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Five at a Time…Priceless!!!!

3 Comments 25 February 2009

We got a very cool surprise today in the NICU today as Casey was holding Britton and I was holding Jack. I’m not even sure what started it, but one minute we’re just sitting there chatting with the nurses and the next thing you know, we’ve got nurses bringing us the other three babies for a quick photo op!! It was really cool to have them all side by side and the pictures we got are absolutely PRICELESS!!!! The babies are in birth order in the picture from left to right – Brooklyn, Britton, Jack, Lila, and Ryan.

To be honest, I got a little nervous doing this because it meant that Brooklyn, Lila, and Ryan were disconnected from all of their monitors to make this happen, but we were surrounded by nurses and we only got to do this for a few quick minutes. Don’t let my nerves fool you however, the babies all continue to do very, very well. They each still have their own little issues that they need to overcome before they are allowed to come home. Brooklyn needs to get better at eating, Britton needs to grow, Jack needs to stop having heart rate drops, Lila had a pretty big setback today, and Ryan just needs to eat, eat, eat!

Lila’s setback was a really scary episode that quickly reminds us how important it is for the babies to be so closely monitored. For some reason she had a major heart rate drop coupled with a prolonged episode of very low oxygen saturation that required her nurse to artificially breathe for her for about four minutes. She never completely stopped breathing, but her oxygen saturation was too low to allow her to work through the problem on her own. This was out of character for her, but apparently isn’t an uncommon event for preemies to experience. She’s ok, but this little episode means that she will be in the NICU for a minimum of seven more days, probably longer.

One other quick note – Jack had his circumcision performed this evening. Casey’s ob/gyn, Dr. Stephanie Reich performed the operation and reported that all went well and Jack did not make a peep. Atta boy, Jack!

It is possible that one or two of the babies will be coming home in the next 7-10 days, but it’s really unclear at the moment. They are all doing very well, but these lingering issues with eating and breathing have to go away entirely and stay away for a good seven days or so before they can think about sending them home with us. Please continue to pray for their growth and maturity with eating and breathing!!!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

P.S. Eliot is really into calendars and loves keeping track of the passing days on the calendar in her room. She gives us daily updates of lunar events (“Daddy, it’s a full moon tonight!”), holidays, and other notes listed on the calendar. I only mention this because she just ran out of her room to inform us some important news – tomorrow is Flag Day in Mexico…very exciting stuff!!

The Fab Five

New Slide Show on JonesLife.net

Comments Off on New Slide Show on JonesLife.net 16 February 2009

Check out the new slide show that Tracey Taylor, owner of Taylor Made Portrait Studio, did for us after a visit to the NICU. The link is on the front page of the website directly beneath the small slideshow that is posted there. We were actually a little reluctant to have Tracey come up to photograph the babies as we didn’t think she would get much given the environment of the NICU. Boy, were we ever wrong!! She did an amazing job of capturing the essence of our experience with our babies, a talent Tracey has shown all along as she has chronicled this adventure!

Also, we were interviewed today by KVUE who wanted to update Austin on the baby’s one month birthday. They ran the report on the six o’clock news. We’ll have the link up on the website in the next couple of days.

God Bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

The Fab Five

The Busy Life in the NICU…Busy…Good…Busy!!

5 Comments 11 February 2009

The blog title says it all, but the pictures say more…the last two days have been BUSY GOOD in our home away from home! On Tuesday, Ryan got a bath which happens about every three days for each of the babies, but often does not happen while we are there. So far, we have only been there to help bathe Jack and Britton. No sponge baths this time around – real baby baths – in a tub, with real water, soap, and all the other amenities of baby bath time. I haven’t gotten the chance to pitch in just yet – we have to be fairly economical with our NICU time so I am generally holding the other babies while Casey and the nurses tend to the bath. Thanks to the nurses for lending their photography skills!

While Casey had her hands full with Ryan’s bath, I had my first opportunity to feed one of the babies a bottle and Jack was the lucky recipient of my baby bottle skills! I can’t explain what it is about feeding a baby a bottle, but it gets me every time. That’s the way it was with Eliot and I knew immediately that it would be the same with these babies the moment I got hold of Jack and got him going on the bottle. There’s something amazing about watching them work through the bottle, taking their little breaks to think about what’s happening and to catch their breath. I think it’s just one of those moments where you realize how fragile their little lives are and how much they depend on you for every ounce of their survival. Truly incredible!!

Today was another busy day and we’ve got more pictures to prove it! While I held Ryan and Lila, Casey held Jack and Britton and Big Sister Eliot got her first go round on the baby holding carousel. As a proud mom and dad looked on, Nurse Melissa and Nurse Jeannie helped one suddenly serious 4 year old hold her biggest little sister. The look on her face was well worth the price of admission, but unfortunately this time I don’t think the picture quite captures the moment just as it was. The conflict of emotion was written all over Eliot’s face as she oh so carefully held our biggest three pounder – excitement, wonder, and curiosity were on the verge of bursting forth as she struggled to maintain her very solemn little face. This was serious business and she wasn’t about to let her excitement overtake the moment. It was absolutely priceless!

