Double The Fun

I'm Brianne and I am a local TV producer and videographer in York Region. My job enables me to share stories and experiences with my viewers. At the age of 32 I am now writing a new chapter of my own...I'm a first time expectant mommy of not only one but two bundles of joy! The journey hasn't been an easy one. It's included a devastating miscarriage, infertility fears, followed by the unexpected yet amazing news that my husband and I will be welcoming twins in the spring. I started writing my blogs as a way to share my experiences, the good and the bad, as well as a way to help other moms and dads out there that might be going through something similar.

The amount of support you receive surrounding the birth of your child, or in our case children, can really make or break you. In my case, I had always known that my husband was a strong man and a wonderful partner but I had no idea how much I would rely on him and just how supportive he would be. During labour he was right by my side in the operating room cheering me on and keeping me focused. Being a cameraman I shouldn't have been surprised...

For those who have never been in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit one way to describe the sights and sounds would be very much like a casino: lots of bells ringing and lights flashing. Giving birth to babies at just 31.4 weeks gestation definitely means a stay in the NICU for an undetermined period of time. Seeing our girls in their incubators for the first time was a surreal experience. They were so tiny and looked so fragile. The first...

I have to start this blog with a warning to any pregnant women out there. I'm not writing this with the intention of freaking anyone out, just sharing my birthing experience, which was anything but textbook. I had been in labour for close to 24 hours when they wheeled me into the operating room to deliver the twins at just 31 weeks and four days gestation. I had had enough time to get two rounds of steroids for the twins' lung development...

I had gotten used to pregnancy gas pains for the past 31 weeks. Not just regular gas but excruciating gas pains that had me doubled over at times. On the night of March 1st while in bed reading, I started to feel these pains once again. This time however, they were so strong they would wake me up every hour. I should mention that the day before this, I had gone for my regular bi-weekly ultrasound. Due to my placenta previa scare they...

As soon as I found out we were expecting twins a lot of things changed. At the 12 week mark my doctor's visits to the GP became trips to the OB. I became a regular at the ultrasound technician's office getting multiple photo's of my babies-to-be. Twins, in our case mono-di twins, meant I was a high risk pregnancy. Being high risk, especially following my miscarriage, meant trusting my OB completely in all aspects of the pregnancy including...

You're always told that pregnant women have a 'glow' to them. Their hair is fuller, their nails are longer and their skin is better than it's ever been before. They never tell you about the women who don't have these miraculous things happen. I was faced with some very different changes. The bottom half of my face around my chin erupted with what I thought was pregnancy acne. I spoke to many of my girlfriends who had been pregnant and only...

I know every woman is different when it comes to being able to keep her pregnancy a secret. Some can hide it with ease, others don't want to hide it and share their news right away. For me, because of our miscarriage, I was very nervous to share my news too soon, but I also didn't want the stress of trying to hide it like the first time around. So we decided to tell our immediate family and our best friends right away…but we didn't tell them...

I know that the doctor in the ER had told us there was a possibility of twins, but after experiencing one miscarriage and then having a huge scare thinking we were going through it all over again, all that my husband and I really focused on was when he said "Yes, you're still pregnant…" As I mentioned, my husband and I really didn't think we were having twins. The doctor had said there was a possibility, but that it could just be debris…...

Needless to say the last year hadn’t been an easy one for me and my husband, but we had finally received the news that we had been waiting for. We had finally conceived once again. I didn’t feel any different, not even a little. I didn’t feel sick or tired and I was able to cook and eat just about everything. I was really enjoying this pregnancy. At the six week mark I started to feel nauseous. I remember driving in my car going to...

The one thing I have come to realize over the past year is just how amazing the human body really is. It’s smart enough to know when something isn’t right with a pregnancy and ends it before doctors even detect that something’s wrong. It refuses to let you conceive before you are truly ready to handle the stress that comes with pregnancy…no matter how much you wish it would happen sooner. After almost a year of trying after my...

Having a D&C can take quite a toll on a person. Aside from the aches and pains following the procedure, I didn’t feel like I knew my body anymore. I couldn’t eat certain foods and drinking milk quickly became a thing of the past. I started a gentle cleanse consisting of raw/organic foods and drinking an ounce of boiled parsley and ginger root for almost a month. Yuck. I never did get my ‘old self’ back but I found a way of...

I should have expected that it would happen. My group of girlfriends and I all got married within two years of each other. Almost immediately following the vows came the question “So, when are you planning on having kids?” So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when my best friend announced to me on my 30th Birthday that she was expecting her first baby in the summer. All it took was one to get the ball rolling. Within 12 weeks my next...