I have always wanted to write about my twin sons. I could fill a book with the reason I have a full head of white and gray hair. So today is as any good day to start. 

The year, 1978. It just seemed the snow never stopped. The whole month of January was one snow storm after another. I was pregnant and due in March. I had just gone to the doctors and complained that I felt unusual kicking could feel the kicking up under my breasts all the way down to my groin, bend that baby in half and I thought for sure, it was going to be a Will Chamberlain in height and it was going to wear sneakers. My doctor suggested an ultrasound.   Now back in the day the ultrasound was not the size of a PC and you were not allowed to watch and I can't remember how much water I was suppose to drink, but I know when that wand pressed on my stomach, I prayed I was going to be able to hold it.

Well the technician came in and used that wand on my stomach and I kept asking her what did she see, she told me I would have to wait for the doctor.  The doctor finally came out and she looked at me and said, "Nancy, I see two little heads". I was so excited, I got to a pay phone and called my husband immediately....yes there were pay phone back in the day...and told him the good news....he responded, "Nance, did they find two bodies too"?  And that was the start of it.  

My babies were then 31 weeks gestation and we had to do everything we could to hold off till 36, when it was the safe time to deliver.   I waddled her and I waddled there. This stomach was getting so big, I couldn't find maternity clothes to go over this huge belly. I measured it and I was 50 inches round...talk about a belly...and the pressure was getting worse and worse. I had a daughter who was 26 months old and trying to run after her and being pregnant was next to impossible.   Every day, I felt like I was getting bigger and bigger, but for my twin pregnancy, I had only gained 22 lbs but I looked like I swallowed a mini elephant.  

I went to the doctor for my weekly visit, I wasn't permitted to drive anymore, well actually, I couldn't fit behind the steering wheel any more. So my sister drove me.   This part of the story was told to me a month after the birth of the twins. I was dropped in front of the doctors office and I waddled into it, as everyone stared at me, I could not find a coat that would go over the belly, the protruding belly was some site. Now, as I was in the Doctors office, my sister experienced this...my daughter was not potty trained and she dirtied her diaper. Now her son was a year younger and he decided to join in and now she had two with stinky diapers and she was still circling the parking lot cause the snow was pushed to the side and took most of the available parking spaces. Here it is freezing cold out, she is dying from the smell, and finally find a parking space and reached for the diaper bag and no diaper bag, she remembered she forgot to grab it on her way out. Now, she has to get out of the car and breathe some fresh air and she starts to dry heave. The guard came over and asked her if she needed help and all she could muster up was to point at the car. He went over there and examined the car and there are two toddlers now crying, he thought something happened to the, so he opened the door and the fumes hit him in the face and he too had a hard time. He must have been a dad cause he recovered quickly and called for back up on his walkie talkie. A nurse came out with two diapers and wet ones for my sister and a plastic bag. She changed them, opened a window and waited for a sister who was in there a little too long.  

Now as she had her problems, I was having mine as well. I got up on the table and they examined me. Holy God night, I was only 32 weeks and I was already 6 cm dilated. Not a good thing. The babies were too under developed to survive. The doctors in the group all got together and tried to decide on the best neo-natal unit to send me to. Dr Sorensen told the group, that he had just came from a hospital with the best unit on the east coast, Pennsylvania Hospital, it was known for the best prenatal care .   I was taken gently off of the table and a wheelchair was called for me. I was not permitted to walk until these babies where born and I had a long road ahead of me. The baby factory had to continue to work for another 4 weeks or my children would not survive. 

 Now mind you, my sister was in the car waiting for me and she sees them wheel me to the hospital which was right across the parking lot. as she jumps out of the car, the nurse comes out and finds her and tells her, I am being admitted to the hospital until they can get me transportation to Pennsylvania Hospital  in Philly. I am in jeopardy of losing my children if I am not treated with the proper medical care.  My poor sister, had to take my daughter home with her, of course she had no keys to get into my house. she got my mom to meet her at my house, thank god, I had given her a key months ago. Now my daughter was in good hands with my Mom and Dad and I was waiting for the ambulance to whisk me away.

Finally the ambulance arrived and I was very nervous. I knew my husband was suppose to be on his way so I could feel better, I kept asking the attendant, did they see my husband behind us. After 20 minutes of me asking and my pressure raising, the one EMT said, "what color car did you say you had". I told them you cant miss it, "it's a yellow and black maverick" and she said, "oh I see it, its right behind us". Well I calmed down...and honestly, she was a smart woman, there was no car like that behind us but she knew I needed to be a calm so I would keep my pressure down for the sake of these babies.  

They wheeled me into the hospital and all I remember ...now mind you, this is 30 years ago and the unimportant stuff just fades away. But I do remember the best parts, that I was put on monitors and my room was right next to the nurses station in the labor section. They feared the ride would cause me to go into labor. They were given strict instructions, no internals, due to the fact I could rupture and go into labor....ladies, try getting a visual exam sometime! These doctors did their best and I wish I could thank every one of them for the time and effort they put into this.

