‘When I found out I was pregnant, I thought my life was over, but 4 years later, after becoming not only a twin mom but a special needs mom, I realize my life was only just beginning.’

This post was submitted to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by Heather Jordan for our By Real Moms series. You can follow Heather on Instagram. Submit your own story here. Watch Real Moms here or join the Real Moms group on Facebook to see and share more stories of parenthood and motherhood.

I was 20 years old when I found out I was pregnant. It was not planned, and I felt like my life was over. Just when I started to get a grip on reality, I found out I was pregnant with twins. From that moment on, I was more afraid than I had ever been in my entire life, but also more excited. A little over a month later, I went for a routine ultrasound, only to find out that baby A’s amniotic sac had ruptured, and her amniotic fluid was leaking faster at the same rate as my body was making it. I was told that baby A would almost surely pass away within the next few weeks, and that would kickstart preterm labor around 17-20 weeks’ gestation. That would mean losing both babies. I was devastated, but I had a blind faith in my child that I still don’t know where it came from. Once I got past 23 weeks gestation without losing either baby, doctors told me that we were trying to get as far as we could for baby B, but baby A would pass away at birth. At 29 weeks gestation, I ended up getting an infection and having to have an emergency c-section. The neonatologists worked on baby A (Aiden) for 5 hours before finally getting her stable enough to let their dad and I see them both. She was 2 lbs. 2 oz, intubated, extremely sensitive to stimulation, and extremely critical. Baby B (Jordan) was small at 3 lbs. 1 oz. but otherwise healthy.

From then on, Aiden’s health was a crazy rollercoaster. She had countless near-death episodes, but she also had a brief period of being able to stay off of the ventilator. Finally, at 4 months old, she was transferred to the Children’s hospital after having to be reintubated. She eventually got a trach and a g-tube, but she basically made no progress in the 2 years she was in the Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She aged out of the NICU and moved to the Pediatric ICU, and they started pushing her to meet goals for weening down on oxygen and ventilator support. She finally got well enough to move out of the ICU and onto the pulmonary floor. Doctors told me it would still be years before or if she ever went home, but she shocked them all by going home 7 months after moving to the pulmonary unit. For the first 8 months home, Aiden got sick all the time, and she was readmitted to Children’s 9 times. Sometimes, she wasn’t so bad, but a few of those admissions were more near-death cases. Finally, in May, she was discharged after a month-long admission, and she started improving significantly. She has come down considerably on oxygen, and she hasn’t been sick since. She has been able to get out of the house more and see new people and new places, and she is having the time of her life! We hope to continue on this path and continue her improvement without having the setbacks that she’s accustomed to.

When I found out I was pregnant, I thought my life was over, but 4 years later, after becoming not only a twin mom but a special needs mom, I realize my life was only just beginning.

This post was submitted to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by Heather Jordan for our By Real Moms series. You can follow Heather on Instagram. Submit your own story here. Watch Real Moms here or join the Real Moms group on Facebook to see and share more stories of parenthood and motherhood.