Co Bedding NOW!!

I posted some new pictures of the girls co bedding at the bottom of the screen (In all the pics Caroline is on the left and Juliette is on the right). As you can see they are quite comfy being in each others space. Must remind them of when they were in my tummy. Both girls are doing well with their feedings, Juliette has improved with her breathing. It is not mandatory they breastfeed before discharge, but we tried and they latched on after several attempts. It's a lot of work for them so we won't be doing it all the time yet, but it's good to know that they know how. Yesterday Dr. Castro came by an mentioned that they have exceeded their expectations and are doing very well. They are starting their discharge planning to go home soon, when they (the doctors) and we are comfortable. I am not sure if we will ever be comfortable. Don't get us wrong, we want our girls home, but you get used to having the security of the NICU staff and equiptment there to make sure they are okay constantly. We will see how the next couple of days go. I had to post the pictures though. Beside the Santa one's they are some of my favorites. I couldn't tell you how excited I was to see them in the bed together. Last night we put them in matching outfits and put them in the boppy together. Like I said they are right at home being all cuddled up together.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Years.

We made it to LEVEL 2!!

Both girls were moved to level 2 care last night, this is the section for growers and feeders. They will stay there while they learn to eat and the get bigger. Once they accomplish these goals they should be able to go home. Caroline is up to 4lbs 7oz and Juliette is 4lbs 5oz!!! They are growing, but still learning how to eat correctly. Juliette is bottle feeding everytime, but sometimes she gets tired and forgets to breath, this is normal for a baby this age, but very scary. This is why she needs time to practice, she will grow out of it and learn to remember she needs to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time. We may see Caroline do the same once she starts feeding everytime. For now Caroline is doing well with bottle feeding two times a day, I am hoping they will bump her up to 3 times a day soon. They are both in warmers, but Juliettes is circulating regular room air temp while Caroline's is still being warmed. That is our progress for now.

Making Progress

Progress is slowly but surely being made with both of the girls. Juliette continues to advance at a quick pace, as of yesterday she is being fed with a bottle for every feeding. The nurse said this morning that she got a little sleepy in the middle of the night with her 0200 am feeding and couldn't finish the whole bottle. So they had to put the rest down her little tube which goes through her nose to her stomach now instead of her mouth. They leave it in because she is still learning and it's normal for them to tire out occasionally and they want them to get all of their calories. So if they don't take the whole bottle they put it down the tube. Juliette is also able to control her own temperature pretty good, they still have her in the enclosed warmer because it is quieter. The next step would be a open bed or bassinet, but they are leaving her in the warmer for now so she can rest. Yesterday she weigh 4lbs 3oz!

Today is Caroline's last day of antibiotics and they are slowly decreasing her IV fluids as she is able to take more breast milk. She is up to 27cc which is not too far behind Juliette. We started her on a bottle on Christmas day, she only gets it once a day(Picture on the right). They might increase her to twice a day today. She did take the whole bottle the first day, but was a little confused when I first put it in her mouth. Took her a little while (unlike her sister) to figure out what to do with it. She did better yesterday. After she received her blood on Christmas day she has been much spunkier. She was able to stop the oxygen and has been fine without it. Her blood count went from 28 to 44 with a whole 18cc of blood. They will recheck it again on Monday morning. Her weight went up to 4lbs 4 oz, but some of that was probably from the blood and IV fluids so it may go down again. I haven't heard what it is yet today, just hope she stays over 4lbs with her sister.

That is it for now, I will keep everyone updated as much as possible. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All!!

