Lindy Update

Lindy's surgery went very well this morning. We went down to the OR around 6:20am and they took her back for surgery around 7am. They had to reintubate her (put her back on the ventilator) but hopefully it won't take her too long to get back off the vent. They put the Broviac IV in first and then put in the shunt. The neurosurgeon said she did great. She was wide awake and squirming when she came back. We expected her to be sacked out. They started her pain medicines up quickly because she did not look like she was comfortable. After about 2 hours she was finally calmed down and sound asleep. We hope she sleeps the rest of the afternoon.

Hopefully it is our last trip to the OR. I told her to tell all her friends down there goodbye because we are not going back!!

Week in Review and Surgery Alert

First things first, Lindy is having surgery tomorrow (Monday) morning at 7am!! She is having her shunt put in for her hydrocephalus. It had been tentatively scheduled for last Friday but it was postponed. She had to be 2000 grams and she was not there on Friday. She did reach 2000 grams last night so neurosurgery went ahead and scheduled it for first thing tomorrow morning. We were surprised with this news this morning when I was at the hospital.

While Lindy is already under sedation and after being extubated again, another surgeon will also be putting in a Broviac. It is a central line IV. Lindy has problems getting IV's and then has problems keeping them. It usually takes many nurses to actually get an IV and then they hardly last a few hours it seems like. Instead of having to stick her over and over they will put in a central line that they will be able to use. The Broviac can stay in place for months so now she will have an IV they can use until she leaves the hospital. It was a crazy afternoon of trying to get all that coordinated. The Broviac was a late addition and therefore they are squeezing her in. It's so much better to do it tomorrow than to have to send her back to surgery later in the week and go under sedation again. So maybe after tomorrow Lindy will be done with surgery! That would be awesome. Lindy has been quite chummy with the pediatric surgeons and anesthesiologists in the OR. We hope tomorrow is her last visit down there!

Besides the excitement happening tomorrow, there is not much news. Last week ended up being pretty quiet. Will is really digging the intermediate nursery. Of course he sleeps most of the time so I'm not sure he notices that he moved rooms! He is eating like a champ! He has been eating over 2 ounces at each feeding. He eats every three hours and it seems like he is really getting the hang of sucking, breathing, and swallowing. He started his countdown to go home on Friday. So far, so good!!!!! If he continues to behave he could possibly come home on Saturday, November 3rd!! It's exciting and scary!!

Although Lindy is still using a feeding tube, she is currently eating over an ounce every three hours. After surgery tomorrow she will have to start learning to eat from a bottle! She has tried once but we haven't tried again. Surgery is Lindy's last big thing so hopefully she can learn to eat fast and come home soon too!

Here are some pictures of the past week. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Lindy and her first bottle. BEFORE she realized it wasn't a paci and something was coming out of it.

And AFTER she realized something was coming out of it!
Little balled up Baby Will
Silly Will!
Big beautiful eyes!

Little Miss got herself all crooked in her bed one day. She was over towards the side of the bed, looking at all her cousins' pictures that are taped in there.

I got to do Kangaroo care twice with Lindy this week. Kangaroo care is skin to skin contact. She is wearing just a diaper and she is placed on my chest. It supposedly has all these great benefits like helping babies grow. Lindy loved it! She snuggled in and was so sound asleep! It was really nice.

Will during one of his champion feedings. How great would it be to sleep and eat at the same time? Will has it mastered! Mr. Will looking all fine and dandy after his bath today.Look at those cheeks! He's a big boy laying in his boppy.

Eye Surgery Number THREE!

Lindy had her third eye surgery early this morning at 7am. They checked her right eye on Friday and said there was still some evidence of the ROP plus disease. They were hoping it would resolve itself over the weekend. Unfortunately when they checked her again on Monday morning they found that it did not resolve itself . So, back to the OR she went. We got there at 6:15am this morning and we left for the OR around 6:30am. They actually took her for surgery around 7:20am and she was back in the NICU around 8:30am. I REALLY hope this is her last eye surgery. She had to be reintubated for the surgery. But the neonatologist is all set on getting her back off the vent as soon as possible. Hopefully tomorrow. She also got a different bed for surgery. She moved out of the isolette and into a radiant warmer. It's so cool because she is out of the isolette! We are hoping that they don't put her back in the isolette because we love being able to see her and touch her so easily.

