Emilie Vogas

In 2023, we decided that it was time to give Jamie a sibling. After a year’s worth of trying and a diagnosis of unexplained secondary infertility we were overjoyed in 2024 when we found out we were finally expecting. We were even more excited (and overwhelmed!) when we found out at 11 weeks gestation it wasn’t just one sibling we were going to give Jamie but two! But our world was turned upside down less than three weeks later when I woke up to a gush of fluid. A trip to the OBGYN and later the MFM clinic confirmed that baby B’s, later named Wally, water had broken and we were told to expect iminent fetal demise. 

However Wally had other plans. Week after week he continued to grow and thrive despite dangerously low fluid. We were warned to manage expectations as low fluid often results in poor respiratory outcomes but each time we had a follow up (which was frequently) the doctors were cautiously optimistic. At 23 weeks and 5 days, I moved into the antepartum unit at Texas Children’s Hospital in Austin. The hope was to monitor the remainder of the pregnancy inpatient and see how long we could keep the twins in with the knowledge that regardless of when the twins arrived we would likely require NICU time. Unfortunately, at just 26 weeks pregnant I started to develop chorioamnionitis and at 26 weeks and 5 days the medical team decided that it was safest to proceed with a c section and continue to care for the twins in the NICU. 

The twins Ezra and Wally were born on June 24th, 2024, 3 months before their due date, weighing just 2 lbs 8 oz and 1 lb 14 oz respectively.  Any NICU stay is challenging and in the months that followed we all rode the rollercoaster of NICU life as best we could—celebrating the milestones, big and small, and weathering through the setbacks. Both boys defied expectations, neither required intubation other than for the one round of surfactant that Wally received to strengthen his lungs. Jamie met his little brothers for the first time through the “fish tank” of their incubators but didn’t seem to love them any less, and the first time he got to hold them was magic.  After 96 days, one day after his due date, Ezra came home. Two weeks later, after 109 days in the NICU and still requiring a little bit of oxygen, Wally joined his two big brothers at home as well. While the journey off of oxygen was a process, the team attribute Wally’s continued success to the dose of surfactant he received early on thanks to the research funded by March of Dimes. 

Ezra and Wally are now rambunctious toddlers who love to wrestle and play with their big brother. We couldn’t imagine our lives without them and we will forever be grateful to the NICU staff and the support from March of Dimes that helped our sweet babies come home healthy and strong.