If you can suddenly become a mother at any moment of every day

The crazy thing about being pregnant is perhaps the fact that it lasts nine months. That's quite long. But in a way, also very short.

And all the clichés turn out to be true. Where I was mentally completely thrown off in the first weeks because I heard I was having two, I am now in the last weeks of pregnancy mostly doing laundry. Baby clothes, that is. With Zwitsal-Robijn, yes. I want everything ready for their first days in this world. My hospital bag with sweatpants and bathrobes (with glitter yes, you have to do something to make it fun for yourself) is already packed. In short: nesting has long begun and I am as good as ready for it. I can't wait to see, cuddle, and kiss them.

But then you come back to that treacherous time. Because, well, those nine months do take a long time, especially when you're waiting for something, time feels incredibly long. Actually, I still have at least six weeks to go, but I have the feeling it will happen sooner. And so I think with every twinge in my belly: is this a contraction? Is it starting now?’, ‘Today is quite a nice date, could it be now?’ and; ‘Today is not a convenient date because then my friend has her birthday. Just stay in there for a bit’, that idea. Suddenly you can become a mother every day, every moment of every day, from now on. That's bizarre. Because you can't possibly prepare. You don't know when it will happen. When that one twinge is indeed a real contraction. No one knows that.

Every year, 15,000 babies are born too early in the Netherlands – before the 40 weeks. That's about 8 percent of all babies born. And now that I am 32 weeks pregnant, I might think I'm almost there, but it's still really early. Too early for the boys. The chance that babies are born before 32 weeks is about 2 to 3 percent – and that's a good thing. Because then those little ones are still very small. And well, in the end, only 4 to 5 percent of women give birth exactly on that due date. So you don't have to take that into account too much. On average, a pregnancy lasts between 37 and 42 weeks, but that applies to one baby. Twins are born on average four weeks earlier than the due date.

Yes, you see, if I stick to those numbers, then they will be here in just four weeks. Countdown. Every day brings us closer to our first meeting, how special is that?