Stretch and contract

We may be moving after all so I have started packing just one day premature. As I was going through one of my bedside tables, I found a notepad that had numbers listed all over it. Example:

1:40
1:45
2:05
2:30
2:45
3:50

and so forth until it stops at 9:15. It took me a second to realize these were my hastily written notes about the contractions I was having while in the hospital the four weeks before the twins were born. There are pages and pages of these, some written legibly and others written slanted and scribbled - indicative of how my energy and comfort level waxed and waned throughout the several weeks worth of bed rest.

After flipping through the pages, I then found something I had written semi-coherently to my boys. It's not art but it does show how I felt the weeks before I had Evan and Dylan. As I was ready for their birth, I was also sad to be away from my oldest, Neil:

My body aches
stretched beyond
my womb clenches
and the baby boys dance

My eyes droop
spent energy throughout
but I see a drawing
you made on my arm
I'm filled with my love for you (this was after a visit from Neil where he drew on me)

The love for the twins
growing in me
love for my husband
who shares all this with me
his unwavering committment to all of us

I'm a long way from those days. My twins are bouncing on the bed and eating graham crackers and my oldest sees me more than he doesn't. My love for my husband is even stronger and our committment to each other and our family has become even more evident as we prepare for our great adventure to Utah.