The worst birthday ever

As many of you know Tuesday, Nov 27th was my 30th birthday. As many of you know Lily has been sick. I never imagined what would happen on this day and where I would be right now. The day started out fine after taking Lily to the Dr on Monday we were told to keep sucking her nose out and keep the vaporizer on her and watch for fever or wheezing. Well in the afternoon about 2 I was giving her a bath and finished up and started to bathe Preston. Mama Jean came into the kitchen with Lily and screamed Staci she is not breathing. I took one look and grabbed her. She was completely blue and limp. I yelled for my mom to call 911. I started patting her back and laid her on the counter and started CPR. I gave her 2 breaths and she started gasping and coughing. She finally started crying when the ambulance arrived. My whole world stopped it felt like it took an hour for the ambulance to arrive. They took her to the hospital and admitted her for bronchitis. They ran a bunch of tests and did a chest xray that showed she has fluid in her lungs. I have no idea how we went from the pediatrician on Monday to this. I don't know if the fluid in her lungs was there on Monday. All I know is she stopped breathing and I never want to relive that. She is still in the hospital on breathing treatments every 4 hours and she is on oxygen. She is eating well and alert. She just looks so sad with her oxygen in her nose. : ( I called Aaron in Scotland on our way to the hospital and he boarded the next plane he could. He got in yesterday at 7 pm. His mom has also come in from LA.
Now for Preston. He started having the same symptoms as Lily so I took him to the Dr yesterday. The pedi said the same thing to watch him and do the vaporizer. I thought this advice was unacceptable because I was not going to be sent home with another sick baby after what happened to Lily. So I decided to take him to the hospital and have him observed and tested through the emergency room like Lily was. Glad I did. He has Pneumonia. I mean seriously how can a pedi listen to a chest and not order a chest xray or something on a 4 week old? Now both my babies are int he hospital 3 rooms apart. Preston is not on oxygen and getting antibiotics everyday for 7 days. This is standard procedure for Pneumonia. Lily will be in for 3 to 5 days they said. We will know more about her once they started weaning the oxygen and she can breath on her own.
Please keep our family in your prayers and I hope no one ever has to go through the horror that we have gone through.
We have had people ask how they can help. The best help people can offer us right now is meals. We are switching off at the hospital. Aaron's mom and grandma are up there now and Aaron and I came home to sleep, eat and shower. It helps alot when there is food here and we don't have to cook or eat out.
Staci

Poor Lily!

She has been congested since Saturday. I started using saline drops in her nose and sucking out the gross stuff with the nasal aspirator. She didn't get better and started getting fussy about midnight so I called the doctor. He said that the saline and the nasal aspirator were the right things to do and to also start rubbing Vick's Vaporub on her chest. We also got a vaporizer and put it in the room and we have been keeping her elevated. These were all the instructions given to us from the Doctor. He said that's about all we can do since they are so little and they don't give antibiotics for babies this small or young. I took her to the Doctor today just to be sure that nothing has gotten into her lungs or that it isn't RSV. He said it's just an upper respiratory infection and to continue with the home remedies we have been doing. I am so grateful that they seem to be working. It's hard when they are so little and they get sick and stuffy. I got a flu shot while we were at the doctor. I figured it couldn't hurt. I have never had one but I also never had to worry about premature babies getting every germ we bring into our world.
Breastfeeding has been put on the back burner for now until I can get these babies well. They get breast milk at every feeding but I mix formula with it also. Right now they eat 3 oz at each feeding and 2 oz of that is breast milk. I know it is tough but I am keeping at it. Oh and Lily weighs 6 lbs 7.5 oz. BIG GIRL!!!!
Mama Jean has been great. She made gumbo on Saturday and tonight she made baked chicken. I don't know what I will do when all this help leaves and I have to start taking care of all this on my own. I guess that's the real world though.

love, Staci

I know it has been a while.....

