Announcing that we were finally to have children was a big event for us. Will's parents had all but lost hope in us, but my parents knew it wouldn't be much longer after we built the house. Will called his parents to tell them the news before we even had our first meeting with my midwife, despite my attempts to dissuade him. We told my parents a week later at a previously arranged dinner at my mother house. My mother expressed herself in her usual way, but I knew that her concern was less than her happiness for us. I reminded her that I would now need twice the bedding that I had asked her to make years earlier. She wondered if I still wanted the Noah's Ark patterns that I requested then or if I would want something different for each of the twins. I told her that I still wanted the Noah's Ark for one, but I would have to get back to her on if I wanted the same for both.
For the first week after we found out, Will would smother me with kisses all over my face, then my stomach. I giggled and laughed and played along. Doctors visits became routine and I grew. When I began to show, Will would slather my stomach with lotion and love on me constantly. He had the pregnancy glow almost as much as I did. He began to strut when we were out together. I shook my head and sighed. My moods would swing all over, but he held me when I cried and forgave me when I was crabby.
Some weeks later, at a doctors visit, we were informed that we were going to have one boy and one girl. From there the shopping commenced. I ordered many items on-line, I requested a few more hand made items of my mother, and the rest we shopped for on Saturdays only. I slept in the family room for a couple of nights while Will painted our front guest bedroom to turn it into a nursery. He had always bee quiet protective of me, and now he was more than ever. Every precaution was taken to the extreme, any warning the midwife brought up was enforced. I was forced to sit in the back seat of the car, not allowed to drive anywhere. He almost forbade me, at one point, to leave the main floor of the house. I consented for a while, knowing that eventually he would come to his senses, he lasted almost a week before he was too lonely in bed one night. I was waited on hand and foot, sometimes I took advantage, other times I argued. I warned him that he was going to ware himself out, then when the babies were here he wouldn't have enough energy to help. As the weeks wore, he slackened on some things because of my irritation, but with others he stood firm.
I was glad to be pregnant during the fall and winter. I was due on our anniversary, but was assured that I would probably be two or three weeks earlier. The nursery was finished by the first part of April. I was thrown two baby showers in Minnesota, one by my family, the other by our friends. My mother-in-law planned another shower for us at the end of June. Will's side didn't believe in baby showers until after the baby was born. We arranged for our friend, Carissa, to come help us for a while after our son and daughter were born. My first choice had been my mother, but she wouldn't be done with school yet. Carissa would leave her husband, Wyatt, and their ten year old son, Jake, at home, but they would come visit often. She would help mostly with house cleaning and food preparation.
In the back of my mind May 18 was the date I wanted to have my twins. It was my the date my grandfather and his twin had been born almost one hundred years earlier, it seemed right. On that very morning, I woke at five o'clock thinking I had to use the bathroom. I waddled, as all very pregnant women do, to the bathroom, groggy and blurry eyed, then a strange sensation. I was a rare, yet rather comical explosion.
“Hon. Willard.” I called. A grunt came from the far side of the bed. “Will, your children want out.” another grunt. I grabbed a towel to clean myself up a bit, remained calm, contained the mess, and got dressed. I waddled over to my beloved sleeper, shoved his shoulder over and announced that we had to go.
“What?” He was never very quick to wake.
“Your children want to escape.” I said in a firm, less calm tone.
“Children? Babies!”
I called my midwife before Will was even completely awake and she arrived no less than twenty minutes later. I was glad we had chosen to have our babies at home where I was comfortable and knew that I had all the time in the world to do things in the way I felt was best.
Grace Abigail, our daughter, was 16 inches, 5 pounds 8ounces. Her brother Clayton Willard, was 17 inches 6 pounds 2 ounces. Both with daddies big blue eyes and thick dark eyelashes. Grace had a thick mat of dark brown hair, Clayton was bald like I had been. I was able to put a little pony tail in Graces hair before we even left the hospital. Clayton had a tiny blue and orange baseball cap that my mother had brought with her to see her new grand-babies. The appropriate calls were made a few hours after I had delivered, various people assured visits and others, like Will's parents, let us know that they were on their way.
I was so thankful, especially in those first weeks for the few books that I had read about training babies. They both, rather quickly and easily, latched onto the routine we had set up for them. Within a couple of days they were sleeping through the night and knew when it we time for what, be it feeding or sleeping. Grace was more laid back like Will. Clayton was more quirky and high strung, like me. Wills voice was everything to them. Whenever he spoke, both of the babies listened. I was glad to find that both of our children loved to snuggle. One day the four of us were sitting in the fireside room. Will with Grace and I with Clayton. All four of us had fallen asleep, both Will and I had a baby on our chest. Carissa took a picture, we used it for our Christmas greeting that year.
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