9.27.10 Update

Greetings from the NICU, another week down, another roller coaster ride...or three! Our girls will be 4 weeks old Wednesday, and a lot of it has been a blur. For the most part things have been pretty good, but we have had our share of trials this week in and out of the NICU.

Thursday we had our first consultation with the neurosurgeon regarding the girls’ head bleeds and swelling. In his opinion, Anna and Brenna were going to need taps and shunts in the future, and he recommended moving them to the University of Iowa hospitals. We were devastated by this news, not only the fact they both would possibly require surgery, but also by the fact we were going to have to separate Anna and Brenna from her sister, not to mention Mommy and Daddy, for the duration of our NICU stay. And to top it all off, it’s the worst possible place for a Cyclone fan to have to spend three hours there, but three months?!!??! Are you serious? :) We had scheduled head ultrasounds Friday morning to determine if there was a change that would require the girls to be transferred.

Fortunately the ultrasounds showed no change in the girls’ status. Friday also brought another consult with a different neurosurgeon. He informed us that while he shared his partners’ conclusion the girls may need taps and possibly shunts, there was no medical reason to transfer them to a different hospital as he is capable and willing to perform the procedures right here. He also told us even if the girls required taps to relieve pressure, there is no way to be certain they would require a shunt to be placed in the future, which of course relieved Mommy and Daddy. He was also on board with a combination of treatment options, such as performing taps until the girls are big enough for shunt surgery, and transferring them to the U of I at that time, or sending us over there immediately if we felt more comfortable with that, but making sure that it was all of us, not just Anna and Brenna. Brenna did require a tap on Sunday afternoon, but the procedure was not as scary as we thought it would be. We pray a couple of taps will be enough to resolve her swelling issues, but only time will tell.

Overall the girls have had a pretty good few days in terms of preemies. Anna is on full feeds for her weight, which is 12ml of a ½ and ½ mixture of breastmilk and high calorie formula and is starting to gain weight. If all continues to go well, she could be our first two pound peanut this week. As of now, she has no IV lines in her, and is giving the CPAP mask another go. She’s been on it since Saturday and has done very well for the last 60 hours. We have even been able to hear her make some little squeaks now that she no longer has a breathing tube down her throat.

What a difference a week made for our little Brenna bear. She has done extremely well after her stomach surgery two weeks ago. She started on Pedialyte on Friday, and after not eating for two weeks has worked her way back to 2ml of breast milk every 3 hours. Her color is starting to come back. She is starting to look less like a sick baby, and more like her sisters. We thank God every day for Brenna’s ability to recover, she has amazed everyone here, including the doctors. We have been told few kids recover from this surgery as well as she has. We know it’s been the power of all your prayers that has helped little Brenna through this situation.

As with everything else, Lucy appears to be taking her time, making it very clear we are on her schedule. Her feeding was going well, but she began to have issues spitting up, so they have backed her off a bit. She is on 4ml of milk every three hours, and is tolerating it well and on her way back up. All of her head ultrasounds have come back with no change, so we are thankful that as of now, she has had no additional swelling of concern. We have discovered she is a bit of a wild child, and swaddling has become the norm for her, but she doesn’t seem to mind as long as she gets to stretch out every now and then.

One thing we have noticed in the last few days is how aware the girls seem to be of their surroundings. They seem to be awake a lot more, just looking at things going on around them in their little isolated worlds. It melts Mommy and Daddy’s hearts when they open their bright eyes and look directly into ours. We look forward to the day we can hold them whenever we want.

The one constant throughout our stay here is the nurses here in the NICU. We can’t express enough how wonderful they have been. We have had too many emotional days to count, but there is always a friendly face to offer a smile, or a shoulder to cry on. I have been back at work because I have to be, but I am comfortable being there because I know Angie will be taken care of while I’m there. After the news we might have to leave Mercy, the night shift nurses decided that a photoshoot was necessary, and we wound up with 70+ pictures we may not have had otherwise. They even went as far as jockeying all of the equipment to get all the girls in the same bed so we could have a picture of them all together for the first time. It was more than they needed to do, and we could not appreciate it more. We truly appreciate the care they provide for us and our babies. We know that even when we are gone from their sides, our babies have people who love them nearby. They will all have a special place in our girls’ lives.

While our days inside the NICU have been relatively good, our life outside the NICU has been considerably more difficult for us. Our little kitty girl Cleo passed away Sunday night. She became sick shortly after the girls were born and stopped eating. We had her in and out of the vet several times the past week and tried everything we could to get her back to her feisty self. While receiving fluids to battle dehydration last night, she went into cardiac arrest. We miss her terribly and it just won’t be the same at our house without her. Ozzy and Cleo were our babies before we knew if we could have babies. We will never forget her. We take comfort in knowing she made the decision it was time, and spared Mommy and Daddy the heartache of making the decision no pet owner wants to make. And for those of you that have met Miss Cleo, you know that is the way she was, always on her terms.

God has really challenged us this week. From the possibility of having to split time in two different hospitals, to the passing of our little kitty, we have shed more than our share of tears. Nothing prepares you for this situation, and we have repeatedly found ourselves asking, “Why us?” We have learned to take each day as it comes. There is an end to this journey, but we know we are far from it. Our girls battle every day and we are so proud of them. We continue to pray God will take care of our girls and us.

In His name,

Brad, Angie, Anna, Brenna, and Lucy Kamps