A special surprise for Mommy!

Well, I went for my mid-afternoon visit today and the nurse asked if I wanted to hold JD! I think I leapt out of my wheelchair! They put me in a rocker right next to his isolete and I held him for about an hour - it was such a wonderful feeling! We did "Kangaroo-Care" which is skin to skin contact ~ he was down inside my robe and nightie, right on my skin. He was amazingly calm and went right into a deep sleep - it was amazing.

We think he might be a thumb sucker already - he's working on getting that thumb in his mouth all of the time. I can't wait for tomorrow to hold him again. Hopefully Cole will be shortly behind him and we'll get to hold him soon too. I hated to leave him out - that made me sad. But he's not quite ready to be off of his ventilator yet so until that happens, he's crib bound.

Here's our first photo of us being reunited since birth!

Day #3 NICU

Just a quick update. The boys are hanging in there and doing well. JD has a BIG day today as he has come off of the ventilator! We hope that this will be a permanent condition but as we all know, things can change quickly. For now, we are so happy to see him progressing so well. Both babies are spending some time at "the beach" under the billirubin lights for slight jaundice, which is very normal for preemies.

Baby Cole is hanging in there too - experiencing a few minor issues, all of which are very normal. Since he was the smaller of the two and the other twin, there are some things that he is experiencing that JD is not. But all in all, the issues are minor for now so we continue to be hopeful that he fights right through these little bumps along the way.

A few more pics to share. Thanks for your continued prayers and well wishes - we'll continue one day at a time but remain optimistic that our little guys are going to pull through just fine. I'm recovering well - boy, these C-sections don't warrant easy recovery but I know in a few more days I'll be back on my feet. I get to walk or wheel down to see the boys a couple of times a day so that is enough to keep me going for sure! Daddy is doing well too - he continues to work right now, in between hours spent here at the hospital. We'll both be glad when we get home on Saturday!

JD's new "tubeless" look!



Cole at the "blue" beach - with his first pacifier!

A few pics of the boys...more to come soon

They're here!

Just a quick post - many of you may have heard by now;
Our boys blessed us early this morning with their arrival! My early morning daily sono showed that Baby A had gone to heaven so that triggered an emergency c-section; a little whirlwind but all went pretty well. Here are the stats:

Nicholas Bradley was born at 7:57 am - he was 2lb 1oz, 12" long
Joseph David was born at 7:57 too - he was 2lb 5oz, 13.5" long
And Calvin Gerard was stillborn at 7:58 at 1lb, 9oz, not sure of the length on him.

We have loads of pictures so we'll post some as soon as possible. I was able to get out of bed this evening to go to NICU to visit - they are so handsome! Right now both are intubated but we're hoping that will only be needed for a short time. We held baby Calvin for a while this afternoon to say goodbye. It was sad but he was truly our miracle baby!

We are both beaming! Keep the prayers coming, we've got 6-8 weeks here in NICU before they will be big enough to come home. Love to all & thanks for your well wishes, support & prayers!

28 Week Photo

Thank goodness for stretchy skin. Here's a little trivia: my nurse told me that the human body has over ONE MILE of skin when it's stretched out. Can you imagine that? No wonder the belly seems to have endless stretching ability!

We made it! 28 Weeks!

I almost can't believe we made it this far. 28 WEEKS. It's a much more emotional day than I anticipated. We pushed, and pushed and hoped and prayed to get to this point and now we're here - I can't help but be overwhelmed with so many emotions. I'm thankful, I'm relieved, I'm scared, I'm anxious...what next? And what will determine delivery at this point? Things are starting to move along on their own I think now. I am contracting more and they are a bit more intense; my cervix has dilated another cm; my blood pressure is up a bit. All of these things are tell tale signs I think that we're getting closer now.

My doctor returned today and was in bright and early to scan the boys. Babies B&C are still looking fantastic; Baby A's heart rate was the same still, but he's not moving much now and he has not grown much, if at all, over the last 8 days. We're going to continue to watch him very closely; that could be the deciding factor for delivery as well. There are just so many unknowns right now.

