The Story of Two

Today we celebrate the birth of M and E. They are 9. The last year they will enjoy single digits. E asked me today what time she was born. I had to think about it. Is it bad that the thought process was something like this? Your dad said M was born at 11:17, but the doctors corrected him and said 11:16, you came 23 minutes later (yes that's a long time between twins, just enough time to run down the hall from delivery to OR for a c-section, yes that means I had one of each and yes, it was still easier than delivering C) so that means you were born at 11:39.

I find that I have a hard time remembering the details of the day they were born, so I'm going to write it down (no, I haven't written it down before now, yes, that makes me a bad mom).

M and E were due on July 10, but by doctors told me early on that they would not let me go a day past 39 weeks, just to be safe. My doctors were also quite surprised that I made it passed 38 weeks, so when I reminded them about their 39 week promise at my appointment eleven days before my due date (a Friday afternoon), I seemed to catch them a bit of guard. But the midwife quickly checked with the doctor and they agreed, not a day past 39 weeks, and checked the schedule for the following Monday. All booked up, they could not add another induction. So they checked Sunday and the doctor on call for Sunday was also on call that Friday night and said just send her over now. So off we went -- me, my mom and C -- to get checked in at the hospital. We called the Husband and he met us there.

It took a little while to get me in a room and the actual work of starting the induction didn't really get started until late that night. The nurses offered an epidural almost as soon as the started the pitocin. I don't know why I didn't take, but I didn't. As the contractions started to build I asked for something, got it and all was good, until I started to feel teh contractions but couldn't get the Husband's attention. I thought I was talking out loud, but apparently wasn't and he was asleep and didn't notice my pain. I was finally able to get his attention and he got the nurses and I got my epidural. And all was right with the world. I slept for several hours and then around 8 am, it looked like things were getting started. I called my mom and told her it was time and she should head to the hospital with C.

A little before 11, the nurses and midwife came in to transfer me to the OR, where they usually did twin deliveries, mostly because it was bigger, so there was more room for two sets of nurses and baby stuff, and a little bit for Just In Case. But then the doctor walked in and said, "We don't need to mover her, she's in the big delivery room. There's room for everyone." And then it was time to push and between contractions the doctor and midwife were discussing where they were going for lunch. It was quite surreal, espcially compared to the chaos that was C's delivery.

And then M was here and it was instantly obvious that she was destined to the older twin. We had decided as soon as we knew we had two girls that the oldest (Baby A, who had spent the entire pregnancy head down and claiming the first place in line) would be named after my mother's family and sure enough, she looked just like my mom's sister. 7 lbs 12.6 oz, 18 inches.

The midwife let me have a quick peek at M and then began checking on Baby B. I could see a flash of panic and she said, "I think I have cord." And I had visions of Nurse Hathaway's twin delivery on ER earlier that year, and well, if you've seen that episode you can imagine my own panic. The doctor took over and after a few minutes of feeling around decided, we were okay, it wasn't the cord, it was two hands and a foot. Baby B had folded in half, feet to face, and refused to stretch out. Although she wasn't in any distress, it was decided that it would be safer to proceed with a c-section rather than wait forever waiting for the baby to decide to stretch out and come out head first.

So the nurses and midwife packed me up and we did the quick run down the hall for a not-quite-emergency c-section. (Oh, the irony)

The new pain meds they put in my epidural made me shiver and shake until I was sure I was going to fall off the operating table. And then E was out and all was right with the world. I only got a quick peek at her before they whisked her away and stitched me back up. My first impression of E was that her cheeks almost met below her chin. She was all cheeks and looked like the Husband's side of the family. 7 lbs 13.6 oz, 18 inches.

I was in the recovery room for quite a while getting over the shaking, but finally made it up to my room where the girls were waiting for me, as well as C and my mom.

We came home from the hospital on July 4th. Best 4th ever!

Summer Shocker

My kids have been out of school for a month. They return to school in six weeks.

Saturday while I was out filling prescriptions and grocery shopping I saw two things that really blew my mind.

