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Better Than I Even Imagined

By Michelle Tauber

Originally posted Thursday April 12, 2007 12:00 PM EDT

"Marcia really wanted lilac," says the nursery's designer Annette Tatum of the Santa Monica store House (houseinc.com). Photo by: REGINE MAHAUX / EXCLUSIVE BY GETTY

Four weeks before her March 21 due date, Cross was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a disorder characterized by dangerously high blood pressure that threatens both mother and baby. Within hours she was undergoing a cesarean section while Tom held her hand. "Savannah was born first and then Eden followed within the same minute," he says. "Then we had a symphony of crying and it was fantastic." At 6 lbs. 7 oz. (Savannah) and 5 lbs. 10 oz. (Eden), notes Cross, "I had over 12 lbs. of baby in me!"

Since arriving home with the twins four days after their birth, Cross – who has the help of a baby nurse – has mastered the art of simultaneously breast-feeding the two, "which for me is a huge accomplishment!" She also has marveled at her rapidly returning figure. During her pregnancy, "I didn't just feel large, I was large," she says with a laugh. Just before delivering the twins, "I was 190 [lbs.], and two weeks later I was 150. My doctor said it was a record weight loss! When you're [used to being] thin, you're like, 'Oh, there's an inch over here,' " she says, frowning and pinching her waist. "When you're 190 and all of a sudden you're not, it's like, 'I'm Twiggy!'" She only recently started back at the gym: "It feels so good."

Of course, nothing feels better than delighting in her new daughters. "She'll come in when I'm putting on my tie in the morning and say, 'Honey, you've got to see this!' " says Mahoney, who surprised Cross with a pair of diamond studs – "one for each girl" – at the couple's first dinner out together as parents. "The girls will be side-by-side, peacefully eyeing the mobile with just the faintest of smiles. She's totally in the moment."