Three days before Christmas in 1998, two identical twin sisters were born prematurely in Texas with a very visible difference: one with primordial dwarfism, and the other without. But their difference hasn’t affected their sisterly bond; if anything, it has made them stronger.
The doctors discovered their mom was carrying twins roughly nine weeks before their due date, eliminating any chance to offer “selective reduction” to terminate the twin with congenital conditions. And their mom says she’s glad the doctors didn’t find that earlier.
Today, the Bernal family—dad Joey, mom Chrissy, older brother (and former Marine) Austin, and twins Sienna and Sierra—couldn’t be happier. The girls turn 24 in December and are thriving. The sisters have also been awarded a 2022 Guinness Book record for the first documented case of an identical twin with primordial dwarfism.
Sierra has grown up to be an ambitious country musician and social media analyst, while Sienna, who has primordial dwarfism, is a jewelry designer. Though doctors had predicted Sienna wouldn’t even be able to button her own clothing, she has proved that all things are possible with God.
‘She’s My Best Friend’
Sierra, who has been writing and performing original country music since the age of 13, recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The sisters had been together for most of their lives, but now that Sierra has moved to her own place, Sienna finds it a little “weird” to not have her around every day.“She’s my best friend,” Sienna said.
Sierra added: “We talk a lot. My sister and I normally get into very deep conversations. She’s very supportive of my music career; she’ll often share her thoughts on a new song. I occasionally amuse her by trying to fit into her mermaid tail that’s clearly too small for me [and] I appreciate the whimsical view that she adds to things. She’s very sensitive and very sweet.”
Growing up, the twins suffered the scrutiny of strangers for their visible difference. People would ask their ages even after they'd tell them they’re twins, said Sienna. She is sometimes still quizzed on her “accent,” which she clarifies is actually a speech impediment. She is also hard of hearing.
Sierra is quizzed, too. “People sometimes ask me if I’m her mother,” Sierra said. “Of course, I would sometimes get some unexpectedly sad or odd questions, but the main question people used to ask me growing up was, ‘Why is she so much smaller than you?’ I would simply explain to them that she has primordial dwarfism.”
‘Two by Two’
Sierra and Sienna were born six weeks early by Caesarean section on Dec. 22, 1998. Just three weeks before, Chrissy found out she was having twin girls, but that Sienna was extremely small, was missing part of the cerebellum in her brain owing to Dandy-Walker syndrome, and had a hole in her heart.“Doctors said had they discovered her earlier, they would have suggested I have a ’selective reduction' to terminate her part of my pregnancy,” Chrissy said. “I told them I was glad they didn’t discover her earlier.”
Doctors didn’t expect Sienna to make it through the night and gave her a 10 percent chance of leaving the hospital alive. They claimed her life would not be “viable” if she made it home, but Sienna proved them wrong.
Chrissy said: “There was irony in the theme I had chosen for the nursery before knowing I was having twins: Noah’s Ark, two by two! Sienna has always been a fighter, and clearly has a purpose that requires her to have made it.”
Patience and Prayers
Chrissy was thrilled telling her family about the twin girls ahead of the birth, despite Sienna’s diagnoses. She was still in college and had gone in for a standard stress test when doctors told her the amniotic fluid was low and she would need to deliver.“The peaceful and straightforward birth I had originally planned turned into a cold, bustling labor with at least 13 doctors and nurses in the delivery room,” Chrissy recalled.
Sierra was delivered first, weighing four pounds eight ounces. Sienna was second, weighing just one pound seven ounces. Both had yellow skin from jaundice, but Chrissy thought Sierra already looked like herself as a baby with her “cute button nose.”
Sierra left the NICU after two weeks; Sienna stayed for 108 days. It was a long time before their parents could hold the fragile baby girl, but returning home with just Sierra allowed Chrissy to “adjust to being a mom somewhat slower,” and even finish school.
“Looking at Sienna for the first time was very overwhelming,” Chrissy said. “She was in an incubator with many tubes and wires hooked up to her. At one point, they had to put an IV in her head because that was the only way they could get it in a vein. Sienna’s diaper was smaller than an iPod.”
Sienna was placed on oxygen, needed feeding every 90 minutes through a tube in her stomach, a nebulizer for chronic lung disease, and eventually open heart surgery. Throughout it all, her parents relied upon “organization, patience, and a lot of prayers.”
No Limitations
Chrissy stopped her “depressing” internet searches and focused on baby Sienna as an individual, recalling, “I kept the faith and didn’t impose preconceived limitations on her.”One preconception is that identical twins should look the same. The mom of three explained, “In fact, the medical term for identical twins is ’monozygotic.' In simple terms, it means they came from the same egg, and gene mutations would have happened after they split.”
Sienna has since developed coping mechanisms for the things she finds hard in life. She uses a stool when she needs to reach high and is working on lip reading. But she has had to give up cheerleading because of back pain caused by scoliosis, needs help with household chores, and doesn’t go out alone since her parents are afraid she will be mistaken for a child and kidnapped.
Sienna worked hard on her mental health during the pandemic, starting a gratitude journal, and “getting creative” every time she needed an outside-the-box solution.
“I don’t do things in the kitchen like boiling water, because that would be too heavy for me and unsafe,” she said. “So, we have things like mac and cheese that can be microwaved, instead ... I get stuck in public bathrooms a lot because the doors are too heavy for me ... I do have a lot of anxiety in crowded social settings; we’re hoping to get a service dog to help me with that.”
Praising both her daughters as “very bright and funny young women,” Chrissy says, they’re both resilient and have thick skin. The grateful mom loves Sierra’s “fiery Texas grit,” and believes Sienna’s two proudest achievements are her emotional intelligence and her successful jewelry business.
“If I hadn’t had Sierra and Sienna, life would be very boring,” Chrissy said. “Seeing them turn into strong and kind women who know their worth is very rewarding. They shaped who I am, as well.”
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