Lindy had her hearing test today. They were only able to test her left ear today but it showed she has severe hearing loss. This test measures brain stem responses (through electrodes on her head) and it only works if the baby is quiet and asleep. She was asleep for the left ear but woke up and didn't want anything sticking in her ear when we tried the right side. We will have to go back in a few weeks to try the right ear again. The next step after this will be to do the same tests under sedation, when we know she is completely asleep and not moving all around. That will give us the best data and we will proceed from there.
This one kind of caught us by surprise. I've been so worried about her eyes that I hadn't thought much about her ears. It's been a bit of a rough evening. So much for a happy 6 month birthday for the babies.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Monday
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I hope your Monday has started off good.
I didn't get a chance to write any updates about Lindy's appointments on Thursday. They went pretty good. She went to the Special Infant Care Clinic (SICC - nice name huh?) in the morning. This is where a neonatologist and a neonatology fellow check her out. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 7/8 inches long. They said she had excellent weight gain. They said she is doing well. The only thing they noticed was when they checked her reflexes in her right leg, the left leg would move and vice versa. This can be a neurological problem but they said it is quite common and that it is something they will just watch. They scheduled her for a few more appointments to follow up on a few more things. They scheduled an echocardiogram for the middle of February to check her lungs. Hopefully after that we can work on getting her off of the oxygen!
After 2 1/2 hours at the SICC appointment we rode over to the hospital. Once again we worked out of the car. Her next appointment was with the ear, nose, and throat doctor at 1:30pm. By the time I ate, pumped, fed her, and changed her it was time for her appointment. He was checking out her paralyzed left vocal chord. He said they don't actually do much for infants with this problem. Again, it's just something they watch. If by the age of 1-2 years she did not have much of a voice, then we would look into doing something. He said he has never had to actually do anything though. I hope Lindy doesn't become the first patient he has to do something with! While we were at the appointment he peeked at her ears. He said she has very small ear drums and as far as he could tell they looked okay. I think it was a little hard to see them. Lindy goes to her follow-up audiology appointment this week so we discussed that. He said if she continues to fail the hearing screen then we will be back to see him. He said they would jump on it very quickly because of her vision problems. He said we don't want her to go very long not hearing well if we don't have a clue what she can see. (Maybe she'll pass her hearing test this week and we won't have to worry about it????)
Today we went back to the hospital and Lindy had a swallow study. This is where they put barium into her bottle and they watch to see how it goes down her throat. We are already thickening her breastmilk but when they watched her eat what we have been giving her, she was aspirating it a lot into her airways. This is not good. We do not want food going into her airways. We tried it at a nectar consistency and she was still aspirating. Finally we tried a honey consistency and she only did it one time and it was hardly any. So instead of getting her off thickener, she now has it over twice as thick as she was getting. We will see how she reacts to this. She will probably have to work harder and feedings will take a lot longer. We had tried about a month ago to make it the same thickness as Will's (whose is already slightly thicker than Lindy's) and she spit up large quantities four out of five times. So now I'm worried about what will happen. I really hope she doesn't start spitting this up. We can't have her aspirating and we can't have her spitting up half bottles. Maybe she won't spit up this time. As soon as she wakes up we will be giving the new bottles a go. Could be interesting. It certaintly does not look like breastmilk anymore. Now it looks like pudding. I'm not joking either! Try sucking pudding out of a bottle and see how you like it!
After her trip to the hospital last week we stopped by the NICU. This was Lindy's first trip back since she has gotten home. It is always fun to hear the nurses rave over your baby! She has changed a lot since they last saw her. Remember she spent her last 3-4 weeks in the Duke NICU. So it has been a couple months since anyone has seen her. We ran by really quick today after her appointment because Lindy's primary nurse wasn't there last week. We caught her today as she was going out the door with another baby to get some kind of scan. She briefly got a look at her which was good.
So the appointments continue. I scheduled four more just this morning. uggggg! This month Will has had 3 appointments and has one more on Thursday. Lindy has had 9 appointments and has three more scheduled before the end of the month. February is shaping up to be the same exact way. March looks pretty quiet so far, I hope it stays that way!
