Surgery and some on Lincoln

Mr. P had surgery this morning. There was 8cm of dead intestine. So all together he has lost 13cm of his small intestine. It was more than we expected but we are so lucky that we have the drs we have for him. They have been proactive with his treatment and have caught every infection rather quickly. This morning his belly was really swollen so I knew he really had more dead intestine. He is doing ok now and he is getting so close to getting rid of the stupid oscillator. It is a pain and I hate it. Now we just have to hope he heals nicely and can start on feeds soon. He wont be getting breastmilk, and i have been really upset over that but I have come to realize dh and I are doing the best for him. Hopefully down the road sometime he will get my milk.

Mr. L has been doing good. Sometimes I feel like he is left out because he doesnt have half the problems Pierce has had. He is still on the vent, his lungs are very wet and scared, so it might be awhile until he comes off of the vent. He is getting quite the personality and I get to Kangaroo him twice a week for up to 2 hours. He doesnt tolerate much holding and the longest we have made it was 45 minutes. But he is getting there. His feeds are up to 11cc and he tolerates them well. He is up to 2lbs14oz already! What a big boy he is.

Belly troubles

The belly saga continues with mr. P. He was doing so much better, his belly looked good and he was healing nicely. They decided it was time to start his feeds back again. They were stopped on Aug. 4 because of suspected NEC. Well it was NEC, he had the operation on the 14th and feeds were restarted this morning. That didnt go over so well, by late afternoon his belly was all swollen and green looking again. So his feeds were stopped and tests were done. They put a drain in to get the nasties out of his belly. His milk just stayed there, he cant digest breastmilk and the drs say he has more dead intestine. Belly surgery #2 is tomorrow. Feeds will be stopped for atleast 10 days and then he will be put on neocate

4 weeks!

Can you believe it the boys are now 4 weeks old and both still here. Both are still on ventilators, however both are off the oscillator so that is a little improvement. As of this morning Lincoln is 2lbs9oz, he was born 1lb 14oz so he has put on 11oz in 4 weeks! He is growing so well now if he could grow healthy lung tissue we would be on a roll with him. He is now 13" long so not much growth that way. His lungs are wet and weak and he has chronic lung disease from the ventilator. He had his first eye exam today and has stage 1 ROP. Pierce is now 1lb7oz, he keeps losing weight for some reason. That puts him at 3oz of weight gain in 4 weeks. He has been through 2 surgeries and is really fighting for life right now. He is focusing on healing his tiny body so he can grow. He is too unstable for them to do his eye exam and his lungs are far worse than Lincolns. I have always worried about both little boys, but Pierce is in more critical condition than Lincoln. They have made some progress although it doesnt seem like alot.

We are making Progress

We got good news last night and I wanted to share with ya'll. Pierce's belly is looking better. Its still swollen but doesnt look as bad. It looked like he had a huge bowling ball inside him and now the swelling is so much better. They are keeping him sedated for awhile longer so he is more comfortable. Its slow but he is improving. Lincoln is getting so much better. As of this morning he is back on the conventional vent! And I get to hold him in a little bit for the first time! He is up to 2lbs 3oz of real weight. He was heavier but has lost the water weight so he is growing so well. Pierce is still real tiny at 1lb 6oz but he is making progress. He has gained 2oz in 3 weeks but it took him a long time to reach his birthweight.

Pierce had His NEC surgery

Pierce has been having problems with his belly being swollen and discolored, blood in his stool, and all that fun stuff. We knew he would be needing surgery this week but it was more of an emergency surgery because it was scheduled for today but in order to save his life it needed to be done then. It took alot longer than they had thought but the drs informed us it could take longer than anticipated. Once they started surgery they found that more of his intestine was dead than they had thought, and he had 2 perforations in his bowel. They repaired it, did an ostomy, with his large intestine/colon, which basically makes an artificial anal opening in his belly to remove waste. Once he was out of surgery he went to recovery where I was still not allowed to see him. I was scared because he wasnt waking up, so they let me go in and see him. I tried so hard not to cry by him, then I went back out and to the NICU to visit with Lincoln. Lincoln isnt doing well either. He has an infection that set him back some.

Thats all I have time to update for today, maybe some more tonight!
~Aimee

Another week

Wow it really has been quite awhile since I last updated on my prince charmings! Where to begin? It has been a stressful week and lots of changes with Lincoln and Pierce.

