A Double Dose of Twin Tales

We have a woman in our church with a granddaughter expecting twins. I heard about her situation a week or two ago as it was passed through our prayer chain. I won't go into all the details, but even though she was not quite six months along, she had to be admitted to the hospital and it looked like she was going to be there until her babies were born.

The "good" news is that the doctors were quite certain that this would not be the full three months until her due date; the twins would almost certainly be significantly premature. Yesterday, we received word that the babies were born, three months early. And though one was two pounds and the other one and a half, both are relatively healthy and actually breathing on their own. As the father of a child who was born six weeks early and spent time in the neonatal ICU, I am amazed that this is even possible.

I also have a friend named Ryan Anderson with whom I went to seminary and used to attend church.  His wife, Laura, is likewise pregnant with twins. Just over a week ago, they were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which (long story, short) caused one baby to be much larger than it should be and the other to be much smaller.

Due to the severity of their case, the doctors recommended the most aggressive treatment option available: laser ablation surgery, which severs the arteries between the babies and allows them to develop independently. Such surgery is risky, potentially causing problems as severe as the immediate death of the babies. Without the surgery though, it was highly unlikely that they would survive until birth.

They had the surgery yesterday and I was joyously encouraged as I read a post at the Andersons' blog from Ryan, chronicling the day's events. He wrote,

As I type, Laura is trying to get some Z's. She's chilling out as some drugs wear off. She went into surgery at about 10am and came out close to 11:30. Dr. Moise came out and talked to me afterwards and gave nothing but a fantastic report. He said (I'm paraphrasing), "Everything went great. She's (Laura) doing well and we've got good heartbeats out of the girls (twins)." In my mind, I'm leaping...giving thanks to God for His steadfast love and mercy. I asked Dr. Moise, "Are you a hugger?" and he replied, "Yes." So, with my body, I wrapped my arms around the head and neck of the man who just promoted life as best as he could. And then I began to weep.

 He went on...

In short, Laura is doing great and so are the twins. We've got other hurdles to cross (when we get to them), but for now, we can exhale. God is (and always has been) kind. Our circumstances do not change His character; in fact, I've realized that I'm only able to make sense of my circumstances in light of His character.

Please join me in thanking God for his goodness. As Ryan points out, this goodness is not dependent upon what happened yesterday, rather his unchanging goodness was made apparent in these two situations. And please join me in praying for all four of these babies, that their continued development might further manifest the goodness of God.