There isn't much news to report from Will's life. He eats, sleeps, poops, and continues to be one of the best babies I have ever seen. He is so darn laid back! He is a happy baby who continually gives us the biggest smiles and little laughs!
Speaking of smiles, Lindy has been smiling a lot the last couple days. I don't know what she is smiling at or about but it is nice to see. Last week was a kind of frustrating week with Lindy. She has not been a happy camper in the evenings. When she is not happy, we are not happy! She was pretty good last night so maybe a new week will bring a new Lindy!
Thanks for all the comments! I love reading them.
Think of Lindy on Wednesday at 1:30pm. She has her repeat hearing test. We believe she can hear things (at least she jumps at loud noises). Let's hope she has more than that though.
Happy Monday!
I didn't get a chance to write any updates about Lindy's appointments on Thursday. They went pretty good. She went to the Special Infant Care Clinic (SICC - nice name huh?) in the morning. This is where a neonatologist and a neonatology fellow check her out. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 7/8 inches long. They said she had excellent weight gain. They said she is doing well. The only thing they noticed was when they checked her reflexes in her right leg, the left leg would move and vice versa. This can be a neurological problem but they said it is quite common and that it is something they will just watch. They scheduled her for a few more appointments to follow up on a few more things. They scheduled an echocardiogram for the middle of February to check her lungs. Hopefully after that we can work on getting her off of the oxygen!
After 2 1/2 hours at the SICC appointment we rode over to the hospital. Once again we worked out of the car. Her next appointment was with the ear, nose, and throat doctor at 1:30pm. By the time I ate, pumped, fed her, and changed her it was time for her appointment. He was checking out her paralyzed left vocal chord. He said they don't actually do much for infants with this problem. Again, it's just something they watch. If by the age of 1-2 years she did not have much of a voice, then we would look into doing something. He said he has never had to actually do anything though. I hope Lindy doesn't become the first patient he has to do something with! While we were at the appointment he peeked at her ears. He said she has very small ear drums and as far as he could tell they looked okay. I think it was a little hard to see them. Lindy goes to her follow-up audiology appointment this week so we discussed that. He said if she continues to fail the hearing screen then we will be back to see him. He said they would jump on it very quickly because of her vision problems. He said we don't want her to go very long not hearing well if we don't have a clue what she can see. (Maybe she'll pass her hearing test this week and we won't have to worry about it????)
Today we went back to the hospital and Lindy had a swallow study. This is where they put barium into her bottle and they watch to see how it goes down her throat. We are already thickening her breastmilk but when they watched her eat what we have been giving her, she was aspirating it a lot into her airways. This is not good. We do not want food going into her airways. We tried it at a nectar consistency and she was still aspirating. Finally we tried a honey consistency and she only did it one time and it was hardly any. So instead of getting her off thickener, she now has it over twice as thick as she was getting. We will see how she reacts to this. She will probably have to work harder and feedings will take a lot longer. We had tried about a month ago to make it the same thickness as Will's (whose is already slightly thicker than Lindy's) and she spit up large quantities four out of five times. So now I'm worried about what will happen. I really hope she doesn't start spitting this up. We can't have her aspirating and we can't have her spitting up half bottles. Maybe she won't spit up this time. As soon as she wakes up we will be giving the new bottles a go. Could be interesting. It certaintly does not look like breastmilk anymore. Now it looks like pudding. I'm not joking either! Try sucking pudding out of a bottle and see how you like it!
After her trip to the hospital last week we stopped by the NICU. This was Lindy's first trip back since she has gotten home. It is always fun to hear the nurses rave over your baby! She has changed a lot since they last saw her. Remember she spent her last 3-4 weeks in the Duke NICU. So it has been a couple months since anyone has seen her. We ran by really quick today after her appointment because Lindy's primary nurse wasn't there last week. We caught her today as she was going out the door with another baby to get some kind of scan. She briefly got a look at her which was good.
So the appointments continue. I scheduled four more just this morning. uggggg! This month Will has had 3 appointments and has one more on Thursday. Lindy has had 9 appointments and has three more scheduled before the end of the month. February is shaping up to be the same exact way. March looks pretty quiet so far, I hope it stays that way!