The boys continue to get bigger every minute - it's amazing how much my belly has grown in the last few days. We'll try to get another picture this week. Baby B has decided that my bladder makes for a nice pillow - how convenient huh? Something that most of you Mom's have experienced at some point I'm sure.

It will be interesting to see what comes next. It's day to day, and each additional day is a blessing, as we've always said. Happy 28 week "in utero" day boys!

Sunday

Just a quickie ~ all is good today. Wish I had something inspiring to write but boredom has set in & my imagination is kaput. For you wives involved in the awesome gift certificate gift that was given to C. last night by all of the guys, thank you so, so much! I don't know that any of your guys read this blog but if you do, C. and I appreciate your kindness so much & can't wait to use them.

Looking forward to tomorrow - my doctor is back, our boys have an important birthday (well, I guess it's not a BIRTHday, I'll call it an in utero day!) and it's Monday! Love to all - hope everyone is well and life is good.

Big Feet, Big Appetites!

The boys look good today! We just ate breakfast, which they seem to love. We've got some big appetites going on in there I think. They go nuts after I eat. They also have really big feet - another story for later...but if my ribs could talk, they would certainly attest!

The peri came back again yesterday and gave me much the same report as his partner the day before. Good fluid around babies B&C and both are about 2 lbs. now, maybe a bit bigger. The doctor this morning got a good picture of Baby A - sometimes that is really hard depending on the positioning. It was good to see my little fighter so clearly today; his heartbeat beating away. Can't help but wonder how this little one is hanging on - the peri said again yesterday that they really don't understand how he's doing it; my pregnancy seems to be somewhat of an anomaly, considering all of the different complications we've had, yet we're still here.

I can't remember if I already posted this but the latest "plan" is that they will take the babies at 32 weeks if I don't deliver before that time. If something happens to Baby A before that time (even a slowed heartrate), we will deliver. So, that said, we're coming down the home stretch here. Now we just hope and pray that some of the babies currently in NICU will be well enough to go home soon and will open up a few beds for us!

My UTI is much better this morning - I'll spare you the details but got some immediate relief last night after spending several hours in pain and was able to get a decent nights sleep. Poor Chuck was kept up most of the night by a "screamer" next door who was trying to deliver a baby but I apparently slept right through it. It's not often we hear that since our room is at the end of the hall kind of off the beaten path; glad I didn't hear it frankly.

Today's a shower day so I'll be able to get back into my clothes again. I had to put a hospital gown on again yesterday due to the chaos with the catheter etc. so it will be nice to get dressed again. Until tomorrow - enjoy the weekend gang.

Great Website - Just tkes a minute!

A friend sent this site to me today and I jut thought it was a nice thing to pass along.

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!

This is a great site.
Please send a card.
It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them...

BABY "D"

Another week gone by - and another weekend upon us. The weeks just seem to fly on by! Doing pretty well today; a bit of a rough start but we're all good now. I had a feeling I was brewing another urinary tract infection for the last couple of days but of course, before they can treat it, they have to have it cultured. The culture came back positive so I started more antibiotics today. It was a bit of a rough night since the infection and bladder spasms got worse, causing some contractions. But by this morning, I had no "output" and a large (and I mean large) bump protruding from my lower abdomen, which was quickly termed "Baby D" by my OB. That bump was my bladder. Ha, ha right? Easy for him to laugh! They ended up cathetarizing me again which gave some immediate relief and now all is good again. I think I might be the only person I know that actually doesn't mind a cathetar too much ~ I equate it with such relief that it really doesn't seem to bother me, aside from the fact that I can't get up out of bed too much when I have it. I'll keep it until I'm sure the meds are taking effect - I don't want any more episodes like this morning! Anyway, enough of those gory details. Hopefully within 24 hours the medicine will start to kick in and kill the infection FOR GOOD!

After that fiasco, we looked at the babies and they are doing well again today. My cervix was checked again for the first time in about 5 days and it remains unchanged. All good news!

Not much on the agenda this weekend. Just hoping for a fast weekend as they seem to drag a bit. Can't believe it's almost the last summer weekend - school starts next week and then Labor Day is here. It's almost September already; July and August seem to be a bit of a blur. Wonder why?