Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Long overdue update...

Wow, life is crazy and I don't know where the last 8 days went, let alone the last 4 weeks!! That's right, the boys are 4 weeks old today!!!

Life has been so crazy that I have gotten way behind on my updates... I'm going to attempt to update Dax's progress to date and then Trev's. We'll see how this works...

Dax Update

So, last I updated, Dax had been taken off the ventilator. Unfortunately, he was off of it for only 2 days before his O2 desaturations became too frequent and too severe.

On Monday, 7/18 Matt and I got to the hospital and went in to wash up before seeing our babies. As I open up my sterile sponge, I always
look through the window into the NICU room where the boys are just to make sure everything is calm. It usually is, which always calms my nerves a bit. However, this time they had Dax's isolette open with the Dr, his nurse and the respiratory therapist all standing around him. Then I noticed another nurse see me and go over
to talk to the Dr. I knew something wasn't right... The Dr. then came out to inform me that they needed to reintubate Dax and we should come back in a half hour. I can't describe the feeling at that moment more than just to say that it sucked. Matt and I spent some time in the cafeteria for a while before going back up. During that time I kind of kept myself just a step to the side of sanity as a coping mechanism. When we got back up to the NICU Dax was on the ventilator
again and comfortably snuggled into his bed again. There were blankets from his bed still on the ground and it was obvious that they had to do a little scrambling shortly before we had gotten there. A very scary thought and I can't imagine how I would have felt had I been there at that time.

Since he has had so much lung issues for 4 weeks now, the Dr. has classified it as chronic lung disease (CLD) which is definitely a scary thing to think about. However, the nurse gave us some information on it which talks about the potential long term risks including asthma, more severe colds, and a heightened sensitivity to smoke and air pollution among many other things. Then at the end of the form it explains that many preemies with CLD grow up to have perfectly healthy lungs in the long run. We're staying positive and hoping for the best!

Since Dax had such a rapid decrease in O2 that day, Dr. Jain ordered a chest x-ray (check lungs for any abnormalities), blood tests (check for infection) and an ECHO (maybe a PDA issue like Trev had). From all the results we learned that he did not have a PDA. Yay! But it did look like he had a lot of fluid in his lungs and possibly an infection. Which meant he had to stop his feedings for a while and take diuretics as well as antibiotics. He was doing so well gaining weight and this was definitely a setback (he actually lost a little).
Dax getting his ECHO

Currently Dax is still on the vent and likes to simply decide not to breath every once in a while. At this point I have simply accepted it and stopped hating it. It's helping him to stay healthy and it is what he needs, therefore it's a good thing.

Since he had some fluid build up in his lungs, the Dr. started him on continuous feeds as opposed to every 3 hours. He is currently getting 6cc's every hour, 144cc's every 24 hours.

As of last night, Dax weighed a whopping 2lb, 9 oz!!! Though he did have a major diaper blowout shortly after his weight was taken, so I imagine he is a little lower....

Trevyn Update

I believe the word used by the Dr. the other day to describe Trev was "Gangbusters"... Dr. Jain always has an interesting way of saying things... She was referring to his progress and how well he is doing.

His breathing has been good and he is still just on the nasal cannula. He is now getting 24cc's every 3 hours, 192 cc's every 24 hours and he weighs about 2lb, 10oz! He even is starting to develop a little chub in his cheeks!

They did a head sonogram the other day and found that one ventricle is a little larger than the other. This is most likely nothing of concern and it's just a result of natural asymmetry in the body. We will be repeating a head sono in a few weeks to make sure it doesn't continue to get larger (could imply a brain bleed).
Look at Trev's chubby cheeks!


And, just for good measure, let's take a look at what I can expect x3 in about 2 years...
Athan loves his corn!!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Good News!

Lot's of good things going on in the past few days!

First off, Dax is off the ventilator! Wahoo! And it's official, Dax is a little Matt clone!
He has been off the ventilator for 2 days now and so far is doing well though his O2 saturation
is a little all over the place (to be expected). His CO2 and blood pH have both been good so far. It is like looking at a whole new baby now. We finally got to see his mouth which we hadn't gotten a look at because of the ventilator equipment. So cute! He looks so much more comfortable now too. With the ventilator he always used to scrunch his eyes and wrinkle his forehead with a look of discomfort. Since the ventilator was removed, I haven't seen that anymore. I was even there when they did a heal prick (similar to the finger prick they do to check you for anemia when you donate blood) and he didn't even flinch!

