When I was little, someone asked me, “Where did you get your red hair?” I quickly answered, “From my twin! It is just that she is a little bit older than me and is in a different family than me, but she is my twin and that is where I got my red hair!” Well, needless to say, my family still teases me for that comment. I hadn’t quite grasped some of the more basic biology back then… This “twin” of mine is my close cousin Tricia Anderson.
When she was 24, Tricia and her husband, Travis, found out that they were having triplets. They immediately started going to a perinatologist to prepare for the birth of two girls and a boy, who would become Abigail, Jessica, and Jacob. Tricia went on bed rest at week 18. The goal was to carry the babies for 32 weeks. That is a long time on bed rest!
Their doctor had been monitoring the babies closely and at week 28 some serious problems started to ensue. While Abbie and Jessie’s grow rate continued to grow steadily, Jake’s began to decline. Then the day after Christmas of the same week, Trish went into pre-term labor. Travis rushed Tricia to the emergency room. The doctors wanted to stop the labor, but Jake’s heart rate started to slow down. That evening, they put heart rate monitor belts on Trish’s stomach to monitor the babies’ heart rates. During the night, Jake’s monitor slipped down and started recording Jessie’s heart rate. The morning nurse came in and discovered what was wrong. As soon as they found Jake’s real heart rate, Travis barely had time to give Tricia a priesthood blessing before she was rushed off for an emergency C-Section.
These babies were preemies in every sense of the word. Abbie (left) was the first to come and weighed two pounds, nine ounces. Jessie (middle) was next at two pounds, one ounce. Jake (right) came last at one pound, thirteen ounces. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and had severe Intraventricular Hemorrhaging or IVH. At that point, they knew that Jacob had major head trauma, but they were not sure to what extent or how the damage would manifest it’s self. Jake had a shut put in his head to alleviate pressure from a build up of cerebral spinal fluid and to avoid hydrocephalus. That shunt would need to be replaced one more time because of a malfunction.
It was a scary start with Jake right from the beginning, but besides one sticky bout of pneumonia with Jessie, the girls pulled through just fine. A wide array of health professionals started working with our little Jake, including occupational therapists. 
When this new little family was finally able to go home from the hospital, occupational therapists would come over 2 – 3 times a week to work with Jake on things like sucking and keeping his muscles stretched out. When he was older, they worked on texture and taste. Because of the extent of Jake’s brain damage, he was never really able to eat (without the aid of a feeding tube through his stomach) hear, see, or communicate. Jake was our sweet little angel.
I believe it is because of my interaction with and love for this beautiful little boy that I have a deep desire to become and occupational therapist. I saw the things that they were doing to help Jake, as well as to help and support his family. Amazing things happened and these good occupational therapists had a huge impact on our lives.
