We now have 3 sons all born on a Thursday in January.  Early on Thursday, January 7th, we got up and left the kids and Ahna at the house around 4 am.  They had us scheduled to be at Tampa General at 5:30 to prepare for a c section.  When we arrived, over the next two hours, we signed lots of paperwork, we went over various drug choices with the Nurse Anthesiologist, and started an iv line.  Finally Gary changed into scrubs and they showed him where to put our stuff in recovery, after one last ultrasound where we found Baby A's feet propped up on my cervix knees bent with his backside sitting on the side of my pubic bone and B's face.  It was disappointing but expected.

The worst part was having to walk into the freezing cold ER alone and get the spinal without Gary in there.  It hurt every bit as bad as I had heard, but at least the contractions I'd been having for several weeks weren't that strong, so I wasn't trying to deal with them and the spinal.  Another nurse held my hand, I squalled all while trying my best to not move, and the Nurse Anthesiologist talked me through everything, until they had things ready for Gary to come in.  She was worth her weight in gold, and I thanked her several times.  She stayed right by me the entire time, and explained what was happening and what to expect.  We had already talked about how that helped my anxiety a lot to know what was going on.

It was really unnerving to not feel cold or heat or them cutting, but to feel the pulling in other areas because everything is connected.  It was also a little scary toward the end that I knew I had to be breathing but I couldn't feel myself breathing anymore.  It took very little time to get both boys out.  William David was born breech at 8:27 am, weighing in at 7 lbs and 7 oz and 20 inches long.  He had way more vernix than any of our others have had, and they immediately started rubbing him and getting all the fluid out of him so that he would cry.  It first I wasn't sure if I could touch him, but I got to rub his check through the clear drape and at that moment he started crying.  They kept him them for about half a minute, before handing him off to finish suctioning fluid out.  During that 30 seconds, Baby B thought that looked like fun, so he turned breech too.  I had asked if it was possible could they be born in the caul, and let me see it before they broke their water.  I have always thought it would be neat to see, and they told me it was possible if they were head first, but not for breech babies.  So we missed out on seeing that.  Jonathan Lynn was born at 8:28 weighing in at 5 lbs and 15 oz and 19 inches long.  I was able to rub his hand through the clear drape and hear him make the most pitiful little meowling cry before they took him to suction and clean up.

Will

Jon

When they were cleaned up and weighed and checked out the NICU team gave them the all clear to stay with me.  It seemed like it was taking a while but I am sure it wasn't that long before Gary brought Will over.  By that point I was super drowsy, and it was hard to lift my arm to touch him, so Gary held him for me, while they kept an eye on my always low blood pressure.  After a few minutes Gary handed Will off to the nurses and brought Jon over the same way.  After a few minutes they set Gary up with both of the boys in the recovery area in a warmer, so they could finish up with me.  They told me that I bleed a lot partly because of needing to cut through a placenta (both of mine were anterior this time), but not outrageously high for twins.

Will and Jon

Jon and Will

I stayed in recovery from 9:14 till 12:30.  Despite me and the boys dosing they both managed to latch on and nurse some during that time.  We also all three slept some with Daddy to keep an eye on things.  We were able to get situated in our room by 1.  It took a little time, as they found us a bigger room to have a little extra space with double the equipment for the twins.  By 2 or 3, I was semi alert, Gary had unpacked, and at that point we were able to finally begin calling family members.  I was about to start getting up a little after 5 pm.

Will

Jon

They are all well.  Jon does have a congenital hip malformation, and will need a brace for at least the first three weeks, but that should stop his left hip from popping in and out of socket.  Both boys will need to follow up with the pediatric osteo doc since they were both delivered breech.  Jon still has a bit of fluid in his left ear as well, and will need to have a follow up hearing test sometime in the next month.  They are both an excellent size and very healthy, after "baking" for so long inside.  I have been pretty mobile, but will still have some restrictions on getting out and about, for the first 2 weeks, and then the next four weeks.  I am not allowed to lift both babies at once for example.  They have asked us to take some additional precautions about getting the boys out due to covid.  We are not to introduce them to anyone outside of our household for the next two weeks, but then with mask and hand washing we can start slowly expanding our circle.  As one of the nurses told me, it wouldn't be a quick recovery, especially with twins, but everything looked very promising if I will go slowly.

Dear Britt,

In just more than 2 weeks it will be your birthday. I wanted to write your letter early this year, since I failed to write it last year, and I suspect life will be even crazier for a time after your brothers arrive. You have grown so much that 12 years seems like both a very long time and a very short time since you were born.

