I'm A Mother Raising Twins With Disabilities













My name is Angela Livingston-Jones, and I have twin daughters Ameerah and Amaris Jones that were born at 24 weeks.  Ameerah weighed 1lb 5oz at birth and Amaris weighed 1lb 2oz.  My husband and I were overjoyed when we found out that I was pregnant, and the excitement became greater when we found out that it was twins.  My pregnancy was not an ordinary pregnancy by any means.  I almost lost my babies when I was 17 weeks.  I stayed in the hospital for 2 months before delivering by emergency c-section.  The girls had to stay in the hospital for 4 months and this was not an easy task for their father  and I.  Ameerah had to be sent to Children’s of Alabama due to a hole in her heart.  They thought that they may have to do surgery, but by the grace of God they didn’t.  



After finally being released from the hospital after a 4 month stay, Ameerah had to be rushed to Emory Children’s Hospital to have an emergency eye surgery, due to detached retinas in both eyes.  After having 3 surgeries on her eyes, they finally managed to get the retina in her left eye to reattach, but unfortunately not the right eye.  My daughter is now legally blind and has glaucoma in her left eye.  This has really been a struggle for our family.  There are countless amounts of trips back and forth to Atlanta for surgeries and doctor’s appointments.  At one point we  thought about just moving to Atlanta to save money on gas and hotels.  Ameerah has been diagnosed with epileptic seizures.  She is now attending school at the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega.  This was a very hard decision to make but my husband and I wanted to do what was best for our little princess.


As for little Amaris, her story is not as extensive, but she does have her struggles.  Amaris has a mild case of cerebral palsy which affects her speech and her joints are very tight.  Amaris had to wear casts on both of her legs for 6 weeks and then she was placed in AFOs for 6 weeks.  We had to go to several appointments regarding her speech and trying to get her to walk without having to be placed in a wheelchair.
As a mother this really got the best of me because no parent wants to see their kids go through the struggles that my daughter does.  I truly thank God for my job because I was able to take off work for the first year after having my girls and still was able to get paid for it.  Even though their dad couldn’t be there every day all day, he truly did his part when he came in from work.  We were truly blessed to have family and friends that stood by us and are still standing by us to help with Ameerah and Amaris whenever they can.  I must admit there were times when I just wanted to give up while my babies were in the hospital for those 4 months.  I was a first-time mom and I didn’t get a chance to bring my babies home with me from the hospital.  There were nights when I would just sit in my bed and cry asking God what I do wrong.  God told me that these were my miracles and blessings and that he wouldn’t put no more on me than I could bear.  Even though the road has been rough, and we are still dealing with some issues, I wouldn’t trade these two for the world. 

 







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