Jenny Marrs and her husband Dave of the HGTV show “Fixer to Fabulous” are raising their five children on their farm in Arkansas, including daughters Sylvie and Charlotte, son Luke, and twin sons Nathan and Ben. Marrs recently shared on Instagram and in her newly published book, “House+Love=Home,” that her twin sons survived a frightening preterm delivery thanks to compassionate and proper medical care.
Marrs revealed that at 29 weeks pregnant with the twins, she suddenly found herself going into preterm labor. She underwent 12 hours of medical intervention to attempt to stop labor and prevent preterm delivery and was ultimately airlifted to Little Rock, where there was a NICU better equipped to care for 29-week-old premature twins.
When she arrived at Little Rock, she said she and her husband “were given every worst-case scenario from the medical team and were told the boys would certainly be born within the next twenty-four hours.”
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She continued, “We absorbed their words in silence. We huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed and cried and begged God for another hour for the boys to grow in utero. And, then, when one hour passed, we exhaled briefly and started praying for another hour. Every single hour that passed was a small miracle.”
Only babies born after 39 weeks and zero days are considered to be full-term. At 29 weeks, and being twins, the boys were at increased risk for complications. According to the National Institutes of Health, twins delivered before 32 weeks have twice the risk of cerebral hemorrhage, osteomalacia, and consequently, stroke. Thankfully, the Marrs twins and their mother held on for another month — getting the boys beyond that crucial age of 32 weeks.
BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS – JUNE 22: Jenny Marrs and Dave Marrs of HGTV’s “Fixer to Fabulous” speak during Reel Magic Mornings with Dave and Jenny Marrs during the Bentonville Film Festival on June 22, 2022 in Bentonville, Arkansas. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images for Bentonville Film Festival)
“The boys were born four weeks after that terrifying helicopter ride through the Arkansas night sky,” said Marrs on Instagram. “They had an equally terrifying entrance into the world and then were cared for with immense love and compassion for four more weeks by the NICU staff at our local Mercy Hospital. Dave and I lived in the hospital for a month, moving from available room to available room (even sleeping on cots in the cleaning closet for a few nights when there were no rooms available).”
The twins are now 13 years old and because of that experience, the couple helps to raise funds to support NICU nurses and families.
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The care that Marrs and her boys received is the standard of care that all mothers facing preterm labor should receive. Steps to prevent preterm delivery should be taken when possible, and all babies should be given a chance to survive, even when the chances are low.
The Marrs boys, still inside their mother’s womb, were airlifted to a hospital that was better able to give them the treatment they needed to survive, because their lives were valued by the medical team around them. It is because Marrs and her boys were given proper medical care for their situation that Nathan and Ben are alive and thriving today, and their mother can share their happy ending to a scary story.
“The fact that we were able to, 13 years later, stand on a stage and share their story with a couple thousand people is a story only God could write,” she said.
