The Thorns of a Rose

Introduction

Forrest Gump in my opinion is one of the best movies ever made. Arguably one of the most famous quotes is "life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get". Forrest Gump is a genius who didn't get enough credit.

The thrill of a box of chocolates is blindly reaching inside and hoping you get the rich milk chocolate one with the creamy caramel Insides that you'll savor and wish you had more of but sometimes you grab a random banana flavored one that you take one bite of and cringe so you toss it out and try your luck again.
In life and no matter how tempting it is and how horrible it is you can't just toss it out you have to power through and make the best of your banana flavored life.
But the best part about a box of chocolates is everyone looks the same on the outside.

      At 17 years of age I don't start my conversations with my miraculous birth; usually people will either find out on their own or it will come up randomly in conversation and the one thing I always hear when they find out is they always say is wow I would've never known you look so normal. That's another thing what is normal? I suppose since you're reading and we aren't actually talking my history won't come up randomly in a conversation so sit back relax and if you're like me have a cup of hot chocolate and let me tell you about my so-called miraculous birth.

      Getting pregnant was never easy for my mom so when she found out she was having twins she was over the moon excited. She went to the doctor and he did an ultrasound where he told my mom that she wasn't only having twins she was having conjoined twins. Now it's kind of obvious that conjoined twins aren't really common it was a situation that the doctor had never run into before. With any pregnancy there's going to be risk factors but the risk factors for conjoined twins are a completely different level.
The doctor told my mom that this pregnancy would not end well for her they were 100% positive that the babies wouldn't make it and that it would take my mom down along with them. Every doctor she went to urged her to abort the babies and after my family found out they could lose her they urged her to abort them as well.

One thing you should know about my mom is that she's an extremely spiritual person and when God gave her not one but two heartbeats there was no way she was going to give them up.

The day we were born was complete and utter chaos.

       My mom had us via C-section and the second they removed us we were rushed in an ambulance to children's hospital where they had a team waiting to greet us.
Now I bet that you're thinking this is the happy ending but it's not.
We were dying.
My sister, who my mom later named Rose because she believes that she was the Rose sent to her by Saint Therese, was critically under developed and ill.
The reason we stayed together as long as we did was because I would say I was like a backup generator. Rose couldn't support herself but because our hearts were connected she was using my blood and my energy to keep her alive and it was working for a little while.
The doctors realized that while yes it was working it was also killing me because I couldn't support both me and her.
We were born on February 1, 1999 and three days later on February 4, 1999 the doctors and staff at Children's Hospital separated us hoping to at least save one of us one.

When the doctor told my parents what was happening in the surgery room he told my mom that both babies tried to die on him. What nobody knew was that God had a plan so on February 4, 1999 Rose Amiee Gonzales became my guardian angel.

      I always get asked if I miss her but I don't. I can't miss someone that I never actually knew but that doesn't mean every day I don't wish that I knew my sister. Whenever something bad happens everybody always says I know what you're going through but I have never in my life met a single person that knows what I went through; but as a high school senior I have 1 million people that know what I'm going through.

      To be terribly honest with you I'm terrified to write this book because I don't plan on censoring anything or changing the things that have happened with the things that I went through because my miracle birth is only the first of events in my life so far. I've always wanted to be an author and I've always had a gut feeling that my first story needs to be my story. I'm writing this because even though some of the things in my life have been something other people haven't had to deal with I hope that there's going to be one person out there who reads this and get through whatever they're going through because of me. I'm scared to write this because this book is basically going to be my Diary that it's going to be on shelves and anyone can read and that's kind of nerve-racking but this book in my heart is what is going to start me on a journey that I could've never imagine.