Two unexpected blessings

My name is Diana, wife to Dan and twin mom to Sophia and Olivia. This is the story about how our babies entered this world unexpectedly early and how they have grown so far.

Two pink lines

After five years of battling infertility and dealing with two pregnancy losses, my husband and I had given up on the dream of having biological children. Gone were the days of ovulation kits and fertility tests. Though we had thrown in the towel on this dream, the pregnancy test laid on the bathroom sink, mocking me. In the nicest way possible.

And then after the initial shock of this unexpected yet deeply desired pregnancy, we marched on to my doctor’s office, and as if there had not been enough surprises, she showed us the second heartbeat she had just found. YOU ARE HAVING TWINS.

We very quickly discovered that a twin pregnancy is automatically considered a high risk pregnancy, and that twins follow their own schedule. They are born when they want to – most times early.

You need to go to the hospital. Now!

We had made it to 25 weeks, and things were looking great. So it was shocking to see my blood pressure reading so high at my monthly check up appointment. We were advised to go straight to the hospital.

I kept asking everyone if we were going to have to deliver that day, and no one could give me an answer. I thought that maybe after some meds, my blood pressure would go down, and I would be able to go home. But they kept an eye on my blood pressure, and after a week and a half they told me I would stay in the hospital until I had to deliver.

One month later

Three days after the 28 week mark is when my twins decided to make an entrance. After being somewhat stable in the hospital for a month, my blood pressure was suddenly out of control, and they had to rush me to labor and delivery.

I remember the OR being so bright and so full of people. Each baby had a NICU team waiting for them. I felt so intimidated and out of control. It felt like this experience I waited so long for was suddenly being stolen from me. Like my babies were being stolen from me. After a lot of meds to help lower my blood pressure, my babies were finally delivered at 11:40 and 11:43 that night.They rushed the babies to the NICU.

I briefly saw baby A for a few seconds, but the truth is I don’t remember this very well at all.

Our NICU journey

Having a premature baby makes you feel so helpless. Like it doesn’t matter that for months you were the only source of life that child had, and now in the blink of an eye, keeping them away from you is the only way to help them.

Our NICU stay lasted 69 days for Baby A, and 74 days for Baby B, and it was brutal. No mother (or baby!) should have to experience this. The NICU nurses deserve an award for loving our babies like they were their own.

Once we brought our babies home, we had a myriad of doctor’s appointments and follow ups. It took me all of these medical professionals saying they are ok for me to finally let my guard down and start bonding with my babies.

My twins leaps

The wonder weeks app was so helpful, especially because I could easily enter my twins’ due date and track their leaps rather than having to do all the math in my head. Our little nugget and sweet munchkin are 24 weeks actual and 12 weeks adjusted.

My favorite leap so far has been Leap 2. Their fuzzy phase lasted about two days (lucky me!) and it consisted mostly of being ravenous, and not wanting to nap as long during the day. I loved being able to see the activities we could do with them to help them navigate the new world they were discovering, and being able to notice their new skills. Like subtle cooing and their little hand discovery. Because I have twins, one of them always starts showing new skills first and then the other baby follows a day or two after. It is fun to be on the lookout for new skills. 

Premature babies (and mamas)

are fighters.

They are strong, and their early entrance to the world is not by chance or mistake. They have great purpose, and they are never early or late in their development.
They are always right on time.

Their time.

Diana