Two Lines, Two Babies

We knew that trying for a baby could take months, so we had agreed not to get our hopes up or expect it to happen straight away.

Then, suddenly, much to our delight—and surprise—bam! We were pregnant.

We both felt incredibly lucky. Starting this journey in our thirties, we knew that getting pregnant could sometimes take time, so for it to happen so quickly came as a complete shock.

Because it was still so early, we started out using some inexpensive pregnancy test strips (paid link) from Amazon.

Before long, though, the excitement got the better of us, and we switched to Clearblue digital pregnancy tests (paid link) for a more definite answer.

For a whole week, we tested every day—sometimes more than once—because we couldn’t quite believe it. We were so excited and wanted to make sure it was all really happening.

We knew that the best time to take a pregnancy test, particularly so early on, is first thing in the morning. Even after several positive tests, it still took a while for the news to sink in.

We had agreed that we would wait until the 12-week scan before telling anyone.

The first trimester can feel particularly uncertain, and we thought we would be more comfortable sharing the news once we had reached that first big milestone.

Our plan to wait 12 weeks didn’t quite go as expected.

We lasted… about two hours.

We shared the news with our families by sending them a photo of one of the positive Clearblue digital pregnancy tests. To this day, we’re not sure who was more shocked—us or them!

Everyone was so happy, and sharing the news with our families was one of those moments that made everything start to feel real.

At seven weeks, we booked a Viability Scan at Window to the Womb, hoping to see that the pregnancy was developing as expected.

It is a very strange feeling when the sonographer points towards a fuzzy black-and-white image on a screen and tells you that the tiny shape you are looking at is your baby.

At that stage, we could only see a small gestational sac and an even smaller embryo with the yolk sac attached to it.

We were lucky enough to see our baby’s heartbeat. It was so much faster than we expected, and for a moment we were completely caught up in the relief and happiness of knowing that everything appeared to be progressing well.

Then, the sonographer directed our attention back towards the screen.

First, he showed us the image labelled:

“Baby.”

Then, the screen changed.

“Baby 2.”

Twins.

We could not believe it.

For about a year before the pregnancy, jokes had been made about us ending up with twins. We had laughed along, never seriously believing it might happen.

But there we were, staring at two tiny embryos on the screen.

Our excitement was quickly mixed with uncertainty.

Only one of the embryos had a visible heartbeat. The second was measuring slightly smaller, which we were told was not necessarily uncommon at such an early stage, but there was no heartbeat that could be seen.

We were given two options.

We could return for another private scan in two weeks to reassess the viability of the second embryo, or we could contact our GP and ask to be referred to the NHS Early Pregnancy Unit.

We left the scan stunned.

We had gone in hoping to see one healthy pregnancy and walked out having discovered that there were two babies, while also not knowing whether both would continue to develop.

After the scan, we retreated to a nearby McDonald’s to try to process everything that had just happened.

While sitting in the drive-through queue, we began video-calling our families.

“Twins!” we announced, half laughing as we said it.

Nobody believed us at first. They assumed it was another joke, but it definitely wasn’t.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the second baby, we wanted our families to know. We had just received enormous, life-changing news, and keeping it completely to ourselves didn’t feel possible.

We shared both parts of the scan: the excitement of discovering two embryos and the worry that only one heartbeat had been seen.

Once again, we spent the rest of the day sitting together on the sofa in stunned disbelief.

Only this time, all the questions had doubled.

What would we need? How would we manage two babies? What would our lives look like now?

At the same time, there was a cloud hanging over the excitement. We did not know whether the second baby was simply developing slightly behind or whether something was wrong.

We decided not to wait two weeks for another private scan. Instead, we contacted our GP and asked for a referral to the NHS Early Pregnancy Unit.

A week later, we had an appointment for another scan.

Unfortunately, at the Early Pregnancy Unit scan, the second embryo was measuring even smaller than it had at the previous scan, and there was still no heartbeat.

We had lost our second baby.

It was an incredibly difficult day, with a lot of tears.

In the space of a week, we had discovered that we were expecting twins, started imagining what our lives with two babies might look like and then lost that future almost as quickly as it had appeared.

We were not only grieving the baby we had lost. We were also grieving the picture of our future that we had already started creating in our minds.

Alongside the grief came guilt. We were heartbroken about the baby we had lost, while also knowing how fortunate we were that our other baby was healthy and continuing to grow well.

It was difficult to know how to hold both of those feelings at the same time. We were grieving one baby while still feeling grateful and hopeful for the other.

There is no simple or correct way to process something like that. We just had to give ourselves time to feel everything that came with it.

In time, our attention slowly returned to the pregnancy that was continuing. Our baby was growing well, and the 12-week scan became our next major milestone.

While we waited, we decided to try an early gender blood test.

These tests are advertised as being highly accurate when taken from the recommended stage of pregnancy. A testing pack arrived through the post containing everything we needed.

Using the device provided, we took a small pin-prick sample of blood from the arm, packaged it up and sent it back to the laboratory.

These tests are advertised as being highly accurate when taken from the recommended stage of pregnancy. A testing pack arrived through the post containing everything we needed.

Using the device provided, we took a small pin-prick sample of blood from the arm, packaged it up and sent it back to the laboratory.

Then came another wait. When the result finally arrived, we opened it together.

After everything that had happened during those early weeks, finding out that we were having a little girl gave us something happy and exciting to focus on.

Suddenly, the baby we had been seeing as a tiny shape on a screen began to feel even more real.

Naturally, this also sent the baby-name conversations into overdrive.

The 12-week scan would be our next major milestone, but until then, what were we supposed to do?

Our heads were still filling with questions.

What would we need? What should we buy first? What could wait? How could we begin preparing when everything still felt so new and uncertain?

This is where one of our most important early tips comes in:

Start planning!

You don’t need to buy everything immediately. In fact, just writing things down and putting together a baby wishlist can help turn some of those overwhelming questions into something much more manageable.

In our next article, we will share how we started our baby wishlist, what we originally thought we needed, what it turned out we actually did need and what we learned along the way.