When Andrea Serrano learned she was expecting twins, her emotions ran the gamut from excitement to being rather terrified as a first-time mom-to-be. As her pregnancy progressed, a feeling of concern also set in.

Routine ultrasounds showed that one of the twins was lagging behind in developing. Andrea’s blood pressure began rising as well. She was placed in the care of a maternal-fetal medicine specialist to be monitored as a high-risk pregnancy with the hope of making it to at least 28 gestational weeks. Then her blood pressure required a change of course.

“I was admitted to the hospital with preeclampsia,” she says. The blood pressure just kept creeping higher and higher, and I was told that my babies had about a 50-50 chance of survival.” Andrea’s health was also at risk, with stroke being a potential issue.

“We had to make a critical decision,” explains OB-GYN Marianne Ebrahim, M.D., a physician on the medical staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. “Do we deliver these babies at 24 weeks or allow Andrea to get sicker and sicker?”

Together in consultation with her maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Andrea and Ebrahim determined that the best option would be to move forward with delivery of the babies by cesarean section.

In the delivery room, Ebrahim had two Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) teams on hand for each baby to help ensure their safe delivery and so that each would receive the full medical attention they needed as premature infants. Once they were born, the two newborns were quickly moved to the Level III NICU at Texas Health Dallas Margot Perot Center for Women & Infants to continue to grow and get the additional care they required.

Andrea returned home when her health stabilized while babies Ava and Isla spent five months in the NICU, where they received around-the-clock care from a staff that included neonatologists on the medical staff, therapists and nurses. During their stay, one twin developed pneumonia and an infection. The other twin required a heart procedure. Both spent time on ventilators as their lungs continued to develop.

Throughout the emotional journey, the now-mother-of-three says she had to learn to let go of the situation and trust the people who were taking care of her and her daughters. She found comfort in Ebrahim, who cried with her and regularly checked in on her, the Labor & Delivery team that eased her nerves and the NICU staff that left notes with updates for her on her babies’ bed cameras when she wasn’t able to be with them.

Serrano Family

“You can tell that they really care about all families, and they’re very committed to the entire process of childbirth,” Andrea says. “My kids are going to be able to accomplish absolutely anything that they want to. Ava always mentions that she wants to be a doctor and Isla always mentions she wants to be a nurse. I think that would be such a cool full-circle moment for them.”

“Today, my twins are doing very well. They are going beyond all their expected milestones. They currently attend pre-K at an elementary school. They play T-ball; they’re little dancers. They’re very tiny, but they’re very smart and they’re very mighty,” she happily adds.

Learn more about maternity services at Texas Health Dallas.