Moms of Multiples

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner this week and her SUYL- Moms of Multiples.

There I was, four months into my marriage, and peeing on a stick. That puppy came back positive so quickly, I hardly had time to set it down. We were going to have a baby!

I was in Illinois attending a friends wedding and Johnathon was at home in California. Telling him over the phone wasn't my ideal why to inform him that he was going to be a dad, but what other option did I have?

I can't remember the exact moment that I knew, but after about a week I was telling anyone who would listen that I was having twins. Call it mother's intuition or maybe just a lucky guess, but I KNEW!

I can only imagine how silly, ignorant and naive I must have sounded when I went into my OBGYNs office with my head held high and announced my hunch. 10 minutes and 1 ultrasound later, he handed me a picture of ONE happy and healthy baby. *forehead smack*

I was instructed to come back in two weeks for a final check-up before I flew back to California. Just for fun, we decided to do another ultrasound for a few extra pictures. I laid there looking from the screen, to my mom (who was with me), to the ultrasound tech. Was I not seeing things correctly? Was that a mirror image of the baby? I couldn't even get out the words "What am I looking at?" before the tech hurried off to get the doctor. In he marches and says, "Oh, just as I thought. Twins!"

This is the part where I lost it. I'm talking full on crying for 10 minutes. All I can remember is looking at my mom and talking through my tears..."What am I going to do? How do I tell Johnny? What am I going to do? No, really! What am I going to do?"

They gave me a few extra pictures to share with everyone that said TWINS and BABY A/BABY B then I sat down to make the phone call. As soon as Johnathon answered I asked him if he was sitting down. Knowing I was at my appointment he asked if everything was okay. I responded my telling him that they each had 10 fingers and 10 toes. He didn't quite get it so I repeated myself and said IT'S TWINS! He let out the most adorable mix of a yell/whoop/sigh and yelled across the room to his friends.

Fast forward a few months.

I was 29 weeks and 5 days when I woke up early one morning feeling like I was about to pee my pants. I waddled into the bathroom and noticed that my shorts were wet. Ugh! This had happened one time before when I physically couldn't get out of bed soon enough and baby B kicked my bladder. I waddled back to the bed and woke Johnathon up. That's when I noticed that the bed was dry. Huh?! Johnathon instant ran to the computer to google what had just happened to see if my water had broken. All I kept thinking is A) this is not how I in visioned my water breaking B) I'm only 29 weeks, will my babies survive C) aren't contractions supposed to start soon and D) if we are going to the hospital then my butt is eating before we go.

And good thing I did because I spent the next 5 days on bed rest with very little food. My water had broken and I was having contractions. Thankfully they kept enough drugs pumping into me that I didn't feel a thing. On day 5 (30 weeks and 3 days) I started feeling the contractions as baby B's heart rate started dipping. The prepped me and 10 minutes later at 6:02pm Alyssa Kay Stone (2lbs 9oz) was born and 30 seconds later at 6:03pm Allison Leanne Stone (3lbs 1oz) was born. I got to kiss Allison on the forehead, but they were swept away to the NICU. I was able to see them the next day, but only for a few minutes. Johnathon did his best to take new pictures and show me. It was the hardest 24 hours of my life...

...until they sent me home. The first night home without the girls was hard. My belly was remarkably smaller, but their cribs were empty. There was no crying baby to sooth or wash, no bottles to clean or diapers to change. I cried myself to sleep the majority of the first week. The doctors said if they made it through the first 24 hours that would be great. Then it was turned into we wouldn't know anything until day 3. Oh, if they can make it through the first week then they may have a fighting chance. It was hard! We were constantly being told to say our good-byes as we left each night. That is not something that we told anyone. Who wants to inform their families, thousands of miles away, that we just said good-bye to our babies. Luckily for us, we returned each day to stronger and more healthy babies.

After 8 weeks, the girls were able to come home.

Taking care of infant twins was not easy. There were plenty of sleepless nights and days spent in my pajamas. As hard as it was, I wouldn't change a thing about it.

The girls will be turning 5 this Summer and they are happy, healthy and spunky little girls. They are best friends and the most amazing big sisters to Madelynn who is 27 months younger. Alyssa and Allison both have red hair and blue eyes and share the same blood type...but they are fraternal twins. One is right handed and one is left handed. They may be twins, but they are completely individuals!!

So there you have it, the story of my babies! :)