Welcome to Tyler and Parker Thompson's Blog

Tyler and Parker Thompson arrived on June 23, 2008 at only 26 weeks and 4 days old, weighing 1 pound 6 ounces (Parker) and 1 pound 10 ounces (Tyler). Parker spent 129 days (home 10/30/08) in the NICU, while brother Tyler spent 143 (home 11/13/08). We are thrilled to have our family complete with both boys home!

This blog was created by John (the daddy) to inform family and friends (and now new acquaintances) of the twins progression. Below is the blog archive dating back to the week Heather (the mommy) was admitted to the hospital. We try to post weekly updates, but on occasion the week gets the best of us.




Monday, June 30, 2008

Eyes wide shut



Parker with his eyes open

more cute pics





June 30 6:55

So we decorated the boys room in Pooh style. We discovered, through someone elses brilliant observation that Parker and Pooh both start with P and Tyler and Tigger both start with T. Which has more meaning when you realize that from the beginning Tyler has always had a higher heart rate and has been so much more active than Parker.....just like Tigger and Pooh!! Oh the little things that amuse us. So anyway we took a little stuffed Pooh and Tigger into the NICU and took the boys pictures with them:) We will carry them around with us now so that we can show them to people to get an even better frame of reference. p.s. Heather's co-worker Kathy had knitted two cute little caps with Dallas Cowboy stars on them for me for father's day, but quickly made two more much smaller ones once she saw the pics on line. We can't put them on the boys yet (although as you can see they would fit!!) but we saw that they do fit on Tigger and Pooh. Thus the "rasta" caps that the Pooh and Tigger are wearing in the pics:):)

Public Displays of Affection

June 30 6 pm

It really struck me as completely hilarious today. We all rely on the sum of our life experiences to make up the whole of who we are. They help to define our personality as well as act as frames of reference that we refer to when communicating with others with similar or possibly the same frames of reference. So as most of you know I chose a career that allows me to spend a good majority of my day around the teenage population. It is a fundamental necessity (and an occupational hazard) that a lot of my frames of reference are directly influenced by this same population. Thus a lot of the teenage pop culture is bred into my every day life and thus becomes part of my frame of reference.........I know.....I know......where the hell are you going with this!!!! Well here it is: until a week ago the phrase PDA has always been a frame of reference for me that indicated two people ( almost exclusively teenagers) were not only engaging in public displays of affection, but the term almost exclusively refernced such displays in a negative way. If somebody said "Ooooh PDA!!!!" I would instantly know that there were two teenagers groping each other and making out in some way that was really offensive. This has been a frame of reference of mine for many many years.......until this past week. Now I have experienced a personal cultural shift that will forever influence that term in a completely different way. PDA is all I can think about now. No not the repulsive gropings of young teenagers in puppy love........but the problem in my sons hearts that keep them in danger. PDA is the small vessel that connects the major vein and the major artery that transport blood to and from the lungs from the heart. The heart uses the artery to send blood (that has collected carbon dioxide from the body and is thus now lacking in oxygen) to the lungs to be cleansed of CO2 and enriched with Oxygen. The heart then uses the vein to return the blood (newly enriched with Oxygen and cleansed of CO2) back to the heart so it can send it on to the body. (Didn't know you were going to get a Biology lesson did you!!!! Well people have been asking about the whole heart thing so.....) While in the uterus the baby doesn't need to clean the blood and get new oxygen this way because mom's placenta is doing all of that already. So mother nature created this cute little vessel called the PDA to basically divert the blood from the heart to the lungs cuz it's not necessary. When the baby is born the pressure of the first cry and thus the strong first breath automatically closes this little PDA. Well with preemies (enter the heroes of our story.....Tyler and Parker!!!) this little pesky PDA stays open which hinders the baby from oxygenating it's own blood as well as cleansing it of CO2. Needless to say this is a very bad thing:( So medicince is given to close this sucker off. It's a three day course of meds that does it.......now the problem.......in doing so the medicine also hinders the kidneys from doing their job which presents itself symptomatically in a decrease in urine output. This is what happened a few days ago which pre-empted them from giving the third dose. Our heroes ( and by the way damn good looking chick magnets) laughed at the third dose and closed their PDA's with onlly two doses which led to much rejoicing as well as the beginning of the breast milk feedings, hence the "boys and boobs.....of course" entry. But alas, yesterday found our heroes in trouble as the PDA (a much more formidable opponent than originally given credit for) reared it's ugly head and re-opened to taunt our heroes once again!!! (thus the "one step back" entry yesterday). That leaves us with today's update........finally!!!!!! Can you tell that Heather is sleeping right now and I've found myself with a bit of time and caffeine surging through my veins......plus there are the inquiries for clearing up this whole heart thing.

