October 5, 2011

A very proud daddy!


Reese and Grady are finally here!  It was such an amazing experience and went very smoothly.  Monday morning, 10/3, at 3a.m. my mag was turned off and at 7:30a.m. my doctor was in.  By this time I was dilated 8cm.  Grady was born first at 10:10a.m. and he weighed 4.14.  Reese was born second at 10:19a.m. and she weighed 4.11.  We were very excited the doctors let Jacy hold them long enough for our family to meet them.  This has been very hard for us, because they are not able to come home.  It breaks our hearts like nothing I have ever experienced before.

Reese Nichole Henderson

I love this picture!  It makes my heart smile.  Does she look like her daddy or what?!

I love my new sister!

Reese has definitely been stronger of the two.  The neonatologist told us from the beginning that little girls will do better than little boys.  She is stable, just learning how to do a few things on her own.  The first day she was born, she was running a fever.  That now has subsided.  She also was having to work too hard to breath, but they turned her on her tummy and it helped her alot.    They have started feeding her every three hours and she is doing pretty well with it.  She is having to learn how to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time.  Jacy and I were able to feed her for the first time today and the nurses had to teach us how to do it, so she could breath and eat at the same time.  Also as of this morning the doctor told us she has jaundice.  They started her on the jaundice therapy.  We are able to hold her now, so we are thrilled.  If you are a mom, you know what it's like to be able to just cuddle with your baby!  Her mag level was also high at birth, but is slowly coming down!  

Grady Cabot Henderson

I know this picture looks scary with all the wires, but it isn't as bad as it looks.  Grady is already SO dear to our hearts.  He is such a little fighter.  His new journey in life hasn't started out the way we had hoped for.  The day he was born the doctor and nurses worked with him for literally 6-7 hours.  They had a very hard time finding a good vein for his IV, so they had to put these lines through his belly button.  The lines served for several purposes.  They could give him fluids through them, draw blood from them and they also gave a constant reading for his blood pressure.  His blood pressure is what has been the problem for him.  His upper and lower blood pressure wasn't matching up, which is a sign of a specific heart condition.  What parent wants to hear that??  His overall blood pressure was also in the lower 20's and it needed to be in the upper 30's.  They take his upper and lower blood pressure at 8a.m and 8p.m. daily, so when we called this morning, he had a normal reading last night and again this morning!  PRAISE GOD!  These are great signs.  If he didn't start improving, they would need to transfer him to Texas Children's downtown where there is a cardiologist.  They also found out today that he is slightly anemic, which could be a factor of the differences in blood pressure.  He also has a very high mag level, which could also be affecting the blood pressure.  So, it could be several different things, but only time will tell, and as his mag level lowers, we should see improvement.  That is the goal!  Tomorrow they are going to pull out the lines in his belly button...I'm not sure why.  Two days ago they started an IV on his head.  When I saw it for the first time, I couldn't stop crying...I just feel helpless and I can't make him feel better.  They had to shave his head in a spot that they tried to put it in, but failed, and then shaved it again in the spot it's in. They will continue to shave it as they move it.  The nurse told me they are lucky to get 2 days out of an IV.   I can't handle this part of it.  It really breaks my heart!  His poor little hands and feet are all bruised from where they tried to start IVs.  At this time, we cannot hold Grady.  He has only been fed twice since he was born, because he isn't handling it very well.  He has been spitting up a bunch.  We can't wait to get our hands on that little man!!

Please just pray that they will gain strength not only every day, but every hour.  More than anything we want to be together as a family.  We are so thankful my body at least held off for four weeks.  I can't imagine how that would have been.  

Landon is doing great!  He hasn't missed a beat me being in the hospital.  It sure has been nice to be home with him and love on him.  I have missed being a mommy for 4 weeks!  As you can see, this is his new favorite hobby!  

   

1 comment:

  1. um.... so Landon's pretty good at that. He hits better than me!

    ReplyDelete