Surprise! It's Twins!

I am enjoying a lazy morning,

just sitting here, reading up on

some of my favorite blogs.

Not at all like the morning I had

just 30  short years ago.

Yes... that morning I was the

proud, happy, worried, and already

very tired mother to brand new identical twin boys.

And that doesn't even begin to describe

the depths of my emotions.

This is the story of our surprise,

our extra little bonus from the stork.

Yes, it is a story about labor and delivery...

but mine is different!  Really.

(Isn't everybody's?)

This is not a graphic
or gory story.

~~~

A Mother Just Knows

They were unexpected.

By that I mean that I could not convince my doctor that I was having twins,

even after the first one was delivered... breech! 

Frank breech, as in bent in half, bottom first. 

I am not kidding. 
 

I told the doctor to hurry up and

put the first baby down...

and grab the next one.

He gave me that same look I had seen for weeks. He really thought I was crazy...

until he put his hand on my belly, just when the "imaginary" baby kicked me,

hard in the diaphragm, taking my breath away.

The doctor looked as white as a ghost

... I'm feeling vindicated... at last.

 I was a tiny woman way back then.

I was just under 100 lbs when I got pregnant and 135 lbs when I delivered.

Maybe he didn't think I was so big but to me I was huge!

 That doctor needed to

listen to his patient!

After all... strangers had stopped me in the Mall in the last few weeks,

to ask how much "over due" I was, or if I was having twins. 

But, according to my doctor, I was due any day...

and having just one.

This was a planned pregnancy,

and according to my records

I had five more weeks to go.

Sonograms were fairly new back then, and he refused to let me have one.

So... I delivered on time (according to my doctor) but in reality... five weeks early.

Yes... I had been right. With one just over 5lbs. and one just under.

One born on the 17th and one five minutes later... on the 18th.

My midnight babies.

The longest and hardest 

five minutes of my life!

Push!... Breathe... Push!

So, after all was said and done... 

I sat up (sort of) and told him that next time... he better listen to his patient!

One of the attending nurses also happened to be my Lamaze teacher.

I had told her in class, just the night before, that I just knew I was having twins.

I had told all the nurses when I arrived that very afternoon. 

I had told anyone who would listen.

The problem is that they just wouldn't.

Right after delivery my babies were then taken from me (after I got to touch each one)

and whisked off by ambulance to a hospital... just three miles away.

To a hospital that specialized in preemies and twins. 

To where they should be.

They went without me.

To the hospital where I should

have delivered them.

Then, this same doctor preceded to tell me

that I really would not be able to breastfeed twins,

and wanted me to take the meds to "dry" me up. 

But once again I just knew. 

So... I left that place and that doctor, ASAP.

We took in bottles of my milk to the other hospital, 

twice a day, for ten days until my precious babies came home.

10 weeks old

At 2 months they doubled their weight

and by 5 months they had TRIPLED

their weight... on breast milk.

All because... I just knew.

Never underestimate the determination of a mother.

These were my third and fourth babies. 

I had done this before... it was not my first rodeo.

And so our family was complete.

Two girls and two boys. My husband's first children.

We had been married less than a year.

I had added to his family legacy in one fell swoop. 

~~~

Identical twin boys...
and friends for life!

They are now over 6' tall.
One is an engineer for an aeronautical company (Boeing) and the other
is working for the U.S Dept. of Energy at Stanford University (SLAC) .

Happy Birthday
Marc and Matt!

We love you!!!

~~~