But alas I digress......back to the "public displays of affection" analogy that I so painfully outlined for you earlier...... Everything is basically at a stand still with both boys until this problem gets resolved: they can't start eating again, their blood oxygen levels and CO2 levels continue to need to be constantly monitored and adjusted etc. Once the pesky PDA finally closes (on both boys.....cuz you know them......what one gets the other HAS TO HAVE TOO) then we can get the blood gasses stabalized, possibly get them off the respiration assistance machine (currently an ossilator.....NO i'm not explaing the difference in the different machines!!) and finally start getting back on the boob, which, we know, is where every healthy red blooded american male wants to be in the first place!!! Thus from here on out whenever I hear the phrase PDA, not only will i automatically envision inapporpriate groping, but now I will also always picture this little vessel right above the heart that has been causing my sons so much trouble, and has been inhibiting their growth and right to life!!! Me perspective on something so simple has forever changed to include something so potentially life threatening.

So back to the update of the day ( hey, I'm a math geek by trade......therefore I'm allowed to go off on tangents.....little math geek humor for ya all:)) Today found both boys with significantly increased urine output ( which we all now know is good because it allows them to continue with the medication to close the PDA). They both received their second of three doses of the meds today. What we hope to see overnight and tomorrow is a continued output of urine which will allow them to administer the third dose of medicine tomorrow (which we've been told is what usually needs to happen to keep the PDA closed). So once again I find my happiness being determined by what is found in the dirty diaper of both of my sons........how my life has changed amuses me to no end!!!! Should our villain the PDA not respond to the medicine we will be forced to bring in our ally and secret weapon, the cardio vascular neo natal surgeon who will go in surgically and clamp that sucker off once and for all not only solving the problem, but also leaving each boy with a permanent keep sake in their chest. We are obviously hoping to solve the problem with the valient efforts of only our damn good looking chick magnet heroes.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Tyler Pics




Heeeeeere's Tyler!!! If you blow up the first one you can see his little eyes barely open:)

New Pics


These are all Pics of Parker except the one of Tyler on his back



One Step Back....

June 29 5:40 pm

We kneew it would be back and forth with the boys......some progress and some set backs. Well it seems like we must have had our two steps forward cuz today we experienced our one step back. Both boys (yes they continue to mirror each other) had their PDA's open up again late last night. The tube in their heart that closed with only two of the three doses of medicine has re-opened. They were taking an echo today to confirm it, but all other signs and symptoms indicated it to be so.....so much so they suspended both boys' eating schedules until it closes again. They gave the first of three doses of medicine today in hopes that the second round of the meds will close it back up for good. If it does not they will both need surgery....more on that later if it becomes necessary. So today found the nurses constantly monitoring and adjusting their oxygen, and vent levels to keep the boys stabalized. They are doing a great job doing just that:) On a more positive note, Heather changed Tyler's diaper today which was really full of poop......the black tar (merconiam) type of poop. Apparantly he had pooped a total of 12 cc's (the nurses were pretty shocked at the vast amount) earlier in the day. His blow out diaper that Heather changed only added to that amount. So at least we know the food was working for the short time he was able to get it. Parker had a good poop as well. Not the extent that tyler did, but a good movement nonetheless. We left with Parker on his tummy sleeping peacefully and Tyler still a bit squirmy but still seeming to be relatively restful. I'll try and post some new pics we took:)

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Pic Pic Pic

I should actually say PIC PIC PIC!!! the PIC lines seem to be the problem of the day. Just to recap: a PIC line is a long IV that follow a major vein all the back to the heart. It is the best way of getting fluids, meds etc. into the boys. Yesterday was PIC line drama for Tyler as he had to have his replaced for the second time in two days. Well, not to be out done by big brother Tyler, Parker decided to follow suit today. Imagine that, the twins mirroring each other AGAIN!!! Come on fellas!!!! So they called me this morning needing to get consent to remove Parkers UV line (the IV in his belly button) which is really common about now. UV lines only last at most a week before the vessels in the belly button close off. So we weren't terribly surprised or worried about this development. So by the time we got there they had put his PIC line in and were waiting for the x-ray to see if it had gone in far enough......side note: they even took a little tiny lead apron and put it over Parker's Parts before shooting the x-ray to ensure that his parts would fully function later in life......a story that you can bet I will love telling girl friends later on in life:):) Now if you remember Tyler's first PIC only went up to his shoulder which was not long enough and had to be replaced. So take a wild and crazy guess at what happened with Parker's PIC......you guessed it.....it's too short!!!! So they are taking it out sometime tonight and will be trying again through his other arm. Both are still showing good signs of respiration, although they constantly are adjusting their oxygen level based on their blood gasses. Both have increased their urine output which decreased due to the medication to close their heart. They're still not peeing enough, but it is increasing and both still show no symptoms of the PDA (the heart condition) re-opening.....so that's good. Both are now completely off of the artificial sunlight and as such are no longer sporting their cool shades....although i think the chicks still dig them both:) Both boys have starting eating on a regular basis now. They have each had about 10 total feedings!! They are miniscual amounts, but nonetheless they are processing food!!

