Happy 1 Month!

The boys are a month old today! Its definitely been a crazy month too.

Things have been going well since we got home. Nothing too new to report. We went to the doctor in Durham the day after C was released. The nurse came and got us to go back, and it actually was someone that Kim went to High School with. It was great to catch up with her and have her as our boys nurse! What a small world. We got lucky and got a great doctor that we love and are building a relationship with. She was impressed with their weight gains at that point (both right around 5lbs). We also try to schedule a test for the car seats, but this prove to be more of a challenge then we thought. Duke does not send anyone home in car beds so they don't have any means of testing kids outside of the hospital nursery. They have a nurse looking into this for us. We hope that they come up with something so we don't have to make a trip back during the week to Roanoke to retest them. Also during that appointment we decided that we would do an ultrasound on Graham's hip because the right one clicks when rotating it. They say this is really common due to how he was position in the womb. I was honestly not surprised to hear this because they had so much trouble trying to find one of his legs during deliver. Other than that everything went well.

We went back to the doctors a week later (June 27) and had another weight check. They are now 5lb 8oz and 5lb 9oz. Again the doctor was really happy with these numbers and she said just keep doing what we are doing cause they are doing wonderful. We still don't have answers on the car seat test and the ultrasound because the people that are working on it for us were out of town. We should hear early the following week on it. We will return to the doctors in two weeks (for a weight check) and then again in 4 weeks (2 month well check up).

We are pretty much living on a three hour schedule. The kiddos start getting cranky around 2.5 hours and we hold them, change them, start the bottles. By then its been 3 hours since the last feeding, so we feed them. They fall asleep in our arms. We put them down to sleep and then do it all over again in 2.5 hours. They are starting to become more alert in between feedings but we have had grandparents here to love on them and help us out. Overall, they have been really great at keeping a schedule and helping us stay sane.

Marcus started back at work mid last week, but Kim has had help during the day while he was gone. This week will be the first week that she is on her own. The house is all unpacked at this point and we are just trying to get all the trash out of here.

24 Days old!

Can you guess who is who???

Even more pictures...

https://plus.google.com/photos/107845002015462024413/albums/5892698269813658177?authkey=CMSp8qewnbqtJA

C's turn!

Good bye NICU

On our way to durham!

G first day out

G did great last night. He stuck to his schedule well. He wanted to be held a little after eating. If we put him straight back to bed he cry or groan constantly. So we held him for 15 or so afterwards and that seem to help.

During the day today he was pretty alert for a good part of it. Just looking around.

This evening Kim went to see c in the hospital. He to was awake most of the time looking around. They are suppose to do his car bed test overnight, but Kim overheard the nurse talking about how she's never done one before. So we're not sure what will happen.

I'm free!

Let's blow this place!

retest day

They retested the boys in the car beds today. G went first, he did well for the first hour and half then his pulse oxygen level started to dip down but he was able to bring it up and control it. He was able to complete his two hours. C went next and had beautiful vitals for the first hour. He had no issues at all. Then at the hour mark he dipped down for too long with his pulse oxygen level. So he has failed the test.

So now we have one kid getting out tomorrow and one that has to stay. We were really torn on what to do. The medical team really didn't recommend to bring G back to Ronald McDonald house because of the germs. They thought driving him to Durham would be best and then they will call when C is ready and we would come back for him. However, I didn't like that idea. Marcus or I would have to come back up by ourselves to pick him up and I didn't want to have to drive 3 hours by ourself with C. Even if we found someone to ride with us, they would have to get their car to durham first or someone else would have to follow us so they can bring them back. Seemed really difficult. Then we realized that if we can stay locally with friends that might be the best. So Mary and Tim are so awesome and letting us crash at their place while they go to NJ to get married. (We can't thank you all enough!!)

So in the morning we will go over and pick up G and take him to Blacksburg. Then in the evenings one of us will come up with milk and visit with C for a while. Hopefully they will retest C on Thursday or Friday and he will pass this time.