Trev got his last dose of the Indocid for the open duct in his heart at 5pm on Saturday and they did a follow up ECHO yesterday and it was closed! Yay! Now it has to stay closed this time!

Matt finally got a chance to hold Trev on Saturday as well! Trev really enjoys being held and behaved himself quite nicely.
Yesterday, I got to hold Dax again! But this time I actually got to hold him. As in hold my baby,
not hold 10 blankets with my baby inside of them. It was wonderful! However, Dax generally does not like to be bugged and his O2 Saturation did not stay steady enough while I was holding him so he had to go back into his little bed pretty quickly.
We've heard Trev's sweet little cry quite a few times now. It was hard the first few times to hear it because he was crying due to pain (a needle poke or tape being removed). However, he is showing us his demanding little personality a bit more now! He has been getting fed breast milk through a tube for quite a few days now and when he was being treated with Indocid they had to hold his feedings for 36 hours. He has a little pacifier, not only to comfort him, but to keep the O2 from his CPAP machine actually in his lungs instead of going in his nose and then straight out his mouth. Well, the other day his O2 saturation was a bit low and he was, of course, catching flies again. So, I found his pacifier and tried putting it in his mouth and he kept pushing it out. I didn't want to keep bugging him with it so I stopped trying. Then he got mad and started crying! He wanted his pacifier back! I gave it to him and was very happy to accept it because he was hungry!!!!

The weights are in! Dax is now weighing in at 2lb, 3 oz. and Trev at 2lb, 1 oz. They're going to be chubby little babies before we know it!

On an Athan note, he is definitely a 2 year old! His letter magnets have been disappearing over the past 24 hours. This morning Matt found them all! Stuffed in the vent under the refrigerator!! Silly boy!

Friday, July 15, 2011

29 weeks gestational age!


So, the boys gestational age is 29 weeks today! Yay! I can't believe it's already been 17 days and yet so much has happened that I can't believe it's only been 17 days at the same time.

Athan and I took a trip to the chocolate store yesterday and he wanted to send chocolates to his brothers'. I convinced him that it would be best to send them to the nurses instead. They were received quite well! We finally got a picture of Big Brother printed and posted in the boys' isolettes as well. We went for a simple picture of Athan showing his sweet side.

Matt and I got to the hospital after my mom picked up Atahn (Thanks so much for all the help Mom! Matt's parents too!) As we were washing our hands, an echocardiogram tech came in and we heard him say " Is it the Marshall baby or the *insert some other last name* baby for the PDA?" Can you say confidentiality FAIL??? Now, the confidentiality of what exactly is going on medically with my baby is not my first priority. However, I would like to get my updates from my babies bedside while talking to their nurse or Dr. Not from the hallway in the entrance area from some tech with a loud mouth. Irritating!!!

Anyhow... As I mentioned back in this post their is a potential for a duct in their heart to remain open after birth. A sign that a duct is open or has reopened is the sound of a murmur when the nurse/Dr. listens to their heart. Since a few days after the boys were born, we heard no murmurs. However, yesterday morning, Trevyn's nurse heard a murmur and the Dr. confirmed it. Thus, they needed Mr. loudmouth tech to come check it out. The echo did confirm that Trev's ductus had reopened to a moderate size. : ( This just sometimes happens unfortunately. The Dr. is trying to get it to reclose on it's own with a few changes to Trev's current care. First off, both boys are now getting 14cc's of breast milk (yay!!!) which is enough nutrition for their weight that the Dr. was able to take Trev off of the TPN (total peripheral nutrition) IV. Sometimes the increased fluid can cause the ductus to reopen and removing that extra fluid can help it to close again. Then we took a step back in the respiratory department and went back to the nCPAP machine. This machine gives a bit more pressure into the lungs thus expanding them more and subsequently putting more pressure on the heart hopefully helping the ductus close. Fingers crossed that this will work! I do not want to have to resort to drugs and definitely not surgery to get this thing closed!