With each pumping Heather's milk increases in quantity which we are psyched about!!! We are expecting the two chow hounds to really start eating a lot more in the near future. So for now we just keep making deposits!!! ( okay i just realized that talking about Heather pumping breast milk may be kinda wierd........but oh well......it's not like i haven't already hung it out there already:)) We both continue to make our way through this surreal transition. Heather's healing at a good rate, and my head cold that i got while sleeping in the hospital has now just turned into a sinus infection (at least I know how to deal with those!!!) Missing our boys dearly and fully appreciated all of those supporting us are continually on our minds. thanks to all

Friday, June 27, 2008

Transition

June 27 7:30 pm

Home sweet home........sort of. Heather and I got home today about 5:30 and have spent some time getting settled in. Unpacking, getting the take home breast pump dialed in, getting multiple prescriptions from the pharmacy and just getting used to being back at home were the agenda items for the past few hours. It is definately nice to be back in your own space with your own comforts of home around you, but it just feels strange. Knowing that half our family is so far away is very unsettling. We can both rationalize our way through the logic. We know it is the best of a bad situation and that they are getting the very best care they possibly can. Unfortunately logic isn't in control. There is still just a very surreal aura about life right now.......we're in transition.......we'll figure it out.......hopefully sooner than later.

Heather continues healing well and continues to make me proud. The continue to have a good day. Before we left Parker had taken a full cc of breast milk and was looking completely serene as he napped on his tummy. Tyler had yet to eat as he had to have his PIC line replaced. They were attempting another one through his leg this time when we left. Tyler did however pass his brother in a very important department.......the poopy dept.!!!! He actually had a very little teeny tiny itsy bitsy little poop in his diaper, which means his digestive track is up and running!!!! Never thought I'd get excited about a poopy diaper (or be using the word poopy for that matter). All in all a pretty calm relaxing day for the boys, which is always good. Time to eat dinner ( thank god no more cafeteria food!!!). Will update more later.

Boys and Boobs.....of course

June 27 10:30
,The boys are officially on the boob!!!! Okay well not really on the boob, but they are both starting on a teeny tiny little bitty amount of breast milk today........yes!!!....you guessed it.......you're so good.......them starting on breast means that the heart condition is resolved!!!! Even though they both only had two of the three doses of medication, they BOTH responded extremely well and the heart closed!! The heart closure also means that their blood gasses are very good and they have both been lowered to the lowest setting on the new respirator. They have also both been taken off of anti-biotics (they both went on as a standard procedure) a little bit early. Parker has had enough of the sun lamp, but Tyler is still wanting a little darker tan, so he'll be on his for a little while longer. This visit was a good visit.....a really good visit. We understand that there is a long road ahead and there is bound to be lots of setbacks, but right now things are looking very good. This is exactly what we needed. Leaving the hospital today without the boys has been tearing us both apart. This news will definately help to make today a little bit easier.

So i started with the boys instead of Heather this time.....so now onto my beautiful wife: Heather continues to pump milk and bank liquid gold in the NICU. Her stiches come out this morning and we prepare to go home, which is both happy and sad. Happy to know that she is healing well and is tolerating the pain, yet sad to know we go home empty handed. Oh the roller coaster that become our life......."Jane!!! Get me off this crazy thing!!!!!" A little George Jetson quote for ya.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Coming Home!!!