Since the boys failed the car bed study because their oxygen level was getting too low, the NP have them keeping their pulse ox reader on to watch their levels. C had some issues last night and the respiratory specialist was in and the NP. I don't know what they really decided because the nurse today isn't very easy to talk with, but nothing has changed. I talked to the NP for today and she is not concern. I told her I notice his levels will drop for a while after he eats and is digesting his food. She said that's pretty normal and that we do it too. She said 3 days will make a world of difference for preemies. She is the NP that held them as intensive longer than any of the other NPs would have. So I feel good because I know she is cautious. The nurse today said she has seen kids go back on the CPAP for a day and then were able to go home the next day. However, none of the NPs have talk about going back on CPAP.

I think the plan is to retest on Monday and go from there. If they fail again, I will ask that we make a plan instead of just waiting another three days.

Today G has been eating like a champ. That boy likes his milk. C has been eating really well for us too. (He didn't overnight..) They both are gaining weight. They are both at 4lb 6ozs now. G has caught up to his brother.

Really nothing else has happen. We are just waiting around at this point.

scratch that.....

they both failed their car bed test. The buckle was too much weight on their chest and they didn't like it.will update more later

Update :)

So we got a call at 10:30pm Thursday evening.......

And......

We can go home!!!

They realized that c's caffeine countdown ended Thursday night and he is eligible to leave today when they are ready. Clearly the NP brought it up at shift change when docs and NPs meet to discuss what's happen that day.

So we packed our bags. Marcus will do a half day at work to tie-up lose ends and then come back for us and we'll be able to leave as long as they passed the car bed test this evening, which they should. And then get their shots and c takes the hearing test. It was a very nice and surprising call to get!

I apologize for another post with no photos. To me that's the best part! We keep meaning to, especially since their ng tubes are out, but manage to forget during their care times.
They are keeping g for another day. Really no reason except that it will be easier for us. He passed his hearing test today. However he failed the car seat test. The NP said he had the most terrified look on his face during it. All it entails is sitting in the seat for two hours without his heart rate dropping. Failing doesn't keep him here, he can get a car bed (a car seat that let's them lay flat).
I'm going to side track... So I started to post a picture of the carseat bed. I went to Google to grab a pic, first one had a tiny doll in it and looked silly. So I picked one with a cute baby...


Then, I notice the website it came from and its my friend Marisa who had twin boys almost two years ago! So Marisa be reassured I find j very cute, so much so I am featuring him here. :) I can't believe how little he was.
 
Back to the boys, the NP figured since he didn't pass the test no rush to kick him out. Plus she knows we are staying at Ronald McDonald's house and there's extra germs here, no reason to expose him to that.
They will do a car bed study on him tomorrow and most likely discharge him in the evening. He'll have to ride in it for about six weeks then do another study to see if he is ready for an infant seat.
For c, it mostly will depend on the NP and Dr working that day. The NP today made it sound like if they gave the caffeine pill right after midnight that she would let him leave late the day before his exit date. They were going to look at what time it was given, but they never got back to us on it. So we are looking at late Saturday to late sunday. We are going to figure out tomorrow. I believe c got the dose on early Sunday morning (june 2) based on everything I can remember. So fingers crossed we can leave sat night.
Fun story of the day- I (Kim) was changing c, and I got everything ready so the diaper was open for as little as possible to avoid being peed on. I put vaseline on a gauze to cover his circumcision (so it doesn't stick to the diaper) then I started to open the diaper... I realized that maybe I'll close the tube of baseline first. So I loosely close the diaper, start to screw the cap on the vaseline, but manage to get the vaseline, I was about to use, all over the tube. So I clean it up... The power goes out... Once restore, I get another gauze ready as I'm doing that, c let's out the largest poop ever. It was so loud that the nurse heard it three bedsides away. Let's say I'm so glad I made all those errors cause I feel like my luck would have been that happening with his diaper open and the power out...
To continue talking about his habits, I got lucky and the next care time I changed him and I got the new diaper on, he poops again. So I had to change him again. Apparently the kid loves having me change him....
Ok, maybe that story wasn't so fun, but that's the exciting things that happen to us.

