Days Like These…

the lovelies

Do you believe in miracles? I do. And in the spirit of today, I am going to share with you why.

Has your life ever changed in an instant? I mean really change? January 2003…it happened to me twice. The first time was on an examination table…I was having an ultrasound and found out — SURPRISE! — we were expecting identical twins. That kind of spins your world into orbit. One week later, I was on another examination table, and we were being told about a rare placental complication we had. After hearing its grim description, we were told to prepare for a bad outcome. The doctors did not expect either baby to make it. Ummm…choked up doesn't even begin to explain that moment in time.

We spent a few weeks being acutely sad, really mad, and completely overwhelmed. I was 18 weeks along. The doctors said if there was any hope, I would need to carry the girls to 24 weeks. And premature babies come into this world with a whole other set of complications so to them, the experts, the task was impossible. After researching the complication we had, it was hard to disagree. So we holed up…and held on…to each other.

And then I woke up one day and surrendered. Maybe they weren't going to make it…and I had NO control of that necessarily. BUT, if they could make it, I was going to be certain they carried to 30 weeks. Impossible, I heard, more than once. But every day, I wrote in my journal that these babies were going to make it to 30 weeks. They were going to be healthy. They were going to defy everything the doctors were telling us… and what we were hearing was so, so, SO scary. But, miraculously, I gathered just the right amount of confidence and carried myself through the minutes of every single day breathing, thinking, hoping, wishing for "30 weeks."

And, on April 9th, 2003…at precisely 30 weeks and barely 2 pounds…our daughters were born. Small? Absolutely. But they were healthy. And they thrived. And today, well, we celebrate them turning 6! So you see, I have no choice but to believe in miracles…and I am so glad I do!April 9, 2009 (60)