Happy Birthday Twinnies!

Look who turned 17.  These two little babies are practically adults, and I cannot handle it.  They are both kind, smart, generous souls.  I'll never understand how I got to be so lucky to be their Mom.  Both of them work so hard to achieve their goals and to overcome the obstacles they face in this life.

From the beginning, I hardly let myself believe that my little, frozen maybe-babies would ever be a reality.  When I finally accepted that I was pregnant with them, it hit me that these two little souls might actually make it into our family.

They nearly didn't.  The pregnancy was tricky and difficult.  Contractions started at 16 weeks.  I went on bedrest at home soon after that...with a one year old Ethan.  At 27 weeks, I was put into the hospital on bedrest with preeclampsia. 

I was there for a month.  During both my home bedrest, and my hospital bed-rest, my friend Lori, and my sister-in-laws, Arianne, Robbyn and Tonnette all came to spend a week with us and help us out with Ethan.  I even got a visit from Mom and Lora before they flew back to New Zealand after attending Spencer's wedding.

Even with all that help and all those precautions, those babies came fast and early.  At 31 weeks they decided to make their big entrance.  Robert made it into the surgery room just as the doctors were making their first cut into my belly.

It was terrifying.  Austin came out first, not breathing.  I saw him for just a moment before they whisked him away.  Alaina was much more difficult to get out.  The doctors pulled and pulled her.  The room went quiet and all I saw was the gurney I was on, jerking up and down as pushed and pulled to get her out.  When they finally did get her, she was black and blue and swollen.  When they showed me her, I didn't know if I was saying hello or goodbye.

Alaina was taken one way, and I was taken another.  My own recovery was pretty intense, and I wasn't even able to see the babies again until the next day.  Even then, I was snuck in by the night nurse, and only got to hold them a few moments.  They were so beat up and hooked onto so many wires, that the whole experience was more scary than comforting.

Those two little loves weren't ready to come out, and yet, there they were.  We spend a whole month in the NICU as they grew, learned out to breathe and recovered from jaundice.

Mom and Dad Jones were able to come while we were there, and help us both with Ethan and the emotional toll of having those tiny babies in the hospital.

The day after we brought them home from the hospital, Gina, Hunter and Bella came and stayed the entire summer with us.  Even with these extra sets of hands, we were exhausted and overwhelmed.  The following months were full of doctor visits, oxygen tanks, and sleepless nights.

It truly took an entire village to bring these two little babies into the world.  And every moment of it was worth it.  They have inspired me as I've watched them turn into the young adults that they are now.  They have all those traits that seem to be so important to everyone in our world.  They are good looking, smart and talented.  But they are also full of the qualities that I personally feel make stellar people.    They are tender and thoughtful.  They are not only compassionate, but they are the kind of people who consciously look around them to find others who might need a friend.  They are curious and constantly push themselves to grow.  They are forgiving and determined.

I could go on forever.  They really are the best of the best.  Probably because they have had so many people love them and root for them.  Having a village help raise a child is one thing...but our village has also loved these two kids into adulthood.

Happy 17th Birthday, my sweet babies.

They got a special breakfast....

...and dinner.  Luckies.

For the twins' birthday party, we went to Lake Lanier to play for the afternoon.  It was a fun group of kids and the weather stayed nice for us.