Zach and Kailah Layne, after three years of infertility, became parents of twin girls on Nov. 30 at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown.
Then four days later, Kailah’s brother and sister-in-law, Spencer and Rachel Ferrell, became parents of their second son, August Trent, also at Atrium.
Neither couple will have to look under the tree this morning for their Christmas presents.
“Our prayers have been answered and the Lord definitely blessed us,” said Kailah, 33, a second-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School in Hamilton.
While the couple, married for nine years, went through infertility treatments, Kailah had two miscarriages.
“I really struggled with why is this happening to us,” she said. “We really wanted a baby. It didn’t seem fair.”
She was referred to Dr. NeeOo W. Chin, a reproductive endocrinologist in West Chester. On the second round of IVF treatments, after much discussion and prayer, the couple decided to transfer two embryos, knowing there was a chance for twins.
They prayed for one baby.
They got two.
Kate Marie Layne, 4 pounds, 5 ounces and 18 inches long, and her twin sister, Emmie Grace Layne, 4 pounds, 4 ounces and 17 inches, were born six weeks premature. The girls remained in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit until late last week.
Call it a Christmas miracle.
“It was a long and hard three years,” Kailah said, describing the infertility process that leaves some couples emotionally drained. “But it was worth the wait.”
From zero children to two babies in an instant.
“Our family is a lot different in the best way,” she said. “There are times when I ask, ‘Are these really my girls?’”
The Ferrells could ask a different question: Are these really our boys?
The couple has two sons after August Trent Ferrell was born on Dec. 4 weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 21 inches long. His brother, Elliott, turns 2 in January.
Rachel, 27, who works in the mental health field at Array of Hope, and Spencer, a real estate agent with Keller Williams, live in Middletown.
It will be interesting watching the four first cousins growing up together, she said. Having two boys and two girls the two families are “balanced,” she said.
Rachel said it was “incredible to walk that journey” with the Laynes as they struggled with infertility.
“We prayed, prayed and prayed that God would answer,” she said. “A baby is a blessing and a wonderful thing.”
If Kailah asks her sister-in-law for parenting advice, Rachel will tell her; “The days are long, the years are short. It’s so true. Having kids puts time in perspective. Enjoy every moment.”
Read more columns by Journal-News Reporter Rick McCrabb.
journal-news.com
About the Author
