"We hit the lottery on this one:" Sussex couple welcomes healthy twin girls despite scary diagnosis

SUSSEX -- Having a baby is a beautiful, yet stressful experience for those making the transition into parenthood -- but the pregnancy for one Sussex couple took them through a rollercoaster of events with a potentially devastating ending. But this mother and father were determined to beat the odds.

Brenda and Scott Huss started out as a family of three, with their dog, Brewer.

When they decided to expand their family, they were in for a journey they never anticipated.

"To worry about juggling all the parts of your life in this situation -- there`s nothing, nothing that can prepare you for it," Scott Huss said.

After learning they were expecting, Brenda and Scott Huss went in for their first ultrasound, and that's when this journey began.

"When she was looking at it, she kind of paused for a minute and she said 'you know, there`s two heart beats in there,'" Brenda Huss said.

Brenda and Scott Huss were expecting twins -- but their doctor, Mary McComis noticed something unusual during the ultrasound. The babies were so closed together, there was concern they were conjoined.

Dr. McComis eventually discovered the babies were monochorionic-monoamniotic, or MOMO twins. It's a condition so rare, it happens in just one percent of pregnancies involving twins.

"You have identical twins and they actually split late enough so they end up in the same gestational sac or the same bag of water in the uterus," Dr. McComis said.

This makes for a very high risk pregnancy, as the twins can be in danger of cord entanglement or cord compression.

"About 20% of the babies in these types of pregnancies -- one or the other or both of them will actually die in utero," Dr. McComis said.

As Brenda and Scott Huss began to process what they were being told, they started preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best.

"There`s no manual to tell you how to do this the right way. You have to understand that everything will take care of itself and most of the time it usually does," Scott Huss said.

After 25 weeks of pregnancy, Brenda was admitted to the hospital so doctors could monitor her around the clock.

"I was confined to my room. They wanted me to at least keep my feet up all the time if not stay in bed most of the time," Brenda Huss said.

She spent five weeks in the hospital until she went into labor -- two weeks earlier than doctors hoped.

"We were concerned that actually trying to stop her labor could affect the babies -- so we gave her some fluids to try and slow things down that way, but then she broke her bag of water which kind of made the decision for us," Dr. McComis said.

Brenda went into surgery, and delivered two healthy baby girls.

"Abigail was a whopper at 3 pounds, 3 ounces and Skylar was 2 pounds, 14 ounces when they were born," Brenda Huss said.

"They`re absolutely beautiful. I wouldn`t trade them for the world," Scott Huss said.

The babies spent five weeks in the NICU -- as Brenda and Scott Huss realized they had beaten the odds.

"I think we hit the lottery on this one," Scott Huss said.

They were thrilled to finally bring their baby girls home.

"It makes you feel a lot different about who you are and what you do every day to know that you`re coming home to your family," Scott Huss said.

A family that's now a family of five -- with big brother Brewer keeping a watchful eye over his little sisters.