Prayer is needed yet again

October 20, 2007
Hello everyone. This morning I got a call from the doctors at the NICU about Aiden. At 8:30 am his stool was bloody. Being a big concern they took an x-ray of his belly and chest. Good news is his lungs have cleared tremendously! But it looks like his bowels are sick. It is called Necrotizing Enterocolitis ( NEC for short).

I am unable to explain it, so here is what the medical journal has to say about it, and it is the same thing that the doc's have told us. "Necrotizing" means the death of tissue, "entero" refers to the small intestine, "colo" to the large intestine, and "itis" means inflammation. NEC typically occurs within the first 2 weeks of life, usually after milk feeding has begun (at first, feedings are usually given through a tube that goes directly to the baby's stomach). About 10% of babies weighing less than 1,500 grams (3 lbs., 5 oz.) experience NEC. These premature infants have immature bowels, which are sensitive to changes in blood flow and prone to infection. They may have difficulty with blood and oxygen circulation and digestion, which increases their chances of developing NEC.

They had to put Aiden back onto the ventilator because he was having difficulty breathing. This poor little guy is stressed with the 9 needle sticks trying to get the IV line in place so they could do a blood transfusion because his hemoglobin is down and he would need blood because his levels were down due to the bloody stool he had earlier this morning. They did a simple ultra sound to find out that he had a few spots near his liver in his intestines that had small pockets of air. They have stopped his feeds for 5-7 days and they started him on two antibiotics. They have not found any perforations, and his liver looks normal. He had another ultra sound at 4pm and it looked like nothing had changed. They are doing another ultra sound around 12-12:30 tonight and will call me with the results. If the antibiotics do not work, they might have to do surgery.

These last few hours have been very tiring and upsetting. I keep trying to remind myself that he is in good hands, but there have been moments where it has been hard.

Nate is doing very well. He is up to 14cc's every 2 hours on his feeds and has dropped in pressure on his nasal canula which is amazing. They are very optimistic on him being home in about 6 weeks.

Prayer is needed. I am not one to ask for prayer on myself very often, but strength is something I am laking right now and I am almost to the point of a break down. Kyle is not too sure on how to deal with things, but he is putting me and other things in front of himself, and not worrying about himself the way he should.

Prayers have been working

Aiden on the bubble cpap

Aiden looks like a piggy here

Nate right before he gets to eat

Nate getting fed

Nate right after he ate... look at that grin

October 17, 2007
They are doing well, Nate has been off the bubble cpap for over a week now and is still on the nasal canula (old man's oxygen). Aiden is doing better. Both of the babies had heart murmurs, but they were worried about Aiden's valve not closing. So they stopped his feeds 48 hours ago and started him on iv nutrition and meds to help close the valve. Today they did another echo on him and found that the meds worked and it has closed the valve! They never were able to get a centralized iv line in Nathaniel, but the iv line that they had hep locked in case they needed it, the nurse took it out today because the nurse said their is no reason to have it in. Nathaniel is now at 12 cc's every 2 hours with breast milk and when they start Aiden back with food tonight at 6, the will only start him at 2cc's every 2 hours and build him back up. Thats where we are at right now....

We got to hold Nate today!

Proud Momma Kitten and Nate

Proud Daddy and Nate

Nate looking up at his momma

Nate snuggled with Daddy

October 11, 2007
Ok people things are doing very well!!! Both of the boys are off the over head billi lights and only Nathaniel is on the billi blanket only because they have been trying to get a centralized IV line in and they have not been successful so his billi count went up a little. Aiden is feeding every 2 hours and is getting 4cc's/ Nathaniel is getting 5cc's every 2 hours. Aiden is on the bubble cpap still, but they plan on trying him on the "old man's" oxygen in the next few days. Nathaniel is already on the "old man's" oxygen and is responding very well!

We got to hold Nathaniel today! He got to take off his sunglasses and hang out with mom and dad for a little bit. That is one of the most amazing feelings is holding your baby in your arms. Well it was more like we were swallowing the poor little guy since he is so tiny. He actually cried a little bit when we were moving him and he also looked up at me and kyle a couple of times. I got to pick him up out of his incubator and put him on my chest, and sit down with him for about 15 min, and then Kyle took him off of my chest and he went on to his and then he held him for about 15 min. After our time was up, Kyle was able to put him back into his incubator, and then I got to change his diaper for the first time! I never thought I would be so excited to change a diaper! Then I was able to turn him over on his belly so he could go back to sleep. Such an eventful day. There was a new little baby that was being admitted into the NICU so after we finished with Nate we were not able to go over and see Aiden due to privacy laws since they were talking about the other baby.

Praise the Lord

October 10, 2007
So today is another milestone in our little tykes lives. They are taking them completely off the billi lights and putting them on the heat blankets. They are also going to up their feeds again later today. They both are making great bowel movements and the urine looks good. Today while Kyle was down there, one of the nurses I guess "yelled" at him asking why he was not cuddling them yet. Meaning we can now put our hands in the incubators and put one hand on their bottoms and our other hand on their heads. I am excited. Kyle has a short class tomorrow so I think I am going to go down there and sit with them for an hour or so, but it depends on how I feel. They said we should be able to hold them by this weekend! Praise the Lord! I will let everyone know how tomorrow goes!

Doing well

Nathaniel being put back into his bed with the billi lights under his belly

Aiden tanning under his billi lights.

October 9, 2007
The boys are doing well, beyond expectations at this point. Both are off respirators and on c-pap. They are both receiving 3 ml of milk every 2 hours. Aidan is off of the billirubin lights(for jaundice.) Nathaniel is down to one billi light. I will keep everyone up to date as much as I can.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIDEN AND NATHANIEL

Proud Daddy and Aunt Judy

Proud Momma


Aiden Christopher Wilkinson

Nathaniel Jacob Wilkinson

October 5, 2007
C-section went amazingly well! Nathaniel weighs 2lbs 2oz and is 13.38 inches long, and Aiden weighed 1lb and 14oz and is 12.99 inches long. They are doing pretty well they just took Nathaniel off the ventilator and he is now on c-pap, and Aiden is still on the ventilator. I will keep everyone updated!! There are pictures already!! More pictures and updates to come!!

Time of c-section

October 4, 2007
There is a c-section that is scheduled at 1:30pm for another patient, and they are fitting me in right after her. So it will be around 2:30-3pm when I go into surgery.

My prayer warriors, we need you. I will try and get an email and a post out soon after I get into recovery and start feeling any better. Tonni will be down here with me beforehand that way I can have her here to pray with us before I go into the c-section. I am not sure if she will be here afterwards or not, but I am sure she will get to you all and tell you what is going on.

Lots of love,
In His name,
Kat