Just the pics Maam, just the pics

by Grant
   
    Ya know, I can't keep track of who's who. A nurse yesterday (who is an identical twin herself) said her Mom put bracelets on them until she learned how to tell them apart. But that probably doesn't work very well until they're older. Another nurse suggested a permanent marker and putting a dot on the back of their neck (or foot). My point is, I can't remember who's who in these pics. I think the incubator pics are liberty. I'm holding Liberty (it says so in the picture) and so Rebekah must be holding Serenity.

Bang!

Ok, I fired that writer (see end of last post)

My trouble-making Mom-in-law wants to know "why River? "

Ok, confession time. We liked Serenity (and the show from whence it came) far too much to be normal. And since we liked the show so much (and the characters on said show) we decided while they were slicing my wife open that we'd use the name of a character on the show--River.

We actually are so unbalanced about the subject, that we both got excited about a Subaru that had a license plate bracket that said "Serenity" and "You can't take the sky from me"

If you're really interested, the show was called Firefly and it was cut down in its prime. Anybody who knows me knows that I don't care that much for TV. But if I could have one wish, it'd be for $10 million in tax free bearer bonds. If I had a bunch more wishes, I'm sure I'd wish for the resurrection of that TV show.

For those of sensitive visual and aural palettes, Firefly and the movie Serenity are PG/PG-13 type entertainment. Definitely not puritanical, but much much tamer than a lot of the other refuse on TV. If I can get my Mom-in-law out here for a extended visit I'll sit her down and make her watch the show until she likes it. Hear me Mom (in law), I will do it.

Deux-day update

by Grant

    I got up early (before 6) to make the trudge to Boise. Unfortunately, the event wasn't that useful. I learned a little bit, but I swear the presenters had ADD or something because there wasn't much substance. I mostly was a rude audience member and made fun of some of the things they said (tech/geek/nerd audiences are probably the cruelest). It's pretty hard to be gracious when the speaker has about 500 people and keeps making simple mistakes. Granted, I do have some latent hostility towards the company (Microsoft) because my mother didn't hug me when I was a child (I'm joking mom!). They are the big dogs, so I have high expectations from them. As a techy, I don't cut any slack. There's a saying, "countries don't have friends, they have interests." This is a somewhat true statement (witness our alliances with such countries as Egypt & Pakistan). And I'm gonna try to make that statement fit this vitriol in order to dig myself out of this hole.  As a techie, I have no loyalties to brands. I don't have brand "religion". I am loyal to the coolest tech. The tech that makes my job better and less repetitive. The problem with Microsoft is that virtually never make the best product, but they make a lot of them. And their products are all respectable. And since they have lots of money for marketing, they make impressions on management. Companies like standards, and Microsoft always works with Microsoft (except when it doesn't. then you have to upgrade). I also like standards, but I like to use the best product too (at least for the $). Thus, we have a quandry. What? Oh, stop talking about technology and tell you about the babies? Patience. Patience. <ouch> ...... Ok, fine. I'll give you an update.

Liberty AKA "Baby A"

Doing good still. I got to hold her some today. It was really cute seeing her suck on Rebekah's finger. Poundage is 3 and ounce-age (definitely not a word) is 5 and one half. For those that are confused, that's 3lbs 5.5ozs. Remember, it takes 16ozs to make a pound. In other things, she's not too fond of the vitamins (lots of iron), but I told her to suck it up

Serenity AKA "Baby B"

Doing good. Lost a smidge of weight over a 24 hour period. She tends to have very heavy diapers. The nurse the other night said she suctioned out an "entire ecosystem" from her (Serenity's) nose. Poundage is 3 and ouce-age (again not a word) is 10.

Rebekah AKA "de Mudder"

She had to move rooms. We kind of like the new room better in some ways. It's more private. It's got an area that we can easily make up for the kids so that they're out of the way. Alas, there is one serious problem. The hot water situation is sad. The only thing worse than a luke warm shower is a luker-warm shower. And the only thing worse than that, is a jab in the eye with a sharp stick. As my Dad used to say, "Where's the cake?"

yeah, that doesn't really make any sense. I'm gonna go fire the guy that wrote that joke. You wait here.