((UPDATE since writing this part: They have decided to start Trev on Indocid which is the medicine to help treat the PDA. He will be done with the treatment in about 36 hours and we will do another endocardiogram then with hopes that the PDA has closed.))

As for Dax, he is chugging along same as usual. We still have the ventilator in and he is still being stubborn about weaning off of it. He has the ventilator set to give him at least 32 breaths per minute and air that is 26-30% Oxygen depending on how he is doing. Normal room air is about 21% O2. When they try and lower the number of breaths he takes, he has been typically D-saturating (O2 levels in blood drop). Otherwise he seems to be hanging in there with no major ups or downs for now.


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

15 days old with a present for mommy!



(Not sure how I ended up making that paragraph a link and can't figure out how to undo it... oh well)

Yesterday, after leaving the hospital I felt so disheartened and helpless. It's really difficult to sit back and watch someone do all the work of taking care of your baby and getting such little opportunity to be involved beyond cupping your hand on their head or tummy.

However, when I went in to visit this morning I got a great surprise! It was time to clean the boys beds and I got to hold each of them!!! YAY! I knew the first time I got to hold them I would cry, and I started to tear up. But I held it together and didn't let myself blubber all over the babies! They were both so precious! I got some great pictures too! Dax just stayed sound asleep in my arms the whole time and was very comfortable. Trev was awake most of the time and just kept trying to see Mommy. Definitely one of the best moments of my life and I have been on cloud 9 all day now!
Mommy and Trev (above)
Mommy and Dax

I'm now hanging out with Big Brother Athan deciding which pictures to print out to have next to his bed so he can say good night to his brothers every night! Lot's of fun watching him try to understand what I'm talking about when I explain his brothers to him. Not quite sure if he gets it or not but hopefully the pictures will help him understand!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Progress!!!

Just got home from visiting the boys with Matt and my parents. Victories for both boys in the last 24 hours!

Trevyn is now consuming about 5cc's of breat milk every 3 hours (we are working our way up to 18cc's). He is now off the ncpap (the one that supplemented his breaths) machine and down another step to a high flow nasal candula which is pretty similar to the kind of oxygen supplementing machine an adult would be on after having a surgery. So now we started on the ventilator, then to ncpap and now high flow nasal candula! Very good progress indeed! We can almost see his full face at one time now!

Dax is still currently on the ventilator but has made progress towards getting off of it. He was on an oscillating ventilator that gave him very rapid short breaths to help keep his alveoli open and O2 levels high. However, this machine didn't allow the CO2 to escape very well. Thy have changed it to a machine that mimics natural breaths now which has helped lower his CO2. We are now just working the settings on the ventilator down until they are confident enough that he won't have to be re-intubated.

Not sure why Dax's pic came up larger than Trev's... hmmm... will need to get a bigger one of Trev up soon.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Catching up on the past 11 days...

The night of the boys birth was an exhausting one in every sense of the word. The twins were immediately taken into the NICU to begin hooking them up to all the machines and I was taken into recovery. Still sleep deprived and on many drugs, I don't remember much of the rest of the night. I could not see my babies yet until I was off my anesthesia and able to walk around, not to mention I still hadn't showered since swimming in Whiskeytown Lake and that was a must before seeing my boys.

Matt was able to go in and see the boys at around 9pm that night. He was scared to see them and I was scared for him. Neither of us knew what to expect... We both expected to see very sickly looking babies that could fit into the palm of our hand. It seemed as though going to see them just made the whole experience so real. But they needed us and we needed to be brave for them. He stayed in there with the boys for about 2 hours getting all sorts of information from the NICU nurses about what would be happening over the next few days. When Matt came back he had our babies footprints and pictures to show me. I was surprised at how developed they were. They were much bigger than we expected, even at only about 2lb each. Now, I couldn't wait to go see them! However, I was still stuck in bed.

Matt and I were both very exhausted. He decided to come home to attempt a good night sleep and I would do the same. However, neither of us were successful. Matt just couldn't sleep and I woke up in the middle of the night nauseous and very overheated, despite the 65 degree setting in my room. hormones!!!

