July 31st 2008

Tige and I had a good day with the girls. The doctors are still monitoring both girls closely just because of their size. They are both doing very well but that doesn't mean that they are going to not pay as much attention to them. This makes Tige and I very happy, we had some concerns they would were going to be lenient with them because they were such fighters but they reassured us the this wasn't going to happen. We love the attention they are getting both medically and because people just love them. I personally think they are the cutest babies in there! We were able to handle them a lot today, and they were so responsive to us. That gives us a feeling that is unexplainable, a love we never imagined.

July 29th & 30th 2008

So it's been a couple of days since we've posted and lots has gone on. Yesterday we went to the hospital to find our girls were doing exceptionally well. Our little Elle was off any breathing apparatus for 24 hours and Melia was being weaned off of hers for a few hours at a time. We were surprised when the nurse recommended we could do kangaroo care, this is when they have you take off your top and babies lie skin to skin on you. They also moved the girls to the front of the NICU which means that they are not considered critical patients anymore. It was graduation day for them, I'm sure their first of many. Obviously Tige and I were overwhelmed with emotion and love we were grateful for the great day we were blessed to have.

July 30th 2008 - Today proves the ups & downs of having preemies. Elle is back on a breathing mask, she is not recieving oxygen and neither is Melia, just room air. The mask just helps them get air in easier, and by having this they don't have to work as hard and lets them use their energy for other things. They seem a little fatigued today, probably from their busy day the day before so they are keeping an eye on them to make sure nothing else is going on. Tige and I are happy that the staff is so observant and we know that good and bad days are par for the course. We are so happy we had such a good day yesterday, but we just want them to take their time growing and developing. We will wait as long as it takes to make sure they come out healthy and plump.

July 28th and July 29th's morning update

ELLE

So, yesterday I spent a few hours with the girls as Tige had to go home and pick up some more stuff. I walked in and noticed something different about Elle, I couldn't put my finger on it and then it dawned on me...she had her breathing mask off!!! It was just amazing, my little girl was breathing on her own. She was under the blue light to help with jaundice so her eyes were covered but I was able to see her hair and her nose. When I told the nurse that I have never seen her face fully she uncovered her for me and I was able to see her entire beautiful face. Tige and I visited her later in the evening - boy was she fiesty. Daddy changed her poopy diaper and she put on a show for us.

This picture is of our little fighter's beautiful face.

The girls are utter inspiration for us.

July 29th's AM update - NICU has been amazing and allow phone calls anytime of day. We were informed that Elle is off of the blue lights and is progressing nicely. Feedings are moving up from every 4 hrs to every 2 hrs to see how she tolerates it. The nurses keep commenting on how many times she has bowel movements and the size of them. She MUST be my daughter!!

Her spirit amazes us and we fall in love more and more with her everyday.

MELIA

Our little diva is doing well, she still has the breathing mask on but is breathing room air which is fantastic. She was really responsive to me during the day. As soon as I would take my hand off of her she would fuss quite a bit and would stop when I would touch her again. What an amazing feeling. I heard her cry for the first time and open her eyes, it was a very busy day for us. Daddy was able to give her a swab of my milk in her mouth and apparently she was licking it all up. I think this one will be our little porker too.

July 29th's AM update - Apparently she had the breathing mask off for about and hour and did well, they put it back on to not stress or make her work too hard too soon. Tige and I are very content with them taking their time, we know that everything needs time to develop and we are more than willing to wait to make sure they are as healthy as they can be when we bring them home. They are going to be feeding her more now as well and will see how she tolerate its.

Melia with her soother she loved it

July 28 2008-The Story Begins

Alright, I'd thought I would create this blog due to the overwhelming response from family, friends and acquaintances on our little girls daily progress. I will start from the beginning so here it goes.



I am 28 weeks in this picture, 1 day before I delivered.

