Book Excerpt from Multiple Blessings

On Sunday, while still at the hospital, the doctors, knowing I had had a positive pregnancy test, routinely checked my HCG level. Normally a woman will receive a positive pregnancy result when her HCG level is 25 or higher. That number is then expected to double approximately every thirty hours until about eight weeks after the last menstrual cycle, when it finally levels off. My HCG level was at 200, and it was still one day before I should have gotten my period. By Tuesday, just one day late, that number jumped to 900.

Considering that the normal range is extremely large, no one had mentioned yet that I could possibly be carrying more than one baby. I, however, just knew. I had carried twins before. That in itself did not make me an expert. It was something deeper. Call it mother's intuition or the voice of God. Whatever it was, I just knew that my body, mind, and soul buzzed with the anticipation of something major about to take place.

Jon, on the other hand, ever the optimist, said, "I think it's only one, Kate. Don't jump to any conclusions this early."