Maddie is Coming Home!

There will probably be many typos & grammatical errors in this post, but I want to get everything down as fast as I can because we are scrambling to get things ready.

Over this past weekend we asked the doctor if she had a timeline for us taking home the girls. She somewhat laughed and told us that it looked like around 2 weeks. The girls were still 36 weeks, not quite full term. We were disheartened, but knew when they first arrived in the NICU, the prognosis was they would be there till their due date {May 24}.

Fast forward to yesterday. The doctor called me in the morning & started with "Looks like Madeline really wants to go home! She's doing great on her feeds & I see her going home by the end of the week!" So after letting out a big "woohoo," I was thinking by Saturday or Sunday we would have one of our girls home!

Now on most days I take the train up to the hospital. I don't have to worry about traffic & I can get in some good reading.  Just as I plopped myself down to wait for my next train at Five Points the doctor calls. I figured it was just the daily check up, but right off the bat the doctor says "Looks like Madeline can come home tomorrow!"

I cried. I was so happy.

She explained more that the nurses had fed her all her feeds off the gavage & pending a car seat test she would be able to go home tomorrow.

When I finally arrive to the hospital, little Madeline had no feeding tube in.

She's beautiful.

I fed both girls & then we get ready for the car seat test.  During this test Madeline cannot suffer from apnea or experience any oxygen desaturation.  This test is one and a half hours long!!!!!!!! So we start to buckle her in & quickly realize she doesn't fit. Not even close. Even though she is 5 pounds & that's what are seat starts at, she was so far away from the crotch strap.

Crap. We got these off our registry way back in December, so we didn't have the boxes & we weren't sure if we could return them. After a quick phone call to Babies R Us, & an explanation of our situation, they kindly agreed to let us return them for ones that would work. {Thank you BRU for amazing customer service & being so easy to work with! You just earned a customer for life!}

So note to all...if you have preemies a Graco Snugride is not for you. However a Graco Sungride 30 is! Yay!

So after a quick exchange we hustled back up to the hospital. {Ok, I lied we actually grabbed some Galla's Pizza First. Yum!}

The traffic on Peachtree-Dunwoody was hell. This is a nice reminder why I don't want to move back to Dunwoody any time soon.  I was nervous we wouldn't make it in time & would have to delay the test.  But, once we finally made it, Madeline was finishing up her bottle. Perfect timing. We got the car seat all strapped up into the mock seat & we were on our way!

Maddie didn't seem bothered by the test at all. A few cries here & there. Some straining {probably working on her nightly poop.} Some sneezing...which actually scared me because she started to dsat, but the nurse said not to worry, that didn't count. Phew.

{Princess Leia}

An hour & a 1/2 later...

SHE PASSED!

Madeline is coming home tomorrow!

Little Amelia is still working on things. She is an amazing breast feeder, but with both the breast & bottle, she gets a little over zealous & can choke or forget to breath.  Hopefully in the next few days or weeks she will get better at her breathing & eating coordination. We want her home with her big sis!

{Amelia}

30 Week Update.

Well we are 24 days into this ordeal & have 25 to go. However, of you ask Dave he wants to go 26 more days so the babes are born on Friday the 13th.

But we can't think that far ahead just yet, I need to keep these babes cooking longer. The babes are 30 weeks & have so much of a better chance than when we first got here. They were measured at Thursday's ultrasound & Baby A is around 3lbs7oz and Baby B is around 3lbs12oz. I would love it of we could get them to over 5 pounds in the next 4 weeks.

My legs aren't fairing so well with the inactivity. Thank goodness they some action from the ALP Machine, which helps prevent blood clots.

Days are long & filled with people constantly going in & out of my room. Luckily I've had a lot of visitors to pass the time. The weekends are the toughest & I am especially jealous of everyone enjoying the amazing weather we have been having.

I am of course quickly reminded of why I am here & am extremely thankful that I have made it this long. Right now the babes are monitoring very well & Baby A's fluid is looking great. I am having contractions, but they aren't progressing just yet & fluid intake calms them down. My threshold is labor, so at this point, if the babes decide they want to come, there is no stopping them!

Thanks again for all the thoughts & prayers. Thanks also for the lovely flowers, cards & gifts!!