We made it through the night and into the next day. We enjoyed a few visitors and I was finally able to be taken off my IVs and take a shower. However, I had to take pain medication and was given Norco. I had the choice of 1 or 2 and the first time I decided to take 2, even though I hate the idea of taking them at all. The 2 Norco made me rather loopy and I hated it! There was no way I was going to meet my boys for the first time while I was so loopy. I waited a bit for them to wear off. Finally, in the early evening I got to meet my boys along with my Mom. It's an interesting feeling to meet your babies for the first time and not be able to hold or comfort them. I, of course, immediately fell in love with them.

I spent an hour or so just going from one isolette (bed) to another and talking with the nurses and Neonatologist about the machines my boys were on and what sorts of things they were looking out for.

That night, on much less drugs and able to process what had happened over the past 48 hours, I finally was able to just sit down and have a good cry. I sure needed it! It all became so real at that point and I hated that my precious little boys had to go through this ordeal and I was and still am so worried about them and their stress levels and health. I know these next few months are going to be hard!

Our first goal was to get both boys off the ventilators. Since the ventilator tubes go into their lungs it is very intrusive and thus has a high risk of infection, stress and also a pneumothorax (air in the cavity around the lungs). As of today, Trevyn is off of the ventilator and on an ncpap machine which supplements his breaths. So far he is doing fairly well with that. Dax is still on the ventilator and we are waiting for his blood gases (CO2 mainly) to normalize as they were high last night and also for the MAP (mean airway pressure) settings to be low for longer periods of time with him still remaining stable. Basically, the ventilator pumps pressure into his lungs to keep his alveoli (air sacs in lungs) from collapsing. As of this afternoon, his MAP was set at 9 and we want it at 7 for an extended period of time before he gets to come off the ventilator. We're hoping soon!

Another concern in the first few days is Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Basically, a fully mature heart has a left and right side. One side pumps blood only to the lungs and the other side pumps oxygenated blood to the body. However, when a baby is in the womb they do not need the blood to go to their lungs because the oxygen is provided by the placenta. Therefore, babies in the womb have an extra duct that connects the left and right side that allows blood to forgo being pumped through the lungs. For full term babies, this duct almost always closes upon birth. However, with preemies it sometimes does not close properly leading to medicine (which has side effects) and if the medicine doesn't work, surgery. When they were born, Dax had a small PDA and Trev's was a bit larger. As of an echocardiogram that was done about 4-5 days ago, Dax's PDA was completely closed and Trev's had gotten significantly smaller. Yay! It is expected that Trev's will and likely already has closed. There is always a chance for the PDA to reopen after it has closed, but it is a very good sign in the right direction!

The boys get blood draws often to check their blood gas levels among other things. A few nights after they were born, Matt and I were spending some time in the NICU with them and I lookover and Dax's skin had gotten extremely pale. The nurse noticed it too. She was concerned about it but not panicking. So, I tried not to panic as well, but it terrified me! When the neonatologist had a moment away from another baby, she pointed it out to her. The Dr. said that he probably needed a blooded transfusion and I started crying. i hated that my 2-3 day old baby was needing a blood transfusion. It's a pretty common thing to need a blood transfusion for a baby so small since they are not good yet at making new blood cells and the smallest amount of blood drawn is a lot to them. I spoke with the Dr. the next day who told me she calculated and they had only drawn 3/4oz. since the twins were born about 3 days prior. Later in the night it was determined that Trev needed a transfusion as well. Apparently there are specific donors for babies and every time a preemie needs blood, they get it from the same donor. No blood banks in the redding area are set up to receive blood for babies so it was driven up from Sacramento and they had it by morning. And Daxton's color was much more normal!

Approximately 2 days after they were born they needed to be given Sodium Acetate which is an electrolyte. This was the only kind they could be given without affecting the other salts in their system. Unfortunately, there is currently a national shortage of Sodium Acetate and the hospital they are at did not have any. Sodium Acetate is not some fancy high tech medical solution. In fact most people who have taken a chemistry class with a lab have likely used it in some experiment and there are actually directions for how to make it online. Of course, we needed medical grade and I couldn't just brew up a batch.

The first step was to start calling other hospitals and pharmacies to try and obtain some. The boys Dr. spent hours that day trying to track some down. A lot of places had it in small quantities and would not give it up for my boys because of the shortage. by early evening it was looking like the only option would be to transfer my boys from Mercy Medical in Redding to UC Davis medical in Sacramento. They would need to be transferred by plane or helicopter due to their fragile state. So, basically, we almost had to move my boys, who are very easily stressed out, on a helicopter, a 2.5 hour drive from where we live just for a stupid salt. Really America?? We are a place that can build some of the most high tech weaponry for war but we can't provide enough salt? Unbelievable.

