Bourne....twins born

In the early hours of December 1st, 2008 I happened to be awake. Earlier, I had fallen asleep in Leo’s room after putting him down. I strolled back to our room around 1:30 or 2am and, of course, was then wide awake. Judy was in and out of sleep with the TV on. I crawled into bed, turned the light off and commandeered the remote. The room was much dimmer now, with only the flickering light of my channel surfing and so Judy slipped into a more normal state of sleep. I made my way to the HBOs and settled on The Bourne Supremacy. Unfortunately, I did not feel remotely close to falling asleep. I suppose this was by design…

At 2:30 out of a dead sleep, Judy suddenly shrieked, “oh my God!”. She sat up. I figured: nightmare. “I think I wet the bed!" she exclaimed. As she got up, I inspected the area. This was no accident. I called Monique and left a frantic message. She called me back in less than two minutes. She confirmed my suspicion that Judy’s water had broken and told us to head to the hospital. Since there didn’t seem to be any previous or current contractions, she thought that they would be able to prevent labor from happening and Judy would spend a few more weeks in the hospital before giving birth. As we waited for my mom to arrive to watch Leo, things progressed quickly and we realized that she was definitely in labor. 15 minutes later, my mom arrived and we got Judy back in to bed only to realize that the first of the twins had decided it was time to come out…literally. And, since nothing around here goes as planned, she also decided to come feet first. I quickly called 9-1-1 - in disbelief of my daughter Stella’s 10 wiggling toes that had made their way into the world. I think the 9-1-1 operator was trying to coach me through delivering. It’s hard to remember. It was all happening so fast and yet so slowly. My mom was right in Judy’s face. Telling her everything was going to be okay. Telling her everything she needed to hear and exactly how she needed to hear it. Judy recounts that mom’s help was precisely what she needed. The paramedics arrived in minutes. It was a surreal scene in our bedroom for the next 10 minutes. Our house was filled with firemen and paramedics coming in and out. Jumping up onto our bed to start an IV; trying to help Judy give birth to our children. The ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later. Still, only Stella’s feet were out. Judy was lifted on to the gurney and wheeled out of our house. My brother Matt had followed my mom over and was there to stay with Leo. I passed him on our way out. I don’t believe any words were exchanged…just the look of bewilderment that neither of us could believe this was really happening. They loaded her into the ambulance. I jumped in beside her as paramedic Mike Bruno continued to try and deliver our little girl. As we flew down 7th ave toward St. Joseph’s Hospital, we hit a large bump which caused Judy to scream loudly. This seemed to get Stella moving finally and her legs slid out a little. And then, to the hip and quickly, with Judy’s last push, Stella’s body and head came easily out. The birth bared little resemblance to that of our son’s but I will never forget either. Babies seem to come out so fast at the very end. Like arriving on a slip-n-slide. We were still a few minutes from the hospital. Stella had little to no signs of life and so Mike started compressions as his partner used a tiny air bag on her. I can’t think of a worse moment in my life. When we arrived at the hospital there was a team (literally) of people waiting for us at the ER door – it was like a TV show. They wrapped Stella in a blanket and rushed her into the ER. They unloaded Judy and we followed right behind. We made a quick stop in the stall next to where a circle of people were working on Stella. We all determined that Judy could make it to the labor and delivery room. It took forever to get there as it is on the opposite side of the large hospital campus. Once there, they barley had enough time to prepare the room before Judy gave birth to Georgia about 15 minutes after Stella had joined us. Georgia was doing fine. She made a short stop at Judy’s bedside, eyes wide open and looking beautiful, before going to the NICU. A short time later we were moved to a recovery room. On the way there we passed Mike Bruno in the hall. I gave him a pat on the shoulder and said thank you. He looked very stressed. My mom arrived and we all waited for news. We were so worried about Stella. If you had to concoct a scenario that would put a newborn child in grave danger, this one would be right up there with the worst of them. The doctor came in and told us that BOTH girls were doing fine. It was wonderful, shocking news. The sense of relief I felt was somehow overpowered by amazement. Amazement at how our story unfolds in ways I never could imagine. Amazement at how strong by beloved wife is. Amazement at how resilient two tiny human beings can be. The entry of new life had never seemed more miraculous.

The girls were about 8 weeks premature. They were to spend 5-7 weeks in the NICU at St. Joe’s. The girls’ names are Stella Hope and Georgia Faith and they were 3lbs .08oz and 2lbs 11oz respectively.

The ibuprofen dilemma was over and soon after, it would become even clearer why Stella decided to kick her way out, hold her breath for 5 minutes and drag her sister with her….