Holidays during Ramadan part 1: Australia: The journey over

The word or notion of 'summer' in the Middle East is frequently followed by 'holiday'. I know I put this screen dump in an earlier post, but I feel it's relevant to iterate here. Keep in mind that humidity is at least 50% every day.

Unfortunately Thomas couldn't take time off since he'd only been working for the company for a couple of months, but we made plans for Margaux and I to spend some quality time in Australia. A whole 17 days of Aussie relaxation - I couldn't wait!

We decided to tell our immediate family about our pregnancy news, but keep the twins bit to ourselves until the 12-week mark had been passed. I told my parents and one brother who was visiting them when we spoke, and swore them all to secrecy. I wanted to reveal the news to my other brother and sister when I saw them in Australia. Ha! That secret lasted less than 24 hours, courtesy of my Mum revealing it to my sister, but I tried not to cry for too long over that spilt milk.

So on July 10 Margaux and I jetted off Perth-bound. I was very pleased it was just the one flight, but when my very active toddler slept for just one of those 11 hours I really felt every minute of it! I was in the habit of taking Margaux to a play area or doing some activity with her every day; being stuck on my lap in a metal tube with scores of other people was hardly comparable. In fact, one of the other passengers remarked to me, as I was running behind Margaux down the aisle for about the 50th time, that we may as well have walked to Australia!

Feeling tired but happy to be on home soil, Margaux and I disembarked in Australia. We were greeted by Mum, much to my surprise... it was nearing midnight, but I should have known that not much will keep this grandma from her grandchild(ren)!

Of course Maggie crashed in the car but was ready by the next morning to explore her new surrounds.

Would you like to move to Oman?

This is a short but important post, if I'm going to keep things chronological.

So a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant Thomas was summoned by the head of HR in Oman, who suggested Thomas might like to move to Oman.

Thomas pointed out that he had initially agreed to go to Oman but at their directive had moved to Dubai at the 11th hour. He included that he had found a home, paid the year's rent (that's how it works in Dubai: you pay for one year's rent in one cheque up front), settled in, and... his wife is pregnant and needing specialist care. So no, we wouldn't like to move to Oman.

We thought that was that.

As you can imagine, it wasn't. More about that in a little while though... for the mean-time, Margaux and I had some globe-trotting to do!

Double trouble but twice as nice...

Thomas and I immediately started investigating hospital and specialist options for me. After some initial fears regarding not being covered by insurance were allayed, I decided on a relatively new, private hospital close to where we lived.

I had my first appointment with the gynaecologist without Thomas, unfortunately. He was working and had obviously seen an ultrasound before, so it was a shame but it wasn't like it was going to be a brand new experience.

Well. Neither of us expected an ultrasound like this:

My gynaecologist discovered one sac, and soon afterwards realised there was a second one in there. I was shocked beyond belief. I didn't know whether to be happy or scared or anxious or nervous or terrified or delirious... so I think I kind of felt a bit of everything!

TWINS! So it turns out that twins can be a spontaneous occurrence (in the case of identical twins) or hereditary (if they're fraternal/ non-identical). Men can carry the 'twin gene' and pass it on to their daughter, which is why it sometimes seems that twins skip a generation in some families.

You can see clearly from the photo that there are two sacs there, meaning we're going to have non-identical twins. There are no twins or multiples of any kind on either Thomas' or my side of the family, so we are just lucky! No time like the present to make genetic history.

After being delivered this shocking news Margaux, the twins and I snuck into the staff eating area (remember, it was still Ramadan so the hospital café was closed) and had a secretive lunch. I called Thomas, who was excited beyond all belief. At least one of us was! I still didn't know what to think.

Luckily, my gynaecologist specialises in high-risk pregnancies - which is how a multiples birth is automatically categorised - and she was very matter-of-fact about this whole thing, which was a great relief.

Everything felt like it was going smoothly... we had found a home, made some friends, I was being medically cared for by great specialists... what could possibly go wrong? Ha! Our lives were about to be turned on their heads again.