Hitting Milestones

September 8:
Unfortunately, due to the way they calculate the boys “corrected age,” they lost 6 days. (Crystal was 31 6/7 when she delivered, so the boys were considered 31 and 0/7 weeks old when they were born). The neonatologists have specific corrected ages when they will let the babies attempt various things, including attempting to eat on their own. The boys have been very awake during their care times. This is one requirement for beginning to have them eat, rather than have them be fed through their feeding tube. They won’t let the boys even attempt to take a bottle until next week which really stinks, but Crystal was allowed to do non-nutritive nursing with the boys today. Crystal worked all day with the boys on this, but they are definitely still developing their sucking reflex.

September 9:
Today was Daddy’s birthday. The boys’ night nurse, Nurse Jillian, made a footprint card for daddy from the boys. It is great. We have been pushing to try to get Dane off the nasal cannula and today the nurse got the okay to attempt it. He was off it for about 30 minutes, but started to have oxygen saturation issues again and had to go back on it. We really can’t wait for him to get off of it.

Our nurse taught Crystal how to do kangaroo care today. Kangaroo care is something that has been proven to help babies grow and also helps with a mom’s milk supply. Basically, it is skin to skin contact with the boys in their diaper lying on mom. It was great for Crystal to get some good snuggle time with the boys and a nice nap in during the day.

September 10:
The lactation consultants came up today to see how Crystal was doing with the boys and all the fun that comes with breastfeeding preemies. She was amazed at how well they were doing for their age. She also gave Crystal some pointers on how to get more consecutive hours of sleep at night.

September 11:
Today was a long day because Kenny had to close. On these days, we still head up to the hospital at 8 a.m. so that Kenny can get some time with the boys. This allows him to be a part of each of their care times twice. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get back to the hospital to pick Crystal up until around 9:30 and we usually don’t leave until 10 by the time we pack up and get going.
Today was a monumental day for progress for the boys, though. Nyle’s cord fell off and Dane came off the nasal cannula and stayed off of it.

Here’s a picture of him without the nasal cannula.

With the nasal cannula off, Dane’s feeding tube can now be put into his nose to help him with learning to eat with his mouth.

The boys are slowly losing everything that is attached to them (temperature monitors, breathing assistance, oxygen saturation monitor, etc.). The more they can get rid of, the more quickly we should be able to head home!!!

September 12:
Today was another long day because Kenny closed. Crystal has been really tired for the past few days and not eating enough. Since she’s supposed to be eating more calories now than when she was pregnant, she is going to focus on herself a little more today. She’s going to try to get some sleep and make sure she is eating enough. To do this, she is going to attempt the non-nutritive nursing a little less frequently.

The boys are hitting some big milestones and getting us closer and closer to going home. We came into the boys room this morning to see Dane in an open air crib!!!!! How exciting.

Here’s a shot of what we saw first thing this morning.

We had other milestones too. Dane’s cord fell off during the night. Nyle finishes his feeding protocol today, so we will see how his feedings will change. Dane should finish his protocol tomorrow. Yeah!! Nyle’s IV is also coming out today. They will leave it in his foot still, in case his blood sugar goes out of whack, but will disconnect all the tubing, etc. Dane’s should do the same tomorrow. Nyle will begin getting his caffiene through his feeding tube instead of through his IV. If Dane continues to do well with his oxygen levels, his feeding tube will move to his nose tonight to make nursing much easier. Nyle’s feeding tube was moved today and he had a rough time of it. You’d fight having something, even that small, shoved down your nose into your belly. We are getting closer to home every day.

September 13th:
We came to the hospital today to discover that Nyle’s IV was completely removed overnight.

With the IV out, Nyle can finally wear some of the adorable sleepers that Grandpa Hardesty got for him.

Dane’s IV came out today. They took it out immediately because he had never had any issues with his blood sugar. Nyle hadn’t either, but many times, the boys get treated differently depending on which doctor is doing rounds that day.

September 14:
Today was quite eventful for the boys. Nurse Jan took the time today to teach Crystal how to give the boys a bath. Getting them in and out of their beds and doing their care times is much easier since they no longer have their IVs, but they still have their heart and breathing leads on. It is quite an event to do their baths because the tub has to be brought into the room as well as a heat lamp to keep them warm. This is especially important now that Dane is in an open air crib. Nyle is still in the isolette, so he gets some help with staying warm. Crystal and Jan gave Dane a bath first. Crystal made the mistake of getting Dane naked, then testing the water temperature and touching Dane’s naked bottom with her warm hand. He peed all over her. His bath went well and he enjoyed it. He didn’t like coming out and being cold, but warmed up pretty quickly after getting dressed again and covered up with a blanket. Crystal gave Nyle his first bath at his next care time. That went really well too and Nyle really liked the warm water. He handled the cold air pretty well, but definitely liked being wrapped up afterwards. Baths have to be done before they eat or they will get sick, and it really wears them out, so the nurses discouraged any nursing attempts. We just pushed the boys’ food through their tubes and Crystal held them while they ate. Because we had to work so quickly for these baths, we weren’t able to get any pictures, but we’ll have our memories.

September 15:
Nyle got moved to crib today, finally!!

Now the boys only have to be eating on their own to go home!!! We attempted nutritive nursing today, but didn’t have any luck. Any amount of milk the boys might get through nursing has to be taken into consideration, so before nursing them, Crystal has to weigh them, feed them, then weigh them again. The difference in weight in grams is then subtracted from the rest of their feeding. Neither boy was getting any milk today, but they are still getting the hang of things.

More Phototherapy

Saturday Sep 4th – Dane’s biliruben levels are high again, so they have decided to put him on a biliblanket. It gave off a nice “pool light” illumination to the room.





We also came into the NICU today to find out that they had moved the boys to smaller room because 27 week twins would be coming in soon and they need that bigger room for their equipment. We totally understand that because we’d want someone to do the same for us. Although they pulled the boys out of the big room, they did keep them together in the smaller room. That makes it much easier to spend time with both of them and not feel like we are neglecting one or the other.

Sunday Sep 5th – Who knew that one day we’d be praying for the boys to have a poopy diaper. Since their biliruben levels are up and they are slightly jaundice, the nurses have said that all they need to do is just poop, and the color will go away. Thankfully, today was the day! After days with no dirty diapers, we got two poopy diapers from Nyle and one from Dane! Who would have thought that something like this could make us so happy?
We are starting to see the boys’ personalities a little more each day. Neither like having their temperature taken (it’s only in the armpit). The night nurses say Dane has such personality, but he is so quite during the day. Nyle is the one with personality when we are there.

Sep. 6th – Grandma and Grandpa McMasters came up to visit with Uncle Tanner and his girlfriend, Sydney today.

Here’s a shot of Grandma with Dane



Nyle's biliruben levels were high today so they decided to put him on the BiliBlanket.
Doctors say everything is going great. We need to get through the feeding protocol, then we will work on non-nutritive nursing. Non-nutritive nursing is when Crystal will pump before the boys’ care times, but while they are getting fed through their tubes, we will get them to latch on like they are feeding. This is supposed to help them put together nursing with their bellies getting full.
The boys are working on keeping their temperatures up as the isolette temperatures go down. They are both doing great with this, and we hope they’ll be in an open air crib by the end of the week.

