Today we as a family celebrated Kara and Kayla’s 19th birthday. They spent a good part of the day working at church,helping prepare for this year’s Worship Arts Conference.

They came home to a huge spaghetti dinner, their own cakes, sherbet ice creams they requested and presents.

I found out they also received cake at church during the preparations for the worship arts conference.

They were doubly blessed today. Total three cakes for their nineteenth birthday.

I feel doubly blessed. My pregnancy with the girls was super easy the first six months. I experienced no morning sickness. I did throw up several times, but only when I attempted to eat meat. I basically ate a vegetarian diet while pregnant with them and survived well.  I had not gained much weight, which was okay at the time, because we thought I was only carrying one baby. I had an ultrasound at 16 weeks and 20 weeks. Our “baby” looked strong and healthy. I didn’t even look pregnant. People thought I was joking when I said I was.

It was almost overnight I went from wearing my normal clothes and having a flat belly to having a basketball belly. I went to my regular obgyn appointment two weeks after my other appointment. Every commented how I “blossomed” since last visit. Someone even said I must be carrying twins. I laughed and blissfully awaited my appointment time.

My appointment time comes. I stepped on the scale. Weird I actually gained some weight. I believe it was seven pounds in two weeks. I had not gain much more than five pounds up to this point. So that explains the belly. Okay… I thought. Dr. D does a fundal height measurement. “Hmmmph”, he sighs. We need to do an ultrasound right away. Your fundus is measuring 36 weeks when it should be right at 28 weeks according to your previous measurements. He told me to go sit in his office and call my husband, while we wait for ultrasound to be available. Okay. I go to his office and call my husband from Dr. D’s office phone, I believe we had a cellphone at the time but hubby had it. So, I spoke with hubby and he was on his way. Ultrasound became available, with in a few minutes, but I awaited hubby’s arrival.

Twenty long minutes later, he practically runs into the office, where I was waiting. Dr D, R and I go into the ultrasound room. I lay on the table lift my shirt above my belly, roll my pants below. The ultrasonographer tucks a towel in my pants squirts warm gel on my belly,rolls the scanner over my belly, and smiles and says, “Can you guys see this?”, pointing at the two wiggling babies on the screen. They appeared to be fist fighting at the time. There were four hands moving around together. I did not understand that there were two babies. My overactive imagination pictured some monstrosity of a child. Dr D said,”Congratulations you are having twins!”. I start crying because I thought something was wrong with my baby to have so many hands. I was a wee bit relieved before I realized exactly what he was saying. Hubs grabbed my hand and squeezed it. We were both in shock at the news.

Dr. D set me up an appointment with a perinatologist for my next visit. He said I needed a higher level ultrasound to thoroughly examine both babies. Okay.

Hubby returns to work and I go straight to the library and check out every book I can find on twins and multiple births. I bring a bag full of books  home. I also get online at home on our laptop and search for every thing I can find about twins. I practically print a book from all the information I copied and pasted into a document.

The rest of the pregnancy was uneventful for four more week. At that time I was 32 weeks pregnant and experiencing preterm labor. Dr D puts me on bedrest, and brethine(tertbutaline). When labor appears to be halted, Dr. D send me home on the brethine, a home tocos monitor and bedrest. Home health arrives later in the day after I was discharged from the hospital to set things up.

At my 36 week visit Dr. D said babies are doing well. I believe I was given a shot of steroids to help with lung development. I was told I no longer needed to stay on bedrest and anytime now would be safe to deliver. They would not interfere with labor if it started now. I believe a couple of days later hubby and I went shopping for last-minute baby stuff. That night I was in full labor. We arrived at the hospital around 8pm. Dr. Jones was on call because Dr. D had been at the hospital all day and did a lot of deliveries. Dr Jones had ultrasound come and scan us. He said,”We need to do a Cesarean section, Baby B is transverse. This being your first delivery, I don’t feel it is safe to attempt your planned vaginal delivery.” So Dr Jones schedules me an “emergency c-section.”

I was delivered of the girls at 10:06 and 10:09 pm on the twenty-fourth of July 1992 exactly 3 weeks after my twenty-first birthday.

Life has been fun and interesting with those two. They had their own language for many years and would laugh for hours at night when I put them down for bed. There have been times they would fight but they are always the best of friends. Both girls are very strong, but also compassionate. They have been on mission trip and believe in helping less fortunate. They are fashionable but also very sensible. They don’t believe in being wasteful with money. They are currently working hard on their associate degrees and plan to transfer to university shortly thereafter. I am quite proud of my girls and very grateful that God has blessed me with them!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARA AND KAYLA!!!

LOVE ALWAYS MOM!!