10 Days Down, 39 To Go! Week 28 Update

This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but as Sunday ends, I'm even more hopeful that we will make it through this hospital bed rest.

Last Sunday the babes were monitoring well, but I wasn't. I was having too many contractions per hour & had to have a lot of fluids pushed. Dave was hoping to head to work on Monday, so he was at home, and made a late night trip back to the hospital just in case. I had myself a good little cry, but was able to make it through the night.  Morning monitoring went well & I haven't had to have an IV fluid push since.

Upon our arrival here we found out that I was fighting an e.coli infection & strain which was not responding to the first set of antibiotics I was on.  It was also a strain that was very bad for a NICU baby. Scary.  A second course of antibiotics was started on Monday and at last test the infection is gone!!

Both the babes & myself have monitored well over the week & we were so thrilled to hit 28 weeks on Thursday.  Just an extra week cooking and making it to the third trimester gives our babes a better chance.  They have however, been having some issues at night time monitoring as of recent. There have been some dips in heartrate & running a high heart rate that had me monitored 3x a day as opposed to our regular 2. I'm hoping it's just the babies being busy & jumping off the monitor instead of anything too drastic. Apparently twins aren't always very cooperative on the monitor - not to mention my own heartrate seemed to get picked up every now and then.

We got to see the babes every Monday & Thursday. There it was determined that baby A was in fact the sac that ruptured. However, even though her fluid is lower, she is still considered "Low Normal." We get to see them tomorrow. I can't wait.

I had my 1 hour gestational diabetes test on Friday & I did not pass. I was pretty worried, but knew that it was common in twins & I was in the right place to treat it correctly. The 3 hour test was schedule for this morning & I passed with flying colors. I have a strange suspition that the milkshake I had a day prior to the first test might have thrown off the results, but boy was it worth it! Thanks Dale!! :)

Another positive today: I got my IV out! Here's hoping those contractions stay away, because I really like my arms to heal up!! Oh, and the best part...I got a bed extension!! Now my feet won't get crunched up at the end of the bed anymore!!

I've had a lot of great visitors & tons of support from my family, friends, and tweeps. Thanks again, you don't know how much it means to know that you are standing by me!

So we've got 10 days down in the hospital and 39 to go!! Keep on Cooking!!

Got pics of my babes hanging up & some lovely art work by Ava

Day 6. 27w5d. 44 to go!

The last few days have been up and down. My biggest issue is I keep having contractions. The most preventative measure right now is to push IV fluids & so far that has been working. The doctors are telling me as long as the fluid works then they can hold off labor, however, if it does not, they won't stop labor.

They are continually monitoring for infection as well. That seems to be another major concernwith a rupture case like mine

After yesterday's ultrasound, they did determine that it was Baby A's sac that ruptured. Both are still looking pretty good though. Doc said that both babes are practicing their breathing which is a VERY good thing if they have to come out early.

So it's still a day to day thing we have going on here!

Thanks again for all the love and support. It means so much to us!!

UPDATE: Got some bad news - apparently I do have an infection that isn't reacting to the antibiotics that I have been given. They are changing the meds up & hope to have it cleared in the next 72 hours. This kind of infection is very bad for NICU babies, so fingers crossed that it clears soon!!

27 Week Update

Yesterday I wrote a blog.

It was very long.

It decided it didn't want to save.

I don't feel like writing it all again.

So here is the long and the short of it.

We have a countdown going. Today marks 46 Days to go. 46 days that I need to keep these babies growing inside of me.

On Thursday one of the twin's sac had a rupture. We came to the hospital & the babes got checked out right away. Their fluid levels looked ok, but I am here to stay. In the past few days, I've been hooked up to IV's, given steroids & antibiotics, & had many monitoring sessions of the babes.

Dave has been a trooper. Staying by my side & making sure the countdown is updated on my board.

So now we wait.

We hope that these babes will wait till 34 weeks. 46 more days.

Thank you to my amazing family & friends - who have texted, called, facetimed, tweeted, & visited. I don't know what our little family would have done without you.

Althought today was another challenging day, since I've been having contractions, I'm trying to stay as positive as I can!! I hope to update as much as possible on here - so that everyone knows how we are doing.

Love you all!

Rebecca