Our Girls

I am a 33 year old mother of twins. These are my first children, so not only did my husband and I go through an adjustment period of getting used to having a baby around the house, but getting two all at once. In this era of fertility drugs, multiples are quite common. Since we weren't using any fertility drugs, shock was what we felt at the first ultra sound when we discovered we were having two. 

The pregnancy went well. I worked full time up to 32 weeks into the pregnancy when I was put on complete bed rest. By this point I was so miserably big. I've never been an idle person so the three weeks of doing nothing was extremely hard. I delivered at week 35. The delivery was beautiful, an unforgettable experience. 

I delivered vaginal, which is surprising for twins. At 3:05 am on 4/5/00 Marissa Sue was born and just 5 minutes later Meghan Christine. Now comes the tough part. The first 3 months after their birth was the most difficult time in our lives. Marissa was completely healthy and made it home 1 week after her birth. Meghan, on the other hand, had a more difficult start. She had a defect to her heart called coarctation of the aorta. Surgery successfully took care of this. She also had complications such as a perforated bowel which called for emergency bowel surgery and an ostomy was placed for a couple of months. Her third surgery reversed the ostomy, which was a good surgery, but just as tough because she was older at this point and showed signs of pain on her cute little face. 

During all of this we can't forget about Marissa at home with new parents learning as they go and finding babysitters while Mom and Dad visited the hospital everyday. 

The girls are now 9 months old and times are not quite as stressful. We are all getting used to each other and Meghan now only has follow up appointments. In the future she may have another heart surgery for an extra membrane in her left atrium, but all is well now. Mom and Dad both work full time and wish we had more time to spend with the girls, but we manage just like most families.