I have a beautiful set of twins to share with you today from a recent visit to the NICU.  Have I said yet how much I love the staff at St. Charles?  They are all amazingly kind and incredibly talented at what they do.  I’m so blessed every time I go in to photograph their babies.

Bryson and McKenna were born nine weeks early on July 17th.  Bryson weighed 3 lbs 11 oz.  McKenna was just a hair smaller at 3 lbs 9 oz.  Immediately after they made their debut into the world, they were placed in the NICU.  After nearly three weeks in the only home they had known, Bryson had two episodes where his heart stopped beating.  After the second, the doctors discovered a blood clot between Bryson’s heart and lungs.  While his sister remained in Bend, he was flown to the NICU at OHSU in Portland where he underwent many tests, blood samples, pokes, prods, and the close scrutiny of doctors.  Because he is fiercely independent, he was quickly off the oxygen, bed warmers, and feeding tubes and did everything he could to get back to Bend to be with his twin sister.  At the time of our shoot a few weeks ago he was a free man, no longer in the NICU (in either Portland or Bend), and was receiving two daily shots of a blood thinning medication to alleviate the clot and prevent any future clots from forming.  They scan for blood clots every two weeks.  McKenna had done her part in gaining an additional two pounds, and was close to going home herself.

Another set of miracle babies.  And another miracle story to tell.  Happy Friday.