I hope everyone haves a wonderfully blessed Christmas this year. The girls are doing good. We opened presents with my family yesterday morningthen rushed up to the hospital to have the girls taken with Santa. It was fun, something nice the NICU staff does. We dressed the girls up in the Christmas outfits my friend Sandi got us. I wasn't sure if they were going to get to wear them, but the nurses were totally for it. They looked so cute, like the little Christmas presents they are. I don't know if you can read the tag on the outfit, but it says "Mommy and Daddy's best gift ever." We can't help but think that over and over this year because they are the best little presents ever. Juliette was up to 4lbs yesterday and is eating from a bottle every other feeding. So she gets a bottle then a tube feeding alternating every feeding. They tried to take Caroline off the oxygen yesterday, but she was breathing too hard with out it. This morning they checked her blood level and it had dropped lower than before, so they called me at 0600 am and told me they needed to give her blood. So they have given her some and hopefully this will help her get stronger. Randall's blood was not a match, so she had to get a strangers blood, but if she needed she needed. Other than the blood she is doing good and they are increasing her feedings. We are on our way there now so I will post any changes later.

The top 2 pictures are Juliette with Santa and the bottom two are Caroline

Santa's Visit

Just a quick note, Caroline and Juliette are both doing well. Caroline restarted her feedings yesterday and tolerated them well. She is still on 1 liter of oxygen which isn't bad and as of now does not need blood.

Juliette has been downgraded to level 2 care (this is good), but will stay in the same area as her sister until she catches up with her. Yesterday we fed her with a bottle during 2 of her feedigns and she did very well. It was very exciting. She is my little big girl because she is so little, but doing big girl things. She is wearing preemie and newborn clothes and they fit her pretty well.

Last night they both weighed 3lbs 14oz. They both suck on their pacifiers now. We give them to them when we do the feedings through the tube so they make a connection to suck at the same time of feeling the food go into their belly. Hopefully Caroline will take to the bottle like Juliette when it's her turn. They will need to keep increasing her feedings first though. I do have pictures of this excitement, but will have to put them on here later.

Test results are back.

They started Caroline on her feedings again about 4:oo today. They only gave her 5cc to see how she did. About 5:00-5:30 she had several episodes of bradycardia (slow heart rate) so the nurse notified the doctors. They came and examined her and decided not to give her any more for the rest of the night since it could be related. She was also on very little oxygen (0.5liters) so they increased that to 1 liter and they will watch her over night. The results of the lumbar puncture were negative, they are still waiting for culture results, but they won't be back until tomorrow or the next day. Another common problem for preemie babies is low blood count. The combitnation of her being premature and sick makes it hard for her little body to make new red blood cells. Since she has been sick her count has become low. Right now they don't think she needs blood, but it may be a possiblity so they sent Randall to the blood bank to donate a pint of blood. If she needs blood they will give her his blood if it is compatable. Other people have offered, but it takes a couple of days to process and he has already started the process. If he is not compatable and she needs it right away they will just give her some from the blood bank. It is given based on their weight so it would be just a little bit. They are trying not to collect any more blood from her today or tomorrow. She will have her blood count rechecked on Monday morning unless she shows any changes or signs of distress before then. So she is staying strong and stable, but is not out of danger yet.

Juliette is still doing well. She is still off oxygen and IV fluids. She is also able to control her own temperature with out the warmer.

So that is the latest news, I will keep everyone updated as much as possible. We just continue to hold them when we are there and pray that Caroline gets well and Juliette stays well.

Rough and exciing few days.

There has been some changes the last few days. Sorry I haven't been able to post. We have been at the hospital most of the last 2 days and then come home exhausted at night, so not much time for the computer. Since their arrival the girls have been doing everything together, until recently.

