This post is a tribute to all twin moms, but most especially to our Momma!! This is her story in her own words...
It was 1978. I had just turned 26 years old in November and had a 5-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son when I found out I was pregnant with twins. I remember the day like it was yesterday.
At only six weeks pregnant, I was growing rapidly and so the doctor did my one and only ultrasound. His machine was brand new and mine were the first twins he saw on it.
While I was in my appointment, my husband was sitting in the car with our two other children.
When I came out of the doctor’s office, I must have been white as a ghost because he said to me, “what is wrong? Is there something wrong with the baby?”. I just looked at him and said, “I will tell you when we get home and you have a good, stiff drink in your hand.”. He replied that we were not leaving until I told him what was going on. So, I said, “It isn’t "baby", it’s "babies"!”! After he absorbed the shock of the news, he looked to our children in the backseat and said, “Mommy is going to have two babies!”, to which my five-year-old daughter replied as she looked at her brother and exclaimed, “One for you and one for me!”!
The pregnancy was not an easy one. I was told to expect them between the middle of May and the middle of June; however, on July 14, I went into labor in the morning and went to the hospital that afternoon once my mom arrived from upstate to go with me.
Finally, at about 7:00PM they did an x-ray to determine why I wasn't progressing with my labor and then, after being in labor for more then 12 hours with the twins, the doctor decided at about 1:00AM on July 15th that they were going to take the girls by an emergency c-section. As it turned out, Brandy was breach and Mindy was laying crossways on top of her. At 1:40am Mindy was born and two minutes later, Brandy was born.
The average set of twins are born several weeks early and weigh about five and a half pounds each at birth. Being born weeks later than twins are typically expected, Mindy was born weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces while Brandy weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces. Can you imagine!? I slept in a recliner the last two months!
I don’t remember much right after they were born because I had hemorrhaged and I guess I passed out. My husband and mom were called back to the hospital because they didn’t think I was going to make it. Needless to say, they needed to do a blood transfusion. The girls and I stayed in the hospital for about a week before they released us to go home.
Well, everything turned out great and I have beautiful twin daughters who are soon to be 47 years old and have been quite the experience, which I wouldn’t trade for anything in this world. They continue to amaze me every day.
One of my saving graces during the early years was a Mother of Twin’s Club where other mothers of multiples got together once a month to share stories, support each other, and we would exchange children’s clothes and things like that. We also went to Mother’s of Twins Conventions once a year. I highly recommend this kind of support if it is available.