2 + 2 = 4?

[singlepic id=56 w=320 h=240 float=right] Once upon a time there was a Quad (Sweetie) and a 3rd grade teacher (me) who fell madly in love via the internet (as any good modern romance does, or maybe that’s just us and the movie “Just Got Mail,”) at any rate, there were two people in love.  Five years after they fell in love they made it all legal (the bride was a total slacker and thought they should keep things really simple and have a BIG party but the groom was a real “go-getter” and said “don’t worry, I’ll take care of things; just show up for Mass in a white dress that has some type of shoulder covering… yes, this is an accurate depiction of events leading up to the nuptials).  The couple had a good life, full of happy times with friends and family, a recently updated home with all the necessary accessiblility, and a rescued Greyhound named Dusty.  Life was good.  Sure, there were clinks in the story; there were cold, Pennsylvannia winters (yuck!) and snow (that did not cause school to be closed or even delayed much to the dismay of the Atlanta translplanted teacher who dreamt of Snow Day parties and fun movie days in front of the fireplace as the whole world paused for the day… yeah, NEVER happened).

[singlepic id=57 w=320 h=240 float=left] Perhaps a change was in order.  The couple drove to Atlanta for a two week vacation and visited some neighborhoods building new homes.  No worries of extended cold periods or snow for more than a couple of hours, and a builder that assured them of his respect for the need of an accessible home sealed the deal.  The couple put down a deposit and reserved some property.

Meanwhile the couple had started the baby making process, not following what would be the typical pattern of behavior… You know what I mean, wink, wink!  The doctor they had met with assured them (us) it would not be an easy process but was possible with good chances of success.

Due to the pending relocation and preparation, all activities involving baby making and necessary drugs were put on hold.

Fast Forward: Three years later the couple could not be happier and started thinking that maybe they should get back to that whole “making a baby  thing.” Again the wife is a slacker and drags her feet a bit, but agrees a child would be great, but perhaps adoption would be a good route to consider.  Avenues pursued, deadends hit.  Back to medical science…

[singlepic id=18 w=320 h=240 float=right] The couple (that’s us) worked with an amazing practice (shout-out to our good friends at ACRM) and were successful with their VERY FIRST round of IVF.  Hooray!  Ahh, I am making this all seem so painless and easy… well, actually, except for the intense weightloss and exercise program (YUCK) completed by the wife (me) prior to starting drugs (oh needles, needles, everywhere), an ovarian cyst caused by IVF drugs, and Sweetie’s bout with a terrible cold at the time of retrieval/transplantation, and the one small, itty, bitty procedure done to Sweetie (his version differs slightly in dramatic details) everything was pretty smooth.

I could bore you with all the details of my 9 month vomiting spell, but, really who wants to hear all those yucky details?  Let’s just say Sweetie’s only home cooked meals came from my Mom and the house keeping took a downward turn.  I was so happy to know I was expecting twins, but not really into the “whole pregnancy thing!”  Besides, I was starting to run out of jokes and banter for all my doctors (I saw them every week for the last 15 weeks of the gestational period)… How do elephants do it for three years?  We learned of Sam’s heart issues around 22 weeks (huge unexpected wrench in the cogs) but were determined to just keep a positive outlook and be as diligent as possible with our appointments, questions, and research.  Our medical teams were and are phenomenal.

My point of this article, and yes I did have one despite blathering on and on was this: 2 + 2 = 4 IS NOT a true statement in the world of twins.  Nope, not true at all. In fact it’s like one of those advanced algebraic equations where there’s lots of unknown variables.  I think it would be more accurate to say that it’s more like L + G⁴ + (S + M)² = ∞  Yeah, that sounds good.  Really good.  Our life can be a very complicated juggling routine of scheduling; we have to schedule everything.  Granted much of this is due to Sam’s condition and will get better with his surgery, but quite a bit of it is also due to the fact we are outnumbered (if the energy output of twin boys could be harnessed we would have a whole new wealth of energy resources available to us as a country)!  Oh yeah, Sweetie is a quad.  Darn, I forgot.  See?  It’s complicated, and crazy, and chaotic, and lots of fun.  Lots of fun, every day.

I’m off to fill out online job applications, I hear Emory University is looking for professors to teach advanced mathematics.  Can you imagine?  I love stories that end with hilarity, don’t you?