Saturday, October 31, 2009

First week!!

Wow! The boys are a week old. Both Dug and I are amazed how fast they are progressing. I thought they would be on the ventilator for weeks but they have both moved on to cpap and are at room level oxygen which is amazing. The steriod shots I received at 26 weeks have made a world of difference. Like all babies, they lost wieght in their first week of life but are both almost back to their birth weight. And like almost all premature babies, and alot of full term babies, they have both had spouts of juandice which have been treated with photo therapy. They are both already feeding on breast milk every 2 hours and tolerating it well. They are still so small but I'm getting used to changing them and the routines at the NICU. At first you are so hesitatnt to touch them or do anything because you don't want to do anything wrong and they don't really feel like yours but now I'm much more comfortable being around MY babies and I take every opportunity to do more and more with them. I am really looking forward to kangaroo care (skin to skin contact on your chest) which we may be able to start next week of the week after that.

Even though the boys are not at home with us, Dug and I are thoroughly exhausted. From late nights at the nicu, travelling back and forth between downtown and Georgetown, fast food meals at the most bizzare times, making calls to update everyone on the latest developments and nondevelopments, Dug going to work and me pumping every 2-3 hours, as well as pure excitement and apprehesions, we are both totally sleep deprived. My dad has been my saving grace; driving me to and from the nicu when I'm too tired, bringing me good nutricious meals to the nicu and my house. I would be even more sleep deprived and laking any energy if it wasn't for him. Thanks dad!!

We are hoping that next week will be better as fall into a schedule and put some limits on what we can and just cannot feasibly do. The boys are doing so well so we want to start planning how we can manage long term. Needless to say it has been quite the adventure so far and I look forward to many more firsts as Reece and Matthew continue to grow.

Day 7

Matthew is stable but has gained more weight than expected so they have decreased his suger water intake. He hasn't pooped so they will be giving him another suppository. Mommy got to change Matthew today and he peed on me... thanks!


Reece had a few spells without the cpap last night so they had to put him back on it. He was also given another round of phototherapy for jaundice. They increased his food to 3ccs of breast milk. Dug changed Reece for the first time and he kept on pooping while he was being changed. This is becoming a wierd little habit for Reece or some kind of joke he is playing on us.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Day 6

Matthew is down to room level oxygen on the cpap. He had a poop after last night's sopository but just the one. Mommy got to change him for the first time and he was such a good boy. This boy can sleep through anything!




Reece is being cycled off cpap for 4 hours and you can tell he is so much happier without it. They increased his feeding to 2ccs of breast milk. Mommy got to change another pooppy diaper and Reece just kept pooing... even more than last time... and then at the end he peed on me! Welcome to mommyhood!! He stayed up after with his eyes open for a little while and we just stared at each other.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Day 5











Reece remains stable. Mommy got to change Reece again and he was such a good boy. He had a big poopy that was all sticky and while I tried to clean it up he started pooping some more. lol




Matthew started getting breast milk today, only 1cc every 2 hours. After some convincing Dug changed Matthew for the first time and did a great job. Thankfully there was no poop for daddy to clean... but maybe next time :)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Day 4



It was Matthew's turn to get a tan today...lol. He was put under the uv lights for juandice. The nurse said she could still hear the heart murmur so he may be given a dose of surfactant to help the lungs from sticking. He was given his first feeding of my breast milk today.




All is fine with Reece. I was able to change his diaper for the first time which was really scary... just nervous because they look so fragile and you are afraid to break them. He cried and fussed the entire time but he opened his eyes when he heard my voice and I was able to just stare at him for a while. He was also given another round of phototherapy.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Day 3


Reece spent the day under UV lights... suntanning!!! Our little piglet also ate all the milk that I have made so far ...leaving nothing for his brother. The NICU staff moved the ventilator machine away from his bed because he had proven yesterday that he would not be needing it anymore. Way to go Reece!



Matthew was given meds to close the valve and the heart murmur seem to be gone.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Day 2


Reece was taken off the ventilator today and put on CPAP, which is much less evasive, even though it looks more combersum. Reece kept grabbing and pulling at the machine.... he is just like his daddy that can't make it through the night with his sleep apnea machine.




Matthew is still on his ventilator and has a slight heart murmer, the valve that is suppossed to close after delivery has not closed yet. He also has a small bleed in his brain but the doctors don't seem to be worried about it and said that is normal for babies born early.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Introducing Reece and Matthew - Day 1

Reece

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 @ 8:28am

1090grams ~ 2lbs 6oz

39cm ~ 15.4"




Reece was put on a ventilator soon after delivery for the transfer to the NICU hospital.





