Twins

WARNING: Do not read this without a box of tissue nearby. Tiff, you may want to avoid this entirely. I am having a hard time keeping the tears off the keyboard.

There are two members of my family that I have not mentioned yet but they deserve note here. Diana Grace and Finleigh Rose were stillborn on October 8, 2004. They died of twin transfusion syndrome. Finleigh was acardiac (never formed a heart) and Diana's heart had to pump blood for both of them through a blood vessel in the placenta. Normally the acardiac twin never develops to be large enough to tax the pump twin but in Finleigh was almost fully developed with the exception of a heart. We went to specialists in Galveston and made every effort to save them but it was not to be. They are buried in a family plot together in a small white coffin. The two girls who shared a heart and a womb are together in Heaven.

They recently had their headstone set. It has two doves and a lamb. We thought it fitting, our two little doves going to join the Lamb of God. As much comfort as it is knowing they are in a better place, I still feel like I've been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. To this day Tiffanie cannot look at a new baby without breaking into tears. The last newborn she held was the stillborn body of Diana. Come to think of it, Diana is the last newborn I held. I have to stop here before tears short out my keyboard.