So.....the twins are doing wonderful. They are both gaining weight, Emmett is up around 12 1/2 pounds or so, and Makenna is over 9 pounds, maybe 9 1/2. At the last doctor visit, they were finally on the chart for full term babies. Their heads measured 15 in. That is wonderful! They are doing so well, it is hard to believe, but I give God all the glory for it all. Born at 3lb. 2oz. for Emmett and 2lb. 14oz. for Makenna, at 29 weeks gestation, 11 weeks early, it is a miracle to us.
No brain bleeds, no eye problems, just small. Makenna did have an infection around her belly button where they put the feeding tube but they told us that was pretty common, and it was treated and went away pretty fast, inside of 2-3 days.
Makenna did have oxygen to help her breathe better but that is a common thing for preemies also. Emmett breathed room air from the start. Both came home on apnea monitors for a few weeks, to alert us if they were distressed while breathing or had a heart rate drop, but only a few alerts were "real". Most were just from low battery or loose wire. By the time they had been home two weeks the monitors were gone.
The doctor told Julie not to take them out in public for 4-6 months. While they had breast milk and got colostrum they still had underdeveloped immune systems and were at risk for catching something. So finally they turned 4 months old and Julie took them to church last Sunday, October 6.
Just this past Tuesday, Julie and I took the twins, and Garrett, to Springfield to have their pictures taken for brochures for the Ronald McDonald House. Danita from RMH had called Julie and asked if she would be interested in letting them use the babie's pictures in the brochures and to give her story about having them early and living in the RMH. Julie decided to do that so the twins and another set of twins from the Bolivar area were photographed. Great pictures. They are sending Julie a disc of prints and also gave her a $30 gas card from Kum & Go for bringing the babies up. Julie tried to make me take the card but I refused. Getting to help with the babes is extremely joyful to me and I don't even want to got there about taking money for anything I do for them.
Garrett made a hit with the other set of twins which were 10 month old girls. They loved him, he could talk to them and they would jump up and down, squeal, and laugh. He kissed and kissed them and had everybody laughing. He actually helped while they were taking their pictures, they made him sit right in front of the twins and talk to them so the girls would laugh.
After we had the pictures taken, we of course had to veer through Nixa for some cashew chicken from our favorite cashew chicken place, Cashew Inn. We have been eating cashew chicken there for at least 20 years, I don't remember when we started but know we were stopping there for it when Alicia was fainting a lot and going to the doctor in Springfield which was in 1993, so at least 20 years.
When we left Nixa we detoured again and went to McCauley Park where we let Garrett play for an hour or so. Now to back up a little. When I was babysitting Garrett while Julie was over at the hospital with the twins we would drive around a lot instead of going back over to the Ronald McDonald House. We explored Springfield and explored the parks there. Every time Garrett would catch sight of a playground, at a park, a daycare, a church, or sometimes a home, he would start hollering, "A pwaygwound, a pwaygwound, I wanna pway!" It was hard to explain to him that we couldn't stop at every playground to play. Like every child, Garrett loves to slide, climb and swing. He needed to slide, climb and swing too. The RMH had an excellent playground in their backyard, but we wanted to explore, so we did.
Then after the afternoon feeding and visit with the twins we would go get something to eat if we didn't eat at RMH. When we did this we would explore some more. We ventured out a little farther and went to Nixa several times, to eat cashew chicken of course. When we went to Nixa, we took Garrett to the parks there so Julie could play with Garrett. They were nice but kinda small. Garrett got "through" with them pretty fast.
Then one day, after the twins were home, Bob and I bought some furniture off of craigslist. We went to Nixa to pick it up. When we left, we took a shortcut and went down a back road to go back out to the highway. We hadn't been down the road in several years. When we got about half a mile down the road, we noticed a park (McCauley Park). It had a big center, a pool and needless to say, a BIG playground. So this is where we've taken Garrett to play every time we go through now.
Garrett, twins and Julie have just walked through the door so this is all for now. Gotta do some lovin'.
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