One Week Old

Friday, Sep 4th

The boys are 1 week old today.

Here's Dane

Here's Nyle

Nyle’s feeding tube moved from his mouth to his nose today to get him working more on his sucking reflexes without the tube in the way. The nurses have been teaching both of us more and more everyday. They are allowing us to get the boys in and out of the isolette on our own, swaddle them ourselves, and change their clothes, bedding, etc. Feedings continue to increase for each day for both of the babies.

Today was a great day for Crystal. She got to hold both babies at the same time. The boy’s nurse took some pictures for us. Crystal loved this time, but found that holding the boys together sucks the life out of her no differently than holding them individually. She finally had to put both of them back into their isolettes because she couldn’t stay awake.

Here are a few shots of her holding both of them.

Going Home and Finding a Rhythm

September 1st
Crystal was released from hospital today. Here are a few shots of her kicking back in the hospital, dealing with the swelling that happened after the delivery. Her feet were really aching.

Kenny had gone to work and had to close, so the nurses let Crystal wait to be discharged until late afternoon. That way, she could still have a place to rest and could order food rather than pay for it. Kenny had taken all of their things to the car before he left for work. He came back to pick Crystal up once he got off work. It was very difficult to leave tonight. It’s hard to know that you are going home and your babies can’t come with you.

September 2nd
Kenny is back to work full time for now and will bring Crystal up every morning but today he had the day off. We decided that since today is Dad’s day’s off, we wouldn’t accept any visitors, to allow Kenny as much time as possible with the boys. For us, the best time for visitors has been during the boys care times. That off hour is just too difficult to get everything done that needs to get done and entertain people. We are getting into a rhythm with the boys schedule. Right now, we start at 8 a.m. with our day looking like this: Nyle’s care (diaper change, temperature, blood pressure, etc), snuggle with Nyle, Dane’s care, snuggle with Dane, 1 hour break. Unfortunately, in that hour, Crystal has to pump, potty, eat, drink, return phone calls, etc. Once that hour is over, we start all over again. With such a busy schedule, it makes the days fly by.

Here's a shot of Crystal snuggling with Dane after one of his care times.

Today, the nurses tried Dane off of the nasal cannula but he was breathing too fast again, so they put it back on him. He should be done with it soon.

Sep. 3rd – Today, we came in to see that they had moved the boys into the same room. They are in a huge room now. It is big enough for 2 recliners and is great for resting.

Here are a few shots of Kenny doing some care with the boys.

Suntans and Feeding Tubes

August 30th
Kenny’s mom and step dad came up for a visit today. They got to see the boys looking cool with their phototherapy glasses on. Their biliruben levels (jaundice indicator) were a little high, so they had to be put under a really bright light. Because the light is so bright and the boys eyes are also very premature, they have to wear some foam sunglasses that strap around their head. They are unswaddled and stripped down to just their diaper, which most babies don’t like, but Dane and Nyle didn’t seem to mind. They looked like they enojoyed their time in the sun.

Here’s a shot of Nyle and Dane. Their futures’ so bright… (I know it’s lame, but the kids are cute.)

Nyle also began getting breastmilk through a feeding tube today (that’s what is coming out of their mouths in the pictures. They tape the tube to the boys chin to keep it in the correct place. At 6 hour intervals, the nurse will check for aspirate to see what is left in his stomach and not digested yet. If the amount left is okay per a feeding protocol, they will then give them more milk. If there is too much they will skip that feeding. Before this, all of their nutrition came only from their IVs. They boys will remain on their IVs, though, until they are taking more food each day.

August 31st
Dane started getting fed through the feeding tube today. Since he is a little bit bigger than Nyle, he gets more food at each feeding. Dane was a little later getting mik because they were trying to let the blood that he swallowed during delivery work its way through his system. They are both only getting very small amounts (2 or 3 ccs per feeding). Each day, though, the feedings will increase by 2 ccs until they get to 6. Then the feeding schedule changes to every 3 hours. This also changes their care times from every 4 hours to every 3 hours.

The nurses have begun to change the temperature of the boys isolettes based on their temperature at care times, rather than based on a constant monitoring of their body temperature. The little silver leads on their bellies in some of the pictures is what monitored their body temperature and that fed their temperatures to the isolette and it automatically adjusted the temperature inside. The temperature of the isolettes have begun to come down slowly as the boys are showing that they can hold their own temperature.

Dad's First Diaper

August 29th
We headed down to see the boys in the morning. When we got down there, we discovered that Nyle was already off the CPAP machine and that Dane would come off in a few hours. That put both boys on room air in a little over 24 hours. That is spectacular.

Here’s Dane with no breathing assistance, waving to the camera. The things on his cheeks are the velcro that is used to hold the CPAP to his face. The "mustache" came off shortly after this picture was taken.


Here’s Nyle with no breathing assistance.


There were plenty of visitors today. Besides Crystal’s mom and sister, Tennille, Crystal’s Dad, Grandma Hardesty, sister, Jill, and niece, Maddie, all came up to visit and see the boys.
Here’s Crystal and Grandpa checking in on Nyle.


Kenny got taught how to change a diaper today. He did well, considering it was his first diaper ever, Crystal’s entire family was watching, it was through an isolette, and it was meconium. Kenny had also just been told to be very gentle with the boys because they’re nervous system is still developing, so rubbing and caressing can be painful. However, to clean up meconium with just a wet towel, you have to rub a little. Dane made it through the ordeal unscathed. Here’s the progression:

Dad – ready to go


Getting the diaper off


Trying to wipe


Help from Nurse Quinna with Dane’s legs


Trying to wipe again


“You teach me – I promise I’ll do the next one”


All done, phew!


Kenny went back to work for a half day today, since he hadn’t really been into work for almost a week. He really didn’t want to leave and Crystal didn’t really want him to go either, but we decided we’d rather have him take time off of work once the boys are released and at home.

The Boys' Birthday

It has been a crazy few months. Crystal hasn’t been able to update the blog because we have a desktop at home and it wasn’t worth setting upwireless to update while she was on bed rest and since the boys have been home, who’s had time to sit at the computer? She has been good about journaling through all of this, so she is going to update the blog in pieces and hopefully be able to fill everyone in with the information about what has happened for the past 4 months. We’ll start with late August and go from there.

Bed rest at home went really well. We had a doctor’s appointment once a week that included and ultrasound and then had non-stress tests (NSTs) twice a week. These monitor for contractions as well as the babies heartrates. On Tuesday, August 24th, we went in for our final cervical length ultrasound and our final doctor’s appointment with the perinatologist. Crystal had begun having contractions the week before, but they weren’t painful and would only happen occassionally. At the appointment, she was released to go back to the regular OB’s office and forget about their place. This was because we were halfway through our 32nd week of the pregnancy and everything was looking great. We had an NST that day as well and Crystal had a few contractions, so they gave her a shot of Turbutaline to help stop them. She’d had this before and it worked, so we weren’t concerned at all. The worst part about the turbutaline is that it gives Crystal the shakes and it stings pretty bad going in. Since things looked so good, we headed home, excited that we’d made it to the point where we could go to our regular doctor.

