Yesterday morning we were up bright and early packing the car & getting ready to go to the hospital. I wasn’t too nervous. I was more nervous about not being able to feed them in the morning! I thought our ride would be dreadful. However, once we were in the car & had kissed Crewsie Bug goodbye, everyone did well! Really well! We only had crying the last 5 minutes of about an hour trip (after stopping by Chick-fil-A drive thru for breakfast).
The little guys got checked in with ease. They were flirting with everyone there. It was funny & weird because everyone was asking “how old are your twins?” We’d answer “9 months & they are triplets.”
They weighed in at…
Warner = 9.4kg =20.7lbs
Maverick = 9.3 kg = 20.5lbs (no clue why they weighed them in kilograms!?)
We changed them into their little baby “scrubs,” and we watched cartoons. All the nurses came by to get some smiles from our little guys. I was shocked at how well they were doing considering they hadn’t eaten since last night at 7:30pm!
We met with the nurse anesthetist, the anesthesiologist, & the doctors. Vanderbilt has a program where they provide job opportunities for young men & women with special needs. I think it is very cool & all of these “helpers” were doing such a good job at the tasks given to them. One girl loved our babies so much! She would come & talk to them to make sure they were doing okay. She came by after surgery to sit with them to make sure they were doing alright. She let me know their status of when they were coming out of surgery. I don’t think any of these things were her given “job”… she just loved our boys so much. It was really sweet.
While we waited, the boys played with toys, watched cartoons, rocked with mom, paced the halls with dad, chewed on their lovies, sucked their thumbs, and Maverick could not get enough of the crib…
They took Maverick back for surgery first. He did fine. While we were waiting for them to come and get Warner, “The Dubs” fell asleep in my arms. It was so sweet to have him so peaceful right before surgery. Chris was playing Matt Papa on his iPod while we were waiting & Warner just concked out!
After they took W back, we went to get Maverick…he was starving! All he could have after surgery was pedialyte, so they gave him a little 2 ounce bottle that you give preemie babies. Well, that was NOT enough! He ended up drinking 4 of those! It was so funny to think that when he was first born, we would coax him and coax him to drink 10 mL (60mL=2 ounces). He was sucking so hard on the bottle, we could remove our hands & he would suck the pedialyte bottle like a paci. Once he had reached his limit, he was not happy. He was coming off the meds & just couldn’t get comfy. He finally settled down in my arms & went to sleep.
Chris went to comfort Warner since I was holding Mav. He said W did the same thing sucking down his bottles. W had to have more pain meds since he wasn’t calming down as easy as M did. I don’t have any pics of them b/c I was with M. But here is one when we were in the holding room after recovery.
We were then taken to a holding room for the boys to recover a bit more. They were so sleepy & disoriented. They HATED their IV’s & “NoNo” arm protectors (protected their IVs). Maverick ended up scratching his face pretty bad with the velcro that was on the “No No.”
I went down to the pharmacy to get their prescriptions filled & while we waited for those to be ready, we received the discharge instructions. Chris then had to go pick the prescription meds up, so I was left in the room by myself with the 2 (Chris had help when I went downstairs – haha)! It was crazy! When they got really fussy, I picked the boys up & walked them down the hall some. But then, my arms felt like they might break off so I made a bee line back to the room. As soon as I thought I might loose my mind, our friend from the special needs job-op showed up. She talked to the boys while I rocked them, and they quieted right down! The last thing the boys had done was to have their IV’s removed. Of course we couldn’t leave with out a little bit of drama. As soon as the nurse took out Maverick’s IV, he started bleeding everywhere out of his IV spot! He got Chris, himself, 2 nurses, and the floor!
After everyone got cleaned up, we were ready to go home!
We are so thankful to only have to be there for an in & out operation. I know there are so many families that are there day to day with very sick children. While a Children’s Hospital seems to be a very happy place with bright colors & pictures, there is sadness looming in the air. My heart is still heavy for those families. Please lift them up in prayer.
Also, if you get a second, would you pray for my friend, Tara & Leah’s dad, Ernie? Tara explains what is going on with them… Click HERE. Please leave her a message to let them know you have lifted Mr. Baker up. I grew up dancing & going to church with Tara (who now has 2 sets of fraternal twins!) & Leah (who lives close to Atlanta). Mr. & Mrs. Baker taught me Sunday School & their family and their marraige has been a HUGE impact on my life. I often think if I can raise my family the way Mr.& Mrs. Baker have theirs, my life will have been successful!
Also, thank you so much for your prayers!!! Your prayers are so effective!!
Harper’s note:
So this morning I wrote Harper a little note on a paper plate and it was waiting for her when she woke up. Mom called me & said she had carried it around all day. Mom had to read it to her about 10 times. At nap time, Harper said, “take it wit choo” so, mom let her go to sleep with it. She said she crawled into bed & laid her head down on it. Such a sweet girl, my Harper.
Hope you have a wonderful day! Again, thank you for your prayers!!!
ML
