Welcome to LankeyLand!: December 2008

So cute I can't stand it...

I don't know how we got blessed with such cute kids....yes I'm biased but it's a fact!

Playing dress up!

(No, she will not be wearing this in public :-)

Napping with a buddy...won't be able to do that for much longer!

MERRY CHRISTMAS INDEED!!!

Together again!! First time since the womb!

Mommy holds her babies together for the first time since pre-delivery...napping :-)

Big sis holds little sis for the first time

So cute

Christmas morning!

A new sleeping bag (which she is in CONSTANTLY...and yes, pink camo :-)

The biggest hit - a playdoh ice cream shop! (Mommy likes it too!)

And a new sled

First family photo - Merry Christmas to all!!

WebNursery photos!

Their first big photo shoot at the hospital! Go to www.our365.com and search by Customer number (51861253661643). Click on my name & you can see!!

Bryanna is HOME!!!!!!!!!!

When asked what I wanted for Christmas my answer was without hesitation: I want my babies to be home and all of us in one location.

I GOT MY WISH.

I can't believe I am finally typing this but Bryanna was discharged tonight. She made it 48 hours without a drop in heartrate. She is on caffeine (no, not espresso or diet coke) and a monitor to alert us if it drops again. So they got the paperwork in order & we brought our new baby girl home. We are all under one roof! Hard to believe it is finally real. We were almost home and Jason said "we're finally a family again"...and yes, I cried. Please keep both babies in your prayers but especially Bryanna and that her little body starts communicating with itself (that she stops being a preemie!) and we can get rid of the monitor...will be several weeks but that's ok - she is HOME. (Also pray for Elyse as she adjusts to not only having mom & dad home more - no more trips to the hospital - but as the focus shifts a little bit. She is being a big helper but independent as she is, sometimes her idea of "helping" doesn't jive with ours :-)

Our family is whole again. I can't thank God enough for the wayS He has blessed us. Although it hasn't been as long as it was for others, it was 9 weeks of pure chaos and uncertainty...patience & perserverance...disappointment yet total exhileration. Jason has been making nearly daily trips to the hospital (sometimes twice a day) for 2 months. We could not have made it through without His guidance and strength. It's also bittersweet as I think of all the babies that are still in NICU and will not be home for Christmas...the families who will be spending their holiday in a hospital room. Please say a special prayer for those families as you celebrate Christmas with yours.

I will continue to keep you updated & post pictures of our family. I haven't even held them both together yet!! I look forward to doing that tomorow. I am the most tired today that I have been in a long time but I think most of it is relief and my body is finally relaxing. We know we will be getting no sleep at all but you know what? I could care less :-)

Mommy's bells palsy is almost gone!

Tiny pigs :-)

Proud big sis

"I'm wearing big boy clothes!"

Little girl goes home :-)

She'll be home for Christmas?

Update on Bryanna...what a stinker. They ran a sleep study on her last night and she is having sleep apnea episodes which is causing the drop in heartrate. SO...all we know right now is that they are going to put her on caffeine & send her home on a monitor. Most preemies grow out of this (since it's a system maturity thing) by 3 months. Now, her release has not been confirmed yet and I believe the "48hr rule" with no alarms still applies, but they said the caffeine will help. I don't care what she comes home with as long as she is home! We will keep you posted, they are really trying to get her out before Christmas. Jason & I have to take our infant monitor class tomorrow and hopefully she will be home in the next day or so. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING! (Sidenote: 2 of the triplets I took care of were on monitors - one on caffeine - so this is nothing new and not scary at all! God is so good and has prepared me for this crazy journey....little did I know exactly how crazy it would be).

Sigh....Bryanna!

Well, Bryanna was trouble in the womb and it looks like she's still demanding to be the center of attention. We brought Josh home yesterday but she is still there. I think she wants the nurses all to herself :-) She keeps having these low heartrate episodes. Nothing physically wrong, no birth defects or anything with her heart, just prematurity and her systems are trying to communicate! I am having a really hard time - we are all home but she is not. We haven't been together as a whole family since October. Please pray that Bryanna is home soon - it just doesn't seem right around here without her. Enjoy the pics...

Daddy holds both babies for the first time...Josh is cordless now :-)

Josh gets ready for a field trip to go home!

Big sister holds baby brother for the first time

Already helping :-)

Update 12/18 - IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!!

FINALLY the end is near! What a crazy day! Got here around 1pm and as soon as I walked in the door the nurse practioner (who we LOVE) was in the room and said "So, do you have their carseats? They are going home today!!!!"

WHAT??!?

