Fate seemingly conspired to bring Brittany Mitchell and her husband, Austin, together shortly after both were born. It also must have decided early the two were an excellent pairing.
Born in Washington, Pa., the former Brittany Vogstberger moved with her family to Follansbee, W.Va., when she was 3. Down the road, Austin Mitchell grew up with his family in Wellsburg. They met as freshmen at Brooke High School, started dating two years later, and have been together ever since, finally tying the knot in September of 2016.
They both enjoy kayaking and other outdoor activities, video games, and both get entirely into Halloween and all things spooky as evidenced by their annual volunteering at the Wells Township Haunted House.
Brittany has an accounting degree and currently works for CVS Coram in accounts receivable. Before that, she also had stints in childcare, along with child advocacy, serving as a para with Children’s Solutions. Austin entered the national guard right out of high school and served as a military police officer. He just finished his six-year contract and is on two years of inactive duty. He works at Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburg. They own and have remodeled their home together in Follansbee. The two also displayed a natural knack around kids early.
Austin and Brittany have played a major role in the lives of their nieces and nephews, the daughters and son of Austin’s siblings. They also are the godparents of Brittany’s friend Sasha’s daughter.
Yet despite all that, Brittany believed she and Austin would never be parents in the biological sense. Fate, it seemed, had one cruel twist to play in their otherwise perfect pairing. Brittany had a spinal condition from birth that she learned about early in life, a condition that, while not affecting her day-to-day activities, would make carrying and birthing a child extremely difficult.
But the two decided to try anyway. After months and months without success, they two started exploring other options, renovating their home to fit state requirements, attending trauma class, and beginning their PRIDE classes to enable them to be foster parents. But soon after, Brittany did become pregnant. Disappointment quickly turned to elation, and the two couldn’t hold in their excitement and had to spread the news to their families.
And yet again, another cruel twist of fate threw a major curve ball the pair’s way. Brittany was pregnant with not one, but two baby boys. It wasn’t until late in the pregnancy that they discovered one of the boys had a dangerous heart condition that required surgery upon his birth. So, while the soon-to-be parents and their families were preparing their homes and their hearts for the arrival of the boys, deep down, they had to struggle with the prospects of potentially coming home with only one.
So, at our year mark we decided to start the process of becoming foster parents, got through our Trauma class, started renovating our house to fit state requirements, and started our PRIDE classes when we found out we were pregnant.
It took you more than a year of trying to get pregnant. You went into marriage under the impression that becoming pregnant was going to be extremely difficult for you. Was it discouraging at first, and then how excited were you once you discovered you were pregnant?
I always thought I would have a hard time getting pregnant because my cycle was not the most amazing at being consistent on birth control. I also was told I would have a hard time carrying and delivering a child because I was born with Spina Bifida Occulta (a 3-cm hole in my spine) that didn’t affect my mobility or life, but because it was right above my hips, I was told it could have affected giving birth and carrying a baby. But I came to find out during this process that the hole in my spine was gone. They think as I got older it healed over. But once I got off birth control, my cycle was very regular but very short (three days). The doctors thought that might be my problem. They offered me Clomiphene. I declined because no one was doing any tests. I was just being labeled as “unknown infertility.” I know a few people got upset about it because 15 months is nothing compared to how long some people wait, but I was 23, and Austin was 22, and there was no reason we shouldn’t have been pregnant. So, after six months I started seeking help. No one around here would give us any. We got very discouraged and heartbroken a lot. While we were trying, we also had three of our closest friends all get pregnant without trying. And of course, you are super happy for them, but we had to overcome a lot with ourselves in those times. I had a lot of hatred inside of me, and Austin was very sad. We both sought out therapy to help us cope. But in the end, we were both having a really hard time dealing with not being able to get pregnant as easily as everyone else. We never took it out on each other, but since neither of us were ever diagnosed as being the problem, we both blamed ourselves but never the other.
When did you first find out you were pregnant? Did you wait until you were so far along before telling anyone? Were you able to keep it from Austin that long?
I found out when I was three weeks pregnant. We were trying so, I had plenty of cheap tests in the house, and the day my period was supposed to start I took the test, left it on the counter, and went about getting ready for work. When I went back in to brush my teeth, I saw the two lines. I called my best friend, Sasha Phillips, and told her. We freaked out a little together, and then she told me to just take a little more of an expensive test to just make sure. So, I called Austin, who was on midnights and told him to stop on the way home and get a First Response test. When he got home, I grabbed it from him and ran to the bathroom. He didn’t even ask me what was going on, so I opened back up the door and told him, “I already have one positive test; this is just to make sure.” and shut the door on him. The lines were instant and dark. I was pregnant. I told Austin and cried. It was June 25, 2019, three days before my birthday and exactly two years prior to when we had found out Sasha was pregnant. We waited till the weekend to tell our parents and siblings. So, when we went out to celebrate my birthday is when we told them. I was four weeks along. Then we told the grandparents, aunts, and uncles within the next three weeks in person. At nine weeks we had our first ultrasound, and that is when we announced it on Facebook.
What was it like going from possibly not being able to have any (or taking so long to conceive) to finding out it was twins? Double the preparation? How ready were you?
