Happy Birthday Nicholas and Joseph!!! 8/11/2013

So today was the big day.  We were hoping to keep the twins in mommy's belly a little longer, but God said that we needed to get them out today in order to help them both survive and have productive lives.  We were both very scared and didn't know what to expect.  The doctors kept providing us with all of the possible outcomes of having twins at 26 weeks and 5 days, but with the uncertainty looming ahead, all we could do was put our trust in our faith and the doctors to get our babies through this!

At 9:28 and 9:29 we welcomed in our two new baby boys, Nicholas and Joseph!!!  It was an amazing feeling to see our two new boys, but we knew we had a long road ahead of us, and the concerns ranged from lung development to brain activity and everything in between!

 

Nicholas Anthony - 2lbs, 13 Inches Long

Joseph Daniel Jr. - 2lbs 8oz, 13 inches long

We got to this part because of a detection of possible Twin to Twin Transfusion which in my basic understanding is one twin, the donor, is providing more nutrients to the other twin, the recipient.  There are two problems that stem from Twin to Twin transfusion, first the concern for the donor, in this case Nicholas is that he wasn't receiving enough nutrients, and that he would be fighting to survive in the womb.  The second issue was for Joseph that he was getting too much fluid and nutrients and his little heart was becoming overworked and possibly become enlarged, which could lead to eventual heart failure.

So after my wife was hospitalized at 26 weeks, we were able to squeeze out 5 more days until today, delivery day.  The decision was made mainly because of the size of Joseph's heart, which was beginning to show signs of thickening, a precursor to heart failure, and also because of signs of reverse flow from Nicholas' umbilical cord.  We agreed with the doctors recommendation and proceeded to a C-section delivery.

After all was said and done, the boys got moved up to the NICU and were each given prompt attention to stabilize them and get them on monitors and ventilators.  After a few hours we were able to go up and see the babies in the NICU.  It was hard seeing them in such a delicate situation, especially being in the incubators and hooked up to the ventilators, we fully prepared ourselves for it, but when you actually see them in that situation you feel so helpless and just want to hold them!

As the day went on, Nicholas was doing really good for his first day and they took him off of the ventilator and put him on a C-PAP machine to assist with his breathing.  He took to it well, and was able to get to "room air" which is basically no oxygen assisted breathing.  The action of breathing is still being assisted, but he is taking in regular air.  So that was a positive sign on the first day.

Joseph had a little more trouble getting off of the ventilator, he was in worse shape than Nicholas due to the enlarged heart not being able to pump enough blood to the lungs to oxygenate them.  They were able to get him off of the ventilator later that night, but had to put him back on because he simply wasn't getting enough oxygen.  However according to his doctors they still said it was a positive start for him so far.

We are praying that each day goes by we see progress, although we are far from a stable situation and realize that at any minute things can take a turn for the worse.  All we can do is put our faith in God's plan and ask for the thoughts and prayers of everyone for a healthy development of our two boys Nicholas and Joseph!!!