Praying for Poop!

Can you tell who her Daddy is? :)

Over the next few days Tony and I would give each other updates from our respective "posts".  He was with McKinley for most of the days and although I was mostly in my bed trying to recover, I was with Brooks. I think this was the moment I realized how incredibly lucky I am to have the friends that I do.  From the minute I gave birth my friends never left my side.  Since Tony couldn't be there to help me, they stayed with me at night, reminding me to pump every 3 hours and helping me get all my equipment set up since I couldn't get out of bed.  They helped me get from the bed to the bathroom and even bathed me when I was in too much pain to do it.  They helped me with all of my discharge paperwork and wheeled me out to my car. They finished getting the nursery ready since I wasn't done yet.  Since then they've set up meals to be delivered to the hospital, they've sent house cleaners to my house, they've kept people updated on how the twins are doing when I haven't had the time to do it...and so many other things that I'm probably too sleep deprived to remember!  Thank you Katie, Apryl, Lindsay, Jen, Claire and everyone who has brought me meals.  I could not do this without you!!!
After McKinley's colostomy surgery the day after she was born, we had to wait for her to poop before we could feed her.  So she was on IV nutrients, water and fats, but could not get any breast milk.  She continued to lose weight and got down to about 3lbs 2oz.  That entire week we had everyone we knew praying that she would poop.  Days went by; no poop.  The Dr's told us that the normal range that it would take a baby to poop after major bowel surgery would be 5-7 days.  They did x-rays to see if her bowels were ok and everything looked fine.  But as day 7 was approaching, we were getting nervous, and very sad that our baby couldn't eat!  But on the eve of the 7th day our prayers were answered. She finally pooped!  Just 2 days ago they started feeding her for the first time.  Through a binkie with a syringe, she will take about 2 cc's, then she starts to choke and spit up so they put the rest through her feeding tube.  I even got to feed her the other night which was so amazing.  She's still really fragile and every little thing is hard for her right now, but we are determined to make progress!  The story on her colostomy is that she will likely have to wear the bag until she is about 1 1/2 to 2 years old and then the Dr's will do some reconstructive surgery to hopefully correct the problem.  There are a variety of issues that could arise during the surgery and she may or may not need the bag for the rest of her life, but we are praying that as she grows and her system matures that her chances for a successful surgery will be great.  She also has some other "plumbing" issues in that region that are a bit hard to explain but that will also need reconstructive surgery.  She may not be able to get pregnant on her own when she's older but hopefully she'll be able to get pregnant through IVF.  And who better to help her through that experience than Mom and Dad, who had to go through the same thing!
McKinley also still has kidney issues.  She only has one kidney and the one she has is multi-cystic displastic.  They have her on all kinds of stuff that is helping her creatinine levels come down.  Her creatinine levels right now are around 1.1 (down from 1.7) and for a baby her size they should be closer to .3.  But the fact that we are seeing them come down is great news.  They are hoping to get her kidney well enough to be able to get her to 20lbs when she can have a kidney transplant.  The great news about the kidney transplant is that at 20lbs she can take an adult kidney!  That's encouraging for her Dad and I because we are first in line to give it to her!  If her current kidney will not function well enough to get her to 20lbs, then she will most likely come home from the hospital on dialysis.
So, our little girl has a long road ahead of her but we have no reason to believe that these future surgeries won't be succesful, and that she won't be able to lead a normal life.  We are still waiting to get some genetic testing results back that will look for chromosomal disorders so that is a little stressful just waiting, but we are praying every day that they come back negative.
For those of you who are still praying for her - THANK YOU!  Please continue to pray that she will tolerate her feedings and increase the amount on a regular basis so that she can grow big and come home soon.  And please pray that the kidney she does have decides to step up and function well for her so that she doesn't have to be on dialysis, and better yet, maybe it will be healed so that she doesn't even need a transplant.  And please pray that the genetic testing results don't find anything.
Thank you so much, love to you all!!