Busy. Good. Busy good. That’s life in the NICU these days. It seems every day we show up now there is something new that we get to do which makes the time fly by. Life in the NICU is at times frustrating and at times, the time we spend there seems to never be coming to an end. But days like today and yesterday remind us that this special time in our lives will be over sooner than we’d like. Days we will always cherish as we watch our babies grow, days we will never be able to relive. Like I said, NICU life is a busy life…NICU life is a good life…

Oh yeah, how could I forget?! That other picture is of super mom Casey holding three at a time – Brooklyn, Britton, and Jack! At one other time, she was “kangaroo’ing” Britton and feeding Jack a bottle all at once. Way to go Super-Mom-Elasti-Girl Casey!!!

God Bless,

Ethan

www.JonesLife.net

The Fab Five

“Various Stages of Excellent”

3 Comments 23 January 2009

Whew!! What a wild day this turned out to be! It started with the kickoff to the diaper drive at HEB, rolled through three TV interviews, nearly six hours in the NICU, a few momentous occasions, and is finally coming to a close with this blog post. Casey and I are pretty exhausted (and so is Eliot!) and we’re hoping we can catch up on a lot of busy work and rest this weekend…that’s the plan, anyway. We haven’t had much success sticking to the daily plan lately so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings!

So here are the highlights:

– As you see below, HEB kicked off a week long diaper drive for us at the four points store (click the HEB logo for details)…very exciting! The folks at HEB were incredible!!

– I got to hold one of the babies for the first time this morning!! I held Britton for about an hour while Casey held Brooklyn for the first time. It was also the first time that we got to see all of the babies without their beanies and eye shades…their little faces are so perfect! It seemed like the world stood still for a while as we held each baby, slowly rocking them and telling them about the new world they are now a part of…so peaceful!

– The KVUE interview was really neat because we got to hold a couple of the babies (Brooklyn and Britton) up for the cameras and introduce them to Austin! That was the first time that I had really “handled” any of them and believe me, I was nervous! I know just about all men have an irrational fear of holding babies because they are so fragile and we feel like we’re going to break them, but with these little guys, that’s a real concern! They are so frail in your hands it feels like if you sneezed you’d probably break a few ribs!

– When we were taking a break from our first time in the NICU, KEYE called and asked to come up for another interview. We met up with them 30 minutes later, talked with them for about 20 minutes, then ran upstairs for a second round with the babies.

– In the afternoon, I got to hold Lila while Casey held Ryan, again for about an hour. Lila was the second smallest so I held the two pip squeaks of the bunch today.

All in all, the babies continue to do very well, however we still need prayers for Lila’s heart problem. They performed an echo cardiogram on her today to determine what exactly was the cause of her heart murmur. The news wasn’t unexpected, but it wasn’t welcome, either. She has two holes in her heart, one big and one small.

The big one is called a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and is relatively common in premies. There is a vessel that is supposed to be open during pregnancy to allow more blood flow to get to the lungs which is supposed to close upon birth. In premies it oftentimes does not close. They started her on medication tonight to get the vessel to close up. If that doesn’t work, she will likely end up being operated on, though the doctors do not expect we will get to that point.

The small hole is between two of the hearts chambers and it is called a ventricular suptal defect (VSD). I think these are also somewhat common in premies, but I’m not certain. This hole can not be treated with medication, but is not a big enough problem yet to require surgery. It will hopefully close on its own or never cause any complications that we should be concerned with, but no one can say for sure what it will do. The doctors will monitor the VSD closely, possibly beyond her stay in the NICU. Both of the holes in her heart, if they become problematic, will cause difficulty breathing and eating and will stunt her growth.

Despite this news about Lila, one of the doctors described the babies’ conditions as being in “various stages of excellent” and we couldn’t agree more!! Thank you to everyone for continuing to lift our babies up in your prayers and please continue to do so!

Pictures of all of the day’s events will be uploaded to the website soon!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

The Fab Five

Update on the Babies…and oh yeah, Casey, too!!

5 Comments 19 January 2009

Babies, babies, babies!!! Did I mention we have lots of babies?? Wow! That’s all I can say to sum up the last couple of days…WOW!!!

Alright, so here are some updates on the Fab Five:

– Brooklyn has been the most relaxed of the five…she’s just totally chill everytime we go up. She was moved to an isolette (incubator) to help her maintain her fluids and heat. Eventually, all of the babies will make this move and will stay in their isolette for several weeks.

– Britton is going to be our little beach bum – you can tell she has really enjoyed freedom from the womb! Several times when I’ve been up to the NICU, she’s been completely stretched out like she’s laying out at the beach…too funny! She has a little issue that popped up today that they are watching pretty closely. She has a raw spot on the inside of her right leg that was probably caused by some urine getting between her legs. With her skin being so sensitive, it caused a really nasty looking sore to develop. They are trying to keep her legs open so it can heal up and not get infected. She has also been in competition for the loudest and has already been awarded the most high maintenance award. The instant she has a wet diaper, this girl is letting the nurses know!!