There isn't much news to report from Will's life. He eats, sleeps, poops, and continues to be one of the best babies I have ever seen. He is so darn laid back! He is a happy baby who continually gives us the biggest smiles and little laughs!
Speaking of smiles, Lindy has been smiling a lot the last couple days. I don't know what she is smiling at or about but it is nice to see. Last week was a kind of frustrating week with Lindy. She has not been a happy camper in the evenings. When she is not happy, we are not happy! She was pretty good last night so maybe a new week will bring a new Lindy!
Thanks for all the comments! I love reading them.
Think of Lindy on Wednesday at 1:30pm. She has her repeat hearing test. We believe she can hear things (at least she jumps at loud noises). Let's hope she has more than that though.
Happy Monday!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Mid-Week Pictures and Videos
Surprise, a mid-week post! I really don't have much to share. It's been a quiet week at home. Tomorrow Lindy goes to the follow-up clinic for the NICU's in town and then she goes to an ENT doctor. They will be checking her paralyzed left vocal cord (which most likely happened during one of her many surgeries. It is easy to nick the nerve that goes to the vocal cords during surgery).
I had some funny pictures and took some more videos. I just had to share! I miss the comments everyone used to leave. Where did everyone go????
Chill Will was waiting for his turn in the bathtub in this picture.
My attempt at posing them together. Isn't it funny that Will has is arm around her? Aren't these the cutest outfits? Aunt Anna got them for the babies!
This is what most of our pictures look like but I usually only put the good ones up. Thought you all might like to see the befores and afters!
Lindy decided to pull off her cannula tape one afternoon this week. She was happy as a lark when it was off her face and got mad when I put it back on. I think this might be a stylish new way to wear it. What do you think?
And finally, some video. I got a few positive comments about the videos so here are some more. You have to click the big arrow in the center or if there is not a big arrow in the middle, click on the arrow down in the lower left hand corner. The first one is of us playing with Will. The second one is of Lindy in the bouncy seat. Due to all of her extensive eye problems we really do not know how much she can actually see. Lately though we think she has really being looking at things. I swear she was tracking a little toy the other day. Doesn't she look like she is watching the things on the bouncy seat? There is a monkey and frog that move and blue lights. We are getting hopeful that she will have some vision!!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Snow Birds
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Ours was just fine and dandy.
The highlight of our week was the little bit of snow we got. We got some on Thursday and on Saturday. Not much but enough to say it snowed. All week I knew it was going to snow on Thursday so I planned to have the babies wear their super cute fleece outfits with snowmen on them.
Thankfully I took pictures early that morning because one of the babies (Lindy) felt the need to poop all over her outfit by 9:30am! The matching outfits were cute while they lasted!
Does anyone think they look alike?
Our other big news for the week is that Lindy is officially an 8 pound baby and that she ROLLED OVER on Wednesday!! Very exciting! I had them on their tummies and neither one of them was enjoying it. She got herself so worked up that she rolled herself over! She hasn't done it again yet but she is trying.
And because this is my blog I get to post a picture of myself. I celebrated the big 31 on Friday. Exciting huh? No, 31 is a pretty boring birthday! Drew made my day extra special. He made me French toast for breakfast and a great sandwich for lunch. He got me presents from both babies AND the cat! (As well as himself). Finally he took me on a date!! Some church friends came over and watched the babies for us while we went out to dinner and a movie. (Thanks Mike and Janice!!) It was a great birthday. My first as a mom! Although Will and Lindy didn't seem to care that I was trying to have a big celebration on Friday. They thought the day, like every other day in their lives, was about them! Not Friday, it was about ME!!
The highlight of our week was the little bit of snow we got. We got some on Thursday and on Saturday. Not much but enough to say it snowed. All week I knew it was going to snow on Thursday so I planned to have the babies wear their super cute fleece outfits with snowmen on them.
Thankfully I took pictures early that morning because one of the babies (Lindy) felt the need to poop all over her outfit by 9:30am! The matching outfits were cute while they lasted!
Does anyone think they look alike?
Our other big news for the week is that Lindy is officially an 8 pound baby and that she ROLLED OVER on Wednesday!! Very exciting! I had them on their tummies and neither one of them was enjoying it. She got herself so worked up that she rolled herself over! She hasn't done it again yet but she is trying.
