Goodbye NICU!!

This will be a short post to share some exciting news...as of this afternoon, Will and Sydney are finally home with Mommy and Daddy!  Things are a little bit chaotic here tonight so I won't be able to elaborate too much, but I will have some super cute pictures to share in the next few days as we get used to life with twins.  Thank you all for your prayers and support, and stay tuned...this blog is about to get a lot more fun!

Roller Coaster

Hi everyone! I can't believe it has been five days since our last post...time seems to be playing tricks on us as of late.  Brady and I both feel like we are in a state of "suspended animation," focusing on our babies while the rest of the world keeps on marching by.  Every once in a while I will check in with the outside world to realize that a week or more has gone by and I need to pay bills, or check my phone messages, or that I have no clean clothes, and it amazes me each time that I can become so disconnected from what was once my everyday life.  Hopefully soon we can all be under one roof and can begin to figure out some sort of routine, but until then, please don't take it personally if I don't return phone calls right away!

The past few days have been full of ups and downs for our little ones...many people have compared having babies in the NICU to a prolonged roller coaster ride, and we feel that this is a pretty accurate analogy.  Luckily, we have had more ups than downs during our stay so far, but the whole experience has been frustrating and a bit heartbreaking at times.  In my last few posts I have mentioned that our biggest remaining hurdle to overcome was getting the twins to stay awake for their feeds so that they will not have to rely on their gavage tubes for nourishment.  Both babies continue to make progress in this area and are taking more and more of their feeds by mouth every day.  Will has become a champion eater in the past few days, and is now giving his sister some steep competition on the eating front!

However, Will has also encountered a new struggle this week.  After being fine breathing room air for about nine days, his blood oxygen levels began to dip and he has had to receive a little bit of oxygen via a nasal cannula on and off for the past few days.  We aren't sure what is causing this respiration issue, but the doctors did find that his blood count was a bit low last week, which could be the culprit.  They will repeat the labs again tomorrow, and if there has been no improvement they will most likely give him a blood transfusion.  Please keep baby Will in your prayers- we are hoping that this can be resolved quickly so he can get back on track to coming home with us!

Here are a few more pics that I snapped this week- enjoy!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPER BABY!

A big yawn- and a rare moment without any wires or tubes :)

Sweet baby girl

Daddy washing Will's hair

Hangin' with Nan

Granddad's sidekick

Bye bye!

Soup's On!

Hi everyone! Just a short little update to share some positive news from today! Sydney was able to take three full feeds in a row without the gavage today-one from the bottle and two from the breast. Hopefully she will continue this through the night and beyond.  She has never been able to stay awake for one full feed, much less three in a row!  Will is still trying, but his feisty little sister is beating him in the eating
contest :)

Wishing my little ones sweet dreams and full tummies tonight!

Sweet Sydney Claire

Leaps and Bounds...

Greetings from NICU land!  The twins continue to make tons of progress every day.  Will's umbilical line was taken out Friday night as promised, so we have been able to hold him all weekend, which has been wonderful :) It feels so good to be able to cuddle and bond with both of our babies.  The only invasive thing left on their bodies are their gavage tubes, which will be removed as soon as they are able to eat enough via breast or bottle to gain weight.  They are maintaining their temperatures well, so they have graduated from their isolettes (incubators) into open cribs, which the NICU nurses refer to as "big boy" and "big girl" beds.  Will officially reached 5 pounds today, and Sydney is steadily gaining as well- she is up to 4 pounds, 9 ounces.  After birth she lost a few ounces (as is typical for newborns) and was down to 3 pounds, 14 ounces, so this is still quite a big gain!

As you can probably guess, we are anxious to get the twins home and it gets harder every day to leave them at the hospital.  Our last hurdle will be getting them to eat enough so that they can thrive without their gavage feeds.  Although they are still a bit uncoordinated, both babies have demonstrated that they have the skills to eat from the bottle/breast, but since they are so little they have trouble staying awake long enough for their full feeds.  This is to be expected, since they are technically only 35 weeks along tomorrow, and really shouldn't be out in the "real world" yet, much less eating on their own!  Plus, both babies put on at least 1-2 ounces a day in body weight, and all that growing takes lots of energy, making them very sleepy.  We know that being parents means being patient with our little people and trusting that they will begin eating when they are ready, and that we will be bringing them home before we know it.  However, that doesn't stop this Momma from shedding a few tears at night when she thinks of her little ones :(  Thank goodness for the NICU nurses- they are happy to give us updates on the babies any time we call, which helps anxious parents sleep a little better at night.

