Our Goodbye

We laid our little angels to rest on Thursday July 17th. They are finally in the hands of the lord until we can meet again. We all know that they are in a better place and are no longer suffering, but it is indeed hard to let them go. The service was beautiful, and the rain managed to stop for us while they were placed into the ground next to "Twin" trees.
Although they were only here for a very short time, our boys sure managed to touch the lives of many of our friends and family. There were so many people who came to pay their respects to us, we still cannot believe the love from everyone.
We would like to thank everyone who sent thoughts and prayers our way. We know the lord works in mysterious ways, but we are positive that those prayers were answered.

Thursday July 10th

This day was the most devastating day of our lives. After 10 days of tremendous strength and fight, our little boys just couldn't fight anymore. Our precious little Zander passed away at 4:50pm and our precious little Colin passed away at 10:20pm. They are in God's hands now where they will be safe and suffer no more. We will think of them always and will miss them forever, until we meet again. These two boys were indeed angels sent to us, but taken away all too soon. We love you Colin and Zander.

They are little over a week old now (8 days to be exact)

With everyday, we have different and new challenges to the little ones. We are currently battling many ailments that both Colin and Zander both have. They are still fairly stable, but mom and I would really like to see improvements in their stats. The ventilators are still on very high pressure and higher than normal oxygen levels. The pressure and oxygen are creating complications, but we need them up to keep them stabilized. They are finally getting rid of some the excess fluid they have been taking in, but like I keep mentioning they have a long way to go. That is all for now. I will try to update photos as I get them.

Currently, I (dad) am at home taking care of girls. Mom is watching the nurses and doctors like a hawk for me. Staying at home is very difficult because I feel I am too far away from our boys, but I want to keep life as normal as possible for the girls. On nights I do not have the girls, I am driving up to the cities to see the rest of my precious family. I am sure mom likes it better when I am there. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers, they are helping more than you know.

Sincerely,
Christian

6 days old now

When we first delivered the the babies and they gave us status reports on them and how exactly sick they were, the nurses and doctors had mentioned that it is going to be a roller coaster of emotions. This is much harder than they could have prepared us for. The boys seem to be switching daily who is the sicker of the two, but they are still fighting and that is all our family can hope for. The nurses have been great at keeping us updated on the progress of our boys. The doctors have been wonderful as well as what they seem to do has been working. We are by no means out of the woods, but every days challenge seems to be met by the staff. It is many small victories that allow us to keep hope.

As far as the progress goes, Colin and Zander still have many of the complications of being preemies. Their lungs have not developed well, blood pressure issues, and all around changing stats as they adapt to their new environment. The nurses and doctors are working around the clock to stabilize our boys and every time they think they have it, something new is added to the mix. These are going to be daily struggles. We appreciate the well wishes and the prayers as they have gotten us this far, please continue to remember our boys as they continue to fight through this. Mom and Dad can never thank everyone enough.

With love and appreciation,
Chris, Sam, Holly, Alyssa, Zander, and Colin.

60 hours old

Just to give everyone an update. This morning they are still working to keep the boys stable. They are doing pretty well considering how early they were born. We are still very concerned with some of the test that have been performed, but we are trying to remain optimistic that everything will work out. Zander at this point has had the most favorable test results. Colin has not done as well. They both have gained some weight, but we are hoping that they do drop soon to show they are releasing some of the extra fluid that they have accumulated through IV's and such. This is going to be a very long battle and we have only just begun. Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers. Please continue to keep us and them in your prayers.

Also there are so photos at the bottom of this blog for you to look at. We have more and will be posting them periodically.

With love,
Sam, Christian, Holly, Alyssa, Colin, and Zander

25 Weeks and Delivery

Well here is the beginning of our already eventful week. I went on Monday to the ultrasound clinic in Mankato for a routine doppler screening. Before I was released the technician had to call my Perinatal Doctor and give them the results. I was then told that they wanted to see me at Abbott immediately, but didnt give me any details as to why. I rushed home, grabbed a bag of clothes, and Chris and I headed up to Mpls. We checked into the clinic, and they told us to head over to the hospital and go to Labor and Delivery. Now we were terrified. We went to labor and delivery and got checked in and put into a room. It took about a half hour before the doctor came to meet with us. He brought an ultrasound machine right into the room, and told us that they suspected that the bigger baby was showing fluid in his abdomen which would indicate the onset of heart failure. The ultrasound proved that there was indeed fluid in the abdomen, and the Doctor felt that the best option would be to deliver these babies as soon as possible as there would be nothing to do for baby B in utero if his heart should fail. There was little to no chance that this condition would improve if left untreated, so I was prepped for an emergency C section.
On Monday June 30th, at 4:57pm the first baby was born, Baby B named Zander Alan; and at 4:58pm the second baby was born, Baby A named Colin Gregory. Zander weighed in at 2lbs 1oz and 14in, and Colin weighed in at 1lb 2oz and was 11 in.
Both babies were rushed away to the NICU at the adjacent Children's Hospital, with dad in tow. Once they were stablized and once I came out of recovery, I was wheeled over to meet them.

Both babies are currently very critical but stable. We just made our first milestone of 24 hours, with the first 72 hours being the most critical. We felt it necessary to have both babies baptised as soon as possible, so both were baptised today, with mom, dad and Grandma Joanie at their side.
We thank all of you for all of your prayers and thoughts, and hope that you all continue to pray for our little ones while they continue on their difficult journey into this world. We will try to keep updating as soon as possible.
Love,
Sam, Christian, Holly, Alyssa and our two new boys Zander and Colin.

Level II Ultrasound @ 24 weeks

We had our Level II ultrasound yesterday. We found out Baby 'A' has approximately 21 weeks and 2 days growth. This is behind our actual 24 weeks gestation. Baby 'A' weighs approximately 15 oz. This is up from the 11 oz. he was only 3 weeks ago. This was to be expected as it is much smaller because of the TTTS. The heart rate was a little faster than usual, but the doctor's are not all that concerned. His heart rate was 150 bpm. They were able to find a trace amount of fluid around this baby equaling 0.5 cm. This is the first time in two weeks we have had a measurable amount of fluid, but is still well short of where we would like to be.

Baby 'B' is much larger. He weighs in at a robust 1 lb. 11 oz. and is 24 weeks plus 6 days growth. This is a little ahead of schedule. The heart rate is down a little to 126 bpm. The fluid around Baby 'B' has risen slightly to 11.0 cm. Those are the measurables.

The unmeasurables are that they are still growing and that is the good news. It would be really nice to see a bigger growth for Baby 'A', but at this point any growth is good. The doctors are still very concerned about the enlarged heart of Baby 'B'. We are going to be continually monitored twice a week and are hoping to make a few more weeks. They are ready to deliver at the first sign of any distress, but they do not want to take them before they have to. Next week we are having Dopplers done in Mankato (again?) on Monday. Hopefully they know what to look for this time. We have an appointment in Minneapolis on Thursday. The appointment in Minneapolis also includes meeting with the doctors at Children's to let us know our chances and how everything is going to be handled once we do deliver. At this point we are praying that things balance out a little better. This could be the turning week from everything we have read. The survival rate of infants that reach the next point increases immensely. It is still a long shot because of the complications, but we are praying that they can continue defying the odds.

Thank you everyone for the prayers and well wishes. Our family and friends mean so very much to us. Do not be afraid to contact us if you have more questions. We read everything. Please continue to pray for us and our babies. This has been a long and winding road and will continue to be, but no matter the outcome we know that we have a support system like no other. Thank you.

Love and well wishes,
Christian and Sam