Unfortunately, things started to change later that afternoon and evening. Previously, the turbutaline had stopped contractions for about 5 hours and spaced them out to only a few, if any in an hour. This day, though, the contractions came back within an hour. They were still spaced apart, but around 7 p.m. things started to pick up and we started timing them. After an hour, Crystal had about 15 contractions, so we called labor and delivery to see what they wanted us to do. They said to come on up, so we headed to the hospital. We got there around 9 p.m. and they immediately put Crystal on the monitor. The contractions were very regular, so the doctor ordered more turb. The first dose didn’t really work, so they ordered a second dose. That didn’t appear to help either, so the doctor decided to give Crystal an oral medication called ProCardia. That didn’t help immediately either, so he went back to the turb and followed it with another dose of ProCardia 15 minutes later. This combination did the trick and the contractions spaced out to 20 minutes. We finally got the okay to go home at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning if we wanted to. We decided that we would, with the oral prescription to help keep the contractions spaced out. Crystal had to schedule a follow-up appointment in the office for Thursday and closely monitor contractions to make sure they didn’t start up again. If they did, we were to call the office or Labor and Delivery.

Wednesday morning was a restful morning because we both desperately needed it after the night we had. Crystal got her appointment scheduled, but around 3 p.m. that afternoon, the contractions started coming back. She called the doctor’s office, but since it was so late, they said if they got worse, to head to the hospital. Kenny was preparing to go to work, so Crystal was going to ride into Kalamazoo with him and stay with friends in case things got worse. We were questioning whether or not we should just go to the hospital, so Kenny decided that since we didn’t know what to do, it would be best just to head up to triage again.

We got there around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. After monitoring again for a while, they decided that they were readmitting Crystal with failed home tocolitis (bedrest at home). Crystal was crushed after all we’ve been through and knew as we drove to the hospital that she probably wouldn’t be coming home until the boys were born, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. After another shot of turb with no luck, they started an IV on Crystal and began giving her a medicine called magnesium sulfate. They called this medicine the “Big Guns.” Needless to say it wasn’t a pleasant experience for Crystal. When you are on this medication your fluids in and out have to be measured, and it makes you have to go to the bathroom more frequently. Wednesday night/Thursday morning were really rough. At times, the monitor showed that the contraction had stopped, but Crystal was still feeling incredible pressure and tightening on her sides. They also had to increase the amount given to the maximum just to get the contractions under control to start with. There were stretches of time where there was just no relief. Thankfully, this slowed and we were both able to get some rest that night. Thursday during the day went much better, they were able to decrease the dosage. One side effect of this medicine is also that it makes you very warm and lethargic. Kenny had the thermostat in the room set a 55 degrees and Crystal still felt like she was on fire. Crystal’s sister, Tennille decided to come up Thursday night to be available in case something happened. Thursday night was a very rough night. Contractions continued at about every 10 minutes and Crystal was up and down every 30 minutes to go to the bathroom, so her sleep was in small segments. That also meant Kenny’s sleep was in 30 minute segments because Crystal needed help getting up to walk to the bathroom.

Even though it was a fairly rough night, we anticipated just more of the same for Friday. The nurses would be available to help Crystal with her bathroom breaks and things, so we decided to have Kenny go to work. He had to be there at 7 a.m. so he left for work around 6:45. Around 7:25, Crystal had 3 really rough contractions, so she called her nurse at 7:35 and asked to be put on the monitors. The nurse put everyone on the monitor, then got Dr. Hendricks from the desk outside. Immediately, the decision was made to take Crystal down to triage. On the way downstairs, we met up with the ultrasound folks who pushed ahead of us to get the machine plugged in and warmed up to look at the babies. At this point, Crystal really didn’t know what was going on, so emotions were running wild. She just knew that something was wrong. Later on, her nurse said that she was giving off some strong signals that things weren’t right and the nurse went by those to figure out what to do. We don’t know if she would have been able to determine those signals if Crystal hadn’t already spent so much time up in antepartum.

Dr. Hendricks did a quick ultrasound looking at Baby B because Crystal told her that he’d been moving less than Baby A. After the ultrasound, Dr. Hendricks immediately told the nurses to prep Crystal for surgery. She was so calm and just told Crystal that everything was fine right now, but we had to go get het boys now. While the nurses were prepping Crystal, she asked one to call both Kenny and Tennille to get both of them here. They were on top of it right away. Crystal was quickly taken to the OR, got to move herself to the table and was finished getting prepped for an emergency Cesearean section. She remembers telling Dr. Hendricks that the boys names were Dane and Nyle and whoever was born first would be Dane. After that, the anesthisiologist told Crystal to close her eyes and think of sweet dreams and when she woke up she’d be a mother.

Crystal’s nurse was able to reach Kenny and Tennille. Of course Kenny “flew” to the hospital from Gander Mountain, but thankfully, arrived safely. He got changed into scrubs and was able to get into the OR just in time to see Nyle being born. He was told if he wanted to go see them he could. Dane was already on the warming table when Kenny got in the room.

While the doctor and nurses finished up with Crystal, Kenny went with the boys to the NICU. Doctors and nurses were running back and forth between the boys two rooms getting them stabilized and all set up on the respirators and making sure there were no major complications with them that needed addressed.

So, we were blessed with two beautiful baby boys:
Dane Richard Sattler – 4 lb. 14 oz, 17.25 in. long, born 8:17, August 28, 2009


Nyle Andrew Sattler – 3 lb. 8 oz., 16.5 in. long, born 8:18, August 28, 2009

Crystal was moved to recovery while Kenny spent some time with the boys. Dr. Hendricks came in to tell her that although she probably wouldn’t remember too much of the conversation, but that everything went really well during the delivery. The reason for the emergency was that Nyle’s placenta abrupted, causing his heartrate to drop. During delivery, Dane then swallowed a bunch of blood from the abruption, so he had a few issues at the start, but was doing well. She said the boys looked great and told Crystal their weights.

Once the boys were stable and Crystal was stable enough in recovery, Kenny came into recovery to be with Crystal. The nurse got her morphine set up for pain and Kenny got to feed Crystal ice chips since they wouldn’t let her have any water. They allowed Crystal to sit up in stages, but she began to feel light-headed and her blood pressure plummetted. The nurse called the doctor and they determined that Crystal’s hemoglobin levels should be checked. Of course, they were extremely low, so she was going to have to have some blood. They decided, however, that they would wait to do that until they got Crystal up to her room in the Mother/Baby unit. On the way up to the room, they took us through the NICU so that Crystal could see the boys. At the time, the boys were still on the respirators and were in separate rooms that were next to each other. The visit was only brief with the promise that as soon as Crystal’s hemoglobin levels were acceptable, she could come back down to see them.