Huge Miracles

Brooks Anthony Miller born September 8th, 2010 3:25pm

After the babies were born they were quickly whisked away to the NICU. About an hour or so later as I was back in my room trying to recover from my c-section, Tony came to tell me that McKinley was going to be going to Children's right away.  Originally we had been told that she would be transferred within 24 hours of her delivery so this was unexpected.  He then leaned over and with tears in his eyes began to explain that in addition to the problems that we had already discussed McKinley having, she was born with a Imperforate Anus and some other "plumbing issues" down below. Within the hour McKinley was packed up and on her way to Children's, her first car ride just hours after she was born, and she was leaving mommy and daddy already. On her way out the ambulance team brought her by my room so that I could hold her for the first time.  What an amazing moment that was.  With her beautiful long blonde hair and deep blue eyes, I was instantly in love.  Tony gave me a quick kiss goodbye and hopped on the road to be with his new daughter, leaving me more determined than ever to be the quickest c-section healer ever so that I could go see my new son, Brooks!
Later that evening Tony called with some MIRACULOUS news.  McKinley did not have the heart issue that was originally thought.  I repeat, McKinley's interrupted aortic arch and ventricular septal defect were GONE!  Immediately when she got to Children's they started an echocardiogram on her.  What was supposed to be a 45 minute procedure turned into a 5 hour procedure.  As you can imagine, Dad was more than nervous that it was taking so long.  But when they came out they simply could not explain what they had found.  What was clearly on the in-utero ultrasounds was not there.  There was no explanation, it was basically impossible for this to happen.  Which is why they spent 5 hours doing the echo!  All they could find was an aorta that curved the opposite way that it should.  The only thing this might effect is that later in life as the aorta gets bigger it may bump into the trachia causing McKinley to have a bit of a rattle/raspy-ness when she talks, but would not require any surgery.  I repeat, NO HEART SURGERY!!!!!!!!!  God is not just good, he is AWESOME!  They immediately took McKinley off of the drug they had put her on to keep her heart functioning with the IA and VSD because she no longer needed it.  They set her up in the NICU and explored her a bit further.  Unfortunately she did end up going to surgery the next day to have a colostomy bag put in for her imperforate anus, but she came out of that just fine.  Tony spent the next few days with her as she was getting morphine for the pain from surgery.  He said they read Hunting Magazines and cried together.  It's a good thing Mom wasn't there because I'm confident I would have been an absolute mess seeing my baby girl in pain like that;.  Meanwhile at Evergreen, just 6 hours after surgery I was out of my bed, in a wheel chair and on my way to see Brooks.  The most precious sight I have ever seen (in addition to McKinley of course  ).
Brooks was doing great.  They had put a feeding tube in and slowly started feeding him, 3 cc's every 3 hours.  He was so tiny, but I could tell he was going to be a strong boy.  It was amazing to be able to hold a child that I never thought I would be able to have.  7 years later and my prayers had been answered, times 2!

Welcome McKinley & Brooks!!!!!!