The Ballard House

by Grant
    It's been quite a busy household. With six young children in a small space it's been pretty hard on this old farm house. Some of the parts of the house have caved under the pressure (much like the back of an old man whilst carrying some heavy munchkins around). Basically, the parts that have needed maintenance are on strike now. Tonight Titus bore some of the blame (and brunt). He was pushed off of a mattress and banged his noggin' on the wall. I saw the end result which was a whale of a bump on Titus' head. After hearing the story, I'm afraid to see what happened to the wall. I think if it had been a sheetrock wall, then the wall would have lost. As it was, that plaster and lathe wall emerged victorious. They don't build walls like they used to.

    I'll be going down to Boise to attend a technical event. Thankfully, I can hitch a ride with a friend and then Rebekah can come pick me up afterwards.

Slightly depressed

by Grant

    I was going over our medical plan. Suffice it to say, the best case scenario was a bit depressing. This situation has spanned two calendar years which means that deductibles reset. Also, since there are three people in this (Rebekah and the girls) then there are three deductibles. So, multiple the deductible amount by 3, plus add another deductible because most of Rebekah's expenses were in 2006. Add on top of that co-pays and miscellaneous stuff and suffice it to say, it adds up to a pretty penny. Sometimes I am inclined to think like a liberal and wish for state run health insurance, but then I realized that if we were in Canada, there would've been a good chance that we would've lost one or both babies. Why? Because health care is rationed in socialized states which means that for major non-critical (sometimes even critical) things you typically have to wait. So, Rebekah may not have been hospitalized (why bother putting her in the hospital if she's doing fine, right?) and they may not have caught the distress signs soon enough. Plus, who knows about post care in the NICU. I heard a joke on a movie once that relates to the point that I'm trying to make.

begin joke:

Several men are in a space shuttle (or some other space bound vehicle) and as it's blasting off one of them comments, "Ya know, I still can't get over how every part on this thing was made by the lowest bidder."

end joke:

If, by some miracle, I end up with most of the expenses taken care of then I will praise God (Laus Deo). However, if I end up with a very large bill from this, I wil still praise God. and thank him for two beautiful girls, two handsome boys and a beautiful wife.

What's in a name?

by Grant

    Quite a bit. Did you notice that nobody names their kid Adolf anymore? What about Hussein? There's actually a suave and debonaire presidential candidate running for president with the middle name Hussein (last name Obama). Of course, some people still are relatively successful with abysmal names. I think a good example is Newt Gingrich. What a flippin' bad name. He could maybe survive the name Gingrich, but not with a first name like Newt. Isn't a newt something small and insignificant? Ah yes, "Eye of a Newt" is a prime ingredient in witches brew. I think Keren has been stocking it recently. (evil laugh). So, let's talk about the girls names.

Liberty:

    Well, I am an evil conservative so I happen to be farily in line with our Republican president on some minor issues such as "all men are created equal."  Since all men are indeed created equal (God is no respector of persons) I believe that the desire for liberty indwells all men. Liberty is something that we Americans tend to take for granted.  While our servicemen are fighting and dying to protect our freedom they will sow the seeds of freedom in other parts of the world as well.

Serenity:

    Liberty was easy to pick out. We had picked that out over two years ago. So now we had twins. Boy, we hadn't counted on having to pick out two girl names. Confusion reigned. Governments fell, new governments took their place until they too, were over turned by revolution. Coke introduced Newer Coke. Pepsi reintroduced Pepsi Clear calling it Pepsi-Transparent. Women submitted to their husbands. It truly was a chaotic time. We bandied about multiple names, but we wanted something that was patriotic. I won't bore you with some of the names because then you'll write us saying "Oh, that was a great name. You should've picked that." Yeah, if we'd wanted your opinion we would've consulted you prior to the branding. Moving right along (at the pace of a three-legged turtle), my wife suggested Serenity. There are several reasons that we felt that this fit.

