I hate to break this to you boys, but… you were an accident. A 2 for 1 unplanned whirlwind. We found out Liz was pregnant about 9 months after Maddie was born. I was stunned. We were just normalizing our sleep schedule with the first kid and now another baby?!
I remember driving to the first ultrasound with Liz (with Maddie in tow) and us saying,
“This will be fine, we can handle another baby! It’s a little sooner than our plan, but no problem. We got this!”
…
Once in the ultrasound room, Maddie, being a typical 9 month old, was not sitting still or quietly so I stepped out with her for a moment. So there I was in an unassuming hallway of a doctor’s office with a crying 9 month old when out of nowhere I heard hysterical laughing coming from the exam room. Well, that’s odd, but it’s not bad, right? The technician smiling broadly opened the door and invited me in to a still giggling Elizabeth. Then the woman said the words that I will remember forever. “Here you can see Baby A.” (weird name for a baby but ok) Then pointed just to the side “And here you can see Baby B.” (Whaaaaat? Come again now, chief?)
“Twins?!” I said and we all erupted again in laughter. Pure joy.
A little over 7 short months later I was nervously standing in another hallway in a surgical center. I was in what they call a “bunny suit” for new Dads, still with my dress shoes on, with booties that didn’t quite fit over my clown-like feet. I was quietly praying for my sons and for their mother. The doctors had previously explained that Liz had gone into labor, but one of the twins were “transverse” and they needed to do an emergency c-section. There wasn’t much time.
They said Liz was ready and they called me into the operating room. In what seemed like no time at all they announced Baby A was out. I walked over to see a tiny little guy, just over 5 pounds. Pink and crying. Within minutes, they pulled out Baby B.
He was not crying. He was smaller than his brother. He quickly turned purple. At that same moment Elizabeth’s blood pressure plummeted. The doctor was clearly scrambling to clamp something inside Liz. There was blood everywhere. I touched the hand of the silent tiny purple child, briefly, while they whisked him to the corner of the operating room. He was not breathing.
I was terrified, my son was dying, my wife was unresponsive and there was nothing I could do but watch in horror.
A kind nurse must have seen the look on my face and asked me what we wanted to name the boys.
I looked toward the small purple child and said, “His name is Joshua Edward.” I thought he could use any extra strength he could receive.
I looked and the fiercely crying pink boy, “His name is Caleb Robert.”
They quickly revived Elizabeth and soon after they were able to get Joshua to breath. The moments of terror gave way to moments of joy again.
Boys, you came thundering into my life in laughter, blood and tears. None of it was expected, but all of it was a blessing. That is the lesson here. Sometimes the best things in your life will not be planned for, they will not be expected. But they will be the things that make your life special, that make it worth the struggles. I love you. I am proud of you.
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