And because this is my blog I get to post a picture of myself. I celebrated the big 31 on Friday. Exciting huh? No, 31 is a pretty boring birthday! Drew made my day extra special. He made me French toast for breakfast and a great sandwich for lunch. He got me presents from both babies AND the cat! (As well as himself). Finally he took me on a date!! Some church friends came over and watched the babies for us while we went out to dinner and a movie. (Thanks Mike and Janice!!) It was a great birthday. My first as a mom! Although Will and Lindy didn't seem to care that I was trying to have a big celebration on Friday. They thought the day, like every other day in their lives, was about them! Not Friday, it was about ME!! Here is my delicious birthday cake Drew made me. Don't ask about the fault lines running down the center. An earthquake or something must have hit our house! Oh well, it sure did taste really good!
Thanks to everyone who called and sent birthday wishes. I love birthdays and I love when people remember mine :)
Hope you all have a great week. Ours should be another quiet one. Lindy just has two appointments on Thursday.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
First Video Try
So I am just playing around here and trying to post a video. It is just taken with the digital camera so it's not the best quality. Don't mind the shaky movement either, I'm still practicing!!
I was in a picture taking mood yesterday. Trying to pose two babies hasn't worked real well for me yet! They loved their tie dye onesies though. Thanks Nana, Aunt Amy, and all the beach friends!
Our little homegirl. She was playing Peek-a-boo with herself!
The big event for the yesterday was we think Lindy actually smiled in response to us. We're pretty sure (about 98%) it was because Drew was kissing her. We've been playing and trying to get that smile and we think we got it. Getting a picture of it is just as hard!
Look how different the sizes of their heads are! Either Lindy's is really small or Will's is really big. I'm going for Will's is big. The Southern men are known for their big heads. (Size wise, not what's inside. he he.)
Just playing with the camera some more. Kind of a sweet picture I think!
Hit Counter
I've added a hit counter (counts how many people view the blog) to the bottom of our page. So now I need everyone to figure out how many times they have looked at our blog since I started it in August and then go click on our website that many times. Then I'll know how many people have ever looked at it. :)
Just kidding. But I sure wish I'd have figured this out 5 1/2 months ago!
Just kidding. But I sure wish I'd have figured this out 5 1/2 months ago!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Week of Appointments
That is what last week was, the week for doctors' appointments. We had one every day except Friday and a couple days we had more than one appointment! We needed the weekend to recuperate from all the running around.
Thankfully all the appointments went well. Monday was our crazy day. It was the first venture out with two babies. We needed to leave the house at 9am and at 8:15am I realized the base to Lindy's car seat wasn't installed. We hadn't planned on that so we got a little behind. We made it to our appointment only 5 minutes late! We started with physical therapy at 10am and we were there until 12:30pm!! She evaluated both babies and both did well. Lindy is tracking right on average and Will was tracking a little above average. Will decided to show off and roll over while we were there! He rolled from his belly to his back! He's done it a couple more times since. Of course never when I have the video camera on him!!
Lindy had an appointment with neurosurgery at 2pm that afternoon. Our original plan had been to bring the boys back home and Lindy and I would go back for the 2pm appointment. Just on a whim we decided to throw their 1pm bottles in, just in case. Thank goodness I did! We ended up eating, feeding and changing the babies all in the car at Wendy's. Lindy thought it was a good time to poop on her clothes so we even had an outfit change in the car! We all went to the appointment and everything looked really good. No problems with her shunt.
