Doubly Thankful

Eleanor Uecker crawls across the room toward her mother with considerable speed, a determined look and a grunt with every inch she advances.
She isn’t after the dog that passes in front of the camera screen. And she blows right past her twin brother Lincoln, who is sitting up himself with his attention focused elsewhere.
Finally, she reaches her destination, sticks out her hand, lets out a scream and snatches her mom’s phone.
“Hey that’s my phone!” says Rachael Geehan.
Eleanor flips over to her back and starts taking what looks like selfies, gurgling and chattering all the while.
It’s hard to believe that these chubby-cheeked, bright-eyed babies have been fighting for their lives since before they were born. And while their challenges are most certainly not behind them, their progress is nothing short of a miracle.
Lincoln was born at 23 weeks and five days, weighing in at just 1 pound, .43 ounces and measuring 12 inches long. Sister Eleanor was born 21 days later, weighing 2 pounds, 1 ounce and measuring 13.5 inches long. Shortly before their births, a doctor had told Rachael and fiance Aaron Uecker that their children had a 1 percent chance of surviving.
And it has been rough going. Lincoln has suffered brain bleeds and hydrocephalus, hernias and undergone a heart surgery. The impact of the brain bleeds is not known at this time.
Eleanor underwent several blood transfusions, hernia surgery and heart surgery.
Ten months ago, the twins were released to go home. It had been four months since Rachael had stepped foot in her own house.
The first night was not a good one.
“I remember Lincoln’s pulseox kept going off. It has a super loud alarm, one that you can hear all through the house. We cranked his oxygen up, and started to stimulate him to get him to take a breath,” said Rachael. “I cried for so long telling Aaron that I could not take care of these two babies and that I wanted to take them back to Denver right away. Aaron said for us to get through that first night, and we would talk about it in the morning when our nerves and emotions were not everywhere.”
Thankfully, things improved a great deal. There are no more heart monitors or oxygen apparatus and the twins no longer need a lot of the medications they were initially on. Although the family spends most of its time at home and at doctors appointments, they have ventured out to stores and even a couple of restaurants.
Eleanor now tips the scales at 17 pounds, 2 ounces while her brother is 17 pounds, 15 ounces. And the once fragile babies are hitting milestones.
Eleanor is pulling herself up to stand and cruising along furniture and what Rachael refers to as her “Army crawl” is very fast. She is talking as well and letting her personality come out.
“She has an attitude and personality like I have never seen on a baby,” said Rachael.
Eleanor’s heart problems got worse but then better. Rachael and Aaron knew that a heart bypass would have to be done but were initially told that Eleanor had to be 2-years-old or 22 pounds. But in May they were told her heart would not wait. After much prayer the couple decided to go forward with a risky surgery that involved going through Eleanor’s thighs. It was successful.
Lincoln is a tad behind his sister but making progress. He is able to go from a laying down position to sitting up, can crawl and like his sister, can say the same words as his sister – mama, dada and baba.
“He is still very calm, but everyday a little more of his personality comes out, “ said Rachael.
On the medical front, Lincoln has been released from his neurologist for one year, as long as he remains stable. Whatever damage was done to his brain from brain bleeds and hydrocephalus will not get any worse and there is no way of knowing when, or if, those will show up. He remains on medication for his kidneys and has developed asthma, which did not come as a surprise.
Rachael and Aaron say they are also thankful for the continued support and prayers of the community.