Introducing...

Henry Platte Callister and his younger sister (by 6 minutes) Charlotte Mary Callister.

On our 36 week day (January 7), Annie woke me up at 2:40 am to inform me that her water had broken. We scrambled to get things together (queue circus music)... Annie labored very steady for about 7 hours and then got an epidural. She continued to progress very well after the anesthesia as well.
Babies were born 5:09 and 5:15 pm, January 7, 2010. No C-section required, YEAH! Annie was pretty abused in the process however. Henry was 6 lbs 3 oz, and Charlotte was 5 lbs 7 oz. Little Charlotte was born breech. Annie suffered a very painful hematoma, and was in a bad way that evening. I have never seen her like that and it was very scary for all of us. For a little while Annie was afraid she was going to die.. .then she was afraid that she wasn't going to die. She pleaded to be knocked out. Saddest and hardest thing I have ever seen in my life. They rushed her into an operating room to extract the hematoma, and left me alone with twins for about 4 hours... yeah rough night!
That was the lowpoint and it has just gotten steadily better. The staff at the hospital have been truly amazing and helpful. Annie and I keep commenting that it is like one big workshop.
Annie and I have been sharing nursing duties... Perhaps not what your thinking. Because feeding two is quite the chore I am helping finger nurse one of the babies each feeding. It seems so far that the real test is to convince the kids that they don't exist yet, because every time they realize it they seem to be unhappy about it. There are some very cute wide awake moments with them though too.
We have stayed in the hospital a little longer because Henry has a little jaundice and for mom's sake as well.
For those curious about the names, here's the deal: Annie and I have liked Charlotte for a long time, we have known for a while that she is Charlotte. We decided recently to also give her her great Grandmothers name "Mary." Grandmother Foulger passed away recently and we like the idea of them having gotten to know each other a little bit, and we love this timeless and lovely name.
Henry is a name Annie has talked about since we have been married. We both have Henry's in our families (including Annie's biological maternal grandfather). It is a great name... and although I have been very reserved about it up to this point it is now safe to point out that John Denver's given name was "Henry John Deustchendorf" ... just sayin...
Platte is a name from my family. The name's origin is the Platte River where my great great great grandmother, pioneer, Eliza Maria Partridge Lyman gave birth to a son, Platte De Alton Lyman in 1848. My great grandfather, Joseph Platte was named after his uncle Platte De Alton. In the last few years I have taken a real interest in both of these ancestors and I know of no finer way to honor them than to try to instill their character and principles in my son, starting with their/his name.
We are so happy and cannot see, hug and squeeze our little ones enough right now. We love them so much! They are perfect! Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. We will likely leave the hospital Wednesday January 12. We have family coming to town and are very happy for the help. After that we are comforted knowing we have lots of caring friends in Eugene who wont leave us hanging!
Welcome to our family Henry and Charlotte!!!