Yesterday was Will's first day in the intermediate nursery. It was different. I liked having them next to each other because it sure was convenient. I felt like I ran back and forth between them all day. Today was a little better I guess. I was still going back and forth but I felt more settled.

Lindy got her first bottle yesterday! She sucked like crazy at first, thinking it was a paci, and then she realized something was coming out of it. Then she spit it back out at me like it tasted like poop. So cute! ha ha. 8 mL were gone from the bottle but between her spitting it back out at me and the drooling, there is no telling how much she actually got!

Because of some random belly issues she had on Friday they stopped her feeds over the weekend. Instead of gaining weight, she lost about 150 grams over the weekend. She was tentatively scheduled to have her shunt surgery on Friday. She has to be over 2000 grams. With her losing some weight we think that the surgery will be postponed until next week. We are just going to wait and see.

And one final bit of exciting news, we have a possible date for Will coming HOME! Babies that are ready to come home have to go seven days without any bradycardia (dropping their heart rates) or apnec episodes. They will start Will's seven day countdown on Friday. If he could go the whole seven days then there is a chance he could come home on November 3rd. This would be the earliest date. He still drops his heart rate a little bit when he is eating because he is still learning the whole suck, swallow, and breathe thing. If he should happen to brady during the countdown, they have to start over again. Everyone keep their fingers crossed!

What A Day!!

This has been one of the best days since the beginning of the NICU ride! Where to begin!

I came in this morning and found Miss Lindy on nasal cannula!!! I know the last time I wrote I said they would leave her on the ventilator until after her surgery but the doctors changed their minds! Since her surgery wasn't until the end of the week they decided to let her try it off the vent. They extubated her on Saturday morning and put her on CPAP. Boy was she mad on CPAP! She fought those prongs up her nose all day long. Most of the time they weren't in her nose and she was still doing fine. Apparently this morning they decided enough of the CPAP, let's put her on nasal cannula! This is Lindy's first time on nasal cannula! It was so cool to see her face. I got to get her out of the isolette myself and it was so easy! We've waited for this day for so long!!!

Lindy, mad as fire on CPAP! On nasal cannula!

Next the nurses helped us take a family portrait and get the babies out for their first picture together. It was so exciting. I had little matching outfits for them and I was so excited to get them together. It is the first time the babies have touched since they were inside the womb. How crazy is that! Will slept through the entire experience and Lindy didn't seem to be having a great time! But it made for some cute pictures!

The babies' shirts say, "If you think I'm cute, you should see my twin!"

Next we came back home and we headed to the church for our baby shower. The ladies of our Sunday School Class hosted a shower for us. You would not believe how much stuff we received! We got so much neat stuff! Pretty blankets, cute clothes, and fun toys. Of course we got some necessities like diapers and bottles. I was exhausted by the end of the shower!!

And finally, the phone rang about 7pm this evening. When I answered it, it was a nurse from the hospital calling to tell me that Will got moved to the intermediate nursery tonight!!! That means he is now considered a feeder and grower! He doesn't need all the services of the regular nursery. He is a big boy now! How crazy is that. This means that he is getting very close to coming home! I'm so excited for Will but I am kind of sad that he is not next to Lindy anymore. At least they are still in the same place, just one room apart from each other. I'm so glad we got the pictures of them together this morning!!

So it has been one crazy day! A good day though. A great day! We can only hope we have more good days like today because they sure beat the bad days!

Gift Card Shower

Because I am the only member of my family to live in North Carolina, it was impossible for me to have a family shower. My sister came up with the idea of a gift card shower. People were also asked to send children's books. I got some awesome books and tons of great gift cards! They will be so useful. Now I can go out and get everything I need to get ready for the babies! Here are some pictures of the presents I received.

Quiet Week

I can't believe it's Friday already and I haven't written anything this week. The days flew by and thankfully have been pretty quiet!

Lindy Jane continues to do pretty well. Not much of anything is going on with her right now. Thank goodness! She weighs a whopping 4 pounds 5 ounces now! But I think she still looks so tiny. She had an eye exam done yesterday and her left eye looks good but her right eye still has some of the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) plus disease. Hopefully it can resolve by itself but if not she might have to go back to surgery for some touching up. Lindy's next big step is to have a shunt put in. Right now she has the reservoir that they drain spinal fluid from every day. She has to be 2000g to have the shunt put in. She is almost there so they have scheduled her surgery for next Friday, the 26th. We are anxious to get this done because hopefully that will be it for her. The decision was made awhile ago to just leave her on the ventilator until the surgery, so that is another reason we want to get the surgery over with. The doctors didn't see the need to take the tube out and then have to put it back in for surgery. After her big week last week she was able to take this week off from surgery, but now she has one scheduled for next week. She's got a busy life!