Once in Mother/Baby, the nurses started with 2 units of blood. Unfortunately, after the blood was all in and flushed, we had to wait 2 hours before doing the blood draw for testing and the results took about 1-1/2 hours to get back. During this time, Crystal’s mom had made it up from Indiana and Kenny was able to take both her mom and Tennille down to see the babies. During one of these visits, the boys had been removed from the respirators and started on CPAP machines for apnea. Doctors had told us to expect them to be on the CPAP machines for 2-3 days.

Crystal’s blood work came back and her hemoglobin levels were still pretty low, so she was told that she would have to take 2 more units of blood. At this point, it was already into night shift (after 7:30). It took about 1.5 hours per unit of blood, so that meant it would be a long time still before we could go back down together to the NICU. Thankfully, my nurse said we could go down once the blood was in and we didn’t have to wait until after the blood draw and results were back (they weren’t going to draw blood until 6 a.m. the next morning) Finally at about 2 a.m. Saturday morning, we were done with the blood and could get set to go downstairs. At this point, Crystal now had 2 IVs, each with a pump. One had morphine in it for her pain from the surgery and the other was still flushing for the blood. It took some dancing and work, but Crystal’s very patient nurse finally got everything set-up and connected to the wheelchair poles so that Kenny could push Crystal downstairs to see the boys.

The NICU was very intimidating with lots of machines, monitors, wires, and teeny tiny IVs. Even with all the wires on the boys and all the wires on Crystal, the nurse pulled Dane out and let Crystal hold him for a while.

Here’s Mom and Dad with Dane

Here’s Mom with Dane

The boys’ nurse taught us about care times. Basically, every 4 hours, the nurses would tend to the boys. This is when they would change diapers, take temperatures, poke the boys for blood sugar, measure blood pressure, and check the boys’ IVs. Obviously if they need something else prior to their hour, the nurse would tend to that, but the idea is that once their care is complete, they should be able to rest for as long as possible so they can grow and get healthy. She taught us about their isolettes (basically an incubator). These were set up to automatically adjust the temperature surrounding the boys based on their body temperature. If they are cold, it will warm up and if they are hot, it will cool down. The boys are also not on the same schedule. Dane is one hour and Nyle is another. This allows us to spend time with each of them. The parents are encouraged to participate in the baby’s care time. We are allowed to change diapers and take temperatures as well as help with calming the boys during any other poking and prodding, and we can always snuggle with them for a bit as long as their temperature stays up.

This pretty much sums up the boys birth. It was very eventful and stressful, but they arrived safe and sound with minimal issues. We are just so blessed to have these two tiny boys in our lives.

Growth & Going Home

We had an ultrasound today. The boys are growing great. Baby A is measuring 2 lb. 14 oz. and Baby B is 2 lb. 8 oz. Dr. Hendricks said this is actually ahead of schedule, so that makes us very happy. The fluid around the babies is larger than it has ever been. That's great news since Crystal is still on the medicine that can affect this.

Since the ultrasound was so good, things are still all set to go home tomorrow. That will be such a relief and we are both excited about sleeping in our own bed. We still have to finalize everything with upcoming appointments, medicines, prescriptions, etc. That shouldn't take a ton of time tomorrow. Kenny has emptied the hospital room and has everything all set to take home. Most of it will go home tonight and the rest tomorrow.

Needless to say, we are definitely excited and feel very blessed to have made it this far and being able to go home says a lot for how far we've come.

We're unsure of when our next post will go up because we don't have wireless at home and Crystal would look awfully funny trying to lie down at the desk to type up posts. We'll figure something out soon, though.

27 Weeks, 7 Years, and 6+ Weeks

It’s been longer between post that we intended, but Crystal’s been wrapped up in books and Kenny’s been working hard. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

7/22
Restful day today. No changes.

7/23
Ultrasound – Babies look great with fluid at great levels and the closed part of Crystal’s cervix is lengthening (that’s good news). Dr. Austin said he’d like to send us home in 10 days!!!

7/24
What an eventful day! Crystal got full bathroom privileges today which included all potty breaks and a shower!!! Who new that could be so exciting!!! Kenny spent the afternoon fishing with a friend and his daughters. That was a nice break for him.

7/25
27 weeks!!! We even had a pseudo date night and enjoyed a movie together. Happy birthday Tennille.

7/26
Babies are moving around like crazy!!

7/27
Our 7th anniversary, officially 6 weeks in the hospital, and another ultrasound day. The ultrasound was positive and Dr. Austin is pleased with what he was seeing and is still confident that we will be able to go home August 1st as long as the difference between the two babies doesn’t exceed 30%.

For our anniversary, Kenny brought up dinner, ice cream, and some beautiful yellow roses. He also arranged for a manicure and pedicure for Crystal on Thursday. Like we’ve blogged many times, he is amazing!!!

7/28
Crystal finished the Narnia series today. Who new she could read all day long?

7/29
Another glucose test – yuck!! Crystal passed it, though, so no finger pricking or insulin shots for the rest of the pregnancy. Lots of visitors today and Kenny brought Carrabba’s up for dinner. Yummy!!

7/30
Another ultrasound today. They were supposed to do the growth of the babies today, but somehow the paperwork got messed us, so we aren’t able to do it until tomorrow. That’s okay, though because Kenny will be able to go now.

Today is also manicure/pedicure day. Crystal greatly enjoyed the pampering! Today is also Kenny’s last day at Gander Mountain in Coldwater. It was an emotional day for him because the people at that store have become like family and he has learned so much from them. He will greatly miss seeing them daily. Sunday will be his first day back at the Kalamazoo store. He is looking forward to it, but is definitely a little anxious about returning as a manager instead of as an associate.

Crystal finished reading Twilight today. Now she’ll be able to relate to her small group girls even better.

26 Weeks!!

Well, we hit 5 weeks here on Monday and 26 weeks on Saturday. Here’s what’s been up the last week.

7/16
Ultrasound day – Crystal’s cervix is pretty short. Short enough that Crystal’s nurse stood her on her head again. One of the normal doctors is on vacation, so the doctor helping out isn’t very helpful. He didn’t provide much information, so we feel like things aren’t very good. For Crystal, this was one of the harder days since we’ve been here. Just not knowing if things are okay is worse than knowing one way or another. We definitely don’t like the uncertainty.

7/17
Kenny had the day off, so just before lunch, he went fishing with his gunsmith. We had a lot of visitors today and enjoyed all the company.

7/18
26 weeks! That means another shot today. Crystal’s nurse said that at this point, every day that we can keep the babies where they are, is worth 3 days in the NICU. That helps us feel like every day gains us so much!!

7/19
Kenny had today off, so we spent the day resting. It was much needed. Kenny’s been working like crazy and Crystal has just been tuckered out.

7/20
5 weeks in the hospital as of today and another ultrasound. The fluid around babies is being maintained, so the change in dosage and frequency of the medicine does not appear to be affecting the babies. Crystal’s cervix remains closed, but is still really short. She also got weighed again today. Even with all the goodies we’ve been eating, she’s not gaining weight, but the nurses and doctor’s don’t seem too concerned at this point. They just said that we need to get back to stuffing the calories down, so we’re going to start with Carnation shakes a couple times a day.

