At approximately 12:26 and 12:27 p.m., the Fenton family welcomed their twin girls, Ainsley Joy and Mackenzie Grace, into the world, making them a family of six, Nov. 7. Math teacher Michael Fenton and his wife Heather arrived at the hospital for a scheduled c-section, where Ainsley was born first at seven pounds, four ounces, followed by Mackenzie one minute later at five pounds, 10 ounces.
Different from their past births, the scheduled c-section was a fast process. Fenton was not expecting how fast both his daughters were born.
“They called me to come in and then five or six minutes later they said, ‘here’s your daughter,’ and they bring one around the corner and then a minute later, the other one was born,” Fenton said. “I didn’t know that it was going to happen so quickly because that was the first caesarean for my wife, it was kind of like, ‘just go into the room and here are your twins.'”
Though the expected nerves come up, the excitement outweighs the fears as their family has grown in such a short amount of time.
“It’s exciting, and also a little terrifying because we’ve never had four kids before, and we’ve never had two at a time, but it’s amazing,” Fenton said. “It doesn’t get old, but we’ll figure out how to live with four and have two little ones. The boys like to tackle each other and jump off of things and that’s fun, but we don’t really know what the girls are going to be like. We’ll learn as we go. We’re definitely excited to have the chance to have the boys and the girls.”
With two new girls, Fenton is still adjusting to spending his time with two new babies rather than just one.
“It feels kind of strange because I don’t really know which crib to stand by or who should I look at or who should I hold,” Fenton said. “There’s not a lot of time for thinking or calculating; it’s mostly just doing what the doctors say, and do what my wife says, and hold as many babies as I can.”
Senior Jenna Orcutt is enthusiastic about the new additions to the Fenton family and thinks that his classes are prepared for his absence.
“He has done a good job at preparing the students ahead of time by having them watch the note videos at home so that he can help them in class,” Orcutt said. “He didn’t seem that stressed or nervous. I think it’s cute when teachers have kids, especially when they show us pictures; you kind of get to see them grow up over the years which is really cool.”
Fenton, rather than taking two straight weeks off of work, is stretching out his paternity leave over the span of the rest of the semester. Fenton will work on Tuesdays and Thursdays to keep his classes on track while also spending time with his wife and kids.
“I talked with my wife first, and the first thing we decided a couple months ago was that instead of taking a couple months was that instead of taking a bunch of time off right off the bat, we would stretch it out a little bit,” Fenton said. “That way I could kind of work off and on for a little while. I can check in on classes just about every other day, keep the students moving forward, work regularly with the substitute and make sure that the classes are moving forward.”
Suzy Carroll, ’14, appreciates the preparation Fenton took in advance for the time he would be gone. Knowing it will be a little difficult with Fenton gone most of the week, Carroll waits in anticipation to see what the rest of the semester will bring.
“The semester will be a little bit harder but I think it will work out okay,” Carroll said. “He had us watching the videos at home and any questions that I may have he can answer them during class. He seemed pretty excited the days coming up to it. I have not seen any pictures yet.”
Eighth grader Donald Batliner is happy for Fenton and his family. Batliner has already seen pictures of the twins due to Fenton showing a slideshow of Ainsley and Mackenzie at the beginning of class.
“I am happy for Mr. Fenton and his new babies,” Batliner said. “I think it’s a really good thing. It’s good that he took time off because I think it is necessary for him to stay home with his wife and kids. Mr. Fenton has been really excited in class, and he has already shown us pictures in class.”
Jordan Castro, ’15, felt the excitement rising throughout the course of the semester leading up to the births. Feeling the beginning of the year was pretty calm Castro can now see the enthusiasm Fenton has gained.
“The beginning of the year was a lull,” Castro said. “We talked about his kids every so often, and then for the past three weeks it’s just been slowly building and building until the day before he left students were yelling ‘your kids are coming tomorrow!’ As we started the year we learned a lot and then we progressively became distracted with the kids.”
Sarah Peterson, ’15, sees the excitement Fenton has for his new family members and remains enthusiastic about the family growing. Coming from a big family, Peterson understands the new difficulties that will arise but also knows about the fun times that will occur.
“Mr. Fenton is really excited about his new kids,” Peterson said. “I’m happy for him because he now has two boys and two girls. He’ll have a lot of work to do but it’s really cool with more kids. I have a lot of brothers and sisters and we have a lot of fun together and with our parents so I know it will be a good experience for him.”
Castro is sad that Fenton will not be at school that often but commends him on spending more time with his family. Castro also likes that he can learn outside of class with the video notes Fenton provides.
“I’m really excited for him because this has been a huge topic with the Fenton and Harris babies,” Castro said. “I’m glad that they came safely. I guess I’m a little sad that I won’t get to see him as often but I’m glad that he’s putting his family before his job, even if it means that I have to go online and watch his videos. It’s really nice that he has learning opportunities available outside of school.”
As Fenton adjusts to his new life, two babies require a lot of care and attention. By sharing the responsibilities, he and his family hope to take it week-by-week until Christmas break.
“Our goal is to make it to Christmas break one piece and then we’ll have three weeks off together,” Fenton said. “In the mean time, I’ll be home on the weekends and Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and we’ll have help from my wife’s parents and my parents in town right now. I also have a sister in town, our church family, school family, and so between me being home those five days, working a couple days a week, we’ll see if we can get through the first two or three months, I think we’ll be in shape.”
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