Caleb's Heart - 6/6

June 6, 2012 - Caleb's Pulmonary Valve Balloon Procedure

Going back to this date is a hard one for me. I hardly have the words or emotional stamina to go through the details again. So, if you want the story, you'll have to check out CaringBridge. :)

Here are some pictures of the day with some brief descriptions.

We arrived at the hospital early so that we would have some quality time with Caleb before his procedure. Since I had done most of the holding earlier during the week, we decided that Jonathan would be the one holding Caleb before he went to the cath lab.

 Boy did we get that room busy early in the morning. There were several NICU nurses, a cath lab nurse and Dr. Lozier getting everything ready to take Caleb downstairs. We made quite a spectacle (probably just a glimpse into our future). :)

This is the cath lab. The big arc that you see is an active x-ray machine. There were two of those in the room so they could see into Caleb's heart in "real time" during the procedure. It was amazing! We feel so blessed to be living in 2012 with all the amazing technological advances that have kept our boys alive.

Caleb is back in his room and is getting settled back in. 

Caleb only had a tiny incision where they inserted the catheter into his artery. 

Our baby boy was still alive. God is so faithful!

It is so emotional for me to look at these pictures and think about that day. It's been almost a month since his procedure and I'm still not able to write about it in detail. We are just thankful for the ways God cared for us that morning in all the details. We were even thankful that Zeke had a quiet day. :)

Ronald McDonald House - May

We really enjoyed our stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Des Moines. It was a huge blessing to be able to stay there while I was unable to drive after surgery. The staff was so helpful and kind to all us parents and families staying at the house. They provided a hot meal every evening and it was delicious comfort food - far from the hospital fare. :) They also had plenty of snacks and drinks to take along to the hospital...or to enjoy as a midnight snack. We really enjoyed the playroom, the outdoor play area and the basketball court. Although I was unable to participate in all the play, the big boys really enjoyed it. The rooms were cozy and the beds were perfect. 

More than all the amenities of the house, it was the fellowship between parents that was the biggest blessing. I was really feeling lonely at one point in our journey and God provided two other mommies to visit with and lament about our situations and then encourage each other. God was so faithful to provide these women at the house to minister to my heart and hopefully to their's as well.

We were so blessed to stay there. I've said it on our CaringBridge, if you stop at a McDonald's Restaurant this summer and there's a change box for the Ronald McDonald House, don't hesitate to drop your coins (or dollars) in to help support the local charity. 

Oh, and here are some pictures from our stay there. I'm surprised Jonathan didn't take more pictures of the house while we were staying there, but at that point we were still in survival mode. :)

The boys just chillin' watching a movie in our room.

It was fun watching the boys play tag out on the basketball court. 

There was an added level of difficulty (and danger) as they "had to" 

jump off the retaining wall to get away from each other.

They're Here!! - 5/22-6/1

May 22, 2012

This is the first time I got to hold Caleb! 

All the tubes on his face are for the CPAP that he was on the first time.
They've started using a new, less bulky system since then.

He looks like he could float out into space. :)

May 23, 2012

Caleb's first real peek out. :)

Oh, and he's off of the CPAP and on the Vapo-therm!!

Jonathan's first time holding Caleb!

May 30, 2012

First time holding, and kangarooing, Zeke!! 

He's was off the high-frequency vent and was on the regular one.

June 1, 2012 - The big boys meet the little boys for the first time!

Miss Ronia is the "Child Life Specialist." She is great at her job!
Here she is teaching the boys about how important it is 

to wash your hands and talk in a quiet voice when you visit the NICU.

Miss Ronia is using a baby doll to demonstrate all the tubes and wires 

that will be on the babies so the boys don't get scared. 

Again, Miss Ronia is great at her job and we appreciate her so much!!

Here's Phin next to Zeke!

Here's Asher next to Caleb.

