*Part 2. See Part 1 also*
#Tuestimony
<The beginning of this story is detailed in the "Tuestimony Part 1" post>
On May 16, 1996... My little Brother and Sister (twins) were born more than 3 months premature. Very frightening experience all-around, but Mom and siblings are all good today.
While my Siblings and I were in the waiting room for 4 hours, we didn't have a clue about what Mom was going through. But later on, she told us everything! So, the Doctor had basically told us (Me, my 17yo Bro, and my 11yo Sis) that they had to emergency-deliver the twins or they would surely lose Mom and Babies. However, that's not all they told my Mom. Doctor gave Mom the WORST options a mother could be faced with! They also told Mom that they had to deliver the twins in order for either of them survive... but they gave her the caveats. There was almost ZERO chance of all three of them surviving AND being healthy.
They told Mom that they could only save the Boy or the Girl and still have a decent chance of saving Mom's life... so they asked her to choose which one (Son or Daughter) she wanted them to save. Mom surely cursed them out and called them crazy for asking that question and told them they better bring both her babies out. Then the Doctors explained that it was a very low chance of both babies surviving for long, even if they did bring them both out... plus that was coupled with a very high chance the she would lose her life in the process (because of what would have needed to be done in order to successfully deliver both babies). The Doctor reminded her that she had three children in the waiting room who needed her. Then they told her that if by some miracle both babies survive, whether my Mom survived or not, then at least one (if not both) of the babies would be severely handicapped... physically, developmentally, and/or mentally. Mom maintained her position: "Blah blah blah... BRING BOTH MY BABIES OUT!" Doctors did as Mom asked and hours later... everybody lived!
*SIDEBAR: I'm sure I would have gone bananas if I had known what the Docs said to Mom and what her responses were. Mom basically told the doctors not to worry about her and just be sure that her babies are safe. I would have fought my Mom tooth and nail to pick a baby or no baby to make sure that she, herself, would pull thru. But I guess that is why Doctors didn't give us all that info.*
We were able to see Mom soon after surgery, but we couldn't see our baby siblings until a day or so later. But when we did see them, it was unbelievable. I can't recall which twin, but one of them was born at about 1lb 6oz and the other was about 1lb 3oz. They were hooked up to a million machines inside incubators in the NICU. In order to see them, we had to surgeon-scrub wash our hands, wear some special lab coat thing and face mask... plus the incubators had lil glove-holes that we had to put our hands/arms through in order to touch them. I can't recall their length measurements, but I do remember that I could hold them (individually) in one hand; From head to foot they stretched from the tip of my middle finger to my wrist. Keep in mind that I had 12yo hands at that time. They were so tiny. And they were so under-developed... I had never seen anything like that. Their eyes couldn't open, their fingers and toes weren't all the way formed, they had super shriveled/wrinkly skin, they were soooo soft cuz all their bones hadn't hardened. They remained in the NICU for almost 3 months before they were allowed to come home. And when they did come home... they came with manuals!! Haha!! All types of at-home care machines and regimens.
Anyhoo, the twins grew up healthy and WITHOUT any negative effect resulting from their premature births; No handicaps mentally, physically, or developmentally.