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Miracle Babies

Isabella & Sophia

Isabella and Sophia entered the world with a bang. After receiving prenatal care in Cairo, Egypt, where my husband Stewart and I live and teach, I flew back to New Hampshire, where I grew up and my parents still live, on March 14th extremely ill. I was 25 weeks pregnant with identical twin daughters, and had severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. After arriving in the US, I was rushed to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH where I received an emergency cesarean section later that same night. The twins weighed only 1 pound 6 ounces and 1 pound 7 ounces and were on the edge of viability. We are so fortunate to have had the wonderful care of the doctors and nurses at Dartmouth.

Isabella and Sophia encountered many obstacles during their 12-week stay in the Intensive Care Nursery (ICN), including several surgeries and infections. Both girls had Retinopathy of Prematurity (the same eye disease that led to Stevie Wonder’s blindness) and had laser eye surgery. They both also had hernia repair surgery. Early in their lives, both girls became sick with Staph Infection. Sophia had a version that responded very well to medication, whereas Isabella became incredibly ill with a resistant strand of the infection (MRSA), which also affected her joints. The doctors finally resorted to an experimental drug, which saved her life. Ultimately, they beat lots of odds stacked against them and were discharged from the hospital much earlier than anticipated. Sophia came home on oxygen for a few weeks and both girls were on monitors. Despite this rough beginning, they are both doing amazingly well now and you would never know the trials they have overcome. They are now 8 months old (4 ½ corrected age based on when they should have been born) and they weigh around 12 and 13 pounds. Their only lasting health concern is mild lung disease, which should naturally resolve itself by age 3. Sophia and Isabella are supposed to get monthly shots over the winter months to help prevent RSV, the most common cold virus, which could become very serious if they were to catch it. Thankfully they have not been sick at all since they were discharged from the hospital!
 

We have struggled greatly since their discharge from the hospital with how to protect the twins in the big, bad outside world. With so many germs everywhere and already enduring such long and complicated stays in the hospital, we were unwilling to take many risks when it came to exposure and people touching our children. My husband has always been something of a germaphobe, especially since living in a developing country. However I had always expected to be a more relaxed parent and it was challenging for me to face being an uptight Mommy. We quickly found that the rest of the world also expects parents to be more relaxed, as everyone we encountered reached into their stroller and car seats to touch them. We had perfect strangers asking to hold them and touching their hands and face! Thinking back, I am pretty sure I probably also touched babies before I had my own. There are no cruel intentions, just friendly people cooing over adorable babies. Once a person would reach into the stroller, we felt uncomfortable scolding a well-meaning adult. We realized that some sort of sign was necessary to protect our children. We searched the internet and found Healthy Little Ones and have been so grateful for such cute, yet direct signs. We immediately saw a difference and NO ONE reached in to touch our babies.

Now we are back in Cairo, Egypt, where we have been living and teaching for the last 4+ years. I have decided to take a couple years off to take care of the twins, while my husband has returned to his English Literature position at an American high school. We are facing new challenges living in this crowded city, but are still working hard to keep our little ones healthy.  Now we just need to get the signs translated into Arabic!! ~~ Alexa

At the pyramids on First Birthday

1 year old

13 months old

13 months old