In his first installment Enda speaks about the birth of the boys and all his expectations for the future.

Our family like many families started with the joy and expectation of a child on the way. For Val and me, being married for 11 years, the excitement was even greater. Over this time we had seen our nieces and nephews born and growing up with Val being a particularly favorite aunt. Never a birthday or Christmas would pass without Val sending a present or card.

As this time went by and the scans rolled on we discovered that Val was pregnant with twin boys. The pregnancy was quite normal albeit requiring Val to rest as much as possible. That had been in a car accident some years earlier and was partially disabled so the advent of the pregnancy was a mixed blessing. For me I simply continued as if nothing was changed but was already thinking of the many things that I would be doing with the boys in the future.
As the final trimester progressed we discovered that the boys were breach and a cesarean section would be the path to be taken. On the appointed day the surgeon arrived in the morning after his school run and within 20 minutes the boys were born. Conor first followed by Owen. The surgeon immediately told us that everything had gone well but that the boys would be placed in critical care given that they were some weeks premature.
They weighed in at 6 pounds each with their tiny heads showing amidst all the clothing, blankets and hospital paraphernalia and were absolutely beautiful. That was in recovery so I was the first to see the boys and was absolutely astonished at how tiny they were. The following day he received a visit from our pediatrician who commented that they wanted to keep the boys in critical care for couple of days. He said that this was just a precaution and that everything was proceeding wonderfully.
A week later Val and I left the hospital with the boys looking out into a bright new world. It all seems so routine and yet wonderful, full of the possibilities that the future would hold. While as parents we were somewhat apprehensive of what lay ahead it never occurred to me that the boys were anything other than typically perfect.
In fact the possibility of a disabled child was something that I could barely imagine. I had friends who would become disabled due to accidents and whom I had worked closely with in the past. As a teenager I had done the requisite flag days and charity work that went with attendance at my school. I never realized that in most cases I was collecting for charities supporting special needs children and families. It was just about being the best collection team and making the most money.
While Val was an elementary teacher in a previous life neither one of us had ever heard of language disorders, autism, special needs, speech therapy or even wondered about the existence of special needs children or where they might be found. It’s not that we were bad people, it’s just that we were ignorant of a world that quietly surrounded us, invisible in plain view.