Seeing double.

I got an e-mail from my baby sister tonight, with photos from her ultrasound....I immediately saw the two sacks in her belly! I am going to be the aunt to TWINS in August. It will be her first (and second), and she and her hubby are both so excited, and up to the challenge I think.

Obviously they learned nothing from tending my kids for me. Guys, you know how this happened don't you? Well? Shay, we had "the talk." Did my kids not scare you off?

So apparently twins run in our family. My Shayne and Shianne will be eight this year. I still remember the day I found out we were expecting a small litter.

The doctor was in the middle of my ultrasound, he was panning around, making organs out of blurry blobs with the traditional running commentary:

Doctor: "....and here are the pancreas, they look great, and you can see the liver...."

Me: nodding, and pretending that I can see what he is pointing at, and pretending that I know what a pancreas is..

Doctor: "...and here is the heart, both chambers look good...."

Me: ...ooooo, I SEE that! excited, cause I really could see it, cause it was beating!

Me: feeling confident from being able to make sense of a gray splotch..."Hey you better check and see if there are two in there"....snicker, snicker

Doctor: Panning over, runs right into another embryo..."Oh yes, there are two", and continues with the same measuring.

Me: thinking the doctor was just being silly, but he was writing the fake measurements down on the chart....??

me<----panic! What? Two?

Sam: "Wow, that looks really real!"

Doctor: "Well, this IS the live production."

Me: !

Doctor: turning with alarm at my chalk white face "Didn't you know you were having twins?"

Us: "No." (!!)

Doctor: snickering now... "Well, congrats, it looks like you dropped two eggs this time!"

Me: mind racing.....where are we going to fit two more car seats, we need another crib, I am going to get huge, do I need to take two prenatal vitamins now, where can we fit two cribs, we are going to have FOUR KIDS IN DIAPERS, I am going to need mental help.....

Sam: Oh yeahhhhh, I can fertilize anything!

And all too soon, they came. Just shy of 36 weeks, healthy and pink, and I could breathe again!

We had some sleepless nights, where Sam and I would each take a baby, and sit in our bed and talk while the babies ate. We laughed a lot, cause things are pretty funny at 3:00 am. Life was a drunken blur, but without the alcohol.

I remember paying through the nose for preemie diapers. Spending a fortune on formula. Searching in vain for socks that would actually stay on those little chicken legs. Trying to go places by myself with a three year old, an eighteen month old, and two newborn infants in bulky car seats.

Things were hard at times, but the good outweighed the bad. I would do it all again. Sometimes, I wish I could do it all again. I would enjoy it more, and hold those little babies more.

On the other hand, I might shoot myself.

So Shay and Rob, I know you sometimes pop in on my blog...I am so thrilled for you! Enjoy every little minute. Such a miracle, and a fleeting one at that.

And if you have need of a sitter, I know a willing and very experienced one...

Grandma Kathy.