Welcome to Our Blog! Our Story Starts Below...

Welcome to our blog! We set this up as an information hub about the progress of our little twin boys who were born on January 5, 2010. We along with our little boys first thank you so much for your love and support, and hope that this blog will give you an opportunity to follow their progress as they grow in the NICU at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton.

Our little boys had a harrowing journey to get here. They were born at 25 weeks and 6 days, which is needless to say, very early. Jared William, was born at 10:49 a.m. feet first, and on the bathroom floor of the delivery room. Anthony Michael was born at 11:30 via C-section after he decided that he wanted to come out hands first.

Our story started on Monday, January 4 after a doctor's appointment with Dr. Gray. Danielle had been feeling generally, "crappy" the day before and reported what sounded like some contractions. The doctor decided to send us across the street to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay. After a couple of hours in labor and delivery the staff confirmed a few contractions, but very far apart. Her cervix was not dilated and the babies were fine.

The doctor sent us home and told us to keep track of the contractions, and so long as they weren't less than 7 minutes apart there was no need for concern. The next morning Danielle started feeling contractions again, but this time they were about five minutes apart. She called the doctor who said to wait another hour and see if they went away.

I was just getting ready to walk out the door to work when Danielle had a contraction that just about doubled her over. Deciding something wasn't right, I called the doctor and said we were coming to the hospital.

On our way to the hospital Danielle was having severe pains in her lower back every three minutes. When we arrived at the hospital Danielle was hooked up to the machines which registered no contractions at all. The doctors and nurses did not think her pains were contractions but constipation. After several attempts to alleviate that Danielle went into the bathroom still having severe lower back pain.

After a minute, I heard a scream, and Danielle was screaming that her babies were coming out. The nurses came rushing, as did the doctor, but Jared was too impatient to wait. He was born on the bathroom floor. After Danielle was moved to the bed, Anthony wasn't so cooperative and an emergency C-section was performed.

The NICU unit was quick to respond and help the teenie little babies breathe and fight for life. Jared was 2lbs. 1oz. and was 13 and 1/2 inches long. Anthony was 1lb. 15oz. and was 13 inches long.

The whole thing was totally unexpected, and frankly more traumatic than happy. But we are blessed with two gorgeous little miracle babies!

Our boys came home to us on March 26, 2010, after spending 81 days or about 12 weeks in the NICU at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. As you may note from our previous posts below, the journey was not without its bumps in the road.

There were highs, and there were lows. We and the boys braved two laser eye surgeries, and countless other obstacles and scares. But, we never lost confidence in the medical team in the NICU, and always kept our faith that God would lead us through this time.

Our steadfastness paid off, because now the boys are happy and healthy at home! This of course brings with it a totally new set of challenges that we are exicted and eager to experience. The task of caring for twin newborns is a daunting one, but a welcome one.

So, just because the boys are now home, don't think the blogging will stop. It may not be as consistent as before, but we will do our best to keep you all updated on their progress, and give you a window into our lives raising twin boys.

Enjoy!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Daddy goes back to work today

Jared and Daddy's pinky Anthony in deep thought


Today is Jason's first day back to work. It was hard for both of us when it came time for him to leave this morning. He has been so strong to help me with everything thing I need it is difficult to feel like doing anything without him here. My mom is staying with me today while Jason is at work. Since I can't drive Jason feels more comfortable with someone being here in case something happens and we have to rush to the hospital.


I spoke to the boys nurses about an hour ago and here are the updates on each:

Anthony has completed all three doses of Ibuprofen in hopes to close his PDA - They are running an echocardiogram today to determine if it has closed or if more doses will be necessary. Depending on when the CHOC cardiologist reads the test we may have the results today or tomorrow.

They are planning to start feeding Anthony today! They haven't found any more blood in his feeding tube, so it looks like he will be ready to eat. Once they start feeding him, he may have his first poopy diaper. Jason and I never thought we would be so excited about poop!

Anthony is also off of the light therapy as of today. His bilirubin is doing well so no more sunglasses for him. Hopefully they are able to remove the large velcro pads the anonymous nurse stuck to his head on his Birthday :) This means we will be able to see more of him and hopefully get to see him open his eyes.

Anthony and Jared have both had a few "spells" over the last 24 hours. According to all of the NICU nurses, this is extremely common with preemies of their gestational age. Although they continue to breathe and their oxygen saturation remains high, their heart rate drops significantly. The nurses need to stimulate them by wiggling them or patting their little bottoms to "wake them up" and get them back on track. This was pretty scary when it happened when we were visiting last night, but routine by all nurses' accounts.

Jared is still on the light therapy for his brusing. Yesterday they increased the light amount becuase his bilirubin level was not improving. Today they decreased it back to the initial amount because it had shown improvement from Saturday's levels.

Today they are also conducting the echocardiogram on Jared to check the status of this PDA. They have been hoping that it may close on its own, but after this test we will know if the Ibuprofen treatment will be necessary or not. We will know the result of this test either today or tomorrow and find out about treatment then.

Jared's head ultrasound from yesterday showed that there was bleeding on both sides of his brain from the episode he had the day that he was born. This was somewhat expected. Both sides are showing as a Grade 1 bleed which (luckily) is the least amount possible. They will order another head ultrasound in a few days to determine if the bleeding is getting any worse. Dr. Rehan said that most likely it will dissipate on its own. Only 5-10% of babies who have Grade 1 bleeding like Jared show any issues from it later in life. We will know more in a few days.

Both boys are still stable and doing very well despite the circumstances. We are always reminded by the nurses and doctors that we have to take one day at a time, and there will be good days and bad days. It is hard, but Jason and I are doing our best to get through every hour let alone every day.

Thank you all for your loving thoughts and prayers!


Fight on! Little Fighters!! - Love Momma
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJanuary 11, 2010 at 5:31 PM

    Hi sweetie! Our prayers and thoughts have been with you and you babies every single day! Tell me what I can do for you neighbor! ANYTHING! Walk Shnitzel...sit with you....housework. I love hearing all your blogs and seeing the pictures. too precious. Im thinking about you all the time. MUAH!

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