Mantha's story – The beginning of the beginning part 2

We left off where my wife was recalling where, although we were told we were only having one child, it felt to her that it was two or 'an olympic swimmer.' So she goes to her ultrasound appointment without me, as I was tied up in an exercise and I couldn't get the time to take her. No big deal, as it was a routine ultrasound and there was nothing to indicate any issues. As I was working, some of my coworkers were starting to come up to me asking 'did you talk to your wife?' Now this was odd, as it was in the days before cell phones were ubiquitous, and when people are asking if you talked to your wife it can't be good. So finally my commander comes up to me and informs me my wife is waiting outside the building we were in. I go down, and my wife holds up an ultrasound picture saying 'baby a, baby b'. I immediately doubled over in shock, as that was the last thing on my mind.

Once I got over the shock, I grew to enjoy the concept of having two at once. We even announced it in church the Sunday after we found out, complete with some audible gasps. Going out and purchasing two of things: carseats, clothes, hats, and so forth. Having the two carseats sitting together on our coffee table one day really hit the point home about twins.

I wish I could say that the rest of the pregnancy was uneventful, but it wasn't. As the pregnancy progressed, complications ensued. Primarily pre-term labor/contractions. They started in late June, and proceeded to put my wife on bedrest, with a variety of medications. She broke through terbutalene, and then magnesium. I remember a number of occasions where, immediately after work, I would go to the local German 'chicken man' to get roasted chickens and french fries, since I really didn't have time to cook.

Finally, in August, we went in to the emergency room, because my wife seemed to be having issues with a bladder infection. The infection started triggering contractions, and labor was beginning. The hospital decided not to stop it since we were at 34 weeks gestation. Since the hospital we were at couldn't handle 34 week children (wasn't equipped), they moved us to a German Frauenklinik. After the labor slowed a little bit, it picked up again. Finally at 12:34 pm Mantha was born, she came out despite the midwife (Germans are nice in the fact that they rely on midwives for deliveries and keep the doctors out except for emergencies. We only saw the doctor twice and he barely poked his head in the room and asked 'how are you doing?' each time) telling my wife to stop pushing. Her twin was born 18 minutes later (it took that long because they had to maneuver her arm out of the way so it wasn't on top of her head). Her twin was immediately taken out because she seemed to 'have trouble breathing'. We were relieved and concerned at the same time. We had two new daughters, but one had 'medical issues'. We were completely fooled about which child had medical issues, and how serious they were.....

to be continued.   

Mantha's Story 1: The Beginning of the Beginning part 1

I am going to start at the beginning of the beginning. On January 2^nd 1997, BooBear, John and I had gone to Leighton Barracks for shopping and lunch. John was active duty army and stationed in Germany. We lived in Giebelstadt, part of the 417^th Base Support Battalion that included Leighton Barracks in Wuerzburg, Giebelstadt and the base in Kitizigen .

We were at Burger King. BooBear had milk with her kids meal. She didn’t finish it so I picked it up to finish it. I got it up to my mouth and I had to put it down. I could NOT drink it. I was sick to my stomach just thinking about drinking the milk.

John asked “are you pregnant”. I replied that I couldn’t be or that it was too soon to know. Well, just in case we stopped again at the PX (Post Exchange) and picked up a pregnancy test.

I don’t remember if I took it that afternoon or if I waited until morning. I do remember that John was home. I took the test and watched as it did NOT develop two pink lines. I was disappointed. I assumed the test was negative, after all, when I took the test with BooBear the two pink lines showed up IMMEDIATELY as I watched! I put the test down on the edge of the sink and went to tell John that the the test was negative. He too was disappointed as we had been trying for nearly a year to conceive. I had to run back upstairs for something and grabbed the test to throw away. I looked at again and I couldn’t believe it. There was a very faint second pink line. I wasn’t even sure that it was really there. I called John and he looked at it. Yes, there was two lines. But I couldn’t be pregnant could I? I think I ended up taking a total of 9 tests over the next couple of weeks. I finally was able to get to the base clinic and have it confirmed. Yes, I was indeed pregnant. Due Date: September 12, 1997.

Strangely around 8 weeks I noticed that I could NOT fit into my clothes. John jokingly asked me if I was having twins. The morning sickness was pretty strong but my dr kept reassuring me that it should taper off by 20 weeks. (I kept thinking.. really? It didn’t with BooBear. It got better but I had all day long, all pregnancy long sickness with her!). The doctor dismissed the idea of twins. I was showing so quickly because it was my second pregnancy. I wasn’t measuring large for date. I became more and more convinced that I was carrying twins. It was just a feeling that I had. And EVERYONE kept asking me “are you having twins?” I just answered, well my doctor says no, but I think it’s possible.

A few days before my routine “20 week” ultrasound (which I had at 21 weeks), I was reading in bed. John was trying to sleep. I woke him up. I just felt the baby move. Not a big deal. I had been feeling movement for several weeks now but this was different. I felt movement on BOTH sides AT THE SAME TME. I told John that we had two babies or an Olympic swimmer!

To be continued…..