Thanks for All Your Prayers

This morning, the girls seem to be doing well. Taylor’s feedings have been going well. She had a little residual (leftovers in the belly) today, so they decided to slow them down a little. Kamryn has begun not having residual and had a messy diaper without any help, so that’s progress. After doing a chest x-ray on Taylor, they determined her lungs weren’t handling the ventilator well, so they hooked her up on a gentler machine. We didn’t find this out until going in last night and her bed was surrounded by about eight people learning about the machine. This kinda made us nervous, to say the least, to walk in and see all that activity around our daughter’s bed. It seems to be what she needs, though. The last x-ray showed her lungs looked much better. This new machine is a bit more involved, however, so we are not able to do Kangaroo care at this time. We did get to do it two nights in a row, and are glad for that. There was another head scan done on Taylor yesterday. We haven’t talked with the doctor about it yet, but her chart showed that there has been no significant change for the better or the worse. Pray for a change for the better. We really can't express how much your prayers and encouragement mean to us.

A little piece of Heaven

We got to “Kangaroo” for the first time tonight. It was absolutely the most amazing thing. “Kangaroo” is a way to hold newborn preemies, where they remove them from the incubator still attached to all the monitors, and lay them on one of the parent’s chest skin to skin. We’ve heard that it does wonders for the babies, so we had high hopes going in to it. When we went in tonight, Kamryn’s oxygen was turned up to 65%, which is the highest it has been. Up until the last couple of days, she had been on between 21% (room air) and 30%. I decided that Kamryn needed her mom, so they got Kerri ready and sat her in a recliner beside the incubator. Then they disconnected all the wires and IV’s and laid her on Kerri’s chest. Now, there is a monitor that shows how much oxygen is actually being circulated in her blood. They try to keep it between 85 and 95. It was riding at around 88 when we arrived. While they were getting Kamryn situated after laying her on Kerri’s chest and reconnecting everything, her monitor started beeping. I looked up, and it was actually reading above 95, almost as soon as they placed her on Kerri’s chest. They turned down the oxygen supply on her, and before long, she was setting off her alarm above 95 again. Over the period of about an hour, Kamryn’s oxygen was turned all the way down to 34%. She was still consistently alarming on the high side, but the nurse noticed the IV in her head was causing swelling, so they had to take her away and put her back in the incubator to remove the IV and put in another one. Now keep in mind Kamryn’s oxygen need had been on the rise the last few days. We were absolutely amazed at the way she responded to being held by her mom. They are concerned with her maybe becoming sick, so pray for that. Now, meanwhile, I got to go over and hold Taylor the same way. She also did very well with it. I think I may have enjoyed it more than she did, but she seemed to enjoy it as well. We ended up having to leave soon, because they were admitting another baby, but we were on such a high after leaving. God is so good.

The Girls are Holding Their Own

The girls are already 11 days old. It's hard to believe, even though it has been hard and long. Anytime I see "Hospital" on the caller I.D., it makes me tense up. Yesterday, one of the babies' doctors called and actually gave us some good news. He told me first that both girls would be started on feedings. They seem to be tolerating it well. The next thing he said was that Kamryn was doing well on her breathing, and they wanted to try her on cpap, which is the nostril ventilator. They tried it without removing the tube, and it didn't go well. They are going to try it tonight with removing the tube. That makes us nervous. We pray she will do well with that. As far as her fingers, we won't be able to tell anything yet, we just have to wait it out. Then, the doctor asked me what the cardiologist had told me before. I said that he told me Kamryn still had a large PDA. He said that's what he thought, but that he talked to the other cardiologist and that one said her PDA actually looked a good bit smaller that the last one. He didn't understand why it did, since she wasn't on medication for it. I just smiled and replied, "I Know why." This is a Christian doctor, and he said that he agreed with me, and added, "the power of prayer." He didn't hear a murmur, and said he suspected that the PDA was closed. After doing the echocardiogram on her today, they said that it was only a small PDA, and that they would not do surgery at this time. Keep praying, it's working. Taylor seems to be doing well also. Her head isn't showing signs of swelling, which is good, and we feel God will handle this situation as well. Thanks to everyone for your prayers.

PDA's and IVH's

They use acronyms for everything around here. Kamryn still had a PDA the other day, which is explained in a previous post. They did not do surgery, however, because the surgeon couldn't make it. Since there was time, they decided to do another round of medicine, which we should find out the results of by monday. While we were there last night, Kerri noticed her fingers looked blue on the hand where they had the IV. they loosened the tape and we thought it looked better. We always pray for them before we leave, and while we were beside Kamryn's bed about to leave, Kerri noticed her arm below the elbow was very pale. We called the nurse over, and they looked at it and decided to remove the IV. After a few minutes, her color was back in her arm, but her fingers were still blue. This morning, it appears her fingers under the nails are still blue, so pray for that now also, that it didn't harm anything long-term.
Now for Taylor. The doctor called us in yesterday to look over their head ultrasounds. Both showed an IVH, or Intraventricular Hemorrhage, which is bleeding into the ventricles of the brain. Kamryn's was a level I, and the doctor didn't show much concern about it. Taylor's however, was a level IV, which is considered very serious. He did say it was on the low end of the spectrum for a level IV. What this means is that she is at high risk for brain damage, which also can mean a lot of different things as far as what it effects. Please lift her up to the Father, that he would clear this up and there would not be further complications like brain swelling, and that there would be no long term effects on her little brain.

One Week Old Update

The babies have done well this week. I wanted to keep notes of everything that has gone on and answered prayers. Both babies have had jaundice, Kamryn's is gone. Taylor' white blood cell count kept rising. After prayers, it is on the decline. Both babies have had a PDA, which is an open artery coming off the heart that is supposed to close after birth and become a ligament, but doesn't. They both went through two rounds of treatment for it, and can do as many as three. Taylor's was closed after an echocardiogram, and Kamryn's had become a large. This has been sent out as a prayer request, because the next step is surgery. Though it's considered minor, we don't want that for her. We asked for them to do another echo before surgery and they said they wouldn't. We prayed about that, also, because if it was closed we wouldn't know. That was answered, because their NICU doctor is a believer from Jamaica who's father was a pastor, and he understood my concern. He talked with the cardiologist, and He agreed to do another one this evening. We are praying for God to close this, and look forward to that answered prayer. will update later.

here are the pics

These beautiful little girls were born around noon on May 1 2008, the national day of prayer, May day, and their birthday. They only weighed 1 lb 12 oz when they were born. There have been people all over the world praying for them and us, and we have truly felt them. Thank you all, and please continue during these next few months as they have a long row to hoe, but they are fiesty and strong.
here is Kamryn Renee in the pink hat

The next two are Taylor Elyse- notice my wedding ring on her left arm. Tiny and sweet.

In Labor

Kerri is now in active labor, and we are awaiting delivery. The epidural has been installed incase of c-section with Kamryn. Taylor, at least, should be able to be delivered vaginally. Thanks for all your prayers. Pray the babies will be strong enough to make it being only 25 weeks in gestation. They look good, though. Kerri is doing well and is calm. We will post again after they deliver, which will probably be today.