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Friday, April 26, 2013

Trip to the Park & Bathtime

This week Monica and I took the boys on their first trip to Cliff Cave Park! Cliff Cave is our favorite running spot and we will be taking the boys there many, many times. Here in Missouri we've been having quite a bit of rain and they've been having a lot up North as well, which has been causing some flooding. So we only got to take a very short abbreviated walk in the park, but it was still fun to pack the boys up and get them out of the house.

We've been giving the boys plenty of baths lately too. They're boys, so they get dirty a lot. Us boys our gross ya know! :)

Also, the home health nurse came by Tuesday to check on the boys. They ordered two follow up visits with a home health nurse after we left the hospital. Tuesday was the second and last visit. The boys have gained more weight!! Jace went from 5 lbs 11 oz to 5 lbs 15.5 oz in 4 days! Jeriah went from 5 lbs 0.5 oz to 5lbs 7.5 oz in 4 days!!! This definitely makes us happy and assures us they are getting enough nutrition. No matter how many dirty diapers they have or how often they eat, we still worry a little as to whether they're getting enough. We know they most definitely are!

Overall, not a whole lot to say. Just thought I'd post some pictures from our trip to the park and bath time for the boys!

Rocking their shades for the trip to the park!



The trail continues about 2 miles straight ahead and loops back around to the left.

If you look close, you can see a small glimmer of trail where
it turns to come back.

A shot from further up the hill where the first one was taken.

Jace ready for bathtime


Jeriah showing off his karate moves before bathtime


Look his lost his umbilical cord! (Jeriah already lost his)

Oh man! Holding onto that pacifier a little too tight

Our favorite outfits to put them in! Notice the Converse socks.
They look like little studs!



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Jace & Jeriah Caught on Tape

Here's a few videos we've taken with our phones of our sweet boys! Jace likes to smile for mommy after she gets through feeding him, and Jeriah has the most pitiful and adorable cry ever! We absolutely love everything about our boys!

We had our newborn photo session 2 days ago as well! I went awesome and the sneak peak looks adorable! Cindy Lee Photography is amazing! There's a few pictures we've taken and the sneak peek at our newborn photos below too!








 

Jace & Jeriah with their 3 month old cousin Jaxson

Sneak peek at our Newborn photos
 
 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Thankful Thursday: Good Trip, FaceTime & Being Back Home

It's Thankful Thursday again! Another week recorded in the history books! This week as always we have so much to be thankful for. Last week we were saying how thankful we were that we were going to be meeting our boys! We have had so much to be thankful for lately! There is always something to be thankful for, even in the midst of a storm, we can find thankfulness. This week I'm going it alone as Monica is very busy with nursing two boys every 3 hours. She needs her rest.  So here it is, my list:

Jeremy's List:

This week I'm thankful for a very good trip. I traveled to Kings of Prussia, Pennsylvania yesterday at 4:15 pm and returned home today around 3:30. I was gone less than 24 hours! I was giving a presentation I have given at several other RT conferences. The trip was a very good one! It was very quick, but very good. The hotel was very nice! I had the chance to meet up with a gentleman I met in New Orleans. We went to dinner when I arrived with several other people. It really was a good time! Got a full nights sleep, which I felt a little guilty for given that my poor wife was at home sleeping in 2 and a half hour increments. Got up and gave my presentation that went very well. I always fear it will not go smooth. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and was whisked away to the airport to fly home! I'm extremely grateful to those who made the trip possible and for their awesome hospitality!

I'm also thankful for FaceTime. FaceTime is like Skype between iPhones. It takes a lot less time to connect and I have found generally has a better picture and connection. I was missing my wife and boys pretty bad last night while laying in the hotel, and this morning I woke to FaceTime with my wife! It was awesome! I got to see her and the boys! Jace was awake and Jeriah was sleeping. It was great to get to see the 3 people I love most in this world! Thank you Apple for FaceTime!!

I'm thankful for getting to return home so quickly to my family! I missed them more than I thought I would. After all, I was not even gone a full 24 hours, yet I missed them pretty bad! I had a picture of both boys in my presentation today and was grateful everyone started clapping so I could regain my composure... I almost shed a few tears. Completely caught me off guard too! It was so nice to come home to my wife and boys today! While we were still in the hospital I had quite a bit of bonding time with Jeriah. Jace was kept in the nursery more because of his episodes and then had to have a test done. Today when I got home, Jace woke up to eat and stayed awake after. I carried him around for a good hour or two just talking to him and looking at him. They're both such good babies! It's great to be home!

So what are you thankful for today?!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

We Made it Home

We made it home last night! Yesterday was a very eventful day but we made it home triumphantly!

