I Never Imagined

In 2005, I began scrapbooking furiously. I poured my heart into documenting our life (as we had come to know it), and journaling my feelings and thoughts. And from those labors, the "I Never Imagined" story was born. Here is how the album begins:

In the Spring of 2003, Brian and I learned that we were going to be the parents of twins. Not long after that, we were told that both babies were boys—twin boys! What a blessing! We knew our lives were in for a big change. But when the twins were born four months early (24 weeks gestation) on August 10, 2003, we never knew just how drastic the change would be. Shawn Phillip weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces and was 12 inches long. Clayton James weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces and was also 12 inches long. On that day our seemingly normal existence became the uncertain road that we now call our life. Both babies were extremely sick and every day presented new challenges—from brain bleeds to collapsed lungs, they battled it all. Clayton was the sickest of the two—his condition seemed to waver between near death and not so near death. Shawn had bleeding in his brain, but seemed to be more stable. It was such a surprise when the doctors called us to the hospital on August 27 to tell us that Shawn had contracted a staph infection and they didn’t expect him to make it. We spent that night holding him tight and praying desperately for healing. Despite everything, we had to say goodbye to Shawn on August 28 at 9:35 a.m. Clayton continued to battle for his own life. He had many surgeries and contracted several infections. We lived in fear of losing him too. But finally, after six and a half months in the NICU, Clayton came home to us. He weighed just over 8 pounds and was still very sick. We made many more trips to the hospital over the next six months. Although Clayton is now stable, our life is far from normal when compared to most families with a two year old. This is just a glimpse of the life that I NEVER IMAGINED.

My perspective has changed over the years, but my journaling in that album was truer than ever for me at that moment in time. For the rest of the album, just check out the original blogpost.