Pregnant - With Twins.

Pregnant, with twins.

It was True. It was Real.

Ashley's Grandma on her dad's side is a twin, so it made sense.

To say I was mind blown however, is an understatement, I was in literal shock.

What was I going to do now that I would be delivering these two humans? What were my options? Did I even have any options? How was I to proceed? Remember, I was already 5 months along when I was officially diagnosed, so there wasn't much time to make decisions.

Much to my surprise there would be even less time because after going home that day and carrying on with life just one short month later, I found myself at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, giving birth to these two tiny girls.

Yes, you read that right.

I was only 6 months pregnant when they were born.

One baby was 1 pound 2 ounces, and the other was just under a pound.

Now I was faced with raising 3 special needs babies at the age of 17. How was I going to do this? Could I do this? I was overwhelmed and confused. I was young and already a mom to one sick daughter. How could I possibly raise 3?

This was the beginning of the loyalty, trust, commitment, and friendship I had - and still have - with my social worker, Ruth. Ruth came to me knowing I was in deep. She came to me with my one option and chance for these girls to have a home and life they needed and deserved. I was certainly not going to be able to provide that for them. How could I? I was young and was already trying to learn my way around one handicapped daughter. To take care of these girls too, I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. Ruth gave me an option because there was no question, I needed one.

That option was adoption.

Could I do that?

Give my daughters away?

That was the question I had to ask myself. Would Ashley's Dad agree? How would he feel? My parents: where would they stand? There were so many questions and feelings going through my mind, and I didn't know where to begin sorting them out. What was in the best interest of these babies? THAT was the most important question.

The answer was right in front of all of us; however; getting to that answer and making the decision, that was another story.