I knew going into my first ultrasound at nine weeks it was twins; I just had a feeling. I was starting to show, and my pregnancy line had started to form at just seven weeks. I had implantation cramping on both sides as well. So, when the ultrasound tech showed us the screen, I asked straight out, “So there is only one?” And she said, “Yep, just one.” I actually felt a little disappointed. But then she started rubbing her hand over her face and looking concerned. I began to panic thinking something was wrong. She then said, “Did you ask me that because twins run in the family?” And I said “Yeah, on both sides. Why? Oh God, you found another baby, didn’t you?” She then turned the screen to us and said, “There are definitely two heartbeats.” And right there were two little babies. I cried and began to shake, fearing I would have to get rid of my little Chevy Cruze. Austin stood there proud as can be. But I would say we were very prepared. I had read two books on multiples and joined multiple Facebook groups. We had started buying diapers and wipes when we started trying, so we had a nice stockpile already going. Then we had two baby showers and got a lot of the stuff we needed. We honestly only had to buy their dresser and car seats when everything was said and done. Mentally, we were both prepared. It’s been a long road, but honestly, I think only having one would be boring at this point.
On the delivery day, obviously there were excitement and nerves. Once they were born, was it hard being happy that you were able to hold your son while his brother was away getting treated and facing a tough road ahead? What was the issue?
When we first found out I was pregnant, I was going to a small hospital by where I lived. They informed me that if I stayed with them, I would have to have a c-section as they didn’t deliver twins. I told them that wasn’t what I wanted and would like to deliver at another hospital. They told me that was fine and that at 30 weeks, they would have me transferred to a Pittsburgh hospital to deliver up there. And at the office down here all I ever got told was how beautiful my pregnancy was going and how happy they are with everything and that my boys looked great. They told me my twins were fraternal di/di (meaning they had their own sacs and own placentas) which is the safest twins because all twins are high risk, but di/di are the lower end of high risk because of not being able to have twin-to-twin transfusion (one twin stealing nutrients from the other). At 30 weeks I switched to a hospital in Pittsburgh. At 31 weeks I had my first ultrasound there, and my beautiful pregnancy turned very tragic. First, they asked me if I knew baby A had only one kidney; then they asked me if we knew his cord was two vascular, not three. We knew none of this. As far as we had known, our little boy was perfect. So, they started going over everything with both babies, making sure each one had 10 toes and 10 fingers, 2 arms, 2 legs, and that they were actually boys, EVERYTHING. I was in that office for two hours having everything looked at. They had the doctor come in and start explaining everything with the one kidney and cord, and then the tech said a sentence that shattered our worlds: “Doctor, look. It’s his heart.” Everything froze. I had tried to remain so still the whole time, and I felt my whole body begin to shake as I bawled my eyes out. The doctor asked the tech what she thought it was, and she said, “I think its Tret or truncas.” The doctor said he agreed. It was explained to us that his heart had made itself with either no pulmonary artery or with one that was so small they couldn’t see it. And that he also had a VSD, which is a hole between the chambers of his heart. They had told us he would need emergency surgery the day he was born and that he would be taken straight from me to Children’s Hospital to have surgery. From that appointment forward I had ultrasounds weekly, met with surgeons, NICU, and Children’s Hospital, all in the matter of five weeks before giving birth. It was the most stressful, depressing ordeal we had been through. On the day of delivery, I was able to have my natural birth with both of them, and Baby A (Emmett) came out screaming and strong. He was pale, which we expected, but he was so strong and loud. They let me hold him for 30 seconds before they whisked him off to get him ready for transport. I then got Baby B (Emerson) out within an hour. He decided to come out and not cry. So, I also got to hold him for 30 seconds, and that was all. NICU whisked him off to the other side of the room to find out why he wasn’t crying. He just didn’t feel like it. He was perfectly fine and beautiful; he just didn’t want to cry. Emerson stayed with me in the hospital for two days while Emmett was at Children’s preparing for surgery. I would love to tell you that it was hard having to have one baby go and the other stay, but if I’m being honest, I didn’t know any different. I cried seeing videos of Emmett and pictures. But I knew he was safe and being taken care of, and I needed to get better so I could be with him. Emmett didn’t have surgery till he was 2 weeks old. His condition was diagnosed as Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Artesia. He had a full repair done at Children’s, which not many surgeons do. Normally the surgery is four separate surgeries to fix each defect, but his surgeon was just amazing and did it all in one go. Emmett recovered within a week and a half, and we were able to go home.
Did you feel a sense of relief when your family was finally home, intact, for that first night at the house? How has it been since? Was there a lack of sleep for both of you? Is it easier to share the load as far as each parent feeds, changes a twin, etc.? If so, do you rotate, and how easy is it to tell them apart?
We felt at peace when we finally all got to be home. After living in a hospital for 25 days, it was nice just to get some normalcy back and feel like you could breathe again. The first night was fine. Austin has been on Paternal leave since Feb. 27, so he was staying up all night with them, and then I was taking the day shift, so we were each sleeping for at least six hours a day. But now they are sleeping from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., so we are going to bed when they do and being up together throughout the day because now they eat every two hours, and if only one person is handling that, you will do nothing all day but feed, change, repeat. And when I say nothing, that includes eating, drinking, or using the restroom. It’s a lot better when we can each take one or switch off feeding so the other can get some housework done or cook or shower. It is definitely beneficial to work as a team. It’s easy to get stressed out when one person has to do it all. They look nothing alike to us. Emerson has a square head and tiny eyes. Emmett has a round head and big eyes. Emmett also looks bigger than Emerson even though they are both the same weight. Emmett also has brown eyes already, and Emerson’s are still blue/hazel. Emerson looks like my twin, and Emmett looks like Austin’s.
