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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Happy Birthday - Twice!

Thirty six years ago today, two little girls came in to this world.  They were the first two of eight to call me Mom.


I've been thinking about that day and going through pictures of their life.  Bear with me as I reminisce. 




I asked my doctor several different times during the early exams if he thought I was having twins because I was getting so big. He told me that he could only hear one heart beat so not to worry.  At 7 1/2 months, he  finally sent me in for an x-ray - yes, you heard me right, an x-ray - to verify my suspicion. 




 The x-ray showed two babies, one head down, the other feet down.  Other than my regular checkups, that was the last time anything was done to check on the status of the babies.




The last two weeks I was put on partial bed rest and took phenobarbitol because of toxemia.  
The morning of the 9th, I had a doctor appointment.  My mother took me because I wasn't supposed to drive because of the drug I was taking.  Besides, we didn't have a tilt steering wheel on the old Chevy and I had a hard time fitting in the driver's seat.  




When I got to the office, I was having labor pains.  The doc checked me and said, "Yes, you are in labor and you're dilated to a 3 so...go on home and when the pains are 4 minutes apart get to the hospital!  WHAT?  Being naive and trusting my doctor, I went home.  My mother was wringing her hands and telling me I needed to get to the hospital but I insisted I was OK. 




At 1:00 in the afternoon, Mom called Andy at work and told him to come and take me to the hospital.  Andy finished typing up a report, cleaned up his desk and then came home.  By the time he got home, I was having pains pretty steady and my water broke.  We got in the car and sped the 15 miles to the hospital.   




By the time I got to the hospital, I was dilated to a 9 and Candice's foot was already out!  Yikes!  Both babies were delivered breech.  Candice was born first.  She weighted 7 lbs 4 oz.  Camille came 7 minutes later at 7 lbs 14 oz.   It was quite the day!


Today was a good day.  We took C & C to lunch at Macaroni Grill.






Both Candice and Camille are strong, talented, beautiful women.  They're good mothers and fabulous daughters.  I'll end with a video of a Happy Birthday song sung in Italian at the restaurant.




Happy Birthday Candice and Camille!  We love you!

25 comments:

Julie Harward said...

Wow..what a story and how blessed you are to have your first ones be twins..beautiful gals! :D

Yvonne said...

That is quite a story. Things sure have changed, eh ; ) Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughters.

Hannah Jones said...

Oh I love that birth story!! Happy Birthday to your twins and congratulations to you!! (: They are amazing girls!

gigi said...

This was just so strange to read the way things use to be... But oh how blessed you are to have twin daughters, double blessed.
Wow what a voice!

Kristina P. said...

I've been blessed to get to know one of your daughters very well!

Kerin said...

Sending out double happy birthdays!
What an entrance into this world, but a double blessing to be sure :)
Hope they have a fantastic birthday.
(My question to you mom, is...... how did you ever get brave enough to have any more kids??!! That was quite the rodeo you went through to get them here :))

Barbaloot said...

Wow! What a crazy birthing experience the first time around! My cousin is pregnant with twin girls and they are her firsts...I think maybe I won't tell her this story quite yet:)

Nana said...

That was a great story. I did not know you had twins.
They are beautiful women.
Happy B-day to them.

Valerie said...

Wow~ that is some story!
Happy birthday to your beautiful daughters.

Darla said...

It is clear that needed to be here on earth. What wonderful women they are and how lucky we are to know them!

Happy Birthday Candice and Camille and Happy Mother's Day Connie :-)

Kimmie said...

It sounds like your life have been adventurous the whole way through. I can't believe you didn't find out you were having twins until 7-1/2 months AND I can't believe you had them both breach. SO happy all three of you were okay! I loved your comment "they were the first two of eight to call me mom"!

LOVE the old photos...I've been doing some "Strolls down memory lane and scanning photos of earlier days as well.

It's interesting how different they look (one with blue eyes and one with brown). Both beautiful, talented girls...just like their mom! "Happy Birthday C&C!!

Kimmie said...

It sounds like your life have been adventurous the whole way through. I can't believe you didn't find out you were having twins until 7-1/2 months AND I can't believe you had them both breach. SO happy all three of you were okay! I loved your comment "they were the first two of eight to call me mom"!

LOVE the old photos...I've been doing some "Strolls down memory lane and scanning photos of earlier days as well.

It's interesting how different they look (one with blue eyes and one with brown). Both beautiful, talented girls...just like their mom! "Happy Birthday C&C!!

Teachinfourth said...

Happy Birthing Day to you, Connie...you did done good.

Natalie said...

Happy Birthday to two beautiful girls.

It was soooooo much fun to see you today and to hear all the detail. :) Let's get together soooooon.

Camille said...

thanks again for lunch! Oh, and the drain unclogger... that will come in handy with the hamsters... wait did I say that out loud? :)

You're a fabulous mother! For putting up with us!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday! I can't believ what you went through! I love reading this! You know your grand children will always be able to look at this post. What a wonderful Mom you are!
Good night, have a super week end!

Anonymous said...

Hi Connie, Beautiful daughters and I hope the year ahead holds many blessings for both!

Have a great weekend.

Jenny Lynn said...

They must of hired that gal for her beautiful voice. She is amazing!

I hope they had a wonderful Birthday.

X-ray...hmmm!!! You are really more amazing than I already thought you were.

Amy said...

Hi Connie--

Happy Birthday to your daughters! I didn't realize what a wonderful family you had or that you had 8 kids. You were (and probably still are) one busy mom!

Anyway, thanks for visiting my poorly neglected blog. I don't know if you'd return to see what I said about our District Office or not. The building caught on fire at about 11pm on Memorial Day and burned to the ground. The weather was very windy that night with severe storms, so the ladders were not about to be used to put out the fire. Such a sad loss that is Lincoln's biggest fire...estimated at over 20 million. Some teachers (mostly high school) are not able to finish report cards since our computer/servers burned. I just got work email again on Thursday. Crazy situation!

wendy said...

Holy OUCH.
Boy, you would have been treated a whole lot different with twins NOW then you were then.
and girlfriend...those were 2 big babies for twins, I think...
feet first
that means they were ready to step out into the world and Make Things Happen.
So look at the good start you gave them....your terrific.
fun to reminise, so thanks for sharing those memories with us.

jules said...

What an awesome story. You got to be blessed twice at the same time.

Unknown said...

holy smokes your babies were both over 7 pounds...you deserve a gold star for that!

I know Camille, and I think she is fabulous!

CB said...

Isn't it amazing what they didn't know way back when? Ha Ha
And having them first and having a foot out by the time you reached the hospital - Holy Moly that is quite an adventure in childbirth!!

Your girls are beautiful!

mCat said...

What an amazing story! It's hard to believe what they USED to do! You are lucky both girls were born alive!

Happy Birthday C & C!

Grandma Honey said...

What a story! I never heard of twins being 7 plus lbs!!
My husband's first were twin girls too!