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!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Jared Recovering Well

Jared's surgery went well last night and he is recovering well.

It was a long and nervous night for Jason and I, to say the least. First, the surgery didn't start until 6:15PM and went until after 7:30PM. We talked to the surgeon after and he indicated that all went as expected. He used a lot of laser in both eyes (as is common with babies, he says) so there should be no need for more surgery.

It took Jared a while to get back up to the NICU where we were waiting for him, mostly because he didn't want to wake up. Nurse Imelda said he was so comfy cozy that he didn't want to move and she didn't want to move him either. She suggested that they wait and let him wake up on his own...which he finally did.

They moved him into an isolette last night and assigned him his own nurse just to help support him after his long day. He had a number of brady and apnic spells while we were there, but was able to resolve most of them himself. These spells are a result of the residual anesthesia in his system and should only last 24-36 hours.

This morning he is doing well and sleeping. Nurse Ilene is taking good care of him and she thinks that they may restart feeds and move him back into the crib with Anthony today.

Needless to say, this meant an extremely long night for Jason and I. Finally after all of the tears and prayers, we managed to eat dinner around midnight and make it to bed around 1 AM.

Anthony is doing well also. He is still gaining weight and weighs 4 lbs. 14 oz. as of last night.

Thank you all for your love and support. Jared and Anthony may not ever understand how lucky they are to have so many friends and family members loving them and praying for them daily. You all have truly made a difference for our family.

Fight On! Little Fighters! - Love Momma

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for taking the time to update us. I was praying for him and I am so happy it went well. I can imagine how worried you both were.

    Nicolle

    ReplyDelete