Mark is doing really well. He has moved from being intubated, to a c-pap, and now using nothing more than a nasal cannula which supplies a little oxygen but no help breathing. So he is breathing on his own!!! Cathy got to hold Mark for the 1st time on November 30 - Mark is 2 days old. You will see him open his eyes and appear to look at Cathy. This is a long video but I couldn't find anything that I was willing to edit out. Jessie is doing well too. She has also moved off the c-pap and is breathing on her own with a nasal cannula. She spent the 30th under the lights to ward off jaundice. As a result, we were not able to hold her but we hope to do so today, the 1st of December.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
November 30, 2011
Mark&Jessie, a set on Flickr.
Here are the latest photos of Mark & Jessie. These were taken on November 29 so they are one day old. Forgive the quality - the lighting is low in the NICU. Mark is no longer intubated (thanks to Mike for giving me the proper spelling of that word...I guess it makes sense that "tube" would be in there somewhere). Both babies remain on c-pap. Cathy will probably return home today, and Arthur is looking forward to having mommy back at home.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Our family has grown - wow, what a day!
Our little bundles of joy decided that they had had enough of sharing mommy's tummy so they have joined the rest of us on the outside. Jessie Leigh Sherwood was born at 10:04am, weighing in at 2 lb 10 oz. Mark Christopher Sherwood was born at 10:06am, weighing in at 3 lb 12 oz.
It all started this way, as I explained in an email to family & friends.....Unfortunately, Cathy's water broke on Saturday evening at around 5pm. She has just finished week 30, with 40 being full term. Clearly, this is too early. The good news is that she has not yet gone into labor. The bad news is that she could at any time. She will remain at the hospital for the duration of the pregnancy.
The best case scenario is that she is there for another 4-5 weeks at which time they will schedule a c-section and remove the babies. Apparently, studies have shown that in situations like this, there is no real benefit to leaving the babies in for longer than 34 weeks. In this case (the best case scenario), the babies will almost certainly spend several days, perhaps longer in the NICU prior to coming home.
The worst case scenario is that the babies come any day. In that case, they will certainly spend many weeks in the NICU prior to coming home.
For now, there is not much that can be done. They are giving Cathy a steroid in hopes of hurrying the babies' lung development, and they are giving her antibiotics to ward off infections that are common once the water breaks. They are also giving her a drug to calm her uterus in hopes of warding off labor. No NICU is as good as a mother's womb, so the goal is to keep the babies where they are for as long as possible.
I hope that explains everything well enough. The babies vitals are good and they appear to be fine. That's everything that I know (the doctors have no idea why the water sometimes breaks so early) so I can't shed any more light on anything.
Sunday the 27th passed without incident, but Cathy had a bad night as we moved on to Monday. Contractions started at around 2:30am and they administered various drugs in hopes of warding off full labor. I dropped Arthur off at pre-school and went to work on Monday morning as usual. Cathy and I spoke on the phone at around 8:15am and everything seemed to be calmed down. However, only 10 minutes later Cathy texted me and told me that I should get to the hospital as the babies were coming. Only 90 minutes later our family had grown considerably.
This first video shows what I was able to capture of their birth. Don't watch if you're worried about getting queasy.
I wish the video was more glamorous. The anesthesiologist emptying Cathy's catheter bag assured me that the glamour is only for television. This next video shows both babies shortly after birth as they were being weighed and fitted with their necessary breathing devices. Mark is intebated and continues to be so but they hope to move him to a c-pap soon. You will see Jessie before her c-pap is even fitted. Both babies are breathing OK on their own most of the time. However, both occasionally stop now and then. We're assured that this is normal at this point. We created quite a stir - there were about 15-20 doctors and nurses involved in the O.R. and nearly as many in the post-O.R. weighing room (whatever it might be called). And being a teaching hospital, there were instructions flying left and right as the long-time doctors instructed the new ones on what to do. It's really pretty cool and amazing and helped me understand (a little) about what was going on.
After things had calmed down and Cathy and I had visited the babies for the first time - at around 4pm by the way. It's very strange to see your babies born at 10am then not lay eyes on them again until 4pm. I at least had seen them. Cathy didn't lay eyes on either one until 4pm. We were able to touch each baby, briefly, on the foot and leg. We have not held either one yet and may not for quite some time. Anyway, back to the story, after our visit I picked up Arthur from school and brought him to the hospital to see mommy and to meet his new siblings. The next video shows Arthur meeting them for the first time. It's pretty good, I think anyway. The doctor (nurse?) did a great job of recording for us.