Matthew

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 @ 9:08am

1209grams ~ 2lbs 10oz

39cm ~ 15.4"

Matthew was put on a ventilator immediately after birth and then stabalized before transfer to the NICU.

The Hogarth Boys have arrived

Well it was alot sooner than I had hoped, only 28 weeks and two days, but the boys were born in a frenzy on October 25th, 2009. Thankfully they are doing well in the NICU at Women's College Hospital/Sunnybrook were they will likely stay for the next 2 or so months.

The Labour: On Saturday night/Sunday morning I could not get to sleep. My back was hurting and I felt so constipated. At mount sinai, where I was being cared for over the previous two weeks, I was being given stool softeners because bed rest tends to cause some constipation. But now that I was at home, it was not part of my routine so that night I took one just to make sure things were still flowing. So all night I thought well it must be the stool softener doing its work and now I had to go to the washroom. At probably my 10th attempt to go to the washroom that night I felt a bulge coming out of the wrong hole (yes, same as last time!!!) I put my hand to stop anything from coming out, woke Dug up and asked him to hold me up, upside down, by my feet so that everything would go back inside. That worked for a bit but I was also having the urge to push still so we called the ambulance. We wanted them to take us to mount sinai or at least credit valley but they thought it would be best, because I already had the urge to push, that we go to the NEAREST hospital, that being Georgetown. Okay, so Georgetown is a small town, with a small hospital. In fact so small that they do not deliver twins there, and needless to say they have no staff or equipment for premies. Obviously, this was NOT were wanted to go and we almost had them convinced to drive us to Credit Valley but then as they had me on stretcher and tried to take me down the stairs (feet first even though I said NO TAKE ME HEAD FIRST) well one step and KABOOM! My water broke. I was soooooooo scared. I seriously thought a baby came flying out! I asked repeatedly "was that a baby?" but they kept saying "no just your mucus plug and water" but if you had seen the look on Dug's face you would have thought for sure a baby came flying out. Anyways, they turned me around, took me head down down the stairs and said that now that my water was broken they couldn't take the risk of driving to credit valley and would have to take me to Georgetown hospital. OH CRAP!!!!

The Delivery: As we arrived at Georgetown hospital we discovered that they were under staffed, under equiped and basically as scared to have there as I was to be there BUT thankfully they had called for a mobile team to come from sick kids hospital downtown. ETA... 2 HOURS!!! Are you friggen kidding me???? This baby's head was crowning, the urge to push was unbearable and they wanted me to wait 2 hours. With every contraction it became more and more difficult to not push and keep the baby inside. I had my legs up in the air with the help of Dug and a super amazing nurse that was making sure the baby wasn't coming out. They had both babies heart rates being monitored and they were fine. I knew if I could just hold out until the sick kids team arrived then at least the babies would have a fighting chance but without the team.... well lets not go there. It had been over 2 hours, I could tell Dug was getting frustrated as we kept asking 'how far is the team?' and nobody knew anything and I was in so much pain and couldn't fight my body any longer so I put my feet down on the table and baby A came out without a sound. They whisked him over to the warming table and I thought 'even Cole and Breanna made a sound when they first came out, a faint little cry' so I figured it was all over but a minute later the sick kids team came to the door and we were like GET THE HELL IN HERE!!! Within moments I could see his hands and arms moving as the team worked on him to get him stablized.

As a side note I call them baby A and B because until they left Georgetown we had not picked out names for them yet, despite Dug's constant nagging that I pick out or at least narrow down some names. Eventually we decided to name baby A, who was born first, Reece, and baby B, Matthew.

Anyhow, now that baby A was out the next task was to get baby B out. At our last ultrasound he was in the breech position and I had hoped that he might turn once he had more space. I wasn't having any contractions and talk of having a c-section was being discussed. Through a portable ultrasound they could see that Baby B started turning and got to tranverse (across) but then decided he liked the breech position better. But I could see that the delivery doctor was thinking that we could get him vaginally so with her pulling and me pushing we got baby B to a position that I started having contractions and the urge to push. With several more contractions we got baby B out, feet first... and a painfully huge head last! Again I did not hear a peep out of him. They wisked him over to the warming table where the NICU team from McMaster was already there and ready to take care of him. Within a few minutes they had him moving and on a ventelator. A few minutes later that placentas came out and I was moved to a maternity ward room while the NICU teams worked on stabalizing the boys.

Post Partum
** I'll finish this later because people are starting to get ansy to see pictures so I better get started on the next post***