Tuesday was our big adventure out for the week; Lindy had a follow up eye appointment back at Duke! Because of the craziness of Monday, we tried to plan every minute of the day. We spent all Monday night getting ready for the trip. I even had a written out schedule for us to follow (I know I'm very anal retentive!) and it went very smooth. So maybe we didn't plan for the TWO tape changes for Lindy's nasal cannula or for her to spit up half her 10am bottle. But because of good planning we still managed to get out of the house at 10:30am. We got to Duke and again ate our lunch, fed, and changed babies in the car. Thank goodness we invested in the cool minivan, as it has completely become our base of operations! We all went into the appointment, using the double stroller for the very first time. The appointment went great. Lindy got a good report from the eye doctor. From her point of view (she is a retina specialist) everything(the retinas) is attached. She now wants her followed by the pediatric ophthalmologist here in Winston. If everything continues to look good we will not have to return to see her. We finished with her appointment at 3pm and ended up heading to Duke Gardens for a little while. We had to feed the babies around 4pm and if we headed home we would have had to stop somewhere on the way and do it. We decided to walk around the gardens because it was over 70F!! We can't go anywhere crowded because of the risk of colds and RSV so this was a nice way to get out and get some fresh air. The babies slept the whole time but Drew and I had a nice time. It was our first official family outing (not of the medical kind). We got everyone fed and headed home. The babies did awesome but they were ready to get out of the car seats by the time we got home.
Wednesday we didn't actually have to leave the house but the early intervention specialist and a psychologist came to evaluate Lindy. They both qualify for early intervention services based on birth weights. She is tracking fairly low but the tests and questions they ask are mostly based on vision and hearing. We aren't sure how much of either of these she actually has. Therefore it is more of a tool to get a baseline and see how she changes and grows.
Thursday was another multiple appointment day for Lindy. Home health came in the morning and then she had to go get her synagis shot (for RSV) at the pediatrician's office. She weighed in at 7 pounds 14.4 ounces. She is really growing pretty quickly! She still seems little compared to hefty Will. She didn't enjoy her shot very much but what baby does?
Finally Friday we got to stay home. What a week! I think this will become our lives. Hopefully not always this busy. This coming week we have no appointments but they pick up again the next couple weeks after that. As long as we continue to get good news then they aren't so bad. It does give us a chance to get out of the house. Will, Lindy, and I have become hermits!!
Thankfully all the appointments went well. Monday was our crazy day. It was the first venture out with two babies. We needed to leave the house at 9am and at 8:15am I realized the base to Lindy's car seat wasn't installed. We hadn't planned on that so we got a little behind. We made it to our appointment only 5 minutes late! We started with physical therapy at 10am and we were there until 12:30pm!! She evaluated both babies and both did well. Lindy is tracking right on average and Will was tracking a little above average. Will decided to show off and roll over while we were there! He rolled from his belly to his back! He's done it a couple more times since. Of course never when I have the video camera on him!!
Lindy had an appointment with neurosurgery at 2pm that afternoon. Our original plan had been to bring the boys back home and Lindy and I would go back for the 2pm appointment. Just on a whim we decided to throw their 1pm bottles in, just in case. Thank goodness I did! We ended up eating, feeding and changing the babies all in the car at Wendy's. Lindy thought it was a good time to poop on her clothes so we even had an outfit change in the car! We all went to the appointment and everything looked really good. No problems with her shunt.
Tuesday was our big adventure out for the week; Lindy had a follow up eye appointment back at Duke! Because of the craziness of Monday, we tried to plan every minute of the day. We spent all Monday night getting ready for the trip. I even had a written out schedule for us to follow (I know I'm very anal retentive!) and it went very smooth. So maybe we didn't plan for the TWO tape changes for Lindy's nasal cannula or for her to spit up half her 10am bottle. But because of good planning we still managed to get out of the house at 10:30am. We got to Duke and again ate our lunch, fed, and changed babies in the car. Thank goodness we invested in the cool minivan, as it has completely become our base of operations! We all went into the appointment, using the double stroller for the very first time. The appointment went great. Lindy got a good report from the eye doctor. From her point of view (she is a retina specialist) everything(the retinas) is attached. She now wants her followed by the pediatric ophthalmologist here in Winston. If everything continues to look good we will not have to return to see her. We finished with her appointment at 3pm and ended up heading to Duke Gardens for a little while. We had to feed the babies around 4pm and if we headed home we would have had to stop somewhere on the way and do it. We decided to walk around the gardens because it was over 70F!! We can't go anywhere crowded because of the risk of colds and RSV so this was a nice way to get out and get some fresh air. The babies slept the whole time but Drew and I had a nice time. It was our first official family outing (not of the medical kind). We got everyone fed and headed home. The babies did awesome but they were ready to get out of the car seats by the time we got home.
