The final culture reading came back and were negative for both infection and fungus in Jared's blood and urine. Dr. Kamran discontinued the antibiotic and anti-fungal IV medications he was on. They are still using the topical anti-fungal cream until the signs of all yeast on his skin are gone. Thank you to Nurse Gale who gave him his first sponge bath yesterday (Momma calls is a wipe-down). She was able to get all of the cream residue and skin flakes off of him, so he looked so much better when we visited him last night.
Jared also received his PICC line today. We haven't seen him yet today, so we aren't sure of the location, but it is most likely in his arm like Anthony's. This is great news and makes it much easier for the nurses to give him his nutrients via IV.
News on the weight front: Jared weighs 1 lb. 13 oz. and Anthony weighs 2 lbs. 2 oz. The little bit of breast milk they have been receiving goes a long way! It is so great to see them growing little by little every day!
Jared continues to eat every 6 hours. They increase his feeding amount by 1cc every fourth feeding. Currently he is getting 4 ccs every 6 hours and tolerating them very well so far.
Anthony's hematocrit level dropped today, so he received a blood transfusion this afternoon. He has tolerated it well. It is very possible that each of them will have many more blood transfusions during thier stay in the NICU.
Anthony is still tolerating his feeds and is currently receiving 7ccs every 3 hours. He did have some residual breast milk at one of his feedings today, but not enough to worry Dr. Kamran.
Anthony is still on the CPAP machine and doing well. Last night he kept getting a little fussy every few minutes. It was hard to watch, because when a baby gets upset and fussy, your first reaction is to pick him up and love on him. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that for him. All I could do was reach in and put my hand over his tiny body and Shhh! him until he calmed himself down. Moments like this make it very hard for us.
Anthony had his first non-meconium poop yesterday, so now we have moved on to real poop. (Yeah!) He had two big poops for Nurse Eileen today. She said that she went to change his diaper and when she went to grab the wipe to clean him up, he pooped again! This time all over his bedding - Momma has some laundry to do. Which I think that this is the only time in my life that I am more than happy to do laundry. I love washing their little blankies for them - it really is the little things that we get to be a part of that make us so happy!
As for their breathing spells, they continue. The spells seem to be worse when we are there to visit. It is not uncommon for the nurse to greet us and tell us that one of them has only had one or two spells for the entire day - and then, right before our eyes, his O2 Saturation drops. It has also happened when we haven't even scrubbed in yet and one of them drops their heart or respiration rates. The nurses joke that they know when we are visiting, but the truth is that it puts us on edge when they do that.
Jason and I love the days that we receive good updates about our boys. We also prepare ourselves for the days when the news is not so good. We are happy to share our journey with you - whatever tomorrow might bring!
We thank God each and every night for blessing us with these two precious babies. We are also so thankful for all of you who are praying for us and supporting us on this long and bumpy road.
Fight On! Little Fighters!! - Love Momma
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!
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!
I'm so glad you are sharing their story with us. I love to read about them and see how they are doing. See you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the updates, I am always checking to see what's going on with them each day. Sounds like they are little fighters! Glad to hear the good news. See you tomorrow