National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

Good evening everyone. Nate has asked me to update everyone on the status of his twin girls. He has been very busy the past couple of days due to some complication that have come about with both of his twins. Kendall had some sort of intestinal blockage that was surgically repaired early Saturday morning. She came through the surgery just fine but will have to remain in the hospital for several weeks. Madelyn, is doing well but they are keeping an eye on a fluid filled mass around what might be a non functioning, duplicated kidney. this mass was noticed several months ago and has not changed much as she has developed. All of her stats are great and is eating well. Kelley is doing good except for the fact that the girls are in two different hospitals in the ATL area and she can't be in two places at one time. I can imagine the stress that this could produce!

Please keep the Hammond's in your thoughts and prayers as they work their way through this time in their lives.

........p.s. A little birdy told me a little bit ago that Maddie left daddy a present in her diaper!

Please tell Nathan that my heart is heavy for him. I can't imagine the pain he must be going through.

from Nate a little bit ago.....

The girls are doing about the same; Madelyn's up to three bottles a day. Her temp is back to normal and out of the heat lamp but special care is given. They dress her in a shirt and a heavy onesie Kelley brought from home and then swaddle her in a couple blankets.

Wow............. . Thanks for keeping us informed, Jeff. My prayers are with Nathan, Kelley and the girls. Looks like it will be a bit of a haul but they're on top of it medically.

MikeB

Mr. Natural himself......

This is from one of the updates Nate's wife had posted on another site. I'm sure they would appreciate the continued thoughts and prayers for the little ones. Nate should chime in soon and give us a full update.....

Hammond Update….
Maddy is now on 6 bottles a day!! 2 more to go! Very good chance she could come home next week!! Been a good day. Looking forward to snuggling with Kendall again tomorrow.

Kendall might come off the vent tomorrow!! Cross your fingers it's been a great day so far. Maddy was feeding like a champ and Kendall has been so precious and giving us the uplift that we needed so desperately. I hope we can end the day with great news from Maddys cranial scan results....

Good News......A note from Nate's wife:

Kelley Hammond Oooook, so Madelyn may come home Sunday! As long as she takes all 8 bottles in the next 24 hrs. And passes her car seat test, she comes home! Kendall is still on room air and no vent, and she finally let go of the dopamine, and is keeping her BP up. Both girls are doing great and we are so thankful for some answered prayers! Still a long road ahead, but we're staying positive.

This is great news folks. Remember these babies are less than 35 weeks old (40 weeks is normal gestation). Also keep in mind that these girls are <1% of all twins born! We all Knew Nate was special, and now we can see that he is sharing his genes around......which at first you might not think is a good thing....BUT.....he's a great guy and has help a lot of folks out on this board with tidbits about tooling, fixing, or how not to screw something up!!

Continue your prayers for his family. It is working!

Thanks for the update Jeff.

Glad to hear that things are going well with everyone involved.

Thanks Jeff for keeping the word up.

Things got wild about 4 days in, with one of the girls getting transfered to another hospital for surgery. But things are starting to settle down, and we've found a rhythm to our day where we can spend optimum time with each girl (they're at separate Hospital NICU's.) It makes for long hours, but you put your pants on every day. I certainly have a new respect for my parents for all the crap I put them through growing up.

The girls are still small, about to break the 5lb mark, but both are feeding from a bottle now. Kendall will have to have surgery again to close a stoma left by the surgeon (she had 10cm of lower intestine removed, it had twisted and cutoff circulation.) But hopefully she'll be much bigger and stronger so the after effect won't be so traumatizing. And once Madelyn can handle feeding 8 times a day on her own; she gets to come home. Basically a wait and see, while she feed's and grow's.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayer's; they have really kept us going the last couple weeks.

Have fun at Oshkosh and fly safe.

nkh

Nathan: thanks for keeping us informed and glad to see things are improving. I have a special reason for following your progress: the good news is.... we just found out our son and his wife are expecting twins in January . Suprised to say the least!! The bad news is they live 1200 miles from us.
MikeB