“Nurses didn’t know how to approach me. I got statements like, ‘I’ve been a nurse 23 years and have never worked with twins like them.’ People are shocked. When we’re out in public I get questions. ‘Are they adopted?’ ‘Are they twins?’ ‘Do they have the same father?’ It’s amazing.”
‘Is it weird having one white twin and one black twin?’ They are POLAR OPPOSITES! She is fair-skinned with bright blue eyes. He is dark skinned with brown eyes and black hair.’
‘I was woken by a call. ‘There is something wrong with Twin B.’ Seeing the name on my caller ID made my heart leap out of my throat. How could this happen to my little, happy fighter?’
“I was trying to wrap my head around it. How does a twin, leave the other twin behind? How do we live on without her? We received another call in the middle of the night. ‘She isn’t moving the right side of her body.’ Nothing was going to stop her.”
‘She’s going to be amazing.’ Her birth mom asked for nothing, even though I would have given her ANYTHING. As much as Finley was a perfect fit for our family, so was Lex.’
“It felt unnatural. Sitting across from her, passing her the pen, I was scared to make eye-contact for fear I’d feel too much guilt. The tears streamed down our faces. She was willingly giving us the precious life she created, and we were promising her to cherish it.”
‘The judge looked at my husband and I. ‘Thank you for taking in a child in need.’ Without missing a beat, my husband replied, ‘We needed her more.’ Truer words have never been spoken.’
“After 5 months of loving her like our own, we got a phone call that crushed us. ‘The bio-mom is signing over her rights to her friend, and the judge ruled for us to move her. She will be there in an hour to pick her up.’”
‘They called for another baby!’ Henry and his twin brother were born micro preemies. Sadly, his twin passed away. Henry was put into foster care. I stood there staring at the message.’
“We got the call when he 10 months old. At the time, my husband and I were fostering a baby girl suffering from shaken baby syndrome. We had already adopted 3 children, all who have special needs. I waited for my husband to get home and met him at the door.”
‘I used the bathroom. My heart sank. I dove into panic mode. I am actually in labor. I surrendered to the universe. ‘Please just take care of me, please allow her to live.’
“I had lost 20 pounds by 18 weeks. Then it happened, ‘code white’ over the intercom. Twelve doctors and nurses ran into our room scrambling around me. I will never forget the moment before my eyes closed. My Guardian Angel grandfather had my hands in his, as if he were in the room. ‘Please keep our miracle alive.’”
‘Are you ready to hold your daughter?’ My eyes wide open, I nodded. After delivering my triplets, hours after my first child died, you took pictures of my sweet babies.’
“The shock of staring at their translucent, 1-pound bodies, consumed me. The guilt overwhelmed me as I looked at the machines keeping my children alive. Yet, there was no judgement from you, our nurse.”
‘I bawled to my husband, ‘I came in for kidney stones. Now I’m praying we don’t have a micro-preemie in the NICU in California when we’re moving to Colorado in 3 weeks.’
“Nurses were rushing in. My baby’s heart rate was dropping. ‘Something’ was wrong, but nobody knew what. I started preparing myself for the reality of having one child in the hospital in one state, while we all lived in another.”
‘Are you the husband?’ He replied, ‘Haley’s?’ ‘Yes. She and baby aren’t doing well. The baby needs to come NOW.’ I tried to frantically call him. He was completely unaware.’
“When I woke up, I was in a big open room full of other patients recovering. I had multiple nurses around me. One said, ‘Your son is in the NICU.’ My son?! I have a SON? This definitely wasn’t how I expected to find out!”
‘When I was pregnant, I thought about that perfect ‘going home’ outfit for my child. A soft, blue sleeper with tiny elephants dancing across. But, I never had that picture-perfect moment.’
“I stood outside the children’s store, my hands shaking as my heart started racing. I took a deep breath, wiped away my tears, and put on a brave face as I walked inside. I handed the outfit to my mother and told her I had to leave, the heartache proved too much.”