June 26 9:40 pm

Heather's coming home tomorrow!!! Her blood pressure still remains somwhat high, but the docs are comfortable that it is under controll and the best place for her is in her own bed:) She continues to keep up on her pain meds and is handling the recovery like the champ that she is. Today she used the wheel chair as a walker and walked up to NICU to see the boys. It took a little bit out of her, but she did it again this evening. That's my girl:):)

The boys: Tyler and Parker both continue to develop in a very similiar way. Both have had much better success with their respiration today. Both have had a decreased urine output which has caused both to suspend the last round of meds for their heart. A scan tomorrow will tell us if the problem was solved with the two doses they got, or will they re-administer later. Both boys had a very restful and somewhat uneventful day. They were very calm an restful, which is what we like to hear. I say somewhat uneventful though cuz 'Tyler had an fun event. This is what I love about the NICU here......they are so good and open with us......they didn't have to share this but the nurse did.........while she was woking on Tyler his whole bed just shut off. All warmers etx. just stopped. The bed basically broke!! She took about 10 seconds to check power cords, then immediately called for help and had him changed into a new bed in 45 seconds. Because of the tinfoil and plastic wrap, he never lost temperature and all is well.........I think it was just tyler showing off......he probably kicked something lose so he could get a new room!!!!

Thanks again for all prayers, well wishes, replies to the blog, e-mails and continued general oveall support. Even though we haven't spoken or seen anyone your support is felt and really is helping us deal with an impossible situation.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Random pics






Parker and Grammie


Parker and Zana share a moment:)

My absolute favorites



These are my absolute favorite pics!!! Heather looking over Parker and Parker gripping Heather's finger. You can lose yourself in these two moments.

Perspective



While people really loved the last set of pics a lot of you asked for some perspective to gauge thier actually size. Realize that my hand will look a little bit bigger as it is not exactly next to Tyler and is thus a little bit closer to the camera, but this is pretty accurate and should give you a good perspective

Things change so quickly

June 25 9:30 pm

Sorry about the delay in getting out any details of the day:( I swear i used to think that a stay in the hospital meant lots and lots of down time to rest. HA! It's unbelievable how quickly time flies and how many constant docs nurses social workers etc are coming to the room.......anyway here's some updates.

My wife/mommy is back. Is was really nice to see how much of Heather's personality, color, energy level have come back today. She is feeling really really well. I guess the hell of dealing with the mags has made her thankful to only be dealing with the C-Section pain. while it is some intense pain whenever she gets up and back down, she has been a trooper and is dealing with it really well. She is up and around and was actuallly walking around the NICU to see the boys. She had a shower today which made her feel even better. The only problem is that pesky blood pressure. Even though she is off the mags and has been on blood pressure meds she is still trending high 150's/high 90's. The docs are discussing it and have slightly suggested an extended stay in the hospital for two more days past Friday.....we'll see how it goes.

The boys: So the thing that we have discovered today is how incredibly quickly things change in the NICU. Example: As you may have noticed Tyler has always seemed to be progressing better than little brother Parker. So imagine our surprise when, during a phone call to the NICU, one of the nurses told Heather "we're hoping that Tyler starts doing as well as Parker" What????? Tyler has always been doing better....what's going on?? Well here's what's happening.....let me pause hear to make a clarification: There is an absolute ton of information that we are getting at lightning speed that is all pretty technical. There just isn't any realistic way for me to keep you updated on all of the details. This is basically why i haven't written much today. everytime i get my head wrapped around what's happening it changes. So here is what I'm going to try to do from now on. I'll give general updates on the boys without all the technical specifics. I hope that won't frustrate you. If you are dying to know technical details feel free to call me and i'll do my best.......okay that was a long clarification!!!

Normally i would break it down between Tyler and Parker, but, as the doc said today "these are amazing twins". Both both are exactly in synch with each other. they had the identical urine output yesterday, and even though they are about 15 feet apart separated by a wall partition, they are doing the exact same thing......twins

So here is the jist of it. They have both developed respiratory problems. they are not able to keep a consistent amount of oxygen in their blood and are having trouble getting the carbon dioxide out of their blood. So, without all the technical details, they are trying different respirators and different drugs to remedy the siutation. Tyler turned for worse first, and as soon as he did Parker followed right behind him. They are having moderate success at the moment. More tests throughout the night to see if the trend continues. One thing we did learn is that the body prioritises oxygenated blood as follows: brain, heart, organs then digestive tract. This is why they can't start feeding yet. their little bodies are not able to kick start the digestive systems until there is enough oxygen in their bodies to go all ways round.

