Wow

I am overwhelmed and so touched by all of your good wishes. I am also flattered that some of you think I have something better to do with my time than read every comment and get all weepy with each one; calling Steve over to enjoy them too. Thank you so much. You have made my hard times easier to bear with your sympathy and my long-awaited HAPPY that much happier with your joy.

Grateful, humbled, happy - that's me.

When I first decided to do the REDBOOK thing I consulted extensively with alittlepregnant Julie. She told me to go for it but to never, ever write one of those posts here that read (in its entirety): New post up at REDBOOK! or she would curse me and my typing fingers would swell to even more improbable dimensions. When the person who has brought the world the definitive treatise on Mammography and the Play-Doh Form gives you a direction like that you do not question it. You just obey.

So this is just to say thank you so much. And to let you know that if you do go over to the REDBOOK site I have a post up describing the details of the Big Call - what they said, what I said, what Steve did, and what everyone smelled like at the time. Also, what my future is with them now that things are finally finally looking promising. If you want to check it out.

Tomorrow I might just write a pregnancy post here. Or tonight even. You know, about my normal pregnancy and how normal it is. Hot cha cha!    

Comments

[Accidental Poet]

Julia I just can NOT stop crying about this. I have prayed and prayed and prayed for you. I just about lost my ever-loving mind when someone introduced the concept of microdeletions into this mix ...

I've wanted to say, too, that I have two adopted children and I can see one of my children refusing to adopt, when she is of an age to consider it, because at the very core of her, my long-hoped for, much treasured child feels given away.

So SO delighted for you.

Susan

[Ginger]

Julia, I only "met" you from Redbook. But I can truly say that I am so very very happy for you. Like you said over at Redbook, I feel like you are one of my old college friends. Hugs and Prayers for a wonderful future.

Ginger

[carosgram]

You handled the Redbook posts with grace and style! Of course you are always a great read as you write beautifully. I love hearing about Patrick, he is an exceptional child. I am kind of superstitious so all I will say about this pregnancy is that I am so happy that NBHHY.

[Sarah]

I read the previous post last night at about 10:30 and just about screamed with joy. Right when I thought this week was cursed, something so amazing happens that it turns everything around.

Congratulations, Julia. Only the best for you-- you definitely deserve it. :)

[Bonnie]

Over the past couple of years that I have been reading your blog, I have occasionally shared your cute stories of Patrick with my family. My 11-year-old daughter, Annabelle, is a huge Patrick fan, and a little over a week ago, we found ourselves in a hotel room with a laptop computer, an internet connection, and a lot of time on our hands. I searched through your blog for some of my favorite Patrick moments (e.g., the alphabet french fries, demonstrating his madd reading skillz at Sears, singing Les Miz from his heart), and I read them all out loud to her.

One of the things that makes me happiest in your joyous news is how many great new Patrick stories Annabelle and I can look forward to as Patrick assumes his new role of "big brother."

Congratulations to all of you!

[Kathleen]

I cannot wait to fall asleep in the middle of one of your pregnancy update posts because it is so damn normal.

Thank you for sharing the journey thus far, it's been a privledge.

[Aurelia]

I am very very happy for you Julia, this really is the best possible news, y'know being NORMAL, hahahaha.

And please let Steve know how happy I am for him as well. I'm sure he has felt badly about all this over the years, and maybe even felt like he had to give into using donor sperm. If you would have had to, well, you have too, but instead technology has finally given you both your dream. As a fellow adoptee, I get it.

So, what does Patrick think about all this?

[victoria]

So, the center of gravity of my emotion life seems to be righteous indignation. I'm always getting outraged about SOMETHING. So, true to form, even in the midst of all this tearful joy on your behalf, I find myself wondering, Why didn't the genetics counselor or perinatologist -- someone who was able to read the results CALL YOU THE MINUTE THEY FOUND OUT? Is it possible they did not realize you were crawling out of your skin?

I realize that in the larger scheme of things, this is a pretty small complaint. But geez, did they not have a clue?

[jana]

I'm so glad you linked to Julie's mammogram playdoh wonder. I laughed so hard at that!

[Jessica]

I can't even begin to say how happy I am that you finally get to write a post about your oh so normal pregnancy.
See the French are right. 13 is a lucky number.

[Penny]

Your attitude is oozing right through! Love it.

Still thrilled about the normalness of yous. (I don't care if those are words!)

I never comment, and now I do 2 in a row? What happened to me?

[jessica]

I think anyone who undergoes something as gruesome as having a needle stuck...what was it- 6, 7 inches? into her stomach, then rotated for a second go deserves to have her every wish granted.

[Lisa B]

Sweet pregnant-with-twins Julia, I'll be having pie (from the Pie Goddess!) and wine in your honor this weekend. And Steve's. And Patrick's. And the lucky lucky number 13. I can't stop grinning in your honor.

