Welcome Home Crew!

Sunday, January 12, 2020

We are so excited to have Crew home with us. We have felt like he has been doing so well and yet they weren't releasing him so when Alex called this morning and they said we could pick him up whenever we wanted, we were quick to rush his way.  We went by his hospital and picked him up and then brought him over to meet Cooper.  They both slept through their reunion, but it was so nice to have our whole family in one spot.

Crew's going home stats <3

Cooper - Early this morning I got a call from his pediatrician letting us know that they needed to switch his formula because he wasn't tolerating the one they had him on.  He was throwing up a lot and it was causing him to lose weight.  We're crossing our fingers that this new formula will be better for him.  During one of his feedings today he got 45ml (out of 48), so now we just need him to do that 8 times a day for 48 hours straight.  Because he needs to eat enough for 48 hours, we're at least 2 days out before he comes home (but probably longer than that).

Cooper (left) and Crew (right)

We're loving snuggling with Crew at home and can't wait until we can have us all together in the comfort of our own home. Until then, we're grateful that Cooper is getting such fantastic care and that the only thing holding him there will for sure be resolved with time.

Crew praying that his brother gets to come home soon!

5th Day of Life

Thursday, Jan 9th, 2020

We’ve now had our boys for 5 whole days! Not a lot has changed but I figured a quick update wouldn’t hurt. Right now I have three boys in my life in 3 different hospitals (Alex is having surgery on his broken finger today, nothing serious! Just don’t let your spouse play basketball when your pregnant 🤦🏼‍♀️) and my mom is the worlds best chauffeur to drive between them all to help me check on everyone.

Cooper: Cooper is still really struggling to get his feedings in. They both have a minimum amount of food they need to eat every 3 hours and if Cooper doesn’t meet his goal amounts, he is fed through his nose tube. Just to put it in perspective, Cooper is required to eat 45ml of formula and he’s been averaging anywhere from 15 to 25ml. His body had no problems processing that amount (they use the tube to check how much is in his stomach before they feed him, and it’s always empty), he just needs to get his mouth coordinated enough to eat on his own.

Crew: We we’re hoping and praying that Crew would get to come home with us today and he reached all of the goals they set for him, but when we got here this morning we were informed that while he met his goals, they wanted to up the amount he was eating and give him a higher calorie formula before he got to go home. I’m not going to lie, having my hopes up that he could come home only to find out I’d be leaving the hospital once again with no baby made me cry.

Both of our boys are healthy and growing and improving and we aren’t worried about them long term. We know they’ll make it home and they don’t have any complications for which we are incredibly grateful. Right now is just a waiting game for them to get to the point to where they get to come home to us.

We have had a lot of people ask how they can help and right now the only thing I can ask for is prayers that these boys to get healthy enough to come home. We love and appreciate each person who is thinking of us at this time.♥️

3rd Day of Life

Tuesday, January 7th, 2020

Update on the boys:

Crew - Crew is living 20 minutes away from us. Last night my doctor pulled some strings and allowed me to leave the hospital for a few hours to go visit him. After arriving at the other hospital, he started rapidly improving. He has been breathing on his own since Sunday afternoon and has been eating like a champion. His weight has been slowly increasing and while they were worried about his blood sugar, yesterday all of his tests came out at good levels. He isn't hooked up to anything except monitors and is expected to be released in the next day or two as long as nothing changes. We joke that he pretended to be not doing well because he wanted to try out flying in a helicopter.

Crew and I on my field trip to see him

Alex and Crew when he visited him on Sunday (The bandaid on the head is an IV tube)

Cooper - Cooper is sleepy all the time.  He has the most adorable yawns and loves to keep his eyes closed. Because of this, he has decided that sleeping is more fun than eating and is struggling to meet his weight and food goals. He has a cute new accessory tube that goes from his nose to his stomach so that any time he refuses to eat they can just put it in his stomach for him. Until he decides he wants to eat enough on his own, he gets to live in the hospital so we are praying he starts liking meal time a little more.

Alex and sleeping Cooper.

Me and Cooper in one of his rare awake moments

Welcome To The World

Saturday January 4th, 2020

6:30 am - I was admitted to the hospital to be induced. The next 11 hours were followed by lots of contractions and painful labor as we waited for me to be dilated to a 10. 

6:30am, ready to have these boys

5:30 pm - I had made it to a 9, and the Dr was thinking in the next hour or so it would be time to push.

8:30 pm - I had been dilated to a 9 for 3 hours straight and spiked a fever. Because I had been dilated for so long they were worried that Baby B was holding Baby A back somehow and not allowing him to fully enter the birth canal. My doctor gave me one hour and said that if I didn't make it to a 10 and/or reduce my fever I would need to have a c-section.  We knew that having a c-section would be a possibility the whole time so while it was a huge bummer to do that after 15 hours of labor, we felt like the doctor knew what was best and we were ok with the plan.

9:30 pm - Headed in to have a c-section. Alex and his mom were both there to hold my hands and watch. They got me drugged up and it went super smoothly. Apparently I had a TON of water still in the amniotic sac because everyone gasped and a nurse later mentioned that it took custodial until early morning to get it all cleaned up, so thats embarrassing. 

Alex and Lori, my surgery support squad

10:11, and 10:14 pm - Cooper and Crew were born. Cooper came first, weighing 5lb, 5oz. Crew came second and weighed 6lb 12oz. They showed them to me quickly while I was getting stitched up but then took them away to be cared for. The immediate concern was that Cooper had caught my fever or developed his own while stuck in the birth canal, but mostly I was trusting everything was fine while they took care of me. I had some adverse effects from the procedure and was shaking uncontrollably and throwing up. 

Only picture of them together, taken right after delivery.
(Thank you Lori!) 

12:30am - Alex had gone to check on the boys and reported back that they were on oxygen but looked healthy. There were lots of people working on them but we didn't know any better. I had finally stopped shaking and had my nausea under control and the pediatrician came to see us. She walked in smiling and I was ready for a great report on how awesome my new children were and maybe to have them brought in to my room. Instead she informed us that both boys were on oxygen and while Cooper was doing pretty well, they were worried about Crew. A flight team had been assembled to transfer him to a different hospital.  I made it through the entire process of labor without shedding any tears but this broke me.  I signed the papers to let it happen and my only request was that they bring him in to meet me before they left with him.  She left us for a while and the team was assembled. Alex and I said a prayer which helped me feel a little better and we decided that I would stay with Cooper while he flew with Crew.

Crew getting ready for flight

1:45am - The team had him all packed up and I got to meet Crew for the first time. They brought him in a giant crate like box which they opened up so I could touch his hand. I had them take a picture of Alex and I with him because at the moment, my biggest worry was that I would never see my son alive again. I had no idea how serious his condition was because I didn't understand what it was. All I knew was that life flight sounded serious and that if it would help, it was what he needed. 

The flight crew loading up my boy

4:00am - Alex made it back from the other hospital and told me that Crew was doing better than before and was stable. They set up a little camera so that I could watch him whenever I wanted and even though it had been an incredibly long day, I stayed up for a while, just looking at him in his little box. 

My new favorite website where I watch my son

7:00am - My nurse came in and saw that I was awake (because while sleep sounded fantastic, what new mom can sleep when your child is sick?) and offered to get me in a wheelchair so that I could go meet Cooper. He was hooked up to all sorts of monitors but was off the oxygen they put him on the night before and I was able to hold him.  He needed a lot of TLC still, but I was holding my baby so all was well. 

Me and Cooper (Note the puffy eyes and dreads that have built up in the back of my hair), but holding my boy for the first time was a miracle <3