The fun stuff that keeps us going: Heather got to change Parker's diaper and take his temperature today:):) I also got to change Parker's diaper today. My wonderful son took joy in making me look bad by peeing when i had his diaper off:):) My first diaper change as a dad and.....oh well:):) At our last visit about an hour ago Heather placed her hand on Parker's chest and was able to hold it there for almost ten minutes. She was able to do this because of the amazing calming effect it had on him. It was a priceless moment to see how content he was with her touch:):) I took some pics that I'll try and attach tonight.

quicky

Wednesday June 25 3:30

Just a real quick note....Heather continues to feel better and had a good solid lunch:):) We're going to see the boys in a few minutes so no updates on them yet:)

AHHHHHHHH

June 25 9:40 am

It's amazing what 5 and a half solid hours of sleep, and the absence of magnesium will do for person:):) Heather is feeling much better this morning and much more energetic. The blood pressure medication has started to take effect. Latest reading 140/93 still not great but much better than yesterday. She is off the morphine and is now on Vicadin and Motrin which is really working well. She is up for taking phone calls from immediate family members at this point:) The number directly into the room is 703-8307. Again, thank you to everyone for being patient about being able to contact her directly. She just really hasn't been up to it at all. Hopefully this blog has helped:)

The boys: somewhat of rough night for both of them.

Tyler: to get meds and minimal nutrients to the babies they put an IV in through the umbilical cord. These last about a week at which point they put in what's called a PIC line which is a line that goes through a vein in their arm directly into the heart. This gives them a great line for all things they need to get into their bodies. Tyler's UV (the umbilical cord line) line was having trouble last night, so they came down to get consent from us to put in the PIC line. Well we went to visit them this morning and found out that the PIC line went in but not really far enough. It stopped at the shoulder instead of going all the way to the heart. It can still function, but not as well. So they reinserted the UV line which they had to take out again this morning because it was failing again. Bottom line is the PIC line will work for now. In two more days they will know if the medication to fix the heart problem will work. If it does they will start being able to feed them which will pre-empt the need for PIC line.

Parker: He has had to have increased oxygen and increased help from the respirator. He is up to about 35% oxygen, still not bad but not as good as yesterday. No PIC line needed yet as his UV line is still functioning well.

Both boys are currently sporting sunglasses as they are in the tanning bed:):) They actually really do have eye protection as they are getting artificial sunlight from a light source to help out with the jaundice they are both experiencing.

Mommy really became mommy this morning as she almost got peed on:):) While visiting the NICU they let Heather change Parker's diaper!!! We got to see "parker's parts" in person. The nurse said Heather did a great job, but said she may have to hurry at one point to avoid the possibility of "getting sprayed"!!! It was a great moment of normalcy in a crazy time right now:):) They are both responding to Heather and my voice which is very reassuring . They gave us Parker's little knit cap to take with us to have a little piece of them while we're away.

That's all for now:) more later:)

p.s. any and all replies are really appreciated....it really is great to be able to hear from the outside world:):)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

No Mags!!!

June 24 11:30 pm

They have not only taken Heather off the magnesium, but have given her a combination of vicodin and motrin which has really cut into her headache. Hopefully a good night's sleep is on the way. If everything follows as it did five days ago, then by the end of the day tomorrow the blood pressure medication they started her on should kick in and get that under controll and the mags should clear her system by tommorrow afternoon leaving the head ache a bad memory. Lets' hope:)

the NICU


Pics of Parker





that's our boy!!!!!

Pics of Tyler





Isn't he cute!!!!
m





Pics of our room prior to delivery. #1 no I'm not peeing..... i'm watching TV really quietly so Heather can sleep
#2 the NICU bed that lived in our room.
#3 The monitors that we constantly monitored to find out how heather is doing. #4 The bane of our and the nurses existance.....trying to get the boys on heart monitors at the same time. #5 The read outs....the 147 is tylers heart rate the 140 is parkers heart rate in the green the 150 over 83 is Heather's blood pressure....this was why we were so optomistic :) the right side green is 87 heart rate and 96% her blood oxygen

picture test


Here's Tyler

Quick update

June 24 5:30



small concern with Heather's blood pressure. It should have come down with the babies coming out, Right after surgery and for most of the night it had been really good. However it has trended up today and is right now pretty high 156/107. they are holding off on doing anything to see if it stabalizes on its own. Her headache has really come on strong the last couple of hours. Very similar to when she had mags five days ago.

The boys: Parker is getting a blood transfusion today. Apparantly it is not as scary as it sounds. It is not that uncommon in a preemie. His hemogloban is low and thus his blood oxygen is low. A blood transfusion should solve this. Different note: when a baby is in the womb it has a passage way in the heart between to major veins ( actually an artery and a vein) which allows blood to pass between the two. In the womb it is no big deal, but needs to close after birth, which it does with full term babies. Tyler and Parker both still have theirs open, which is preventing them from giving the boys food. Today they started on a three day on a three day medicine regiment that they say usually takes care of it. If it does then in three days they will be able to start on the breast milk that Heather has been pumping. That's it for now:)

recovery and growth

June 24 3:30 pm



A new day and two new lives! Tyler and Parker are doing well. More details in a minute.....