[Denise]

Julia,
I am just soooooo happy for you. I have a tear trickling down my face as I am reading your very normal pregnancy. I have never known anyone more deserving of a normal pregnacy and a healthy child than you... and now you will have 2 healthy children. I wish you the absolute best! And I'm so glad Steve was there with you sitting on the floor... that's just too sweet. Congratulations to you all and I can't wait to hear all about your normal pregnancy!!!!

[Jo in Utah]

I am so thrilled for you. I won't stop crossing my fingers until they are both here safe and sound, but you are on track for that! Amazing. I didn't leave a comment on Normal, instead, I called Eliza and shrieked, "did you read it, did you read it??" She informed me she felt too rotten to roll out of bed, so I got to read it to her instead. Much shrieking and happiness ensued as we both rejoiced.

[Nicky]

I have congratulated you here and at ReDBoOk but I can't get enough of doing it so I'm glad you like to read those sorts of comments! I can't wait to read more about Patrick, and you being pregnant, and what it's like as you start to fill up with babies and waddle around. Hooray to you all :-)

[Yatima]

Hey dude do you think everyone who blogs for the Infertility Diaries will have twins? 'Cause then the infertility blogosphere could just cycle through it to their happy endings.

And THAT WOULD ROCK.

I would read it for ever and ever.

[Slim]

Every time you write "Hot cha cha" I think of Agnes Gump, who also got pregnant. Maybe it's the magical phrase.

When do we get to start naming the 13s? When do we all learn about the XY/XXness?

Norma? Triskadekia?

[laughing mommy]

The word "normal" never sounded so wonderful.

Congratulations again.

[JuliaKB]

So, so happy for you. Babies! Awesome, wonderful news!

Can I possibly ask whether we will be treated to that baby shower treatise in either forum? I only ask because I just skipped one. Felt only a little bit bad about it...

[Natalee]

I got so excited, and screamed with such glee at your good news, that I had to explain the entire situation to my husband, who's eardrums I had shattered with my joyous cry.

Happy, happy! Joy, joy!!

[Natalee]

Dammit! I meant "whose", not "who's". Anyway....

I've now cried while reading the REDBOOK post, and am all snotty and red at work. But hey, you're worth it, doll. Oh! And I've also bookmarked the new blog, so I can catch up when you make the move.

[Ollie]

You realize that just now, Redbook got 879,876,498,746 applicants for their infertility blog? I think it is the new "take a cruise" method. ha.

I'm still over the moon for you. Beyond the moon. I'm somewhere orbiting a distant galaxy. Super awesome.

[Alli]

Sorry, I have to say it " I told you so!"

[Lisa]

Still tearing up here, quivering chin and all, with each and every new post and comment. I can't begin to imagine how you must be feeling. :)

I mean, if the thought of Patrick becoming a big brother makes me start bawling, I can only imagine what it does to you!

Bring on the normal twin pregnancy posts!

[Lisa]

Oh, and DO pass along my sincerest congrats and happy thoughts to Steve and Patrick as well! Though we don't know each other, I still mean it from the bottom of my heart. :)

[Ninotchka]

I'm so loving your normal pregnancy and how normal it is, I might just start popping prenatals again just for the hell of it. Oh wait, I still take them (for no other reason than they're a really good multi-vitamin and I'm an overachiever like that). I know, I'll drink more milk and eat more green leafy vegetables. Or something. For your baayyyyybeeees!

Would it be wrong to send you my love? Oh, what the heck: you have it, sistah. My former iP, current bloggy love at the very least. Hope that's not too weird.

[Jan]

Julia, I can think of nothing I would like to read more than a regular ol' pregnancy post from you.

So ... are we allowed to think about a due date now?

[Pam L]

Hot cha cha cha CHA! Normal never sounded so good huh? Although sometimes I wished my oldest was more ,back in the day. But he's fine and your fine and dandy now, emphasis on dandy. It really just made my day yesterday, and yours too I'm guessing

[Beth]

Wow - I have been reading your blog for a long time. You are one of my Imaginary Friends in the computer!!! I am just so excited for you and for your family. Sending you continued "normal" NRG for the remainder of the pregnancy!!!

[uberimma]

Mendel was wondering why I was disappearing into my office at five-minute intervals all day to refresh my browser. And then he wondered why I suddenly started shrieking.

:) Abby

[Jen]

I cried over this post, too. :)

[Mandy]

I can't help but grin when I think of the collective whoops, cheers, shouts, grins, laughs and HUZZAHs when everyone started reading your update. I know our glee doesn't even touch yours, but it's hard to think of that many women cheering and celebrating without including the words 'magical' and 'miraculous.'

I'm glad to see you'll still be blogging at REDBOOK and I'm looking forward to the continuation of this site, though I imagine it might slow down a bit when the babies (BABIES!!!) arrive. I'm really looking forward to what Patrick has to say. :)

Above all, I'm just truly, honestly glad for you. I know it's been a long, tough road and I'm so glad the infertility chapter is going to be ending for you...and of course I'll be interested in your perspective on the 'after.' Because I know having a child doesn't erase what you've already been through...just changes the lenses a bit when you look at the past, and I want to hear your take on that. Don't go disappearing on us, ok?

