Updates

Updates on the Twins
and a little about me too!

December 29, 2001

Yesterday I went to visit the twins. I also had to give my IPs my consent forms for them to be the guardians of the twins. I went to the hospital first to see how Michael was doing. He looked much better than when I saw him on the 24th. His skin was a nice pink color instead of being blotchy, he was moving a little instead of lying completely still and he was hooked up to one less pump. I took a couple of pictures and told him what a strong boy he was. Then I went to see Michelle. She is such an angel. I don't know if she's that nice when I'm not there, but she was sleeping (and had been for about 3 hours before I got there) and making all kinds of sweet faces (smiles and squints). She really seems like a sweet little girl. I took some pictures of her too. Doug asked me if I was starting to change my mind and was wanting to keep the babies. The thought of keeping the babies had never entered my mind. This whole time I have known these were Doug and Kay's twins and that they would do an awesome job of raising them. So I reassured them that I would never change my mind. All I have to do is look at how proud they are of their children and I know that everything is the way it is supposed to be. As for how I'm doing, I'm actually surprised at how well things are going. I feel a lot less hormonal than I did after my two children were born (maybe it has to do with the fact that I don't have to get up every 3 hours at night this time!). I feel like I've really made a difference in 2 people's lives and I'm so happy I got a chance to be a part of this whole experience. So emotionally I'm doing quite well. Physically I'm also feeling quite good. I've lost 28 pounds now, which I must confess this is probably my first Christmas season that I have lost weight, hahaha. I also measured my waist and it has gone down a whopping 15 inches!!! The only part of me that is a little sore is my back---I think it's having a hard time trying to go back to a regular position. But other than that I'm super. I got an email from Doug tonight. They had just gotten home from visiting Michael. They took Michelle in to see him too---I think it will be so wonderful when they get to bring Michael home and they can be together all the time like twins should be. Anyway, here's part of the email that I got just to update me on Michael's health: "The first thing that I noticed as we rounded the corner was that the respirator was gone. From a distance I could see that his eyes and mouth were wide open. He was kicking and waving his arms around. The nurses had to put a mitt over his left hand so that he couldn't scratch himself. The intraveneous tubes in his right foot had also been removed. His right hand was secured to his blanket, because it still had an IV in it, and he had been waving his hand around too much. He was also wearing a diaper, since the catheter was removed. There were only three pumps pumping stuff into him (proteins, fats, saline), as opposed to six pumps on Wednesday. He appeared to wide awake and lucid, although after about 45 minutes he seemed to be a little tired, and wanted to sleep. I'll go back and see him again tonight. It is still too early to tell, but in my amateur opinion, I would have to say that he looks fine, and the nurses say that he is doing very well. I haven't had a chance to talk to any of the doctors about it, but will let you know once I do." So as you can see things are definitely looking up! I'm so happy he seems to be doing much better.

January 1, 2002

I thought I should give an update as things have changed quite a bit in the last couple of days. Michael has now been transferred out of the NICU to the cardiac unit of the children's hospital. That is obviously wonderful news. Here's the updates on his condition: This was what happened on the 30th of December "Michael has yet to successfully eat anything since he was born, and his stomach was growling like a bear. However, the doctors feel that he will is not able to handle food yet, and didn't plan on feeding him until Jan. 3rd, so Michael is still on an IV to receive his nourishment. Michael's nurse (he has her all to himself) said that he had been quite irritable, because of his famine. All they could do is give him some Tylenol to calm him down. Later, the nurses and I had a difficult time settling him down. It took some vigorous rocking in a swing to put him to sleep." And this was from the 31st "The nurses did try to feed Michael earlier in the morning, but that didn't work out too well. Still too early. He was wide awake when we arrived. I got to see Michael's incision for the first time today. It starts on his left side, about one cm back of his nipple. It continues under his arm, and across his back, almost all the way to the spine. Wow. Michael is still quite irritable, again due to his hunger. The nurses said that he is doing very well, although his respiration is a little high. They are venting oxygen near him to keep his saturation levels high. He was able to fall asleep while we were there." And this was the news from today "They put Michael on a medication to slow down his breathing, which is still way too fast. The doctor said that he would probably be on this medication for a month, but they didn't give him the medication through a tube. It was administered orally. They also tried to feed him again today. He had 15 ml of formula, and wanted more. It didn't come back up, so he was given the green light to receive as much formula as he wants." So slowly but surely Michael seems to be getting better. What a strong little man he is. Michelle is still doing well. She had her first appointment with a pediatrician the other day. She has gained 1/4 of a pound since birth and her head circumference has grown by 1cm. Her dad thinks her head has gotten bigger because everyone is always telling her how pretty she is :-) As for me I'm still doing well. I really don't feel like I just gave birth, I guess it gets easier every time. I still haven't gotten really hormonal yet so I'm hoping that has passed me by!

January 2, 2002

I just finished scanning in all my pictures of the twins so I thought I'd share them with everyone. When you go to the album, make sure you look at the second page too because it's only the first half of the pictures on the first page. I also added my last pregnancy picture to the tummy picture album so I thought I'd just give the links to all of the albums here in case anyone was interested

Pictures of the twins
Pregnancy Pictures
Ultrasound Pictures

January 5, 2002

Yesterday was the twins' due date. Boy am I ever glad my doctor didn't make me carry them all this time. 13 pounds of baby was hard enough to carry, if they had been in there another another 2 weeks it probably would have been more like 15 pounds of baby---Yikes!! I got another update on the twins yesterday. Here's the latest news: "Michael was started on a diet of Enfalac only yesterday (Wed.). He would only suck about 20 - 30 ml of it from the bottle, and they would have to pump the rest of his serving into him. He has a feeding tube inserted into his nose, but that is the only tube left in him. They removed the IV from his jugular today, so he no longer has an IV. He still has the probes so that they can monitor his heartrate, respiration, and saturation level. Today, he really had no interest in eating. The nurses were not able to get him to ingest more than 15 ml of formula. He seems to tire of eating easily. I was able to get him to take 30 ml when I fed him at 9 tonight. They will pump the rest of his serving (55 ml every 2 hours) into his stomach. It is really quite ironic that he is not drinking his formula, because earlier in the week before he was receiving formula, I observed how he handled his pacifier - very, very aggressively. I thought "What a strong jaw he has, and it is a good thing that no one is trying to nurse him. Ouch" No change in Michelle's condition; cute." And the news for me is that my swelling is finally going away!!! Just 2 days ago I was able to get my engagement ring on (but no other ones would fit). Today I got my family ring on so the only one left is my wedding ring. And I now have ankles again! Jason is overjoyed with the fact that I can now do all the housework again (okay, not ALL the housework---I'm not that nice!). So my life is pretty much getting back to "normal" now.