HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUEBEN JOHN AND REED JESSE!!!
28 years ago today our sons Rueben and Reed made their surprise appearance into the world! Born at 10:15 and 10:18 am in Missoula, Mt, two months early!! But let me start at the beginning:
Grab a cup of tea and get ready for a miracle story!!
My sweet man is a twin and from the very beginning I wanted to have twins! I know most women are overwhelmed by one baby let alone to want to have two! My father always said about me, "no brain no pain" and I agree with him to some extent! I married young and was sooo in love I thought nothing was impossible and love conquered all!! I still feel the same way 42 years later!!
We have 7 children, I always wanted 13 because my grandma Cita (my fathers' mother) had 12 and I wanted one more than her but after 7 my sweet man thought we had just the right amount!! We were blessed with 3 children in the first 4 years of our marriage and then 9 years later thinking we might not have anymore we were blessed with a son who when he was delivered they discovered he had a twin who did not develop properly! Well I was so excited to have a son but very sad to think I almost had my twins. God always knows best and never sends us more than we can handle and He knew I was going to have my hands full with just Ryan and boy did I ever! Well about a year and a half later when I realized I was pregnant again I couldn't help but wish It might be twins but of course I knew that was not likely to happen again. I suffered from morning sickness early on and seamed bigger than usual, though I had felt as big with Ryan and kept telling the doctor and he would just laugh at me and say, " it's all in your mind because you want twins so bad". Well I wasn't about to say anything this time but I would always tell him I felt so much bigger and he would assure me that, that usually happens the more pregnancies you have!
Well when I went in for my check up on Dec. 22 I had my oldest daughter(Taryn) with me and we were going to do some cloths shopping for her after the checkup. I had promised her this for sometime so we were really excited to have a mommy daughter day! I was laying on the checkup table when Dr. Pitt walked in and took one look at me and gasped, "what has happened to your belly"!! I told him I kept trying to tell him I felt my belly was too big!
Well they made me drink a ton of water and I couldn't go to the bathroom, I had to hold it till they did the sonogram. And to my surprise there they were, Baby A and Baby B as they referred to them!! My head was swimming, was I in a dream, Taryn was crying because she didn't think we were going to go shopping any more!! Well I finally got to go to the bathroom, all that water in my bladder was soooo painful! They gave me the pictures of Baby A and Baby B, what beautiful little miracles, I had never seen pictures like this before! Now days you get almost a whole album of pictures before they're born!
We did go shopping and even went to lunch, the whole day just felt like a blurry dream! And of course that was before cell phones so I couldn't call my sweet man with the news. When we finally got home he was out hanging Christmas lights on the front of the house and asked how my appointment went! Little did he know the news that was about to change bless his life forever!! He was on a ladder so I told him to come down and I would show him the picture they took, I gave him the first picture and he was so amazed to see our sweet little baby but when I brought out the second picture I thought he was going to faint! Tears immediatly filled his eyes!
Everyone was so excited as we called all of our friends and families but my mother and father in-law were probably the most excited because they knew the joys of having twins and were about to relive their days with their twins! We did not know the gender of our twins because of the way they were positioned, they were both breech! We found this out Friday Jan. 10th. I had gone in for a check up and another sonogram. I had also been having some mild contractions and Dr. Pitt was concerned that they could come early so he wanted to give me a shot the following week to help their lungs start to develope quicker in case they did and told me that we should consider having them cesarian because of the way they were positioned we could loose one or both!
Sunday night about midnight my sweet man had left for work, he had a milk hauling business where he went to the dairies and picked up milk in the Flathead Valley where we lived in Montana. As soon as he left I had my first contraction and I knew I was in big trouble! I called a dear friend of mine Penny Atkins, who was a nurse and she came over and checked me. She was concerned so she called Dr. Pitt who told her to bring me in! Remember there's no cell phones so I couldn't call my sweet man to come home and take me to the hospital! Well the hospital was an hour away and it was a very foggy January night, by now it was about 1am. In our church ( Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) we have what is called Home Teachers. They are two men who are assigned to your family and once a month they come to your home with a lesson and just make sure all is well in your family. Since my husband wasn't home to give me a blessing before I went I decided to call our home teachers, Bruce Papenfuss and Bert Harris who were at our home in a matter of minutes. They gave me a blessing of comfort and told me all would be well, that our babies would be safe and healthy! Up until that point I had been a nervous wreck but a peace washed over me that yes all would be well!
Bruce drove Penny and I to the hospital. On the way down we passed my sweet man on the road and tried to flash him down. He saw us but did not recognize the car and thought it was just some drunks on the side of the road and went on his merry way!! They admitted me and started giving me something to stop the contractions. Penny stayed with me all morning letting me know all would be well. It felt like the babies were kicking me in the rear and later Penny told me she was afraid the medicine was not helping and the babies were going to be born inspite of the medicine they were giving me. Well sure enough when Dr. Pitt showed up a little before 10:00 am and checked me he said "looks like we're having some babies"!! I told him we had decided to have them cesarean but he said they were to far down in the birth canal for that. I was so worried but than I remembered the blessing I was given and felt a peace and calmness in my heart! Rueben was born at 10:15, behind first! Yes folded in half, 4lbs 15oz and Reed was born at 10:18, feet first and 4lbs. 15 1/2 oz!! Perfect in every way, even their lungs! The Drs. were all amazed. The nurse came in and said " I can't beleive your husband slept through the whole thing!! Bruce Papenfuss had been in the waiting room the whole time waiting to make sure we were ok! I assured her he was no my husband but a dear friend who wanted to make sure we were ok! Bruce passed away this last November, thank you my dear friend for your service to our family helping our boys to be born safely. And Penny my sweet friend who has lost two of her boys, thank you for staying at my side and being there for the birth of our two little miracles!!
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Here they are snoozing! Reed has his arm around Rueben!
They are two days old!
Here is Rueben with his girlfriend Madi at the NFR making memories and traditions!
And Reed (on the right) with his partner Ty. We have so much to be grateful for, two miracles that were born into our family to bless our lives with,
Love, Laughter and Smiles,
Fran
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