It's a [Gender]! And Another [Gender]!

Tuesday was the big gender reveal day. We were lucky that both babies were cooperative, too. In case you're wondering why I haven't posted recently, Mark's mom was in Toronto so we weren't able to talk to her, and we wanted her to hear the news on the phone before reading it here.

Anyway, drumroll please...

We're having a boy and a girl!

I didn't really want to say my preference in my last post but I was hoping for one of each. I'm sure I would have been happy with any combination, I just felt like hoping for anything beyond healthy babies was asking for too much. And really, I still feel that way - having one of each is just icing on the healthy baby cake.

Remember how I thought Twin A (alien twin) was a girl and Twin B (photo crashing twin) was a boy? Turns out I totally had those mixed around. The technician saw Twin A and immediately said, "You want to know the gender right?" I paused and timidly said "yes." "It's a boy," she said. "He's showing me his scrotum right now." Then she checked on Twin B and saw the distinctive set of three white dots between her legs that indicate it's a girl.

I looked over at Mark and smiled. He knew I was hoping for a boy and a girl and he smiled and rubbed my hand. (Mark didn't have any preference at all by the way. He said he really was happy with whatever we got, which is a really healthy attitude.)


I'm still smiling several minutes after hearing the genders. Right after Mark took this picture the technician gave Mark a no flash photography beat down.

While Mark drove me back to work, I called my parents so Mark could hear me tell them the news. My mom knew why I was calling and despite my dad warning her in the background the whole time that she needed to get over to the offramp on some Memphis freeway lest they get killed (they're driving across country right now), she stayed on the phone to find out the results.

Of course I teased them with my news. This is what I said:

We're having two...
babies.
One's a boy and the other's a...
nother baby.
A girl.

This is how Mark told his mom:
We know the sexes. Do you want to guess them?
Two girls?
Nope.
Two boys?
Nope.
One of each?
What does that mean exactly?
A boy and a girl.
Nope. It's a girl and a boy.

It's no fun having children if you can't torment your parents when you tell them exciting news.

Also, my due date was moved up to Jan. 6th. Not sure how this technician and technician Wayne calculated my date of ovulation as being earlier than it occurred (since I know the date of conception), but okay...

A lot of people have asked me why we wanted to know the genders before birth. Someone else (who, I'm not sure) once told me there would be enough surprises on the big day and we'd know eventually anyway. (Also, Mark hates surprises and if he can know something he wants to know it... NOW.) It's easier to prepare, too, and now that I know there's one of each I can start buying matching outfits in boy and girl colors.


Twin A hanging out upside down like a bat with his head near the birth canal.


Twin B's head kept blocking the view of Twin A (continuing its trend of being the photo crashing twin). The technician said Twin B was "posing." She had to jiggle Twin B to try to get her to move out of the way. Twin B was having none of it. She turned over and then rolled right back a second later to where she was before.


I have no idea what I'm looking at. Is it a zombie?

Hopefully not Twin B.

Twin A shows off his scrotum.

The spines in these two photos are pretty cool.


Congratulations Dr. and Mrs. Pilloff! It's a boomerang!
Actually this is the photo that indicates the sex of Twin B. See the inside curve of that boomerang? There are three tiny lines showing a developing vagina.

Twin A's scrotum from a different angle. Our technician said, "He really likes to show me his scrotum."
Like father like son? (Mark says, "NO, NOT AT ALL LIKE FATHER LIKE SON.")

Between having a relatively painless pregnancy so far, two babies that appear healthy (I haven't mentioned but my second blood test was good, too), and carrying a boy and a girl, I feel very very fortunate. That's not even mentioning Mark getting rear ended on the freeway a month ago and emerging totally unscathed. (Our Prius on the other hand required $18,000 worth of repairs.)