By Leia (Mom & current house guest)
On January 30th, I found out I was pregnant. I thought there was no way that I could be pregnant after trying for about a year and a half, and not being successful.
On March 3rd, we found out we were having twins. We couldn’t have been more excited to see two little ones in the ultrasound. I did some genetic testing and had a really scary result, thinking that the babies would have trisomy 13. I was so terrified that I was going to lose my babies or at least one of them. I was not able to enjoy some of my pregnancy with all of the unknowns, but I am very fortunate that I had such a great team when I got to the fetal medicine ultrasound. I am so lucky that the doctors we had, followed my pregnancy very closely. Thankfully, they told me that I didn’t have to do any more testing after the first ultrasound we had, to see if they had trisomy.
Editor’s Note: Nationwide Children’s Hospital describes Trisomy 13 as a genetic disorder. “They include a combination of birth defects. This includes severe learning problems and health problems that affect nearly every organ in the body.”
On April 23rd, we found out that we were being blessed with two more little boys. I knew then, I was going to be a Boy Mom for the rest of my life. Fingers crossed; I’ll get my little girl next time. My other half says we’re going to try until we get a girl. But who knows, we might end up with a whole football team before it’s all over. The last few weeks of my pregnancy, I felt off. I thought it was just a normal pregnancy feeling, but I ended up going to the hospital and they wanted to do some tests.
On August 8th, I went to the hospital to drop off some labs, and I unexpectedly experienced signs of labor. As we waited for the ambulance to arrive to take me to Columbus to deliver, I progressed and was too unstable to be transported. So, we had no choice but to deliver the babies in our hometown hospital.
On August 8th, 2023, at 3:49 pm and 3:50 pm, we welcomed Forrest Woodrow and Wynston Eugene to the world, ten weeks early.
After delivering, the boys were taken to Columbus without us. Forrest was on a ventilator, and Wynston was on a bipap in the NICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Both the boys did well at the hospital, and thankfully got to come off the vent and bipap earlier than expected. I will never forget the day that they both got their CPAP off, and I could see their sweet faces for the first time fully. It was the best feeling in the world.
We got to bring Forrest home earlier than Wynston. Forrest was released after being in the NICU for 48 days. He got to come home to meet his big brother, Corey, who adores his little brothers. He has only gotten to see Wynston over FaceTime and pictures, as of now. But he loves to call his brothers “Tractor” and “Sissy”.
Wynston is still working very hard on his bottle-feeding. He has been in the NICU for 106 days today and has been a little bit more of a character to take care of. He was on oxygen for quite some time, so he has lung disease, and we are currently doing different studies/tests to see why he’s not wanting to take the bottle fully. We are hopeful to have our family together soon.
We have been at the Ronald McDonald House since the boys were transferred to NCH in August. I love the Blue Jackets Room downstairs – it helps me relax. We loved getting free tickets to a Blue Jackets Game from the Ronald McDonald House. We had never been before, and it was nice to do something other than sit at the hospital. We love Abby and Holly who are usually at the front desk. They have helped us so much and have helped me after long days just by being someone to talk to who’s not a doctor.
We are very grateful for the time that we have been at the Ronald McDonald House. We appreciate all the accommodations and everything the staff does for us. It truly is a place that we can call our second home, for sure.