First, Target has the school uniforms (you know, the khaki and blue pants and shorts and white collared shirts) prominently displayed. Second, Walmart has begun setting up the bins in the middle of the aisles that have all the most requested school supplies (pencils, pens, highlighters, glue sticks, crayons, etc.) Neither place has any signage that says anything about school, but the displays say it all.

Random Bits

* Second fastest way to get your kid seen in the ER - severe headache. 30 minutes after our arrival we were ushered to a room, when it looked like some families had been waiting for hours. Less than 20 minutes later they were giving her a CAT scan and we were on our way home before we'd been there 2 hours. Diagnosis: Acute Sinusitis. Treatment: 14 days of the nastiest tasting antibiotic out there.

* Marshall Karp wrote to me!! A few weeks ago I commented on a post on his blog. He read my comment and then responded. And he checked out my blog. The last post in which I talked about his books. How cool is that? I am, however, a bit embarrassed that there were several typos/mistakes in that post.

*J recently went through a bit of separation anxiety - clinging, crying, running after the car when I left. So when he was still asleep when I left for work one day last week, I was prepared to receive a tearful phone call from him. Sure enough, he called when I was half way to work. But instead of the tearful "love ya, miss ya, why didn't you wake me before you left, I didn't get to hug you" I was expecting I got, "When is it my turn on the computer?" I guess we are through with that phase.

* Friday when M couldn't move with the pain in her head causing her to scream, I jokingly asked her if she felt like she was dying. Her reply, "That would be better than this."

Catching up on Books

I am still working on my book resolution. okay, not so much the reading of Dean Koontz, but more the reading of Stuart Woods.

I picked up Chiefs: A Novel (25th Anniversary Edition) at the library*, and I was right. It is a fabulous book. Definitely one I would recommend. I also picked up Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington) at the library. This is one of the novels by Stuart Woods that I have been tempted to buy, but didn't want to in case is wasn't up to par. While it was no where near the level of Chiefs, it was definitely better than Hot Mahogany. I still need to read Loitering with Intent and Mounting Fears to be caught up with all his new novels, plus Hothouse Orchid will be out in September. (For those who may be counting, that's FOUR novels released in one year.**)


Three books that I did not pick up at the library are the novels by Marshall Karp. I won a signed copy of Karp's third novel Flipping Out from Beth, which meant I really needed to read the first two books so that . . . well I'm just a bit nuts that way, so I purchased The Rabbit Factory and Bloodthirsty from Amazon, which only made sense, because if they were as good as Chris reported they were, then I really was going to want them in my collection and the library didn't have them, I checked. So The Rabbit Factory was excellent - funny, well plotted, great characters. And even though there are reportedly over 200 uses of the F-word, you don't really notice so much because the book is over 600 pages. Bloodthirsty was also a good read, but I was left a little unimpressed with Flipping Out. As the story wrapped up I felt a bit lost as to how Lomax and Biggs had figured it all out. The story also felt a bit flat, with out the great details and humor that had made The Rabbit Factory so enjoyable. Karp is working on a fourth installment which I cannot wait to read.


I also recently read The Mephisto Club (Jane Rizzoli, Book 6) by Tess Gerritsen. I am really enjoying her books. (And not really feeling the need to read them in order, I'm a little late to the party for that.) This one was intriguing with good characters and a very unexpected twist. I will definitely keep Tess on my reading list.

And lastly, my most recent read (just finished it this afternoon), Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter. I won this book over at It's Not All Mary Poppins a few weeks ago. This is a story of a single-by-choice mom who is trying to figure out how to have everything she wants and be the mother her daughter wants her to be without losing herself. I enjoyed this story but felt like the end was a bit rushed. I will be adding Jane Porter to my list for the library.



*As an aside, I'm doing somewhat better about going to the library for books rather than buying everything I want to read. I did buy The Navigator (The Numa Files) by Clive Cussler at the store because it was on the bargain table and really $7 for a hardback book that I'll be able to read at least twice before I remember I'll remember half of the plot.

** For those who may think I'm just picking on Stuart Woods, yes, I know that Clive Cussler has has four books being released this year, but 1) he has co-authors and 2) the quality has not deteriorated as drastically.