P.S. Marisa thanks for letting me steal your idea of using a blog to keep in touch with everyone. Our families are so grateful. And let J know that I can hold him now, Anne won't take him away from me anymore :)

Final stretch

Yesterday the boys started to finish most of their bottles and overall had a good day.
Today they are starting to talk about discharge for g. Earliest will be tomorrow if he shows weight gain overnight. They took out both of their ng tubes around noon today so they are doing ad lib feeding, or on demand feeding. They can have as much or as little as they want now. They need to just be gaining weight with how much they take.
C can't get out until the 16/17 because he has to wait 14 days from when he got a dose of caffeine to help his heart rate drops that he had the first few days he was here. They say because of his size the caffeine can still be in his system and we need to make sure its out before they release him.
G had a car seat study today but had a major blowout in the seat which caused his heart rate to drop. However, poop was from his chest to his toes. They had to change his leads and everything. They are going to retry probably tomorrow morning when a car seat expert is here.
Both boys will get circumcised in a little bit. And get their hep b shot probably tomorrow. They like them to weigh as much as possible before giving it, so its one of the last things they do.
I think that's all for today. Lots of exciting things starting to happen.

How's mom?

Everyone been asking about my experience especially since I got to do natural and a c-section. So here's my take on it all!

I was having irregular contractions during my stay at the hospital, but I really didn't feel any of it. The worst I felt pre-labor was the blurry vision and wet noodle body from the magnesium.That stuff was awful. It didn't cause me pain just annoying. It just made me feel like I was doing serious drugs... or what I imagine it would feel like.

 Once they started to induce I felt pelvic pressure 8 or so hours later when I was 9.5 cm dilated. I did have an epidural that wasn't strong until delivery because I got it mostly in case I needed a c-section.
The vaginal delivery wasn't too bad, granted C was just shy of 4lbs so that helps a lot. It was annoying to wait 5 minutes in between contractions. I just wanted to push the whole time so that I could be done..I'm impatient like that.

When the doctor started to twist, pull, push, put elbows in my stomach, etc I didn't feel too much of it. Once they decided to do a C-section, the doctor quickly push the meds through my epidural and I could feel them take full effect immediately. My feet went really heavy. I think I asked them if they were sure it was working and they said did you feel the test? And I said, nope I guess it worked then.

In recovery, I mostly just wanted water and of course I was banned from it. They liked to withhold water from me during the days leading up to this. I was not a happy camper. I'm sure the nurses got annoyed with me for constantly asking for it. I was hoping they eventually would give in. And it did work before labor! And then I got ice chips in recovery. My legs felt heavy and I felt gross from the mag that I was still on. They wheeled me up to the NICU to see the boys after recovery, which I am really surprised they did. I have not seen anyone else get to do that while I am hanging out up there all day long. Granted I was in the middle of night, so that might have made a difference.

The hardest part of this whole experience was the next day. I hated the feeling of not being able to see. I just layed in the bed with my eyes close listening to everyone. By 2pm, I felt good enough to get out of bed and be wheeled up to see the boys. The trip was quick as I felt pretty gross. I then went up again around 6. I felt pretty good this time and hung out for a while. Then I went back to my room and started to feel gross. Marcus went to get dinner and I started to have a panic attack. The mag was really wearing on my body. I try to explain to the nurse and doctor that I don't ever say anything and I am pretty tough, but something is telling me that I need to speak up about how I felt. They looked at me like I was crazy and told me my vitals were all good. I felt really bad for complaining but I just didn't feel right. They had been watching my symptoms so hard up until that point and I had never had any. Then I seem to have a ton at once. We decided to pull the mag and I literally snapped out of it and said, 'oh I feel much better now, you can leave." Then 10 minutes later my skin burned as the mag seem to ooze out of my pores. My body seemed to really want to dump it as fast as it could, I even had tears coming out. And once a large portion was out, I felt great. Like a new person. They took my catheter out (probably around 9pm) and I got up and walked to the bathroom immediately.  At midnight they told me I would be leaving the room so I got up and started to pack the room as marcus continue to sleep. It was so nice to be able to stand and walk around after days of being tethered to IVs and the bed.

