reflections

before we were married, my wife and i often discussed having children. she wanted several, but i said i would be content with just one. one always seemed easier. no fighting, no arguing, etc... unfortunately, considering that she had multiple reproductive issues (endometriosis, etc.), her doctor told us that having any children at all would be extremely difficult (although eventually we would prove him wrong!) so after we were married, she was put on fertility pills, and whaddya know, after a month or so, she was pregnant.
about 12 weeks into the pregnancy came that fateful night... about 1AM she started bleeding profusely, and we found ourselves in the emergency room. after being stabilized until morning, an OB nurse came in do an ultrasound to prove what we had feared: she had lost the baby. now, neither my wife nor i had ever seen an ultrasound, so we had no idea what we were looking at. the nurse spent a couple of minutes probing around, as we nervously waited. then she spoke:

"is there a history of twins in the family?"

"wh-what? no, there's no twins in either of our families"

"well there is now!"

the emotions of going from thinking you had one baby, to no baby, to two babies - all in a matter of hours, was unbelievable. her doctor thinks that she originally had triplets, and that one of them was not doing well. apparently, the mother's body can sense this and aborts the dying one so that it won't unintentionally kill the others. amazing.
the rest of her pregnancy went as well as could be expected from a 5'1", 100lb mother carrying twins. and after 35 weeks and more stomach stretching than my wife would like to remember, the call came:

"i just tripped over the cat. now i think i'm in labor!"

after pausing a moment to pity the poor cat, we were off to the hospital. eight hours later, andrew was the first to emerge. he cried for a second, the nurse plopped him on my wife's still-pregnant belly, we smiled and cried, and they took him away to do.... whatever it is they do with healthy newborn babies. nathan was next. he came out, and... nothing. no kicking, no crying, no breathing! suddenly this joyous occasion was turning into a nightmare. no plopping on the belly, no smiling, but definitely some crying as the nurse rushed him over to the doctor where they began resuscitation and to do.. whatever it is they do with non-breathing newborn babies. a short while later, we heard the glorious cries of our second newborn baby boy. although relieved, my wife and i were still shaken and concerned about the incident. the doctor, a backwoods country guy who also raises pigs (no kidding), came over and assured us.

"sometimes you just gotta kick-start 'em"

i swear that's exactly what he said. i remember it like it was yesterday. well, it wasn't quite yesterday. but it was exactly eleven years ago today. it's amazing how the time goes by so fast. for those of you with infants, i know you've heard it all before, but i'll tell you again: appreciate these times. before you know it, they'll be gone. and soon they'll be riding a bike, going to school, and maybe even kicking the pants off of you in a 5-mile race! although my desire to have only one child lasted all of 8 minutes, i wouldn't want it any other way. i feel blessed for every moment i can spend with any of my (now, 4) children.

anyway, happy birthday andrew and nathan - this day's for you.