Harrison

Together at last!

Wow. A fantastic but very long day. Sorry to update so late. We are all together! Harrison was released from the NICU at 1, just in time for daddy's birthday party.

Brendan came with cake and presents for daddy to celebrate a birthday I bet he'll never forget. 

Harrison passed his final blood sugar test early this evening and is now given the all clear!!! His jaundice was ruled as minimal mid morning and willl be double checked tomorrow morning but hopefully won't be an issue.

My tummy developed a stinging, hot pink area of skin this morning which they are treating as cellulitis with 10 days of antibiotics. This freaked me out a lot initially but they assure me that most infections like this settle in 7 to 10 days and as long as it's not spreading it won't affect our discharge date

Which is when?? If this delivery process has taught me anything it is how to get used to not having a plan. If we're lucky it will be tomorrow. If not it will likely be Sunday. I know I can't wait to get home to a keyboard to post from!

This post should have a picture of Heidi and I'll put up another with Harrison ...

Happy birthday rob!!

The NICU nurses made rob a special surprise for this morning. Harrison needs just one more good feed and then he can come out to our room!

Just to keep things exciting, now that Harrisons sugars are almost in the clear they are now watching him for jaundice and me for a cellulitis infection. Sigh!

We may never get out of here at this rate.

Now it feels like we've got twins...

Finally twin life has begun! We bottle feed Harrison every 2 hrs then nurse Heidi every 3 hrs folllowed by bottle feeding her too, come back to the room to feed me and then we start all over!

We had a wonderful day of company too. Brendan came for his daily lunch visit with Mimi and Papa. Heather and baby Reid came, we visited with neighbors John, Tiff, Mikey :), and Kristen and Heather, Blaine, Owen and Will had a great visit. We've also been spoiled with lots of attention from all my coworkers.

Harrison has mastered 1 and 2 hour feeding intervals and will try 2.5 hour intervals in the NICU overnight. Baby steps...

Chow time

After an amazing feeding and a score of 4.1 our next sugar score was low again so... more waiting and hoping.

Together again!

So to try and settle our active little Guy down they've actually decided to take him out of the incubator and swaddled him up tight with his sister instead! So wonderful to see them together!  The room now feels very quiet with both kids in the NICU.

Update on Harrison

So Harrison still had low sugar all night despite tube feedings and the incubator, mostly because he spends all his time thrashing around actively and trying to find a bottle. So we were able to feed him a bottle this morning which he chugged!

Heidi gets the all clear!

A great day, I was able to get all my tubes and lines out and was able to walk down the hall...granted very slowly. Harrison spent last night and all day today in the NICU trying to get his blood sugar up. We were hoping to have him in our room tonight but he does better in the heat of the incubator and feeding by NG tube so he'll be staying there tonight as well. Heidi did great today and has been given the official all clear so no more foot pricking or potential for the NICU for her.
Big brother Brendan has been in to visit everyday, called his sister beautiful and was keen to show her movies of trains.

Sleep Over

This is were Harrison is hanging out tonight. The incubator is set at a toasty 31 c.

Hopefully this works!

Here is a 5 minute old photo of them.

Introducing!

Introducing Heidi Lynnell Lock and Harrison William Lock who arrived at approx 9:11am and 9:15am this morning. Heidi was the first one to join us at 5lb 12oz and then her bigger brother Harrison at 5lb15oz. Everyone is doing fine, mom is a little tired and sore but doing well. Battling glucose levels in both kids, but nothing serious. Will try and attach picture but I will do a better job when we get to a computer.

Quick Update About The Potential Lack Of Updates

Found out today while getting the final bloodwork done that there are no public Wi-fi hotspots at the hospital, so no chance to update the blog from our cell phone as planned! So sorry!  Next plan will be to try and talk one of my coworkers at the hospital into updating it for us from a computer in the office. We'll update as soon as possible!

Nancy

It's The End Of The World As We Know It...

So, one last day...

Had my worst night on record last night, so I am ready to get on with this! Called the hospital to confirm that we were booked for tomorrow and got updated times; be at the hospital at 4:45am for 6:45am surgery.

Have mercy!

Thought I'd post my last profile picture, having officially hit 38 weeks yesterday. Not too shabby!

We'll be sure to post tomorrow as soon as we can, but we're not exactly sure where the wi-fi spots in the hospital are, so don't be alarmed if it's not until later in the day.

I guess that's it, we'll talk to you when we have two more kids!

Nancy

Behaving Myself

I have been read the riot act by several people for not posting all last week (there was nothing happening!), so just to assure people that we are not in labour, I am posting about our quiet uneventful last few pre-twin days. We had a wonderful Neighbourhood August Birthday Party on Friday night (John's birthday is the 9th, 3 days later is Rob's birthday, 3 days later is Pat's birthday, 3 days later is Laurie's birthday). I had hoped for pure symmetry to have the children on Saturday (3 days prior to the beginning of the current cycle), but decided an weekend C-section was not worth the coolness of fitting into the pattern. As it is, our twins will share John's birthday, so they're still part of the tradition! As a matter of extra coolness, John himself is a twin and is now suggesting we should name them John and Joan as an homage. 

Playing "Lasso Golf"

The Birthday Group

Wheelbarrow "Races" at a slack pace

Leap Frog with Captain Awesome and the Asthma Kid

Pat and Rob take time out for a hand soak

There is nothing I can add to this photo...

Every 30 minutes, the guests of honour had to draw "tasks". I don't know how John drew so many dress up options!

Yesterday we went to the Kingston Sheep Dog Trials, something I've always wanted to go to (but we don't tend to hang around at home on summer weekends much, usually). It was a great day, and a great reminder of all the things we should be doing with our brilliant border collie.

Connie (from the farm Rob grew up working on) and her Border Collie getting ready for Flyball

Brendan LOVED watching agility

Watching the sheepdog trials. Brendan was less interested than agility, but seemed to enjoy climbing and leaning all over his 55 pounds of sibling. I enjoyed that less.

Today is truly a quiet day at home, a last time for Brendan and I to hang out just the two of us (Rob is off racing). I've already watched his trains crash several times in various dramatic ways, and fought an epic battle over brushing his teeth. Ah, times to treasure!

Eviction Notice

Dear Twins,

Please refer to our lease terms which state that your current unit would be available only until 38 weeks (Sunday). We have been notified that you made unauthorized modifications to the unit that have resulted in dramatic changes to the landlords exterior, plumbing and heating/cooling. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made! In addition, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.  We are therefore obliged to notify you that eviction is scheduled for Tuesday, August 9th, to be enforced by our medical team as needed.

Sincerely,

Management

Can it be true?!! Yes, we finally have a date! After a whirlwind doctors visit this afternoon, we have a C-section booked (the lowest baby is feet down again, who could have predicted that?? Note: deeply sarcastic tone) for next Tuesday, August 9th at Belleville General Hospital at 7 am (gasp! we have to be there at 5:30 am, a very official end to my ever sleeping in again). He tried to schedule it for this Sunday (2 days from now), but the time didn't work out. Even though we feel like we've been wating forever, it seems a very rushed sprint to the finish for some reason. I am beyond excited though to begin this process, meet our wonderful twins and find out how big they actually are! I am also a little excited not to have to birth the whole litter the old fashioned way.

Will keep everyone updated, and watch for news on Tuesday!!  I'll try to behave between now and then to prevent a little early drama!

Nancy