and so it begins...

Up front - WOW! My wife showed me why men are not cut out for this type of thing. Initially, we were supposed to check into the hospital at 8 AM on monday morning for her inducement. According to studies, identical twins should come out at 36 weeks to avoid extra complications. Sunday night we pre-gamed with lots of carbs and all kinds of discussion about what was ahead of us. 6 AM Monday morning the hospital called and said there was no room (due to a super-duper hectic night before) and to call back at noon. At noon, they said, "come in at 7 pm." So we did.

We slept that night in the hospital so the drugs could be administered. Little sleep for both of us. The next morning, pitocin ("pit" as it is commonly called here in the hospital) was added and we waited. We waited and waited. Every 30 min a nurse would up the dose until my wife as at "17 out of a possible 20". (Insert spinal tap joke here). All that time and 3 cm. Doctor came in and gave us a choice, go home and sleep a few nights and come back to try again...or break water. God bless my wife, her immediate response was "break the water." (she reasoned that she didn't spend the last night in the hospital for nothing). That was all it took. Within 15 min, contractions hit and they came every min for the next 4-5 hours.

No drugs. No pain meds. No epidural. Nothing. In what can only be referred to as "amazing" my wife delivered two perfectly healthy boys within 6 mins of each other. The boys look so good that people can't believe that they are not C-section babes!

Ok, initial twin parent moment. Conflict. Do I go over to the heater with the first baby (Twin A) or do I stay with my wife? Do I watch the delivery of the second, or do I comfort my child? Second thought of a first-time parent...of twins no less...I can't show favoritism! Even from the beginning! Equal treatment for all. Baby "B" was delivered 6 min later and both were taken to the NICU for observation for breathing issues. The breathing issues turned out to be no problem and as I type, the babies are doing great. No NICU!! YAY!

Now they have been poked, prodded, tested and so far everything is great. Now the challenge is figuring out feeding, changing, comforting, serving my wife, figuring out how to protect her sleep time, juggling visitors, communicating with well-wishers, and oh yes...sleep. Every parent talks about the sleep deprivation, but twin parents have a special look when they talk about it. Not that any parents' experience is any less significant, but twin parents have that little devilish look in their eye when they talk about the first 6 months. I have a feeling that I am about to go through the initiation it takes to learn that special look.

Tomorrow, we take these babies for test drives. Home.