As Kyle said earlier, the boys both started out on a c-pap machine, to help them with their breathing. Today, they were able to step down to a canula (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), but anyway, it is just those little tube things that go in their noses. They look much more comfortable with it!! Mitchell is under a little light for jaundice which is normal for preemie babies. Parker was able to get this thing put in his arm instead of having an IV which allowed us to hold him for the first time tonight!! It was absolutely amazing!! He is just precious!! It was so neat, when Kyle was holding him, I leaned down and said, "hey buddy, your mommy and daddy are here and we love you" and he opened his little eyes for a second and calmly went back to sleep!! Of coarse, I cried and I think Kyle even got a little teary!! Anyways, they are making huge progress every day!! The nurses and doctors taking care of them are absolutely wonderful!! In fact, the day time nurse said she thought Leann (the nurse who took care of them at night) would be back tonight and she requested to have them again!! That made us feel so good that they love them too!! Anyways...they are doing great and we will continue to give you updates!! Hopefully, tomorrow Mitchell will be able to have that same thing in his arm that Parker did today, so that we can hold him too!!
Well, I guess I can update you on my recovery as well. Monday night they gave me a morphine drip which is a major pain reliever, but it also slows your pulse rate. Well, apparently every time I fell asleep my pulse rate dropped so low it set off this really loud/annoying alarm. And, as paranoid as I am, I was totally freaked out!! I was awake the whole night worried that I was going to just quit ticking!! So, Tuesday was a really bad day for me!! Dr. Blake made her rounds and I was really weepy when she came by. She thought I needed some anxiety medicine when I told her about the morphine thing!! Really, I think I just needed some serious sleep!! I was so freekin tired I didn't know what to do with myself!! I ended up just going going going all day, then I crashed late in the afternoon and pretty much slept until this morning, only waking up to pump. Today, however, I felt like a whole new person!! So, I imagine as time goes by we will all recover!!
I wanted to thank everyone for the flowers, balloons, games, gifts, food, books, and visits to the hospital!! We feel very loved and are glad you all could share this experience with us!! We love you all and can't wait for you to meet little Mitchell and Parker!!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I survived!!
As most of you know, I was scared to death of having these precious little boys, but as it turns out, I am now a big advocate of cesarean sections!! Boy was it a piece of cake!! I got into the OR at 4:27 and the boys were both out by 4:37 and I was back in the recovery room by 5:15!! Isn't that amazing? It was actually really nice~they had Christmas music playing the whole time we were in the OR. The guy who administered the spinal was wonderful!! He stood right by me and Kyle the whole time talking to us and explaining everything!! I felt absolutely no pain, which was great!! At one point I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me and I was like, "huh, what is that I feel?" (but it didn't hurt or anything, it was just strange) and Kyle said, "oh nothing, you're fine." Then when we were in recovery he told me that one of the nurses was actually on top of the table pouncing my belly to get Mitchell in the right position so that Dr. Blake didn't have to make an additional incision. Isn't that crazy that all of that was going on, I didn't feel anything?? Thank goodness for that spinal~which also was a piece of cake...getting the IV was more painful than the spinal~kinda crazy, huh?? Anyways...it was music to our ears when both boys were screaming their little heads off, as the doctors had prepared us for them to come out limp and not crying at all!! Our hearts melted as we were introduced to our children!! Though they look like tiny little raisins, they are absolutely PERFECT in every way!! As some of you know, I was a little nervous that they would have big cone heads like their poor mother did, but God even took care of that as they are perfectly round!! We feel so absolutely blessed...as Kyle said this whole experience has been~"indescribable"!!!
Thank you for all your love and support!!
Thank you for all your love and support!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Happy Birthday Mitchell and Parker!!!
Well at this point some of you know and some of you may not. But December 3, 2007 is the birth date of my first two sons!!
What an experience! When I heard other parents say it is indescribable I thought they were being dramatic, I found out they are right. The feelings I felt were excitement, fear, anxiety, joy, and helplessness and probably more but...thus, indescribable.