At the risk of boring everyone with too many details, let me go back to yesterday and fill in the blanks. After the second ultra-sound yesterday the condition with Parker's blood flow became evident and emergent. Basically here was the problem: when his little heart beats it forces blood through the umbilical cord and into the placenta. in between beats blood should still be flowing through the umbilical cord into the placenta, just not at the same velocity. Not only was Parker not moving any blood through in between beats, but blood was back flowing from the placenta back into the cord and thus back into Parker. This was putting Parker at a very high risk.........So then came the tough decision for Heather and I to make........if we remove the risk from Parker by delivering him, we have to deliver Tyler (who was doing fine) and put him at risk by being so premture. If we leave Tyler in to develop more, than Parker remains at a high risk. We both agreed to deliver the boys earlier and put our faith in the absolutely fantastic medical team here at UCD. After the decision was made things progressed very very fast. After living in the hospital room for four and a half days I had to pack everything up and get it out of there before the surgery as we would be in a different room post surgery. A whole slough of different people came in to speak with us and just like that they were taking Heather into the OR Heather is so special that she got two spinals instead of just one. Of course nobody relayed that to me......who was sitting outside the OR in medical garb waiting to go in. After 45 minutes i started really worrying about Heather's well being (standard for the past five days!!!) they finally came out and invited me in. I barely sat down next to Heather's head before we realized the operation had begun. About half way through Heather became nauseated and made a deposit into the pan i was holding up next to her cheek. Poor thing had nothing to throw up so had to suffer through dry heaves until it passed. They pulled Tyler out first followed closely by Parker. Both boys were immediately whisked away to the adjoining room to the NICU teams standing by. a total of seven people were waiting for the boys to come out. After they were stabalized and I was convinced Heather was okay, they invited me out to see them and to follow them up to the NICU. Both are very premature but are doing very well all things considered.

The next four hours found me bouncing back and forth between the third floor (Heather in post op) and the fifth floor ( the NICU). Once Heather cleared post op and got settled into her room i took one more trip up to see the boys before heading home. Because she was in a shared room I couldn't stay the night as i have been doing.

We had been told not to expect the production of breast milk for a few days but to attempt pumping as soon as possible. Heather started at 5 am!!! And what to her wondering eyes should appear???? But a full vial of breast milk on her first try!!!! she has since pumped two more times and continues to get milk. Heather also laughed in the face of pain and said "I'm going to see my sons!!!" Okay so she didn't laugh, but she did work through some pain so she could get up to see the twins. As a great mother would she instantly noticed how different they are:) Two distincly different noses and all. The morning saw Heather feeling pretty good, but the mags has since gotten to her. The headache has returned and the lack of liquid intake (regulated heavily by the mags) has again dehydrated her, so needless to say is feeling like crap again.

The boys: the NICU team says they are doing really well all things considered. Both boys are on a respirator but are on the lowest setting:) Parker is on 21% oxygen which is like the air that you and i breath, and Tyler is on 30% so just barely above normal which is great news as it decreases the chance of problems with thier eyes. They are both in incubaters that are covered in selaphane while they are surrounded in tinfoil. Both things help to keep the heat and moisture in. I will try and take some pictures and get them out soon. mOre later:)

Welcome the boys!!!

June 24 1:30 am

Heather is finally getting some well deserved sleep:) Tyler Johnathon Thompson was born at 8:14 pm followed closely by Parker Duran Thompson at 8:15 pm Heather came through emergency C-Section surgery like the trooper that she is!! Tyler is 1 pound 10 ounces and Parker is 1 pound 6.25 ounces. Both are in the NICU being cared for by some pretty great people. They are doing well all things considered......now they just have to battle. I will try and give you more details of the day tomorrow. I also wanted to thank everyone for being so incredibly supportive and patient. Now that Heather's health isn't in danger I know she will want to start seeing people. I will check with her tomorrow to see how she is feeling. She is in a semi-private room tonight, so the hospital wouldn't let me stay with her. Feel free to call my cell if you'd like. I'll try and take as many calls as i can before my battery goes dead:):) Big thanks go out to Zana and Theresa for coming at a seconds notice to be there. Having them there made all the difference!!! Everything happened very quickly.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Delivery

