When it Rains, It Pours

The Tayrien Twins Club Minus my Aunt Tracy and her twins.

These girls have made having twins seem not only do-able but fun. When everyone else freaks me out I just call them for a pep talk!

R to L My cousin Alison and her identical twin boys born 2008, her sister (also my cousin of course) Stefani and her identical twin girls born 2009, and me with my boy/girl twins born 2010. Who wants to join the club and have the 2011 batch of twins? Any takers?

I should have seen it coming...

1. My neighbor down the street with teenage boy/girl twins told me that the week after her twins came home from the hospital her husband was hit by a car. He was in a coma for awhile then had major physical therapy for the next year.

2. My cousin with 2 year old boy twins- her husband had appendicitis the week after the twins were born and he spent his "paternity leave" recovering.

3. Comparatively we had it easy. Sunday, July 4, 2010 the day Oliver and I come home from the hospital Matt feels like he's got strep throat with a fever of 103 degrees. Probably something he caught at the hospital when his immune system was run-down from lack of sleep and stress about Abigail. Matt has never had a fever as long as I've known him. Of course all the urgent care places are closed for the holiday. The next morning he goes to a well-clinic and they tell him it's a virus, not strep, and anti-biotics wouldn't do him any good. He should act like he's contagious until the symptoms go away- which isn't for an entire week. These are the two days Abigail is still in the hospital.

We couldn't have picked a worse time to have him get sick in our entire lives if we tried. Because newborn twins- with one in the hospital, and a wife recovering from preeclampsia isn't enough. He felt SOOO bad. For the next week he slept in the guest room and stayed in there most of the day too. He was so sick and so tired. I was too busy taking care of the babies to baby him too. He did not touch or hold the twins once for a week. He didn't touch any of our food or dishes and he washed his hands until they were raw. It was rough but it worked- the rest of us didn't catch it. How terrible that after waiting 9 months for the twins to get here, he couldn't even hold them.

Luckily we were able to call in reinforcements. Matt's mom came those first two days to watch Oliver so I could go in for two of Abby's feeding at the hospital each day. Then my mom came back with Charlotte and stayed until Matt got better. She even got up for every feeding at night with me to give them their bottles after I nursed- Matt had been doing this for me at the hospital. This is after she'd already been here for the better part of 6 weeks while I was on bed rest and taking Charlotte to Cornville with her for 4 days when the twins were born (including a very nasty incident with a blow-out on the drive up...). I don't know what we would have done without the grandmas.

It's amazing what you can live through. I was very glad Matt had a second week off even if he had to work from home for some of it. I took if for granted how much Matt helped when Charlotte was born. I was very glad when he could start helping again the second week. Babies, and especially their mama, really need dad's help!