March 2, 2006
Speaking of Dave and Dick, and your request of some antidotes of their entrance into the world, I will try to recall some highlights. As you might remember, they were born shortly after World War 2. I had flown home, after my doctor advised it, since he felt I might be prone to having babies early after the experience of losing out first baby. We knew that Walter would be coming out of the air force soon, but since we didn't have any idea when that would be we felt that I should get home as soon as possible at four months along. He did drive home, after being mustered out, a few months later, and since housing was scarce we had to live with my parents while waiting for our house to be built. Jack, my brother, had also been released from the Service, so he, and Lalie, were also living there with Candace, their almost one year old baby. Walter had no idea what line of work he wanted to pursue, so my Dad persuaded him to build houses on some property he owned, and at the same time work on the houses that we needed. Dad gave Walter and I a lot since he had originally given Jack a car, and sold him the lot next to ours for a very low price. We had to have a contractor in order to get the materials for the houses; only veterans were allowed to buy lumber, since it was so scarce. When our houses were within a few weeks of being ready to move into Walter discovered that our contractor was also building a house at another location, and using our veteran's priority to do it, plus adding the costs to our bills. That meant Walter had to stop all activity on our houses while someone had to count every nail, lumber, etc. in each house, so we could determine how much the contractor had stolen from us. That was going to take months, which meant our dream of getting into our owns house before the baby arrived was impossible. We still didn't realize there was two babies! Anyway, on my seven months visit to the doctor he couldn't figure out why I was growing so fast. He could only pick up one heart beat. So, he asked me to have an x-ray taken at the lab downtown. This was long before today's methods were discovered. So, down to the lab I went, and I should have known something was up when the technician came out of the dark room with a big grin on his face, but of course, he couldn't say anything to me. A few days later the phone rang, and the nurse at the doctor's office said, "just get down here and see a picture of your twins!!" I blurted out, "TWINS!", and I overheard Mother say, "What did she say?", and Lalie replied, "I don't know, I guess someone has had twins." Well, of course, Lalie and I jumped into the car and sped off to see that picture. While we were there the nurse said the doctor was sure I would have them any day, as they were in position to be born, and since 75% of twins are born early, anyway, that was what we could expect. After seeing the x-ray we drove off to hunt Walter, and found him on the roof of one of the houses he was working on. I yelled up to him in these exact words, "Guess what, Honey, I'm going to have twins." He came home that night with several smashed fingers, since my news earlier in the day had caused him to hit his fingers instead of the aimed at nails.
So, we come to March 6, about two months later! On my last visit to the doctor I threatened to have them on the doctor's day off, which was a Wednesday, and as it turned out that is what happened. Earlier that afternoon Mother needed to go downtown for something, and since I was her driver, off we went. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, so told her I'd wait in the car. we returned home about 4 p.m., and by this time I just felt like being flaked out on the sofa was a good idea, and I kept announcing that I was not having labor pains. When Walter drove into the driveway, from work, Mother informed him that I was not feeling well, so he came to talk to me, and again I proclaimed I knew it wasn't labor pains, but Lalie said she wasn't up to delivering twins on the sofa, so talked Walter into calling the doctor's office. He told the nurse that I didn't think I was having labor pains, but she said it was close to my due date (which was March 10), I'd better go to the hospital. The doctor was already there with another woman in labor. So, I proceeded to get up, from the sofa, and found I couldn't move. Poor Walter, had to carry me to the car and fortunately the hospital was only a few blocks away, because Dave arrived twenty minutes later, with Richard following, except soon as David was born Richard turned a flip, and the whole room exploded because he was going to be a breach baby. I couldn't figure out why everyone was so excited until later when the doctor explained it wasn't a good idea for a baby to make a quick turn as the cord might get around the neck, so Dr. went after the baby. Dave was born at 6:07 p.m. and Dick arrived at 6:11 p.m. Dave weighed 6 lbs. 2 1/2 oz. and Dick weighed 5 lbs. 14 1/2 oz. Meanwhile, back in the waiting room, Lalie told Walter to go inquire at the nurses station how things were progressing, and the nurse said "the twins just went by, and your wife will be down in a few minutes" So, their thoughts about getting settled for an all night wait was eliminated. I stayed in the hospital for ten days, which was boring, but it turned out to be the last rest I had for a long while since both the babies had colic, so our nightly ritual turned out to be both of us rocking the babies trying to keep them from disturbing the rest of the household. Lalie stayed in the garage with the washing machine and the mountains of diapers that the three babies provided, Mother was holed up in the kitchen trying to keep us all fed, and my days were in the bedroom taking care of babies, sterilizing bottles, etc. On my birthday, which was pretty soon after getting out of the hospital, Lalie came to my bedroom door to say "Happy Birthday" and I promptly fell down on the bed between the babies where I had been holding their bottles, and proceeded to become hysterical. Lalie disappeared, and returned with Mother. They both scooped up a baby, ordered me to get back in bed, and to this day, I don't know what they did with the babies all day, as I slept until 4 p.m., and I've always said it was the best birthday present I ever received. Somehow, that wonderful day of rest was something I needed desperately, because I never needed it again.
About the time the babies were getting over their colic, at nine months, we were able to move into our house, and life became much simpler. It was a miracle that we all got along so well after being cooped up for those many months before and after the babies were born, maybe the fact that we were so busy, and usually so tired we didn't have any energy to argue or disagree. Later, when Jack, Lalie, and Candi lived next door to us, we had a gate between the back yards, so the three little toddlers could play together, or splash in the pool that Walter constructed in the back yard. That little 800 square foot house was truly a happy life to look back on. Lalie and I took turns hiding Easter eggs, and one time when I was busy doing just that I happened to glance up at their kitchen window and noticed Candi watching me hide the eggs. Needless to say she won the prize for finding the most eggs that Easter!