"I'm going to meet my daughters for the first time!" The thought was both terrifying and exciting. With all the activity of the past few days - from first learning about the twins to making arrangements to bring them home - I hadn't had much time to process everything. Waiting to board my flight, I started to take it all in:
- Matt and I were going to be apart for the next two weeks, the longest time in our 3.5 years of marriage.
- I’d be bringing the girls back to a place we’d just to moved into ourselves.
- I didn’t have anything prepared for them.
- We still weren't sure how much ongoing medical care our girls would need as preemies.
- I was in the middle of a job transition (thankfully one that allowed me to work from home).
- Not to mention all the legal issues we'd need to tackle in order to adopt the girls and get their US citizenship.
We were becoming parents overnight ... and parents of twins nonetheless! But the thing that overrode all my fears was the thrill of knowing I was about to meet our girls.
Take off
I remember that day vividly. Probably because it was one of those rare moments when you get to know ahead of time that your life is about to change forever. Nothing could’ve prepared me for how drastic some of those changes would be, but I still knew we were entering a new phase in our lives.
We woke up early and caught an Uber to the airport. Matt flew out of a different terminal to the US, and it was so hard to say goodbye.
During the flight, I tried to sleep, telling myself to stay calm. After we landed, I forced myself to slow down, grab a coffee, and take in the moment. The first stop was the hospital where I needed to pay the final medical bill. As I arrived, I realized that I hadn’t even thought to call our credit card company and notify them. I prayed that the charge would go through even though it was a large amount coming from a different city. A sigh of relief as they passed me the receipt for my signature.
Meeting the twins for the first time
At last, I was on my way to see the girls.
We’d only seen one picture of them, sent to us the night before.
But nothing could prepare me for how tiny they were in person. They fit perfectly on my forearm (and I don't have very long arms). All the anxiety I'd felt melted away as I held them.
We’d picked out names the day before, but we waited to make it official until we could be sure they fit. During one of Matt’s layovers, I sent him pictures and we agreed that the eldest would be "A" (on the right) and the youngest would be "E" (on the left).
All day I sat watching the girls, holding them, talking to them. That night I stayed at the caretaker's with the twins. And the next night we stayed with friends of a friend. They were a wonderful couple and took great care of us.
Even though the girls slept most of the time and rarely opened their eyes, I started to learn their personalities. When she was stressed or surrounded by a lot of activity, "A" would stay asleep and sometimes she wouldn’t even finish a bottle. In the same situation, "E" drank hungrily, but soon I realized she was just trying to keep herself awake. She wanted to know what was happening around her. Once it got quiet, she’d settle down and sleep.
Homeward bound
On Thursday, a friend (who I’d actually only met once) graciously drove down to pick us up. For their first long car ride, the girls were amazing. They only cried a little when they were hungry but slept the rest of the ride.
Six hours later, and we were finally HOME! A whole new adventure awaited us...