My Twins and the Twin Towers

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;…a time to kill, and a time to heal;… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;… a time to gain, and a time to lose;… a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (excerpted)

I was 20 weeks along when the big surprise was revealed.  We were having twins!  We were thrilled, but there was a problem.  The ultrasound tech could not find a membrane separating our babies.  It appeared that they were sharing one amniotic sac.  The membrane is often difficult to see and monoamniotic twins are very rare, so we went to a specialist.  Surely he could find the membrane.

A week later, even the specialist conceded after much searching that indeed the babies were in the same amniotic sac.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the very next thing he looked for was to determine whether the babies were conjoined!  Thankfully they were not, but being in the same sac was a great danger to them nonetheless.  Their umbilical cords would become entangled, and that could potentially cut off the supply of nutrients to one or both babies at any time.  About half of monoamniotic pregnancies end in the death of one or both babies.  If we could make it to week 24, the earliest point of viability at the time, we would begin to monitor them very closely so that at the first sign of stress they could be delivered by cesarean. 

I said to the doctor, “So, until 24 weeks it’s in God’s hands?”

He looked me straight in the eye and replied, “It’s always in God’s hands.” I knew at that moment I wanted Dr. Grant to take care of us. And he did.

At week 24 I entered the hospital so the babies’ heart rates could be monitored twice daily.  Day after day we held our breath during countless non-stress tests.  They continued to do well. My husband and my three-year-old daughter came to see me every day, but after a couple of weeks, we were all feeling the strain.  Finally, around week 29, we met with the doctor and he said we were almost to the point when the babies would be safer out of the womb than in. We decided that as long as nothing changed, I would have a c-section at 31 weeks on September 13.

But things did change.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

On Tuesday, September 11th, at 6:00am CST, one of the babies (we do not know which) had a sustained high heart rate.  Around 6:30 it was decided that this would be the day!  Carolina was born at 7:29, weighing 3 lbs, 2 oz., and Georgia was born at 7:30, weighing 3 lbs, 5 oz.  Their umbilical cords were indeed a tangled mess.  I was allowed a glimpse of one of the girls, and then they were whisked away to the Intensive Care Nursery.  They were more than 9 weeks premature!

I was taken to a recovery room.  In the midst of me trying to wiggle my toes and begging for ice chips, my husband noticed some nurses whispering in the corner.  It was obvious that something had happened.  They explained that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.  We turned on the TV.  Was it an accident?  Terrorism?  Then we watched as another plane hit the other tower.  Clearly not an accident.  At least, we discussed among ourselves, the Twin Towers would not collapse.  Buildings like that cannot be brought down by a single plane.  Soon after, we were proved wrong.  This twin tragedy played out before our eyes while, at the same time, our own twins were being put on respirators, fed through tubes, and given the best care possible so that life could prevail over death.

As Alan Jackson’s song so poignantly put it, that day it felt like the world stopped turning. And yet, love and life were always fighting to prevail over hate and death.

Some day the world really will stop turning, but until then God’s love is fighting for each one of us.

Our twins spent 9 long weeks in the NICU, but finally on November 15, their due date, we brought them home. I thank God for the precious gifts He gave me on that day.  May He bless those who suffered only loss on 9/11/01.

Dear God, the extremes of life and death, of good and evil, can feel so overwhelming to our human hearts. Thank you for Your word, for showing us that, in the end, Your perfect justice will prevail and righteousness will overcome all evil. We know that ultimately all things are in Your hands. Thank you for the blessings that give us hope in this fallen world. And thank you for Jesus, our hope for eternity. In His name we pray, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins

In September 2002 our twins were featured in TWINS magazine along with several other 9-11 twins.

“Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” earned Alan Jackson a Grammy Award (his first) for “Best Country Song.”