but at least I have a good excuse. The babies are doing good. We all are. The babies are growing like crazy. They are on their way to being fully breastfed. They eat every 4 hours and I breastfeed but also give them a bottle afterwards since they still act hungry. It will take some adjusting.
We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my sister's and had tons of food. It was so great to get out and spend time with my family. I just love hanging out with them. Some people don't like their families. Mine are my most favorite people. Aaron's Mama Jean (gma) came on Friday to spend the week with me while Aaron is in Scotland. He leaves Sunday and will be back on Saturday. She has already been a big help with feeding and taking care of the babies. Right now she is cooking gumbo..... yum!!!!
I have uploaded more pics onto our web album. I am just going to put all the pics there since it is so easy and the link will be on the left side of the blog.
I haven't really taken that many pics of them. It seems when all you do is eat, sleep and change diapers the day goes so fast.
All about the babies: I don't see much of their personalities yet. Lily is laid back and patient. Preston is the cryer, when it is time to eat he will let you know. Lily has had a few reflux episodes where she throws up everything. and it comes out her nose. This has only happened 3 times but it's enough to scare the crap out of me. We have been making sure she burps and keep her elevated after she eats. They both do well at night after each feeding we rock them or sooth them back to sleep and they go down pretty good. It's nice to be feeding every 4 hours.
Ok well that's all for now.
Take care- Staci

Lots of pictures

Here are all the pics in our baby web album. We will be adding more so check the album often.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stactheacetx/Babies

Dr visit: We took the babies to the Dr on Tuesday to be weighed and checked out. The weigh 5 lbs 7 oz for Lily and 5 lbs 8 oz for Preston they gained more than the Dr thought they would. He said he was impressed and that next week when they are 3 weeks old they should be over 6 lbs and we can start feeding every 4 hours instead of every 3. That will be a huge help for the night time feedings especially with Aaron going back to work. They are already eating over 2 oz at each feeding. They average about 70 ml. They won't have to go back to the Dr until January when they will be 2 months old to get their shots. : (
We have been doing well the past 2 weeks. We try to sleep as much as possible. Aaron's mom was here the first week and was a huge help. She did laundry, cooked dinner and helped with the babies. I don't know what we would have done without her. Thanks NANA!!! Aaron will be leaving the Sunday after Thanksgiving to go to Aberdeen and we have enlisted Mama Jean (his gma) to come stay with me to help. I am not ready to tackle the babies by myself 24/7. I can't wait for Mama Jean to see the babies she is going to love and kiss them so much. : D
That's about all for now. We can't wait until Thanksgiving. YUM!!!!

Staci

Waking babies II

Waking babies

Preston's bath pics

Yes that is a pink towel. :)

Lily's bath time

More pictures

All dressed up to go the the Dr.



They really are so peaceful together.

Pictures, pictures!!!!

Preston with his big yawn.

So tired....


They missed each other!


Lily can I suck your nose?


Awww they are so cute!

Lily's home!!!!!

I am so in love. With both babies now home there is a sense of relief that has come over our home. Our family feels so calm and complete. She was released about 4:30 today, just in time for rush hour traffic!! When we got home we got settled and fed both babies. We put them down together in their cradle and they have done really well. They missed each other. Aunt Tasha came over for a visit and got to feed them. She took some great pics that I will put up when she sends them. I have not had a chance to take any pics, I know crazy huh!!! I have however managed to go through the pile of paperwork and the numerous bags that we got from the hospital. I promise I will take some pics and get them put up.
Love, Staci

We are home but Lily had to stay :(

We are home with Preston. Both babies were doing well and moved to the general nursery on Friday. On Saturday they said Lily was having problems keeping her temperature stable so she probably wouldn't go home with us. They let both babies stay in the room with me until it was time to go. They came and got Lily and took her back to the nursery and we took Preston home. It was so hard leaving her there. Today she is doing a little better maintaining her temp. We aren't sure when she will be able to join us at home though. Maybe Tuesday. I am so grateful though that both babies are healthy and have not had any problems. Lily was on oxygen for only a few hours after she was born and her temp problems aren't anything major. They have tested her for infection and illness. The Dr says she is just premature and her skin is thin. We did go visit her today and that was hard too, actually it was hard to leave.. Nana stayed home with Preston he is pretty easy since all he does is eat and sleep.
Our first night home with Preston was good. I was so worried that the time change would mess his schedule up but it didn't we just adjusted it by 30 mins or so. He eats every 3 hours at 3,6,9 and 12. Lily is on the same schedule in the hospital. We have to wake him up to eat since he is small all he wants to do is sleep. He has a minimum intake of 20 ml within a 20 min period. If he goes over 20 mins then he is burning more calories to eat than he is taking in. So when we start feeding him we have to make sure he stays awake. I have been able to feed breast milk but they don't have the sucking ability yet to fully breast feed so I have been pumping and splitting the milk between the 2. We took some to the hospital when we went today. Hopefully that will help Lily get her temp up to come home. The first night was pretty easy with 1 hopefully it won't be too bad with 2.
It is almost feeding time so take care until next time.

love, Staci

Lily's video

I have been trying to upload her video all night but for some reson it's not working. I will try later. We are probably all going home today so I am trying to get ready for that.

