Post Surgeries - Things have been great!!!!

Here is Alex taking his pacifier for the first time!

Momma holding Connor
Daddy holding Alex

Mamma holding Cade (for the first time)

Day 13-17 in the NICU have been Great! A little update, Connor was extubated a couple days after surgery. Cade was the last one on the vent and we finally got to take him off Tuesday afternoon and Court got to hold him for the first time today. We worked on weening him off the O2 for a while but he had a pretty major surgery just the other day.......no need to rush these things :) Alex has continued to do very well, getting kangaroo care daily (he's spoiled)! Connor has been on Kangaroo for the past few days now and Court, Connor, and I are loving it. Everyone is tolerating feedings, Alex 6ml/3hr, Cade 5ml/3hr, Connor 5ml/3hr. Oh and by the way, if they are eating they are pooping. Courts got this diaper changing thing down.......tough enough with one kiddo........but as most of you probably guessed.....I have a LOT to learn.

Cade is still our big fish weighing in at an impressive 2lb8oz, Alex is next at 2lb5oz, and then little Connor at 2lb2oz. I think the increased feedings will get everyone equal pretty quick.

I'm starting to realize that they're not quite as breakable as I once thought.

More soon.

Justin

The Good, the Bad, and the Worse!

After Court and I discussed it, we decided that we would be doing ourselves and our boys a disservice if we didn't document ALL that's been going on ie omitting the tough stuff.

The GOOD:
Alex is daddy's little rockstar!! We get to Kangaroo Care him every day, his feedings are every 3 hrs and he is up to 5ml per feeding. Little Alex is now over his birth weight......yaaaaay!! Court and I are having a little bit of a hard time not feeling guilty spending so much time and effort with Alex...but he has been doing the best and we want to do all the things allowable to help in his development. Anyone with multiples - feel free to comment and let me know if we are crazy for feeling this way.

The BAD:
As mentioned in an earlier post: Cade and Connor just weren't quite breathing well enough on their own so they had to be reintubated. After several days of this and the boys being NPO (no food just fluids) and several issues with O2 sats, an Echo cardiogram was ordered to check their PDA's. The echo showed that, though initially almost closed, both Cade and Connor's had significantly opened and was sharing oxygenated blood with deoxygenated blood - thus keeping the O2 levels low. The only way to correct at this point is through surgery.
PDA ligation is very minimally invasive routine procedure that clips off the vessel that is too immature to close on it's own. Surgery was done in the NICU - quick and at the time thought a success.

The WORSE:
After multiple X-Rays to check location of the clips - it is determined that Connor has a Pneumothorax - which requires the placement of a chest tube. Poor little buddy. The next day a follow up echo is performed to determine the effectiveness of the procedure and to ensure the blood flow of the PDA has ceased. Connor's normal, Cade's NOT NORMAL. Some how there is still a lot of blood flow through the PDA and very little blood flow through the pulmonary artery. When the reading cardiologist sees this he immediately calls the surgeon who then calls Court to tell her that her Baby will be going down to surgery as soon as he can get to the hospital to do a BIG surgery. Nightmares ensue.
Had to bring a team of people to take our little baby away to surgery where he would get an open thoracotomy to revise the initially placed clips and check to see if there is any bleeding. If you are a parent and have or have not experienced anything like this - it is about the worst thing you can imagine doing. After what seemed like one of the longest stretches of time in history, about an hour and a half, the surgeon comes to let us know that everything went great and that the PDA is closed and the pulmonary artery doesn't seem to be injured.

Day #3 since all this mess: Follow up XRAYS show Connor's pneumo is mostly gone and and we can take out his chest tube. Cade's XRAY is clean so his chest tube is removed as well! Also Cade's echo confirmed surgical results, closed PDA, pulmonary artery seems to be unfazed. As of press time - all doing pretty well. Cade has been on morphine most of the day to control any pain so very sleepy, and we think Connor comes off the vent tomorrow and starts feedings on Saturday.

Can't wait to hold them all..........we are very thankful for the prayers!!!

More soon
Justin

Aaha! A way to tell them apart!

We discovered Alex has a heart shaped hemangioma on the back of his right leg. It is soooo cute! It may disappear with time, but his Grandma plans to use it to tell him apart from Connor.

Kangaroo With Alex

Yesterday when we got to the hospital we found out that we would be able to "kangaroo" Alex. When you kangaroo you hold the baby against the bare skin of your chest so you are skin to skin. We were so excited! I admit I felt a little guilty since it was Fathers Day and I was the one getting to hold Alex, but Justin was so sweet and reassured me that it was fine. Olivia, our nurse, slid Alex down into the top of my dress and we cuddled for several hours. It was such a great feeling getting to hold him for the first time. I can't wait to get to hold all three!