The big boys did a very good job with their first visit. They washed their hands, used hand sanitizer, and talked in a quiet voice. Asher wasn't too interested in the babies. I didn't know if he was bored or if he was scared. Either way, he did well. And Phin was so excited to see them. He talked very quietly to them through their little "port holes" and politely introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Phin. I'm your big brother." So cute! :)

They're Here!! - 5/15-19

It's been SO long since I've blogged. At first it was because of morning sickness and exhaustion - I could hardly get off the couch to cook dinner or discipline a child. And then it was because I couldn't get off the couch because of bed rest - although I was feeling better and actually had some energy. :)

So here we are, 8 months or so from my last post and we have added two new boys to our family and a lot more perspective. We haven't posted too many pictures on CaringBridge, but we thought we'd post some here for our close friends and family. Aren't you guys so special?! :) And we'll post some of the big boys too because it's not all about the babies. But we can't wait to have our first family picture with all six of us! Alright, you probably don't care much about the writing and more about the pictures so here you go:

May 15, 2012 - Happy Birthday!!

Before heading to surgery.

I guess this is really happening...

Mom and Dad bands for both Baby A and Baby B

Baby A - Caleb Henry

2 pounds 15 ounces, 15 1/4 inches

(they use the Seran wrap to keep them warm)

Baby B - Ezekiel Thomas

1 pound 8 ounces, 13 1/2 inches

May 17, 2012

We wish we would've gotten some good "perspective" pictures but we were working in survival mode, so this is the best we got. :)

Caleb with my hand

Zeke with Jonathan's hand

May 18, 2012

Here's Zeke's bed. He has all eight pumps working hard to help him grow.

This is me "holding" Zeke for the first time 

so they can weigh him and change his bedding.

SWEET FREEDOM!!
I am finally released from the hospital,

but more importantly from 11 weeks of bed rest. :)

The boys (and Grandma) organized a surprise party for my homecoming!
There were balloons, candy, streamers, cupcakes, presents and a banner.
Oh, and two excited little boys!!

May 19, 2012
On May 17th we "finally" named the babies so the nurses made some cute signs to go on their beds.

Caleb is no longer "Big Ben" (a nickname the nurses gave them).

The nurses gave Caleb the pirate with the telescope

so he can keep an eye on his brother. :) 

Ezekiel is no longer "Tiny Tim."

At the time, Zeke was the "naughty one" 

so the nurses gave him the pirate with the beard, hat, eye-patch and hook. ;)

Thanks to a game Jonathan downloaded to his i-Touch, the boys have been into Zombies.

There's an awesome burger restaurant in downtown Des Moines called "Zombie Burgers."
The boys were pretty excited!! Here's a picture of their best Zombie faces.

It's kind of emotional for me to be going through all these pictures. Seeing how far we've come has been good for my heart. It's hard for me to post pictures of Caleb and Zeke looking so sick and scary. I don't want to present a "freak show" but more of a view of God's grace through this whole process and the power that our Mighty Physician has in knitting our boys together and continuing to heal their little bodies.

Some of you also might be wondering why we didn't talk about our pregnancy on our blog or Facebook. First of all, it's just so scary to talk about being pregnant again after our losses. We were so scared to tell people that we were expecting and then when we found out it was twins...we wanted so bad to share our exciting joy but at the same time this presented another layer of risk to our situation. I was so sick and tired during the first trimester that all I wanted to do was rest (sleep, lay around, not cook or clean, etc). Then we found out that the babies had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome and I was put on bed rest...right about the time I had energy to start doing stuff again. But now I was resting for another reason. Things just kept getting more complicated so we put off telling people because we were scared. We did tell a core group of family and friends so they could be upholding us in prayer through all the trials we were facing. And then with the added bed rest we began to rely on our church family to keep our household in order. :) What a whirlwind.

Now the babies are here and are doing relatively well. They are mainly working on eating and growing along with daily complications. We have been writing on our CaringBridge site but wanted to post more pictures so we thought this would be the best place to show off all four of our boys. Thanks so much for the love and support and be sure to check back for more picture updates!!

** We want to remind you that this blog was created to keep in touch with our friends and family so please do not pass our blog along to your friends and family. :) I will blog about more details and my thoughts on my personal blog - Who Left the Light On? - and you can feel free to pass that link to your friends and family.