Mr. Will is doing awesome! He was extubated on Sunday to CPAP and then switched to nasal cannula on Tuesday. He was then taken off nasal cannula on Wednesday and has been breathing room air since then! He didn't even spend 24 hours on the CPAP. Will's other big news is that he has pooped! His plumbing works!! He had what the nurses called 'smears' of poop on Monday and then he had two big poops yesterday. So we know that everything was connected back together correctly because we are seeing results. Unfortunately he hasn't gotten to eat anything since his surgery a week ago. He is on the IV nutrition but he has not gotten anything else. We are hoping that today is the day. He has been a bit fussy the last two days and I think that is a large reason why. He's trying to suck the color off the paci so I think he is hungry!

Will is getting pretty close to coming home!!! Now that he has pooped, his only hurdle is learning to eat. He has to start slow and work his way up. He'll have to learn how to suck, swallow, and breathe from a bottle. After that he's ready to head home. We've been told it could be a couple weeks!!! Can you believe it? I never thought we'd be talking about a baby coming home. As happy as I am that Will is doing well and getting closer to coming home, it will be hard to leave Lindy at the hospital. It will be hard having one here and one there. I'm hoping after her surgery she does so well that she'll come home soon after that too.

Because there is talk of babies coming home we have been working like crazy to get everything ready at home. Being at the hospital all day and working on the house all night is quite tiring! I've learned to live on much less sleep than ever before. Good thing since I could have a hungry baby boy at home soon!

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Weekend Update

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Ours has been fairly quiet. Will has continued to do well after surgery. He was pretty snowed most of the weekend from the anesthesia. He was moving around pretty good today though. He was on the ventilator all weekend but they extubated him around 4:30pm this afternoon. I'm sure he was glad to have that tube out of his throat. Now he just gets the prongs up his nose. I wonder which one is better?! We are still waiting for the first poop, but the nurses say they do hear good bowel sounds. So it sounds like there is something brewing in there! Will passed the 5 pound mark. Isn't that crazy?

Lindy has been cruising along as well. They restarted her feeds Friday after all her surgeries. By tomorrow morning she will be eating about one ounce every three hours. One ounce is 30 mL. Lindy passed the 4 pound mark this weekend. Again, I can't believe it! I got to hold Lindy today for the first time in awhile. She did so well.

One exciting happening over the weekend was that we now have a nursery! All the furniture is put together now in the room. I'm still working on getting the bedding washed and ironed. My parents were in town this weekend and helped us get it all set up. It sure looks different with cribs in there. Now all we need is some babies to go in there!

Here are some pictures over the last week. Have a great Monday.

Holding Lindy today. She seemed to enjoy being held! She has been smiling at us lately. It is so sweet. She hadn't had much to smile about lately so it makes me feel good to see her sweet grin.

Will soon after his surgery on Thursday. He was so out of it! He looked so big laying there, all stretched out.
Will and his pain medicine pump!! He was helping himself to some of the good stuff.
Lindy hanging out in her diaper, just like Will.
Lindy, with a ugly ole IV in her forehead. It's gone now!
Will, presurgery. This was what his belly did look like with his intestines coming up to his belly. He pooped out into the ostomy bag. No more ostomies and bag though!
Lindy after one of her surgeries last week.
Silly Will lost his paci!
Grinning Will. He's not much in the mood for grinning these days. We can't wait to see that smile again.
Drew giving his first ever baby bath!

Will's Surgery Update

Will is back from surgery and everything went well. We went downstairs with him around 8:30am and they took him back around 9am. They said they actually got started at 9:50am and he was back in the NICU at 1pm. He is all closed up, with his intestines back on the inside. He is back on the ventilator because he was under anesthesia. Hopefully it won't take too long for him to get back off of that. While he was already having surgery, we had them go ahead and circumcise him. Apparently that went well too. Now we are just going to wait for the poop to come out of his little bottom!!

Lindy is having a pretty good day. She is pretty low on her oxygen requirements which is a nice change. She is just glad she isn't having any surgeries today!

