Meeting our Babies

On Tuesday night, July 22, Stephanie began to have contractions and run a fever. Wednesday morning they drew blood work and her white blood cell count was high. This left us with no choice, we had to deliver Baby A to get rid of the infection. They induced Stephanie more to make it go faster as the sooner they got the infection under control, the better for Stephanie.

Elisha James was born July 23 at 3:26, weighing 12 ounces, and was 10 inches long.

After Eli was born they stopped the medicine, and Stephanie's contractions stopped. The other two babies sacs were still intact and their heartbeats strong. We thought we were in the clear. Then all of a sudden Stephanie's temperature spiked out of control into very dangerous territory. The doctors tried everything to break the fever, but nothing was breaking it. They told us we would have to deliver the other two babies, or Stephanie's uterus and life would be on the line. They left us for five minutes to take it all in, and in the process, Steph's contractions started again. They came back in and started the medicine to speed up the process again.

Isaac Matthew was born July 23 at 8:46, weighing 13 ounces, and was 10 and 1/4 inches long.

Micah Ray (our little tomboy) was born July 23 at 8:50, weighing 11 ounces, and was 10 inches long.

They were all three beautiful babies. The boys looked like me, with long everything, especially fingers and toes. Micah looked like Steph, with the cutest little pixie face ever. It all happened so fast, we are still in shock, and of course our hearts are broken.

However we have hope. As parents, our greatest goal was to raise our babies to love and serve Jesus with their whole hearts. Although it didn't happen as we had planned, that is exactly what our babies are doing, loving and serving Jesus.

Please pray for us as we have so much to deal with, and so much to do. God has been our stronghold and given us great peace, but it doesn't heal our broken hearts.

Thank you for your prayers throughout this process, and for your prayers as we try and move foward. God bless.

Monday -- Ultrasound Day

Well we went downstairs for our weekly ultrasound. Everything was as was expected. The babies heart rates were all good and everything was normal except for the amount of fluid around baby A. Last week there was no fluid around that baby at all, but today there was about 2cm surrounding him. They also told us that they don't like it to get below 5cm. We realize that we won't get to that 5cm mark, but at least there is some fluid now. We will continue to pray for more fluid to surround Baby A.

The exciting news of the day was that Dr. Floyd told Steph she could take a shower as long as she sat in the shower on the stool. This got her pretty excited. However, when we went down to the ultrasound, instead of trying to cram the bed into the little room, she had to walk about 4 steps from the bed to the ultrasound table. It was the first time she has even sat up since last Sunday. Needless to say, she got very light headed when she sat up. And the total of 8 steps to and from wore her out so bad that she decided that her legs hurt too much to take a shower today. I think she was also super nervous to see how her body would respond to this, but other than a few cramps she is feeling fine. Its amazing the amount of muscle atrophy that takes place in just one week. I can't imagine how week her legs will be when this is all said and done.

Please continue to pray for Steph and the babies, especially Baby A. We need to make it at least another 4 weeks for the babies to have a chance at surviving, and we'd love to make it longer.

"Take a Deep Breath and Relax"

Those are the words our doctor told us this morning. He said we are not "safe" with a capital S and never will be but that we could take a deep breath and relax. It was great to hear those words and know that things are going pretty good considering all the circumstances. Thank you for all your prayers and future prayers, we really appreciate all that you guys have done for us.

The night doctor came in this evening, the same one that was here when we came in on Sunday. He was so excited that we have proved him wrong by still having 3 babies. He was pretty sure we had lost the one and was great to hear about the miracle that is taking place.

Please just continue to pray for us and communicate with us in whatever way works best for you! We really appreciate all the words of support and love we have received.

Wednesday

Hello again. I just thought I would tell you guys that we will be trying to update this blog every 2 days or so and let everyone know what is going on with the 5 of us.

Yesterday's blood test showed no sign of an infection, so that is GREAT news. When the doctor came in this morning, he said now its just a waiting game pretty much. We are going to have Steph sit here "until she hatches" three beautiful babies.

If we can get to the 23/24 week mark, the babies have a better chance at survival due to their lung functions getting better around then. Currently we are sitting on the 19/20 week mark. Ideally, the longer they are in there the better. We are praying to lay around until the 30 week mark which would put us at the end of Sept.

I also had a local company call me this afternoon wanting to set up an interview for next week. It is with a company that works with online student portfolios. I am going to watch some of their online demos this evening to find out even more about them. I also have an interview tomorrow with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Columbia.

I want to encourage you to call or even to stop by the Columbia Regional Hospital. I sent out my phone number in an email today, but if you didn't get that email, just let me know and I will get you that number. Anyways, we would love to hear from you and help break up our boring days and evenings.

I would show a picture of Steph in our new "apartment" but as you probably know, she has refused that one.

Thanks for all the prayers. We look forward to hearing from you soon.