Everything was looking good--I had no symptoms or complications other than feeling tired (perfectly normal for me!). Then one night everything changed and I went to St. Joseph Hospital just to get checked out. I had NO intention of delivering my girls or even staying overnight--I didn't bring anything with me when I went in that Friday evening. At first everything looked good and I was heading towards being discharged when the resident doctor decided to just take a quick look at the babies on a ultrasound. And that is when everything changed.
I had suddenly and without warning developed late stage Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome and was admitted to the hospital. At first, no one was thinking I would have the babies immediately--just that I would be in the hospital until I did. So as my husband slept and snored (really!) in the chair next to me, I was up all night hooked to monitors and IVs. Things deteriorated overnight, and at 7:00am Saturday morning, the specialist told me the girls had to come out now.
And so our beautiful twin girls, Lauren and Madeline, were born almost three months early on January 27, 2010 at 8:00am and 8:01am.
Our stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) lasted 75 days--75 days of fear, anxiety, worry, sadness, joy, terror, elation--you name it, we felt it all. Of course during this time we also had to care for our son Jonah, who turned 4 years old while the girls were in the hospital. We can never thank enough the friends and family who helped out during this tremendously difficult time in our lives.
