Twin-mania!

Today has been a long time in the making. It has been greatly anticipated. And talked about. And thought about. Today was a great day.

Today is the day that my maid of honor, Jamie, delivered her twin girls. The last of my bridal party to enter the world of motherhood (with the exception of Sara and Anna -- and neither of you is allowed to get pregnant any time soon -- and the little flower girls -- DITTO for you guys!!). We studied the calendar and realized that she got pregnant the day I delivered Anna. And today is 10 years to the day that she met her husband. The only thing that could have made today any better was if she'd named one of the girls after me...

All I can say is thank god for blackberries. In my hand and in hers. And her husband's. I got dueling blackberry updates from both Jamie and Dan, starting at 6:24 a.m...."As promised. We're here. Stay tuned!" By 8:20 I got a note from Dan telling me that the pitocin was in. Start the clock. The induction had begun.

Seeing as though today was my last official day in the office for the rest of the year (THANK. GOD.), I could not have been more slammed. It was complete insanity. And yet, with every spare second I got, I'd check my crack-berry hoping for yet one more update.

When, at around 12:15 p.m., she told me that the epidural was in, was working, and she was going to try to take a nap, I almost died. Excuse-moi! Sleep? Now? What was I going to do without my updates!?!

Thankfully the nap never happened.

2:24 p.m. "We're at 10 cm! Waiting for Dr. and moving to LD/OP room to push." Just as I was going in to withdrawal, an update came through. In the nick of time. Not like I didn't have any work to do today...I guess I now could get back to that.

My dear, brave, strong friend, Jamie, who has been on strict bedrest for the last 14 weeks, finally caught a break. At her final OB appointment earlier this week, they discovered that both of the girls were head down an in the perfect position to attempt a v- birth. After lots of consideration, she decided to give it the old college try. Amazing. A-freaking-mazing!! She'd labor in an OR just in case she needed the c-section after all, but she was going to try to push them out.

3:41 p.m. Radio silence. I can only imagine what was going on. And I did. For the two nano-seconds that I had to breathe today. Two of them. Babies. T-W-O. 'Cuz pushing one out just wasn't enough. Jamie had to go and trump all of us by pushing out two. Too posh to push? Not her!

3:52 p.m. Email from Dan. "WE ARE PARENTS!!!!! Details to follow." That's it? One? Both? He was killing me...

4:41 p.m. As I was writing a pitch regarding security of travel to high-risk areas (think Mumbai), a new email crosses my screen. "Both within an hour of each other!!" Apparently they had both arrived when the last email was sent. I nearly have whiplash it happened so fast. From the first real email at 8:20 a.m. to the last at 3:52...

Less than eight hours. Two babies. Holy cow is all I can say. HOLY. COW.

With all the scares early in her pregnancy...to the week 24 scares that lead to the long, painful and boring bedrest...with visions of babies in the NICU dancing her her head...it's now over. They are here. Jamie wins the mommy hero award. One hour in to her new life as a parent, and she's already deserving of sainthood in my book.

So happy birthday, Miss Abigail (baby A) and Miss Elizabeth (baby B). We've been waiting a long time to meet you, and Aunt Courtney cannot wait to get my totally Purelled hands on you!


A big hug to the new mommy and daddy too.

What a day indeed... More/better pictures to follow as soon as I get them!