I slept the rest of the night in post partum area of the hospital. The next morning I got up and walked to the NICU. I had a little tingling feeling on my left side for a couple of days. The doctors said its probably the nerve endings coming back. I took pain meds once or twice, mostly as a precaution.

After leaving the hospital, we have been walking about a half mile to a mile each day, walking back and forth from the hospital to the Ronald McDonald house. I have had no issues with it. I truly feel great.

Everyone says that I should not be able to do all the I have done so quickly. I am really not sure why I have felt so great, but I am chalking it up to staying healthy during my pregnancy and being in good shape before I was pregnant. I keep thinking they clearly have never done rambo before... I am in more pain from that at times then this whole experience. I can't wait till I can get out and workout again!! Its going to be hard to sit still for 4 more weeks.

As far as my thoughts on the delivery- I am glad that I did try for a natural delivery. I originally was going to do a c-section right away to avoid both. However, the natural delivery really didn't take anything out of me. C was so little that it didn't phase me at all. And if they were able to make it work I could have avoid the c-section. Its hard to tell, but I don't feel like the natural delivery effected me in anyway. As far as the c-section, I wish we could have a vertical cut, but because of the direction G was in I had a classical incision. So if I have any more kids its automatically a c-section. I had the tingling feeling on my left side for a few days and that seems to be the only symptom of the c-section. It hasn't bad hard to walk, go up stairs, bend over, etc. So with having to do both, I lucked out cause neither of them was really hard on the body. 

Also, thank you all for your support and well wishes. We feel so blessed to have so many people that care about how we are doing. I promise we are all doing well. Marcus and I are both easy going people so we are taking it all one day at a time and we know that everything will work out.

Open Crib day!

Day 11 in the NICU

Time has really been flying by. But we are ready for them to come home though and start our lives.

At 2:30am they went into open cribs. They swaddled them in sleep sacks and put a blanket on them to keep them warm. For every care time, they have done a great job with their temperature. They hoovered around 97.9-98.3 degrees. So right where they need to be!

Only one piece left in our puzzle- finish bottles so they are gaining weight. We are currently gaining weight but that is because we are putting what they don't finish in their NG tubes. When we get home, we won't have the tubes, so they have to be able to eat with out it. Calvin and Graham did a great job breastfeeding this morning and supplement with the bottle. They didn't need the tube then. The next 2 care times they took very little by bottle, so they got the rest in their tubes. Then around the 6:00 care time, Calvin breastfeed for a few minutes and took a little of the bottle, so he got a little in the tube. Then Graham did not breastfeed well, but he took his whole bottle! It's the first time he finish the bottle. I didn't think he was going to do it, I tried for 10 minutes and he barely took anything, but Marcus came back from work and so he tried and was able to get him to do it. YAY!

We haven't received any word of when they will move them off cue base eating and eating on demand. I am hoping soon, because I feel like if they are not as satisfied then they will eat more at the next feed. I am going to guess by Wednesday we might get to move to this method.

G in his open crib! He hates his hands pinned down. He sneaks them out all the time.

C in his open crib

coordination!

C thinking- "wait a minute I liked it much better when I got to lay with mom!"

G sucking his fingers after kangaroo time

Our Temps are down to 26 now!!! We are pretty much hanging at room temp in our condos. They stayed at 26 all through today and maintain good body temperatures all day. More than likely the night nurse will keep them in the condos and then in the morning they will move to open cribs.

They both had two nursing sessions today and did wonderful at it. The second session we actually skipped the supplement part because we felt like they did a good enough job eating. Once they go to open crib they have to show they can finish a bottle a few times. Then they will move off of cue based eating and more eating on demand. They will get to eat what they want and at the end of the day their total needs to meet their size requirements. If they can do this, they get to go home!! We are so close to the end, hopefully only a few more days here and we are set lose.

