Five years ago today

My twin babies were born five years ago today! The morning was quite uneventful, and at the time, I had no idea that before midnight that night, they were to be born, so cruelly taken from my belly 11 weeks early. All day long, my urine was collected and was to be turned in later in the afternoon. At around 5:00pm, this humongous jug of urine was sent off to the lab for testing. Carey had arrived around that time and we were just hanging out. After 10:00 that night, as Carey was just getting ready to go home, Dr. Henderson and Dr. Buchanan solemnly walked in my hospital room with very serious expressions on their faces. They proceeded to tell us that the lab results came in and the protein levels in my urine were astronomically high, along with my blood pressure, and to save the life of the girls as well as my own, they had to be delivered right away. After that, it was a gigantic whirlwind. An ultrasound machine was wheeled in to check the position of the girls, and the nurses began prepping me for surgery. I was then wheeled into the operating room where a gigantic team of doctors and nurses awaited the arrival of my tiny little babies. Surgery began as Carey stood by my side, holding my hand while watching the blood pressure monitor read 220/140. My body was going haywire! Grace Helena was born at 11:16pm, weighing 2 pounds, 16 ounces and was 14 1/2 inches long. She didn't cry. She was immediately whisked away to the NICU and was intubated, surviving on a ventilator. Sarah Lauren was born just one minute later at 11:17pm. She cried! The nurses wrapped her up and showed her to me for one quick second, where she opened her eyes and looked at me as if to say "I'm going to be okay, Mom." I'll never forget that moment. Then she, too, was taken away to the NICU. It would be almost two days until I would see my babies again, as my blood pressure remained sky high. Carey frequently went to check on the girls and updated me with their progress, but there's little of that that I remember.