Whoops...not so fast! Actually Josh is being discharged, Bryanna had an alarm yesterday where her heartrate went down (then came right back up on her own) but they have to document that and she has to go 48hrs without an episode before she can go. SOO - Josh was discharged tonight at 8pm-ish and J & I are spending the night here so we can keep the twins together in hopes she will get released Sat am. They are so wonderful here. They moved us to the "24hr room" which is huge, has a tv, bathroom/shower, full bed, etc. This way we can keep the twins together, and Joshua is technically staying as our "guest."

Josh has passed up his sister and is weighing in at 5lbs 2 oz, Bryanna is 5lbs even. He has really taken off. She is nippling great (after complaining that some of the staff was using the feeding tube when they really didn't need to) just have to PRAY FOR NO BRADYCARDIA EPISODES!!! PLEASE PRAY PRAY PRAY! We want these babies home! Regardless, Josh has been released and our prayers for having them home for Christmas are coming true. Praise the Lord!!!

We know that there are setbacks and we are prepared for that. It's weird that Josh is not hooked up to anything at the moment! That security and that of the staff is slowly going away which is a very odd feeling. Kind of like when I left after 6 weeks here...we are on our own! My mind is reeling a little......like, breastfeeding for one and pumping for the other - how the heck am I going to do that? I know it can be done and there is going to be an adjustment period I just pray we can get them both breastfeeding quickly so we can find some sort of routine. But as we are finding - routine may just not be an option for a while! (That and the fact that we came to the conclusion that there's no way of getting around NOT having a mini-van or bigger vehicle.....we tried really hard IN THE NEW VEHICLE WE DO HAVE and it's just not going to work...sigh).

Anyway thank you for your prayers and we will continue to welcome all of them! ALSO - regarding visitors: please don't be offended if we don't welcome visitors at home quite yet. It's going to take a while to get adjusted and really (and we will be twice as sleep-deprived), we haven't been a whole family since October...we are looking forward to spending time just the 5 of us (ok, 6 with Chief who is probably going to kill himself) while Jason is off. They are very little, and very cute - and will be very little & very cute for quite a while! So please let us adjust and I will let you know when we're ready! (For germ-free guests of course :-)

ALL FOR NOW! LOVE TO YOU - Kate & co.

Update 12/17

Quick update! Josh's feeding tube is out! As of 3am-ish tonight he will have fed consistently from a bottle for 48 hours! So...it's looking really good for him. Bryanna still needs a little help but she's doing great also. I look for her tube to be out in the next 2 days. Of course there are things we need to do (like carseat checks, cpr class (I think)) before they come home but we are getting closer. PLEASE PRAY that we get them home before Christmas!! And if Bryanna has to stay, that she won't have to stay long by herself :-( Josh is weighing in at 4lbs 15 1/4 oz and Bryanna at 4lbs 15 1/2 oz. Growing & doing GREAT!!! more later...Josh is getting circumsized at the moment so NO I am not in the room..........

Update 12/16

Oy what an eventful week already. Elyse has been sick since Friday, and Sunday night we ended up in the ER for her temp of 104+. She is absolutely miserable. Cough, fever, sore throat, etc - they did a rapid strep test at the hospital which came back negative but then of course they send a backup to the lab which we don't have the results for yet. SO - our fear is for us to carry her germs up to NICU of course. They said as long as WE are not sympomatic, we are fine. Which is great because we can't NOT see our babies! (Actually I stayed home with E on Sunday and it nearly killed me to be away!!) So please pray that the strep test comes back negative...we want these babies home but we want them to come home to a rather clean environment!

The twins on the other hand - are doing GREAT as usual! Predicting Josh may be home by the end of the week! The only thing they both have to master yet is nippling (feeding consistently from a bottle, taking whole thing at each feed for 48 hours). Both have breastfed like champs a few times so we are on our way. Trust me, I would much rather spend time with them at "the girls" than an inanimate plastic pump!! So we are on our way. But again, we don't really want them home til Elyse is better and we can de-germ some more. (Oh and both are back up to their birthweights and it wouldn't surprise me if today or tomorrow they hit 5 lbs!!)

All for now - no rest for the weary! And I am WEEEEAAARRRYYYY......

Twin update

It's Saturday Dec. 13th, 9pm and I am bushed. Going to bed very shortly but thought I would update...both Bryanna & Josh are doing GREAT. They are still in open cribs/bassinets, and both are feeding from a bottle very well. That's really the only "hurdle" they have to master before they go home. Josh is more consistent than his sister, who gets tired more quickly (but boy does she throw a fit come food time!) They both gained a teeny bit of weight since yesterday so we pray that keeps up. Don't get your hopes up (as we haven't) but our nurse tonight said she thinks they'll be home by next weekend!!!!! Of course we all know that setbacks are a possibility, especially on a road as long as this. Please keep them in your prayers! (In other news, my bell's palsey is still the same and still very VERY annoying & bothersome).

Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas season and hug all of your friends & family each time you see them - we are so blessed & pray that all of you feel the everyday blessings in your lives!!!!