‘Miracle Twins’ Inspires Mom to Evangelize

The best way to show God is still active is by showing that “miracles happen.” 

As the Blessed Mother and motherhood are celebrated during May, Megan Scardina Braud is an example of this. After struggling through fertility issues she gave birth to her “miracle twins.”

“I liked being adventuresome,” said Braud, who moved frequently around the country during her early 20s. Yet, every birthday she would cry because she was lonely.

She had a relationship with the Lord and trusted that by being open to him would also help her be open to being “romanced” and marry and God would bring the right person to her.

“Mr. Right,” Jared Braud, entered the picture. But it would take time for it to come into focus.

The couple had met in an art class at Southeastern Louisiana University. Jared had served in NET Ministries, in which young adults spend a year traveling the country evangelizing youth, from 2002-2003.

Megan’s mother, Cindy Scardina, is a “NETaholic” and was the contact person for the Diocese of Baton Rouge for NET for eight years so Megan knew about Jared.

Megan herself served with NET from 2008-2009. About a year later, after Megan returned, a Louisiana NET Ministries retreat was held and the two were reacquainted. However, “sparks did not fly” necessarily.

A few years after the retreat, Jared sent Megan a text message wishing her a happy birthday. They dated with the agreement that it would be with the intention of marriage. They married on March 14, 2015, at St. Elizabeth Church in Paincourtville.

Immediately, they made plans to start a family and did all the necessary charting and other protocols to achieve pregnancy. But they discovered during a doctor’s visit, following what they thought was a false positive, that Megan had miscarried. 

The doctor ordered bloodwork and discovered Megan did not have enough progesterone to carry the baby.

“In that moment it was hard to hear,” said Megan. 

The Brauds had a memorial service for the baby, who they named John, and had a memorial Mass for him on the feast day of St. John the Baptist.

But as sad as the loss was, comfort was found.

“It was healing in that it was my first experience as a mom, Jared as a dad. We did as parents do, we were open to life and through John’s life we knew we were open to more life,” Megan said. “We knew what we needed to do to have a baby in a natural way.”

They received confirmation from a friend who told Megan, “This baby will pave the way for siblings.” 

Megan’s OBGYN, who is Catholic, was familiar with NaPro technology, a natural procreative way to maintain a woman’s reproductive health. He advised Megan that she would have to improve her health through exercise, diet and supplements in order to carry a baby full term.

“At that point, it wasn’t about me but my family,” said Megan.

Her husband encouraged her to create a healthy lifestyle and she achieved the healthy weight and they began trying again. Each month she cried as their efforts did not result in pregnancy.

Since Megan’s mother is adopted, Megan and Jared even talked about adopting.

A few months later, Megan said she was “ready to take the next step,” and they visited the doctor. He did some tests and discovered she had Endometriosis. He scheduled corrective surgery. 

The Brauds carefully followed the surgery protocols. The doctor’s office was to take two to three pregnancy tests to assure Megan was not pregnant at the time of the surgery, and the couple was to avoid being sexually intimate until after a post-op appointment, which would concur with the optimal time to conceive a baby.

Shortly before Megan went to the post-op appointment, she wanted to be sure she would be at the optimal fertility time after the appointment. She asked a friend to pray about that, and the friend said, “You’re pregnant.” 

Megan assured her, “No. You’re a mother of four and you know how babies are made.”

The friend looked her in the eyes and repeated, “You’re pregnant.”

A confirmation came from a reading at Sunday Mass. In the first reading three men visited Abraham and Sarah. They treated them with hospitality and they told Abraham that they would visit him at that time next year and his wife, Sarah, who was barren, would have a son. 

It had also been a year since Megan’s miscarriage.

Curiosity peeked, Megan went home and took a pregnancy test, which came back positive.

Megan quickly scheduled an appointment with the doctor. They took a test and the nurse told her “You’re very pregnant.”

The surprised doctor showed her the negative tests that had been required for him to perform the surgery. But since the couple had avoided intimacy since the surgery, she had indeed been pregnant. 

Fortunately, the doctor using good judgment and “guided by the Holy Spirit” during the procedure did not scrape Megan’s uterus because he didn’t feel it was necessary. If he had, the lives of the babies would have been endangered.

“It’s a miracle,” he told Megan.

And when she inquired further, he looked at her with humble eyes and said, “You’re having two (babies).”

Since the birth of Joycelyn and Genevieve, 5, the Brauds have welcomed a son, Tobiah, 2 1/2. And they enjoy a happy family life.

Braud, who shared her story with a beaming mother, Cindy Scardina, sitting next to her, shares her “miracle twin story” as a message of hope. Scardina is adopted and Megan said her adoption itself, was the first miracle which set the same stage for the following miracle.

She said while miracles may not happen in the same way, miracles do happen in people’s lives if they are open to seeing them and acknowledge the working of God in their lives.

“When people experience miracles, they have a responsibility to share it,” smiled Braud, a proud and happy mom.