In November 2023, at 25 weeks pregnant, Ashlee Pickett and her husband Kyle learned that their twin daughters were considered Monoamniotic twins, known as Mono Mono, during a routine check-up. This type of pregnancy occurs when twins are identical and share a placenta and an amniotic sac, a rare and high-risk pregnancy. By the end of the month, on November 21, Skyler and Isla Pickett were born at just 28 weeks and shortly after transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mercy Hospital.

For the next 30 days, while the twins were growing stronger in the NICU, Ashlee and Kyle traveled back and forth to their home in Hannibal, Missouri. The 116-mile commute began taking a toll on the family. Thankfully, the Ronald McDonald House had a room available for them to stay near their girls.

“After delivery, we traveled back and forth until a room was available at the Ronald McDonald House. This became exhausting and expensive. RMHC was one of the biggest blessings during one of the hardest times in our lives; I don’t think a day went by that I wasn’t extremely grateful for everything the House had to offer,” Ashlee said. “Being able to have a five-minute walk from the Ronald McDonald House to the Hospital just meant that I could spend as much time with them as I could, and that meant the world to me.”

Isla and Skylar are now resilient toddlers who are flourishing to show their families what they are capable of.

“They definitely have their own personalities. Skylar is calmer while Isla is more feisty out of the two, but overall, they are starting to smile and show you their little facial expression, so it’s just incredible to watch them change every day,” Ashlee said.