Pics from Day 2 of the boys' arrival

Here are a few pictures from Day 2.

This is the first picture where you can kind of see Carter's dimples. It looks like he's going to have Eric's dimples on both cheeks. I love them!.

Here I am changing Brandt for the first time. They were both still in the NICU and had to be in separate heated beds. They were hooked up to monitor their oxygen and body temperature.

Here's a close up of Brandt. Look at that chin! We think he has my head shape.

Here's Carter getting one of his first bottles. We had to teach them how to eat because they didn't have the suck/breathe/swallow reflex yet.

Pics from Day 1 of the boys' arrival

These pictures were taken on 5/26, the day of the birth. What a wonderful day! I was only able to see the babies right when they were born. I saw them later the next day and got to hold them.

Here is Carter when he was pulled out.

Here is Brandt when he was pulled out.

Here's our first partial family picture of me, Eric and Carter. Brandt was being cleaned up.

Here's we all are! I'm kissing Brandt and Eric is holding Carter.

Here's Carter being cleaned up.

Here's Brandt getting cleaned up.

I'm home!!

What a week. That is the least I can say! From being septic and hours away from being VERY sick to getting a bone marrow biopsy and finding out there was a sign up sheet going around the hospital for people to donate bone marrow for me, I am home!

The Lord has worked in mysterious ways this week. Nothing about my conditions made sense to the doctors. n the end, my bone marrow decided to come back from vacation and started to make white blood cells. I'm still not 100% and have low blood volume, but I'm home with my babies!

The boys have changed so much during the last week. They are so big now! I'm so grateful for my wonderful family who has pulled together to make sure that everything and everyone is taken care of. My wonderful mother-in-law has taken care of the boys like they are her own. My wonderful mom has cooked for everyone and taken care of me, and my wonderful husband has been right in the middle of everything coordinating it all.

Thank you so much everyone who has prayed for my recovery! My OB/GYN told me yesterday how much it was Divine intervention as nothing about my condition made sense. The Lord was surely looking out for me the last 9 days!

I'm HOME!!

Update

Well, it looks like I got a pretty good birthday present today!

Over last few days, I've shown no improvement. My white blood cells have stayed about the same and my red blood cells and platelets have gone down. Because my wbc haven't changed, a bone marrow biopsy was performed yesterday. It was the most painful thing I have ever gone through!

But guess what?!! Everything they tested for came back negative! There was a good number of stem cells and no cancer!!! Halleluia!

This was the best news I could've hoped for! It means there is nothing wrong with my marrow and that it's being suppressed by something not related to my bone function (so most likely a virus).

Also, my morning vital check showed my temp was 99. It has not changed and has consistently been 99 all day! Yay! That's not a fever!

Although my wbc have not gone up, my red blood cells have increased from 44 to 58. They should be in the hundreds, but the doctors think that since my fever has decreased and my rbs look to be increasing, my wbc should be the next to increase.

Please continue to pray that I improve. I've made baby steps today am THRILLED the biopsy was normal.

Please pray for me...

Please pray for me. Yesterday, I woke up with fever chills and a high fever and abdominal pain. Eric took me to my ob since I had an appointment @ 9 anyway and we just thought that I had an infection. I saw the PA who treated me like I was a weepy mom who was over reacting over the post-op pain. She didn't even do a pelvic exam on me and thought her thermometer was wrong when it read 103.5. She wrote me a script for more percacet and an antibiotic and was going to send me on my way. (Read: dumbass!!). I kept asking her if that was all. She consulted the other drs who finally got there and they said to go straight to the ER.

To make a long story short since I'm typing this from my phone, I was hours away from going into septic shock and dying. There is still not a confirmed diagnosis. They don't know if I had a uterine infection or what. I've been put on the heaviest antibiotics there are that are bacteria resistant.

I'm feeling fine now except I still have a fever. My abdominal pain is less sever and I'm not even on any pain relievers.

The concerning part is that my white blood cells are very low. Normal is 4,500 and I have 1,000. This means that my body is having a very hard time fighting the infection. My wbc count has not increased and my platelets and hematocrit have decreased slighly. I'm going to get a shot to boost my wbc so I hope that helps.

If you wouldn't mind, please pray that I start to improve. I'm so scared and I just want to be home and see my babies that I've just begun to get to know.

Birth Story

I'm incredibly exhausted, but want to write a brief story of how/why the boys were born so early.

I had my weekly doctor appointment on Tuesday. My (stupid) medical insurance denied paying for more weekly BPPs at my doctor's office so I had to go to the hospital to have it done before the doctor appointment. My mom took me to the hospital at 8:30 am. I was admitted and had the quickly ultrasound done (which, by the way, the boys got another 8/8!). I was done and at the doctor's office by 9:15 for my 10:15 appointment. I figured I'd get in early an Mom and I could get some breakfast during my weekly outing.

