ahhh nuts! back in the incubator...

Well, little Lauren Kate was doing well and looking to come home as soon as the beginning of next week but had a small set back. Nothing serious. She is just having trouble holding her body temperature on her own. This is very common in preemies. We keep having to remind ourselves that she is a preemie and that she is really at 35 weeks gestation. She just acts so much like a full term baby most of the time.

Ethan Matthew got his nasal cannula off yesterday and he looks so cute with nothing on his face but a little feeding tube. The cardiologists asked the neonatologists to take him off the oxygen support because they were trying to get his stats to look like a healthy kid but not taking into account his heart defect. Cardiologists get a better picture this way of how his heart is functioning. He seems to be doing really well. He is still pink as ever and is active as well. He seems to be comfortable and his heart does not appear to be overworked at this time. This could change at any point, of course, but right now he is stable. Ethan is slowly gaining weight and is learning to drink from a bottle. I get to give him one a day and the rest goes in by feeding tube. I talked to his nurse last night and found out that he peed all over her last night. So much that she needed a new shirt!! I know she was probably annoyed but I thought it was hilarious. It made me feel better since the first time I changed his diaper he did the same to me! I blamed it on my inexperience with changing a boy diaper but he even got the nurse who does it everyday. I was so proud! ; )

I was totally kidding about the swine flu on the last post but now I am a little concerned. Since the "outbreak," Texas Children's Hospital has been swamped. Tonight I walked through the lobby down by the ER and they had set up extra chairs everywhere to handle the huge influx of people there waiting to be seen by a doctor.

Thank you for your prayers. God is good!
Love, Heather

Lauren is in a big girl bed!!!

The doctors decided today that our little rockstar needed to go into the open air regular crib. This is the next step in getting to go home, maintaining her body temperature. So far today she is doing well. Wouldn't you know that my again hormonal mind gets going and I start freaking out that someone is going to give my newly exposed baby the swine flu! : ) But seriously, we need to get the car seat ready because as Bill likes to say, this little girl is not interested in being a preemie.

Love ya'll,
Heather

I can't believe I started a blog!!!

Lauren 4-11-09 Ethan 4-11-09

I always said that I would never start a blog. Not because I have anything against them, but maybe because I thought it would make me sit on the computer longer than I already do! Now I realize that I need a better way to keep everyone updated about the babies progress soooooooo... here we go!

The twins arrived on April 11, 2009 with Lauren Kate weighing 3lbs. 15oz. and Ethan Matthew weighing 3lbs. 8oz. This is huge considering I went into the hospital at 23 weeks for preterm labor and they predicted they each weighed about 1lb. It was imperative to keep them in as long as possible because Ethan suffers from a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. The cardiologists said the course of action would depend on how "blue" he was when he was born. Turns out, he wasn't really blue at all. This was good for the immediate future but meant more surgeries in the future to fix the collateral vessels that grew to compensate for his pulmonary stenosis. In other words, these extra veins are providing enough blood to the lungs while he is still small but will not be enough as he gets bigger. They will need to be rebuilt before he can have his "complete repair" of his heart. He was intubated when he was born but was extubated and put on a CPAP later that day.



Lauren, Mommy and Abby 4-18-09



Ethan with no tubes before his CT scan 4-17-09

Lauren was also put on a CPAP when she was born but wanted nothing to do with it and by two days old, she was officially on room air with nothing to help her breathe. The nurses said that they were tired of her taking the CPAP off so they decided to try her without it. She has been off ever since! This was when she earned the description in the NICU as "the feisty one." I actually overheard the attending doctor tell her residents "This is not a normal 32 weeker. Please don't think they will all progress this well!" Music to our ears!! By a week old, she was taking all her feeds via bottle and had no IV's or tubes. We even dress her now!

Ethan has been progressing really well too. He was breathing completely on his own as well until they had to intubate him to do a CT scan and he has been on a nasal cannula ever since. He is not on a huge amount of oxygen but we can't seem to ween him off again. The doctors were able to see quite a bit with the scan and decided that he was stable enough to wait on surgery until he gets a little bigger. Things could change in a blink but for those who have been asking, we have no idea when his first surgery will be. We hope its not for awhile so he can put some weight on those scrawny legs! He possibly could come home before he has surgery but time will tell.

Both kiddos were so stable that they moved them from the Level 3 NICU to Level 2 NICU. It was hard on me to have them moved from such specialized care to a more laid back environment. I, being the overprotective, hormonal mom, thought my teeny little ones weren't ready for the big 'ol Level 2 NICU. But they have proved me wrong yet again. They are doing very well there and have both surpassed their birth weight as of today (2 weeks old!).


Lauren the drama queen 4-21-09


Ethan's first bottle 4-22-09

Lauren chillin' in her new digs (Level II NICU) 4-23-09

Abby has done really well through this whole process but is a little scared when I am not there to pick her up from school. She is a paranoid I am going to stay in the hospital again. I don't blame her, I don't want to go back in again either! She did get to spend lots of quality time with daddy as well as her Paw Paw, Mi Mi, and Uncle David. They were angels sent by God to take care of my little munchkin while I was away. Bill needs an extra special Father's Day this year as he has earned it 100 fold this year. All I can say is that he is Super Dad.

I am finally getting my energy back as well. After 9 1/2 weeks in bed, not even sitting up for any period of time, my muscles are really weak and sore. I am building up my stamina again and healing pretty well. I am also feeling the stress of now having THREE kids to keep up with and two aren't even home yet! The Lord has really taught me to give up control through all this and let Him and others help me. Hard lesson, I'm getting there. I have no choice!

I will be sure to update here as I learn new info. Please keep us on your prayer lists as we are not even close to being out of the woods with the twins. I know Ethan's trials are just beginning. I keep saying, its hard to think anything could be wrong with our little guy. He just looks so perfect. He smiles like crazy and while I know its probably gas, I choose to believe he is smiling at me! God has been so good to us through out this so far and I know He will see us through this. Thank you to our friends and family for all your prayers, encouragement, meals, and help. You mean more to us than you can ever know.

Love,
Heather, Bill, Abby, Ethan, and Lauren