Karsyn's Homecoming

Such a bittersweet day.  We are of course extremely thrilled to finally be taking our lil man home, yet somewhat saddened that we have to leave Khloe behind.

Our day started out just as hectic as it ended with many many phonecalls to insurance companies, pharmacies & medical supply rental stores.  Who would've thought that it takes 4 hours to compound Prevacid?  Anyways, at around 6pm Karsyn was officially discharged....YAY!!!  So, with our apnea monitor & portable oxygen in tow we headed out to the car for what ended up being the most annoying car trip ever.  About 10 minutes into our ride home, our wonderful lil apnea monitor began alarming with a high pitched, ear piercing squeal & of course we were unable to turn it off.  I ended up having to pull over alongside the interstate, disconnect it from Karsyn & throw it in the trunk for the remainder of our trip.  A lot of good it did waiting around all day long for that annoying lil monitor to be delivered!

We arrived home at around 8:45pm & quickly unpacked & tried to get settled in for our lil man's first night home.  Dylan & Emily were ecstatic to finally have him home.  What a wonderful feeling it was to finally be able to snuggle up and rock my lil boy into the wee hours of the night :)

Milestone after Milestone

Wow, where to begin....Today was such a great day for the babies.  They were both taken off of vapotherm today & now have only a regular humidified nasal cannula @ 1/2 liter...oh my!!!  What an accomplishment!  It did take them a lil while to adjust to the changes (no more hi-flo O2), & we did have to put Khloe back on the caffeine to help increase her respiratory efforts, but overall they are doing really well with it.

As if this wasn't big enough news for today, I just finished bathing and weighing Karsyn &....you guessed it, he is now a whopping "3" pounds!  Yay lil man!!!  Khloe has yet to be weighed tonight, so I'll be adding her weight in here later ;)

These babies just continue to amaze me.  Considering all of the given circumstances (pProm @ 19.5wks & delivery @ 26wks) they have done exceptionally well.  I thank God for these two precious gifts and pray that they continue to make such wonderful progress in leaps and bounds. 

Oh, I almost forgot...today was also their very first snow day!!!  So many milstones & memories for one day.  Sha my lil snow angels!!!

Such a sweet thought

Upon entering the NICU today I was greeted by one of the nurses who immediately directed me towards Khloe's isollette saying "they got you something mommy".  There on the bedside table next to Khloe, (much to my surprise) sat a little sprinkled birthday cake and an envelope that said "Mommy".  I couldn't help it...I grinned from ear to ear as my eyes welt up with tears trying to open the card & this is what it read:

Hooray for mothers!

All mothers are known for their wonderful deeds,

for patiently, lovingly meeting our needs.

They help solve our problems with wisdom and tact

or a kindhearted, generous, unselfish act.

They're making the world a happier place

and doing it all with compassion and grace.

But one of these mothers stands above all the rest-

Who's the coolest?  The awsomest?

My mother - THE BEST!

Happy Birthday (and thanks for all you do!)

We Love You!

Karsyn & Khloe

Now, if that don't just bring tears to your eyes...eh?  How sweet & thoughtful of the staff to do something like this for "me".  I just can't say enough...how grateful I am to have so many kind, supportive people backing us up every step of the way.  

On to the babies...They both seem to be having a pretty good day so far.  Karsyn's liter flow is at 1&1/2 L/min. & his FiO2 has been ranging b/t 38-45%.   He weighed 2#13oz. last night.  Way to go Karsyn!!!  He is slowly, but surely starting to gain & that his been extremely evident this past week.  We laughed so hard yesterday as I turned him onto his side & realized that he now has cleavage, lol.  Sha my lil man!  Daddy & I also got to bathe him in his lil wash basin.  He really seemed to have enjoyed it, as he just sat in the warm water and stared up at us the entire time. 

Khloe's liter flow today is still at 2 L/min. with herFiO2 b/t 35-42%.  Last nights weight for her was 3#11oz., up a whopping 60 grams (2oz.'s) from the previous night...Wow!!!  Good job mommy (pat on the back)...eatin' all that Raisin' Canes IS paying off, lol!  All jokes aside I'm extremely happy about their weight gain, as I definitely didn't want to have to start with the recently "threatened" formula supplementation.  So, keep up the good work kiddos...were so proud of you!

Once upon a time...(still under construction)

Let us begin by going back to the wonderful day I peed on that stick, May 3rd, 2009.   Yep, it was positive (all 3 times) and we were ecstatic!!!  For those who don't know us well, by this point we had already been blessed with a son...Dylan Kade (10), a daughter...Emily Klaire (4) and also had a first-trimester miscarriage in February 2008 & now, after 14 months of "trying"...the good Lord had blessed us once again.

And so our new journey began.  The new pregnancy started out very rocky & worrisome from the get go.  I sought comfort in my OB/GYN (Dr.Elias), one of my best friends (Laurie), & several of my family members and co-workers.  My HCG levels were drawn quite frequently showing several inconsistencies from the "norm" & our early ultrasounds showed only a single empty gestational sac, grant it we had our first ultrasound at a mere 5 & 1/2 weeks, lol!

As the days went by and the worries grew, my HCG levels continued to increase fairly abnormally without any signs of fetal development within the one low-lying gestational sac.  At this point my OB/GYN began to warn me of other possible outcomes noting the possibilities of a blighted ovum or an ectopic pregnancy.

To be continued....