Serenity means peace. And freedom and peace are quite tightly connected to each other. However, Serenity was also the name of a movie. It got its name from of the bloodiest battles between two factions. One faction believed that it was preferable for the government to rule the people and the other faction believed that people are the best decision makers of what is best for them. So, the irony is interesting. Serenity Valley was the site of a teriffic battle for freedom. We can always hope that this child of ours will be "Serene," but with our track record we're not counting on it. :)

Titus Sunday

by Grant
    Well,  this is Titus' birthday today. Rebekah has gone all out buying balloons, birthday noise makers, a cake from Coldstone Creamery, etc. I have had to work some yesterday and am working right now. I basically have to support a bunch of guys that are out in the field. If they have questions or problems, I need to be available. Sometimes that's really hard with rambunctious kids about. I told a friend on friday that the problem with working on the weekend isn't the loss of the weekend, it's the fact that you don't get a break before you start the new week. Not having a break from work, especially when work is very stressful, just makes life that much harder. I am theorizing that God is keeping me busy @ work, so I don't focus on everything else that stresses me out.

    Rebekah and I went to my five year anniversary party @ Woodgrain. There were a bunch of people there. I didn't know most of them. Rebekah always likes the parties because the food is really good. Although it was funny because they have shrimp and there was a sign that limited us to four shrimp. It felt like I was @ Bob Jones again with the "Black Widows" on guard for multiple desert eaters. "Black Widows," for those that didn't have the pleasure of attending BJU, were women dressed in white and black that roamed the Dining Common to make sure that guys and girls didn't hold hands, to make sure that guys didn't take multiple deserts, and I'm sure they had some other duties that were critical to the cafeteria operation.

I guess the girls are doing really well. They took Serenity off the Cannula again. They also started bugging Rebekah about nursing them because they've started moving their head around while they make sucking motions. Guess that means they want to eat. Rebekah will go back this afternoon. I have an event down in Boise on Tuesday so I'll hitch a ride down and then work remotely Wednesday & Thursday.

No Comment

    God promises never to give you more than you can take at any one time. This is a promise that I've "reminded" him of a few times over the years. Over the past six months, I think I've easily exceeded my previous lifetime total.

Laus Deo

snarl

by Guess who?

    I only got a few hours of sleep last night. sometimes my stomachdoesn't tolerate certain foods and it really causes some stomach pain.Not usually enough for me to commit sepeku (Hari-Kari) but enough tokeep me from sleeping. The frustrating part is that I never know whenit's going to hit. I can eat all sorts of vile concoctions (ok, Keren'scooking isn't that bad) and be fine. But munch on some nuts and it's"Game over man, game over." (The quote marks refer to a line from themovie Aliens by Bill Paxton. He's such a little girl). Such is life.There's gotta be a cute little french phrase to sum that up. Ya know,like "Carpe Diem" = "Seize the Day" or "Que Sera, Sera" = "Whateverwill Be, Will Be"

stupid french. Learn to speak English. or' Spanish.

OK, now that you've suffered through my inane diatribe (if you're abattle-hardened veteran you've learned to scan and skip, scan and skip,to pull out information about the twins), we shall move on to some infoabout Le Girls (Le means the in french, unless they have gender likeGerman. Stupid Germans).

Cool stuff.

PICC LINES ARE GONE!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you heard me. On both babies, on the same day. That wasn't the plan, but Liberty could not standgiving another inch of ground to her lebensraum craving sister (Germanword) and caused the nurses trouble when they went to clean hers, sothey just pulled it a day early.

Stats:
-Liberty is @ 22 CCs and Serenity is @ 30 CCs (Remember, Liberty had a wipeout)
-No good update on weight yet. stay tuned
-respiration: Serenity has been doing better, but she desatted(breathing slowed way down) last night pretty heavily. The first one ofthose that I had seen that took so long for her to come back.
Liberty is still doing well.
-Residuals on feeds: both good, unless they go up in calorie count
-Holds, Mama: Tied up
-Holds, Daddy: 'Tied up
-Hair: still brownish darn it.

Technical Comments

The little slideshow may or may not show up in your browser. If it doesn't, make sure that you have Adobe flash player 9 (available @ adobe.com).

if you're a mother, then I'm sure you can figure it out.
If you're a mother-in-law or some other in-law then you can e-mail me for help.
If you're an outlaw, then consider this an opportunity to learn marketable computer skills.
If you are the law, then I was joking about my previous posts about kids and rope.