7/21
Dr. Austin is back today. He gave some good news. He is still confident that we’ll be able to go home at 28 weeks. That makes us feel so much better. Now we at least feel like the ultrasounds haven’t been bad. We just get so much more information out of him that we do from the “substitute” doctor. During the monitoring of the babies today, Crystal had a great conversation with Nurse Tori. She was very informative and was trying to provide some details for what to expect once we get to delivery as well as what to expect with the doctors and nurses in Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby. She just didn’t want me to be surprised that we’ll get less attention than we do up here. She is also so willing to provide information on her experiences. We’re grateful that there are nurses up here like her.

25 Weeks!

It’s hard to believe, but today is our 4 week mark. We have officially been in the hospital for 4 whole weeks. Believe it or not, it has flown by and we are amazed that it has been this long already. Good books and movies can make an afternoon fly by, so Crystal has taken advantages of these times. We can’t say enough how much we treasure our family, friends, doctors, and nurses for all they have done for use through this time. Here’s a brief recap of the last week. We didn’t cover all the days because some are pretty uneventful. We did try to cover all the good points

7/8 – 7/9
Crystal’s sister, Jill, and niece, Maddie came up to visit. There were no plans for anything too exciting, but sitting and visiting was really nice. On 7/9, we were scheduled for another ultrasound. This time it was a full anatomy ultrasound to determine the approximate weights of the babies and make sure they are growing well. Since Jill and Maddie were here, they got to see everything too.

Baby A is currently measuring 1 lb 12 oz and Baby B is 1 lb 8 oz. The fluid around the babies has increased back to a normal level; however, Crystal’s cervix continues to be slightly open. According to the doctors, this is what they expected and all it means is that Crystal will have to go back on the Indocin. They don’t like to keep people on it chronically, but it looks like that is our only real option. They definitely won’t keep Crystal on it once she reaches 30-32 weeks because then it could have adverse effects on the babies. Basically, the doctors just need to figure out the correct dosage and frequency to keep the cervix closed, but keep the fluid levels around the babies at an appropriate level.

There was a little concern at the ultrasound that the babies’ heart rates were really low, compared to what we’ve seen during monitoring. Crystal asked the doctor about this and was told that everything is fine. The babies’ autonomic nervous system (the part that makes your heart beat on its own or keeps you breathing without consciously thinking about it) is developing. The babies were resting, so their heart rates were lower, as would be expected.

Jill and Maddie, unfortunately had to take off – something about a camping trip the next week that had to be prepared for (we were supposed to be going with them, so we’re a little sad that we can’t). We were so glad to have them here for a visit and enjoyed their company.

A neonatologist came after everyone left to talk about survival rates of the babies based on their gender (girls fight more than boys apparently), weight, weeks of gestation, etc. Since we had the ultrasound and got weights today, they brought us information on the survival rates of the boys. We are at about a 60-70% survival rate at this time (24 weeks). This will continue to grow quite rapidly as we add weeks to the total. He also discussed what would happen if we went into labor today and how they would handle the babies, etc. He seemed very positive and added, any time we can keep getting where these babies stay put, the better.

The 9th was also Crystal’s mom’s birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!

7/11
This is the 25 week mark! Hard to believe we got into the hospital at 21 weeks!!! Today is the first day Crystal has really started noticing how quickly she can get out of breath and how uncomfortable she is on her back. She’s also experiencing some slight indigestion (standing on her head doesn’t help this).

Crystal’s mom, Grandma Hardesty, and Aunt Connie came up to visit for the day today. While they were here, the doctor stopped in and he is still confident that we can go home at 28 weeks if we stay on course like we have been. He filled Kenny in on all the details today since Kenny had been at work earlier in the week. We were a little leery because of the results of the last ultrasound.

While Crystal spent time visiting with all the women, Kenny headed home for the afternoon to try to cut down a tree at the house. Things didn’t go too well, though. He got quite a bit done, but couldn’t get the top of the tree to come off. Thankfully, a friend of a friend is willing to come out during the week to try to get it felled.

Crystal’s visit with her family was great and very enjoyable. Unfortunately, they had to head home that same day. Kenny got back to the hospital to say goodbye to everyone and then they headed out. We were so exhausted by the time the day was over, that we were in bed by 9:30.

7/13
Wow! It’s already been 4 weeks here! They boys have been stinkers all week when it comes to monitoring. We have a list of nurses who are lining up to hand out spankings once they are here. Today was much better, though. One baby had hiccups during monitoring which makes it hard to keep them on. The best part about this, though, was that today was the first time that Crystal could tell he had the hiccups. We’d seen them on ultrasound before, but feeling them is completely different.

Today is another ultrasound day. The babies are still doing great and getting 8/8 on their biophysical scans. Crystal’s cervix is short, but mostly closed, so the medicine is working. Her doctors said that the dosage is going to be changed to twice a day at a lower dosage instead of 4 times a day at the higher dose. Hopefully, this change will ensure that we can go home at a time that is appropriate and best for the babies. Only time will tell.

Major Milestone and a Little Bit of Normal

We were going to quit doing a day-by-day account of things, but so much has happened in the last week that we think it’s worth it for this week.

July 1st (23 wks 4 days)
Wow, it’s already July!!!! We’re getting closer to our first big milestone. No changes on the baby front today and nothing really exciting happened today.

July 2nd (23 wks 5 days)
Today was a great day. Kenny got to feel the babies move for the first time. We’ve been trying for a long time, but all he could ever feel was Crystal's pulse.

July 3rd (23 wks 6 days)
Ultrasound day with good and not so great news. The fluid around the babies has increased again. This is expected since the doctors had taken Crystal off the medicine. Because of the increase in fluid, that also increases the pressure on her cervix. The increased pressure has caused the cervix to open internally (still only dilated about 1 cm). Externally, the cervix is still closed. The doctors do not seem concerned.

The babies are also doing well. The bio-physical scan done by the ultrasound technician shows that one baby is practice breathing. This is ahead of schedule based on their gestation and is good news.

Kenny’s mom and step-dad came up for the afternoon. Their visit was great. It was nice to just sit around and chat.

July 4th (24 wks)
Happy 4th of July and happy 24 weeks!!! That means we have hit the first major milestone. This gives the babies a 60% chance of survival if they were born this week. This improves exponentially as we go each week. Crystal got another steroid shot today. This is the one that is to help prevent pre-term labor.

We did get a little bit of normalcy today. Dr. Hendricks arranged for all the moms on the floor to be wheeled out to a hallway so we could see some fireworks. She also had popcorn and caramel corn and the nurses brought some pop to enjoy while we watched. It’s nice to know that people think about the fact that life isn’t really “normal” for those of us here who are confined to a small room most days.

July 5th (24 wks 1 day)
Today was a restful day. After watching the Wimbledon Men’s championship match, we took naps and rested. No changes today on the baby front.

