Prologue:

One baby is a miracle. To be given two at once is a gift beyond words. Like you, my husband and I longed for a baby, and we were delighted but a bit overwhelmed when we found that not one, but two were on the way. Our fraternal boys, Kristopher and John, aare school age already; their early years have absolutely sped by. But we continue to feel so grateful for them, and are continually amazed by them in so many ways. We love to compare notes with other parents of twins like you and to share what we have learned. And that's partly why this book was born.

I suppose you could say that it really had its beginnings when James and I met. I had just finished shooting the pilot for Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and of course had no idea it if would be picked up as a series. In the meantime, I was producing my first movie and I needed a director and co-producer with plenty of experience. After a bit of a search my agent announced, "I've found the perfect person for the job, and it's someone you're going to love- James Keach!" Little did any of us know how prophetic those words would turn out to be.

From the moment I sat down across the table from him at the restaurant where we met, it seemed James could see straight through me to whatever I was truly thinking or feeling. As we worked on the project, I found he was someone I could really communicate with on a level I'd never experienced. It was surprising because most men don't easily speak on emotional or spiritual terms as James does. Soon enough we realized that working together was going to be fabulous, exciting, and that neither of us wanted our time together to end once the film project was over.

I was 43 when we married. We both knew from the beginning that we wanted to have a baby together, even though we both had children from previous marriages. There are a million reasons why any couple wants to have children, and I daresay that for each couple those reasons are a unique and intimate part of their relationship. Part of it for us was that we both had been through so much before we met, and we wanted to start over, to make our families new again with each other. A baby we had together would be a sign of a new beginning for us, and that was important. But even more than that, I felt strongly that I wanted another child, and I wanted that child with James. In loving me and in being so immediately sensitive to me, James had already given me so much. More than anything I longed to give him soemthing wonderful in return that no one else could offer. I wanted to give James a baby and a happy family life.

We started right away trying to have a baby, and because of my age and the rather impatient nature James and I share, we asked for help early on. Mercifully, the options available to couples who want a baby are extraordinary. James and I immediately committed to doing everything we could to have a baby, and promised each other that we'd face this struggle together.

And struggle we did. If you've been through infertility treatments, as so many parents of twins have, you know the hopes and disappointments are huge. Somehow you look around and every one else seems to be getting pregnant without even trying. There you are, getting injections, taking pills. I was an emotional mess during that time so much up- and-down. I'd simply become another person because of the injections, especially the Pergonal. We used to call it Pergonal Hell. The doctor had said, "Well, you might have some mood swings as a result of the injections." Mood swings! These were not gentle shifts. These were wild, maniacal episodes. I'm usually relatively sane, but I had some feelings and emotional responses because of the drugs, that I don't know where they came from.

As he promised he would be, James was a great support. No matter how nasty or irrational I was, he'd just hold me, and I'd cry and cry and cry. In the middle of it all I thought, "What an enormous test this is. You'd have to want a baby desperately to stay with this madness!"

We, like many of you, did want that baby desperately, and as soon as we found out we were having twins, we were both deliriously happy, on top of the world. It felt like we'd not only passed the test, but that we'd earned an A-plus! But our pregnancy "honeymoon" didn't last long. In spite of that A-plus, I quickly found I had a lot to learn, beginning with the idea that even though getting pregnant seemed a huge triumph, being pregnant with twins presented a whole new set of challenges.

from Two at a Time : Having Twins by Jane Seymour and Pamela Patrick Novotny