“There is no obstacle we can’t overcome”

Written by VIPS parents, Brooke & Luke—

“Our Brynnie girl is a Mono-Di twin—two sacs, and one placenta that our girls shared. Her twin sister’s name is Blake. My pregnancy was incredibly high-risk, and we had no idea how tough of a road we would have. To make a very long story short, I was monitored weekly with ultrasounds to make sure that the girls had even fluid levels and blood levels because they shared a placenta. One day in June, I had an appointment and the ultrasound did not turn out as well as we had hoped. Two days later, I found myself at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital having a surgery called twin-twin transfusion (TTTS). It’s a condition in which the blood flows unequally between twins that share a placenta. They told me that Baby A, Brynnie Sue, was not doing well and she might not make it. There were two doctors that offered us to terminate Brynn before this surgery. Luke and I said no, that is not our call, we knew we were blessed with two baby girls, and we would bring two home, by the grace of God! They did tell us that terminating Baby A, would not termimate Baby B, Blake Leigh. That option still did not matter to us, we wanted to do everything we could to save BOTH girls. Many hours later, we all survived this surgery, and they highly monitored Brynn for days. The doctors were SHOCKED she survived because she was so close to death. Weeks later, we found out that Brynn had suffered a stage four brain hemorrhage while she was so sick during the surgery. We were then offered back in Indy the option to terminate her again, but we still said, NO. We would be bringing our girl home with us. We knew we had a long road ahead of us to bring our girls to term, but I was willing to do anything to keep them safe! There was bed rest, and limited lifting, which was challenging because we had their older brother at home with us, almost a year old at this point. 

Many doctors told us Blake would survive, but Brynn had a VERY low chance of surviving outside of the womb. They said she would never breathe on her own, feed on her own, and everything else was a question mark to them. We had ONE neurologist say she believes she will breathe on her own, so Luke and I said, that’s enough for us! We had faith of a mustard seed. 

As a precaution, the hospital had asked us to make Brynn’s funeral arrangements and plan out final details on how we would like to proceed in that way. Heart-wrenching is not a term that is large enough to describe this feeling. I was feeling the heavy weight of that truth, but Luke never ever waivered on his belief that the Lord would protect both of our girls. 

I was not due with our girls until November, but we delivered them on October 10, 2022. It was such a wonderful day, hearing BOTH of our babies cry! They instantly took Brynn to the NICU. She stayed there for 34 days, just to regulate her breathing. We prayed for a wireless baby to bring home. No oxygen, no feeding tubes, but pure, chunky baby girl. We got exactly that. Our girl came home to us with zero machines, and bottle-fed!! 

Luke and I were not told until the day we were leaving the NICU that Brynn might be visually impaired. That thought never crossed my mind before we were told this. I remember saying to them, “Well, we have made it this far, our girl is strong and a warrior. There is no obstacle we can’t overcome!” 

Our girls are almost 15 months old now, and it has been the most challenging and rewarding year of our lives. Brynn has four different types of therapies, one of them being VIPS. Ms. Sheila is our VIPS “teacher” we say. We love having “class” with her. I knew the moment she walked through our front door she was meant to be in our family. We never want to let her go. She has already told us so many great things to do with Brynnie. She is a fighter for our family too, so we are so thankful to have her on our team!! 

We have faced many obstacles along the road, but our strong girl seems to overcome every hurdle that has been thrown at her. She is small, but oh so mighty. Our girls are a true miracle, and warriors. I always say one could not have made it without the other. I’m not sure why the Lord chose us to be their parents, but I’m so very grateful He did. 

Brynn’s story is a redemption story. A little girl who will fight and be a warrior to the very end. 

To God be the glory.”