July 6th (24 wks 2 days)
Today we hit 3 weeks in the hospital. The 3rd week started off with a flurry of activity. Crystal had a blood draw first thing to look at iron levels and other standard tests. Then one of the two weekly ultrasounds was completed. Both babies were “practice breathing” and Crystal was still slightly dilated. When Crystal got back up to her room, her nurse offered to get her a new bed. Apparently the crater where her rear had been for the last 3 weeks isn’t normal. After getting the new bed in the room and the old bed out, it was time for the standard glucose test for gestational diabetes. Then Crystal had to wait for and hour for a 2nd blood draw. Thankfully, she passed this test. In the afternoon, we attempted to monitor the babies. That was quite the fiasco. The nurse ended up requesting that a doctor come up and do an ultrasound to try to pinpoint where to put the monitors. Unfortunately, this still didn’t help, so the doctor had an ultrasound tech come up. Still no real luck, so we got permission to pass on the daytime monitoring and only do nighttime monitoring.

Kenny spent some time after work at home and was able to finish painting the nursery. I’ll get him to take some pictures and will attach them when we can.

July 7th (24 wks 3 days)
Dr. Austin is finally back from his vacation. When he came in today he said he was very glad to see us still here. He told me that during his vacation he’d been praying for us and praying for the babies to make it to a point of viability. What was interesting is that he said God was telling him to pray for what he really wants – 34 weeks, not just viability. How often do you get a doctor telling you not only that he is praying for you, but that God is telling him to pray for what he really wants for us. He also said that the improvements we’ve made have only been through intervention, not through any of the doctors’ doing. Crazy, huh? Good news is that he told Crystal that if we make it to 28 weeks, he will probably send us home!!! That is a little bit scary, but also a bit of a relief. We like the fact that the doctors and nurses are always just a call away and if we have any concerns, we can ask questions and get answers immediately. It would be nice, though to be in a more comfortable environment. We’ll just have to see how it all works out in the next few weeks and play it by ear.

Kenny got some great news today too. We’ve been waiting for a long time to get a transfer date for him from Coldwater to Portage. Apparently, August 15th is the date!!! This will make a lot of things easier for both of us. We’ll be able to, hopefully, nail down a day care as well as a pediatrician soon, since it will now make sense for them to both be in Kalamazoo/Portage or somewhere between Battle Creek and there.

Minor Milestones

Here’s what’s been up for the last week or so. Things are looking good and constantly improving. We’ll try to get this updated every Tuesday and Friday after we’ve had ultrasounds and actually have relevant baby information to pass along. So far, none of us have gone nuts and we’re able to relax and get some rest.

June 21st (22 wks 1 day)
Kenny got the dogs all packed up today so his mom could take them back to the Lafayette area with her. That is a big stress relief not having to worry about getting them let out and getting them enough attention. We both will miss them, though.

No changes on the baby front. It was a pretty low key day with no visitors, allowing Crystal to get some rest.

June 22nd (22 wks 2 days)
Who new we’d be counting this pregnancy in days at this point instead of weeks for months? Wimbeldon started today and Crystal loves watching tennis, so this has helped keep her occupied. Crystal was reading in a book today and came across the following:

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Ecclesiastes 7:14

We aren’t really feeling like these are bad times, but they are trying times. We had a few visitors and a few phone calls from family today. Kenny was wiped out from early mornings and late nights, so he went to bed early. More good news - Crystal is now done with the antibiotics

June 23rd (22 wks 3 days)
Ultrasound day!!! Crystal gets ultrasounds every Tuesday and Friday. Today is one of those days. They look at her cervix to get an idea of whether or not it is closing up. Today, things look like they are improving. They still aren’t where we want them, but they are moving in that direction. The doctor was very positive and stated that he feels like we’ll be able to get a lot of time out of this pregnancy.

Crystal had a few more visitors today too. The physical therapist also came in to give her some exercises to help keep some mobility since she isn’t doing any load bearing. Crystal read the first book in the Narnia series – The Magician’s Nephew.

June 24th (22 wks 4 days)
Kenny got some much needed rest today and got to hit the lake with Phil and Phil. He needed some time away from the house and the hospital. We received a very nice plant from our church today and had a few phone calls from friends.

Crystal was visited by the dietician today who told her she still needs to be consuming about 3000 calories daily. That’s a ton!!!! Some more friends came up for a visit and brought dinner. Amber got Crystal all set up with a facebook page so she can occupy some of her time with that. She also helped Crystal learn a little bit more about how to make this blog look better. She has to upgrade her internet browser and can’t do that with the computer she is on.

Another milestone today – The nurses taught us how to wash Crystal's hair with real water and shampoo. It’s amazing the little things that you take for granted.

June 25th (22 wks 5 days)
Kenny got up again early today, but it was to hit the lake again with a friend. Unfortunately, it was extremely hot again today, so they didn’t have a ton of luck. Crystal’s sister Tennille came up to visit too. It was great to be able to spend the day just relaxing and talking to each other. Tennille also brought some cards up from Wyatt, Chloe, and Levi. They are great homemade cards! We all hung out in the afternoon and watched a movie. Kenny went home and Tennille spent the night at the hospital with Crystal. It was the first time since we’ve been here that Kenny slept at home.

June 26th (22 wks 6 days)
Another ultrasound day! We headed down to ultrasound pretty early. Everything was looking great and the technician actually said she wasn’t going to measure anything as far as being dilated. The weirdest thing happened though. As she was looking at things, Crystal’s cervix just opened up a bit. She measured after that, but was right at 1 cm. Things are closed up externally, though, so this is definitely progress. We are just hoping that it will be completely closed soon.

Some friends brought lunch up to us and we had a nice visit. Tennille then finished up a manicure for Crystal (yes, she did love it!). Some more friends came up in the afternoon, but unfortunately, Tennille needed to head home around 6. Crystal got a lot of cards and phone calls today as well (who doesn’t love getting mail?).

We did promise some pictures of Crystal so everyone could see how she and the babies are growing. Tennille took a few pictures before leaving.

It's hard to tell that Crystal's belly is getting really big because of the position she is in, but those babies are definitely growing.

Here's a shot of the position Crystal has to be in most of the time. She can roll to either side, but that's about it. The white things on her legs fill with air to squeeze her calves to help with circulation to avoid blood clots.

June 27th (23 wks)
This is the 23 week mark. Only one more week until we hit our first major milestone! Since we hit 23 weeks, Crystal’s doctor decided that it was time to start steroid shots to help improve the babies’ lung development. Boy did those hurt. She had to get two shots today and will have one tomorrow.

Today was pretty uneventful, except that Crystal’s aunt and uncle surprised us with a visit. We also had a card night with the Kilian’s. Not that we’re keeping track, but Crystal and Amber did win 2 games to 1.

