Premature twins a success story for Everett neonatal clinic

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, April 20, 2010

MARYSVILLE — Seven-year-old identical twins Kole and Keagan Johnson were playing in their first Little League game Monday night.

Kole Johnson dreams of being a pitcher. His twin brother, Keagan, says: “I want to be a hitter.”

No one who saw them rounding the bases or playing catch would have any hint of how their lives began.

On March 24, 2003, they boys were born about eight weeks premature. Kole weighed 1 pound, 14.9 ounces. His brother Keagan, 3 pounds, 7.9 ounces.

The boys were treated for weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit of Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.

“You’d be sitting there watching them — two little babies that weigh less than the weight of one normal baby,” their mom, Kris Johnson, said.

The twins were kept in an isolette, a protective environment where they were kept warm, administered fluids, and given time for their lungs to develop.

Even 17 days after his birth, Kole’s tiny hand was about the size of the upper joint of his dad’s fourth finger.

Keagan’s stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit spanned five and a half weeks. For Kole, it was even longer, a total of seven weeks.

“As little as they were — aside from the first few days of shock — we never felt they weren’t going to make it,” their mom said.

Each day, their weights were recorded and kept on a board inside their room. Every ounce was a quiet victory, one more mile marker on the road to boyhood.

After weeks of special treatments, the boys finally got to go home. And they had none of the physical or development problems that premature babies are at risk for.

To celebrate their healthy development, their mom will join an expected 1,000 people participating in Saturday’s March of Dimes walk in Everett. The organization works to prevent premature births through research and education.

This year’s March of Dimes walk also will include a reunion of children who were treated as infants in Providence’s neonatal unit, which opened in May 2002. It treats about 200 infants a year.

This is the second time the March of Dimes has organized a reunion in Everett for children who were treated in Providence’s intensive care unit for infants.

Premature births are the No. 1 cause of cerebral palsy and developmental delays, said Dr. H. Frank Andersen, Providence’s division chief for women and children’s services.

Premature babies generally are cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit until what would have been their normal due date, he said.

Typically, full-term babies are born at 38 to 39 weeks. “So if a baby is born at 35 weeks, that baby may spend one to two weeks in the nursery,” Andersen said.

The infants of moms just 24 weeks into their pregnancies are sometimes cared for there, he said, but more typically the infants are 26 weeks and up.

The problems faced by premature infants can include lung problems, poor feeding, infections, and trouble maintaining normal body temperatures.

Kole and Keagan are now first-graders at Allen Creek Elementary School. Their favorite subject is math.

Unlike this year, next year the boys won’t be in the same classroom. When they heard the news, they were disappointed, their mom, said. But Kole looked at Keagan and said “It’s OK. We’ll always be best friends.”

The boys and their mom have been peppered with questions about what it’s like to be twins, many from people who have no idea how fragile they were at birth.

“It’s something you’ll never forget,” their mom said. “Each time you retell it, you feel more privileged to tell the story.

“It definitely is a miracle … We really were lucky.”

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486, salyer@heraldnet.com.

March of Dimes walk

The March of Dimes walk, a 3.5-mile fundraising event to help prevent premature births and birth defects, is Saturday at American Legion Memorial Park, 145 Alverson Blvd. in Everett.

Registration is 7:30 a.m. and the march begins at 9 a.m. This year’s goal is to have 1,000 walkers and raise $230,000.

For more information, call 206-624-1373 or go to www.marchforbabies.org.