Yesterday, my twins, Joshua and Olivia turned 13. So that now makes me a mother of teen-agers!!
They had their friends over, we had cake and a decorated cookie. I can’t believe how much they have grown so quickly. They really have turned out to be some really great kids. They are both beginning to pursue music just like their dad. Olivia has been writing songs for some time now. Joshua is playing the guitar. It doesn’t seem like it has been 13 years since they were born. I knew that the Lord was going to bless them with some great talents, just everything that surrounded their birth was so different. But I guess all moms say that. This is what happened….
My husband, Cook, and I decided to start our family. At that time, we were both working for two different insurance companies. When I found out that I was pregnant, was about the same time my husband began working from home, pursuing a music business/ministry. So that was a something to get used to, we were increasing our family and cutting our income in half. I continued to work. By February, I was about 6 weeks along, and began having some problems. I stayed home from work, for a couple of days, and went in to see the doctor. While at home lying in bed, I had some conversations with God, and realized that just because WE want a baby, doesn’t mean we will be blessed with a baby. There are many women out there who can’t have children, and was I ok with that? In my conversations, I became ok with it. So I shared my thoughts with Cook, not wanting anything bad to happen, or expecting anything to be really wrong, but if it was, I would be alright. So I go in to see the doctor, and she did an ultrasound. She hesitated at first and took a closer look, then she told us, you’re having twins!! Cook looked at me and said, “Boy, were you way off!!” It was so exciting. It was early in my pregnancy, and the doctor said that we should come back when I was 8 weeks pregnant, to confirm it. So when we went back for that appointment, it was confirmed, there were two heartbeats. That was on Valentine’s Day. They are the only twins in both families so it was exciting for everyone. The pregnancy went well. I gained a lot of weight, and worked until the end of July, at that point my ankles were huge, I didn’t walk, I waddled. This was back in 1995, this was one of the hottest summers we had here. Temperatures rising to 115. My husband was such a champ though. My last day at work, he picked me up from work, and mapped out a route to get me home, with stops along the way, since it was so hot. Mind you, I worked about 3 miles away, this was a 10 minute trip tops. But it was hot, and the air conditioner in our car was not working. I did stop at Burger King (about 2 blocks from my job) to get a Dr. Pepper. But we made it home, without any other stops. My doctor said that twins usually come early, their due date was actually September 27, but my doctor was planning on them being born by September 1. So I had a whole month to rest and prepare for their arrival. I did a Noah’s Ark theme for their room. So during that month off I worked on the cross-stitch quilts for them, watched my feet swell, and stayed cool. I went in for a final ultrasound on Monday, September 11. I still didn’t know what I was having, and I didn’t want to know. But during the ultrasound, the technicians were talking, and said something that alluded to me having at least one boy. My doctor called me Wednesday morning, and told me to go to the hospital anytime that day, she was going to induce labor. This is where the fun begins!!
Cook was in Chicago, he was a musical guest on a Christian TV show, and taped the show that morning. He was to meet my brother after the taping, since he worked in Chicago. This was before cell phones, so I called my brother and relayed the message that Cook needed to get home, because I needed to go to the hospital. Not like I was in labor, but we needed to get there as soon as we could. My mom was with me since Cook was gone for the day, she was stitching away at the baby blanket. Cook makes it home, and I had my stuff ready to go. But he knew once we left, that things would not be the same. So he was trying to tie up some loose ends with the business. At the time I thought he was just stalling, but now I understand what he was doing. But I knew that the later we got there, the later everything was going to happen. It wasn’t like I was going to get there and the babies would be born. We finally got everything together, and got to the hospital. As I look back, the twin’s birth was my easiest. When I got to the hospital, the room was so nice, I was comparing it to the Holiday Inn. Either I was just that naive, or just overly excited about having the twins. I got myself situated and I asked the nurse if I would be able to watch TV at 9:00, because that is when the show was being re-run that Cook had taped earlier that day, and I was unable to see it in the morning. So that news spread like wildfire through the hospital, we had all kinds of nurses coming in. So I was all set up, and 9:00 rolled around and we had the show on. We had a couple extra nurses in the room to watch the show. A few minutes before the show started my doctor came in, and she was going to start the process to induce the labor. She’s sitting on the edge of the bed, and when Cook comes on the TV singing, she turns around to watch. At that point we are all watching the TV. Needless to say, he did very well, I was so proud of him. So once that excitement wore down, the labor process began. I must say, having labor induced is not real fun. I did have some type of drug in my IV to help me relax, but all it did was allow me to sleep, but then I would wake up in the middle of a contraction. The labor lasted through the night. At one point Cook fell asleep in the chair, and I called to him when I was having a contraction, and he woke up saying, push, push!! But anniehow…it was 4:05 when Joshua was born. I was able to rest a little bit until Olivia was born. The Doctor told me that when I had my next contraction I needed to get the “next one” out, since their heart rate was falling. Otherwise, I would have had a C-section as well. So at 4:20 Olivia was born. They put her next to Joshua to get cleaned up, he kicked her, and that started our life with the twins. My husband says that after they were born, I became the star, because when he would be outside the nursery, people would be talking about the twins, and how I delivered them naturally. So the whole experience was special.
Now they are 13. Kids really do grow up fast. I am so glad that I have had the privilege to be able to homeschool them, and spend so much time with them. Of course it gets trying sometimes, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
