A Hutchinson family was told they’ve be having twins only to find out they’d most likely go home with just one. The baby boy has a hole in his heart and an abnormal brain.
As Ian and Brittani McIntire lean on their faith and on each other, they say their babies are doing the same – holding on to one another in the womb.
The McIntire’s say they didn’t plan on having any more kids, let alone twins.
“We went in for our six week sonogram and they just said there’s one heartbeat and here’s another,” Brittani McIntire shared.
Their emotions went from shock to excitement to unimaginable heartbreak. With severe problems, one of the twins wasn’t growing like he should.
“He’s only weighing nine ounces and his sister is over two pounds, so big size difference. His only chance of survival would be heart surgery, but they wouldn’t do surgery on him because of his brain,” Brittani McIntire stated. “It was really hard to hear that.”
At each doctor’s appointment, the McIntire’s got more bad news. Then Tuesday, doctors captured something amazing.
“We didn’t really see much. She (the doctor) said there’s his hand, and there’s her hand, and it looks like they’re holding hands,” Brittani McIntire said.
Baby Mason has his tiny hand wrapped around the finger of his twin sister, Madilyn.
“Most twins, when you take pictures of them, are kicking each other and hitting each other. She (the doctor) said it seems like she was very protective over him,” Brittani McIntire said.
Because Mason may never get to know his twin sister or his mother and father, this special moment – siblings bonding before birth – is something the McIntire’s say is no coincidence.
“We know we have a piece of them together that will last forever and it’s special to have. It’s just nice with everything going on I know I’m holding him,” Ian McIntire said.
“I’m carrying him, but I just want to be there for him and not knowing, and she’s the only one who can actually be there and holding onto him through it. It’s comforting to know that if he does pass he won’t be alone,” Brittani McIntire shared.
Alone is something neither baby has ever been from the second their hearts started beating.
If baby Mason makes it through the pregnancy, doctors will deliver the babies by C-section to allow the family to spend as much time as they can with both before Mason passes.