• At 26weeks 1day I informed my OB that I didn't feel alot of movement from one of the babies. He decided to take a look with his u/s(ultrasound) machine and I noticed that the fluid around Twin B (Elle) was low. I at that point went into work and my coworker Cindy scanned me and confirmed what I had seen plus it showed that the blood flow in Elle's umbilical cord was not doing what it was supposed to. My OB was informed and came to the hospital to tell me that I was being admitted. Ofcourse Tige was in Vermont for work but thankfully my mom was with me to help me handle the situation.




• On July 10th the next day, we did another u/s and it showed that the blood flow to the baby was a bit worse. To make a very long story short I was admitted to St. Joseph's hospital in London, Ontario which is almost 2 hours away from home. This hospital has a level 3 NICU and would be better equiped to care for the babies if they had to be born. Tige and I drove up together at night and immediately knew that we were in the right place.




• The next four days showed that the blood flow to Elle had improved and we were discharged and sent home to be monitored on Monday July 14th. I stayed at my mom's to be on bedrest. She catered to me and we all were happy I could be home but that was short lived. On Wednesday July 16th I was sent for another u/s from my OB and it showed that the blood flow went bad again so we hit the highway and was readmitted into the London hospital. This time I was reassured that I was going to be there for atleast 3 weeks and not sent home even if things appeared to be normal. My mom stayed with me when Tige couldn't, you know there is nobody like mom. Her help and support is something I will never forget.




• Over the next week I was closely monitored and had daily ultrasounds done. During all of this Twin A(Melia) is doing just fine. She was my mover and shaker in there, she was as happy as a pig in you know what. The doctors decision everyday is complicated by this because they have to consider the twin that is thriving in their current environment. Everyday that we held on was so very crucial and is said to decrease the babies stay in NICU by 3 days.




• July 20th brought some bad news that Elle's blood flow was now getting to a harmful stage. Thankfully Tige was with me that day and we together came to peace with our situation. We had done all we could and now it was in God's hands and it was time for our little babies to fight.




• On July 23rd at 10am after my u/s I called Tige on his cell and asked him if he was ready to be a daddy. It was exactly 2 weeks before that we had entered this journey so I was 28weeks 1day and the u/s showed that it was time to deliver in order to not cause any potential harm to our Twin B(Elle). At 2:07pm we delivered a Twin A, the doctor screamed to us at my request that she was a girl-this would be Melia Linda Melton. At 2:08pm we delivered Twin B. The doctor again screamed that it was another girl(wow were we shocked)-this would be Elle Vlasia Melton. Vlasia is my mom's name and Linda is Tige's mom's name. Keeping the gender a surprise was the most amazingly wonderful thing we could have done, through all of it I was so excited to find out what they were. It kept my mind off of why we were there and that it was too soon.



• The 2 weeks that we bought increased our odds of healthy babies exponentially. I am thankful and blessed to have been so lucky. We now have 2 beautifully wonderful girls, they just need to mature a bit more and plump up. Our family is complete and we couldn't be happier.



• Melia weighed 2lbs 4oz and was 37cm long and Elle weighed 1lb 8oz and was 31.5cm long. Elle is feisty like her mom(hehe!) she pulled out her breathing tube 5 hours after she was born and they realized that she didn't need it. She just has the worlds smalled oxygen mask over her nose to give her extra air. Melia had her breathing tube taken out yesterday and has the same mask. They are both doing amazingly good, the nurses tell us that they are boring which is a good thing. We were allowed to change their diapers which has made both of us feel more useful to them. I started crying when I got to change Melia's diaper for the first time it was just an amazing feeling, it made me feel more like their mom.



• Tige and I are set up in the local Ronald McDonald house as I plan on not going home unless they are with me. Tige will be here as much as work permits him to. He is my rock and has been amazing through all of this. I just hope I play the same role for him.

That's it for now....I think? I am going to get ready to see them. Keep praying for us it seems to be working.

ABOVE- This is Melia, she is our little poser! This picture was taken at 3 days old. Isn't she beautiful?

BELOW- This is Elle at 3 days old, she is actually breathing on her own but the face mask makes it look worse. Our little fighter!