Sextuplets

I was browsing pregnancy headlines when I discovered the saddest thing:

Two couples prayed, cried and hoped for babies to add to their little family unit.

Two couples took varying fertility treatments to meet that end.

Two couples got pregnant -with six babies each.

These same two couples delivered their sextuplets within 10 hours of each other.

One couple's babies were born 10 weeks early. Their babies are expected to spend 6-8 weeks in the NICU.

The other couple's babies were born 4.5 months early. Sadly, four of the latter have died.

Read more here and here.

Heartbreaking

I've been deeply saddened by the story of a family of five that had been burned out of their Army home. Two of the couple's children, ages 3 and 9, died in the blaze and a third child, 18 months, was not severely injured. The father and mother both suffered burns and are recovering in different hospitals. The thing that made my heart wrench even further is there is a rumor that someone deliberately set the fire!

I imagine that mom climbing the balcony to save her babies as the flames and toxic smoke engulfed the home. She fell back to the ground and broke one or more of her limbs. I can see the father jumping out the window with his 18 month old daughter cradled in his arms. And I can see the two little ones left behind ... the image keeps a knot in my throat.

I think of the pain of losing my children and don't want to imagine the horror this family will face in the weeks, months and years ahead. They have lost more than seems fair.

Please pray for the Smallwood family ... you can read the full article here.

*all information provided in this post is second hand information not verified by a family spokesperson.