On Thursday morning the doctor called me and informed me that Caroline had changed and appeared sick. That morning when the nurse arrived she noticed that she was lethargic, having periods of apnea (not breathing), bradycardia (slow heart rate) and looked pale. She notified the doctors right away and they did blood tests, x-ray and started on antibiotics immediately. When we got there she still looked puny, but she started perking up shortly after finishing her 2nd antibiotic. Her heart rate improved and her apnea stopped. They also gave her some extra IV fluids, so that helped too. Initially the doctor was worried about a spot on her abdominal x-ray that looked like it could have infection so they stopped her feedings and put a drainage tube in to decompress it. When they rechecked her next x-ray it had improved and there were no signs of infection on the x-ray. There were signs of infection by her behavior and in her blood so they kept her on the antibiotics. Thank God the nurse caught it right away and they are so aggressive because as of yesterday it was confirmed she has a bacteria in her blood stream that is very dangerous. It could have been worse. The doctors were surprised that her blood culture came back positive for the type of bacteria it was (prob ecoli or clostridium). They said it is not common for preemies her age. Now that they have isolated a specific type of bacteria they changed her antibiotic to one that is made to fight that specific type of bacteria. She has stayed strong and did not require any changes in her oxygen and is still just on a little bit (1liter at 21%). We let her rest all day Thursday. Yesterday they had to do a puncture in her back to take out some of her CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) to make sure it did not spread there. We should get some of the results today. They did cultures of that too, but those take a couple of days to fully come back. She was fussy after the procedure yesterday, probably hungry and tired of all the pokes so we got to hold her for a long time and she slept and slept. Hopefully they will restart her feedings today, since she did well throughout the night. They don't know how she got the infection, but she has had a lot of IVs since being there or she could have gotten during birth. They will have to watch Juliette to make sure she does not get sick. This is something I knew could happen, but hoped it wouldn't. It could have been worse though. Multiple people have told me you have to be prepared for them to take 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards while in the NICU.

As for Juliette she has made tons of progress. She is completely off of her oxygen and IV fluids and her feedings are up to 32cc. They still have her on the monitor and are watching her closely to make sure she does not get sick, but she hasn't showed any signs. Yesterday she was being super wiggly and the nurse found her in her warmer turned sideways with her arms over her head and legs hanging off the side sleeping away. She said she looked quite comfy. While I held Caroline Randall and the nurse gave Juliette a bath. It was so funny, she didn't like the scrubing of the body, but she like the hair washing, don't we all! The nurse put a preemie outfit on her and she looked so cute. It fits her perfect. We didn't have our camera, but the nurse took a couple of pics with her camera and is going to have them printed for us. She was very relaxed after all that excitement and slept the rest of the day and night.

Now we are just waiting for Caroline to get better and catch up with her. As of yesterday Caroline weighed 3lb 14oz and Juliette 3lb 12oz. They are both 17 inches long as of Monday. They are so beautiful and amazing, I sometimes still can't believe they belong to us. We are so blessed. I will try to post an update tonight or tomorrow if I can. Please pray that Caroline gets better , Juliette stays healthy and we don't have any more problems. I was a mess on Thursday until I saw Caroline look at me and start moving around. She looked at me with this "I'm going to be okay, mommy" look and I immediately felt better. Thanks for all the support and prayers. Oh yeah, there are a couple of new pics at the bottom of the page.

We're making progress

The girls are doing so well. I am amazed each day at how strong they are. They are still on oxygen but very little and I hope we are close to getting them off soon. They were taken off their photo therapy lights yesterday and their bilirubin levels were rechecked this morning again and they were good. Yesterday Caroline's level was high normal, so if it was higher this morning she would have gone back on it, but was good. They are eating well, last night they started them on 20cc of breast milk every 3 hours. Their weight yesterday was the same as Monday and today it is back up. Caroline is 3lb 110z and Juliette is 3lb 10oz so they are getting close to their birth weight. Since they are doing so well they changed their IV fluids to a less stronger form last night as well.

I can't drive because of my surgery and Randall is not working right now so we are able to go to the hospital together. It has been really nice, we are getting a little bit of a routine now. We usually each hold one, which I love. If it's time for their feedings and we are there we help the nurse. Before each feeding their diapers are changed, their temperature is checked and they clean the umbilical cord. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's very exciting for us. The nurse also does an assessment before she feeds them each time.

Once the girls get off the oxygen and IV fluids and can regulate their temps and breathing they can be moved to the level 2 area and we will start working on feeding them orally. They will also be in bassinets there and less wires/tubing. It has been less than a week and the girls have made so much progress. I pray that they keep progressing well and we will be to level 2 soon.

