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!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Momma and Daddy get to hold the boys again!

Jared snug as a bug
The four of us (Jared in the background in his isolette)

Daddy holding Jared
Anthony while Momma is holding him




Anthony with no CPAP


Daddy giving Anthony his pacifier


Every two weeks the nurses change out their isolettes with clean ones, this is when Jason and I are most helpful. We offer to hold the boys (of course just to help the nurses out) while they maneuver the bedding around. Last night was the night - Jason held Jared and I held Anthony. It was just as amazing and touching as the first time we held them in our arms just two weeks ago. I cried...again.

Jared is still doing very well on his feeding and is up to 16 ccs as of this morning. Yesterday, Dr. Kamran, changed his schedule to a 2 line protocol (increasing the amount after every second feeding) in order to get him to full feedings more quickly. He has been tolerating this very well and has advanced as planned. Hopefully they will remove the PICC line and discontinue IV fluids today. As we have explained before, the PICC line is just another possible site for infection (which we don't want) so it is best to remove it as soon as possible.
Both boys have lost about 10 grams in the last few days. So far there is no cause for concern unless this becomes a trend. The nurses say that it is common for them to lose a little bit of weight here and there, mostly because of how much and how often they are pooping now. It never fails, everytime we are in there...one of them poops. Last night, Anthony's nurse was getting ready to change his bed and thought that she should check his diaper first. Sure enough, it was poopy. As she was changing it and began to remove the dirty diaper, he pooped again! We all started laughing, but thank goodness she has quick reflexes!

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday afternoon when I walked into the NICU and found Anthony breathing room air on his own. No CPAP, no nasal cannula...just plain old breathing. So, I started to cry. He has been without any type of oxygen supplement since 11 AM yesterday, and as of 8 AM today, is still doing well. The doctor can't say that he will stay this way, so there is a nasal cannula standing by, but for now it is great that he is doing well on his own.

I almost gave Jason a heart attack. When I saw Anthony, I had to call him right away. Note to self: Don't call your husband from the NICU crying ever again! (Daddy's Editorial Note: She's not kidding! I almost died when she called me!)

I can hardly believe that they are four weeks old today! It is amazing how slowly time flies by. Jason and I often talk about how it seems that these weeks have come and gone so quickly, but how it also seems like a year has passed because all of the days have been running together for us. At any rate, Friday they will be one month old - I kind of want to make party hats for them and bake them a cake!
Last night, the NICU admitted another set of twins (that makes three now!). All of the singleton babies have been discharged and the twins stand alone. Both of the other sets are much older and even the ones born last night are more advanced than our boys. Jared and Anthony were happy to welcome their new neighbors, even if they were crying and keeping them awake most of the night.

So far today, good news, but we still remain leary of what awaits us and our babies. I often think to my self and apologize to both Jared and Anthony (as I hold their little hands) for making them work so hard. I explain to them that we all understand that we are asking them to do so much each and every day but that they are doing so well and to just keep fighting. It will get easier, I hope.

Fight On! Little Fighters!! - Love Momma

2 comments:

  1. Great news!!! What a marvelous way for us to check up on the boys and not "bug" you all of the time. Hard to believe it has been four weeks already and they are progressing so well. Love to hear those good words. GG Cora

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  2. Hi Danielle, I'm Edila from rainforest, Tereza gave me your blog address, So good to hear everybody's doing well. They're so cute! I had twins (a boy, and a girl). They were 8 weeks premature, but did just fine. They’re almost 4 now. Time flies. Reading your blog brought tears to my eyes! I’m so happy for you and will keep praying for your precious little ones.
    Congratulatios to you and your husband on the two little angels!
    Edila

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