Oh, it's you.

When I put my hand on Liberty's head she grimaced, opened her eyes to see who was messing with her, and saw me.. Hence the title, "Oh, it's you."

Rebuttal

by Grant

    "He hasn't been so far [dehydrated] but that's because he takes after his Dad and drinks like a fish.  " ---Rebekah  

I object. Grant that is. Objecting to fish drinking. When's the last time you saw a fish in a bar? Ok, so you don't drink (at least in public) then when's the last time you saw a fish even walk into a bar? Or even AT an Orange Julius stand?

P.S.
I'll take my Dad's version of Orange Julius over the commercial variety anyday.

Forrest Update

by Grant

    Dr. appt moved to 3 because of child sitting issues. I say, "Hog tie 'em all!"  See, it's in quotes so you'd know that I'd say it. Why else do you think I call Titus, Tie-Tie? Because he reminds me of a Tie-Fighter??

Disclaimer: I would never tie up my children. Unless they were really really bad.

Disclaimer to Disclaimer: Please note that this was written with a sense of humor, if you don't believe me check my credit-card receipts for rope purchases


<hehehe> suckers. I pay cash.

Oops, did I say that out loud?

Life @ home

Forrest is sick. Has been for almost a week. Repeatedly throwing-up. Keren is going to take him to the Dr. today.

It's Neck and Neck

by Grant

Serenity has pulled into the lead on feeds. She's @ 28 mLs
(or is it 30?). She's ahead of Liberty is all I know. I always root for
the underdog, so now I have to move my love and attention back to
Liberty. I don't watch a lot of sports, but I generally like the
underdog (which was why the BSU/Fiesta Bowl game was cool).



To recap:



Feeds: Serenity by a nose

Respiration: Still Liberty, but Serenity is nipping @ her heels (talk of taking her off the O2 cannula again)

Weight: Serenity is way out in the lead

Hair: They both have hair, but it's not blonde so it's a losing tie ;)

PICC lines: Both still in, so it's a tie

Holds, Mama: Liberty

Holds, Daddy: Serenity





Anything
else I can compare? For awhile it was residuals on their feeds, I was
thinking about placing bets on it, but I'm not a betting man.

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To Blog or Not to Blog

by Grant



I have been making semi-regular posts on a blog that I
created so that I could update it from work. I usually work pretty long
hours these days (No, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact
that my home is full of Elrods) and it doesn't take me that long to
write up a post (about like answering an e-mail) so I'm relatively
guilt free. But I really have no idea if anybody is reading it.
Granted, it hasn't been filled with caramel and nougat, but... sorry,
haven't eaten lunch yet but it's still fairly up to date.

Anyway,
I'm trying to keep things simple by generally pointing people to
myspace, but I am going to have to figure out someway to note that
there's a post on my non-myspace blog. Fascinating really. Ok, it's not
fascinating, but it's at least interesting. Ok, fine, some of this is
interesting to somebody somewhere. Even if that person is just being
polite and feigning interest.



Remind me sometime to tell you the story of how we picked their names. It's fascinating :)

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Congrats to my wife

Rebekah passed!  I know that sounds silly to many of you, but the simple fact is if most people drove the way they do every day @ a driving test they would fail. But so many things become ingrained into your driving as habit. Not necessarily dangerous, but definitely not proper.

Rebekah wants to go back tonight and I'd like to go with her. But it's going to be a busy week. We have a meeting thursday afternoon, which complicates matters a little more.

Baby update: Well, this morning a got a call which scared me a little and they said that Liberty was having a lot of trouble w/ her feeds and they were going to do an X-ray. Sometimes you have listen "between the lines" because they get the wrong baby. I talked to Rebekah at lunch time and she said Liberty was doing great. So, I'm a big confused. They had said that Liberty could get her PICC line out very soon, but now I'm not sure.