Just as the Dr. was getting ready to begin the transport process, Enloe Medical Center came through for us and sent all the Sodium acetate they had in stock for my boys. Thank you so much Enloe!

As I mentioned in the birth story, there was an infection that led to preterm labor. In a case like this it is important to find out exactly what the bacteria was that caused the infection so it can be treated properly. Typically it is determined within a day or two, but now we are 11 days since the boys birth and we still do not know. Therefore we are not even 100% sure we are treating it right. Frustrating! There is also a chance, depending on what the bacteria is when we find out that Dax will need a spinal tap to make sure that the infection did not get into his spinal cord. Positive thoughts that we do not need to put him through that!

Dax has his eyes open and Trev's have just started opening as of yesterday. It is so precious to see them try and look around (though they don't really have vision yet). They are perfectly beautiful little boys and I simply cannot wait to be able to take them home. Only 2-3 more months! : (

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Birth Story - part 2

After being admitted into the hospital, Matt needed to find someone to take care of Athan so he could come over. Lucky for us, we have amazingly supportive families and were able to get ahold of Matt's parents quickly. They drove up and picked up Athan for the night.

Just before hooking me up to all the IVs it the nurse told the Dr. I was contracting every 2 minutes! not good.

They decided to do an ultrasound to check on the babies location so they could more easily monitor them and also to check on how dilated I actually was. The ultrasound showed strong heartbeats from both of my boys, and yes it showed they were still both boys! It also confirmed what the Dr. had said, that I was 3cm dilated. One other thing it showed was that my water was actually already being pushed out through my cervix. Basically, if you think of what a water balloon looks like if you squeeze it but don't break it, that sort of hourglass shape it takes. That is what was going on with my water through my cervix. Not good!

As I said before they placed me on more IVs and stabbed me more times than I can remember. I recall the following medications:

Magnesium Sulfate: This served to inhibit labor and also to protect my babies neuro development and blood vessels. It was given through an IV drip and was supposed to relax my uterus and as a side effect completely relaxed every muscle in my body to where I felt a little jello like. They had to monitor my magnesium levels in my blood and took blood samples every 4 hours. Every time, stabbing me with a new needle. When all was said and done I counted at least 10 needle holes in my left arm from blood draws.

Beta-Methazone: A steroid shot (in my butt!) that was given to me for the babies. This is intended to boost the babies lung development. It is given twice when in preterm labor, 24 hours apart and the goal is to make it 48 hours from the first shot before the babies are born so they can receive the full benefits. I made it about 24 hours. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

A shot of something that helped to keep my blood pressure from dropping too low (it got so low at one point that I became nauseous and sick.)

Some pill they kept giving me to stop preterm labor. Don't remember the name...

A shot in my arm to stop preterm labor. Again, not sure of the name.

hmmmm... I am sure there were more IV drips involved though I don't recall what they were or even much about the 24 hours following my hospital admission.

Matt arrived at the hospital and they had a nurse from the NICU come talk to us a little about premature babies and how the first few days would go. One specific thing she pointed out was that preemies tend to have a "honeymoon" period for a few days after they are born. That is, once the initial issues of being born at 26 weeks are taken care of immediately after birth, they tend to have 2-3 days where things are fairly smooth sailing and then problems begin to occur.

By the time the NICU nurse was done speaking with us, my contractions had become so intense that I could no longer talk through them and had to really begin concentrating on my breathing techniques. Oddly, I was actually having the perfect labor experience that I wanted with Athan where I experienced all the different stages and could reflect between contractions. However, this was very much the opposite of a perfect labor experience. Had I gone through this at full term I would have almost enjoyed the progression of pain and the act of the "hee-hee-hoo" breathing. Now, every contraction I felt seemed to just seal the fate that my boys were not waiting. Every single one of them had me more and more worried... They sucked, and hurt. Worst off, they were not slowing down despite the best attempt with all the meds. The pain had gotten so intense and I was so stressed that I decided to get an epidural in hopes that it would calm me down enough to slow contractions. It did!