Update-Sorry it's been a while.

Sorry I haven't got to post in a while. It has been a busy couple of days. Saturday morning they came in and said I was going to be discharged. I immediately started uncontrollably crying. The thought of me leaving my girls seemed so unbearable. The doctor said I could stay another day, but after much thought and crying (even while I was pumping) I decided it would be just as hard on Sunday as it would be on Saturday. So we got our stuff together and went to see the girls in the NICU for a couple of hours then we left around 2pm. It is nice to be home and I am still pretty tired after the surgery, plus I am pumping every 2 hours while awake. I stretch it out a little throughout the night and manage to get around 5-7 hours of sleep. I can't imagine trying to take care of two little girls and recuperate from surgery at the same time. Time just flies by each day since we have been home. We have seen the girls twice each day since we've been home and they are doing well. I have posted some pictures on their latest progress.

As of today Caroline's weight is down to 3lbs 9oz and Juliette is 3lbs 9oz. It is normal for all babies to loose 10% of their body weight initially. They are getting fed my breastmilk through an oral gastric(OG) tube and are up to 12cc every 3 hours. They are also receiving TPN (an IV of vitamins) and lipids(fats) through their IV to provide nutrition. Caroline is still on oxygen and her breathing gets fast sometimes, but then she slows it back down on her own. This is normal for premature babies. Juliette was doing the same, but has progressed a little better than her sister and at last check was off the oxygen. They are both on photo therapy to help bring down their bilirubin levels (jaundice) which is another common problem with babies their age. On the pictures you will see Caroline with purple mask on her face under a light and that's basically what it is. It just looks like they are at a tanning bed. They stay under that 24/7 unless we are holding them and their levels are rechecked every morning. They have both been moved to isolated warmers and there is also a picture posted of that. It provides a quieter, warmer environment for them. It's like they are back in my tummy and helps them grow, since there is decreased stimulus. They are not able to move to this until they are more stable, so I was happy to see Juliette in hers when we arrived yesterday. Holding them is the best thing ever, we only do it once a day because too much stimulus can be bad for them too. I am so excited about all the progress they have made since they have arrived. They are so strong and beautiful and can't wait to have them home. For now I know they are in the right place. The NICU is an amazing place and the staff there is awesome. They are great at explaining things and getting us involved. Randall has changed multiple diapers, fed them, held them and taken a temperature and he jumps right in there, no fear. I believe we will be well trained by the time we get home.

So truly blessed!!

Good Morning to All,

I had to come back onto the site to make sure what I typed yesterday made sense. Randall and I were so exhausted yesterday that we were having a hard time posting what we wanted. As you can see I have added some more pictures and hope to have some more later when my mom gets here. We got to hold both of the babies around 5pm yesterday and my mom took pictures. I was so tired I could barely hold my eyes open, though. The surgery was amazing. While waiting to go to the OR I felt so excited and still wasn't scared, but Randall was very nervous. I was worried for a little while he was going to pass out. When they took me to the OR they took him to change and when I hit the OR entrance I felt sudden panic and was scared. It finally hit me that it was going to happen. It all went so fast, I had people attacking me from all sides, but they were great and explaining what they were doing. The did a combo spinal/epidural on me and the doctor did a great job. I had some itching (still do, but better) from one of the medications they gave me and it made me a little sleepy, but I was awake. My face, especially my nose was itching so bad I thought I could scratch it off, but I couldn't move my hands. The faculty anesthesiologist, Dr Wheeler was my dedicated scratcher until Randall got there. Randall arrived as the doctors were cutting me. They had a big screen up so he couldn't see anything. He jumped right into calm mode and took care of me. It seemed like it took forever for them to get the girls out. It didn't hurt, but I could feel pressure in my belly. It felt like some one was playing football there. Caroline was born first at 0902 and they apparantly had a little bit of a hard time getting her out, all we heard was a little wimpy cry and they took her to the OR suite next door. Then Juliette came at 0903 and she cried immediately. Of course I cried when they both came, it was so amazing to hear them and to know they were here. Randall was there dabbing my tears for me. They let him go over and see Caroline after they stabilized her (those are the naked pictures). They brought Juliette over to us all wrapped up and I got to give her kisses and they took her to the NICU. Then they brought Juliette all wrapped up for kisses before they went to the NICU. That was so nice, I knew they were doing well if they had time to stop by and show us them before they went up stairs. They had to sew me up which felt like forever, but Randall stayed with me. The whole thing went smoothly and everyone was so informative and nice.