June 28th (23 wks 1 day)
It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for 2 weeks!!! Today was pretty restful in the morning with a few phone calls and a few visitors in the afternoon. My doctor asked that we start monitoring the babies heartrates for 30 minutes at a time starting today. It took the nurses almost 2 hours to try to find them and then we still never got a really good read. They just won’t hold still at this point. After that, they decided to move us again. By then it was about 9:30 at night. The move was well worth it, though. We are now in a very large room. It’s so big that the bathroom has a separate thermostat in it. This is supposed to be our permanent room until we deliver.

June 29th (23 wks 2 days)
We attempted to monitor the babies again today after breakfast. They were much more cooperative today and we actually got about 30 minutes with both babies. Crystal had a few visitors and phone calls, then took a short nap in the afternoon. A friend brought dinner up for the evening to give us a break from the hospital food and from eating out. We had some more visitors after dinner too.

June 30th (23 wks 3 days)
Ultrasound day! Things looked really good in Crystal’s eyes. After breakfast, we attempted to monitor the babies again, but they weren’t very cooperative. The doctor came in to try to help find them as well, but ended up ordering a full bio-scan of the babies to monitor for movement. That meant going back down to ultrasound again. Crystal’s nurse came in after the ultrasound and said her cervix looks fantastic. That’s right – it is all closed up. She also said the scores the babies received for the monitoring were excellent and one is a little ahead of schedule (already practice breathing). Since things looked so good, Crystal’s doctor gave her permission to get up to go the bathroom once a day. Another major milestone!!!!! Crystal was amazed at how unstable she felt getting up for the first time. Her calves are just really tight, emphasizing how important it is for her to do the physical therapy that has been given to her. They are also taking Crystal off the medicine to stop contractions and to limit the amount of fluid the babies are outputting. This was to help relieve pressure off the cervix and get it closed up. From the ultrasound, it looks like the babies’ fluid has decreased quite a bit, so they want that to build up again. Since that’s the case, they are taking her off the medicine. That now means her last set of meds is around 8 p.m. and then she doesn’t get any again until 8-9 a.m. No more waking up at midnight and 6 a.m. for pills.

Crystal’s friend brought lunch up and taught her how to get started knitting socks. They spent the afternoon working on getting that started and enjoying their time together. Some more visitors came up after dinner and then we went to bed as early as possible since we knew we could get some uninterrupted sleep.

Thanks again to all of you for your help and support. We greatly appreciate the cards, flowers, meals, visits, and calls. They all make the days go by fast and break up the monotony!

Hospital Fun

Some of you know and some of you don't know what has gone on in the past week with us. Here's a detailed update of what we've been going through in the past few days.

June 15th (21 wks 2 days)
Crystal called her doctor's office in the morning just to check up on some symptoms she was having over the weekend. She wasn't too concerned and neither was the nurse, but they wanted her to come in for an appointment just to be sure. The doctor also agreed that there probably wasn't any issue, especially since the pregnancy is still so "young." The doctor performed an exam and immediately said that Crystal needed to head to the hospital - now! Crystal was dilated about 4 cm, but was not bleeding, not having any contractions, and wasn't in any pain.

Kenny (who was painting the nursery at the time) met Crystal at the hospital and where she was admitted into Labor and Delivery. The nurses got Crystal into a hospital bed and put her in a position that they call "standing on your head." Basically, her head is about 6-12 inches below her feet. This position is used to get gravity to take over and try to keep the babies where they need to be.

An IV was started immediately with antibiotics to ward off any infection as were meds to keep contractions stopped and decrease the amount of fluids the babies are releasing. This decreases the amount of amniotic fluid and should help gravity out a bit to get everything back where it needs to go.

Crystal was told she would be on complete bed rest. For how long, the doctor couldn't say that night and was going to leave that decision up to the perinatologist on Tuesday. Because of the complete bed rest, they put compression sleeves on Crystal's calves. These fill with air and release it to help keep circulation going and prevent blood clots. They also put a monitor on Crystal's belly to look for contractions. The babies' heart rates were also great and they didn't appear to be distressed in any manner.

The biggest concern today is that at 21 weeks, if the babies were to be delivered, they would have no chance of survival. Because of this, it was very important that Crystal stay in this position and be on complete bed rest.

June 16th (21 wks 3 days)
We met with a perinatologist in the morning. At this time, Crystal hadn't been examined since being at the office the day before. The doctor gave us some stats on survivability of the babies and how it improves with each week. At this point, our initial goal needs to be 24 weeks. This is the earliest that we could deliver and there would be hope for the babies' survival.

The doctor ordered an ultrasound to see what things look like without risking any physical exam which could cause infection. The doctor also requested a full anatomical ultrasound of the babies. They looked great and are estimated at about 1.2 pounds for Baby A and 1 pound for Baby B.

We met with the perinatologist again and he seemed very positive about the changes that one night had made. The positioning seems to be working well and things appear to be improving. There doesn't appear to be any infection and the meds are working or else Crystal would have begun contracting by then. The doctor said that it would look like they are doing a whole lot of nothing for Crystal because they just want here to stay in bed and hope that things will get back to where they are supposed to be. Unfortunately, this also meant that Crystal's hospital stay would be permanent until the babies are born. Hopefully, that means it will be a long, boring summer for her.

June 17th (21 wks 4 days)
We made a room move today. Still in Labor and Delivery, but to a bigger room. Kenny continued to stay home from work this day. We were both emotionally exhausted at this point, so Kenny needed some time to relax and get prepared before going back to work. He has been unbelievably strong through all of this and amazing in his support and help to Crystal.

The babies heart rates are still good and we get to listen to them about 3 times each day. They continue to monitor for contractions 3 times daily, but aren't seeing any. The boys are moving around like crazy and are a little stubborn when the nurse is trying to find their heartbeats. (Can you imagine either of our kids being stubborn?)

We are trying to figure out our schedule and determine how long it takes for baths, tooth brushing, putting up Kenny's bed and getting Crystal set up with things to do through the day. One of our big concerns is that if Crystal is in bed for 3 months, how will she be able to have the strength to deliver a baby and how will that affect here mobility, etc after the babies are here. The doctor told us that once they felt she was stable, they would begin physical therapy to help ensure that there aren't any issues. We also got the okay to begin doing some stretching. We started doing this today.

June 18th (21 wks 5 days)
Today was Kenny's first day back at work and he had to open which meant it would be an early morning. He had to be at work at 7 and since he's staying at the hospital, that means an extra 30 minutes of driving.

They moved us up to the Anti-Partum unit today. This is a much more private room, but is a little bit smaller. With the move, visitors, and phone calls, it was a busy day. Once Kenny got back from work, we also got to figure out how to wash Crystal's hair while she's in bed (we always knew she had a lot of hair, but never knew just how much until we tried to do this).

June 19th (21 wks 6 days)
Another early morning so that Kenny could get some things done at home and give the dogs some attention. This was also another ultrasound day. They babies still look great and are still moving like crazy. The doctor said that things look good, but that there isn't much improvement from Tuesday. If there is any change, though, the doctor felt it was positive.

The IV finally came out today so Crystal wasn't having to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. It should also make sleeping much easier. No more fighting with that tubing!!! Since the IV was now out, that also meant that we started oral antibiotics to continue to help prevent infection.