So , now I add epidural to the list of drugs. My contractions are beginning to go from 2-3 minutes apart, now as long as 9-10 minutes apart. And no pain!

When a woman is in labor, they stick all sorts of monitors on her to keep an eye on the babies heart rate. Since my babies were so small, the nurses had a hard time getting them on the monitor and beyond that, keeping them on the monitor. They had so much space in my uterus still so they were moving all over the place. Therefore, the full night of the 27th/morning of the 28th was spent playing chase the babies in my tummy. Thus, absolutely no sleep for me! On top of all the meds I was on, paired with the sleep deprivation, I was becoming a little crazy. Matt spent whole night attempting to sleep on the couch which turned out to be rather unsuccessful for him as well.

By noon on the 28th, the epidural was working really well on the pain in my abdomen and back from contractions, but not so well on my cervix pain. Every contraction (still luckily 7-10 minutes apart) was still quite painful, but manageable. Since I was placed with my head angled downward, the epidural was having a hard time fully affecting my lower body. My epidural was set at 8 (not sure what the measurement was) where as most women in labor are set at 12. Because I was angled on my head, if we turned the epidural up my BP would drop significantly and it was already very low (as low as 70/35ish).

From this point on during the day I spent in bed, managing pain and waiting for a sign of my water breaking, which I expected at any second. They would not check my cervix because my water was so bulging and they did not want to risk rupturing the membrane thus sending me into an immediate c-section. So, I had not clue as to how labor was or was not progressing. I kept thinking I felt a small gush of fluid and every time they checked it was blood and not my water. Good thing it wasn't my water breaking, but it did confirm that my cervix was dilating more. (When a woman's cervix dilates, small blood vessels break and cause bleeding.)

Along with the bleeding, baby A (now Daxton) was very low in my abdomen. Leaving me to believe that he was ready to come out!

After a short time, I began to be more concerned with the bleeding and how heavy it was getting. I knew that this much blood was more than just small amounts of dilation. I was just waiting for my OB Dr. to close his office and come check on how things had progressed.

Around 545pm on Tuesday, my OB came to check on me and saw the amount of blood and immediately decided that it was likely that I had become almost fully dilated and given how low Dax was, it was likely that he was actually starting to descend through the birth canal.

My OB checked me and confirmed that his suspicions were correct. : (

Time for a c-section. We had made it just under 24 hours from my initial admittance into the hospital and it was time for my boys very early arrival.

Things moved very quickly after this. They immediately changed my epidural settings to prepare me for surgery (maybe even changed the medication, not just dose. not sure) We were told that Matt would not be able to be present in the delivery room with 5 Dr's performing the surgery on me (including the anesthesiologist) and 6 NICU nurses per baby totalling 17 Dr's and nurses. There simply was not enough room. However, once the surgery room was set up and the anastesia all ready, they asked me if I would like him in there and I, of course, said yes. Luckily he got to be by my side while our little angels were born.

Getting a c-section is a very interesting experience. While you can feel absolutely no pain, you can feel pressure from touch. So I was able to feel the pressure of the scalpel and everything. Dax was so low in my uterus that there was not much work needed to get him out. Trev on the other hand was still up towards the top of my rib cage. So, from the pressure I could feel, they pretty much had to reach in and pull him out. We expected silence when they were born since they were so premature and their lungs were not fully developed. However, for both boys we are graced with a very light but audible gurgling sound. It was not that of a full term baby but it was something. Truly one of the most wonderful noises I have ever heard.

Dax was born first at 6:26pm and Trev followed at 6:28pm. The nurses immediately went to work hooking them up to ventilators and all of the wonderful medical equipment that is keeping them alive and healthy now.

My OB Dr. spoke to me afterwards and informed me that I in fact had an infection in my amniotic fluid which is what led to the preterm labor. Apparently this is something that just happens sometimes and they don't usually know why. It seems that I somehow got a tiny pinhole prick on the amniotic sack which introduced some sort of bacteria. Crappy luck, but it is what it is and now I had no desire to dwell on what had happened and it was time to look forward to the journey that lies ahead and to be strong for my boys!

