Christmas Card

Since I have been so busy with the boys...I have not gotten out to develop or mail our christmas card...so I will be posting it here this year. For those of you who sent us a christmas card we greatly appreciate it! We hope everyone is well and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

We love you!

The boys are doing well and we can't wait for winter to be over so we can start taking them out to meet friends and family! :)

Birth Announcement

So, here is the birth announcement I am sending out...for those of you that are my online friends (and whose addresses I do not have), here is the boys birth announcement. It has taken forever since having spare time with twins is unheard of, but here it finally is!!! :)

Their first week of life...

Here are the events for their first week of life...this is what I remember so far & may update it if I remember more...if you would like to see the pictures bigger, just click on the picture to enlarge it... enjoy! :)

10/1/08
Kyle: born at 8:22am, 6 lbs 5 ozs 18 in, put on blow by oxygen & then hood at 40%

(shortly after birth)

Kody: born at 8:23am, 4 lbs 15 ozs 17 in, umbilical cord wrapped around his neck 2 times, put on blow by oxygen & then hood at 30%

(shortly after birth)

10/2/08
Kyle: put on 30 % oxygen (went down), then later went up to 42 % oxygen, had his 3rd x-ray, had the procedure done on his umbilical cord so they could draw blood & use it for an IV. Kevin & Ryan gave Kyle a blessing to help him fully recover & quickly. Then AIR-EVAC people transferred him to Thunderbird hospital where he would be in the NICU that would better be able to sustain him

(Kyle right after we found out he would most likely be transferred to another hospital - My first time seeing him up and about)

(Kyle right after his umbilical cord procedure)

Kody: weighed 4 lbs 15.6 ozs, off of oxygen

(Kody during brothers procedure - My first time seeing him up and about)

10/3/08

Kyle: arrived at Thunderbird Hospital, put on CPAP, IV in his head & blood work better than they expected. He had his own private room with recliner & sofa, and his own personal nurse. Kevin went and visited Kyle everyday for a few hours, 2-3 times a day, and brought breast milk for them to feed him

Kody: weighed 4 lbs 10.5 ozs

10/4/08
Kyle: weighed 6 lbs. The doctors were pleased that he lost weight due to extra fluid he was holding, no more IV in his head

Kody: weighed 4 lbs, 10.9 ozs


Kevin's mom Karen, brother Shawn & my mother Tracy came out to see the little guys...

10/5/08 Mommies 25th Birthday!!!
Kyle: Daddy got to hold Kyle for the first time!!! Around 11pm, Kevin was getting ready to go to sleep at Del Webb but called to check on Kyle. Kyle didn't have any more breast milk for his midnight feeding so Kevin had to get some breast milk that I had pumped from the refrigerator in the nursery and rush it down to him. He stayed there for a few hours and needless to say it was a long night for daddy!

Kody: weighed 4 lbs. 13.5 ozs, put into an Isolate so that his body temp would be stabilized for him & he would stop burning calories to stabilize it himself, gavage feeding tube was removed

10/6/08 Mommy left the hospital
Kyle: Kyle was taken off of the CPAP and put on nasal prongs, his oxygen was down to 25% and the pressure put out by the prongs was .2. This was the first time I got to see Kyle after the was Air-Evaced to Thunderbird hospital...a very special day! I cried as Kevin was pushing me down to his room...

Kody: weighed 4 lbs 15.4 ozs

10/7/08
Kyle: weighed 5 lbs 7 ozs, no more biliblanket for jaundice, he finished his fat emollient they were injecting, he began nippling most of his feeds but they would still need to gavage 10-15 cc's, and the best new of all...he was off of oxygen!!!

Kody: weighed 5 lbs...gained weight, and taken out of Isolate so that he could stabilize his own body temp again, nurse told us she was pretty sure we would be bringing Kody home the next day!

