We thought we were done having kids, but then we weren’t. We had three gorgeous kids. Raelyn, 5, and Analyn, 6, were our daughters. Caleb, our young child, was almost 3. We thought that was a good crew. Then baby fever struck again. Jay is my name. Rayni is the name of my wife. And this is the tale of how God unexpectedly benefited us. We were obviously giddy with joy. But this pregnancy was unique in every way. Rayni was constantly ill. She was constantly worn out. Additionally, she would spend the entire day in bed on any day she could get away with it. Of course, by that time we were in our late 30s this point. So that was our working theory for why this pregnancy was harder.
Finally, the ultrasound appointment day arrived. Rayni grinned a little as the technician worked on her abdomen. We ask, “What is this?” There are two in there, she continued while laughing as she turned to face us. I just started giggling at that point. Rayni appears to have witnessed a ghost! ‘Are you serious?’ was all she seemed to be able to say. That question was answered “yes” five times in a row after Rayni posed it, and then it seemed to stop. Then her face starts to look normal again, and she starts to chuckle a little.
We refuse any test that can identify genetic illnesses or flaws, just like the other three pregnancies. The same motive as before motivated us to do it. Because life is a gift from God to us, it is valuable in and of itself. We are custodians. So, that was and is still our way of thinking. Due to Rayni’s age and the fact that we were identical twins (the infants shared a placenta but each had their own amniotic sac), we underwent numerous ultrasounds throughout our pregnancy. For the majority of the process, the babies developed according to plan. After that, we learned that we had gestational diabetes around week thirty. As a result, this was tracked and eventually under medical control.
Then, an ultrasound revealed that one of the twins’ growth rates had somewhat slowed down. For a more thorough ultrasound and a suggestion to continue, we were referred to a specialist. The therapist suggested that we be stimulated the following Monday after gathering information. We are currently on week 36. Our trip to the hospital takes about 40 minutes on a typical day. When your wife gets out of the car in tears while having shorter and shorter contractions.
Quickly, even before the epidural began, Baby Ava arrived! Within 15 minutes of our arrival in the delivery room, she was born. Then the issue arises. Rayni’s cervix closed, Cora’s heart rate decreased, and she was floating high in the womb. An urgent cesarean section was required. They had to put Rayni to sleep because the epidural was still ineffective, and I was ejected from the room. Our adorable twin girls and I entered the room a short while later. Rayni is doing well and is currently in the recovery room. The twins were transported to the NICU due to their size. Rayni was bleeding, listless and preoccupied in the recovery room, and as pale as a ghost. Me too! Fortunately, they were able to stabilize her in the room and she was able to rest.
A doctor we had never seen before entered the room one hour later. She made herself known before discussing the twins. With the exception of two words—Down syndrome—I can’t recall any of the things the woman said. It appeared as though she entered the space, detonated a bomb inside, and then quickly exited. ‘How long do persons with Down syndrome live?’ was the first question that rushed through my mind. Are our twins going to have to be buried? These concerns crossed our minds, along with a million others. We were stunned and mute as we sat there. I then stood up and told Rayni to pray since that’s the only thing you can do in a circumstance like that. The fear immediately vanished.
Then we found out that having an identical twin with Down syndrome happens once out of a million pregnancies! We have been selected for this mission! We are truly one in a million. Through our obstetrician, God sent us a couple who went through what we just went through. They basically hugged us and said, ‘You’ll be fine. You have just been given a gift’. The peace they bring to us cannot be adequately expressed in words.
We returned home after a brief stay in the NICU to make sure we could keep a healthy temperature, gain weight, and breathe easily. The frequent cardiac abnormalities associated with Down syndrome were absent in Ava and Cora.
They are now healthy and gorgeous infants in the future. They’re wonderful kids. They constantly grinned at us and began laughing. We, Rayni and I, are awestruck by the chance God has given us. We adore those adorable young girls so much! And we’re eager to find out what the future of this trip holds for both us and them.