Here is how it all went down:
At about 11 a.m. we had the ultrasound and while we were getting the scan done the high risk doctor came in with his posse. At that point I thought well he must have been watching the scan from another room and saw something that made him come in in the middle of the scan. Well, he was just making his rounds. He told Julie not to eat or drink anything in case she needed a c-section and that he would look at the scan when it was done and come tell her if she would deliver that day or not. She had not eaten since the night before. The day kind of slowed down for the next few hours after the scan. Julie got, you might say slightly irritated, when the doctor did not come back fairly quickly to tell her if she could eat or not. So I asked the nurse what the deal was and she said "he was going to see some patients and go to lunch and then come see you". Well, I didn't like that answer too much because why should he eat if Julie had to wait on him, and he isn't pregnant. So I told the nurse that it was "unacceptable" and that she should have the charge nurse come see me. The nursing staff did what they could (we had to apologize afterwards because we felt bad for being so mean...it was one nurse's first day). Ended up that we called Dr. Blake and got some answers by about 3 p.m. we knew we were having babies. By 3:15 nurses and anesthesia techs and doctors were storming Julie's bed. We kept waiting for the "moment" where we could kiss each other and pray together and pray over our babies. It never came...but we were praying together the whole time. At about 3:45 p.m. we left our room on the 6th floor (6201 for historical reference) and headed up to the 8th floor to the OR. Julie then got her spinal block and I had to wait outside during that part. As soon as that was done Dr. Blake opened the doors and said come on and gave me the big come on hand motion. I thought here we go, this is it. I got in the OR and Julie I could tell was worried so I talked to her and acted like I wasn't scared. That couldn't have been further from the truth though. I don't know if I have ever been that scared. I did know though that it would be over before I knew it. We talked and told each other that we loved each other and after a few minutes I calmed down and began making jokes with the nurses and staff. We had probably 14 people in the room 8 from the NICU team, Dr. Blake, an anesthesiologist and tech, an other nurse, and then Julie and I. If Julie wants to post the details of the surgery she can but for her sake at this point I will leave them out, although I will tell you I have seen her guts. So, at 4:36 weighing in at 2 lbs. 6 oz. and standing 15 inches tall Charles Parker Dunn was born and one minute later his younger brother with a fighting weight of 2 lbs 14 oz. and an overall length of 15.25 inches Christoper Mitchell Dunn was born. They came out crying, both of them, which was a great surprise to Julie and I. They both scored relatively well on the APGAR scores and began breathing on their own right away. The NICU nurses are unbelievably amazing, they cleaned them up and let me take pictures. A few minutes later my sons and I were off to the NICU. They have settled in at the NICU and are using a CPAP machine which is to help make their breathing more effective, however they are drawing their own breathes for now and have not had to intubated (which is great). I am going to include some pictures and the boys are probably doing better than the pictures will look so please don't be alarmed they are doing extremely well right now. We have been warned though that probably there will be down days and up days for a while. We will probably have them in the hospital until close to February 4th, which was their due date. So with out further adieu let me introduce y
ou to Mitchell and Parker Dunn.
This was about 3 minutes after they met their daddy. Not sure if you can tell but I and assure you that there was a gigantic smile under that mask.
Thank you to all of you who have called and sent text messages. I could never return all the calls and texts so let this serve as my return communication. And since I have had about 3 hours of sleep in the past two days I am going to sign off and just promise to post more later. Thank you as well for all your prays keep them coming as we are not out of the woods yet.
What an experience! When I heard other parents say it is indescribable I thought they were being dramatic, I found out they are right. The feelings I felt were excitement, fear, anxiety, joy, and helplessness and probably more but...thus, indescribable.
