Jeff and I had tried for quite some time to get pregnant and in March 2010 our dreams had come true. We found out we were pregnant with one possibly two babies. One was definitely there the other egg well we had to wait to see what happened. Our first little person would be our Riley. Here is her first picture ever. Abby showed up about 5 days later and they confirmed 2 weeks after this scan we were expecting twins.
Our Pregnancy advanced pretty normally with only a few hiccups and scares. The twins were looking great on scans and all of the bloodwork was coming back normal. We had a few scares during the pregnancy but everything was going ok. We picked names for two boys and two girls since we were not going to find out the sexes. Once we found out about Rileys condition we did find out the sexes and we knew we would have our little Riley Sophia and Abby Nicole.
We went for yet another ultrasound in July 2010. At that appointment we found out that Baby A (Riley) had anencephaly. What a scary word once you know what it means. Our daughter would not survive once she was born. Anencephaly is a birth defect that means the babies spine did not close when it was developing very early on. It leaves an opening that allows the brain to be exposed to amnionic fluids. This exposure will deteriorate the brain and not allow it or the skull to form properly. This defect is just a fluke that just happens and nothing can be done to repair or change the outcome. We knew our Riley would not survive. I looked up our girls names and found Riley means to act valiantly and to be brave. How fitting was that name for her. Abby means to be a fathers joy. Riley grew and kept showing she was doing fine with all the scans that were done. She was giving her sister a fighting chance at survival with every day she stayed with us.
The coming months were hard to face but the girls were doing good and growing right on target. We celebrated what we could with the girls. We had milestone parties that were mini birthday parties for the babies. Every passing week was an advance for Abby and showed the strength of Riley. She was a strong and brave baby to give her sister every fighting chance at being completely developed. I was faced with multiple short periods of bed rest and in mid September complete bed rest in the hospital.
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