The boys continue to show so much personality. They make all sorts of faces at us and are very wiggly. We knew they be wild children based on how crazy their were in Kim's stomach. The poor ultrasound techs always had trouble keeping track of them because they move so much. And on more than one occasion the tech mention how they were by far the most wiggly children they have scanned, especially for twins. We found G today had kicked off all his blankets and started to roll to his side and kept trying to stick his feet out the doors. And C also kicked his blankets off at one point. They both manage to still have good temps even after their swaddle blankets came off, which gives us high hopes for the open crib success.

We also double Kangaroo cared today. The boys continue to love this time to sleep on Kim.

Bodily fluids... ew

Today was another average day in the NICU. The nurses got orders to push their temp levels down. So we jumped down another degree or so throughout the day. This seem to take its toll on Calvin again. He had a few minor spells, most of the time he came out of it on his own. I think we only stimulated him once to get his heart rate back up.

In the afternoon, Kim kangaroo cared with them together. The boys seemed to love it. They quickly feel asleep holding hands. It was nice and peaceful until Calvin spit up all over himself and Kim. We think it was mostly due to overeating because he got to nurse then got his full feed. He probably got more in the nursing session then we thought. Marcus got to experience a throw up earlier in the day. Lucky Kim was able to hand him a wash cloth to catch most of it so he didn't get too get covered in it.

Speaking of the bodily fluids, both boys are really starting to go potty regularly and they STINK! Plus they are quite massive when they do. We think the stink is from the vitamins they are getting or the occasional formula they take in overnight.
Calvin took his full feed overnight last night. During the day neither of them were able to finish a feed or even really come close. They have to start taking their full feeds regularly in order to get out of here. They were doing well when we were in the 20mLs, but with 34mLs they aren't finishing. This probably has to do with pushing their bodies more to hold temps too.

Aunt Audrey and Uncle Andy came by to say hi to us this morning. And we got to meet Uncle Kevin this afternoon. They still sleep a lot so they aren't great socializers yet.

D for departure???

Today we got moved to a new Pod again! We are in D, like D for Departure :) At least we hope soon...We really don't know when, but that's the running joke there -when you move to D you are getting ready to go and if you have to move to E (which is currently not even being used cause there not enough kids) you are exiting...

The boys are really impressing us everyday. They gained weight last night, they are pretty much back to birth weight now. So they are showing weight gain which is what we want. We also really took their condo temps down a lot today. We did more than a degree today, which seems small put considering they were knocking it down by .1 the other days this is pretty big. However we saw the results of such dramatic change on them. They were very sluggish today, they were not interested in doing much but sleeping. They didn't finish a single bottle today which has not been the case this whole time, they had been bottle drinking champs.

We tried to nurse in the morning and the evening, G has the idea down just loses interest after 10-15 minutes. While C has not done as well. But we are still just trying to practice the idea of nursing, so we are okay with this for now. Every time C has tried he clearly has been tired.

They are also at the max feed level for 34mL. They will stay at this level most likely until they leave unless they have a dramatic weight gain.

They test the bilirubin levels and they continue to go down, so I guess C problems are effecting him too much. They said they will probably only run one more test and then be done with that. We really are knocking things down one at a time.

 At this point we are pretty much doing all the caring during the day. We take the temps, change the diapers, decide what feeding method they will have, and getting them in and out of the condos. The nurses are just their to chart their information. Its been nice to know that we will know what to do when they come home.

G looking crazy in his too big hat! Poor kiddo doesn't have a big enough head yet...

The IVs are gone!

This morning c's iv spot was getting red, so the nursed pulled it out and waited for the NP to do rounds. She hoped since the levels were low enough that she would leave it out. And sure enough the NP said we can leave it out and take g's out too. They are on vitamins now to get their nutrients.
They are also allowed to nurse now. We tried g at 11:30. He did pretty good for the first time trying. C got to try at 3:00. He was less interested, but he was very sleepy. So we didn't push the issue and just had kangaroo care time instead.
G got his kangaroo time this evening. He didn't move at all, he was loving it.
C had to get another suppository today. However, this time nothing happen immediately. It's been really quite otherwise with the boys today. I didn't get a chance to ask about weight and bilirubin levels, but since they hadn't mention it, I'm assuming everything is normal.
All the stuff arrived in Durham today. Marcus been busy unpacking it all. So now we have things again!!

