It was a cold December morning 33 years ago, around 5:00 am and I woke up with back pain so bad I could barely roll out of bed. I soon noticed I was spotting a little. I was concerned because my baby was not due for four more weeks. I called the doctor at 8:00 when they opened and told them what was going on and they told me to come on into the office. The doctor checked the heart beat and said the baby was doing fine. He said I may not make it the full four weeks, but he wasn’t going to examine me because he did not want to chance inducing labor. He suggested going home and propping my feet up and relaxing and made me an appointment for a week later. That was in the early beginnings of ultrasounds and they didn’t do them unless they thought something was terribly wrong, so they did not do one on me.
That evening I was feeling a lot better and we had friends come by to check on me. We decided to play cards to pass the time. At 8:00, I felt the first of a series of sharp stabbing pains in my right side. Twenty minutes later, the process repeated itself. We stopped the card game and started clock watching. The pains would come and go sporadically until 2:00 a.m. on Saturday. By this time, I knew it was time to make the call. Off to the hospital we went. Upon arrival, they determined I was dilated to 2 and was definitely in labor. I was whisked off to labor and delivery. I had been up since 5:00 on Friday so by the time they got me settled, I was slightly delirious. I would drift in and out of a semi-sleeping state until the next pain would hit. I remember at one point, they were adjusting the heart monitor and the nurse said, “By the sound of that good strong heartbeat, I would say it is a boy.” At this point, I was just happy my baby was about to arrive. I never did have a preference as to the sex of the child at any point. After 7 hours of laborious pain, I had dilated to 5 and could receive the much anticipated epidural.
The baby monitors were unhooked as I was raised up to receive my dose of heaven. As they adjusted the fetal monitors, it was a new nurse and I heard her say “You can tell by the tiny little heartbeat that it is probably going to be a girl”. Keep in mind, not having slept for, at this point, 32 hours I was only vaguely aware of everything as the epidural seeped into my system, relaxing me. It may me start to doze and my last thought was, “Somebody check my baby. The heartbeat was a lot stronger earlier.” But I was slipping into oblivion and could not force the words out.
Three hours later, they had to wake me up to tell me to push. I was feeling nothing by this time. When it finally became time, they wheeled me into the delivery room. I remember laying there laconically looking around and thinking, “So, this is what a delivery room looks like.” As the doctor settled himself at the end of the table I turned my eyes toward him right as he said “Nurse, get another warmer ready. I think we might have twins here.” Shock. Dismay. Speechless. These are words that all described how I felt. I raised up and said “Who?” Well, duh, I was the only pregnant woman in the room so they all had a good laugh. I just kept laying there laughing and saying, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this!” When all was said and done, I was the proud mother of two beautiful, healthy children who were four weeks early. Weighing in at 4 pounds and 12 ounces and 5 pounds and 8 ounces, they were each a little over 17” long.
The mood in the delivery room was one of celebration and jubilation. They broke hospital protocol and instead of whisking them straight to the nursery, they placed one in each arm and wheeled me out the doors where my family was waiting. Can you imagine the commotion it caused when I shouted, “Hey everybody, I got one of each!” That’s right. I had my daughter and my son. The two things I most wanted in the world, in one grand gesture and one problem free pregnancy, I had my family. I get asked all the time what it was like to have twins with no notice and I always reply, if I had ever had more children, I would have wanted to do it again.
Chris & Diana
Chris
Diana
Diana with her husband Michael and her children, Caleb & Shelby. She is my oldest by about 4 mintues.
Chris with his wife Jamie and his children, Garret & Alexis. He's my baby. He has a new son, Colby, but he's so new we don't have a family photo yet.
Me and my twins. That my oldest niece, Christy, beside us.
2 comments:
I love this!! We were so excited to have twins. We couldn't believe one of each. Dad called everyone to tell them and they said "Luke, are you drinking?" I remember keeping Chris one night and Mom keeping Diana. Chris cried and cried. I couldn't get him to stop, so I just put him in the car and took him to Mom and brought Diana back home with me to keep because she never cried! That took care of that! Just one of the many stories about them two! Chris and Diana, I love you both very much!!
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