18 Mar The McIntyre Family

Imagine being told your child has to be delivered early. Now imagine it is not just one child, but twins and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Sisters Hospital, where your twins will be spending the first months of their lives in Buffalo and you live in Jamestown with your five other children.

That was the reality Sara and Jesse McIntyre. Allison and Bridgett were born on December 5, 2013 each child weighing less than 3 pounds with the added complication of under-developed lungs. If all went well, Allison and Bridgett would be spending about two months in the hospital. Separation from the twins was not an option, a solution was needed.

The Ronald McDonald House in Buffalo was the solution. “We got the last room,” declares Sara, “I was thrilled.” The House is minutes away from the hospital allowing Sara and Jesse to spend critical bonding time with Allison and Bridgett. When mommy and daddy are there, the babies “are less irritable, more soothed and don’t cry as often,” exclaims Sara, “They blossom like that. The babies are tiny, but they know I’m there. They know my voice. It’s vital for them that I’m there.”

If it weren’t for the Ronald McDonald House, “I’d cry a lot,” says Sara, “As a mother, you just want to be with your children.”