It all started in the Labor and Delivery Unit. We were not too thrilled to be at this unit in the month of December to be completely honest but Susie and Hailey really turned us around. Here is where Allie was given medication to deal with some of her pre-term labor complications and had a pretty rough forty-eight hours. Hailey was the nurse in charge when the twins' heartbeats crashed and was the one voice we remember saying "it's going to be okay, we will get through this."
Next we bring in Post-Partum. This was a real emotional stage for the both of us as we realized that we went from possibly going home pregnant, to proud parents of two in just hours. Allie having gone through an emergency C-section was obviously in some pain. Multiple nurses remarked on how well she looked and how little pain medication she was taking. I even asked a NICU nurse what kind of report I should give my wife and her response was " well when she wakes up tonight or tomorrow..." not knowing how tough Allie really was since she was already awake and asking about the twins. I was running back and forth between the NICU and post partum checking on all family members....We had a few rough moments in this unit but had such great nurses like Joy and Jen to guide us through them. Then an extra special moment for us occured as Susie from Labor and Delivery was our discharge nurse the last day we spent in Post-Partum. We can't express how much it meant to see her one last time and thank her for all her efforts as well as many other post partum nurses.
Now here we are at the NICU and will be here for sometime. This is where Allie and I truly believe God's angels are at work. We have been here long enough to cycle through some of these nurses and really couldn't be any more pleased. Our first experience was with Marceen and she has just been amazing. She truly has a gift for this work and I swear the twins respond better to her and her voice than my own sometimes. We have had night nurses like Kimberely and Pat that have given us a sense of relief at night as we try to get some rest that we desperately need. We were also fortunate enought to have Kacia who guided us through our first time holding the babies during the skin to skin time. The other nurses have included Courtney, Debby, and now Tina which we're just getting to know. Here in the NICU they also have RT which stand for Respitory Therapist that monitor the babies breathing extremely closely. The RT's that have been caring for our twins are Lori, Curtis, and Marie and are all awesome. We have had two Dr.'s and their names are Dr. Stirling and Dr. Freitiag. They've kept us up to date on all the progress, testing, and milestones for the twins.
 |
| Helping Hands |
 |
| Marceen hard at work |
 |
| Kacia and Pat |
Today we had a team that included a dietician, pharamicist, RN, RT, laction specialist, social services, charge nurse, occupational therapist, Dr. Freitiag, and our discharge nurse that briefed us on the progress of the twins and will do so every Wednesday. The NICU staff is just "simply the best!"
Of course we would like to thank all of our friends who have supported us with prayers, thoughts, food, flowers, and many other kind gestures.
Last but not least we have our amazing family. We get emotional writing about how supportive and dedicated our family has been. We would like to thank our immediate family on both sides for all you have done and all you will do in the coming months/years. Please know that without your love and support this experience would be completely different. Just witnessing you with the twins is such a blessing as we know what great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and great grandparents you will be. We also know how much our extended family has been supporting us through prayer as well. We thank you all so very much and know that we couldn't do this without you all.
Family Tributes... Right on, Greg, nice post. Praise God for the gift of your awesome extended fam. Love you all...
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
-chris