You have become a very determined boy, with wild ideas all your own, and a great drive to explore and tinker. You are still enamored with nature, something that has been the case ever since you could walk. Between your rock collection and your ability to find a perfect stick wherever you go, I don’t know that will ever change. You are also fascinated these days with the idea of mechanics and inventing machines. You don’t have the technical knowledge yet to make those ideas come to life, but science and robotics interests you more and more these days. Your love for Nintendo and the challenge the games present have not dulled for your at all. You sometimes talk about learning to design your own game. You certainly have many story ideas that you could pursue. Along with a love of stories, your ability to read and enjoy it continues to grow, and of course you still really enjoy history with me. I am glad to be able to share both the stories of history and the world of the imagination with you. It is one of the ways that you remind me of myself.

You most remind me of your Daddy in your love for the Church. You think a lot about spiritual things, and want to please God, but you struggle with impatience and frustration, much like your Daddy did as a boy. He says in time you will learn to channel it and control it, and he keeps challenging you to help you grow. We continue to hope that as you mature and become a young man, that the love you feel for the Lord and His Church will help you to put aside selfish desires and strive for something better.

One of your very best qualities remains your care for your siblings and others. You still insist on including them when you play with the boys in the neighborhood. You take time to offer to cuddle Kate when she is upset. You find a way to include Rebecca in games, even when she isn’t as skilled as you and Ruth are. You are quick to encourage Ruth in her artistic endeavors. And as you like to share with people you prayed for “brothers” (plural) before we became pregnant, after we told you that you had all the siblings that you were going to get, and God answered those prayers. You wanted to get your and Ruth’s OT teacher a Christmas gift without me even suggesting it. You are quick to share Pokémon cards with a friend you just met at the library.

You are looking forward to being a big brother to brothers this time. You can’t wait to be their hero that they look up to and teach them all the things you think they need to know. You have offered to get up with them at night and change diapers. I can’t wait to see what wonderful things the future has in store for your Britt.

We love you very much,
Momma and Daddy

 

Ruth,

I have now failed two years in a row to get your birthday letter written, so think of this as a very late apology.  You are now nearly 10.5 years old, and growing in so many ways.

Your favorite subject remains art, and you have enjoyed more than anything learning different technics this year.  You enjoy reading for fun now, and have really excelled at math this year.  Though I don’t think you particularly like it, when you quit freaking out over a new math lesson, you typically have it mastered in a matter of minutes.  You have dreams of working with both art and animals in the future, often discussing being a vet, creating art of pets for others, running a grooming and dog walking business of your own.  You are drive to learn things that might help you in those aims.  Though I don't always require you kids to write up your results and answer questions following the scientific method for our experiments, just knowing that being a vet is a science, you willingly choose to practice that each time we preform an experiment.  And that is leading you to a great care for your writing skills that you didn't have before.

You have a logical mind, with a deep sense of what is right and wrong.  What is fair and not.  You like things orderly and explainable.  We joke that you are your Aunt Manna's child, but in the desire for order and logic in life you are very much like me.  I am sorry to share that while these qualities do exist in a subject we both dislike, math, they frequently don't seem to apply to social interactions and life.  I hope that you continue to let those things drive you in your care and concern for others, but allow others greater leeway in their actions, and grace for their shortcomings, or you will often find yourself unhappy because others cannot live up to your expectations.

I hope you continue to hold yourself to high standards and fight for those who are marginalized or who are downcast.  It is one of your greatest attributes.  As much as I want to raise all of you children to use the brains God gave you, and teach you everything I can so that you can later pursue any future path you may desire.  As much as I want that, I want above all for you to be the kind of person who honors God, and one way you do that is by sacrificing self for others.  Your compassion can be the way you do that.  Your Daddy is incredibly self sacrificing for others, and yet when he is personally wronged you will most often see him put aside himself and not retaliate.  That takes more strength than you yet realize.

Each day it seems that we see a little less of the little girl and a little more of the woman you are growing into.  It is an amazing transformation.  To watch you mother Katherine one minute, to play an imaginary game with Britt with laser tag guns in the backyard the next, to hear you say something so grown up and reasonable, and then to laugh with Rebecca over her doll's antics.  I cannot wait to see how you will do with your two little brothers next week, when we go home with them.  We pray that while difficult this time of transformation may also prove to be lovely.  You will find that in much of life the things that are hard prove to be the things that are the most worth while.

We love you very much,

Momma and Daddy