Loss of Our Twin Boys

by Katherine and Fred Zimmerman

Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999

We were expecting twins on December 14, 1999. Jack died on June 27 at 16 weeks; Grayson died on July 6 at 17 weeks.

Jack, our first baby, came out extremely suddenly, at home, with no warning. Katherine had no cramping or any other symptoms of her water breaking. Her water simply broke, and 8 minutes later the baby came out. Her cervix closed back up within an hour, and the doctors felt optimistic that we could keep the other baby.

9 days later Katherine's water broke again. 15 hours later Grayson was born, and was alive very briefly. We held both babies in our arms (both fully formed), and had them blessed. It was the most heart wrenching experience of our lives, and one we will never forget.

We so deeply miss our twin boys, and cry for them daily.

We too are terrified of losing another pregnancy. We do have a healthy 6-1/2 year old boy, Christopher. Christopher desperately wants to be a big brother. He was absolutely devastated at the loss of the twins.

We don't know why this happened, and may never know the reason. We're hoping that we have the courage to try treatment again in a few months.

Our hopes, and plans to try and have another child is getting us through our current grief.

If anyone has had a similar experience of losing multiples, please contact us.

Thanks,

Katherine and Fred
kfc@mediaone.net