And then there were two
On Tuesday my sister Janelle went for an ultrasound of her unborn baby, or so she thought. As soon as the first ultrasound picture came up, she realised she was having an ultrasound of her unborn babies. The first picture was of two heads. Being a midwife, my sister recognised this straight away. She said "Oh no, I knew I was too big!". My sister was the only one of us who suspected she might have twins. Janelle felt unusually tight for only 19 weeks of pregnancy. She had also been feeling more unwell than during her pregnancy with Esther (now two and a half). Janelle and Lyndon are both excited about their news, as well as aware of the extra work twins will mean. Lyndon could not stop smiling all day after hearing! He is still in shock. I told him that since my sister-in-law was shocked for two weeks after having a girl, he has a right to be shocked for at least a month over this news.
Mum was the first one in our family to be told. Janelle asked for her, of course! I could tell from what Mum was saying that Janelle was having twins. I broke into estatic hand waving, grinning, and my own version of dancing (which usually involves moving from foot to foot and arm waving at the same time). I tried to say "Praise the Lord" into the phone but Mum pushed me away! Since we have no family history of twins, the thought never occured to Mum or I that Janelle might have twins. Janelle and Lyndon were only planning to have two children. Since Mum and I tend toward being "the-more-babies-the-better" kind of people we feel like we've received a special bonus! I can assure you I'm having lots of fun recalling Janelle and Lyndon's two-child comments now :). I tried to convince my sister that it wasn’t a good idea to tell people exactly what you want, because you never know what might happen, but she didn’t listen to me!
Even though Janelle and Lyndon had other plans, they have a great attitude to their extra addition. It would be hard not to recognise the hand of God in this event! We looked at a book that mentioned twins, and the author said parents were often “distressed” at the news. I am glad that this has not been the case in our family! It helps to have the perspective that children are a gift from God, and he gives the strength to fulfil the responsibilities he gives.
When Janelle first phoned Mum with the news, one of the things Mum said was that “Sherrin will have to stay here next year”. So perhaps I will give Launceston a miss next year! Mum and I certainly want to help with the extra work our special bonus will bring. Susan has a great post that includes a quote from Stepping Heavenward, which epitomises the attitude I want to have to children. Here is the quote, with the part I like best in bold:
I celebrated my little Una's third birthday by presenting her with a new brother. Both the children welcome him with delight that was of itself compensation enough for all it cost me to get up such a celebration. Martha takes a most prosaic view of this proceeding, in which she detects malice prepense on my part. She says I shall now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure or visiting, reading, music, and drawing.
Well! This is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other dearlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!
Since hearing about our twins I've also enjoyed reading Mrs. Chancey's testimony about her life since having twin boys. Oh, and she already has five other children :).
Now, the question “will the baby be a boy or a girl” is replaced with “will there be two boys, two girls, or a girl and a boy”. This is a topic for much discussion until the next ultrasound, when Janelle and Lyndon plan to end the suspense. I can see the benefits of a girl and a boy, but the drawback is that it would be harder to dress them in matching clothes. I am presently calling them Josiah and Jeriah (a boys name my sister mentioned before the twin news). Dad suggested Leo and Alexis, or if alliteration is preferred they could be Leo and Lexis. You can see that there are endless fun possibilities to chat about over here, can’t you?
