The Gillespie Family

Steve and I have been together going on nine years in November. We were married in a simple ceremony on June 25, 1999 and bought our home in July 99'. We have a rather large blended family as he has two sons from a previous marriage though we do not see them as they are grown and have their own lives. Ashley, Jesse and the twins keep us quite busy and relatively insane. Our life is quite chaotic not due to a hectic schedule but due to the varying needs of our children.

After we married, Steve and I discussed adding another child to our family. My biological clock was ticking pretty fast and I was yearning for "our" baby. We had two miscarriages and we were referred to an OB/GYN who specializes in Reproductive Endocrinology. We went through six months of Clomid (a synthetic hormone to stimulate ovulation) and unfortunately my ovaries did not respond. Between 2001-2002, we looked into various foster care programs to potentially adopt a special needs child. In September 2002, we found out that we had an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy which resulted in the loss of my left tube. We were devastated to say the least. In January 2003, we decided to go through more extensive fertility treatment and I went through one round of fertility drugs (more synthetic hormones) in order to have an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination.) It failed and I was in extreme pain due to the hormones and fluid filled ovaries. Needless to say, we decided to hold off on any fertility treatments for awhile. In July 2003, we received even more devastating news...Steve's brother had comitted suicide. Let me share with you...though Brian was not my brother it was extremely devastating to say the least. Life is so fragile and loosing a person in that respect puts many things into perspective. At this point our family was attending a local church (FFC) and trying to make sense of what was going on in our lives. God has a plan for all of us!

September 2003 our journey begins...After months of fearfully praying for a baby and putting everything in God's hands knowing that I could not go through any more fertility treatments, I felt this strange pull/twinge on my right side and unsure of what it was, I went ahead and did a home pregnancy test. It was positive. Thinking that maybe I made a mistake, I brushed it off until the next day. I then did 4 more home pregnancy tests. All of which were very positive. After 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, Steve was a little reserved at this point. "Whatever you ask in prayer BELIEVE that you will receive it and you will" Mark 11:24. I called the OB/GYN and he sent me to Quest labs for a blood serum pregnancy test along with other test to confirm our pregnancy. On the morning of 9-27-03, we recieved a phone call from the doctor, "It's Positive, you're pregnant!" Steve and I were happy though Steve was still somewhat reserved after all we had been through. On 9/29, 10/2, 10/9, and 10/20 more bloodwork was done to make sure my Beta levels were high enough to sustain a normal and healthy pregnancy. All was well and they were a little higher than expected. I actually called the doctor as I was concerned about how far along I was. I was getting quite big quite fast. On 10/20 we had our first Transvaginal Ultrasound..."Two hearts beating are better than one!" Steve and the doctor were both shocked to have learned that we were indeed carrying twins. We were 6 weeks 6 days by ultrasound and 7 weeks 1 day by Last Menstrual Period. The doctor was rather pessimistic in that he told us that most likely they were Siamese Twins and that we could take the back door, abortion. That was NOT an option for us. I explained to my extremely upset husband that God did indeed wanted us to see those heartbeats and that we simply needed to find a new more experienced doctor. Our due date was June 5, 2004.

Our journey to find a new doctor was not as easy as planned. We started out with a consult at a Catholic Hospital. We went to a few appointments and met with two women Perinatologist (an OB/GYN who specializes in higher risk pregnancies.) We were a little reserved as when I felt I had an emergency, they brushed it off and were very rude in that they didn't see me and told me it could wait until the weekend was over. I felt that it was extremely important as it was our babies lives that could be at stake. This hospital had a problem finding a seperating membrane as well which was a high cause for concern as it could be a life or death situation for the babies... We then decided to meet with another Perinatologist at another local hospital. This hospital had a huge NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) which could handle an emergency if necessary when the boys arrived and the doctor was on top of everything. I went twice weekly, once to see the doctor and once for sonograms to insure that everything was going smoothly. We felt that he had every interest at heart, the babies and mine. The next few months went by extremely slow and I gained alot of weight. I also had Gestational Diabetes (a form of diabetes only seen in pregnant women), severe edema (fluid retention) and high blood pressure.

On May 12, early AM we went for an Amniocentesis to check for lung maturity as the doctor wanted to schedule us for a cesarian section. That afternoon the results came back negative. Not thinking anything of it we went to the mall to do some shopping and boy did we do alot of walking. Just after midnight on May 13, 2004, I went to use the bathroom and my water broke.