1st Year Check Up

Granddaddy went to our appointment with us. All 3 hours of it....
The twins went for their 1 year check up on 10/18. Bailey weighed in at a slight 15 pds 3 oz and her height was 25 inches. Wyatt weighted 16 pds 15 oz and his height was 26.5 inches. Wyatt had a good appointment. We all knew he was developmentally doing well.
Bailey is still behind (still no pt started UGH) and the doctor was disappointed in the weight gain. This time he did not tell me what to do to increase the weight. I think he was scared of me. The only way to increase her weight gain is a feeding tube. This is the first time we have seen him since I made the appointment to get a second opinion on her eyes. I told him how angry I was and that I think Bailey has been allowed to fall through the cracks. I told him I have had plenty of time to come up with my own assumptions on what happened with Bailey's sight. I told him that I believe she may have had a stroke (after coming home from the NICU) in the area that controls sight in the brain. We will need an MRI to tell if this happened. We shall see what happens this week at Emory.
The twins were suppose to receive 8 types of vaccines and I put my foot down and said no. I tried this before and they had a fit and gave all the vaccines. This time I won. I told the doctor that he could not promise me that one of the vaccine before did not make her stroke. He just looked at me and said which ones you want to give. LOL A mommy must protect her babies.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

I guess that is just how I feel today. Thanks to our 4 hour and 15 minutes of Dr's office visits last week the twins are sick. We had to go again today to see the doctor. Their nose has been running for over a week but yesterday Bailey started to wheeze so I knew we had to go to the doctor. Both of them have ear infections and are now on antibiotics. Bailey is on breathing treatments. To think, people don't understand why we don't take the babies to family events and to other people's house. They have caught someones simple cold and to their damaged lungs it has turned into so much more.
Please keep them in your prayers.

Another Busy Week

We had a busy week both in doctor's appointments and development. I will talk about Dr's appointments in another post.

Bailey has been rolling around everywhere. I distinctively remember a few week ago rescuing another little man from under my bed. He has moved on to other things and no longer gets stuck. I now have the opportunity to start rescuing Little Bit.

Ah, the evil couch that I wanted for them. It helped teach Wyatt to stand, and now he won't stop standing up. Bad, bad couch....
I think Wyatt is trying to stuff her in the bowl to send her back. He is ok unless you are giving her attention.
Poor Bailey has been spitting up more again so you see it on all her clothes. We won't even mention the fact that she will again eat nothing.

Wyatt started standing up by himself last Monday (Oct. 18) and has progress in a few days to climbing up the stairs. Help he is killing us!

He even climbs into the fireplace. I guess it is a good thing we never got any gas logs.

He sure is mighty short to be standing up. I can't imagine how funny he will look walking.

Questions that make you go HUMMMM

Here are some VERY common questions we get asked all the time.
1. Are they twins?
I sometimes don't even know how to respond to that and wonder what people are thinking. Do they think that Lee and I are dating and each have a baby?
2. How old are they?
When I tell them a year old people look at them so funny. The old ladies always say they sure are small. Lee and I have discussed this before and wondered if it would not just be easier to just tell people their adjusted age.
4. Are they identical?
I always say no they are boy/girl and then the person usually will say so they aren't identical then? Again no.
5. What is it like to raise twins?
Sorry I can't answer that I am raising special needs twins so I don't have a true picture of what it is really like.

I think the cutest thing was said to Lee. He was standing with both the babies one day and a man went by and told him well that is the way to get it over with. Lee told him well actually I two others. The poor man then just said well I guess you knew what you were doing this time then.

My least favorite question was when the woman asked me if I was overfeeding Bailey when Bailey threw up all over the floor. Through clenched teeth I told her Bailey is x amount of months old. Does she really look like she is overfed? I think the woman still left thinking she had done me a favorite by putting it out there that I might be overfeeding Bailey. My revenge on her would be to make her try to feed Bailey one whole day.

Happy 1st Birthday My Sweet Angels

It is hard to believe that the twins are now 1. Has it really been a whole year? We chose not to have a big party on their actual birthday. We will wait till January and have a party. We made this decision because of many reasons. One was the fact that they are only physically 8.5 months old so they could not have a birthday cake, and they also have not started their synagis shots so they would be at higher risk of catching RSV from someone. I also did not feel that I could handle a crowd of people. October 15 was a very emotional time for me.