Well, sorry it's such a long post and sorry for the communications issues on their birthday. We'll be in touch as we move forward. Until next time....
It all started this way, as I explained in an email to family & friends.....Unfortunately, Cathy's water broke on Saturday evening at around 5pm. She has just finished week 30, with 40 being full term. Clearly, this is too early. The good news is that she has not yet gone into labor. The bad news is that she could at any time. She will remain at the hospital for the duration of the pregnancy.
The best case scenario is that she is there for another 4-5 weeks at which time they will schedule a c-section and remove the babies. Apparently, studies have shown that in situations like this, there is no real benefit to leaving the babies in for longer than 34 weeks. In this case (the best case scenario), the babies will almost certainly spend several days, perhaps longer in the NICU prior to coming home.
The worst case scenario is that the babies come any day. In that case, they will certainly spend many weeks in the NICU prior to coming home.
For now, there is not much that can be done. They are giving Cathy a steroid in hopes of hurrying the babies' lung development, and they are giving her antibiotics to ward off infections that are common once the water breaks. They are also giving her a drug to calm her uterus in hopes of warding off labor. No NICU is as good as a mother's womb, so the goal is to keep the babies where they are for as long as possible.
I hope that explains everything well enough. The babies vitals are good and they appear to be fine. That's everything that I know (the doctors have no idea why the water sometimes breaks so early) so I can't shed any more light on anything.
Sunday the 27th passed without incident, but Cathy had a bad night as we moved on to Monday. Contractions started at around 2:30am and they administered various drugs in hopes of warding off full labor. I dropped Arthur off at pre-school and went to work on Monday morning as usual. Cathy and I spoke on the phone at around 8:15am and everything seemed to be calmed down. However, only 10 minutes later Cathy texted me and told me that I should get to the hospital as the babies were coming. Only 90 minutes later our family had grown considerably.
This first video shows what I was able to capture of their birth. Don't watch if you're worried about getting queasy.
I wish the video was more glamorous. The anesthesiologist emptying Cathy's catheter bag assured me that the glamour is only for television. This next video shows both babies shortly after birth as they were being weighed and fitted with their necessary breathing devices. Mark is intebated and continues to be so but they hope to move him to a c-pap soon. You will see Jessie before her c-pap is even fitted. Both babies are breathing OK on their own most of the time. However, both occasionally stop now and then. We're assured that this is normal at this point. We created quite a stir - there were about 15-20 doctors and nurses involved in the O.R. and nearly as many in the post-O.R. weighing room (whatever it might be called). And being a teaching hospital, there were instructions flying left and right as the long-time doctors instructed the new ones on what to do. It's really pretty cool and amazing and helped me understand (a little) about what was going on.
After things had calmed down and Cathy and I had visited the babies for the first time - at around 4pm by the way. It's very strange to see your babies born at 10am then not lay eyes on them again until 4pm. I at least had seen them. Cathy didn't lay eyes on either one until 4pm. We were able to touch each baby, briefly, on the foot and leg. We have not held either one yet and may not for quite some time. Anyway, back to the story, after our visit I picked up Arthur from school and brought him to the hospital to see mommy and to meet his new siblings. The next video shows Arthur meeting them for the first time. It's pretty good, I think anyway. The doctor (nurse?) did a great job of recording for us.
Well, sorry it's such a long post and sorry for the communications issues on their birthday. We'll be in touch as we move forward. Until next time....
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Arthur & Sammy go trick-or-treating
Halloween 2011, a set on Flickr.
Arthur & his best bud Sammy went out for a little trick-or-treating and came home with some major hauls. Yes, yes, Arthur was re-using the costume he wore for his first Halloween (Yoda, by the way), but he didn't really remember much from that year (he was only 9 months old then). See all our pics at our Flickr site. Until next time....
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Florida, October 2011
Florida 2011-10, a set on Flickr.
We had a great week in Florida visiting Grammi and Grampi. We were also lucky enough to see Uncle Chris, Great Grammi Bette and Great Aunt & Uncle Barb & Leonard. We had some dicey weather considering it's the sunshine state and all, but we had a lot of fun and Arthur has asked several times "Where's Grampi, where's Grammi?" He misses you guys. Thanks again for a great week...let's hope it's not too long before we get down there again. By the way, you can see the entire set of photos by following the "Florida 2011-10" link to Flickr. Until next time...
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