– Jack is also a little chill bug. Everytime I’m up there, he is perfectly content and chilled out! He doesn’t fuss, he doesn’t squirm, he just lays back and takes it all in. He is probably doing the best of all of the babies which is surprising because usually the premie boys don’t do as well as the girls. He is the only one so far to take a feeding and actually digest the milk. That’s my Jack!! Did I mention how big his hands are…HUGE!! ;-)

– Lila Addison is also pretty relaxed. She doesn’t make much of a fuss and doesn’t seem to be bothered by much. Her jaundice has been worse than the other babies so they have had her under special blue lights to keep it under control.

– Ryan is in competition with Britton for the loudest one of all. She is the only baby who was making noise in the operating room and she hasn’t stopped yet! They are keeping a close watch on her belly button as it appears to be developing an infection. The doctors have put her on IV antibiotics and are keeping the area moist with some triple antibiotic cream. They are not too concerned at this point, but are really monitoring her closely.

In general, all of the babies are doing really well for their age and weights. They all have little issues that they are watching, but the doctors are very happy with how they are handling everything. Everytime we go up to the NICU, the nurses give us a full report on each baby – they really throw a lot at you! By the time this is all over with, Casey and I are going to be able to take over…yeah, right! The babies are expected to remain in the NICU until we near their original due date, March 27th. It’s a long time, but they are in really good hands so we are not complaining. There is no question that these babies would not survive if it weren’t for all of the amazing care they are receiving!

For her part, Casey is still dealing with a lot of pain and discomfort. Her belly is extremely sore, her legs are still swollen, and it is still really difficult for her to do just about anything. It is a team effort to get her up out of bed and then back in again. It is frustrating for her because she isn’t able to stay on her feet for long which means she can not go up to see the babies very often. We made it up twice today for a total of about an hour and a half. Ladies, can you imagine only being able to see your newborn for an hour and a half every day? And not being able to hold them?? Not cool…

The good news, however, is that Casey will get to hold a couple of the babies starting tomorrow. They will do skin-to-skin holding with the two healthiest babies for about 30 minutes each. Studies have shown that this contact helps the babies grow better and helps Casey’s milk to come in better. It also allows Casey to come into contact with the germs that the babies are exposed to which will cause her body to build up antibodies to fight these germs. Casey will then pass these antibodies to the babies through her milk…AMAZING! Unfortunately, since there is no medical benefit to the babies, I won’t get to hold them for a few more days.

All in all, life is very good being a father of six! The days have been hectic and stressful, but it feels really good to know we’ve got five healthy babies working overtime to enhance the quality of our lives for years to come. It’s only been 3+ days and these five have us hooked!

Please continue to pray for Casey’s quick recovery, the babies’ health, and the well-being of the NICU doctors and nurses!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

The Fab Five

We Have Names!!

1 Comment 18 January 2009

We finally had a chance to get the names figured out. We’ve known the names for quite a while, but didn’t know who was to get which. Now that Casey had a chance to visit the NICU, we have it figured out. So, here they are:

Baby A – Brooklyn Faith
Baby B – Britton Grace
Baby C – Jack William
Baby D – Lila Addison
Baby E – Ryan Elizabeth

All day yesterday we tried to find a reason to attach one of the names to one of the babies. Baby B and Baby E were making the most noise in the NICU so we were trying to give them the names were the feistiest. Baby A meanwhile was the most relaxed so we were trying to give her the daintiest of the names. In the end, however, it became apparent that we were really stretching to do this so we decided to go completely random with it.

Other than Lila and Jack, here’s how we did it. We put the three remaining names on different slips of paper, put them in a cup, and pulled one out at a time. At the same time, I had different cards with the babies’ letters and weights on it. As Casey pulled a name from the cup, I pulled a card from the stack. We matched them up and made it official!

Lila is a different story. As I was taking Eliot around to see them all for the first time, she didn’t have much to say about any of them. I think it was all a bit overwhelming for her because she was uncharacteristically quiet. However, when we got to Baby D, Eliot blurted out, “this one is Lila!” The reason she gave: because she is the wildest one! Throughout the pregnancy, whenever Casey was having a problem with one of the babies being in a painful position, Eliot would say that it was Lila that was causing all the trouble. Other than that, we have no idea where that came from or what she meant by it, but we decided it should stick.

I haven’t gone up to the NICU since then to officially “christen” each of the babies – that will happen this morning -but the nurses will be very excited to drop the letters! It will be a lot of fun to watch how each one “grows into” their new names!

God Bless,
Ethan
http://www.joneslife.net/

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Five at a Time…Priceless!!!!

New Slide Show on JonesLife.net

The Busy Life in the NICU…Busy…Good…Busy!!

“Various Stages of Excellent”

Update on the Babies…and oh yeah, Casey, too!!

We Have Names!!

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