The story of Joshua and Caleb starts before I was even pregnant...
Two months before I found out that I was pregnant for the fourth time, my oldest son, Norman came downstairs (after bedtime) at 11 p.m. and told me that he was going right back to bed but, that he just wanted to let me know, that he prayed tonight that I would have identical twin boys. Now, I was all done having children. We had Norm, Julia and Caitlin, and that was fine with me.
However, I did get pregnant and because it was my fourth pregnancy, I went on vacation for 2 weeks before scheduling an OB appointment. I was about 3 months pregnant at my first appt. That was when the OB told us we were having twins. We were elated!
It wasn't until the next appt. and sonogram that an abnormality was detected by our OB. We were sent to Portland, ME - a 4 hour drive one way - to a specialist. This would be the first of many weekly visits to Portland.
We were diagnosed with TTTS and the specialist in Portland did a serial amniocentesis and drained off about 2 liters of fluid from the larger baby's sac. This would also we the first of several treatments. The specialist always marveled at how well I took the 10 inch needle going into my belly. I would tell them, "when your babies' lives are at stake, you don't even think about it" .
We had relatives, friends and church family praying continuously for the healthy and whole birth of our twins. We knew the statistics and we were very focused on a great outcome.
The day I went into labor, a snow storm was moving across our area. I was feeling different and could not get comfortable. All day, I tried to get comfortable in various positions. Finally, that evening when my husband came home from work, we agreed to call our OB here in town. He met us at the hospital, I was in labor.
He tried to slow the labor, but the babies were coming. I was nearly 33 weeks pregnant. This was not our plan. I prayed and a circle of friends and our pastors met in the lobby of the hospital and they prayed.
The OB did the c-section and our boys were here. March 12, 2001. My husband, who is a surgeon and was in the OR, said the anesthesiologist and the pediatrician intubated our boys and the medical team from Bangor (a 2 hour drive) all worked to save our boys that night and early into the morning.
They were transferred 6 hours after their birth to the NICU in Bangor. Our hospital here does not have a NICU.
The boys are now 19 months old and are every bit healthy and happy and developing fine. They spent 6 weeks in the NICU and we survived. What a precious gift !!
These babies are famous in our town. EVERYONE prayed for them. Our other 3 children love them dearly and, I have to say, we are living happily ever after.
I didn't know if I would be able to write this.
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