Monday June 23 5 pm

Parkers blood flow is not good. They will be delivering both boys tonight at 7 pm by C-Section. All immediate family please feel free to call my cell phone for anything 257-1519. I will try and answer as best I can to keep you updated. I don't know when I'll have the ability to update this blog again, but will try to as soon as i can to keep the information flowing. Prayers welcome

oh what a difference a few hours can make

Monday June 23 2:30
So just when you think things are looking good.......
So apparantly the ultra sound this morning wasn't as great as we thought. It appears that the blood flow through Parker's umbilical cord isn't what it should be. Was it a fluke or a serious problem??? More tests today to find out........I'll keep you posted

NICU.....truly amazing

Monday June 23 12:05 pm

Heather continues do well all things considered. Her blood pressure fluctuates from the
140's-160's / low 80's-90...which is pretty good considering. Her blood work continues to come back in good shape.......Our doc this morning actually said her labs were great. All this leaves us encouraged yet grounded in the reality of the situation we are in. Last night found us taking a tour of the NICU......it was amazing. Of course my mathematically trained brain went into logistics mode and I actually felt better once i saw everything. To see all of the technology that they had to help the little babies made me feel better. Heather saw it from a more realistic point of view which reiterated our concern of the situation. We got to see a boy that only weighed 1 pound 4 ounces which is smaller than both Tyler and Parker currently are. To see him there with all the machines hooked up was surreal. We're both glad we got to see it all as it took the "mystery" out of some of it. It really would have been devastating if we would have waited and not seen it until the boys are here. A doc and a nurse both gave us a stat at different times. It's not accurate by any stretch since each one gave us different stat, but here's the gist of it: every day that we keep the boys in the womb is 3-5 fewer days that they will have to be in the NICU. This morning they took Heather down to the first floor for an in depth ultra sound. Everything looked good. Technically we are at 26 weeks 4 days right now, but the ultra sound readings had the boys at 25 weeks and 25 weeks five days. There is a +/- of 13 days built into the ultra sound readings so I think we are still fine. It was just a little unsettling to hear them being evaluated several days behind where we actually are. They did give us their estimated weight and they have gained a few ounces each since last Thursday, so that's optomistic. That's what's happening in room 3812!!! Thanks to those who have left us a message!!! It's nice to hear what's going on out in the real world. Heather loves to hear what's going on with everyone:)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sunday June 22 5:55 pm

I should have gone with my gut instinct on spellings. I googled Heather's condition to verify it's correct spelling and something else popped up, hence the horrible mispellings in the original blog (novel:) ) I blame it on my severe lack of sleep the last three nights, but really i just blew it. So here are the correct spellings:

Preeclampsia and Eclampsia I knew it!!!!!!!!

Report Card

Sunday June 22 4:10 pm

So we had the ultrasound to find out why Parker wasn't moving much, and found the opposite. Parker scored an 8/8 on his report card, while it was Tyler who was being lazy and not moving much ( very unusual as he is always the active one:)). His report card was only 6/8. But not to worry, the doc said everything looked great and she'll do it again tomorrow. On a positive note: I hadn't mentioned how happy we were with UCD!!! Heather had some trepidation about the facitlity in general, but no is sold on how great it is. Our room is private and is huge. The staff has been outstanding! Very nice and cooperative as well as extremely knowlegeable. We really do feel like this is the best place for us.

Let's Get Caught Up Shall We!!!!

In an attempt to keep everyone updated as to "the life of times of Tyler and Parker" I thought I'd take a stab at trying to create an ongoing blog. Trying to call everyone has just not been a reality.....and knowing how things can get lost in translation from one person to the next.....well here goes......



