Last year about this time I posted our first of many birthday posts. Appropriately for our first kids, Tawna and Taya. It is their birthday again, but instead of the pics and favorite things about them I want to do something different this year for birthdays. I want to post a little bit about how our kids came into our lives.
When we became parents long ago (not meant as a dig) we were still in college and struggling to get our lives figured out. Richard had just begun his junior year, and I was just finishing my junior year. My due date for our first baby was May 11. I was planning on taking my finals and then having our first child with the summer to recover before my senior year commenced in the fall. In the latter part of March Richard went to a conclave in Kentucky for R.O.T.C., leaving me alone in Provo for a week. He left on a Sunday morning, and I lost all nerve to stay by myself. I called my Dad to see if he could fly up and get me so I could stay with them for the week. (Yes, I am spoiled and blessed with awesome parents). His friend had a Cessna 210 my Dad could borrow from time to time. He said he could, and by noon that day my friend Nancy (with her newborn) and I were on our way home for a week. We planned to drive back to Provo the following Sunday in a car she was picking up in Chandler. I was still six weeks away from my due date, so no problem, right? This picture was taken a month before I delivered. I was huge.
It was nice to be home. My Mom (as always) had wedding receptions to do as she was still in the catering business. She had two on the calendar on the following Saturday. There was also a baptism to attend in between decorating for the receptions, and going back to work at them that evening. A very good friend of my sister's was being baptized, so of course we were all going. We went and decorated for the reception (the other booking was for a cake only) Saturday morning. It was at a bank facility on Main Street in Mesa, and happened to be downstairs in this building. Wow. Everything had to go downstairs, and that was a lot of trucking up and down. I of course was not lifting and carrying, just doing the lighter stuff. We got everything under control and returned home to get ready for the baptism. I decided I was too tired to go, so I laid down to rest while the rest of my family went to the church. After a while, I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back to get back on the bed, my water broke. I didn't know quite what to do, so I went back to the bathroom and just sat on the toilet. Meanwhile, my Mom was at the baptism and somehow knew something was amiss. She turned to my Dad and said, “I think we need to go home.” They did. When she saw that my water had broken, she got on the phone to her Dr. and he agreed to meet us at one of the local hospitals. She had to go finish the wedding cakes and get them delivered, so she couldn't take me. My Dad was the transport and boy, was he nervous. My brother's birth was really, really fast, and my Dad was not wanting to deliver a baby in the car. I had a very fast ride to the hospital and I don't blame him a bit for wanting me there quickly.
Dr. Elliott came in to check out the progress and upon touching my belly made the comment, “Well, we have at least two babies in there, and maybe three since they are very small and I can't feel through to the back.” I remember thinking that I would be okay if there were two, but I didn't know how I would handle three. For months I had been asking my Dr. in Provo if it were possible that I could be having two. His answer was always, “Everyone always thinks they are having two.” Funny, some of us actually DO have two! This was before sonograms. (I'm that old). Next thing I knew, I was in the delivery room, getting an epidural that barely had time to kick in before the show was in full swing. I remember watching the delivery in the mirror above the bed and marveling at how tiny these babies were. Dr. Elliott told me he had named my babies for me. He said they were “Baby A, and Baby B!” Baby A was born at 6:10 (or something like that) and Baby B was 5 minutes later. She was very high and the Dr. had to literally go up and get her. He was concerned that she needed to come as quickly as possible as they were small and may need extra attention. (Her head was that really hard lump I had been feeling for months, right under my rib cage. I would go for my check ups and the Provo Dr. would always say the head was down. I would ask what that hard thing was up so high. He would just say probably the placenta. I don't think he was a very good Dr.) I was very upset that Richard was not there, but things were moving pretty fast and there was no way to contact him. (no cell phones yet either!) We had joked that he would go on this trip to Kentucky and I would have our baby while he was gone. Little did we know.
The babies went immediately into incubators. Their lungs were okay, all their systems seemed to be okay, but they could not maintain body temp, so had to be warm. Baby A was 4 pounds and Baby B, 3 pounds, 13 ounces. So little. My Mom got to the hospital just after the babies were born. From my arrival, until the births, it had only been about 3 hours. I went to my room, my body got the shakes (pretty normal) and I threw up. After that, I felt pretty good. Mom had to go and handle the reception, and I'm sure Tracy and Bob were helping with that. Papa was very glad he didn't have to deliver babies, and we still joke about the wild ride to the hospital.
I called my friend Nancy, and explained I wouldn't be riding back to Provo with her. She came to see the babies and we had a good laugh about the whole thing. I called Richard's parents and told them I wouldn't be there for dinner, and they of course were very surprised and came right away. My sister-in-law, Jacque was due any time, and was in fact going into labor about now. She had Ali the next day making her parents grandparents of 3 in a very short time. I had “frosted” my hair the night before I delivered, and it was really a mess. It took me hours to comb out all the tangles. Funny, the things you remember.
Still no contact with Richard. He was due back in Provo on Sunday, so I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to him until then. When Sunday came, I called home every few minutes until he finally answered. I knew he wouldn't believe me if I told him I was in the hospital and had just had twins, so I gave it to him slow. (This, because of all the joking about it ahead of time). I finally convinced him I was indeed in the hospital. I did in fact have our baby. Okay, time for the shock of it all…we actually had two babies. Now he was convinced I was kidding, so I said I would give him awhile to think about it, and call him back. We hung up and he immediately called his parents. They said, yep, it was true. He called me at the hospital to make sure all was well, and we discussed names. I told him I wanted to name them Tawna Lynn, and Taya Lee. Tawna, (the name of a friend's older sister), and Taya after a friend I had when we lived in Germany. Lynn, after me and Lee after my Dad and sister. He agreed. No more Baby A and Baby B. He made plans to take a bus to come see us in a few days. I went home to my parents house, but not the babies. I could hold them to feed them, but then they went back into the incubators. They were so very small. We called them our spider monkeys. I would go to the hospital for a few hours everyday and was so sad my babies were not at home with me. It took 10 days to have Tawna released to me (now back at 4 pounds) and 2 weeks for Taya to come home, now at almost 4 pounds. Babies always lose a little weight right after birth, and they wanted them back at birth weight to come home. They were eating every 2 hours around the clock, so we had a master schedule that I got a lot of help with from Mom and Tracy. I could never have handled this on my own. Richard made plans to drive down and pick us up after about 6 weeks. That's a whole other story. This picture was taken on their blessing day, right before we returned to Provo with our little, little babies. (Whoa, we were such babies ourselves. And so skinny!)
I will take this opportunity to wish Happy Birthday to Ali too. I have always loved that you girls came so close together. You must have been close before this world to get to come to us all within hours of each other.
The above picture was taken at Easter, on the Temple grounds a year later. One of the few I have of Nana with the twins.
I have always been grateful for the circumstances (blessings) surrounding their birth. The Lord was watching out for us and we had a great Dr. that knew I had twins coming and all was well. We have always been so thankful for Tawna and Taya and their sweet spirits, unique talents, considerable abilities and willingness to serve their families, us, and others. They have brought joy, worry, experience and blessings to us and we are better for them. I have always been so appreciative of the help I received with them. My Mom, and my sister Tracy were such life-savers while they were babies. Everyone helped us, and watched out for us. Countless hours of service. I missed my finals that year, took incompletes in all my classes, but oh well. I had healthy babies, 6 weeks early and that was the most important thing.
Happy Birthday to our twiners. We love you so very much.