In place of a birthday cake we did jello or as Brianne would call it "jelly cake."
Bailey loved playing in it but did not like to eat it at all.
Wyatt took on a hands off only approach. He did like the taste of it.
Bailey just could not take her hands out of it.
Wyatt decided you could eat it without hands.







What a year! I hope this year brings many new things for the twins. (like a new attitude in regards to eating) I hope to see them walk and talk.If we can just keep Wyatt from choking on something or shocking himself with the electrical plugs. I really think he will be the death of us.

Twin Loving and PT Advise

These days there are more loving moments between the twins. They seem to notice each other more. Wyatt will sometimes still grab her hair or face, but sometimes he just goes and sits by her. It really makes you smile to see them interact.

He lovingly smashes her into the ground.
One of those face grabs... I don't think she likes it very much.

I know it seems like they are fighting, but there were no tears going on here. I don't really know what they were doing.
One of the suggestions the physical therapist gave us was to put Bailey in a laundry basket to get her to sit up. She really would rather be on her side sucking her fingers. The first day we started putting her in the basket she cried a lot. That night while in the basket she started banging her head on the back of the basket. I think she was trying to make it go away so she could lie down. She will now sit in the basket for a long time and not cry. I am so happy to be able to put her in the basket versus having her lie on the floor all the time. I think one of the reasons she will not sit up is her vision affects her ability to keep her balance. I think she feels safer in the basket.

Another suggestion was to give her mylar balloons that were flat. Well daddy had some balloons that were almost flat so we got to use them. They were a huge hit with Bailey, Wyatt, and Mac. They also suggested toys that make music and have flashing lights. She said it was the perfect season because Christmas lights were good. We bought her a Christmas tree from Cracker Barrel that sings, dances, and lights up. If you see or think of any toys that light up and play music let me know. It needs to be a bright and big light for it do her any good.

We tried balls in the basket. It was not as popular, but she played with them some.
About 4 days ago I felt that another tooth had broken through in Wyatt's mouth. He now has both front bottom teeth. Today I felt that he has 2 more that have broken through on the top. He now has the two lateral incisors coming in on the top. I was mistaken with Bailey on which teeth were coming in on her top. It is actually the same two top teeth that Wyatt has coming in. They now have all 4 of the same teeth coming through.
Yesterday, I caught Wyatt on his knees in front of the electrical plug. Yep, he was sticking his finger in it. I have never had to baby proof my house, but I see with that one it will be a necessity.
Bailey can now rotate herself all the way around in a circle. Today she scooted backwards some on her belly. Definitely this is progress. This what Wyatt started doing before he started crawling.

A busy Week

It has really been a busy week around here. The social worker for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind called and said that Bailey qualifies for services. They will come next week to write out a plan of care for her. She will see a vision specialist. She needs to see a physical therapist, but they are in the process of hiring one. I don't know how long that will take so we may have to find alternate care for that.
Wednesday Dad and I took them to the preemie follow up clinic that another mother told us about. To qualify for this clinic you have to be either 26 weeks or less or less that so many grams. We definitely fit the bill on both accounts. They were a very kind understanding group of people. As you know when talking about a preemie you go by adjusted age not real age. On their birthday they will be the adjusted age of 8 1/2 months. Developmentally Wyatt scored 2 months ahead of his adjusted age. Bailey scored 2 months behind her adjusted age. They said she definitely needs physical therapy, and they are working on getting that provided for us. The Dr seemed to think her developmental delays are due to her sight problems. We totally agree. While she can see now, there were months where she saw nothing or very little. I feel that poor little Bailey fell through the cracks. Someone should have told us before now that the AIDB was available to us. She qualified by diagnosis alone.
I am sad and very angry. Everyone looks at the twins and say they look healthy now. I just want to smack them. Do they really look like 1 year old babies. No!! They have seen or are seeing the following health providers since they have come home: orthopedic, GI, occupational therapy, physical therapy, ophthalmologist, surgeon, urology, CCAD, neonatologist, pediatrician, and AIDB case workers. They have to receive synagist shots every month this winter just so they hopefully don't get RSV and die. The shots cost over 3K a month and thankfully our insurance pays for most of it. I FIGHT for every sip or spoonful of food they ingest. Does this sound normal? Ah the life of a parent with a micro preemie.....

Maw and Grandaddy

This one is for you. Wyatt said to tell you he needs a new toy. He is tired of playing with old girl toys. He wants a brand new shiny one. He would also like you to know that he is saving up all his energy for Grandaddy when we go to Birmingham on Thursday. He is going to give him a run for his money.