BY JUDY HAUGHTON-JAMES
Since becoming a twinless twin I have become more and more interested in the facts about twins in general and also about my twin and me. Recently Mom found 2 Baby books that she had safely packed away. Janine and I had never looked in these books. One is a small yellow book and the other is a big blue book. The covers and inside are decorated with drawings of flowers, baby pictures, ribbons, balloons etc. In the bigger book Mom has in some pictures of Janine and me. By the way, in those days one had no idea if one would have a girl or a boy until the child was born. Anyway Mom found out that she was having twins ahead of time.
Now to the facts in the book. One fact that we always knew was that we were born on a Saturday. Mom said that she was due to travel into Kingston some 45 miles away to give birth but on that morning she realized that she would not get any further than the Port Maria hospital some 6 1/2 miles away. She jokingly remembered how nervous our father was and after they reached the hospital she told him to go and have some breakfast. Shortly after he left I arrived in the world at 10.15 while Janine arrived 5 minutes later. I weighed 6 1/4 lbs while Janine weighed 5 1/2 lbs. It was noted that I had a birthmark on my right leg but I can't find it now!:) In each book she kept records of our weight gain and at times it switched where I had on more weight and then Janine had on more weight.
However these are the facts that struck me. Although I was the first born Janine crawled, walked, spoke, and had teeth before I did. I am sorry that she is not around now that I could joke around with her and say the words of an ad that we used to see on television here "How come?!" I asked Mom if at any time she got nervous when one took some time after the other to do things but she said "Not at all." For instance Janine was taking steps at 13 months and she had to wait 1 month later to see me take those first steps.
I also noted that in our early years we had some pets - Nip and Lassie were our dogs and Tibs our cat. I think I have some recollection of Nip and Lassie but can't remember Tibs. The records of our christening, birthday celebrations and the gifts we got were also interesting. Mom is having a hard time getting these books back from me but I will certainly make sure I know where to find them again!