10/8/08 - 1 week old
Kyle: taken out of his Isolate, moved from NICU into Continuing Care NICU POD B5, where his nurse now had another baby to care for instead of only Kyle. He hadn't had any gavage tube feedings so far, and he was nippling 52-54 cc's per feed. No more IV and he was stabilizing his own temperature just fine!

Kody: weighed 4 lbs 15.9 ozs...he lost 2 grams, as it was hist first night stabilizing his own temperature, so he wasn't able to come home with us yet :(

But we were able to stay at the hospital in the "Nesting Place". This is a suite, where parents whose babies that have been in the nursery for a while, can stay and have nurses immediately available for questions. The nurses still come take all the vitals and the babies are still in the care of the hospital, but mommy & daddy have them to themselves. This was our first night with a little one & they told us if he didn't gain weight then he wouldn't be able to come home with us the next day...

10/9/08

Kody: weighed 5 lbs 1.2 ozs, he was released from the hospital & going home with us...while they were doing the car seat test, we went and took the infant CPR class mainly because we wanted to, but also because we were told they wouldn't release Kyle to us until we took it. So while we were taking the class Kyle's nurse called looking for us. When we finished the class we walked into the nursery and the nurse said we needed to call Thunderbird hospital about Kyle. Kevin & I both went into panic mode & the nurse saw that right away and told us...no it's a good thing, don't worry! So we called Kyle's nurse & she told us that he was being released today as long as he passed the car seat test as well!!! So once we busted Kody out of the hospital we were on our way to go bust little Kyle out!!!

But we had to go home for a little bit before we could go get Kyle...so Tigger got to meet Kody...

Kyle: weighed 5 lbs 13 ozs, he passed the car seat test with flying colors...and we were finally all together as a family!!!
And pics from their first night at home...once we picked up Kyle, we came home to a Welcome Home heart attack on our door from our sweet & dearest friends, the Kitchen Family.

The next morning we had to take them to their first doctor appointment with the Pediatrician...that will be in the next post :)

The birth story...how Kyle & Kody came to be at 35 1/2 wks

Sorry this is so long...but I am also using this as a journal so here we go!!!!

I was going into the hospital 2 times a week for non-stress testing per doc orders. On 9/30/08 my parents came back into town & said they would take me to the non-stress testing at the hospital. So yeah I didn't have to drive or sit & wait by myself! That morning Kevin left at 5am and I couldn't get back to sleep so I was up for a few hours. I finally went back to bed & woke up 20 mins before my 11am appointment at the hospital. Literally 1 minute before my parents got to my house. I figured oh well I will get dressed & get there when I get there. No time for a shower...will have to do that when I get home...little did I know...

I got to the hospital & no other patients were there yet so I figured I would be in and out of testing within 20 mins. Well when I came in another lady came in & it was more of an emergency...so they took care of her first...no problem...then another emergency case...and another...and another...so 40 mins later I was finally hooked up. I was fine and relaxed because I didn't have anything else going on that day. I was at home on bed rest after all!

Well I had high blood pressure so they let me sit for a while & tested it again. They propped me up on my left side to help...but it was still high... 150/101...so they did some blood work on me to see...the previous week I had protein in my urine so they were watching that anyway. My test always came back saying I was fine & I could go home so I was not concerned at all...then I had a doctor come talk to me about my results...never a good sign!

Dr. Brar told me that I had extremely high blood pressure and they were concerned for myself along with the babies...they wanted to give me some magnesium and do a c-section at 3pm today....WAIT WHAT??????? Kevin had just left this morning...by now it was 1:30pm and there was no way he could get back by 3pm! There was no way I could go through this without him!!! Kevin is my rock & no one can calm me, take care of me or relax me like he can and I did not want him to miss the birth of our boys...and I knew he wouldn't want to miss it either! IO told the doctor the situation and asked if we could wait till the next day for the c-section as long as it was safe...she said they would monitor me but with the magnesium she felt I could wait till the next day. I had mild pre-eclampsia...