We don't keep our legs contained! We are always moving them!

Stop, no more pictures

We gained!

Tuesday- June 4
We saw a positive weight gain today. Yipee! However, we are not positive that Calvin will have one tomorrow. They had to give him a suppository cause its been 3 days since he went poop. Marcus got the privilege to hold him right afterwards, it didn't take long for it to take effect! He more than likely will lose weight after that! Also because of the backup he is a little yellow. We hope his bilirubin hasn't gone up too much! Otherwise he'll go under the lights.
They both have ivs in their heads, so much for using that way to tell them apart in pictures. Hopefully they only need the iv for another day or two.
G got to have kangaroo care this morning and C got it in the afternoon. They really love this time.
Marcus left this afternoon to go to Durham to meet the moving trucks tomorrow. He'll be back Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

G

C with an IV in his head now.

C getting snuggles from aunt Jaimie

A great day after a rough evening

What a great day in the NICU.

Last night was rough for the boys. C had a handful of spells and they had to give him some caffeine to get over them and to avoid more. And they didn't want much from the bottle overnight.

However, all that change this morning. We saw the boys at 8am. G still didn't want the bottle much but C was ready for it. We had no spells so far today and they really just seem happy. We got lots of snuggles in with the boys during this round of care times. The Nurse practitioner came by and said they were doing well and that they are preemie status now. This doesn't mean much, just a cheaper bill for us. It does say they are more stable and need less attention. C condo temp has been going down. He is down a whole degree today, doesn't seem like much but it is! G has gone down, but just not as much. Their bilirubin levels are dropping. G went down a whole point and C went down .2 or so. This means they are looking less yellow and hopefully won't need the bili lights to help them. G has a window view and we really think that helped him. They aren't going to check everyday since the levels are starting to go down. So they will check again in a few days.

The grandparents came by for the 11/12 care times and got to hold the boys. They enjoyed all the lovin!

In the afternoon, We took a welcome to the NICU class. It was pretty informative, so we learned lots about what will happen during their time here. We had heard some of it, but it was good to get it all again.  G's nurse tried a new nipple on his bottle and he LOVED it. He thought it was the greatest thing and really has taken to it. C got to have Kangaroo Time with Kim. Which means he got to be naked and lay on her chest. This is suppose to really help growth development and help them learn to maintain temps. It was a nice long hour and half in the recliner of rest time for both of them.  He slept so well during this time and even after we put him back he was in a pretty good sleep. G was about to get his turn when we found that his IV was leaking and that they needed to reinsert his IV. So we decided to wait till tomorrow and we will give him snuggle time in the morning.

G on his belly

G sleeping like one of his grandmothers.. no naming names... laurie...

C so happy after Kangaroo time

There has been no big change today. The boys continue to take the bottle really well. They don't spit up after it and they seem to like milk a lot. They are comfortable with it enough that they are doing cue based eating. If the boys wake up at diaper change and are looking to eat we will feed them, if not then they will just be tube fed. Which is really great because they don't have to expel energy being awake and eating. They are now uping their food intake by 2mL every 9 hours. So they are doing about 12mL now. Which is huge from the 4mL they started at just a day and half ago! The more food they take the less IV they need. We want to work on getting them completely off the IV, as this will help their growth too.

They did get moved to a new pod now in the NICU. This doesn't mean much, just a different area we visit when we go. They just were reassigning bed locations to make things work better for the nurses there. They are still listed as intensive and should be preemies tomorrow. The only reason they are still intensive is because the DR they saw this morning likes to keep patients there longer than any of the other doctors.

C 3 days old

G 3 day old

G- 3 day old

The boys got lots of visitors today! Anne and Lynne their favorite twins visited them and Crystal came by and checked them out. Thanks so much guys for the goodies you brought us! We really appreciate all the love.