Well, a doctor came in and introduced himself to me, he has a specialist in High Risk Pregnancy. He told me of his concern of my babies being born at the moment and them having a 60% chance of one twin surviving. Now that isn't very good odds and I was so upset. He then told me he had something he needed to talk to me and my husband about...oh yes, my husband did arrive, two hours later, but arrived.   There was this new drug on the market, well its rather brand new, the sheep had it before me but it was suppose to make the babies lungs develop so they would survive. I hemmed and hawed over this decision. I know some of you are thinking why did I just say yes, well a sheep isn't a human. they really never used it on any human and my children and myself were human guineas pigs. If I take this drug, will they really survive or will it damage them later on in life.   He continued to explain that this would be given to me by IV and it had to stay in my system for 72 hours for it to cross of to the placenta to do any good. "What did I think"? I asked him to give me an hour, he told me "10 minutes, an hour could mean the difference between life and death".

My husband was as unsure as I was. But deep down in my heart, I knew I had to take the chances. If it hurt me, so be it, my husband was there to take care of my children, and I prayed that it would help my children and not hurt them. My ten minutes was up and I asked the doctor, "If I was your wife, what would you do"?  he answered without hesitation, "I would tell her to take this drug for our children".  Ten minutes later, I got my IV.  

Well you can not go into labor for 72 hours and 5 hours into the IV, the monitors told them labor was starting. So they put me on something called an alcohol IV, which they told me was equivalent to 16 oz's of 100% alcohol...now talk about a buzz. I was totally intoxicated and my husband went home to rest cause I was nearly passed out at that point. They didn't give me bourbon, I could have handled that.   Well good new by the next day, all signs of pending labor was gone but what a hangover.  I even lost my taste for alcohol for years after that.

Then I the monitor showed more labor starting. The team came rushing in and told me labor was starting and I needed another day to get this to work. "Okay, okay, more drinks"?  they told me no, now they were going to give me a shot of morphine to stop the labor.  

Now, first the booze now the drugs...this lady was on some high for two days straight. I guess the two shots of morphine did the trick, cause my babies must have passed out from all these drugs and booze and was sleeping it off.  

I was moved to a regular room and I remember oh finally, its 33 weeks today, one more week and I just made my 72 hours, I am home free. And ut oh, did I wet myself? I called for the nurse, who happened to be a student nurse and she came in and said, "oh you didn't break your water, you probably just wet yourself"....now ladies, do these young student nurses not know that we know the difference?  Did I have to prove it to her?   

Well, the head nurse had the gurney ready for me and they said, its time. I said, "wait, my husband isn't here". She said, "we would wait, can you"? I said, "lets hope so",  in walks my husband and he was given a gown and they did checked the heart beats and told us there are two healthy sounding babies ready to be delivered,  and told me that the steroid drug has passed over and now I had an 80% chance both twins would survive.  

Now mind you this is record breaking news, these babies were going to be born and they will see how they did. The student nurses wanted to see the delivery, was it okay, "sure, the more the merrier." Then did I know right away I was in an amphitheater, no, only when I was looking up did I see all those faces...

So I pushed once, twice and the third time, they told me the baby's head as crowning, one more push and it's a boy!!!!  Now they tell me the other baby is in a bad position, he is laying across my belly instead of head down and he is going in there to turn him. "oh no you don't doc, I'll do it myself, I have been shifting these babies around for months,if I can't turn it, then you can give it the old college try". And thank god, it worked. And did I tell you because of the prematurity, I was not permitted anything but a totally natural childbirth? 

Oh yeah. so the doctor said, "you can push now", and I turned to him and said, "can I take a rest? geez, you try this sometime". So I went and I pushed and pushed and pop came out the other one..."it's a boy" and I turned to my husband and said, ut "oh, I had Gregory Allen and Jaime Leigh picked out, you think he would mind"?  and the tears of joy filled my eyes. 

They expected little 3 lb babies who would have to fight for their lives. What I got were one 5 lb 1 oz, 19 inch son and 5 lb 4 oz, 18 1/2 inch son. They were whisked away to the neonatal unit and I back to a room to recover. As we got into the room, I said to my husband, "look its starting to snow, just like it did on Stacey birth day". The doctor said, "you can say, we can give you a room" and my husband, said, "no I want to get back  home and call everyone and talk to our daughter and tell her she has two new little brothers".   He left and our sons were born on Feb 3, 1978, the blizzard of 1978 that crippled all the major cities. There were no nurses coming into the hospitals for their shifts and I had to go to the nursery and feed these two bundles of joy, 1.5 oz of formula that took them an hour and a half to drink, each, so I would go back and rest for an hour and go back down to do it again. But I wouldn't trade that for the world, I was blessed with them. They are my miracles and as they were growing up, I had to keep reminding myself that they were and not the children I wanted to give away to the first person willing to take them. Now that story will come later...oh and do I have stories!!!