Support the Sanders Twins NICU Journey

Hey people, it's Dacota here. We have a crazy story and a crazier journey ahead.

On 10/10/24, my wife (who is pregnant with twins) was taken to the hospital due to baby boy having a ruptured membrane/water breaking while she was visiting her sister in Phoenix, AZ. We live in Southern Illinois currently so not an ideal spot.

The medical team tried to slow the labor process to delay a delivery at 24 weeks.

Unfortunately contractions continued and on 10/11/24, 10:59am MST baby boy decided to enter the world. At 11:05 am MST baby girl followed him. The babies were only 24.3 weeks at time of birth and had to be transferred into the hospitals NICU.

Momma was trooper in all things. The babies were born while I was on my way to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and I didn't arrive to Phoenix, AZ till that night.

My wife's sister and mother luckily were able to keep her company and be supportive through this whole thing.

The hospitals medical team, nurses, doctors, and specialists have all been amazing in delivery and in the NICU. Babies will be getting comfortable here in the NICU as they develop.

We have a long way to go, we won't be taking any kiddos home till they are cleared around 37-40 weeks, but could even be beyond depending how they keep developing.

As of posting this, things are stable but every single day will be different.

Because these babies are 16 weeks early and born 1500 miles away from our home state of southern Illinois, we will have a lot of unplanned expenses.

Here's a breakdown of these expenses:

Medical expenses

Food and gas from having an hour round trip to the hospital every day

Ongoing bills that have to be paid with cars, rent, etc

Income supplementation from reduced working capabilities

Micro preemie items

Other emergency expenses for plane tickets and transportation

All this being said we will unfortunately have a lot of unplanned expenses.

We are asking if you or anyone can please donate to our journey financially or even in thoughts and prayers. I usually hate asking anyone for money as I know there's a lot of hurting people in the world, but it is true that my wife, myself, our near three year old, and our micro preemies Seona and Phoenix, are in this category today.

We are exhausted but keeping a positive light on this. Fearful but taking a day at a time. Since we believe in a powerful God we are very much leaning into God at this moment in time. We are thankful for the advances in the medical science world, and for the loving hands of nurses, doctors, and specialists keeping our kiddos stable.

We’ve had awesome family, friends, and employers who have all been helpful and supportive of us, but we are being transparent on the financial burdens ahead and are asking for anyone wanting to support us in this journey to please give what you can financially or in any thoughts, prayers or well wishes.