Hopefully all the surgeries are done for this week. The anesthesiologist saw me today and said, "Weren't you just here the other day?" We explained that this was our other child. I think it's safe to say that you have had too many surgeries in one week when the anesthesiologists start to recognize you!

Eye Surgery Number Two

So today turned out to be another busy day for Miss Lindy. First off she had her barium enema at 9:30am, and I'm happy to say that everything is FINE!!!!! For once, Lindy has good news. They said she did well during the whole thing.

So fast forward a couple hours and the ophthalmologists came to do their regular Wednesday eye checks. Remember Lindy got checked Monday and had surgery Monday night on her left eye. Well guess what, the right eye needed it today. They originally were going to schedule the surgery for tomorrow, but because they knew Will was having surgery tomorrow they decided to do it today. They said the OR had some open time this afternoon. The doctors were being considerate in not making me worry about two surgeries on the same day! They checked Lindy around 2pm and I went downstairs with them at 3pm. She was back up around 5pm and the doctors said it went well and that Lindy did great. While they were doing her right eye, they also 'touched up' some more places on the left eye. Her eyes were red when she got back but not as puffy as on Monday night.

Poor girl. It's been a rough Wednesday. She is such a strong little girl. She has really been through the wringer and has come out of everything so well. We are so proud of her. We just hope that her troubles are coming to an end. It's just not fair how much she has had to go through.

We are anxiously awaiting Will's surgery tomorrow morning. His surgery is going to last 3-4 hours!

We sure will be glad when this week is over! 3 surgeries in one week is TOO many (for the babies and for Mommy)!!!

Tuesday Update

Take two.....I wrote a post earlier and the internet stopped working. I'll try this again!

Lindy had her eye surgery last night at 9pm. She was scheduled to have it around 3pm! She kept getting bumped because they needed the OR's for emergency surgeries. She was back in the NICU around 11pm. The ophthalmologist said the surgery went well, without complications. Her eye was red and puffy last night when she returned but it looked much better this morning.

Now there is some concern about her belly. Apparently it has looked distended for a couple days. They stopped her feedings for surgery but before that she was doing fine. She has barely any residuals and was pooping fine. Her belly x-rays showed some gas. They have scheduled her for a barium enema tomorrow morning to check everything out. I think I might have to jump out the window of the NICU if they actually find something wrong. I also think I might need a barium enema because my stomach is getting pretty twisted up from worry and nerves!

Will has continued to do well. He has been on room air since yesterday morning. He got a new bed this morning. He is now living in a radiant warmer. The isolette is a thing of the past! This morning Drew and I got to give the big boy a good scrubbing down. It was Drew's first bath time with the babies. It wasn't in a tub yet, just in the bed. Will's surgery (to put his intestines back together) is scheduled for 9am on Thursday.

So it's a big week for the babies. I'll be pretty happy when it's over!!

Monday Update

It has been a busy morning so far. The eye doctor was checking Lindy when I came in this morning. He agreed with the doctor who checked her on Friday; she does need the laser surgery. She just needs it on her left eye though. For now, her right eye is okay. She will be having the laser surgery done around 3pm today.

Will went for a little trip this morning, up to radiology for a barium enema. They were checking to see if his intestines were all still working. They said everything looked good. This is in preparation for putting his intestines back together. His surgery could be at the end of the week.

What a way to start the week!

New Pictures from Last Week

Here are some pictures that I took over the week. Enjoy!

Pretty Girl

Handsome Boy
Snuggled up
Pretty in Pink
Lindy's new red line around her isolette - this means she's in isolation and you have to wear a gown and gloves.
Will's new setup - the top popped on his isolette. They raised the roof on his isolette!
Lindy, cheering on the Deacs in her new Wake toboggan.
Will in his new Wake toboggan.
Silly Willy and his paci.
Silly Lindy and her ventilator tube!

Friday Update

After much discussion between many doctors today, they feel that Lindy can wait a couple days and have her eyes checked again to decide exactly if/when treatment is needed. It was a long day of waiting for some news from the doctors. One good sign for us (not for the other baby) is that they did move a baby to Duke today for treatment. Therefore we know that if Lindy had been bad enough and needed treatment that they wouldn't have hesitated in moving her as well. Although I really hate that the other baby did have to go, I'm glad they feel that Lindy did not need to go. Oh the joy and worry of the NICU life. So we have a couple more days to worry about this whole situation. I'll be glad when it is resolved, it's about to send me over the edge!! Until now I've been pretty calm, but this one is really getting me up in a tizzy!