3 weeks tomorrow

by Grant

    Time simultaneously stands still and moves like lightning these days. Rebekah came home with me on thursday and it has been very nice to have her home. Serenity has still been having spells and last night the nurse was worried about Liberty. They are doing some blood work to see if she has an infection (to be on the safe side) but they haven't put her back on the cannula. They're both doing pretty well on their feeds and have been put on a pump so that that the food is slowly given over a period of sixty minutes rather than thirty minutes before. Unfortunately, the ramp up in feeds meant that they were going through Rebekah's stash of milk faster than planned. We got a call at midnight on Saturday that they were going to run out of milk @ 6:00 AM. So, Rebekah and I went down to Boise and took them some more milk. We didn't get back until 3. So, needless to say we had a rough time getting enough sleep. Rebekah (thankfully) handles sleep deprivation much much better than I do.

One frustrating item: Rebekah's license had expired two years ago and she didn't know it. She found out when she was at the Social Security office. They won't process the girls' stuff without a current license and in order to get it renewed well, she has to go take the test (again) and take a driving test (which she hasn't had to do since she first got her license in Michigan. She is planning on doing this this morning.

Up to the minute update

by Grant

    I'm still here @ work since I'm getting together with some guys for boring reasons that I won't go into. I just got a call from the nurse that was watching the girls yesterday. Melody (the nurse) wanted to update me on the girls and said that earlier she had talked to Rebekah and they had large residuals. Apparently though, after being put on their tummies, the residuals went away. Serenity is still on her nasal cannula, but is down on the oxygen and with the increased dose of caffeine (back to once a day) they are doing "wonderfully."

technorati tags:babies, preemies

Have you ever forgotten to breathe?

by Grant

Both Liberty and Serenity are. I guess they really are twins. Serenity has trouble first and then typically Liberty follows her. The Dr. (no idea who) seems to think that they've outgrown their caffeine. Yeah, I guess they use caffeine to help them remember to breathe. So, I think they're gonna up the dosage. I asked one of the nurses if Rebekah could just drink a lot of coffee and then we could out a step, but he didn't seem to think that would work. I think the theory is sound, though. I also asked this same nurse (different day) if fish had ears. After some discussion we theorized that sea mammals have some form of ears (whales/dolphins) but generally fishies don't. I need to check that out for sure.

technorati tags:babies, preemies

Back 2 the grind

    This is friday and a strange start. When I'm running back & forth I really get disoriented on what's what. Yesterday Rebekah and I came home and she's going to spend a couple days @ home. I hope Forrest handles it ok. He is now sick with the Nova(sp?)virus AKA the Stomach Flu. Work has calmed down for a bit for me, but ramps back up next week. I'm trying to take advantage of the lull to focus on less stressful work items. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal by monday.

Baby Update:

Liberty is doing pretty well and is pretty high on her feeds. I think 16 ml. Her residual has been ok. As long as it's 1/3 of the total amount given or less, they don't stop her feeds. Serenity is similar but getting a little less. The bad news is Serenity has having trouble breathing regularly so they put her back on the nasal cannual (Oxygen tube in her nose). That was dissapointing, but they say that's a developmental thing and she'll outgrow it.

Both girls were taken off their IV fluids (TPN & liquid fats) and just put on a glucose drip. This is the first step to removing the PICC line. If they keep increasing their feeds, then they may indeed get their PICC lines out very soon. This is very good news.

They are also weaning them down on their incubator heat, so that allows them to manage their own body heat. Hopefully all goes well there.

That's all I know right now.

technorati tags:babies, preemies

Baby Stuff (once you get past the other junk)

by Grant
    After the experience Rebekah had with the previous nurse, I was not in the mood to see yet another strange face in the room. I must confess that once I ascertained that this was indeed a new nurse, I rattled off our ID numbers and promptly ignored her. I was rude. Yes, shocking it may be for those close to me, but I was rather stand-offish (if indeed that is a word). Of course, this poor nurse tries to make small talk by asking Rebekah about other children. And I, very rudely, asked her something along the lines of "Why bother, if we're never going to see you again." Yes. I know. Extremely rude. And if any of you out there are wondering if my mother and father brought me up any better, the answer is yes. In fact, it's only been in the last few years that I've started to get "worldly" in my attitudes towards other people. This is not something that I'm proud of. And, I hope that the nurse reads this blog (I gave her the address to the website). So, in case she is reading this I will apologize.