My First Father's Day!

Well, for my first father's day, Alex decided to make me a giant black tar filled diaper.....my first to change. I was so proud!!!! Most parents probably dread the dirty diaper (and I will to soon enough) but when these boys are filling theirs that means feedings are going well and we are moving in the right direction.

Pretty mild day (medically speaking). Not too many alarms and what not (If you've ever spent time in an ICU or NICU just multiply that x3 with all the gadgets with bells and whistle that are going off constantly). THIS IS OUR LIFE :)

2 steps forward and 1 step back?

Hey all,
Well, Cade and Connor decided they would forget to breath a few times today. A few episodes of apnea prompted the docs to reintubate............and we were doing so well!! Looks like they will leave them like that and monitor closely and hopefully go back to high flow nasal canula tomorrow.
My little Rock Star, Alex, is still kickin it on his own.
We are still trying to figure out the feedings (Alex made a huge poop today, Sweet). We have changed up some of the liquid diet to have a little less sugar content so we can get their blood sugar closer to where we want it.

Well, we have been prepped about the roller coaster that is the NICU - ups and downs - and I guess the "honeymoon period" is over. So far everyone is doing well - just wish we could fast forward through all the tuff stuff and bring them home!

Thanks for all the prayers
Justin

Barkley Hininger

Well we didn't want to leave out our first child, Barkley the Goldendoodle. We love her as much today as the day we brought her home (and she will no doubt have a big presence on the blog)! She is excited to be a big sister!

Alex's little video

Cade's little video

Connor's little video

Sorry three kids at once take a lot of space to show off :)

And a couple more

Yes that clock is AM - our great nurse Allison standing under clock
our mega suite in the NICU

Takes two photos to get it all in :)

Yaaay going home after 18 days, bittersweet!

pappa holding Cade to get him to stop crying

A few more pics from this week

Alex sun tanning
Proud parents just after delivery

A few of the army of people in the OR at 3AM

Our 2 excellent drs delivering the boys

Cade meeting mama for the first time

Alex Chase Hininger

Our Baby C was the first to want out, but the last to be born. Alex was always the wild one in my belly, constatntly kicking and moving around. We knew he would be a handfull. Alex is just not comfortable unless at least one leg is kicked out (Justin sleeps the exact same way). He is also doing great. I got to take his temperature and change his diaper today! I never new you could feel such joy in performing such a small task, but I LOVED every second of it.

Cade Logan Hininger

Our Baby B was born at approx. 3:31 am and came out crying. It was such an amazing sound to actually hear him! Cade is our "big boy". He definitely has found his voice. Justin and I got our first sense of accomplishment comforting him until he stopped crying. He also was the first one of the boys to move off the ventilator (this pic is from day 1 while still on vent). He made that decision for himself when he pulled the tubes out and decided to breath on his own. We were so proud! He is always looking around and could melt anyone's heart with those eyes.

Connor Luke Hininger

Our baby A was the first to arrive at approx. 3:30 am on June 13th. Connor entered the world feet first. Justin could not believe it when he first saw those little legs. So far he is doing very well and seems to be the calm one of the three. Everytime I see him he is just resting so peacfully (probably relieved to be out from under his two brothers). Connor is breathing on his own with a high flow nasal canula and is working up to feedings. Connor strongly resembles his identical twin brother, Alex, but Justin and I think they all look just a little different from one another.

Not a boring patient any more!!!!!!

2:30 am Friday June 12, 2009 - like any other night in the hospital, I get up for the 4th time to go to the bathroom. Nothing new. That is until I am washing my hands and feel like I just urinated again right down my legs. With an obvious sense of urgency I call in the nurse and tell her what happened. She preforms a test on the puddle I left in the bathroom in front of the sink, no shock here - it's amniotic fluid. 27 weeks, 5 days not good. At this rate there is no way I'm making it to my goal of 34 weeks (unrealistic I know, but if you don't set lofty goals, how do you expect to ever achieve greatness).

Next step: Call Justin

After calling his cell, TWICE, and the house he finally answers: "Sniffle, Sniffle, Sob, Sob, You better come up here now" "Be there in 10" click

The nurses now put on the 4 monitors to watch contractions, and all the babies' heart rates, I am used to this as it is done twice daily. I feel like I'm wrapped up like a mummy with straps completely encompassing this giant protrusion where my belly button use to be.

Justin arrives and the the poor Dr on call comes in to preform exam. He explains to us what most likely happened and what is going to happen.