And now for the fun part...more pictures!




                       On Friday, the twins moved from these...

Will's isolette

Sydney's isolette

...to these!

Will's "big boy bed"

Sydney's "big girl bed"

                       Doncha' love those Horned Frog blankets?
        
             Mommy was so excited to hold baby Will for the first time!

          
                       Here's our little monkey in one of his first outfits...

                    ...and sweet Sydney at the "spa" getting a shampoo!

                                 Gotta love that sweet little face!                                        

And now, a few pics of what my babies do best!

Nighty night!

Sydney napping

Will sucking his thumb

Sydney after bath

Will avoiding the paparazzi :)

Daily Dose of Adorable

Today I spent the entire day in the NICU, and am happy to report our babies are still doing well. Big news for the day- Sydney's umbilical line is officially gone, so not only can we hold her again, but she can wear clothes! When I arrived this morning the nurse had dressed her in one of her new preemie-sized onesies for the first time ever...she looked adorable!  Will is scheduled to have his umbilical line out tonight at 9:00, so if all goes well I will be able to hold him for the first time tomorrow!

Here are some cute photos I snapped today of our sweet little girl:

Swaddled in my cozy little house

                                        

My first outfit

                                      

Mommy loves me :)

Hopefully I will be able to post some equally adorable pictures of Will tomorrow. Take care, everyone!

Introducing...Will and Sydney!

Hello again!  I know, I know, it's been a few days since our last update, but let's just say things have been a bit dramatic around here ;)  But it's about time I introduced you to our beautiful little babies and shared some of the zillion photos we have already managed to take with our new camera!

In my last post, I described the unexpected arrival of our little ones.  I had an emergency c-section on January 3, 2011,  (33 weeks) due to little Will's sudden elevated heartbeat.  Both babies came out screaming, which was music to our ears! Will weighed in at 4 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 18 inches long, while Sydney was a petite 4 pounds, 1 ounce and 17 inches from head to toe.

Right away the babies were rushed off to the NICU to get checked out.  We were anxious to find out what was causing Will's heart rate to skyrocket, and those first few hours were tough as we waited for the news. Finally, after a few hours in recovery, we were informed that the babies were stable enough for us to visit on our way back to my hospital room.  Since I still couldn't feel my legs, my bed was wheeled right into the NICU so I could get a glimpse of my babies.  It was a scary time, since my babies were so very tiny and red and hooked up to so many machines.  The doctor explained to us that it had taken about two hours for Will's heart rate to begin to normalize, and that they could find no obvious reason for him to have been in so much distress.  They would perform more tests in the next few days to be sure no heart problem existed.  In the meantime, both babies were hooked up to various machines, IVs, and monitors to help them breathe, eat, maintain their body temperature, and keep an eye on their vital signs.

Both babies have made amazing progress since that first scary night!

Sydney Claire

Although she was the smaller of the two babies, Sydney has been the more mature as far as development is concerned.  Her breathing was supported as a precaution the first night she arrived, but after that it was all removed and she is doing fine breathing room air.  She is fed breast milk mostly via gavage (a tiny tube running up her nose and down into her tummy) but has been making tons of progress with the bottle, and has gained four ounces in the past few days alone! We were able to hold her several days last week, but unfortunately her IV site that was originally in her little foot got swollen, and the doctors were unable to find another good site. Instead, they had to thread one through her umbilical cord this past Friday, and we are not allowed to hold her anymore until the umbilical line is removed. However, since she is eating so well this should happen in the next day or so, and then we can hold her again and begin breast feeding!  As soon as our little girl is able to eat enough to stop the gavage feeds and gain weight, she will be able to come home with us.

                                           Bath time!  Showing my temper :)

                                           Help me, Daddy!

                                           My TCU bow!

                                           Daddy feeds his little Jellybean.

                                           Fuzzy hair

                                           Sleep well, angel!

