Bitter sweet

My partner and I decided to take a quick vacation before our babies were due. It was to be our last quiet vacation before parenthood... a babymoon. While we were away, we got a text from our surrogate that she wasn't feeling well. She had been to the doctor who monitored the babies, said all was well and sent her home. Later in the week, her condition worsened and when she came in to her scheduled appointment we got a frantic call. Our worst fear was quickly becoming a reality. Our identical twin girls had developed a condition known as "twin to twin transfusion". Its a condition that results when the twins share one placenta and one amniotic sac (separated by a membrane). In these cases, there are blood vessels that travel through the placenta from one twin to the other. The result is that the "donor" twin becomes anemic and the "receiving" twin becomes overwhelmed with an excess of blood. In addition, our surrogate's condition began to worsen which put the live of all three babies at risk. The scary part is that we were only 27 weeks pregnant. We booked flights and rushed to her side and held her hand as our sick twins underwent surgery....in utero. The following day, we learned that our little girl could not withstand the procedure. She sacrificed her life so that her sister and brother could live. We were able to hold on for another 4 days, but then we got the next set of bad news. Our surrogate's condition continued to worsen... we had to deliver the babies at 27.5 weeks in order to save all of them. A very bitter sweet moment... we heard the cries of our daughter and our son knowing that our little angel would never cry. The last week has been a roller coaster of emotions from fear/anxiety/devastating sorrow to joy. As of now, our kids are a little over a week old and they're off of the ventilator and breathing on their own. We are so proud. Thank you to all who have followed our journey to becoming parents. Still grieving..