Megan Swanberg knew something was up when she began to feel what felt to her like contractions around mid-day on September 29. Swanberg, who lives in Isanti, had a 20-month old son already, and was 30 weeks pregnant with twin girls.
“I had him at 31 weeks, so I knew I could go into labor early,” said Swanberg. “(I was) expecting it.”
She wanted to drive herself down to her desired delivery place at The Mother Baby Center at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, but she said her mother insisted on calling an ambulance for her. Swanberg, a nurse herself, knew she needed to get somewhere where she could deliver safely soon.
The ambulance arrived to take her to Coon Rapids, and, along the way, the twins arrived.
“The first one arrived at 1:37 p.m. and then the second one came at 1:52 p.m.,” said Swanberg. She said it helped that there happened to be an extra medic working on the Allina Health ambulance that day and that doctors and nurses were standing by and waiting when they arrived at the hospital.
The babies—named Harper and Harlan—are doing fine now, nearly three months later.
“They both stayed in the NICU for a short period of time for a few weeks,” she said. “They’ve been home, and we are a very sleep-deprived family right now.”
On Monday, the Allina Health crew traveled to the Swanberg home to meet the family and re-connect over the shared experience.
“I really didn’t get a chance to meet them and I probably wasn’t the nicest to them because I was scared and I was probably yelling at them—just because I was nervous,” said Swanberg before the meeting when she appeared on the WCCO Morning News with host Susie Jones on Monda. “So, I’m excited to meet them and actually thank them and get to know them on a personal level.”
Healthy baby girls left NICU after about a month, join 21-month-old brother at home with parents in Isanti