Here is how it all went down:
At about 11 a.m. we had the ultrasound and while we were getting the scan done the high risk doctor came in with his posse. At that point I thought well he must have been watching the scan from another room and saw something that made him come in in the middle of the scan. Well, he was just making his rounds. He told Julie not to eat or drink anything in case she needed a c-section and that he would look at the scan when it was done and come tell her if she would deliver that day or not. She had not eaten since the night before. The day kind of slowed down for the next few hours after the scan. Julie got, you might say slightly irritated, when the doctor did not come back fairly quickly to tell her if she could eat or not. So I asked the nurse what the deal was and she said "he was going to see some patients and go to lunch and then come see you". Well, I didn't like that answer too much because why should he eat if Julie had to wait on him, and he isn't pregnant. So I told the nurse that it was "unacceptable" and that she should have the charge nurse come see me. The nursing staff did what they could (we had to apologize afterwards because we felt bad for being so mean...it was one nurse's first day). Ended up that we called Dr. Blake and got some answers by about 3 p.m. we knew we were having babies. By 3:15 nurses and anesthesia techs and doctors were storming Julie's bed. We kept waiting for the "moment" where we could kiss each other and pray together and pray over our babies. It never came...but we were praying together the whole time. At about 3:45 p.m. we left our room on the 6th floor (6201 for historical reference) and headed up to the 8th floor to the OR. Julie then got her spinal block and I had to wait outside during that part. As soon as that was done Dr. Blake opened the doors and said come on and gave me the big come on hand motion. I thought here we go, this is it. I got in the OR and Julie I could tell was worried so I talked to her and acted like I wasn't scared. That couldn't have been further from the truth though. I don't know if I have ever been that scared. I did know though that it would be over before I knew it. We talked and told each other that we loved each other and after a few minutes I calmed down and began making jokes with the nurses and staff. We had probably 14 people in the room 8 from the NICU team, Dr. Blake, an anesthesiologist and tech, an other nurse, and then Julie and I. If Julie wants to post the details of the surgery she can but for her sake at this point I will leave them out, although I will tell you I have seen her guts. So, at 4:36 weighing in at 2 lbs. 6 oz. and standing 15 inches tall Charles Parker Dunn was born and one minute later his younger brother with a fighting weight of 2 lbs 14 oz. and an overall length of 15.25 inches Christoper Mitchell Dunn was born. They came out crying, both of them, which was a great surprise to Julie and I. They both scored relatively well on the APGAR scores and began breathing on their own right away. The NICU nurses are unbelievably amazing, they cleaned them up and let me take pictures. A few minutes later my sons and I were off to the NICU. They have settled in at the NICU and are using a CPAP machine which is to help make their breathing more effective, however they are drawing their own breathes for now and have not had to intubated (which is great). I am going to include some pictures and the boys are probably doing better than the pictures will look so please don't be alarmed they are doing extremely well right now. We have been warned though that probably there will be down days and up days for a while. We will probably have them in the hospital until close to February 4th, which was their due date. So with out further adieu let me introduce y
ou to Mitchell and Parker Dunn.This was about 3 minutes after they met their daddy. Not sure if you can tell but I and assure you that there was a gigantic smile under that mask.
Thank you to all of you who have called and sent text messages. I could never return all the calls and texts so let this serve as my return communication. And since I have had about 3 hours of sleep in the past two days I am going to sign off and just promise to post more later. Thank you as well for all your prays keep them coming as we are not out of the woods yet.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Ultra-sound results...
Well, I just got done with my ultra-sound and the tech scared me to death!! She printed off a picture, left the room in the middle of it, and said she needed to show the doctor something. Then, they both came in and compared today's pictures to yesterday's pictures. After reviewing everything, Dr. DeRouche said that we have bought one more day and would not be delivering today. They have been looking at this vessel called the ductus menusis and he said that it looked the same as yesterday instead of declining, so that's good-I guess. So, for now we're just sitting here waiting and anticipating. I'll be anxious to hear what Dr. Blake says tomorrow when she gets back.
The latest...
Dr. Haney (the on-call dr.) came by this morning to talk to me. She said that she thinks Dr. Blake will deliver me tomorrow! We still have another ultra-sound today and she said if the babies were in danger that she would go ahead and take them today. Kyle and I are a nervous wreck!! She also mentioned that she doubts that Parker has gained any weight since our last growth scan. He weighed 1 lb. 14 oz. at that scan so we are a mess!! She and Dr. DrRouche (maternal fetal dr.) both said that normally babies who are in stress are fighters and the bigger ones are the lazy ones who need more help! We are so scared to have these babies this early!! This is a true testimony of our faith-we HAVE to trust God and His plan for these babies!! Please, please, please pray hard for all of us-as I can't think of another time in my life that I have needed to feel the presence of God and the peace that only He can provide more than now!! I will be updating our blog again this afternoon after our ultra-sound!! Thanks, again, for all your love and support!!
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