I called Kevin & told him to get home...he was thankfully able to get on a 2:30pm flight with no problems...luckily my parents were with me through all of this otherwise I could have been such a wreck! They kept me hooked up for the rest of the day and watched me closely. Kevin finally got to the hospital around 6pm after stopping at the house to get stuff together (my bag wasn't even packed yet as I NEVER expected this!!!)

They set me up in a birthing suite for the night (it was incredible!), I had the nicest nurses...and then I got the magnesium!!! Oh my gosh! They said I would get hot, but I didn't expect to get that hot! The mag is supposed to relax you and lower your blood pressure. I felt like it was 120 degrees and I was sitting in the direct sunlight! It was miserable! I was sweating so badly! I asked my nurse if she knew what time my c-section was scheduled for and she told me that there was 1 c-section scheduled for 8am and then there were 2 "emergency" c-sections which were another lady and myself. She said it all depended on who needed to have it done first.

Well they ran some tests on me in the middle of the night & the nurse was concerned. So they ran more blood work on me. Apparently the results were ok because we didn't do the c-section then! Around 7:15am I asked my nurse what time my c-section was planned for and she told me that it was at 8am...I was first up...apparently I needed it the most...

So here are a few pics showing how big I actually got...swelling and all...

And here we are as I was on 10/1/08 my way to my c-section at 7:56am...

Then Kyle was born at 8:22am at 6lbs 5 ozs. 18 inches long, and Kody was born at 8:23am at 4 lbs 15 ozs 17 inches long. Kody had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck 2 times. So I was even more thankful that I went early and they were taken by c-section!

The first time I got to see the boys...they were so much cuter than I expected!!!

...at 8:36am here was the proud daddy...

After this picture was when all the scariness began...

They found out the boys could not fully breathe on their own.

Kyle was first put on blow by oxygen, and then he was put in the hood on 40 % oxygen.

Kody was also first put on blow by oxygen, and then he was put in the hood on 30 % oxygen.

I saw the boys when they were born next to my head in the picture above...and then I didn't get to see them for another 9 hours when they were wheeling me upstairs on a gernie. Kevin was in the nursery with them and sending me pictures and texts to keep me updated.

The next day, 10/2/08, Kody came off the oxygen completely! And Kyle went down to 30 % oxygen. Then through out the day he went up to 42% oxygen and had 2 x-rays. The doctors and nurses said they could keep a baby there in the nursery up to 55% oxygen. So we still thought we were safe.

Then around 11pm...we received the worst new ever!!! Kyle was up to 50% oxygen and getting worse. They informed us he would have to be Air-Evaced to another hospital that could handle his condition. We called our good friend Ryan Kiedrowski to come help Kevin give him a blessing. We didn't know what it meant for our little Kyle. We were so scared and total wrecks! Ryan came right over. After the specialists did a procedure on Kyle's umbilical cord so that they could draw blood and use it as an IV, and he received his 3rd x-ray...they felt it was due to under developed lungs and not pneumonia. The neonatalogists decided that he would send Kyle to Thunderbird hospital. He had a hard time deciding to send Kyle away because he hates to split up twins. Some twins will actually do worse when they are split up. So we were in the nursery as they packed up our little man & took him away.

That was literally the worst night of my life!!! We cried so hard! We didn't know what to expect. Kevin was getting ready to head over there when they told us to allow 1 1/s hrs before we called to check on him. So at 1:45am on 10/3/08 we called the hosital and found out that they put him on the CPAP machine, he was at 48% oxygen and .6 pressure. He was doing well and was stable, and they put an IV in his head. They said they would run blood work at 5 am and would let us know if anything changed. The blood work that morning came back better than expected so they were just keeping him stable on the CPAP.

Kody was doing well off of oxygen & now just needing to gain weight.

I will post the events from 10/4/08-10/8/08 in my next post as this one is gettting pretty long!