Will's news for today is that they raised the top of his isolette so that he now is in an open bed. That means he is receiving no warmth from the isolette, he is having to maintain his own temperature. It also means that we can see him! You just walk up and he's there! No isolette to look through!! Although he's wrapped up pretty tight in blankets so you can't actually see too much of him, just his sweet head sticking out! He did well all day maintaining his temp.

Two Steps Forward....

Here goes my two steps forward and ten steps back post. Today was not a good day for Lindy. The poor girl cannot catch a break. It seems like Lindy has been through it all. I just feel so bad for her. She's had to fight through so much stuff. I just wish she could bypass just a couple of the normal preemie issues. Instead I think she is going to have to deal with every single one of them. At least that is how it feels right now.

Around lunch time today we found out that she tested positive for MRSA - methacillin resistant staphylococcus aureus. It's a bacteria that they test every baby for every Tuesday. Of course Lindy tested positive for it. From what we can tell and the information we have received, it's a bacteria found on the skin. It's a bacteria that is found in hospitals. If it enters the blood then it can be dangerous and make the babies sick. Fortunately it is just on her skin right now. We have heard that it is rare that it goes from skin to blood. The unfortunate part is that now anytime we want to touch Lindy or her isolette we have to wear a gown and gloves. All I want to do is touch and hold her and it just stinks that we have to do it wearing gloves. She is already very picky about being touched, I'm sure she will just love us touching her with latex gloves on.

The eye doctor came this afternoon and around 5pm we found out that Lindy will have to have laser surgery for her eyes. The doctor that checked her is a new doctor at Baptist and we think he will be doing the surgery instead of having to move her to another hospital. The neonatologist is going to decide tomorrow. Lindy has retinopathy of prematurity and she has what they call 'plus' disease. This means abnormal blood vessels in her eyes are abnormally large. The laser surgery will destroy the abnormal retinal tissue to stop the growth of the abnormal blood vessels. From what we've been told, she will lose some of her peripheral vision when they destroy the abnormal tissue. This will save the rest of her vision. So I guess we won't complain about losing a little to save a lot. A book I have says they are more likely to be nearsighted.

So the poor baby girl did not get good news today. We do not know exactly when the eye surgery will be. Possibly tomorrow or Saturday at the latest. It's something that must be done quickly to save her vision.

Will did get good news during his eye exam; this doctor could barely see anything wrong with his eyes. Will continues his two steps forward. I'm just waiting for his ten steps back......

No News

The babies did not have their eyes checked today so we do not know anything yet. They should get them checked tomorrow. We'll post when we know something!

2 Month Old Babies

Sunday was the babies' 2 month birthday. We honestly can't believe that they have been here two months. I should still be pregnant!

Lindy was extubated on Friday and it seemed like she was doing really well. She started off much better this time than the other couple times. She went 50 hours but was finally reintubated Sunday afternoon at 4pm. It seemed to happen kind of fast this time. Before we knew it she was requiring a lot of oxygen and working really hard to breathe. This is the longest she has stayed off the ventilator so that is a good sign. We were really hoping this was the time she would make it. They will let her grow some more and then try again! Yesterday she was 3 lb 6 oz.

Will has continued to do really well. In fact on Saturday he was breathing room air all day long! He was breathing just like you and me, with no help! It was pretty cool to see him. He did get a little tuckered out that evening so they put him back on the nasal cannula and he was on it all day Sunday. Yesterday he was back to breathing room air. He has continued to get a 5 mL bottle each day. At first it seems to choke him a little bit but then he gets the hang of it and before you know it, it's gone. He hit the 4 pound mark yesterday!

That is the news from Brenners. Another ophthalmologist will be checking their eyes sometime from Tuesday to Thursday. We are REALLY hoping they don't need treatment.

The latest pictures from this weekend.........

Will getting his first ever bottle on Friday!

A satisfied baby after his 5 mL bottle.
Long Miss Lindy. Actually she's only 15 inches but she looks long in this picture!
Lindy over the weekend when she was on CPAP.
Sweet Lindy
Little Man on Saturday when he was on room air! The only tube attached to him is his feeding tube.

Sweet Will, gazing up into his Daddy's eyes.