McKinley Grace 1st born, September 8th 2010 3:25pm

Where do I even begin?  It all started Wednesday morning at 2:30am with a massive gush of water in the middle of a deep sleep. I sat straight up in bed, grabbed Tony's arm and said "I think my water just broke!" His response of course was "are you serious?!?"  In a matter of seconds we had both jumped out of bed, all the lights in the house were on and we were running frantically all over.  Ok, I have to admit, I may have been the only frantic one running all over.  At least Tony was being productive, grabbing our bags etc... I just remember running all over shaking and frantically talking (that's what I do when I'm nervous).  I have no idea what I was doing.  Thank goodness Tony was there or I probably would have forgotten to actually go to the hospital!
I think we arrived at the hospital by 3am. We checked in (BTW, why do they make mothers in labor stop at the front desk and sign paperwork?!?!?  I could have been signing to give away my first born for all I knew, I didn't read any of those papers!)  They took me to triage where they hooked me up to monitors to check the babies heart rates and monitor me for contractions.  I was having some contractions but I couldn't feel them and they weren't super consistent.  They ran a test to see if my water had actually broke and that came back positive.  They hooked me up to all my IV stuff and then the Dr. checked my cervix.  It was closed and about 1.2in long.  They checked me into my room around 9am and decided that they were going to give me a steroid shot for the babies, hook me up to antibiotics, and give me a Turbutaline (sp?) shot to stop my contractions.  They explained that they wanted to keep the babies in until they were at least 34 weeks gestation and would deliver me most likely on Monday the 13th.  Since I wasn't going to have the babies that day they fed me breakfast and lunch, thank goodness since I was starving! :)  During lunch my contractions started to come back, they were a lot more painful and more often then before.  They finally decided to give me magnesium sulfate which they really didn't want to do, but they needed to stop those contractions.  After lunch they hooked me up to Mag.  Apparently this usually makes women very sick.  I didn't get any sickness from the Mag, and it also didn't stop my contractions.  They kept coming stronger and stronger, so they upped the dosage of Mag. The nurses and Dr's kept talking like I wasn't going to deliver until Monday, but I knew that wasn't going to be the case.  At this point my contractions were so painful.  I could have sworn that I was moaning and groaning like a big baby but apparently that wasn't the case.  No one was paying attention to me!  My Dad was at my bedside looking at the contractions print out and trying to figure out how far apart they were.  Apryl and Tony were sitting on the couch checking Facebook, or by my bed checking my reflexes.  (Thanks Dr. Tony!)  Mom was trying to decide whether or not to go home for a bit and Lindsay was at my house finishing up the nursery.  The nurse was asking how I was doing but seemed to question me when I said on a scale of 1-10 my contractions were a 9.  Finally I yelled out "listen, I've never had a baby before so I don't know what it feels like to be dilated, but I'm pretty sure a head is coming out!"  Hesitantly the nurse decided to call the Dr., I'm sure thinking that I was being over dramatic.  The Dr. wandered in and started explaining to Tony that if I was 1 cm dilated, we have time and if I was a 5 then we might want to head towards delivery.  She finally checked me and quickly said, "she's a 9 - let's go!"  Immediately I panicked.  I started crying uncontrollably and was shaking from the pain.  (Later the Dr's and nurses congratulated me on a completely natural labor with no pain medication as well as a c-section.  Lucky me, I got to do both!)  They rushed me to the operating room and most of what happened after that is a blur to me.  I remember them trying to give me a spinal but I was in so much pain from the contractions I couldn't stay bent over well enough, so he had to try 5 times before it finally worked.  Then I remember needing to throw up.  Then I remember lots of pressure and pulling and feeling them pull McKinley back out of the birth canal where she was already on her way out.  I also remember Tony telling me that everything was going to be ok and consoling me like a champ.  I remember hearing McKinley cry once and then Brooks almost immediately after.  I remember Tony leaving my bedside and going over to the babies, and giving me 2 thumbs up from across the room. I remember them saying how pink both babies were and how much blonde hair McKinley had.  I remember them whisking both babies out of the room and off to the NICU and my mom coming in to be with me.  I remember thinking, "what just happened....this is way too early to be having these babies!!" and being scared of what was to come as far as their health was concerned....

Grow Babies Grow!

My last summer vacation! Thanks for coming on vacation with us and to my last Dr's appt Kendra!

Yesterday I had another growth ultrasound where we discovered that the babies are really enjoying all of this protein I am choking down.  (Thank goodness somebody likes it because I am not a fan!)  Brooks gained a whopping 1 lb 2 oz in the last 2 weeks, which now makes him 4 lbs 10 oz, and McKinley gained 1/2 lb now making her 3 lbs 7 oz.  The great news of course is that they are both growing.  The not so great news from yesterday is that McKinley is not growing as well as they were hoping.  It's not just weight they measure but they also measure the size of her head, stomach, length of arms and legs, and probably a few other things.  The combination of all of these things is what makes up her overall growth, and where they get the percentiles they give us.  For instance, Brooks is considered to be in the 65th percentile, which for a twin is amazing! McKinley however was hard to give a percentile to.  They said that if they were only to measure her head, stomach and arms, she'd be somewhere in the 20th percentile which for a twin is fine.  However her legs are not growing at the rate they should be.  This could be due to her heart defect, or her placental defect.  If it's due to her heart, it doesn't make any sense to deliver her early since her heart is actually functioning better inside the womb than it will out.  However, if it's due to her placenta, then it makes more sense to take her out where she can get nutrients directly, rather than through the placenta.  So, basically we left the appointment with a "let's wait and see how she's doing next week".  My next appointment is on Thursday the 9th in the afternoon, I also have an appointment with the nephrologist at Children's that morning.  It's going to be a big day so any and all prayer you can send our way would be much appreciated.
All in all, everything else at the appointment went well.  Aside from McKinley's growth she passed all of her other tests amazingly, and even passed the NST before her brother did. :)
We're getting super excited and nervous all at the same time to meet these precious miracles!