My twin pregnancy: A quick backstory of our first positive test and discovery of twins!

My husband, Nik, and I decided it was time to try and start our family in September 2012. We both had jobs we loved, had our finances in order, were homeowners, and Nik was traveling less than he had before for work. I always thought I would have a hard time getting pregnant because my menstrual cycles had been abnormal since I was an early teen. I was approaching 30 years old (in December 2012) and so I decided it was time to get down to business! I bought some ovulation test strips and we gave it a go. I waited for about 2 weeks, took a test, and it said negative. I felt more tired than normal so I thought maybe I was pregnant and was testing too early. Then, that following weekend, I had severe cramping and about one hour of bleeding. I thought I had started my period a bit early and didn't think much of it. We tried for the second time, and two weeks later a friend of mine, Phillip, sent me a text asking if I was pregnant. He had no idea we were trying so I was pretty thrown off. He said he had a feeling I was, so I jokingly asked him if he would like me to pee on a stick and text him a picture. So, on my lunch break, that's what I did. I couldn't believe what I saw... a FAINT pink line. So faint that I brought my friend and co-worker in to see. We both turned the stick every direction to see if there was actually a line or not. Took two more, and again saw faint positives. I now believe my friend Phillip is psychic! My husband and I were soooo happy and shocked how quickly this happened for us! We were now going to be a family of three... or so we thought! The following week I had bleeding and we went to the hospital. After a sonogram, HCG level blood test, and examination I was told I most likely had a miscarriage. My HCG levels were only 243, which I thought was normal for only being 5 weeks pregnant. The Dr. did not agree. I went home, sat on my porch with a beer, and bawled my eyes out. How could I have gotten so attached already?? I felt like someone stole my feelings of being a mommy. I was devastated. Two days later I had another blood test and my levels went up to 550. I thought "Great! I'm pregnant!"... the Dr. did not agree. She said it was too low. I was so confused. Three days later I picked out an OBGYN and she gave me another blood test... when she called the next day I was so shocked. My HCG levels had increased to 4,300!!!! I WAS still pregnant!!! I set up a sonogram with her for my 6 week check up. Six Weeks and six days pregnant I had my first 'real' sonogram. She found the sac, and the fetus, and the flickering heartbeat! It was beautiful. Then, there was another sac, and fetus, and flickering heartbeat. I'm pretty sure my heartbeat stopped. That night I looked at twin belly pictures and cried. I was so scared. It didn't take me long to embrace the idea and feel so proud to be a twin mommy.