Kim got discharged today. And we got set up at the Ronald McDonald house, but not before a little excitement. Marcus manage to leave the car headlights on... oops. Dad brain is already taking its toll on him. So Jaimie and Kim's dad came out and gave us a jump start.

The next couple of days we plan to try to figure out how to make the transition from the hospital to an off site location but still get lots of visit times in with the boys. The one big requirement for us to stay here is to be at the hospital for a minimum of six hours a day, which won't be a problem for us.

A lot of people have asked what they can do to help. We promise that a list is coming out soon and if you want to help feel free to pick anything from there. It would make a huge difference! As far as food goes- the house has us pretty set up with meals, plus our awesome friends have given us gift cards to eat at places around the area. Lunch/snack items to have at the hospital is probably the area we have least covered at the moment. So if you come out and want to pick something up, feel free. And we will eat about anything you all will!

Trying to be big boys!

The kids are still in the NICU. Having the kids there really puts a perspective on things. All the other ones in our pod have much more serious situation. So even though we have to scrub in and wear a gown to visit with them and hold them, they are doing really well. They don't need blood transfusion, they are not being air lifted out, their monitors are not continuously beeping, etc.

Today they try to hold their own temps. It didn't go well, but we expected that. They have no fat at all. So they got moved into isolettes, which are like baby condos. They are temp controlled boxes that really help them grow fast and learn to maintain their temperatures. It seems scary that they are living in a box, but with all the other options they could be living in, this is the best kind! (Short of being an open crib)

Since their temps dropped today they didn't do as well with taking the bottle. But once the temps were stablized this evening they did much better. G was very alert this evening and checking everyone out.

Both boys love to snuggle and be held. All the nurses love them and have talked about wanting to take them home. So we have to watch carefully that our kids don't run off :) They also keep talking about how they hope the next rotation they come in on they get to work with our kids again. They have all been soo sweet to our boys and we know they are being really well looked after up there.

Kim will get discharged tomorrow. The hospital has set us up with a space in a Ronald McDonald home. We feel so blessed that they did this for us. So we will move into a location down the street until the boys are discharged.

In order for the boys to leave we just need them to hold their temperatures and show weight gain. their is no number that they are shooting for just as long as their is a positive weight gain over a few days. So they just need to get fat :).

Day 2

How things start to fly!

Kim is feeling so much better from being off the drugs. She is able to get up and walk around and go see the kids up stairs on her own.

The boys are doing well. They continue to be under the heat and have started to take formula/breast milk today. C is doing really well with taking a bottle. G is a little unsure. We think he has performance anxiety, if we stop watching and doing other things he starts to drink. It took a couple of tries before we figured this out, so they put a feeding tube in to get his first sips in. Otherwise all is well with them for now!

Now What?!

So Now we have premies!

After their birth they were taken to the Nicu. They were put on CPAP but only had to stay on it for a few hours. Both showed signs that they didn't need it anymore so they pulled that off. The Doctors were able to give Kim two steroid shots before delivery to help develop lungs which made a HUGE difference. They spent the day under direct heat to keep their body temps up. Marcus kept an eye out on the today as Kim didn't have much energy, nor could she see anything. (results of the magnesium...)

Kim spent the day drugged out on magnesium as it was important to keep her on it so that she didn't have seizures from the pre-eclamptic symptoms she had. By 8pm the drugs were really taking a toll on her. She told the doctor and the nurses that she was dieing and she had trouble breathing, face was itchy, hard to swallow, she felt like something was being overlooked, etc, etc. The list goes on. They wanted her on the magnesium for 24 hours post delivery, but they have been able to pull people off at 18 hours and it hasn't had any negative effects. She was around 20 hours when the pulled it. She said that she could immediately feel the effects. She called Marcus cause he was out getting food, crying because she literally had no control over anything. She said she felt all her hormones were pouring out of her. It was an odd way for her body to try to release all the drugs.

We got settled in for the night but at 2am they woke us up and said that Kim is doing well enough now to move to the postpartum area of the hospital. She they wheeled her down to the new room while Marcus lugged our life in suitcases.

welcome boys!

