What a day

I feel like I haven't sat still today. We came to the hospital for our first of three feedings at 7 am to find two sleepy babies. After a frustrating try, I stopped attempting to wake them up and they both took in zero grams by mouth. Bummer. I got in my car and went to my little sister's bridal shower in Bountiful and came back for the 1 pm feeding. They were both awake and our nurse told us (in a tone that sounded like "they need a dose of tylenol") that Dr. G had ordered that they both have blood transfusions.

I immediately felt the 'mama bear' syndrome and got pretty upset--in Heather style. I asked a lot of questions and the nurse paged Dr. G to come talk with us. We found out that their hematocrit levels were both 24 and this was after several weeks of watching it in weekly labs. He said that he believed this is why the babies were so sleepy and not progressing on their feedings. He had told the nurse earlier that if they had the transfusion that Ethan may stop having bradys, Sydney may get off oxygen, and their oxygen saturations would improve. He said, "if we do the transfusion, I foresee them going home in a week. If not, it will be at least a couple weeks."

Doug and I had a hard choice to make. There are risks with blood transfusions, but we were informed that this transfusion would just be red blood cells (a.k.a. blood doping :). We needed to sign a consent form to allow the procedure. He said that if we chose not to do it, they would draw labs again in 3 days or so but said it would most likely not change. The thought of someone else's blood in my babies made my stomach sick and Doug was equally opposed to the idea. I asked about giving them my blood. They are both my same blood type. Unfortunately, we are unable to do that and have my blood processed in time. It would take weeks to 'clean' my blood to have just red blood cells. We fed them (Ethan 24 cc and Sydney 22 cc) before going home to consider what we would do.

We decided to pray to know what we should do and both felt strongly that we should proceed with the transfusions. After some tears and discussing our worries, we returned to the hospital, signed the consents and I gave a blood sample. They test my blood for antibodies to make sure the babies are given blood that is a good match. Ironically, the other mom of twins in the Special Care is going through the same thing today. Her babies received transfusions earlier today. We were able to discuss our worries together and see her babies receiving their transfusion. It wasn't as scary as we'd thought it would be. Their 7 pm feeding reminded us that they are anemic because they don't have much energy. Ethan took 10 cc and Sydney 2 cc.

So, here I am at 1 am (now Sunday) blogging in the hospital. Ethan and Sydney are receiving their transfusions right now. They are given about 1.5 ounces over a 2-hour period--it's about 10% of their blood volume. They are nearly 1 hour into this process and are doing really well. They take their temperature, blood pressure, and watch for rashes or signs of stroke. Our nurse, Rena, is literally staring at them in there. Doug and I are boarding at the hospital tonight so we can actually get some sleep before their 7 am feeding tomorrow.

A few photos from today. My aunt Joanie gave Ethan and Sydney these adorable shirts today. They are premie size and I thought I'd let them 'wear' them for a moment. The nurses tell us not to bring any clothes for them because they could get lost in the laundry even before they could wear them. Thought these looked adorable. Thanks aunt Joanie.

I decorated Ethan's new cast today. I might add a little here and there as the week rolls on.