After about 2 hours Randall and our parents were able to go see the girls. I didn't get to see the girls again until around 4pm right after they gave me the nausea medication phenergan. After we got to hold them, we went back to the room and went to sleep until about 930. Around 10 last night we got to see them again, we held Juliette for a while. Caroline was very comfy and sleeping so we let her stay warm. They were both doing good, still have nasal oxygen and feeding tubes. They might start trying to feed them today. We are going to head that way shortly to see them again and see how the rest of their night went.

Welcome Caroline and Juliette!!

Caroline Elaine Drake (naked baby 2nd picture down) arrived @ 0902 am weighing 3 lbs 13oz and 16 inches long. Juliette Ruth Drake arrived at 0903am weighing 3lbs 12oz and 16 1/4 inches long. Both were breathing and pink on arrival, only requiring a little bit of oxygen in their nose. The doctors are very pleased with how they look at this point. Amazingly, their cords were not knotted, we were very surprised by that. I got to see them for a few minutes each after they stabilized them and then they took them to the NICU. They are so beautiful, I can't wait to see them again. Mom and Yvonne are laughing at me right now because they just gave me some phenergan for nausea and I am trying to type, but I am falling asleep. I will post more later. Thank you to everyone for all the support and prayers.

Pre-Game Day

Here is Pookie Pre-Game Day Picture.

Info about the day of Surgery-3 days left!

It's Monday, survived another weekend here. I look back at the previous post titles and can't believe that there are only 3 days left until the arrival of Caroline and Juliette. Still not scared, but there are a lot of things going through my mind. The weekend was pretty uneventful, all the NSTs have continued to be great. Had a little more visitors than usual so that made time go by. Randall and I watched the Cowboys give their win away yesterday at the last minute, which was quite frustrating. But it was fun, I like spending the time with him and I am taking the opportunity to learn more of the terminology of football. So he quizzes me during the game, I still have a lot to learn.

A lot of people have been asking questions about the day of surgery so I thought I would share how the events should hopefully go. My surgery is scheduled for 0600 am and one of the nurses told me I would probably go to the Labor and Delivery area for some monitoring approximately 0500. They will start some of the pre surgery stuff the night before and finish the rest in the morning. The doctors will look with the ultrasound machine at the girls just prior to moving me to the operating room (which is right by the L&D dept) to see what positions they are in and they will decide what type of cut they will perform based on that. Randall will get to go in with me and stand or sit at the head with me. There will be a big screen up so we won't be able to see them cutting me, probably a good thing so Randall doesn't pass out. There was another couple here recently that I met (this is very rare) that delivered mono boys and they were able to get some pictures of the girls cords. I am hoping to get pictures of the girls, as well. Not sure if we can get pictures of the girls in the OR, we will probably have to wait til hey get to the NICU. They said Randall and our parents should be able to go up there approximately an hour after they are born. Of course it all depends on what they have to do with them. After I recover then I will go back to the floor I am on now, I may not be in the same room. I will have to wait at least 6 hours to eat, then I can start slowly. Once I get back to my room, if I am feeling okay I will be able to go to see the girls. It all depends on how I am doing. I guess only time will tell.

I am planning on assigning a family member to keep the computer with them so we can post as soon as possible and share everything with you. Hopefully, all will go as planned.

Good Friday to all, 6 days to go!!