Crystal got the okay to start wearing her own clothes too. Can you say sweats and t-shirts!!!! She was extremely excited. This was doubled when a friend showed up in the afternoon for a visit with some brand new, still fuzzy sweats and new t-shirts for Crystal. She is now a walking, well lying, advertisement for Western Michigan Women's basketball!

June 20th (22 wks)
We are finally getting into a rhythm, but Crystal was exhausted and spent a lot of time sleeping on this day. Kenny's mom, Joetta, came up to visit and to help with some housework to ease some stress on Kenny. She is also taking the dogs back to Lafayette with her to ease Kenny as well. Crystal's parents will keep Butch and Joetta and Joe will keep Bobber.

This is basically where things stand for now. We are hopeful that things are improving or at least not digressing. Hopefully it will continue to be a long boring summer for Crystal. Our local friends have been amazing with their support and help as we go through this. We thank you so much for the help you provide Kenny to help relieve his stress. This is hard on him because he has no control and is not just worried about the babies, but also Crystal. Thanks to our families for all their support as well. Whether it is help with the house or just a cheerful phone call, it is all appreciated more than you will ever know!

More than anything, we appreciate your prayers. We've been discussing why this has happened and we're sure that God has something planned, even if we don't know what it is. If nothing else, it has definitely slowed Crystal down and has only made our marriage that much stronger. Thank you all again for all you do.

Twin Boys!!!

We had a doctor's appointment on June 3rd along with my "20-week" ultrasound. I was actually only 19 weeks at the time, but this is the standard ultrasound they do for all pregnant women. This is the one that includes counting arms, legs, heart valves, etc. Everything looked great and she was able to confirm that both babies are boys.

Here's a picture of both of them together. Baby A wasn't very cooperative. Apparently he is the one that will be curled up in a ball most of the pregnancy.

Here are a few pictures of Baby A

Here are some of Baby B

Here are the pictures that confirm their "manhood."

Some of you know and some of you don't, but we do have names selected. As of now, the babies' names will be Dane Richard and Nyle Andrew. We are very excited about how everything is progressing and how healthy the babies are right now. Crystal still feels great, but feels like she is getting really big. At our 19 week appointment, the doctor said she was measuring 26 weeks, so we are definitely measuring ahead.

Now that we know the sex of the babies, we have been able to pick out a nursery color. We are hoping to paint it this weekend. We're going with a greenish-blue. Sea green is probably the best way to describe it. We'll take some before and after pictures to post as we are working.

We've also been told that we need to get some pictures of Crystal up so everyone can see her belly growing. She's not so keen on it, but we'll get some pictures up soon.

Since home is far away, and I've been hollered at more than once for not having shared ultrasound pictures, I've decided to put this blog together to start documenting things. Hopefully, this will keep all of you in touch with what's going on and what's happened in the past few months of our busy lives. We're also looking forward to having this as a journal of the path we've taken and all the joys that have come from it.

January 31st

We headed up to Grand Rapids to start the entire in-vitro (IVF) process. This was the day they retrieved eggs from Crystal. After the retrieval, we were allowed to go home and they fertilized the eggs in the lab.

February 2nd

Back up to Grand Rapids again. We got a call on the 1st telling us that all 8 eggs retrieved fertilized. Now, we had to head to Grand Rapids to transfer no more than 2 of the eggs back. This was a painless and quick procedure. Before the transfer, we were given this picture of the 2 embryos that would be transferred. Basically, these are embryos at 2 days gestation and our first baby picture.

Then, the waiting game started. Because of the medicines Crystal had to inject for the retrieval, a pregnancy test couldn't be taken until 16 days after that shot was given.

February 13th

Crystal headed to the lab first thing in the morning for a blood draw to determine whether or not the embryo(s) had "taken." The results were back around noon, but we had agreed to be together when we heard the news. Needless to say we were both pretty worthless at work that day because the suspense was killing us. The doctor's office left a message at home, so we both had to get home. Who knows how Kenny did it, but he waiting an hour for Crystal to get home so they could listen together. Good news when we did finally listen, we had a positive test!!!! One more test had to be done on the 17th to confirm everything and to make sure that the pregnancy was progressing as expected (hormone level going up like they should). Most of our friends and family got calls or e-mails after we got the news.

February 17th

Crystal went to the lab again for the second test and everything was great. No suspense on this day. We agreed that Crystal could get the information from the doctor's office while she was at work.

February 24th

Now it was time for a follow-up ultrasound at the Fertility Center. Good news - everything looked great, but only one baby was found. At this time we thought that only one made it through the procedure. Dr. Dodds was pretty sure that there wouldn't be a second baby hiding out in there either. Here are two ultrasound pictures from that visit.

March 10th

We had a follow-up ultrasound to go to now. This time, we were told we'd get to hear the baby's heartbeat and they would take some measurements. Assuming everything looked great, we'd be "graduated" to a regulary OB/GYN. We got to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. Here are those pictures.

Dr. Dodds went to "check-out" everything else with the pregnancy. What a surprise when he said, "Hmm, Let's look at this dark spot over here. Oh, another pregnancy!" We were shocked, stunned, surprised, happy, frightened, and basically every other emotion at that time. We did get to hear "Baby B's" heartbeat, but this baby was measuring about half the size of "Baby A." Dr. Dodds said this could be because of a genetic problem causing the baby to grow more slowly, in which case, it wouldn't make it, or it could just be that it implanted a few days later. Because of this discovery, though, we got "held back" from going to a standard OB/GYN for another two weeks. Here are the pictures of Baby B from that visit.


March 24th

One more ultrasound. We had been praying that Baby B would catch up with Baby A and be healthy. Good news, once again. Baby looked great and had caught up to Baby A. We got these pictures and the green light to go see a regular OB/GYN.

These are Baby A:

These are Baby B:

Here are the twins together!!!

March 26th

Since Crystal had already started to show at this point (only in my 10th week), Crystal couldn't hold back telling people at work. This was the day.

April 13th

This was our first real appointment at the doctor's office. The baby that is the lowest is typically called Baby A. Even though our Baby B was lower, Dr. Dodd's office called them by order of discovery. This was changed when we went to the regular OB. From here on out, pictures are flipped with their labels. The original Baby B is now Baby A and vice versa. Here are pictures from that visit.

Baby A

Baby B

April 20th

Another ultrasound today. Both babies are healthy and growing well.
Baby A

Baby B


May 4th

A doctor's appointment today. No ultrasound, but still 2 strong heartbeats.

May 18th

Another ultrasound. This one we were supposed to do the anatomy if the ultrasound technician could, but Crystal is only 17 weeks, so the best we could do was check size and sex. Apparently, the kids are pretty modest because the tech really had to work to find out what we will be having. Baby A was definitely a boy!!! Baby B had the umbilical cord between it's legs, but the tech was pretty sure that Baby B is also a boy. We'll confirm this in a few weeks. At this appointment, she did a video and pictures. Once I figure out how to view and get the video loaded, I'll get them posted.

Baby A

Baby B