My Two Miracles

My two miracles are Zach and Ryan! They are bright-eyed, smiling, happy, healthy 16 month old twin boys....after a very rocky pregnancy, with an emergency delivery 3 months early followed by a 6 week NICU stay, I am the proud mother of 2 new walkers!

I found out I was pregnant in October 2007 after trying for 5 months, and my husband and I were thrilled. I had my first ultrasound, and there was only a sac, so I went back a week later and we did see one tiny baby with a heartbeat - but a very slow heartbeat. The doctor told us it very well could become a miscarriage. So, we went back a week later - and surprise....the heartbeat was fast and strong....and there was a SECOND sac, baby, and strong heartbeat! We were absolutly shocked since there had been no sign of twins on the first two ultrasounds!

But, the second sac and baby were very small compared to the first baby...so again, we were told that this baby might miscarry or be a vanishing twin. We went back a few weeks later to recheck, and my little peanut #2 was still going strong....but still with a small sac, low fluid, and poor growth. The doctor was worried about a genetic problem...so we had a CVS (chorionic villus sampling done)....NORMAL! We found out from this test that we were having 2 boys!

By about 20 weeks along, we knew that Baby #2, Ryan, was still lagging behind his brother - and now the doctors could see that even though Ryan had his own placenta it was quite small and his umbilical cord was a velamentous insertion (to the side instead of the middle of the placenta). So we kept watching and waiting. At 23 weeks I started with signs of preterm labor and my cervix had shortened all the way to 0.8cm (normal more than 3 cm) with a lot of "funneling". So, I went on bedrest - a total of about 6 weeks with 2 of them being in the hospital and the rest at home.

While on bedrest I went for tons of ultrasounds to monitor my little Ryan. By 29 weeks, he had not grown from his prior ultrasound, and the blood flow in his umbilical cord was absent at times. I was put in the hospital and monitored overnight on April 23, 2007. Ryan was in distress, so on the morning of April 24, 2007, at 29 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I had an emergency C-section. Ryan weighed 2#9oz, and my Zachary weighed 3#10oz. They were here!

My boys spent 6 long weeks in the NICU, and I spent hours driving back and forth to the hospital, sitting with my babies, doing kangaroo care, and being the best mama I could be to my tiny peanuts. They were perfectly healthy - just needed to grow and learn to eat. They were never on ventilators, never needed any blood transfusions, and were never on medicines of any kind.....we were so lucky! On June 5, 2007, we brought our babies home!

The last 16 months have been exhausting with almost no nights of uninterruped sleep, feeding after feeding, diaper after diaper....but also so wonderful in that we have these 2 miracle babies that are perfect in every way, and they do amazing things each day - I am in absolute awe of these guys!

I want to thank all the ladies on the nest multiples board for being such wonderful, inspiring mothers! I have found answers to a million questions and unending support from people that I have never met, yet people that I feel know exactly where I am coming from and what I need. Thank you ladies! MOMs are the best!