I didn’t know how serious my situation was until I arrived at the hospital and the nurse knew my name upon arrival. I was just shy of 26 weeks—pregnant with twins. The NICU doctor explained the risks of delivering babies at this young age and told me to hang on as long as I could.

I was able to hold on for a few days but at 26.5 weeks my babies were born via c-section. My son was born at 1lb 14oz and my daughter at 1lb 9oz.

Patrick had horrible apnea. It’s a very scary thing to watch your baby forget to breathe, but we had to push that fear away and learn how to stimulate him when we were with him.

Lily became very sick after a few weeks. She wasn’t moving, was swollen, and looked grey in color. A specialist was called in and through lots of hope and prayers, Lily came through without needing surgery. The only surgery Lily ended up needing was laser eye surgery.

The weeks my babies spent in the NICU were the hardest weeks of my life. In the end, Lily spent 10 weeks in the NICU and Patrick spent 11 weeks.  We can never thank the nurses and doctors enough for all of their kindness and knowledge that helped grow and save our babies.

– Helen Hewitt