Here's a semi-quick recap of our stay:

Our hospital stay went very well! Monica got her epidural out Sunday morning and had been up walking to the bathroom and what not since Saturday afternoon. She's so stinking strong! She didn't complain once about being in pain. Several times a day they would come ask what her pain level was on a scale of 1-10 and she'd say 2 or 3. One morning I could tell she was hurting and asked after she said "2-3" if she was sure and she said "Maybe it's a 4." Haha! It stayed a 4 the rest of the stay even when I could tell it was much higher. She's one tough cookie! On top of having a c-section Friday morning she has been breast-feeding two boys ever since. My poor wifey does not get much sleep. Of course I got up and helped every time, but I didn't have to do much besides change diapers and dress babies. Mommy had the hard job.

Saturday little Jeriah, our tiny, little man, had a dusky episode in the nursery overnight. He lost some of his color for a second or two. The pediatrician said his twin boys did the same thing and it was nothing to worry about as long as it's quick and they come back up. Of course it scared the daylights out of us though. Then on Monday night Jace had the same episode but lost a lot of his color and his oxygen saturation was very low. He came back up fast with a couple seconds of blow-by oxygen and was fine the rest of the night and all day yesterday. The pediatrician ordered an upper GI test on him to test for reflux and it came back positive. Jace had several episodes where his stomach contents came almost to his glottis (the "valve" in your throat that keeps stomach stuff going to the stomach and opens when you breathe to let air in your lungs). Our pediatrician (who has twin boys and specializes in multiples) said that is why he stops breathing. His little body knows to keep the glottis closed so his stomach contents don't go into his lungs. However he's not mature enough to know to swallow and override that instinct to take breaths. So he quits breathing until the reflux goes down.

Yesterday we got these results and our pediatrician wrote to start Jace on some reflux medicine 3 times a day and wanted us to put him on an apnea monitor at night. This way if he stops breathing for so many seconds it will alarm and we can prevent anymore bad episodes. He also asked if Monica and I wanted one for Jeriah too for peace of mind. We said yes. :)

There was a problem getting the monitors to the hospital and we had to wait for 4 -5 hours when we finally said we had to leave and they would have to figure something out and bring them to our house. We stopped to get Jace and Monica's medicines on the way home and had a problem getting his medicine due to insurance issues since he was just born and not "officially" on the policy even though we had already called and added both boys. Then as we were leaving our car wouldn't start. Haha! Strike 3 we're out! The boys were due to eat at 6 and it was after 7. They were getting fussy. In the end it all worked out though!

The company had the monitors at our house and ready to go. The pharmacy gave us a small amount of medicine for free to hold us over for a while. A guy in the tire shop at Costco, my father-in-law, my neighbor who's a mechanic, my mom and my sister-in-law helped get Monica and the boys home and our car fixed and running. AND we made it home to signs in the yard and a huge pot of stew on the stove! Life is full of ups and downs. The good always out-weigh the bad. At the end of the day my life was far more full of blessings than bad.

Here's a few more pics of the boys and what we came home to!





















Friday, April 12, 2013

Our Babies Birthday

They're here!!! Jace Wayne born at 11:12 weighs 5 lb 12 oz and 19.25 inches long with dark hair. Jeriah Matthew born at 11:13 weighs 5 lb 1 oz and 19 inches long with blonde hair!! More pics to come!

Babies and mom are doing absolutely perfect!!! God is GREAT!!



Thursday, April 11, 2013

Thankful Thursday: Meeting our boys

Tomorrow is the day! The day we've been waiting for, praying for and dreaming of for around 4 years! For any of you reading this without knowing much about us, Monica and I had to go through in vitro fertilization (abbreviated IVF) to have children. 98% of men with CF have either a complete blockage of or lack of the vas deferens in their reproductive system. This means no sperm can make their way out of the body without being extracted by way of surgery. Monica and I both knew this before we got married and knew there could be a possibility we would never have children of our own.I won't go into all the details, but through IVF we were blessed enough to become pregnant with twin boys! Tomorrow we get to meet them! To see the beginning of our journey here's an older post about how it all started, click here.

It really is a dream come true! It's so surreal just thinking about it. Our lives are about to drastically change. We're about to experience one of the greatest miracles of all!

For this Thankful Thursday, we both say we are thankful that tomorrow we meet our boys! I will get to hold my sons in my arms tomorrow! Jeremy and Monica will become Father and Mother to two beautiful sons. It will by far be the greatest day of our lives up until now!

I will do my best to post some pics and an update as soon as possible!

For now I will leave you with some pics of our finished nursery! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! We both are so excited to introduce our boys to you!