What a storm it was

On Tuesday we were scheduled to head to the hospital with the twins so Dylan could have his hernias repaired.  On Tuesday they were also calling for a nasty storm.  Thankfully, we got to the hospital just as the snow began.  While waiting we were met by a nurse telling us the surgery was going to be delayed about 2 hours.  Poor Dylan.  He was allowed to nurse 4 hours prior to surgery which is about as the boy can last anyway.  I fed him so that at 4 hours he would be going back to surgery, now he had to wait an extra two.  He did great though.  While at the hospital I was freezing cold! I was tired and just freezing with a killer head ache.  I did the usual things, drank two bottles of water, got some food, walked around the hospital.  Still wouldn't go away so I got a coke. Nope! It hurt to move my eyes in any direction.  As the day went on the symptoms were worse.
Originally the plan was for Jake to take Logan home and come back and pick Dylan and I up in the morning after getting the boys off to school.  My how plans change.  Now keep in mind, I am not writing this in the moment of all that occurred.  I am home, healthy and can see God's hand as I look back, but in the moment, God was so far down on my "I like you" list he wasn't on it! Here we are with our preemie son whom by the grace of God is healthy! A blessing I don't take lightly.  We are all finally home, they boys are gaining weight, everything is finally beginning to look up for us, then WHAM! Oh, your son has hydrocele and bilateral hernias that will need surgery, oh and sorry for all of the pain and screaming he is in but he is going to have to wait 5 days too.  Ok, great!
 I find out on Monday about the storm thanks to my sister in law who mentioned it.  I had NO idea it was coming.  I had Ethan and JT all set and people taking care of them, now, I have to scramble to cover every single possible situation.  Ok, school delay, no school at all, early dismissal.... FCPS are fairly strict on who can pick up your child, even in an emergency.  Ok, done, I think.  The boys are cared for.
On to Tuesday.  We are at the hospital, Dylan is in surgery and I am wearing Jake's winter coat throughout the hospital.  Dylan gets out of surgery and they ask if Jake and Logan will be staying.  I look up with hope and joy and say yes! Due to the weather I am hoping they will agree.  Normally siblings aren't allowed to stay but because I am nursing twins they said yes.  Here is the crazy blessing in that situation, On Wednesday hospital policy was changing due to flu season.  On Wednesday the hospital would allow NO visitors at all other than parents. The only reason they agreed to let them stay was because we were being discharged on Wednesday morning.  We finally arrive in the room and Jake and I luckily get to sleep on those fabulous chair sofa things.  I can't complain, it was my first time in one of those things.  Jake has spent many a night on those things.  I nursed the boys and was "in bed" by 6pm.  Jake did his best to allow me to sleep.  At one point I got so dizzy I almost fell over while attempting to help Logan.  The nurses never came to check on us even though Dylan's monitor kept falling off and beeping and blinking.  After Jake fixed it every 5-20 minutes for four hours we decided to leave it off in hopes a nurse would come check.  After two hours of constant beeping Jake called the nurse and asked her to come in and change it to a new one.  If no one cared that they weren't getting any information on Dylan then why were we there?!?? On the other hand I was so sick I was truly contemplating heading downstairs to the ER. But I figured I wouldn't get meds until tomorrow anyway so why pay $400 instead of like $20 at the doctors.  So together Jake and I toughed out a terrible night. We were discharged the next morning headed to the doctor for me then headed home.  Since being home everything has been normal.  Dylan is doing well and will have a follow up appointment with the doctor in a few weeks. Other than that we are simply praying for God to lighten the load.  He has blessed us with strength, grace, endurance... but I would LOVE the blessing of ease from time to time.   Average and boring sound right up my ally these days!

Praise Him in the storm, yet another storm

Things have been going very well lately.  The twins have been gaining weight and the blood work came back normal for everything.  It looked like 2014 was going to be a great year for us.  Then On Thursday morning at about 2am Dylan woke up screaming!  We couldn't do anything to help him.  I have been concerned about RSV because they are preemies and because they got their synergis shot late.  I took him into the pediatrician at 9am thinking it was his lungs (although they sounded fine to me and I had been watching him closely) or maybe an ear infection.  Our pediatrician sent me to the ER.  He believed Dylan had a hernia which would require surgery.  So, I stopped at the house, picked up Logan and Jake and off to the ER we went.  Dylan has hydrocele and bilateral hernias.  On Friday we met with the surgeon and scheduled surgery for Tuesday.  Dylan screams in what seems like pain intermittently.  The doctor taught us how to push his intestines from his scrotum back into his stomach.  Every time he would get too upset and every diaper change we would check and things were going okay.  Not great, but okay.  The "episodes" as I call them are more frequent by the day and they seem to last longer.  We were given a list of "if this happens" go back to the ER.  This morning Jake thought it was time to go back to the ER.  So, off we went again.  Of course, by the time we got to the ER Dylan was quiet and content.  The doctors looked at him and although they see our concern it is not deemed and emergency and we will have to wait until Tuesday for the surgery.
Jake and I have gone through a myriad of emotions.  Sadness, fear, anger, helplessness and so on.  I told Jake last night and again this morning that I needed to listen to and sing praise and worship songs.  If I didn't I would stay in this funk and be a person I am not.  I would play the "why me" game.  Instead we decided to listen to some music and sign our hearts out to the Lord.  Some songs allowed us to thank him, some were songs that brought tears of sadness, some were songs that reminded us of our salvation.  Jake and I were really looking forward to 2014.  A year of growth and not so many hospital visits.  Sadly, looks like 2014 isn't going as well as we had hoped.  If you think of it, pray for Dylan on Tuesday.  Pray for the surgeons hand and pray that until that surgery his body is able to handle all it has going on.  There are so many songs and scriptures I want to share with you at this time but for now know that we will praise Him in this storm just as we have in the past.  We will choose to find joy in all things, rejoice in all things and trust in Him.  It's not easy, don't think it is.  It's a challenge but it's a choice and we have made our choice.

Blood work results

Well, first I am so thankful for our pediatrician.  He is a wonderful thoughtful man and he goes above and beyond.  I just got a call from him in regards to the boys blood work.  You know that saying no news is good news?  Well, in this case it's just not true!  He called to tell me that both boys labs came back normal!  This is a huge praise! I haven't stopped smiling! I am so so thankful.  These little miracles are just that miracles.  So far, we have nothing to worry about.  As of right now the boys should catch up age wise by the time they are two.  They will be evaluated by the county for services (PT, OT speech down the road) in late January and begin therapy (PT most likely) in late January or early February.  Since we have been through all this before I reached out to JT's therapists to see if they would work with our family again and they agreed.  Another blessing! Anyway, I couldn't WAIT to share the news! Thank you for the prayers and please join me in giving thanks and praise to God!

WHOOOHOOOOOO!!!

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord.[a]

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.