The Parrish Family
November 3rd, 2021 will forever be a joyful, yet painful memory for myself and my husband. It was the day our monoamniotic-monochorionic twins were born at the small gestational age of twenty-four weeks and three days. We had a seamlessly perfect pregnancy until week twenty-four.
I remember vividly I couldn’t wait until twenty-four weeks. This was considered “viability.” I just knew everything was going to be so perfect, until it wasn’t. I went in for a routine ultrasound appointment since our pregnancy was so high-risk with the twins sharing a placenta, and an amniotic sac, and my blood pressure had decided to climb. We made the Doctor check it four times before sending us to labor and delivery to be “monitored.” Deep down in the pit of my very core I knew monitored would soon mean emergency cesarian.
Hours and hours of blood pressure medications given with no avail. All of the sudden the fetal heart rate monitor was beeping uncontrollably. I couldn’t see it, but could hear the panic in the nurses voices. Both of the girls heart rates were in the 70’s. Dangerously low. I was soon swept away into an emergency cesarian, and we embarked on a painfully long NICU stay that no one could of prepared us for.
As I sit and type this very paragraph it brings back such deep rooted, cringe worthy, devastating emotions that I think I have buried so deeply until I begin to realize and hope that sharing is healing for me, and helping for someone else.
Two weeks into our eight month NICU stay our Angel Avery was called home. She and her twin sister Addison both developed NEC during their stay. Addison went on to have five bowel surgeries, sepsis, pneumonia, bone fractures, hernias, cardiac arrest, PDA’s, VSD’s, chronic lung disease, g-tube placement, over twenty blood transfusions, and six eye surgeries.
After 239 days, we finally brought our sweetest miracle home. I could honestly talk for the rest of my life about our NICU journey. It has forever change my husband and I as people. It’s a journey I pray you never have to walk. But, just know if you do to hold your head high with pride and be thankful you were chosen to raise such a special child, but also let yourself mourn if you left the NICU empty handed and broken hearted. Be thankful you were given the opportunity to share your journey and your survival guide as it may be exactly what another family needs. Be thankful you were given the task because you are strong enough. Remember, it's only a chapter out of your journey, and you will look back and smile when you’re on the other side.
