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Claire and Louis met through scouting. Three years later, they got married. Louis is a child psychiatrist, and Claire an architect, and they settled in Normandy.
For four years, they faced the painful bewilderment of not being able to have children. They also endured the ordeal of miscarriage several times. It was only when hope seemed to have deserted them that they discovered that Claire was pregnant!
The surprise of twins
To this great joy was added a little surprise… “We found ourselves in the ultrasound room, feverish, wondering if our baby was all right. And then, immediately, we saw them both, alive and well, dancing and kicking! We laughed, we cried, it was crazy! In the euphoria of this incredible moment, I even thought, ‘That’s OK, in my family we have two baptismal robes!’”
Claire and Louis saw this twin pregnancy as an immense gift from Heaven, after all those years of waiting, anger, and prayer. “We were lucky never to be stressed by this surprise. It was a blessing! We thought, at least we’ll have two children!”
Like the pregnancy, the birth went perfectly: Henri and Georges came into the world happy and healthy. “No prematurity, no C-section, no incubator, no health problems for them or for me. Compared to all the worries associated with a multiple pregnancy, we were extremely lucky to have a peaceful arrival.”
After the birth, their life as a family of four began, still peacefully.
Thanks to the fairly long paternity leave, we were together, happily living this incredible experience after four difficult years. And as they were our first, we couldn’t say to ourselves that it was easier with just one. These twins were such a blessing that we never thought we would have preferred to have one at a time. I think it really changes your perspective.
When life overflows
Faced with the joy of this gift from heaven and these easy babies, Louis and Claire felt ready to enlarge the family, God willing. Henri and Georges were just eight months old when Claire discovered she was pregnant again. “I was blown away by how fast it happened! But happy. I felt reconciled with my fertility as a woman. This second pregnancy really repaired something in me and in our relationship.”
Of course, Louis and Claire were convinced that having twins was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. “No chance,” the midwife explains to them at the ultrasound, “or if you do, you’ll have to play the lottery!” And yet… “She placed the probe, and once again, we saw two little babies dancing on the screen. We even wondered if she’d put back the recording from last time by mistake!”
This time, Claire’s fear got the better of her. “Everything seemed to take on enormous proportions: the equipment, the rooms, the car…” Her medical professionals, unsettled, were very anxious. Studies on women who have had twins twice in a year and a half don’t exist. So they feared a premature birth and advised Claire to stop carrying her older children around.
A happy outcome
Yet, once again, Claire was lucky enough to have a serene, uncomplicated, full-term birth: Augustine and Joseph were born.
At the same time, the couple had just bought a house, and everything had to be redone. Claire’s memories of their early life with four children are a little hazy. “I didn’t think about it, I had gone into automatic mode, 100% focused on my children, while my husband was 100% focused on the house, so that we could live in it as soon as possible.”
Augustine and Joseph were two and a half months old when the six of them finally moved in. The house was by no means finished, but that seemed incidental to them.
Even today, the house isn’t completely finished and rarely tidied up… But we have four healthy children and that’s really the main thing! Our children all arrived at the same time. They’ll probably all leave home at the same time. I never forget that these years are precious and irreplaceable!
A daily challenge
Is being the mother of two sets of twins a huge challenge? “I’m the mother of toddlers, so I’m not really in a position to give advice. But I’d like to say to mothers of twins: what luck! God has given [your twins] this incredible gift of a best friend for life!”
Claire is fascinated every day to observe their relationship and their characters, to see them from the very beginning of their lives in dialogue, accepting each other and their differences.
Of course, daily life is no picnic. Louis, a doctor, stopped working in the emergency department and made a number of career choices, believing that his number-one job was to be at home.
“We don’t have any choice but to be a team, so we’re a close team!” In fact, Claire and Louis are the only ones who can look after all four children on their own. To go out, you need two babysitters! To look after them, you need two grandparents!
Logistics times two
An example of difficult logistics? School outings. “Concretely, to pick up the older children at 4:30 p.m., I take the metro with the youngest in a double stroller—which is starting to get heavy; they’re two years old! Then the older children have to hold the stroller, and I make sure no one gets lost in the metro! Or I come by car, but the school doesn’t have parking, so it’s non-stop vigilance on the street to unbuckle, hold hands, and resecure everyone in the car one by one!”
After those first years of feeling like they were in the desert and asking why, Claire tells herself that perhaps they needed that time of trial and patience, to be able to be aware today of this joy and good fortune of having welcomed these two pairs of twins!
“Of course, I ask myself a thousand questions every day. I’m often discouraged by the imperfection of our family prayers, for example.” But Claire has just returned from a pilgrimage for mothers, and a conversation with a priest calmed her: “Stop feeling guilty,” he advised her. “Your path to holiness today lies first and foremost in the simplicity of your daily life with your four children.” It’s a mission Claire and her husband intend to carry out with joy and gratitude!
And today we celebrate...