My daughter Katie had a doctor’s appointment in the morning of Tuesday, Dec 27. At that appointment, her doctor found that Baby 2, the smaller of the girls, had not gained any weight since the last check up. If Baby 2 was not benefitting from being on the inside, it was time to get her out.
I received a text in mid afternoon from Katie, telling me that she’d been admitted and the girls would be delivered by c-section at 4:00. Katie had had a piece of toast for breakfast, so she had to wait several hours before undergoing surgery.
My sister invited me to go see La La Land at 4:30 but I had to decline. I knew I couldn’t concentrate on a movie while awaiting news of my grand daughter’s birth. She told me later that the movie stunk. Mark Steyn agreed.
5:00 came and went…
A text from Katie told us that she’d been bumped from the surgery schedule as other women in emergency situations were admitted. This went on for hours. Twice, she was prepped and ready only to be bumped ten minutes before her scheduled surgery. At one point in the evening, she texted me that she was bored and starving to death. To be hugely pregnant and not allowed to eat or drink for twelve hours is awful. I texted her back that it was just like real labor, without the pain.
At one point, she suggested to her doctor to just push the whole thing to morning and let her eat something but her water broke so that was a no-go.
At midnight, I went to bed but brought my phone with me. Sure enough, at 2:00 a.m. I received
“Twins are here! Born at 12:54 and 12:55, they are cute, healthy and nameless!”
The girls are small: both well under 5lbs, but strong and developed. Both cried at birth, which bodes well for them. As much as I wanted to dash straight down to the hospital to meet them, Katie and Adam wanted a little bit of time to have the girls to themselves before sharing them with the rest of the world.
We had sort of been lulled into thinking we had until the first week of January to get everything prepared for the babies’ arrival so there were a few details still to be dealt with. Nothing big: just decorating touches in the nursery.
I’d looked at several places to see if they had any drapes in the ballpark with Katie’s vision for the nursery. Not only are draperies really expensive, apparently jewel tones are not in this year. So, my Mom and I went to our favorite fabric warehouse and bought some dark blue crushed velvet. I’ll be putting the drapes together today. They’re curtains: how hard can they be?
Of course, that’s the same thing I said about making a slip cover for the over sized, over stuffed arm chair I bought for the nursery at Goodwill. Katie was ready to plop $1100.00 down at Room and Board but I found the same chair, slightly used, for $11.00. We bought white denim to make a slip cover and went at it. All was going smoothly until I got to the very end. I couldn’t figure out how to finish the front of the arms. I left the project for two weeks until I had a dream that demonstrated how to do that last bit. I love the way my brain works! I tried to follow my dream instructions and it worked really well on one arm but not so much on the second arm…I don’t know what went wrong but instead of draping properly, the corner juts out weirdly. So we positioned the chair in such a way that that corner doesn’t show.
While I was out looking for drapes and finding that jewel tones were outré, I also found that white twill slip covers are available at Bed Bath and Beyond for exactly the amount I’d spent on the fabric we’d bought. If I’d done my research, I could have saved a ton of time! I bought one, thinking it would look better than the one I’d made. Mom and I agreed that we could do a hundred things with the slip cover: make white denim overalls for the girls when they get bigger, turn some of it into nifty tote bags, make me an awesome white duster…
The manufactured slip cover didn’t fit. The arm chair size was too small for the chair and a half we had and the love seat size was way too big. It looked terrible. The one I made looked much, much better, not only because it fit but because the fabric we bought was of a vastly higher quality than the store bought cover.
No duster for me.
I returned it.
Seriously, the drapes have to be easier than a slip cover and apparently, I knocked the slip cover out of the park.
Okay, it was more like an inside the park homerun, filled with errors and stolen bases but the fact remains: Drapes have no corners.
Josie and I met the girls a few days after they were born. They’re only allowed four visitors a day in the special care unit. Adam’s parents were still there when Josie and I arrived that first time. They didn’t actually leap in the air and click their heels, but that was their overall attitude over their first grandchildren.
When I met them, I thought the girls looked just like Adam but his Mom, Hannah, thought they looked just like Katie. How perfect is that?
Despite being identical, it’s quite easy to tell them apart right now: Boopity weighs 20% more than Boop. Imagine adult twins, one of which weighed 140lbs and the other 160lbs. You’d be able to tell at a glance which was which.
As usual, each dropped some weight after birth. At four weeks premature, they are small but perfect. They have no eyebrows yet and only a suggestion of lashes. Their hair is downy and pale but that’s subject to change. Their features are fine and beautiful and Boop has flashed a dimple in her right cheek. I’ve seen no corresponding dimple in Boopity but her feeding tube covers that cheek. If it shows up in her left cheek, it could be evidence that they’re mirror twins.
I’ve had several visits with them now and I’ve been able to hold and feed them and change their diapers and clothes. I’ve played with them while they are wide awake, which isn’t very often in babies so young. They’ve been very easy going when I’m there but the nurses who care for them assured us that both girls vocalize their objections strenuously when they feel the need. This is good. When they open their huge dark eyes and look at you, I swear you can see the wheels turning in their highly intelligent brains.
Their parents seem to be doing very well, also. I can’t think of an experience as universally life altering as having that first baby. To be dunked with the reality of two at a time is BIG. But Katie and Adam are exceptionally competent and talented people. They’re adjusting beautifully. They seem to be enjoying the sensation of love at first sight times two. That’s the part of parenting no one can explain but must be experiences first hand. Everyone warns you about the pain, the fear, the sleepless nights and the work but no one can adequately warn you about the tsunami of love that carries you through it; there simply aren’t any words, in any language. They’ll need help because the logistics of twins are overwhelming but they’ll get it: we’re lining up to offer it.
If the girls continue to perform as they have in their first week, they’ll be discharged soon enough and we’ll begin the all new and improved version of Life with Twins!