Four years old and full of energy. These boys jolted me into adulthood and I've never looked back. They have taught me as much if not more than I've taught them. They've had rough times that I wish I could have taken away from them, so that they'd never feel pain but they keep pushing through with smiles on their faces.
I was a teenager when I found out I was pregnant, to add to that shock I found out that I was carrying twin boys. It was time to grow up because there was no going back, so that's exactly what I did. At my 20 week sonogram they discovered that the boys had
twin-twin transfusion syndrome and that it would be impossible for me to carry the boys to full term. Starting immediately I had to go in every 4 days for an amniocentesis, pretty much they stick a long needle into your abdomen and into the amniotic sac to drain off fluid. Usually an amnio is only done once for testing but in my case it had to be done often or else I would go into labor. They also found that Tanner had a
bilateral cleft lip and palate, which would mean several surgeries throughout his life as well as a significant speech delay.
My amnio's were effective in keeping me from going into labor for several weeks but at 27 weeks the one thing that was helping me to ward off labor actually caused it. At the hospital no one gave me the time of day. The way they saw it a pregnant teenager didn't know what labor was and didn't understand what ttts was. In reality I was the only one that did know, they put me off for so long by the time they actually examined me I was at 7cm and there was no stopping my boys from coming. So, terrified as we were Matt and I went straight back to the operating room for an emergency c-section and at 7:41 Hunter came into the world at a tiny 2lbs 1.5oz 13" long, followed closely by Tanner at 7:43 at a slightly larger 2lbs 14oz 15" long. The nurses quickly showed them to Matt and I and then whisked them away to the
NICU.
The NICU was a scary place for any parent. You walk in and the first thing you notice is the complete silence, only interrupted by the occasional bleep and blip of a machine and every one's heart paused for a second at the chime of an alarm. Every parent would stop and immediately look at the monitors thinking, "Is that our baby?". Going through the NICU is definitely a rollarcoaster ride and a very long one at that. After a month in the NICU Hunter was thriving, gaining weight and only needed help from oxygen every once in awhile. Tanner had been doing well, he was bigger so his weight wasn't our main concern. Due to his clefts he couldn't use a c-pap or nasal cannula if he needed oxygen, he had to be on a ventilator. Which, in turn, caused him to have two brain bleeds. That was a scary day, the doctors reassured us that they were both grade one so any brain damage would be minimal. Brain damage... I was terrified. Hearing that your child may have brain damage makes your heart stop, you chest aches and all you want to do is vomit. They told us all of the sono's they had done of his brain showed very minimal damage so we moved forward. After 62 days my boys came home. They started Early Intervention Services at 3 months knowing that they would have physical and developmental delays from prematurity.
They first year or so was a bit crazy. We moved out on our own right before I was to return to school for my senior year. Finding a baby sitter for one kid is expensive, finding one for two developmentally delayed children is outrageous. Matt was the only one working so that I could focus on school and the boys but somehow we made it. I graduated on time with all the people that I had started out in kindergarten with and was eager to start college. The boys had been doing well in therapy the only worrisome thing was that Tanner still wasn't walking or even pulling to stand. "It will take time", "Just look how far he's come" So we just went with it.
That's when things became a little too real. Matt and I split up and the boys and I had to move in with my step-mom, Tanner's therapy had once again hit a plateau, depression kicked in and the world just started to spit out of control. I ended up dropping out of college with every intention to return once things settled down.
Now:
Matt and I did reconcile, 2 years later we were married and getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary. We now own our home, we also have another little boy that just turned 2. A year ago we found that Tanner's brain bleeds actually did cause damage and he was diagnosed with
spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, he cannot walk or stand without assistance and uses a wheelchair. He's also had 6 surgeries thus far on his cleft lip and palate, this has caused a significant speech delay but Hunter is always right there to translate. Hunter is almost caught except for a speech delay. Both boys are working hard in therapy through pre-school and are doing quite well. They are each other's best friends and are both looking forward to starting school again in just a few weeks.