I hope everyone is doing well. The girls NSTs continue to go well and without signs of distress. The last couple of days they have been changing positions on us and making it a little hard to get a good strip, but we have managed to find them and get it done. I have had to hold the monitors in a very specific place to get the machine to pick up a good beat. It's hard to explain on a blog, but can be wearing on your fingers, hands and arms after holding it in place for an hour. But it is all worth it, especially after the doctor reads the strip and is satisfied with it. In 6 days we will not have to do that anymore and we will be onto the next challenge.

They started a second round of steroids yesterday, I will get the second dose today. It's not the funnest because it's a shot and it hurts some. The nurse that gave it to me yesterday is here again today and she did a really good job with the injection. I got the first round at 25 weeks in case the girls would have had to been delivered emergently. This will help the girls lungs develop before the delivery next week. It is controversial whether a second dose helps or not(limited studies), but all the doctors talked about it and decided to go ahead with it. I feel like it was a good decision. A lot of the moms on the mono website have done it, too.

I have been getting asked a lot if I am getting scared about the delivery and the girls being here. Truth is that there has been so many times during this pregnancy that I have felt scared, not to mention many other emotions. Right now I feel reassured that we have made it so close to the girls being here safely. Not everyone is as fortunate as us to make it to this point. There have been many that have lost one or both of their twins due to cord entanglements, birth defects and other problems. There have been some who have had to deliver their twins early, ranging from 26-30 weeks because of abnormal testing while in the hospital. I find all this out from the monoamnitotic website, it's a constant reminder of the danger of this type of pregnancy. It also has the many women on there with success stories. Some people wonder why I read it or how I can read the loss section and not be scared to death. Well, it does scare me, but I guess I am the type of person that wants all the cards laid out on the table. I have known all along it is in God's hands and he will only give us what we can handle. But it has helped tremendously knowing all the possibilities and between the website and my doctors I feel like we have been prepared for whatever we are given. So we are very blessed to have made it this far and still have both our girls doing so well in my belly. Right now I am excited and I can't wait until they are here with us.

I do have to admit it feels a little weird knowing the date that will change our lives forever. I wonder how they are going to look and how they will do when they come out, especially since they will be preemies. It's hard to picture in my head 3 pound babies. I used to be scared to death to hold a normal size baby. When Chelsie and Trevor were first born (I was 19) I would not hold them too much until they got bigger and their heads weren't so floppy. It's a good thing I got used to it with Faye and Ruby, but mine will be half the size of them. I feel confident we will figure it all out and be old pros before we know it.

Thanks for everyone's prayers and support, we could not have made it to this point without it.

The results are in!!

Just got back from our ultrasound and the girls are looking great. Their hearts and lungs are working well and their cord blood flow looks great.

Baby A is on the left and she is breech/transverse (head up still), her weight is 1594 grams, which is 3 lbs 8.22 oz.

Baby B is transverse (across the top of my abdomen). I am pretty sure she moved this morning because I noticed her head was in a different spot and I thought I felt someone kicking my right ribs. So her head for now is to the left and her feet to the right. Anyways, she is 1637 grams, which is 3 lbs 9.75 oz.

Now that we are in the third trimester this is the time when they put on the most weight, so hopefully they will gain more weight in the next 9 days. My belly sure does feel like it's been getting bigger and I am starting to get a little uncomfortable, but that's okay as long as they gain as much weight as possible.

No Ultrasound Today

When the doctoring covering for my doctor came in this morning came in to see me this morning she said that my doctor was going to do the growth scan ultrasound tomorrow since she will be here. My doctor is at the clinic all day on Mondays. I was quite disappointed since I had been waiting to see how big the girls have gotten and Randall stayed last night so he could be here too. I guess we will have to wait one more day. Our NST last night was good and they did really great this morning. They were very active and stayed on well.

Well, I wanted to fill everyone in since we I had said in the previous post I would post the results of the scan today. Have a great Monday and I will hopefully post the results of their growth scan tomorrow.

Today I hit my 6 weeks mark here at the hospital. Hard to believe!