What a week!

 We have started this blog so that everyone that wants to know what's happening, can! and for those that don't want to know we don't make them sit in pain listening to the stories.

 The tale begins with Tuesday may 28th. Kim is at home waiting on the movers to come and load up the blacksburg house, so we can move to Durham. They arrive and of course notice the huge belly. One guy was quick to comment, 'are you sure you will make it to Durham??' Of course she laughed it off and explained that there was twins and she had a month to go still. As they packed, she called the Dr to mention that her right foot swelling never decreased last night like it had done every night for the last week. The nurse wasn't too concerned, so neither were we. The nurse said she ask the on call nurse and call back. An hour or so later she calls back and says come in and get your vitals checked to just reassure everyone. Kim asked if she should rush or can take an hour or so until marcus comes home from his half day at work. The nurse suggested its always best to go as soon as can. So she left her mom in charge of the movers, called Janice, Marcus's mom, and asked if she wanted to come since she understands medical things way better than kim.

 She arrived at the hospital, they noticed that her blood pressure was elevated and wanted to monitor for awhile. They also ran a test to see if she was likely to have pre term labor. When they did that they saw some dilation. They freaked out because that hospital didn't have a nicu. So they very quickly put her on a truck to roanoke. Once she arrived in Roanoke, they weren't concern that she would go into labor, they were more concern by her blood work and vitals. The doctors said that she could quickly turn pre-eclamptic, so they needed to monitor her. If after monitoring they saw no signs, then she just need to rest lots to keep the kiddos in. If pre-e signs showed up we had 48 hours to deliver kids to ensure their safety and hers.

 So the monitoring began. They took away water and food, which nearly killed her, she really wanted water. They began a steady dose of magnesium sulfate to prevent pre-e issues, like sizeures. They made her save all urine samples for 24 hours and draw blood every few hours. She stayed the night at the hospital. At 20 hours the Dr came in said that with the blood results everything was dropping. She was definitely showing signs of pre-e. So at 3pm May 29th, they started to induce. Kim said that she only wanted to deliver one way, either vaginally or c-section. Dr said that she would be having the Dr that specialized in breech birth delivering her so it looked pretty good to deliver both vaginally. The pitocin took a long time to work because the magnesium they kept her on was counter acting it. By midnight on May 30, she had progressed enough, they wheeled her to the operating room. All twin birth's here are done in the OR so they can quickly change plans if an emergency arises. According to marcus all of Roanoke was awake and in the OR with us. We had probably 20 people in there. 4 nicu nurses, handful of students, and the rest doctors. They broke C water before going into the OR room and the nurse said that was more fluid than see had seen in some time. Apparently, Kim likes water and so does her kids...

 kim's contractions were still very far apart, so she have to push and wait a few minutes. The doctors would just sit there and talk about the latest hospital gossip as they waited. After 5 solid contractions, C was born at 12:55am May 30th at 17 in and 3lbs 14ozs. He came out crying nice and loud. The nicu nurses took him and the doctors began to twist and push and pull on Kim's stomach to move G correctly. The breech specialist was able to get one foot but they could never get the other one. She had her hands doing everything possible. Finally, she admitted defeat. She said in all her year this is only the second time she had to. She truly felt awful. They were able to break G water, but the Doctor stopped them because she like her shoes. She asked the nurses for her to find boot covers cause she could tell that this was going to be a big water break and her shoes were in for it and as she said, "I like these too much to stand in them wet the rest of the night." They quickly transition and prepped for a c-section. They went in to grab G, but he was having none of it. He was hiding his arms behind his back and doing all he could to stay in. In the haze of everything, Kim overhears the doctor talking about how long its been since she gotten to do surgery on such a small person, Kim could not let this go. So she pipped in with, "I don't think I would consider myself small, but most likely average." Marcus told her then she clearly has not looked at the rest of America recently and thought about the people that would need surgery cause they were not healthy. They decided to cut kim further, and finally G arrived at 1:40am May 30th at 18in and 3lb 12ozs.