Are you looking for special
baby shower decorations for preemies or twins?
Posted by kim on November 17, 2011
Worldwide, 13 million babies are born preterm each year and one million of those die each year as a result of their early birth. Today (November 17th, 2011) is the first-ever World Prematurity Day, part of the March of Dime’s Prematurity Awareness Month, to honor these premature infants and raise awareness about the importance of striving to give every baby a healthy start in life.
So today, I not only praise the March of Dimes for helping my preemie twins, Macy and Mallory, survive almost eighteen years ago, but I also praise my preemie twins themselves for the fine young ladies they have turned out to be. Read our story.
Macy recently attended the FCCLA Cluster Meeting in Minneapolis and was so excited to tell me that one of the presentations at the convention was the March of Dimes talking about World Prematurity Day. I am hoping she decides to do a Star Project on being a preemie and share her miraculous story.
Fostering a sharing and caring environment at home is nothing short of difficult. Especially for twins, who are often times expected to be each other’s best friends, expectations can be overwhelming.
Bunk beds for your twins can grant them individual spaces while still learning valuable lessons about compromise and cooperation. The bunk bed helps save space in the kids’ room while your twins work together toward a common goal, whether it be making the bed or deciding who gets to sleep on the top bunk. Comfortable, secure, stylish, and a space saver, bunk beds can also be a vital learning tool for teaching your kids an important lesson in cohabitation.
Posted by kim on October 3, 2011
If you read the story of my preemie twins, you will know that Macy had gallstones (yes, a 6 pound baby had gallstones). Back in 1994, Moctanin was the drug of choice for adults (not children, and especially not babies) to break up gallstones. Moctanin was to be administered slowly over time (again in ADULTS). Well, the nurse gave my daughter an adult dose with one push of a syringe! Macy coded. It took the doctors and residents over 45 minutes to revive her (I read this later in the hospital records). The doctors prepared us that Macy would probably not live through the night. When we saw her, she was gray and lifeless and bleeding out of every orifice (eyes, ears, drainage tubes, etc).
A million questions ran through my mind. Did the pharmacist that dispensed Moctanin warn the doctor and staff of Unsafe Drugs side effects? Why did they think an adult medicine would work on a baby? And why didn’t they decrease the dose? And why wasn’t it administered properly? And why was my least favorite resident (he wore a huge turban and spoke very poor English) assigned to Macy’s care?
Moctanin was eventually taken off the market, and Macy lived to tell her story, bless her heart!
Posted by kim on September 21, 2009
My daughter, Macy has a high pain tolerance. I attribute it to the fact that she endured a lot surgeries and setbacks as an infant. She was a very high-maintenance child, and I could actually tell when she was sick as she would be still, quiet and not throw her normal tantrums. So now when she does actually complain of not feeling well, which isn’t often, I know something is definitely wrong with her.
Since Macy’s stomach has been hurting on her main incision line across her abdomen and not stretching as she grows, I made an appointment with the surgeon. The other indented scars seen above are from her colostomy and bile drainage tubes.
We went to see Dr. Stephen Raynor at Children’s Hospital in Omaha last week, the same surgeon that performed all of Macy’s surgeries as an infant. He remembered her well, saying she was responsible for all of his gray hair. It was nice to catch up with him, as we haven’t seen him in over a decade.
We scheduled exploratory surgery for October 5th, as the doctor thinks she most likely needs some hernias repaired. He will also be able to do some scar revision and remove some adhesions. Macy is sometimes upset that she will never have a bikini-perfect tummy, but I told her she should be proud of her battle wounds, for without them, she would not be alive today.
We could have scheduled the surgery sooner, but Macy is also a certifiable socialite and didn’t want to ruin any already made plans. She was fussing a lot today of stomach pain, so much that I offered to call the hospital and see if I could move up her surgery. But I just got the eye-rolling look that she is not going to miss the big Homecoming dance. Everyone has priorities. 
We appreciate this month's PreemieTwins.com sponsor of
Gainsville AC service who helps us provide free resources for parents of premature infants and multiples.