Monday, July 4, 2011

The Birth Story - part 1


Here is my attempt to recount the 48 hours that led up to Dax and Trev's birth. I was in the hospital on at least 10 different drugs, extremely sleep deprived and not to mention, a little stressed. Therefore, the details are a bit fuzzy... we'll see what I can do!

I suppose it all starts with a little information on the birth of Big Brother Athan. With Athan, I never felt Braxton-Hicks contractions or early labor. At 5 days past due I woke up at 1230am with severe intense pains that quickly become more frequent, more severe and more intense. I was at the hospital within 2 hours of waking up and had dilated to 6cm, then quickly to 8 after that. Then, the dilation stopped and Athan never dropp
ed resulting in a c-section.

Because my only experience with labor was intense, quick and sever pain, I had no idea what early labor felt like. I just expected if I were going into labor, I would know it! It would hurt! A lot!

Fast forward 2 years... Athan's 2nd birthday. I spent a few hours the night before making snacks and getting things ready. We woke up and thing
s were going as planned. Though I did question Matt as to why the most uncomfortable day of my pregnancy to date had to be Athan's Birthday?? I kept feeling a really uncomfortable pressure on my bladder that felt like one of the twins was situated in a way that kept pressing on it. I chalked it up to that as I felt no pain and just discomfort, commonplace during pregnancy.


We went to Whiskeytown Lake and had a great day with family enjoying Athan's big #2!! Good food and good fun! Every once in a while one of those twins would give me that pressure on my bladder again, uncomfortable but not painful. "This is going to be a long pregnancy.." was what I thought to myself of the discomfort... ha... Then, it hit me... oh, these must be Braxton Hicks contractions! No regularity that I could find, no pain, didn't seem to be getting more intense... that's what they were! I was so relieved to discover why I kept feeling uncomfortable.

Athan's party drew to a close and we came home. Suddenly the discomfort began to turn into a slight pain... hmmm... I decided I better start timing these BH contractions to make sure there is not regularity. They varied anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. not really regular, but they were definitely concerning me by this point. Time to call the Dr.

At about 6pm I got the Dr. on call and explained what was happening and she said I better come in just to make sure it wasn't preterm labor. "Of course it's not" was what I thought as I drove myself to the hospital so Matt could stay home with Athan. We both figured I'd be home before midnight...

I got checked in to labor and delivery and just sat around for a bit. Until the Dr. and nurses got to me. They hooked up my belly to the monitors and the babies sounded great! Strong heartbeats and they were wiggling all over the place! good news! However, the node that monitored contractions was definitely coming up with pulses. These pulses gave no indication of whether or not they were BH or real contractions. Shortly after the Dr. came in to check what was happening. As she checked me and gave the report to the nurse she said "3cm dilated, soft cervix and bulging bag of water... I do not like this." That's when things got scary...

They immediately started fussing over me... I was put into Tren-delenburg, meaning my bed was angled downward so I was on my head, I was put on more IV drips than I can remember and they started poking me with needles, a lot!

The Dr. told me I would be admitted and I would stay there until my babies were born. "Yikes, I guess I'm going to be working from bed and on head for a few months..." was what I thought...

In all the commotion I finally found a chance to call Matt to tell him he needed to come to the hospital. It was the hardest thing to have to say that out loud to him and brought the whole situation to realization. I was terrified... but this was a good hospital with good medicine, good Dr's and good nurses. They had to be able to stop labor, right?

More to come later, time for breakfast...





Sunday, July 3, 2011

And the names are...

Daxton Edward Marshall was born 6/28/2011 at 6:26pm weighing in at 1lb. 15.5oz.
and
Trevyn James Marshall was born 6/28/2011 at 6:28pm weighing in at 2 lbs.

The birth certificates have been signed, names are official! Our beautiful baby boys decided to grace us with their presence a little early. The next few months are going to be so full of joys, trials, tribulations, tears, smiles and love and this blog is intended to share all of this we our family and friends so they may keep up with the progress of our sweet little angels as they grow and become stronger day by day.

Our little angels have been with us for 5 days now and we have a lot to catch up on, in good time. For now, Mom and Dad need some food and a hospital visit.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped us get through the past 5 days. I truly don't think I could handle any of this without all your support and we are so lucky to be so surrounded by love!

Some info on the first 5 days coming soon...