Sarah, I'm sorry for being a jerk. Please forgive me.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, the healing process can begin. Ok, done. now, I'll actually give you a baby update.

They're actually clothing the little buggers. Imagine that, clothes! Since they were in clothes, I actually got to hold Serenity without doffing my shirt. It was also time for their feedings (12 oz porterhouse) so I also got to hold a syringe of mother's milk (or is it mudder's milk beka?... inside joke). Of course, feed your baby via gravity feed, genius! That last gravity feed that I remember doing was with my Dad and we were using gravity feed on an old Army truck that didn't have a gas tank. Not sure of the other specifics, but the thought of comparing a baby to an army truck had me amused for seconds, easy.

Weightage: Liberty = 2lbs 14 ozs. & Serenity = 3lbs 1oz.
Lengthage: No idea. short methinks

Also, they are starting to wean them off the incubator warmers so they get to see if they can start regulating their own temperature. The previous nurse (not sarah) mentioned that they were hoping to remove their PICC lines (used for IV feeding) after a couple more days. Even if they were on full feedings, they'd leave the line in for several more days just in case, so that was more confusing than anything.
 
Picture time!

Liberty sleeping soundly


Granteus Maximus holding Serenity


Rebekah holding Liberty.
Notice the hand/thumb
configuration


Just the four of us. Yes,
I do look silly. stop laughing



Kudos to good nurse Sarah who's super friendly and caring attitude kept me from turning into the Hulk. She was also sweet enough (I don't like to use that word, but it fits well) to take the pictures of us.

Sunday Sunday

Actually, I think it's Monday Monday (stupid 70s song). Yesterday was a blur. I didn't even touch the computer. I have entertained the thought of going to Church somewhere on Sunday morning, but with the kids and baby obligations, not to mention the need to get ready to go home that day, I doubt it's a good idea. Forrest and Titus did really well overall. I only felt insanely frustrated about 30% of the time. Titus constantly got into things and spontaneously would just take off toddling/running. Fast enough I couldn't catch up with him unless I ran. So, I would generally just follow him until he stopped to look at something. Of course, discipline is a problem in a place such as the RMH. So, lots of sitting when the kids didn't want to. Forrest was no angel, but generally pretty obedient and helpful.

Before we left, I went over to see the girls. Again a new nurse. I think I decided I'm not going to chit-chat with a nurse unless I've seen them before. Why bother telling the same story about how many kids we have, how old they are, who's watching them etc. if you're never going to see that nurse again? Well, the girls were doing well and Serenity and I actually made eye contact for the first time. That was a very cool experience to see her and know that she saw me as well. Even though when I go up, I'm usually in a hurry, I still manage to spent an hour in their room. They are unoffically classified as "feeders and growers." A little annoying to have our babies pigeon-holed like that, but as long as it stays that way it's good because that means they're doing well.

I did talk to a charge nurse by the name of Karen about the lack of consistency. She was understanding and said that she'd do her best to accomodate my requests. Since then however, there have been two brand new nurses including one from pediatrics. I'll try to be a little more patient.

General baby update:
Yesterday Serenity had more undigested food than she had been given @ last feeding. That was odd. She was on six CCs and had a residual of 8.5 CCs. Anyway, her next feeding went fine. Liberty's went fine as well, but Rebekah didn't hold them due to the temperature of both of them. Since they can't regulate their temperature, that's up to the nurse/Dr. It's more than a little frustrating to not have one person that we can talk to that's keep an eye on the babies. I'm not asking for 24/7 coverage, but rather simply looking at their chart once a day on weekdays. Maybe occasionally talking to us parents and visiting the babies. That way, we could talk to that one point of contact and he/she could reassure us that everything is progressing nightly. We hardly ever see the Dr.'s that are watching the babies and you already know how frequent the nursing staff changes. Maybe if we found a pediatrician right now, they could keep tabs on things.

Put me back in!

A reference to "Look Who's Talking" in which the baby is uncomfortable with being out of the womb.