I know he was just staring at the clock waiting for his shift to be over - NO ONE in there wanted to deliver 27 5/7 week trips at 4 in the morning with a skeleton crew.......Especially ME!

Contractions finally subdued and Dr. Lakin comes in to assess the situation. After a consult with our high risk specialist who also came in we all decide - We're not ready for these babies to come.
Bring on the MAG WASH - for those of you who don't know, a mag wash is an IV delivered Solution of Magnesium Sulfate that is given in bolus form - large dose very quickly - then continually pumped in at a slower pace. I believe the sole purpose of this medicine is to make you feel like ABSOLUTE GARBAGE!!! Actually used as last resort to knock out contractions and hold off labor.

On top of feeling, probably the worst I have ever felt, I am now officially in labor. I've been having contractions for weeks and weeks with some slight discomfort and pressure - but no amount of explanation can describe the pain that comes along with this.

New Goal: Hold off for 48 hrs to allow the 2 giant doses of steroids to help these boys' lungs develop. Both Dr. Lakin and Dr. Blake leave their clinic to check on me frequently throughout the day (They are absolutely awesome).

Mid Afternoon and no sign of letting up on contractions - and/or pain.......

Another bolus of the most God awful substance on earth, MgSO4.

OK we are gonna make it through the night......

Well, They're Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next few posts will be out of chronological order as the last few days have been kinda crazy so I'll start by telling you the pertinate info that everyone asks for.

Birthday/time
Name
weight
length

June 13, 2009 3:30 AM
Connor Luke Hininger (Baby A) (identical twin)
1lbs 15oz
13 inches

June 13, 2009 3:31
Cade Logan Hininger (Baby C)
2lbs 3 oz
14 inches

June 13, 2009 3:32
Alex Chase Hininger (Baby B) (identical twin)
1lbs 15oz
13 inches

Getting a Van Today? I don't think so!

After weeks of looking for the perfect family truckster, Justin found "the ONE". Although he has found "the ONE" several times, sigh, this one was actually in OKC instead of Kansas City or Dallas. He has been instructed not to get too far from town.


Well, Baby B decided he was ready to get the party started this morning at around 3 AM(more on this later) so needless to say, we still have 3 giant car seats and no vehicle to put them in. Oh well, we have time.....Right?

Cravings

I'm not really a picky eater. If you have ever spent time around me while eating, you will probably disagree. I like what I like and don't like what I don't. The likes are easy, "plain with nothing on it" is very common vernacular around our house. I was kind of looking forward to cravings. I have heard the stories of people who were relatively plain eaters, that got the urges from their baby's (or babies' in my case) for things like green beans, vegetables, etc.......you know the nutrients to get them big and strong.

My only craving - COKE!!! Not Diet Coke, not Coke Zero, definitely not caffeine free Diet Coke, Just good ole plain Coca Cola Classic. The Red Can from Heaven.

How is this fair? Besides cigarettes and booze, isn't caffeine the next highest on the no-no list. My only craving and it has to stay just out of reach............OK snow cones will do!

Glucose test, What????

As if eating hospital food 3+ times a day wasn't bad enough, I had to take a test this morning to check my glucose level. This involved skipping breakfast, drinking a nasty sugar solution and having my blood drawn and tested.

Naturally..........I failed miserably.

So now, with a possible diagnosis of gestational diabetes - my menu, which was difficult enough to choose from, was cut in half and most of the things that I actually could tolerate were eliminated from the choices. Excellent (please note the sarcasm)

My one comfort was the fact that I could eat what I wanted....this big room just got a lot smaller :(

Well, I have nothing but time on my hands so I elected to take the 3 hour - worst glucose test. More fasting, worst sugary solution, more blood draws. I PASSED! Totally Worth It. M&M's here I come!

After a few days of feeling like I was gonna starve - Three boys sure do eat a lot -and countless finger pricks, I'm back to my semi tolerable normal menu choices. Justin makes frequent fast food stops for me though.

I can make it

26 Weeks 3 Days

So I decided (after much prompting from friends) to start a blog. Hopefully I can get the hang of this and keep everyone updated on the status of our rapidly expanding family. So far I have survived six days in the hospital on bed rest! That is quite an accomplishment. I was addmitted last Friday to help prevent preterm labor. I have been having contractions off and on for several weeks now, but they were starting to become a little too frequent. Now I am being monitored around the clock to make sure that the contractions don't get too close together. The doctor has me on a few different medications to help control the contractions. I am currently 26 weeks and 3 days! Although I am so excited to see these three little boys we are trying to keep them in until at least 32 weeks. I will attempt to post some pictures, but bare with me while I get the hang of this blogging thing!