We waited for an hour and a half because Dr. McKernan had two deliveries. I was next in line when the office manager came out and said that Dr. McKernan had an emergency delivery and that we could see another doctor or the PA if we didn't want to wait. Since I thought everything was fine with me accept that I was really exhausted after having to walk through the hospital and wait in the doctor's office for so long, I said I would be seen by the other doctor in the office. I'd seen him before and really liked him, so I didn't think it was a big deal not to see my doctor in one of my last prenatal appointments.

They took my blood pressure (which is usually 110/70) and it was 140/90. I just figure that I needed to go home and lie down after being out for so long. The doctor came in and asked if I was having any vision problems, pain under my right breast or headache. I said no but he said he wanted me to go to L&D triage to get some blood work done and be monitored because he thought I was at risk for preeclampsia.

At this point, I was getting pretty crabby and just wanted to go home. I went back to the hospital and waited in triage for almost an hour before a nurse came to see me. They did some blood work and hooked me up to a blood pressure machine and Mom and I waited. And waited. And waited. After two more hours (and by this time it was around 2:30), Mom went out to the nurse's station to see if my lab results were back and if she could take me home since my blood pressure was back to normal. Dr. McKernan was there and said he was just looking at my chart and would be in to see me in a few minutes.

He came back to see me and said, "Well, I'm going to make your day and we're going to deliver these babies!" Ummm...what the heck? I was beyond stunned. I was packing up to go home! He said that my lab results came back abnormal and that I was at risk for preeclampsia. He said he didn't want to risk me going home and getting sicker (I was sick?) and perhaps having a seizure. Totally stunned....I was totally stunned. By this time, it was 3 and he wanted to deliver the boys by 5!!

I called Eric who was at school studying (he had a big standardized patient exam the next day) and told him to go home and get my back and come straight to the hospital. He made it by 4:45 and had time to get into the OR gear they had for him. What a whirlwind of a day!

I was incredibly nervous going in to have the surgery mostly because I didn't want to be awake knowing I was being cut open. When I got into the OR, some of the monitors didn't work and they had to fiddle with them until they got them to turn on (made me SO nervous!). But, the anaesthesiologist was great and did an excellent spinal block. The entire procedure was very unpleasant though. I felt like I had a ton of bricks on my chest and couldn't breathe. And I was given pitocen which made me shake like a leaf! It was awful! Dr. McKernan and Dr. Luley (the doctor I'd seen in the office that day) did a great job. Carter was out quickly and cried right away. Brandt (who was transverse in my belly) was a little more difficult to get out because his shoulder was stuck, but also cried right away. What a relief!

Eric went with the boys to the NICU and I was taken back to the recovery room. Because of the risk of seizure, I was put on magnesium sulfate (refer to the week 29 posting) and had to endure the recooperation of the surgery plus the nasty side effects of that crappy stuff. I got really sick and was throwing up all night and couldn't sleep. When I thought I had a break from the nausea and vomiting, the nurse wheeled me to the NICU so I could see the boys in hopes that by seeing them, I'd feel better and be able to sleep.

In the morning, Eric came to the hospital before his exam and we went to see the boys and I got to hold Brandt for the first time. Robert and Melissa (friends from Midwestern) showed up and Robert and Eric went to school for their exam. Melissa was such a help and stayed with me while I moved rooms to post partum and got me started breat pumping. Thank you again, Melissa!!

The next few days were spent sleeping, pumping, and teaching the boys to feed from a bottle and then from the breast. I was discharged from the hospital last night and had to go home without the boys. How heartbreaking! Going home without them was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I know they still need to be in the hospital.

They continue to do great. They went from being in the NICU to cobedding in an incubator and are now cobedding in a crib. They are eating almost 60 cc's each per feeding. Until they show they can maintain their own body temperature and are gaining weight, they have to stay in the hospital. We hope they will be able to come home sometime this week!

Thank to to everyone who has been praying for us. The Lord has truly blessed us with these precious boys and is watching over them. We are so grateful to Him as He touches these boys with His healing hands and can't wait until we can bring them home!

Introducing Carter and Brandt!!

Big News!!!! Carter John Groen and Brandt Roger Groen made their arrival even earlier than the scheduled c-section on June 8th at 37 weeks. The boys were delivered by cesearean on May 26th at 5:16 and 5:17 pm when I was 34 6/7 weeks pregnant. Carter weighed 5.2 lbs and Brandt weighed 5.2 lbs.

Carter

Brandt

Even though they were so early, their lungs were fully developed and neither needed oxygen. The have quickly learned how to suck/swallow/breathe in the past few days and are hardly needing formula now (they couldn't go straight to the breast since they were so premature and had to learn how to eat first). I was released from the hospital yesterday and we hope the boys will be able to come home sometime this week!