whole thing. She was solid, she was perfect for us.” Still, because of her history of heartache and the vul-
nerability of twin A (Magdalen) during the pregnancy, Anne didn’t want to get too close. She put off buying anything for the babies because “it wasn’t going to be real until they were out and healthy.”
‘God moments’ Along the way, Jamie experienced what she called “God moments” that told her she was doing the right thing and all would be well. It started when the embryos were implanted. A good
friend had died that morning, but embryos of hope were making a home in her body. “I felt like it’s going to be OK,” she said. Jamie proceeded with that same optimism through-
out, perhaps buoyed by her go-to Scripture verse: “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future” (Proverbs 31:25, New Living Testament). At nine weeks there was some bleeding. At 15 to 16
weeks while on a youth group mission trip, she told her “story” to a stranger, who assured her that she would be protected, that everything was “going to be fine.” She said an uncanny calm came over her. A final test came in January 2014 when Jamie was
hit with the flu weeks before giving birth. Te babies arrived at 37 weeks, and strings were pulled so a friend and Anne and Philip could be in the delivery room. In the delivery room, Jamie’s overwhelming emotion
was “relief.” Troughout her pregnancy, people’s No. 1 question had been “How are you possibly going to give up those babies?” She routinely explained: “Nothing about them is mine. I just happen to have a working uterus. It’s my body, but it’s their babies.” As the babies were born, “I just thought my part is over,” Jamie said. “I
Philip and Anne Richter (left), Northbrook, Ill., hold their children, Jo- seph and Magdalen, on their baptism day, along with Jamie and Steve Diestelhorst and their daughters, Kira and Liana.
was happy, not sad.” Anne was overwhelmed with emotion when the first
baby, a girl, was placed in her arms. Te two babies she had lost were girls. “I went over to Jamie, kissed her forehead and said, ‘Tank you, thank you,’ ” she said. Anne and Philip had a room down the hallway,
and the couples spent the following days and evenings together. Te last night over pizza and cupcakes, the Richters asked the Diestelhorsts to be godparents to Magdalen Louise, 6.2 pounds, and Joseph David Charles, 7.3 pounds. It was an easy decision, said Anne, who remembers
that Steve cried when asked. “It gave them a different title,” she said. “She’s not surrogate, she’s their godmother.” Everything may not happen for a reason, but Anne
reflects on the miracle of the babies and this friendship that has as its core a faith connection. “Maybe [the twins] were the reason that this random couple from Merrill, Wis., came into our life and saved my life,” she said. And the others involved in this story learned plenty
along the way too. Jamie told her daughters that “Dill” and “Pickle” (their pregnancy names) were special babies whose mommy’s belly didn’t work, so she would bring them into the world for this friend. To the youth group, Jamie communicated what
she always tells them: “Use your giſts, even if that means you have to go out of your comfort zone. Let God do the rest.”
Author bio: Sevig is managing editor of The Lutheran, and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago.
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