Pierce had his PDA ligation this week, was diagnosed with NEC, and is now recovering. After the ligation he improved imensely. He graduated from the oscillator onto a conventional ventilator. His NEC surgery is scheduled for Wednesday.

Lincoln has had a horrible end of the week. He went downhill rapidly and is battling another infection.

Madison meets the twins

Yesterday my mother brought Madison and Kennedy back. They had been with her 2 hours away ever since I went on hospital bed rest at 22 weeks. Madison came home wanting to go see her brothers and Kennedy did not. So Mom, me and dh went to the hospital to visit with the boys, while Kennedy stayed with the neighbor and played with her friends.

It started out as a good visit however changed when Lincoln started to act sick. He started having a bunch of desats low. He usually will desat some but not like he was. I started to wonder if we were at Pierce's bedside instead of Lincolns. Not really but he was acting alot like Pierce. His O2 requirements went up, and he had some thick secretions. They took some cultures and put him on antibiotics. Pierce is still having many issues. Most of it I dont fully comprehend. His little belly was still swollen but looked a little better. He is saturating (satting) low for him and his O2 requirements are back up to 100%.

Madison liked her visit with her brothers but she was scared when all the alarms started going off. She did exceptionally well.

A short Update on the boys

Lincoln continues to do well. His feeds have been increased, his vent settings are slowly decreasing and his PDA closed with the meds. He doesnt really like to be touched all that much. Pierce is having a very difficult time right now. His PDA is still open, he played lets desat all day and scare mommy today. He would desat, need to be bagged, they would get him back up and he would desat low again. That went on for 3 hours. They he started having lots of bradys and coded once today. I was so scared, i had to leave the room and one of the nurses helped me make it through those minutes which seemed like an eternity. He doesnt tolerate his feeds anymore and his belly was a tad bit swollen today.

Welcome!

On July 25th 2007 we introduced our twin miracle boys.

Pierce Kent was born first weighing 1lb4oz and 11" long. Lincoln Cole was born several hours later weighing 1lb14oz and 12.5" long.

Here is there birth story I had typed out

he twins were born July 25th 2007. I was 26w5d pregnant.I had been contracting off and on since 20 weeks so holding onto the boys for 6 weeks and 5 days was a good accomplishment. We are incredibly sad that the boys just couldnt wait and we have a relatively long NICU stay ahead of us. Starting Sunday night contractions got really bad, coming really close together and lasting longer than they had been. Some were more intense than others and I was very uncomfortable. I wanted the meds to work so bad even though they made me feel like crap. Tuesday night I knew it wouldnt be much longer until the first was born. The contractions were unbearable and there was alot of pressure on my cervix. I called the nurse in because I was so uncomfortable and I was dialated completely and was told not to push. That was hard because I felt the urge to push. At that point I just wanted to make it one more day. I was doing ok, the contractions seemed to ease up a bit and I thought the little guy was playing tricks on me. I fell asleep kinda since I was so exhausted and woke up around 4:30 with more intense contractions. I woke my husband up and my mom who were in the room. The girls were also there and they woke up. I felt down and I told hubby to look down there and the baby was crowning. They got the nurses, drs, and the NICU staff down. Pierce Kent was born at 4:59 AM weighing 1lb 4oz and 11" long. And then everything seemed to stop. No more contractions. I went back to sleep for hours until the contractions started again. Around 6pm the contractions got regular again and I knew the other little guy was coming. I was hoping that he would hold off maybe just one more day but he wouldnt. He was too anxious to make his appearance. I tried to hold him in but that didnt happen and at 8:15pm Lincoln Cole was born weighing 1lb 14oz and 12.5" long.

So far it has been a rocky start. They are a week old now. Both boys had a PDA, Lincoln's has closed but Pierce's still has not and it has caused some problems with desats and bradys.

Lincoln:

So far he has done as well as can be expected. He has had 2 blood transfusions and has remained on the ventilator. At first his blood gases were horrible but they have been much better today. He has lost some weight but is getting my milk now. All the pumping is paying off. He is on 1cc every 3 hours. Not much but its something.

Pierce

So far Pierce has had the toughest time. He has lost alot of weight, but is also getting my milk 0.1mL per hour. He is on this special ventilator called an oscillator, and sedated. The settings have gone up today which is hard to handle. His PDA is still open but we are going to do another round of the meds to see if it will close. He has had 3 blood transfusions so far.

The big sisters Madison and Kennedy havent been up to see the boys yet, however we are planning a trip for them to meet their brothers. They were both thrilled to be big sisters but sad they came so early.