Pure Exhaustion & Adrenaline

Wednesday morning started off well. After the babies were born, Emily was not able to go to their room until the next day because of her condition and the need for rest after surgery. However, she convinced the nurse to allow her to visit the twins at 1am on Wednesday morning. So Emily and I went up on Wednesday and she got a good look at the twins for the first time since their birth. We stayed up there (they're on the 6th floor and were on the 5th) for about 20 minutes, then we came back to our room and went to sleep for the first time. . . as parents!



But, with the nurses coming in to check on Emily every hour, neither one of us got much sleep. The anticipation to spend some substantial time with the kids on Wednesday provided too much anxiety and anticipation to rest for very long. We were up the next morning and went up to visit the kids. They were in good condition and continued to breathe on their own. Their first night was uneventful and peaceful.



Emily's condition began to improve immediately after birth. She began to lose a lot of the fluid that the pre-eclampsia had caused her to retain. The doctor continued to give her antibiotics via IV and they continued to monitor her weight, blood, and urine.



Since Emily was improving and the babies were stable, I was able to run home and shower for the first time since Monday morning. I grabbed some clothes for myself, showered, and headed back to the hospital.



At this point, Emily and I were running on pure adrenaline. I got back to the hospital and in time to see Emily's catheter get removed. This allowed her to go to the bathroom once again. She had shed 8 liters of fluid since her surgery and had only consumed 4 liters in the same time frame. Even though she was still mostly confined to her bed, Emily began improving.

We visited the girls several times throughout the day on Wednesday. They maitained their stabilization throughout the day and night and continued to impress everyone with their fantastic progress.



I was finally able to get some good sleep on Wednesday night. I didn't completely catch up, but the rest and the shower certainly improved my demeanor and mental and physical condition. Emily was able to rest and began to feel better as well.

Thursday rolled around and brought some new and great events with the girls. They began feeding on breast milk on Thursday. This greatly improves their stability and immune systems. Emily and I were also able to change their diapers and interact with them even more on Thursday. We're hoping to be able to hold them by the weekend. Their progress is awesome and we hope that it continues.

Emily was able to take her first shower on Thursday morning. She said that it felt wonderful, even though it was a bit difficult. She's still struggling to bend at the hips and she has some pain from the surgery, but she is able to walk around more and more every day. Her swelling has subsided in her upper body, but her legs and feet are still swollen. She's disconnected from the IV's and she's only taking pain medication orally. She's been extremely tough throughout this process and her health is better for it.

Aunt Jenny and Uncle Rick brought us lunch on Thursday. They visited the kids and saw Madison open her eyes. Jenny got some great video of the event that can be seen on youtube via the link below.

Grandma and Grandpa Lewis stopped by to visit the kids on Thursday night. Grandma got to change Taylor's diaper. She did a great job, but promised to get better as they get bigger.

Thursday was a great day to be Taylor and Madison's parents. We're getting to interact with them more and more everyday and can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Madison's Eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZhCCr61itI&feature=email

Dad Changing Madison's Diaper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfEBcx7lSA&feature=email

They're Here!

Surprise! Taylor and Madison made their debut on Tuesday, July 29th at 4:26 and 4:27pm respectively. Taylor weighed in at 2 lbs. 10 oz and Madison weighed in at 3 lbs. 1 oz.

Here's what happened leading up to their arrival:

Emily and I went to our regularly scheduled ultrasound appointment on Monday at 9:30am. The ultrasounds looked great and the kids were doing fine. After our ultrasounds, we waited to see our doctor, as usual. The doctor came in and began asking her normal questions about Emily's condition, feelings, and aches/pains. At that time, the doctor began to review Emily's current urine analysis and noticed that she had protein in her urine. She first recommended that we go to our fetal specialist for an ultrasound. She then looked at Emily's feet & ankles and noticed that they were considerably swollen. She then changed her mind and wanted to admit Emily into the hospital for 24 hour observation. We were immediately taken over to the maternity ward and checked into our room. The nurses took several vials of blood and Emily was on a 24 hour urine observation (she had to pee in a cup for a day).

At this point, we were told that she may have a bladder infection, urinary tract infection, but she was also showing signs of toxemia, or pre-eclampsia. I'm not going to get into what this is, you can google it if you want a definition. But it is a serious condition that occurs only during pregnancy. We were told that if it was an infection, she would be put on antibiotics and go home in a day or two. If it was pre-eclampsia, the only cure is delivery.

