our twins and our Hope

Hello everyone,

Jason and I wanted to send an e-mail out and let all of you know about the changes we are getting ready to go through as a family. As most of you know I was planning on having a home birth using a midwife we were really excited about doing this but God had a different plan. God has always been so faithful to take care of us!

We went to the midwives office on August 12th for our first sonogram I was already 19 weeks and we couldn't wait to see our baby. Jason, Destinee, Kenya, my Mom (and of course myself) were all there. Kenya was so cute she kept saying "baby mommy belly" I think she understood that the baby on the TV was the baby in my belly. As the sonogram guy Kevin was doing the sonogram I kept seeing another head so I ask, "Is that another head?" Kevin said, "Yes." I said, "We are having twins?" he said "Yes". We were all so excited! I remember saying, "I have always wanted twins" and Dee kept saying "Your having twins!"

He kept measuring one of the babies brains and then said, "I'm going to go get your midwife and show her this". Everyone was so excited and I remember saying, "I'm not going to be excited until he says that the other baby is ok." because he hadn't said anything about the other baby. So they both came back into the room and he was showing her the heads and then he started looking at their stomach and the midwife said, "Vanessa, it looks like their conjoined." I started crying for a few minutes and then the Lord just comforted me I remember saying, "Well, these are our babies and we are going too take care of them and love them no matter what." I also remember saying, "I am so thankful that God gave us these babies and not someone who wouldn't take care of them."

Kevin kept doing the sonogram getting measurements and started explaining to us how twins become conjoined. Their measurements looked good they were both measuring at 19 weeks. At this point all we knew is that they are facing each other and are joined from their chests to about their belly buttons. We knew they had their own bladders but it looked like they shared a heart. Our midwife told us that she would make an appointment with the specialist hopefully by Friday.

We ended up getting an appointment almost a full week later on August 18th, I'm pretty sure this was the longest week of my life! The Lord was so faithful though I really felt like He was preparing me my whole pregnancy for this. I just started having such a huge heart for special needs kids like never before. I remember praying a few times asking the Lord to be glorified if He chose to give us a kid with special needs. So I was ready to hear the news but of course at the same time I was blown away by it.

So now its Monday the 18th and we got to see the specialist. First his sonogram tech came in and was taking all the measurements of their heads, legs things like that. So we talked to her for a while in the ten years she had been doing sonograms this was only the second set of conjoined twins that she had ever seen (and the first set of conjoined twins she saw that morning). She was really sweet she had no clue how we were holding it together and we told her that is was the Lord. We knew He was the one forming them in my womb and that He would be glorified through this.

So then the doctor came in and started doing his measurements he began to explain to us where they were conjoined and he told us that they shared a liver which wasn't a big deal but that they also shared a heart so we would not be able to separate them. We said ok we were already prepared to hear that I had already been thinking all week about the stuff I could invent for them to play in so they wouldn't always be laying down. Then he started explaining more about their heart; it only had one ventricle which wasn't enough for one baby let alone two. He said I would most likely have a miscarriage but if I did make it to full term that they wouldn't live long after birth because their chest cavity was underdeveloped which meant that they lungs most likely wouldn't develop. So he said whenever I went into labor they would deliver the babies by csection hand them to us and let us hold them until they passed on. I couldn't believe it I asked him a few questions then lost it. I was still comforted in knowing that God was in control but no parent wants to ever hear that.


So that's what is going on with us. Oh I forgot to tell you all we are having identical twin girls named Madison Hope and Melody Joy.

We are so excited about our babies and are just fully trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, He is ur hope. We know that His ways are far better than ours and He is completely sovereign over all things! This did not surprise Him, He allowed it to happen, and even ordained it to happen, this is His will,... for our good and for His glory and we are just so thankful that He gave us these babies! For some that last sentence may be controversial, confusing, radical, or even erronious, but we are convincenced from the Bible that they are absolutely true, even though some of them may be hard to swallow, and I find more comfort in the truth of God (even when it is hard) than any false comfort man can provide.

So with this trial we are currently in we invite you to keep up with our blog as we will continue to post updates about the twins and even wrestle with some hard questions which may challenge some, but I believe it is a challenge for the best. We'll wrestle with questions like:
- Why do bad things happen to good people? (The problem of evil)
- Why pray if God is in control? And whose prayers does God hear?
- How can God use suffering (or allow evil) for His glory?
- Who is ultimately responsible for this? God or Satan?
- Is their comfort in knowing God knew this would happen, and yet He did not stop it?
- Why Christ Jesus is worth more than any earthly treasure.

As times goes on I may re-phrase these questions as I think and study more through these issues but we will see.

Also, please feel free to comment on this and ask us any questions you may have, regarding the babies or the Bible or whatever.

For now we just ask that you pray:

The immediate prayer requests

1) God would be glorified through all of this no matter what the outcome is
2) That God would heal the babies heart and that it would be strong enough to work for both of these babies
3) That their chest cavity would be fully developed and that their lungs would be fully developed and that our babies would be able to breath
4) That I would not go into pre-term labor
5) Wisdom for the doctors during my pregnancy and the birth of our babies
6) Wisdom for us, because of some hard ethical decision we may have to make in the future concerning the twins
7) We would be bold witness' for Christ during this time!

We love you all and will keep you updated.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Delgado's (Jason, Vanessa, Destinee, Kenya, Melody & Madison)