Deployed Broken Arrow Pilot's Wife Is Expecting Twins

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

BROKEN ARROW, OK -- Two Green Country helicopter pilots helped patrol Iraq Wednesday, on guard to protect Iraqis heading to the polls. Their minds are on the mission, but one pilot's heart is definitely here on the Home front.

His heart is feeling twice the pull to be home.

Picking up, washing dishes, and juggling two toddlers are all part of mom duty for Jamye Henderson. They're assignments made a little tougher with her partner on active duty.

"Overwhelming would be a good word for it," said Jamye Henderson, a soldier's wife.

This mother of two will become a mother of four any day now, and she's facing delivering her twins with her husband, Jay Henderson still in Iraq.

"I was like ‘that is not going to be me. Not happening,'" said Jamye Henderson. "And so when we got married, I told him – 'Not happening.' And so I'm eating my words. Big Time."

For 35 weeks pregnant with a husband flying choppers in a war zone, Jamye seems to be remarkably…zen.

"I just - I just did a lot of praying about it. And I just have a really good peace about the whole thing. So it actually hasn't been so bad. But deployments are always hard," the expectant mother said.

It's made especially hard because her family is no stranger to the perils of war. Her husband's 32-year-old cousin, Lawrence Shane Colton, also a helicopter pilot, was shot down at the beginning of the Iraq War.

Despite his family's reservations, Jay followed in his cousin's footsteps.

"So we did, and it ended up being the biggest blessing," Jamye said. "He's just having a blast."

Jamye says she has the support of her parents, in-laws, and her church family.

But for some news the only hand you want to hold is your husband's.

"Very soon after I found out they were twins, we found out they were 'twin to twin.'"

It's a life-threatening complication, where one baby gets more of the nourishment and blood and the other basically starves.

"And so I did a lot of praying about it, and magically one day I went in and it was fixed," said Jamye Henderson, an expectant mother of twins whose husband is serving in Iraq.

Peace fueled by faith, helped by near daily online video chats with her husband, like this one shared on Six and the Morning.

"Babe, you know I love you. And I'm real proud of ya. And want to let the whole world know how good a wife you are," said Jay Henderson via Skype.

Jay Henderson is trying to get home as soon as possible to see the newest members of his family.

"He'll be coming right at the time when I'll be hitting my freak out," Jamye laughed.

The Henderson's don't even know if they're having boys or girls. The twins aren't cooperating for the sonograms.

But Jamye won't have to be held in suspense for too much longer; she's scheduled to have them by Monday.