Farden Twins Born at 26 Weeks Celebrate Their 1st Birthday

                       By Kyla Farden, the twins’ mom 

July 19 of last year , I was placed on home bedrest for my shortening cervix. Fast forward one week later, after my appointment with the specialists, I was immediately walked over to labor and delivery. I had to stay there until a room opened for me in Antepartum. Three days later I checked into my new room that I would live out of until the twins arrived. 

I was only 21 weeks pregnant when I was introduced to the terrifying term, “viability.” Knowing I would somehow have to keep my babies growing inside me for at least 3 more weeks to give them a fighting chance haunted me every second of every day. My husband began a count down on our hospital board, and every morning he would quickly change that number to prove we made it another day. Everyday counts when you are growing babies! The nurses would monitor baby A and baby B’s heart beats twice a day. When you’re not very far along in your pregnancy, this task becomes the hardest challenge! My girls swam all over my belly, but after minutes of searching, we would always end up hearing those reassuring sounds of our babies’ hearts; our daily reminder of what we were fighting for.

 As days went by, the nurses became family, and the twins became known to everyone as “Elliott Woods” (Baby A) and “Georgia Jane” (Baby B). Weeks went by, and baby Elliott was not seeming to grow like Georgia. Three times a week, cord flow was checked and monitored. Day after day, I’d hear, “ baby A still isn’t growing and we are still seeing absent to no cord flow from the placenta”. Every morning before my husband would leave for work, he would kneel next to my bed, take my hand and prayed over me and the girls. It was something I looked forward to and we both knew our situation was getting bigger than us. We knew we needed to turn things over to God and see where He would take us.

We made it to 26 weeks; that had been our goal given to us by the specialists. Statistics improved drastically if we could make it to then! However, we also knew week 26 was going to be a very telling week. On Friday we would do measurements of the babies to check their growth, praying Ellie had made some progress.

That Monday night, at 26+1, we were moved over to labor and delivery. Our nurse didn’t like the decelerations she had seen during our nightly heart rate monitoring. I will never forget the sound of our sweet Ellie’s heartbeats slowing down and just praying so hard that they would catch back up to speed! As Cole wheeled me and my essential belongings over to our new room, I knew things were about to get scary. However, all through the night Ellie and Georgia’s heartbeats were strong and regular! I called my parents to tell them the great news in the morning. They were on their way up to the hospital, which became our “new normal.”

We were all just sitting around talking, when three nurses came running in. I knew this was a bad sign, Ellie’s heart had dropped way below normal, three times in a row. My doctor shortly followed. We knew it was game time, and today would be the day our babies would be born. 

I was rushed to the OR and an hour later my two little angels arrived. Elliott weighed 1 lb. 7 oz. and measured 13 inches long. Georgia weighed 2 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 13 3/4 inches long. Ellie was intubated in the OR and Georgia lasted 4 hours until her body became too tired.

 It took me a few hours to come out of recovery because they had given me a lot of pain meds during my C-section. Regaining my strength as quick as I could so I could go see my babies was all I wanted to do. Until then, I got to hear my husband brag to everyone about how beautiful our baby girls were. Once I made it to the NICU, that’s when reality set in. This was going to be a long road for us, but I knew with every ounce of my being that my girls were fighters and would get through this. 

Again, weeks would go by as I would watch my girls fight harder than I thought possible. The NICU nurses became family that I trusted with my whole heart. They advocated for my girls when I was there and even when I wasn’t there. I cheered on Georgia as she gained weight and lowered her need for oxygen support. She quickly caught on to feeding from a bottle and after 65 days, she came home on November 2nd. That day was the hardest day of my life, and that included the day I left the hospital without my girls! It was heart wrenching as I packed up one baby, to leave behind the other. I felt like I was taking away the only family Ellie had at the hospital on times I wasn’t there. She was now officially alone in the NICU and that was the hardest pill to swallow. Days went by as Ellie struggled to wean off her oxygen and coordinate how to breath while she drank her bottles. The nurses/therapist were saints and worked hard with Ellie. On Thanksgiving morning, I was woken up with a call from our favourite neonatologist. She was calling to ask how I felt about Ellie coming home the following morning. I had waited 88 long days to hear those words, and on day 89,I had both my angels home with me.

We were a family of four, all together again. My doctors asked me on more than one occasion if I was interested in “selective termination”. As doctors, they have to make sure you are aware of all your options, so I don’t pass any sort of judgement on them. When you have two babies growing inside you, one doing really well and the other struggling, continuing both pregnancies is a risky move. They shared a placenta, so if something happened to one baby, it would most likely happen to the other. Every time I was asked this question I automatically responded “I am not God. He will decide what is supposed to happen, not me.” I am so happy I let my faith guide me over my fears, or my sweet Ellie wouldn’t be here today. However, it does make me wonder how many moms have terminated thinking there was no other choice. God is in control, it is just our job to fight as hard as we can for our babies.

Not a single day goes by that I don’t count my blessings and owe everything to God. He put all those healthcare professionals in our journey for a reason. They loved and took such amazing care of us. Everything they did for us will always be something I can never fully put into words. I feel so much gratitude and appreciation towards them. Our journey could have ended so differently, but I am so thankful it did not.

August 29th this year our preemie twin warriors turned 1!