Laughing babies

Weekend Wordsmith's prompt was Laughing Baby, and this online photo was perfect. It prompted in me a memory of my twin daughters laughing at each other, thus my title is "Laughing babies."

I had been told that very young babies don't really laugh, that what mothers think is laughter is really the baby's reaction to gas pains. Don't believe a word of that poppycock. I know better.

Whenever I would place them side by side, before the girls could reliably manage to turn their heads, they would work hard to make eye contact with each other. It was an effort, but those babies were determined. Wobbly heads jerked and turned. First one would see her sister and start laughing, and then the other would get her head in place and laugh along. Unless gas pains are contagious, my identical twins were LAUGHING. They were delighted to see each other. The only way they could make contact was visually, but it's no cliche to say their eyes did light up when they caught sight of each other. Seeing each other was a joy for them, and hearing them laugh was a joy those of us watching. Their laughter was contagious, and we laughed along with them. (My only video from 1960 is in my head, folks, sorry.)

This next part is my paraphrase from Snopes.com, which says the story is TRUE. Based on what I observed in my twins and their obvious joy in each other, I believe this story.

This "Rescuing Hug" photo accompanied a story about newborn twin girls. They were in separate incubators, and one was not expected to live. A hospital nurse went against hospital rules and put the girls in one incubator. When they were together, the healthier of the two threw an arm over her sister in an endearing embrace. The smaller baby's heart rate stabilized and her temperature rose to normal.

This is actually a true story. Kyrie and Brielle Jackson were born on October 17, 1995, each weighing two pounds. Kyrie put on a little weight in the next few days, but Brielle wasn't doing well and cried a lot, leaving her gasping and blue in the face. The NICU nurse, Gayle Kasparian, tried everything to calm her ... she held her, got her dad to hold her, wrapped her in a blanket, suctioned her nose ... but nothing worked.

Remembering a procedure from Europe that she'd heard about, the nurse put Brielle in Kyrie's incubator. Almost immediately, Brielle snuggled up to Kyrie. Her extremely low blood-saturation levels began to soar, she began to breathe easier, the frantic crying stopped, and her normal pinkish color quickly returned. She was allowed to stay with her sister, and over the next few weeks her health continued to improve. The last report Snopes had was when the girls were healthy preschoolers. This photo of them not only circulated for years on the Internet, but it was also published in Life and Reader's Digest.

Did love pull the wee one through? Yes. Were my twin daughters joyful about seeing each other? Absolutely. Were they laughing? You'd better believe it!