“It’s Father’s Day every day,” said first-time father Andrew Logan. Watch video
Andrew Logan holds his new born daughter Sejal, and his wife Rohini Harvey, holds Iris, .The twins were born premature and are being kept in the neonatal intensive care unit at Baystate Children's Hospital. The Amherst couple will be spending Father's Day in nthe unit with the two new members of their family.
SPRINGFIELD – Andrew Logan, of Amherst, will be spending Father’s Day with his wife, Rohini Harvey, and their twin daughters, Iris and Sejal, in the neonatal infant care unit of Baystate Children’s Hospital.
“It’s Father’s Day every day,” said the beaming first-time father.
The couple looked exceptionally serene as Sejal waved her tiny arms in her father’s lap, but Logan said looks can be deceiving. “It depends on the time of day you catch us,” he said. “At a certain point, sleep deprivation can be calming.”
The twins are in neonatal care because they were born a month early. “I was pretty surprised Sunday when it happened,” said Harvey.
“In fact,” said her husband, “they threatened to come two months early – but I’m glad they waited.”
Dr. Robert W. Rothstein, neonatologist at Baystate, said preemies need special care because they have low blood sugar and initially receive fluid intravenously.
About 10 percent of the hospital’s 5,000 deliveries a year are premature, said Rothstein. “We are the only Level 3 Regional NICU in Western Massachusetts,” he said, which means that even if babies are born prematurely elsewhere in the four counties, they are transported to Baystate Children’s Hospital. Rothstein said the twins’ progress is “perfect.” That’s the joy of working in a neonatal unit, he said.
Iris is named in honor of Harvey’s late father, who had a beautiful garden full of irises. As for Sejal, Harvey and her husband just love the name – “and my parents can pronounce it,” said Logan, who comes from the Boston area.
Sejal’s middle name is Kamala, which was the name of Harvey’s grandmother. Harvey’s side of the family has roots in India.
The couple met 16 years ago at Amherst College. Logan, 35, works for a Boston-based nonprofit environmental agency. Harvey, a pediatrician and hospitalist, turns 35 today.
The girls were wearing matching pink knit caps, though their mom said they probably won’t dress identically often. “I think it’s important for them to be their own people and to develop their own personalities,” she said.
As Iris snoozed and Sejal continued to wriggle, the parents noted that it’s usually the opposite: The larger Sejal is calm and Iris is “small and feisty.”
“I’m now past the time when I’m afraid I’m going to break her,” said Logan, gazing at the squirming bundle on his lap. “The first few days were nerve-wracking.”
He grew up in a family of five children and is pleased that the twins have created an instant multiple-child family for him and his wife.
“We went all the way at once,” said Logan, “and I certainly wouldn’t change a thing.”