At this time (Monday afternoon), we still felt confident that this was some type of infection and we were just at the hospital for observation / bed rest. So, after Emily was settled in her room, I decided to go back to work for a couple hours, then go home and get an overnight bag for Emily. When I got back to the hospital, blood test results started to come in. They were a little abnormal, but not "off the charts". They took some more blood and started an IV to give Emily fluids and antibiotics to treat any possible infection. As of Monday night, we still had no definitive answers and we were still confident that we would be out of the hospital by Tuesday afternoon.

We were wrong. Tuesday morning rolled around and our doctor paid us a visit. She said that because Emily's urine output was very low (Emily had gained 6 lbs. in 24 hours from fluid retention), her blood work numbers were elevated, and her swelling began in the rest of her body, she was likely sufferring from pre-eclampsia and that the babies would probably be born via c-section either Tuesday or Wednesday at 4pm.

Then we got on the phone. I called Emily's parents in St. Louis and told them to make the trip to Indy. I called my family to let them know the news. We each called work to let them know that we wouldn't be in for a while. But everything was moving so quickly that we didn't have time to call friends or extended family. We were speaking with a nurse, doctor, specialist, NICU doctor, or a family member every second from Tuesday morning until Emily's operation.

At 30 weeks and 4 days gestation, Emily was about to give birth. Emily was wheeled into the operating room at 3:50pm. Emily's parents had just made it in from STL about 30 minutes before Emily went into surgery. Myself and Emily's mom would be in the operating room during the procedure. Emily's c-section went flawlessly, as far as I could tell, and she was out of the operating room and back into her maternity suite by 5:10pm. Taylor was born at 4:26pm and Madison was born at 4:27pm on Tuesday, July 29, 2008!

Emily is doing fine. She did wonderful throughout the entire process and is recovering nicely. She's experiencing the typical discomfort that accompanies major surgery, but has suffered no major complications thus far. She continues to be swollen from the pre-eclampsia and the staff is monitoring that closely. Her urine output is returning to normal and she's currently not taking any fluids or antibiotics through IV. It looks like Emily & I will be in the hospital until Saturday.
Taylor and Madison are doing well. They're both breathing on their own and have suffered no major complications thus far. Obviously they're being monitored closely due to their prematurtiy, but at this point, just monitoring and preventative measures are being applied, and nothing is being treated or battled. They will be in neo-natal intensive care unit for at least 5 or 6 weeks, with the possibility of their stay reaching 2 months. Their major risk include infection, but the doctor assures us that they are doing great so far and that they have about a 98% survival rate at this point.

I will try to update this blog daily while we're in the hospital. Thanks for everyone's support and patience. I'm trying to distribute information as quickly and easily as possible.

Stay tuned. . . .

Seventh Inning Stretch

Hello all! Sorry for the delay in posting. Unfortunately, the blog takes a back seat to many of the other tasks and responsibilities that I have going on right now. These include, working 40+ hrs/wk, working out 8 hrs./wk, going to the grocery store, mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, going to baby classes, making dinner & lunches, researching daycares, shopping for baby stuff, preparing a home to sell, overseeing construction of a new home, paying bills, maintaining our finances, putting together baby stuff, pricing appliances, organizing babies room, researching baby stuff, and keeping my wife and dog content. Don't get me wrong, I squeeze a round of golf in there every once in a while. But blogging is near the bottom of this list.

Alright, I'm done justifying myself to the masses. We had a pretty busy past couple of weeks. We had our second baby shower a couple weekends ago (see pics below of both baby showers). I hear it was awesome. A big thank you to my Mom, Dad, & Sister for organizing and hosting an awesome shower. I know that my Mom & Sister spent a lot of time and effort in putting it together, and thanks to my Dad who will have to work another 6 months to pay for it. But Emily and I are so grateful for their hard work. THANK YOU!!!!! We'd also like to thank those who traveled from out of town to the shower, and everyone who came and gave us a gift. It's humbling and fortunate that we have such great friends and family that support and love us.

