VP of Domestic Affairs

Yesterday, Zimmer Zoo  posted that Nov. 17th is the day assigned to raising national awareness for the preemie crisis (through the March of Dimes) and asked bloggers to  join lots of other bloggers sharing their stories here: http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/fight-for-preemies

So I thought I would add my twin story…

Hubby and I were married for 4 years when we decided “it was time” to start our family. We tried for 9 months to get pregnant. It took Hubby to go on a manly-man hunting weekend with his man-folk in Montana to get the testosterone flowing. Upon his return, BAM…we get pregnant. Yippee!

Now….I’m going to go back 5 years…..When hubby proposed to me, it was a *total* surprise. We’d been dating for a year, *never* talked about marriage, but decided to take a vacation to San Fran together, so I could see where he went to college and meet his best friends. While on this trip, we went to Monterey for 3 days, and he proposed!!! I was shocked!!! The next day, when my head was a bit clearer, I wanted more information….Did he want kids? How many? Boys? Girls? His reply “We’re going to have twin girls.”

Come again?

Apparantly, hubby had dreams, visions, premonitions that we would have twin girls. OK, we went with it. For the next 5 years, we joked about it….picked out 2 girls names. It was a JOKE!

Back to discovering we were pregnant…..We were overjoyed!  We made our first OB visit, where the OB did an ultrasound. I looked at the screen, with a HUGE sigh of relief …”Ah, there’s only one!” 

But wait a minute. Hey, Doc, no split-screen photography please……

The doctor said he saw 2 fetuses.

WHAT???????????? I nearly fell off the table, while hubby sat there all smug. Humph.

So, the next 4 or so months, we went along with “We’re pregnant with twin girls” Started calling one Cassie (my choice) and the other Madison (Hubby’s choice).

Needless to say, Hubby fell off his chair when we found out the sex….2 boys!

During our 5th month, we moved from Cali back to the Boston area. It was February. I was still taking  Aspy for walks, albeit short ones. I was busy setting up house, registering cars, etc. Then a snow storm hit. Three days of snow in March 2001. And I wasn’t drinking enough water. And probably doing too much (according to hubby and my mom).

I was at the hospital for a regularly scheduled ultrasound with the High Risk OB from a Boston Hospital. According to him, I was in pre-term labor. Huh? Granted, at that point, I didn’t know what a contraction was or what it would feel like, but I didn’t believe I was in labor. Period. They admitted me over-night, gave the “develop the lungs” shot, hooked me up to an IV, had the NICU doctor in to give us “if the babies are born now” speech (which scared the shit out of Hubby). But I was in total denial. Maybe it was mother’s intuition. The babies were NOT coming out that day/night/week. They weren’t ready and I knew it. But I was diagnosed with a shortened cervix and a bit dialated.  From the ultrasounds, it looked like Baby A was resting comfortably on my cervix…someone wanted out….hmmmm…could it be T-man??

I was released the next day, but was now on Bedrest. From 26 weeks through 36 weeks. I had a baby shower while lying on my back. Looking like an inflated balloon. Hubby was fantastic…..working in Cambridge, doing laundry, cooking dinner, walking Apsen. He was a trooper!

Then, the weekend before Mother’s Day 2001, my doctor gave me the all clear to get off my anti-contraction medication (Holy Cow that stuff was potent!) and I could get off bed-rest. I remember my mom coming over for Mother’s Day and we made belgian waffles. Yum…my fave!

The following day, Monday May 14th, I had an appointement for a non-stress test at the hospital, along with a cervix check with a doctor from my OB practice. Unfortunately, hubby was in a meeting he could not get out of in time, so we asked his best friend Steve, who worked 10 minutes away, if he could drive me. Steve had an $80K car. His words to me as I entered: Your water can’t break while in this car. 

Ok, no problem.

We made it to the hospital with no issues. I thanked Steve, and went up. Non-stress test first. No issues. Then, time for the doctor exam. To put it nicely, this particular doctor from my practice did not have the best bed-side manner (she was new and didn’t last too much longer). She told me I was 2-3 cm dialated, but no issues. No sooner was the exam over and I was getting dressed, I felt wet. I noticed it, but honestly thought maybe some pee had leaked out. I went out to look at the newborns in the nursery, as I still had 20-30 minutes before Hubby arrived to pick me up. But the wetness was getting worse. Oh oh.

Back to the nurses station. Hello, I think my water just broke. They moved me into an exam room, and WHOOOOSH the flood gates opened up. At this time it was about 4:30pm. Apparantly the twins were ready. Or at least T-man, who remained on my cervix the entire 1o weeks I was on bedrest. T was born at 9:32pm, and M-man, who wasn’t as excited to come out (he needed to be vaccummed out) at 9:42 pm. 

T-man weighed in at 5 lbs 3 oz, and M-man weighed 5 lbs. 1 oz.  M spent the night in NICU just for observation. But I’m happy to report that they both came home with me and hubby. And I am very thankful that I was blessed with 2 happy, healthy boys. And each year, I contribute to March of Dimes, so other preemie babies can go home with their mom and dad.

Clearly, the SuperTwins enjoyed my “Ode to my Cold” yesterday, as they decided to take pen to paper and come up with their own  rythmical verses. And they asked me to publish them. Here it goes. Be prepared to be entertained by 3rd grade thoughts.

I like to talk but I don’t like to walk. I’m not a smarty because I’m a farty. I like to rhyme because I’m a dime that likes to shine. I think I’m so great because I have a plate with a state where everyone’s late.