Wednesday we didn't actually have to leave the house but the early intervention specialist and a psychologist came to evaluate Lindy. They both qualify for early intervention services based on birth weights. She is tracking fairly low but the tests and questions they ask are mostly based on vision and hearing. We aren't sure how much of either of these she actually has. Therefore it is more of a tool to get a baseline and see how she changes and grows.
Thursday was another multiple appointment day for Lindy. Home health came in the morning and then she had to go get her synagis shot (for RSV) at the pediatrician's office. She weighed in at 7 pounds 14.4 ounces. She is really growing pretty quickly! She still seems little compared to hefty Will. She didn't enjoy her shot very much but what baby does?
Finally Friday we got to stay home. What a week! I think this will become our lives. Hopefully not always this busy. This coming week we have no appointments but they pick up again the next couple weeks after that. As long as we continue to get good news then they aren't so bad. It does give us a chance to get out of the house. Will, Lindy, and I have become hermits!!
Here are a few recent pictures. Hope everyone has a good week!
Sweet brother and sister!
Our little cutie
I don't think this looks very comfortable, but it made for a cute picture!
Drew and Lindy
Our Double Trouble
Will thought Drew was hilarious!
This sums up the personalities of our children :) Lindy is much more opinated about life than Will!
Our little cutie
I don't think this looks very comfortable, but it made for a cute picture!
Drew and LindyOur Double Trouble
Will thought Drew was hilarious!This sums up the personalities of our children :) Lindy is much more opinated about life than Will!Is this not the sweetest picture EVER??
I took these to show a friend but then I realized I don't think I ever showed anyone what the nursery looks like. Here is Lindy's side of the room.
Here is Will's side.
Here is Will's side. Friday, January 4, 2008
Five Month Old Babies
Happy New Year! Where has the last week gone? I'm not sure. Life with twins keeps you busy!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. The babies insisted on leaving milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!
Will and Lindy wished they could have gone with Daddy and Papa to the Meineke Car Care Bowl to watch Wake Forest play Connecticut. Mean Mommy wouldn't let them so they watched and cheered from home! They were so excited that they won!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. The babies insisted on leaving milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!
We woke up on Christmas morning to find the cookies and milk gone and presents by the tree :) The babies were in awe and shock from the awesome toys that Santa brought them!
Will finally woke up but Miss Lindy slept through most of the excitement!
Drew's family (minus Suzette, who is taking the picture)
Will finally woke up but Miss Lindy slept through most of the excitement!Drew's family came over to our house for Christmas later on in the afternoon. I believe everyone had a good time. The babies got a ton of neat stuff!
Drew's family (minus Suzette, who is taking the picture)The next two days were pretty quiet around our house. Just taking pictures of the sweet babies!
On the 27th, my parents arrived for a late Christmas. The babies got lots more cool toys and outfits. They stayed until yesterday (the 5th) to help us out. It was awesome! My mom worked like a dog. She is probably glad to get home. We even got Papa in on a little feeding and changing of the diapers!
Will and Lindy wished they could have gone with Daddy and Papa to the Meineke Car Care Bowl to watch Wake Forest play Connecticut. Mean Mommy wouldn't let them so they watched and cheered from home! They were so excited that they won!
We celebrated Drew's 32nd birthday on January 2nd. What an old man! Here he is with his birthday banana pudding!
The babies have been playing on their play gym that GrandBob and Suzette gave them. They really enjoy it. Will is fascinated by everything he has to look at. Lindy has enjoyed batting at things as well. 
Smiles, smiles, everywhere smiles! We have been getting some good smiles from the babies lately. Lindy's come more during her sleep but Will is honestly smiling in response to us now. His new favorite game is peek-a-boo. He loves it!
And just a few more sweet pictures.
Will and Lindy were both weighed this week. Lindy weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces. She gained 9 ounces in one week!! Whopper Will weighs 9 pounds 13.6 ounces!! We have had a few doctors appointments this week and the babies have all done well with them. We hope they continue to keep growning so well!
I better end this before I add all 766 pictures currently on my camera! We hope everyone has a wonderful 2008. Drew and I can only hope that it will a better year for us. 2007 was a doozy of a year for us; one we would rather not relive. Happy New Year!!
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