Dillon Is So Close To Walking

Little Dillon is the fastest crawler I have ever seen! We have hardwood floors on the first floor and the poor child has developed calluses because he stomps with his knees so hard! Yesterday he took 14 steps in a row! Prior to this the most he would take was 4-5 steps at at time. Today, he did about 30! I have thought that he was holding off on walking because he was waiting for his twin, Donovan to walk. Unfortunately, at this time because of his spinal surgery, he isn't crawling or turning much less walking. That is just my guess. They say there is a special connection betweeen twins.

Donovan's Story

My son Donovan is just 17 months old, has just had spinal surgery and is now wearing a halo. He is a twin. His brothers name is Dillon. My husband and I consider them our special gifts. From the very beginning of Donovans' life it seemed he had a challenge. My pregnancy was a high risk one. I had to have a special test done where they take a sample of of something, which I seem to have blocked out, memory wise, to see if there are any abnormalities. It is the test they can do before they can do an amnio. It is dangerous to the babies and I was afraid. But a previous blood test they had done indicated that there may be abnormalities. As they are doing it, we could watch them on a moniter on the wall and see where they were in the uterus. As they were making their way around to where they needed to go, the scope actually bumped one of the babies on the head! We were appalled! When the test was over and they were sure they had enough of the sample that they needed, my husband turned to me and said, "That was the most horrible thing I have ever had to experience!" At that point my jaw dropped open since I was the one who had her legs up in stir ups with a doctor exploring away inside of my body! All he had to do was hold my hand! The test results came back that everything was okay -thank God! So onward we move! The next problem was I developed gestational diabetes. We tried to control it with diet but that wasn't working. So, we added medication. As we were trying to get that to work I went into active labor. It was eight weeks too soon. I was hospitialized and they tried to continually battle the labor and the blood sugar. This went on for 2 weeks. Then one of the babies was getting larger than the other and they decided it was time to deliver them. They were delivered by c-section and were 6 weeks early, they had to stay in the NICU(neonatal intensive care unit). They needed assistance with oxygen and were getting their feedings by way of nasal tubes. It was horribly nerve racking. Although they take you through the NICU (or show it to you through the glass) before your baby is born so you can see it and have an idea of what it all may entail, it is so very different when it is your precious baby in there.

What Do You Do When The Experts Don't Know

How many of you have had experiences where you know that something is wrong with your child or loved one and the doctors are at a loss to tell you what it is? They may put forth some different theories, but can't tell you decisively what they have, how they got it, and how they will for sure treat it. Please write to me and share your experiences. And how did you eventually get to the truth and the correct diagnosis and treatment?

The Staph Infection That Almost Killed Him

When Donovan was less thank two weeks old, he got very sick in the NICU. It was Memorial Day weekend on that Sunday morning. I had been discharged from the hospital and was at home with my husband and other sons, Alex and Johnny. I hated leaving my tiny babies, 4 lbs. and 4.10 lbs., there, but this hospital was not set up so I could stay. Anyway, we got a call from the hospital saying that Donovan was not feeling well. That he had a problem that morning but seemed to be stable now. They would call again if there were any changes. At that moment, I wanted to go in right away. I wish I had. Call it denial or it could be put down to just being very tired. They called again. That is it I told my husband. If you won't take me, I will drive myself. Which of course, I wasn't supposed to do because of my stitches. To bad, so sad, I was out of here. When I got there I was shocked. He was white. His skin looked like you could see right through it. Of course, he had the IV's in and the feeding tube, but he also had a larger breathing assistance apparatise on him. He had stopped breathing and he had a breathing tube. My heart rose up into my throat. I moved toward him and leaned in toward him and said, "Donovan, it's Mommy. I am here." At that, as soon as he heard my voice he raised his tiny hand to take my finger. The nurses were stunned. They said he had been totally non-responsive. I stayed with him talking to him, singing to him, and telling him how much I loved him. I told him that I needed him to be strong and to fight to stay with me. We had been through way too much to give up now. My husband and our son Alex arrived a bit after I had. The doctors there had arranged to have him transferred by ambulance to a very good Childrens Hospital that we have in our city. I rode in the ambulance with Donovan and my husband and son followed us in one of our cars. They arranged for the transfer because they didn't know what happened or what caused this problem. When we got to the Childrens Hospital and we got to the NICU the doctor came out to talk with us and I asked her to tell us the truth because it was important to us: did we need to call a priest to give our son not only his Last Rights but also to Baptise him. That was the hardest question I have ever had to ask anyone in my life. I was so afraid that the answer would be "Yes, call the priest." Thank God, she said "No. I am a Catholic also, so I do understand. At this time you do not need to call." Then she told me that they only treat Children there. If I collapsed they would have to send me to the hospital down the street. They got me a wheel chair, I sucked it up, and we went to see our son. I am not going to go into all of the medical jargin and details of what happened other than to say, that he was there for 4 days and they saved his life. he was then transferred back to the hospital where his brother still was. During this time I spent my time going to both of the hospitals to see both of the babies but I spent most of my time with Donovan. It wasn't until the third day there that they were sure of what he had, a staph infection in his blood, and that he was going to make it.
I am thankful for my faith which gave me strength and hope that everything would be okay. I hope that everyone has something like that in their lives to help them through those so very hard times.