It's a maraton, not a sprint

I know a lot of people use the analogy of a marathon being like life, but I'd like to submit that this past year has been a marathon of it's own. I cannot believe that two weeks from Sunday will be the twins' first birthday! Holy cow, that's hard to believe. I have hardly had time to reflect, though I hope to be able to take some much needed Starbucks time and journal on the past year.

Today, though, I have been thinking mainly about myself and the journey I've taken over the past year and nine months. I had my yearly appointment at the girl doctor today, which I must say I was way too excited about. Not because it's fun AT ALL, but because I actually got to head out by myself this morning, looking "cute" (mommy cute, that is...i.e. clean, makeup, clothes I would be caught dead in), book in hand and just itching to sit and wait. Of course they got me in quickly and I only got through the first page of my book. Anyway, my doctor came in and we just had a grand ole time thinking back over my pregnancy, the fact that we didn't know there were twins until the THIRD ultrasound, and the ups and downs of not knowing what was going on with little T in the womb. It was great to see her and to get to catch up.

That's the thing about having a high risk pregnancy. I mean, I thought I saw the doctor a lot when I had Maggie, but it was nothing compared to the amount of time I spent at their offices when I was pregnant with the twins. Since I had a little time on my hands I decided to go to the High Risk practice where I REALLY spent a ton of time. I had to go there once a week (sometimes more) for them to do an ultrasound and listen to the babies' heartbeats. I saw the nurses and technicians that took care of me and they were so sweet and even remembered me. We chatted, I showed off my pictures of the kids, and then we spotted one of the doctors in the hall. This particular doctor was the one who really laid it out for us early on that something was probably going on with Tori. I know it was his job, but he told us WAY more than we needed to hear on that particular day. I have mentioned that visit before on the blog, but just to refresh you, he was the one who told me that we may have to think about what we would do if Tori was in distress and causing problems for Zoe in the womb. Would we abort one to save the other? Would we deliver early, risking harm to Zoe who was the "typically developing" twin? Ugh. Makes me sick to think about it. Needless to say, he wasn't my favorite doctor on that day. I must admit, though, that I really came to respect him and even like him by the end of it all. He told it like it was and after a while we came to appreciate the truth (even though no one really knew what the outcome would be).

To make a really long story longer, I saw this doctor today and showed him the girls' picture. I told him that Tori has Ring 15 syndrome and that I didn't know whether or not he remembered me, but I was so thankful for the care he and the others gave me, that the twins were BOTH here and BOTH amazing. I was able to tell him that I was so glad we proceeded - not that we EVER considered otherwise, and that the girls were such a blessing. I'm praying he will remember and tell other patients he may see who have similarly strange pregnancies. He was very encouraging about the strides Tori is making, and he seemed genuinely glad to see that the girls are here and doing great. It just made me feel good to be there and to know that we all had this team effort to get these babies here and healthy.

The long and short of my thoughts today have been just how thankful I am that the first year marathon is coming to a close. Not that I've wished it away...I have truly tried to savor each moment with the kids. It's just that I think I'll be able to do a lot more savoring now that I am not walking around in a half-coma all the time from lack of sleep and excessive chocolate intake.

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." Hebrews 12:1