I've already been putting together stuff that we've received. Before I tackled the first baby product, I had heard the horror stories of assembling different baby toys and items. I was scared. Before I did anything, I went and put on my tool belt, hard hat, orange safety vest, and goggles. I grabbed my tool box and sparked my blowtorch. I still felt ill-prepared, but I had to make do. I first tackled the cool double stroller that we received from my grandmother. It took me about 15 minutes to open the box. . . not a good sign. But when I removed all the contents, sat it on the floor, I noticed that it was assembled already. "That was easy!" The only thing left to do was to figure out how to "unfold" the stroller which took a precise combination of pulling and pushing several sets of levers, arms, and buttons hidden within the folded metal and nylon. At first, it's difficult for a new dad to figure out which handles and trap doors one must trigger in what order to "open" this thing up. I liken it to a guy unhooking a girls bra for the first time. It's pretty clumsy, embarrassing, and immasculating as we struggle with the tiny hooks, until our patience runs out and we simply muscle our way through it. In either case, the job eventually gets done.

The process was eerily similar on my next assembly job. This time it was a bassinet/pack n' play. I was prepared for the worst though. I still thought that my friends who had warned me of the treachorous job of assembling baby stuff weren't completely retarded in industrial arts. But, it turns out, that they may be. The pack n' play was assembled, but "folded". Once I figured out how to "unfold" it, the rest was fairly simple. "Push here, tug there", and voila . . . an assembled pack n' play! I must be a natural Bob Villa when it comes to baby stuff assembly.

We had a doctors visit on Monday, July 14th. It was an uneventful appointment besides the fact that we received ultrasound photos (see below). We also learned that the babies have gained nearly 1 lb. since our last doctors visit. They now way 2 lbs. 9 ounces & 2 lbs. 11 ounces. They weighed in well and all of their measurements were in an acceptable range.

However, since the doctors appointments are becoming more regular, my wife's belly is getting bigger, and I've done more shopping in the last couple weeks than I've done in years, I'm getting a sense that this thing is approaching the climactic finale that I was promised more than seven months ago. To put it in typical guy terminology, "I'm coming around the third turn and the finish line is in sight". "It's the fourth quarter and I'm at the two-minute warning." "I'm roundin' third and heading for home." So on, and so forth.

See ladies, this is how guys think of pregnancy. We have to section it off. Divide it up. Set goals for ourselves. We need to know that this hormonal super-woman will turn back into our wife after a set period of time. Why do you think that sporting events are sectioned into quarters, periods, and halves? We need to know that there's an end, and how close we are to it. If pregnancy lasted a random amount of days, weeks, or months, men would struggle mightily. I'm not even sure that the human race would've made it this far. Men would continually ask, "Are we there yet?" like the typical 6 year old on their way to Disney World. After a while, sparks would shoot from our heads and smoke pour out of our ears. Our heads would then explode and our bodies would run around frantically for a few seconds. Don't worry, this would be a relief to us because it's an ending.

Luckily for us, pregnancy isn't like that. It has a 40 week life-cycle (35ish for twins) and can be divided and subdivided. And currently, we're in the seventh inning stretch of our pregnancy. It's that time of the game where you stand up, stretch, and regain perspective. Or, for some people, realize for the first time that they're at a baseball game. I feel like I'm at that point in this pregnancy where I'm standing up out of my fox hole to stretch after being bombarded and shell-shocked for the last 7 months. I'm finally realizing that I'm at a baseball game, and it only took me 7 innings!

In baseball, the grounds crew comes out and manicures the diamond. Similarly, I am "manicuring" our temporary nursery and putting baby stuff together as if my life depended upon it.

In baseball, Take Me Out to the Ballgame plays during the stretch. Likewise, I'm hearing Taps play as my life, as I once knew it, nears death.

But, my starting pitcher has thrown a helluva game thus far. She's stayed strong and continued to carry this team on her back. She's starting to get sore though. She gets restless on the mound and isn't comfortable in the wind-up. I can tell that she just wants the game to be over. It's difficult for me to watch her struggle, but frequent trips to the mound to offer her encouragement seem to help. I need to continue to call a good game, give her good support, and get her the win. In the meantime, we're hoping that our coach doesn't bench her for the final couple innings. But if she gets anymore fatigued, swollen, and sore, she might have to. It's too early to tell the outcome, but the end will be here in just a few short innings. I can't wait!

Ahhhhhh, the good ol' 7th inning stretch. Be prepared because the last couple innings are going to go quick! And for all you fans out there, get your beers now, because it's last call and they don't serve you after the eighth inning!

"Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold
second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher’s mound. Put first base
and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course,
in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again."

~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

Indy Shower Pics:

Ultrasound Pics:

STL Shower Pics: