The magnificent Marisa James with her identical twin daughters Isla Blake and Thea James (20 months). Marisa is a self described planner and she gave herself three months to conceive during her final year of Law School. She was able to get pregnant quickly and learned very early on that she was carrying twins. She was able to continue her schooling throughout her pregnancy and feels it's important for women to realize that they don't have to choose between career and family, they can do both. She didn't particularly enjoy her pregnancy and never had any expectations of a vaginal birth. While it may have been an option she liked that she could know the date her babies would be born and avoid the pain of labor. Marisa learned that she was having identical girls and that they had a bit of growth difference. They were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) but didn't move past Stage I. Despite hoping to plan all that she could she ended up on hospital bed rest and would have been there for about 6 weeks but her girls decided to come early after Thea broke her water at 35 weeks. Marisa's birth went well and her daughters went to NICU where Thea spent her first 7 weeks of life and Isla came home after an 8 week stay. She says that the NICU stay was good in that she got time to recover and the nurses helped to get her girls on a schedule but having to leave them every night was difficult. Marisa finished Law School about a year ago and will be taking her bar exam in just a few days.