On Monday June 16 Heather and I went in for a routine doc appointment. At that appointment Heather had swollen feet, protien in her urine and elevated blood pressure. These are the three signs of Preeclampsia (my best understanding is that preclemsia is the pre-cursor to Eclampsia which is a condition where the mother's body views the baby(s) as a foreign body and tries to reject it(them) as foreign tissue. If it goes to eclampsia the mother can go into seizures which would deprive the babies of oxygen and possibly kill them. She could encounter a stroke which could obviously kill her. Nasty condition to say the least!!!) Given the fact that she had all three signs the doctor sent us over to Mercy Folsom for observation. After five hours of rest and monitoring Heather's blood pressure decreased to the point that the doc sent us home for bed rest with a follow up appointment on thursday June 19th.
On Thursday June 19 Heather and I returned for a follow up appointment feeling really good about her rest at home and off work. NOT!!! Her blood pressure was back up and higher than before, still had swollen feet protien in her urine. After some discussion between the docs it was decided she would return to Mercy Folsom for a 24 hour observation period. After six hours at Mercy Folsom her blood pressure had not decreased at all. More discussion with the doctors brought about her transfer to UC Davis Med Center, where they have a full Neo-Natal Intensive Care Facility. After a fun 90 mph ambulance ride (no sirens) down Hwy 50 (with me right behind her in the Honda CRV!!!!), she was admitted to UCD. Spirits were still jovial and optomistic......that would soon change. At around midnight her blood pressure peaked at 187 / 119 which prompted the docs to start her on two medications. One is a blood pressure med and the other is Magnesium Sulfate which helps decrease eclemsia side effects and protects her internal organs. As evidenced by Heather's impersonation of Linda Blair, we soon found out that Magnesium Sulfate (to be refered to from here on out as Mags...sorry Maggie:)) is really some nasty stuff. Within ten minutes of getting the IV of mags Heather broke out ina sweat, became disoriented and proceeded to projectile vomitt across the room. (This, ironically enough, prompted the doctor to leave the room for the nurses to clean up). Another side effect of mags is fluid retention......to the point of the recipient possibly getting pneumonia. Thus Heather's fluid intake was drastically decreased and regulated. Thus she became dehydrated. The mags and the dehydration caused her to get a massive headache that could only be treated with ice on her head. Needless to say she was miserable. To top it all off, they had to connect fetal heart rate monitors X 2 to her belly. Keeping both Tyler and Parker's heart rates dialed in proved to be the bane of our nurses existance. They battled with it all night as did Heather since she couldn't move which just made her even more miserable. At this point the doctors began explaining to us that we would be in the hospital until the babies were born.........which could happen in a day or could be as long as three weeks........THREE WEEKS.......this was their optomistic point of view.......that only makes Tyler and Parker 29 weeks at best........now we began to grasp the gravity of the situation. Needless to say Thursday night and most of Friday was tough. The good news, yes there was some good news, came late Friday. Because Heather had reacted so well to the meds and her blood pressure had come down significantly ( 140's / 80's) the docs took her off the mags. This allowed Heather to rehydrate. This in conjunction with the mags leaving her system helped to decrease her headache. By late Friday night her headache was bearable. However, the constant monitoring of the babies still left her unable to lie any other way but directly on her back. This left her extremely unfomfortable, unable to re-position and thus continued to prevent her from getting any real sleep.
Saturday June 21 Oh what a difference a day makes!!!! The roller coaster ride continued with the news Sat morning that Heather's continual good response to the blood pressure meds would allow the nurses to take off the babies heart monitors and proceed to check them a few times a day rather than continually. Heather was free to roll onto her side and rest!!! We met with the NICU specialist and asked a thousand questions about having to deliver this early. Too much information to detail or even summarize so here's the bottom line......delivery this early has a 50% survival rate with a 75% chance of mild to severe neurological damage. Bottom line is they need to bake longer. At 28 weeks things get much better......no percentages yet. So our goal becomes July 3rd. The other piece of good news (that turns out is short lived) is that the main doc is so happy with Heather's blood pressure that she talks with us about the small possibility that she may send Heather home for bed rest. She wants to wait three more days, but this is the first time anyone has felt comfortable saying anthing other than we were here for the duration. Now I qualified this info as short lived because Heather's blood pressure slowly began to go back up over the course of Saturday afternoon. Roller coaster goes up, roller coaster goes down!!! Later saturday night and early sunday morning the trend reversed itself again as her pressure trended back down again. Meanwhile her protien in her urine has remained present, but consistantly at a somewhat low rate. All of her blood work keeps coming back positive as well. Trace signs of problems, but slight. Which brings us to today. I've decided to be overly protective and basically screen all her calls, keep the room dimly lit and decline all visitors in an attempt to just keep her stable. Zana was a trooper and sat with Heather Sat afternoon which helped out tremendously. Today has seen Heather pressure holding steady in a good range, but has also seen a small dip on the roller coaster. The new concern is that Parker isn't really being as active as they'd like. They are bringing in another ultra-sound to get a better look at him to make sure all is well. All signs from the boys has been very positive so far, so we're not really worried much at this point. We are scheduled to go up to the NICU today and take an extensive tour so we don't get freaked out by all the machinery when we do deliver. We'll also have another consult to ask a ton more questions. At this point I will try and post a couple of times a day to keep everyone updated. Thank you all so much for all of your concern and patience as the info has been scattered at best. Hopefully this will solve that problem. Being completely blog ignorant, I don't know if you can write back to us but if you can we'd love to hear from you. We are living in a bubble and are losing track of the real world and would love to hear how things are going with all of you!!!! thanks again and keep those fingers crossed and prayers coming!!!!

with love

John Heather Tyler and Parker