[tuesday]

From one mother of "normal" twins to another, congratulations!

[Kelly]

Julia, I am so very happy for your and Steve.

Congrats!

Can I go post at REDBOOK? Maybe that will be the luck we need. Hopefully you started a great trend. ;)

[May]

That poky old morula sure came through!!!

[kma]

Just wanted to say that, while I am not one with fertility issues, I found the REDBOOK post to be sensitive and thoughtful, without undercutting your joy - a real testament to your writing. Congrats again - I hope you continue on here, because I do so love a good Patrick Story!

[May]

Well, rats, I've been lurking for two years now and you've finally driven me out. I have actually been trying to stop reading blogs lateley because they have the ability to eat up such a large chunk of my day, but I guess I have to stick around now and find out how you parent twins--assuming you have any time to write once they show up! Oh, well. =)

A thousand blessings on all your heads, especially the not-quite-finished ones.

[Mia]

Julia, I am but a lowly lurker on your blog... have been for a looong time. I am so indescribably happy for you and Steve (and Patrick, of course)! You've brought me to tears more than once - this time I am crying with joy for you. My sincerest congratulations.

[Heather]

Julia,
I have been reading you and hoping for you for several years. I was trying to get pregnant from 2002 to 2005, with IVF and whatnot, and finally had twin boys in 2006. I loved your blog and was following you all along. I cried over your miscarriages in Mexico and in Canada and in Boston. I am overjoyed for you--I have been crying also with each of your recent entries. There is nothing in my experience that is so purely, unassaultably joyous as being pregnant after infertility. The gratitude is indescribable. I am so very, very glad.
All the very best wishes,
Heather

[Lindsay]

I am a reader who found you from Sundry's blog, and I am delurking because I am just so happy for you. I love reading your entries, especially the ones about Patrick, because he just sounds so fun. I am so excited that soon you will have two new babies to write about!!

[Mellie]

Yay, yay and YAY! So this makes you about 14 weeks, then. Yay!

(PS, I didn't just know that, I clicked on the archives randomly, found the right post immediately, and then went to a pregnancy calendar site. If I can't chart a pregnancy of my own, it's pretty close to a tie to be charting yours. I'm not the kind of stalker that has your dates plugged into my Outlook, more the quasi-kind that loves to Google. Congratulations!)

[Sweetcoalminer]

Oh I do not know how you have gotten through it all, but I am OVERJOYED to hear your good news. You deserve it. Patrick deserves it. Steve even deserves it. ;)

I enjoy reading here, and I have pulled for since for a long time. I am so glad things are looking up. Yay Julia!

[Carrie]

Please, please, please tell us about Steve's reaction too! I've followed your journal from the very beginning (iparenting days) and after all you've been through, I want to hear every tiny, wonderful detail about the day you got this amazing news!! Has it hit you yet, or does it all feel surreal?
PS. Lots of people are asking if you're planning to find out the sex of the BABIES (oh, I love to be able to say BABIES!) I think that being surprised at the end is the way to go. Here's wishing you only happy, stress-free surprises for the rest of this pregnancy!

[Giillian]

Doing happy little heart dances for you! My creaky body won't dance anymore but, man, my heart cavorts.

I am so glad that your courage and 'insanity' have paid off big time! And you even doubled down.

[justdawn]

Just jumping up from my seat at the sidelines to say CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am SO very happy for you and you and I can't wait to "meet the twins"!!! WOO HOO!!!

[Sami]

Julia, Steve, Patrick, 13a & 13 b;

First off CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm a little late to the game, but seriously both my husband and I are thrilled for you guys. Normal is fabulous... normal is what we all wanted for you. Tears of joy happened when I read your news of Normal!! I don't cry for many and I usually only cry when I'm ticked off, but this was something to be happy about and well they happened.

Congratulations! Now I'm off to read the redbook post and find out how all of it really went down!

[Chickenpig]

I would be looking forward to that NORMAL pregnancy post, except that a twin pregnancy, as common as it is in the infertile world, is not NORMAL, at least not normal as in average or ordinary. Now that you have the fantastic news that BOTH of these babies are NORMAL (YAHOOOOO!!!) It's time to start crackalackin down to the very serious and daunting business of a real life actual twin pregnancy. It isn't just luck that brings twins into the world full size, healthy, and full term. It takes work, diet, exercise and planning...lots and lots of planning. Tons of luck and good wishes for this next big step!

[reenie]

It's about damn time. Now going over to read REDBOOK...have been MIA from the computer for awhile.

(I don't think the above sentiment adequately expresses my feelings on the whole normal pregnancy and your normal babies, but rest assured I am so so happy for you and your family. Sliante!)

[reenie]

And may I add after reading over there that you are a woman of quality. I have known few people as compassionate and insightful. (I know many compassionate and insightful people, by the way.)

Lucky #13! It always has been my lucky # - glad it's yours, too.