Am I going to live?
By: Samantha Kirkpatrick
I was there for the traumatic experience, but it has come to where I don’t really remember it all that well. So every once in a while, I have my mom and dad tell me this story. The story of me, Samantha Marie Kirkpatrick, being brought into this wonderful world.

The first time I had heard this story was when I was about 9 years old. I don’t remember what had brought it up, but they decided to share it with me. So, I grabbed my blanket, put a pillow on my side, and stayed along for the ride.
Out of my set of twins, I was the last one to come out. My sister, Victoria Lynne Kirkpatrick, was the first one out. My mom tells me it was my fault that she came out first. She has insisted on telling me that I pushed her out because I needed some fresh air. I keep telling her that I don’t think that that is what really happened, but I don’t have a reliable source to tell me otherwise.

If you looked at me and then looked at my sister, the characteristics of our appearances weren’t all that different. We were both really small; about the size of my dad’s hand. We both had the thinnest blonde hair you could ever see, and we were both crying our eyes out. I didn’t really know why, but we were bawling.
My mom tells me we were crying because we were born so early. It was either that or it was because we were hungry. But either way, we were born a couple months earlier than expected. We were what are called premature babies.
“Mommy,” I said with my high squeaky voice, “what does premature mean?”
I was only nine! I didn’t know how to spell premature, let alone what it means.
“Premature means that you were born before the expected time. Like you, you were supposed to be born on Thanksgiving, but you ended up to be bron right after your Grandma Judi.”
“So is being born early bad?” I asked
“Well how about you listen to the rest of the story and find out?”
Anyway, being born is really bad for a baby, and that can screw you up. My intentional due date was November 23, 1998, the day of Thanksgiving. But my actual due date was September 20, 1998. That is quite a difference when you’re talking about births.

Well anyway, I didn’t come out as planned. I had this problem with me. Now don’t call me “the beast” because what I had is common in twins. In my mother’s stomach, I didn’t get enough food because my sister ate it all. So we had to come out. That WAS my decision! I needed to eat. So that is why we were so early. But both Victoria and I had a problem with our bodies. Tori had a condition called hernia. Hernia is a condition in which part of an organ is displaced and protrudes through the wall of the cavity containing it. So basically, it is some organ problems. So she had to have surgery at three months old. Pretty scary, right? I actually don’t know what my condition was called. But here is what happened. One of my valves in my heart wasn’t opening. It was staying closed. So, my family chose for me to have a shot in my heart. And the doctor said that I might die. But if you have met me, you can tell that I am very stubborn. And I didn’t want to die. So I did not listen to that doctor. I told that doctor, “Umm, think again doctor! I’m going to live! I will not die!” So the procedure went on as planned. Everything worked, and it was all good again. Victoria’s surgery went well too. She got patched up, and she was ready to roll. To this day, Tori is always telling me that I was stubborn to not listen to the doctor.

Another time I didn’t listen to the doctor was when I was in the same hospital a couple of days after the procedures. It was about drinking some kind of liquid. Since tori and I were so small, we didn’t get the motion of drinking a bottle yet. But we still needed to eat. Anyway, one day the doctor gave me the bottle, but he had something to say to my parents first.
“Now Windy,’ the doctor exclaimed.
“This little girl of yours doesn’t quite have the muscles yet to drink the bottle. So we can try to give her the bottle, but I don’t think she will be able to do it.”

My mother was terrified.
“What if she doesn’t drink the bottle?”
The doctor gave me the look of sorrow.
“Well, I guess we will have to just wait and see.”
Well, me being as stubborn as I am, I apparently heard the doctor. I would not take no for an answer! So the doctor gave me that bottle, and I drank every last drop of it! You guys know the story of Hercules. He took it, and drank every drop, and he became the strong and dependable person he was. That was me!

So now that we knew everything was okay, my mom and dad went back to Brookfield while we stayed at the Bonne Hospital in Columbia so we could make sure nothing else would pop up.

Now what’s about to happen is what my family would call a miracle. On October, which just happened to be my mother’s birthday, my mom and dad were in Columbia for some reason, but that’s beside the point. But right before they were about to leave, they stopped at the hospital to look at their two gorgeous and healthy looking daughters. When they were about to leave the hospital though, the doctor called them in and said…
“So, would you guys like to take them home today?”

My mom and dad were jumping up and down (not literally but you get the point). But there was one itsty bitsy problem: they didn’t have anything with them; the diapers, the toys, the clothes, anything. They didn’t think they would be able to take their baby girls home. So my parents dashed to the nearest Wal-Mart and got all of the necessities (carriers, diapers, toys, etc.…), and came back to the hospital to come pick us up and take us home. I just think that it is the awesomest thing in the world; I got to be my mother’s birthday present. Now I don’t think she appreciated it that she had to change diapers on her birthday, but she got to take us home, and I guess that’s all that matters.

So that’s that; the story of me and my awesome sister. We are still alive and healthy. We’ve had a few bumps and curves along the way but we’ve made it through together as sisters!

When I looked up at my mother after the story, she was getting all teary eyed!

“Don’t cry mom! We are still here!”

“I’m not crying because I am sad, I am crying because you poked me in my eye when you got up!”

“Well I’m sorry! I was trying to give you a hug for telling me the story!”

“Anytime sweety-pie”

“Thanks mom! You’re the best!”


Every day, I think back on this story. What does it mean to have a twin sister? Everybody is like, “oh, you guys look alike. That means you guys can do stuff for each other without anybody knowing! Righteous!”

But that has nothing to do with my sister. I mean yah, I like it when she gives me a hand in stuff, but that is not why god put her on this earth. He didn’t say, “Oh, she looks like a good person to be Samantha’s working hand!” That’s not how this world works.

I don’t know where I would be in life if I didn’t have my twin sister. She is not only my sister, she is my friend. I tell her everything that goes on in my life, and she is there to listen to what I have to say. Because we all know that I am not perfect. Nobody is. So I have struggles once in a while. So somebody has to be there, and I can always count on her to be there when I need her. So since she is always there for me, I have to be there for her when it’s the other way around.

So, if you’re someone reading this story and you have a twin brother or sister, take some time next time you see them, and just tell them that you appreciate them. Because one day up the road, they’re not going to be there for you. So next time you see him/her, just tell them you love them, because I don’t know where I would have been if it wasn’t for my sister. I love her to death, and I always will.