly just nauseous day in and day out. I’m thankful that has mostly passed!

Any food aversions/cravings?

Just to be consistent with my last pregnancies, I could barely stomach anything healthy! All I wanted was comfort food. And noodles. And bagels. And breakfast burritos (which now sounds awful, haha). Coffee and chocolate (my two favorite things in non-pregnant life) were not appealing in the slightest. I did my best to balance out my indulgence with healthier, more nourishing options. But honestly, between the stress + the travel + the hospital stays with my husband + the evacuations….I was in survival mode. I did my best and tried not to stress about it.

Did you exercise?

Yes! But in very small doses. I’ve been keeping up with regular Pilates workouts and some light weights, but I have been taking it very easy. My energy levels were EXTREMELY low in the first trimester and now I’m dealing with a fair amount of achy-ness and exhaustion my body expands to carry these TWO babies! I’m finding that I get sore much easier and sadly, at the moment, I actually don’t feel great after working out for more than 15-20 minutes. I hope that changes as the weeks go on! But I am being gentle with myself.

Any other symptoms?

Not too many! I’ve had more headaches than usual, but I’m experimenting to see if that’s related to protein intake, water intake, muscle tension or stress…hopefully I’ll have an answer by the time I write my next update. 🙂

Do you know if the twins are fraternal or identical?

We do! They are fraternal, which means they are not identical and they each have their own sac and placenta. This was good news to us, as they are typically lower risk as far as twin pregnancies go (although twin pregnancies are, by nature, “high risk”).

Will you find out the sex?

We will! Stay tuned…

Will this affect our Sisterhood workouts?

No! I have done this long enough to know how to plan ahead for my pregnancies. Many of your upcoming workouts were filmed in advance (they’re in the queue!) and I will film some during my pregnancy as well to beef up our “prenatal friendly” selection. You don’t have to worry about The Balanced Life becoming ALL prenatal workouts. I’ve got you covered and we will continue business as usual. 🙂

It feels so good to finally share this news with you! I was fairly cautious and nervous throughout the first trimester after having recently experienced pregnancy loss, so I wanted to wait until I made it through the first 13 weeks. And then, we hit the ground running with the free challenge and it didn’t feel right to drop that bomb in the middle of that. So here we are. 18 weeks and feeling MUCH bigger than that! 🙂

Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. This is certainly a plot twist that we didn’t expect, but we trust that it’s all a part of God’s perfect plan.

xo,