“Special Delivery” How We Are Raising America’s Only Sextuplets . . . and Loving It” by Becki and Keith Dilley

In 1995, this book and a limited Vicodin prescription saved my life. About 14 days before I started this book I went into labor on an airplane coming back from a book tour in Chicago. I went to the hospital and was placed on bed rest with medication to stop my contractions. But on the early morning of June 13, my water broke and there was no going back. The doctors took my babies out by c-section, sent them sailing into the newborn intensive care unit, and three days later sent me home alone. It was a strange time. My doctor gave me a bottle of Vicodin, to help ease the pain of my c-section scar, which was so raw it looked like a shark had taken a bit out of my belly. So there I was, the mother of twins with nothing to do. I sat on the denim couch in my living room, popped a Vicodin and started this book. I had been buying books on multiples to do research for my new job as a mother of twins. I had never known anyone who had twins and it scared me. The moment I opened this book I felt comforted. “Special Delivery” described in detail the daily tasks that the Dilleys performed each day trying the best they could to take care of their six children. It didn’t hurt that Becki was a nurse and that they had a whole community of people behind them in Indianapolis bringing them food, diapers and much love and support. Like me, Becki used fertility drugs to get pregnant. Two of her babies were been born at almost the exact weight of my babies – 2 pounds 13 ounces and 2 pounds 11 ounces. After her difficult pregnancy, Becki and her husband did an amazing job at staying organized and on top of their every-mounting to-do list. This book is funny, practical, well-written and just incredibly charming. Each morning, during that June of 1995, I followed the same routine: Vicodin, denim couch and “Special Delivery.” After I finished the book, I tried to renew the prescription for the third time, but my doctor said no, “too addicting,” and made me switch to an anti-inflammatory. Puh-leeze. It was not the same. I cut the Vicodin tablets in half to make them last longer. So eight weeks later, I went to the hospital and was finally able to bring my own babies home. However, I had with me a new confidence from reading this book. If the Dilleys could raise six children, I certainly could muster the courage to raise twins. Like my own husband at the time, Kevin excelled at parenthood and even stayed home with the sextuplets when Becki went back to work as a nurse. Recently I looked up the Dilleys: Becki and Kevin are still married 30 years later, the children are grown and out of college, and there are even two grandchildren now.  I will never forget this book and how it made the parenting of multiples look easy, and gave me the strength to get off my couch, toss the empty Vicodin bottle, and become a mother of beautiful twins. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.