‘Sorry Mom, I Couldn’t Leave Them,’ My 16-Year-Old Son Said When He Brought Newborn Twins Home

When my son Josh walked in holding two newborn babies, I thought I’d lost my mind. Then he told me the truth: they were his father’s twins. My ex, Derek — the man who tore our lives apart — had just abandoned them at the hospital after his girlfriend Sylvia gave birth.

Josh had been at Mercy General with a friend when he saw Derek storming out of the maternity ward. Sylvia was alone, dangerously sick from complications, and terrified. Derek wanted nothing to do with the babies. In a moment that still doesn’t feel real, Sylvia signed temporary release papers and Josh brought the twins home — “just for a little while” — because he couldn’t leave his brother and sister with no one.

I tried to take them back immediately, but when I saw Sylvia’s condition, I understood. Derek even showed up with a lawyer just to sign guardianship papers — without looking at the babies once.

So we brought them home.

The next weeks were chaos: sleepless nights, diapers, bottles, Josh missing school and giving up his teenage life. Then Lila spiked a dangerous fever. Tests revealed a serious congenital heart defect and she needed urgent surgery. I emptied the small college fund I’d saved for Josh. We did it anyway.

The surgery worked. But Sylvia didn’t make it. Before she died, she named Josh and me permanent guardians and left a note: “Josh saved their lives.”

A year later, our tiny apartment is loud, messy, and full of life. Josh is older in ways no 17-year-old should be — but he’s never once called them a burden.

“They’re not a sacrifice, Mom,” he tells me. “They’re my family.”