Baby Ava’s arrival was nothing like we expected. She came into the world so quickly that there was no time for the epidural to take effect.
No more than 15 minutes after we entered the delivery room, Ava made her surprise debut.
The moment was filled with joy, but it quickly became clear that there was a problem.
Her twin sister, Cora, had drifted high up in the uterus, and Ava’s heartbeat had dropped. Rayni’s cervix closed unexpectedly, and a routine delivery turned into an emergency C-section.
I was told to step outside the room while they worked on Rayni. The epidural hadn’t fully kicked in, so they had to put her under general anesthesia to perform the procedure. I watched as the medical team worked tirelessly to bring our girls into the world safely.
A few minutes later, I found myself in a room, holding our sweet little twins—Ava and Cora.
They were perfect in every way, even though they were taken straight to the NICU due to their small size. I felt relief flood my heart, knowing they were here, they were alive, and I was able to see them.
However, the joy was short-lived. As I stood there, soaking in the sight of my girls, I couldn’t shake the weight of what was happening.
Rayni had been rushed into recovery after the C-section, but there was more going on than I realized.
She had hemorrhaged and was drifting in and out of consciousness, pale as a ghost. My heart skipped a beat. I felt sick to my stomach, unable to process the fear of losing her after just giving birth to our girls.
Thankfully, the doctors managed to stabilize Rayni in the recovery room, and she was able to rest. I couldn’t leave her side, but I knew our girls were in good hands in the NICU.
The fear and uncertainty, however, lingered in the air. I couldn’t understand why things seemed to be spiraling, but I had to remain strong for both Rayni and our daughters.
Then, an hour later, a doctor came into the recovery room. I hadn’t seen her before. She introduced herself and began talking about the twins, but I can’t remember most of what she said. The only words that stood out in my mind were “Down syndrome.”
It was like a bomb dropped in the room. The words echoed in my mind, drowning out everything else.
My thoughts raced. Down syndrome? The first thing that came to my mind was the life expectancy.
How long do people with Down syndrome live? Are we going to have to bury our twins?
These questions, and a million others, flooded my brain. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. I just sat there, shocked, trying to absorb what I had just been told.
But then, something inside me stirred. I stood up, turned to Rayni, and said the only thing we could do in that moment: “Let’s pray.” It was a simple act, but it felt like a weight lifted off my chest. As we prayed together, a sense of peace washed over us.
The fear, the panic, the doubt—it all started to fade. In that moment, I knew that God had trusted us with two special souls.
We didn’t know how we were going to handle this, but He did, and that was all that mattered.
The next few days were filled with uncertainty and questions, but we began to feel a sense of calm that only faith could provide.
We later learned that having identical twins with Down syndrome happens once in every million pregnancies. We had been chosen for this extraordinary task. We were literally one in a million.
Our OB doctor, who had walked us through every step of the pregnancy, introduced us to a couple who had been through the same experience we were now facing. They were there for us in a way that words could never fully describe.
Their presence brought us a peace we couldn’t explain. They hugged us, reassured us, and said, “You’ll be fine.
You’ve been given a gift.” Their words were like balm to our hurting hearts. It felt like God had sent them to us at the perfect time. We would be fine. We had been given a gift, not a burden.
In the weeks and months that followed, Rayni and I learned so much about the challenges that came with having twins with Down syndrome. But we also learned how deeply our hearts could grow. Ava and Cora were not defined by their diagnosis.
They were our daughters—perfect, beautiful, and full of life. Every milestone they reached, no matter how small, was a victory. Every day with them felt like a gift, and we couldn’t have been more grateful for them.
Our journey wasn’t easy, but it was filled with love, faith, and resilience. There were hard days, days when the weight of the world felt too much to bear.
But there were also moments of pure joy—moments when we watched our girls smile, giggle, and interact with the world in their own beautiful way. We were learning together, growing together, and discovering just how much strength we had as a family.
The challenges of raising twins with Down syndrome are unique, but they do not define who our daughters are.
Ava and Cora are bright, loving, and full of joy. They have taught us the meaning of unconditional love and perseverance, and they have shown us that even in the hardest of times, there is always hope.
As parents, we may not have known what the future would hold for us, but we knew one thing for sure—we were ready to embrace it. With faith, love, and determination, we would face whatever came our way.
And as we continued on this journey with our beautiful girls, we would always remember that being chosen to raise them was one of the greatest blessings of our lives.