Love, Staci

Lily's video

She was only 6 hours old. hehe

Videos of the babies

Preston's video

Babies, Babies!!!

Our babies are here!!!!! We delivered our twins on Halloween 10-31, at 11:09 am and 11:11 am. Preston was born first at 11:09 and Lily was born at 11:11. I will start from the beginning. We called the hospital at 5:30 am on Wed to make sure my bed was available. It was and the nurse asked if we could be at the hospital by 7:15 am. We got here at 6:15am. They were surprised we were so early but we were ready and wanted to get here before traffic got too bad. Once we got here and got into our room they started filling out the paperwork and getting iv's started. Dr K came in about 8 and checked me at that time I was 4 cm dilated and Preston's water broke while he was checking me. We waited a little bit and watched the monitors that showed the heart rates and my contractions. Apparently I was contracting but didn't feel them. I had to be put on Magnesium Sulfate to try and stabilize my blood pressure and prevent seizures that was shooting up like a rocket. About 9:30 they started the Pitocin to induce labor and about 10:30 I got the epidural. Boy am I glad the epidural came when it did because the contractions were getting worse and PAINFUL!!!!! I told the nurse I felt pressure and felt kind of weird and she checked and I was ready really ready, so ready that my parents were coming into the room as I was being wheeled out all I said was hi and bye. Once we got to the OR things happened so fast. There were so many people and running around it was hard to keep track. All I really remember is the Dr telling me to push and Preston was out in 2 pushes. Then 2 minutes later Lily was out. I do remember hearing both of their cries. I also remember looking at Aaron and seeing his joyful expression! It was awesome. Oh and I did not have a c section. Whooo hooo!!! I was really nervous about that. They deliver in the OR just in case something goes wrong. After delivery I saw the babies for a brief moment when they brought them back into the delivery room. Preston I got to hold because he didn't need oxygen but Lily had her oxygen (astronaut) helmet on so I just got to touch her. Once they took me to the recovery room it took a while to get my blood pressure back down. I had to stay on the magnesium until Wed. night. It got up to 176 over something at one point. I was diagnosed with Toxemia. Everyone got to go and see the babies in the NICU while I recovered. They said once I got to my private room and the epidural wore off I could see them. So at 6 pm I got to go see the babies. I can't believe how small they are. I expected them to be small but their faces are so little. Of course they are the cutest babies in the world. Seriously...................they are! Lily was on oxygen until Wed night and both were under the warmer until Thur afternoon. Ashley even got to see them before me. They have visiting hours for siblings at 4 pm on Wed. If they would not have been born on Wed. she would have had to wait. I am sure once they get home she won't be able to put them down either. Today both babies are in open cribs, breathing on their own, feeding every 3 hours and doing great. In fact they just got moved to the general nursery. Now they can come in our room and people can see them through the windows. We haven't had them in the room yet because Preston is getting circumcised at 4 and he has to have an hour to be monitored. I am still having blood pressure issues but things are looking better. I am on blood pressure medication twice a day and today it has been lower. So I guess it just needed time to stabilize after delivery. I could have been discharged today but since the babies might come home tomorrow the Dr let me stay one more day so we can all go home together. It has been a crazy time between the nurses coming in, trying to go see the babies and now I am pumping. Oh and I forgot I have to eat too. HA!!!! I am sure that once we get home it will be crazier. All I want to do is hold the babies though. Aaron and I go in the nursery and we just sit there and hold them. We both look at each other and say ok we better go before we fall asleep in here. As of right now we are all doing well. Hopefully we can all go home tomorrow.
Preston weighed 5 lbs 3 oz, 18 in long and Lily weighed 4 lbs 13 oz, 17 3/4 in long.

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers!!! We can't wait to get these babies home and show them off to everyone.
Love Staci and Aaron.