Tracy Tolbert typically hangs a wreath and other Christmas decorations on the exterior of his three-story McKeesport home on the day after Thanksgiving.

But the live evergreen wreath was still on a table on the porch earlier this week because Tracy has spent most of the holiday season indoors, helping to care for the infant twins born in March to his daughter, Alayna.

The babies, a boy, Zyier, and a girl, Zyonnah, were delivered four months early at Magee-Womens Hospital and both have medical problems that require constant attention.

Zyonnah's problems are so severe that she requires 24-hour care including an overnight nurse who comes to the house five nights a week.

Alayna was in 10th grade at McKeesport High School last year when she became pregnant. She left school on her 16th birthday in January and began attending an alternative school, Phase 4 Learning Center in West Mifflin.

"I had a normal pregnancy; there was no trouble," she said. But when she experienced pains and contractions on the morning of March 23, her father rushed her to the hospital, where the twins arrived an hour later following an emergency Caesarean section.

Zyier weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces; his sister was 1 pound, 3 ounces.

While both suffered complications from premature lungs and underwent surgery to repair openings in their hearts, Zyonnah also had a brain hemorrhage that required a permanent shunt in her head to stem the bleeding. She remains on a ventilator and receives formula and medication through a feeding tube that was inserted through her neck in August.

She spent three months in Magee's neonatal intensive care unit before transferring to Children's Hospital for surgery and two months of follow-up care. In August, she was moved to the Pediatric Specialty Hospital at the Children's Home and Lemieux Family Center in Friendship. She came home Dec. 4.

After spending three months in Magee's NIC unit with his sister, Zyier also stayed in transitional infant care at the Children's Home for a week and arrived home by mid-July.

Tracy is able to help his daughter with the twins' care because he does not work and receives medical disability income as a result of diabetes and congestive heart failure.

His wife, Caroline, works full-time as an operating room technician at Children's Hospital in Oakland. Another daughter, Saniah, 11, is in sixth grade. Alayna, who received medical assistance from the state to cover the babies' medical care, hopes to obtain her high-school equivalency degree through Phase 4 so that she can eventually attend college and pursue a career in forensic sciences.

Both babies are doing remarkably better than the Tolberts expected after their fragile beginnings. During the first few months of Zyonnah's life, the family got several phone calls from the hospital in the middle of the night asking them to make a decision about whether to remove her respirator because she was so ill.

"I said, 'No. When God is ready to take her, he will,''' recalled Alayna. Her father credits neonatal nurses at Magee, especially Stephanie Fite, with pumping the family full of optimism when Zyonnah's condition was grave. He and Alayna also praised the social workers and other staff at the Children's Home and Every Child Inc., a social services agency, with helping them locate the services and equipment they need to care for the twins.

In fact, asked what the Post-Gazette Goodfellows might provide for the twins and their family this Christmas, Alayna responded, "Isn't there a way I can thank all the people who helped us and who were so positive?"

Her father said the twins can use developmental toys like the musical mirror that hangs in Zyonnah's crib.

"We are thankful for the blessing of the babies being here. Zyonnah has a long road ahead. But these twins are our joys."

The Post-Gazette Goodfellows Toy Fund provides toys and other support for families in need during the holidays. Contributions are tax-deductible. You can use the coupon on this page or donate online by visiting www.post-gazette.com/pgcharities.

Today's total.....$3,812

Grand total.....$77,236.24

Anonymous.....$100

In memory of Gertrude

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Sarita and Milton Eisner.....$50

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Virginia and Bob Lape.....$30

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