William Lawrence

Little Will has also come a long way since his birthday.  Since his lungs were not as mature as Sydney's, he needed the help of a ventilator to breathe for several days.  However, as of Monday morning he has been off all breathing support and is doing great on room air!  Will wasn't fed any milk for the first five days or so, but has just begun taking gavage feeds and is also working on the bottle. He is making up for lost time...apparently he was super hungry all those days on an empty tummy!  Since he is doing so well with eating he should also begin to pack on the ounces in the next few days.  Will also has an umbilical line and was very easily overstimulated when he was born, so we have not been able to hold him yet, although we are able to feed and bathe him in his little bed.  But just like his sister, his umbilical line should be removed soon and Mommy and Daddy can make up for lost time :)  As soon as Will is able to eat enough without relying on gavage feeds, he will be able to come home as well. Eat up, buddy!

                                           Sweet little bear :)

                                           Chillin' with Mommy.

      Shhh...don't tell the doc! Daddy got to hold me for a minute after my bath!

                                           Chowin' down!

                                           Time to burp!

                                           Night night!

The Twins Have Arrived!

Man, do I have a story for you! But first, we would like to announce the birth of our babies, William Lawrence Haass and Sydney Claire Haass, born Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 9:39 and 9:40 pm (respectively) via emergency c-section at 33 weeks gestation. Both little angels are currently residing in the Level III NICU at Baylor Grapevine, and doing quite well considering their “preemie” status.  Mommy is doing well, too…working on a quick recovery so she can spend all of her time cheering on our little ones.  

The Story...

If you have been following our blog, you know that we were hopeful that I would be discharged from hospital bed rest on Monday afternoon.  I was in high spirits that morning, having passed two fFN screenings, and had even gone so far as to pack all of my things. However, just to be on the "safe side," my doctor asked me to stick around for one more sonogram to be sure that nothing had changed over the weekend.  If I got the green light from the maternal fetal medicine specialist, I was home free!

Around 4:30 Monday afternoon, Brady and I went down for my sonogram, expecting to hear good news.  After a few quick passes with the sonogram probe, the doctor informed us that although the babies looked great, my cervix had shortened dramatically over the weekend, and I was going to have to stay another week in the hospital.  Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed and surprised, because I had felt no painful contractions or pressure to warn me that this was happening! After that appointment, I was thankful that our OBGYN had asked us to stick around for the sonogram, because it told us that the hospital was exactly where I needed to be.  However, I had no idea what we were in for in the next few hours...

(Cue suspenseful music here:  DUN-Dun-Dunnn....)

After returning to my room, unpacking, and having some dinner, Brady left me for the evening around 7:30.  I was settling into my bed for the night a short time later when a nurse came in to do my routine evening monitoring. During these sessions, the nurses would monitor each baby's heart rate along with my contractions for about 30 minutes using little round monitors strapped to my belly with elastic.  Usually these sessions went pretty smoothly,  but the moment baby Will's heart rate was picked up on the monitor, I knew something was wrong.  Both babies' heart rates had always hovered between 140-160 beats per minute, and were never more than 8-10 beats apart during monitoring sessions.  But tonight, Will's heart rate was a steady 220 beats per minute, way higher than Sydney and well above the normal range!  

As soon as she confirmed that Will's heart rate reading was accurate, the nurse put an oxygen mask on me, turned me over on my side, and went to contact the on-call OBGYN.  Those minutes that she was out of the room were some of the longest of my life...I knew that a high heart rate meant that something was stressing my poor little boy, but we had no way of knowing what it was. All I could do was send him my love and pray that he would hold on until we could determine what the problem was.  

A few minutes later the nurse returned and informed me that the doctor was on the way and that they were going to transfer me to Labor and Delivery to prep me for surgery. Unless Will's heart rate dropped in the next few minutes, we were going to be parents that night! I only had time to dial Brady's cell number and choke out the words "You need to come up here now. They are going to deliver me!" By the time Brady arrived at the hospital 15 minutes later, I was prepped and ready to go.  I was wheeled into the operating suite, given a spinal to block the pain, and before I knew it our babies were born! Both little ones arrived screaming and crying, which was the most wonderful sound we had ever heard.  I was only allowed a quick glance at each baby before they were whisked off to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for evaluation.  Brady accompanied the babies down there and then returned to be with me as the doctors sewed me up and then sent me on to recovery.  As  I began to regain feeling in my legs, Brady and I anxiously waited for news about baby Will's heart.  Luckily, we didn't have to wait long...

TO BE CONTINUED

Our little angels...

                            

                             Sydney Claire Haass

                  
                                           William Lawrence Haass

More pics and baby health updates to come!