My Daughter Gave Birth to Quadruplets!

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Psalms 112:1-2







Thursday, August 26, 2010

29,999 Diapers to Go/Seeing Us Through

I changed my first quad diaper today. Only 29,999 to go!

Baby Updates:


Quad A--Landon is still on the respirator from the Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). He was given surfactant to help his lungs do their job. Today, they were able to turn down the oxygen level somewhat. If he starts breathing more on his own, they will continue to wean him. He is tolerating milk in his feeding tube. The nurses are using donor breast milk and premie formula. Landon is also under photo therapy lights because he is jaundiced. Jaundice occurs when there is a build-up of bilirubin, which is produced by the normal breakdown of red blood cells. As bilirubin begins to build up, the baby's skin and whites of the baby's eyes to appear yellow. The most common cause of newborn jaundice is an immature liver. Landon is not responding to lights as they had hoped, so he is being placed on a photo therapy blanket that will increase the effectiveness of the lights.

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Quad B--Jackson is been nicknamed the "Rock Star" of the NICU because he is doing so well, yet is so little. He is the resident's favorite. He weighed in at 2 lbs. 14 ozs. today. His only issue is the jaundice. He has been maintaining his own body temperature and is tolerating formula through his feeding tube. He is the only quad that Sarah can hold.



Baby C--Isabella is a very sick little girl. She is sedated and on an oscillator that is a step up from the respirators that her brother and sister are on. She received two doses of surfactant, but did not respond well to either dose. She is having some other issues with her blood PH levels and they can't figure out what is causing her to be so sick. They believe she has an infection of some kind, so she is on three different antibiotics. She is unable to be fed, but is on IV's for nourishment. She is too sick to be fed or held.


Baby D--Samantha is the most critical. More often than not, she has a large number of people in her room trying to get her stable. They suspect she has an infection, as well, so she is on four antibiotics. She is on a respirator and also received two doses of surfactant. The nurse had a hard time put in an IV pick line, which stays put for a long period of time and saves the baby from constant needle sticks. Samantha went downhill afterwards. I quit counting at 10 holes in her little arm. At her lowest point, she was oozing blood from the holes in her arm and from her mouth. She was given a transfusion and platelets to help her blood coagulate. She is on the lights for jaundice. Today, they tell us she is holding her own. They hope she will not go downhill again, but are making no promises. She is too sick to be fed or held.



Delivery Day:



Sarah was so tempted to deliver last Monday due to the torn ligament in her belly and the non-stop contractions. The ligament ripped away from one hip bone and was causing her so much pain. Her doctor talked her into waiting until Friday to give the babies a few more days to grow. In the meantime, we prayed that God would choose the birth date for the quads.On Wednesday, Sarah was in full-blown labor. The doctors scheduled a C-section and started gathering eighteen-plus medical team for the surgery. Then, Landon (Baby A) decided he was ready to see the world. Sarah's water broke and turned the surgery into an emergency.



Tony scrubbed in while the anesthesiologist hurried to get Sarah numb for the operation. I waited in recovery to accompany the babies to the NICU. The extended family members waited in a room that the Special Care Nurses opened especially for us. We are a large group of loving, laughing, loud, colorful, eccentric, unusual, comical and sometimes obnoxious people, so we tend to put on a show wherever we go. I am just sorry that I don't have that waiting room on film.

Once the surgery began, everything went very quickly. The doctors taped Sarah's belly to a bar above to hold it up and went to work. They were surprised when three of the babies practically jumped out! The only one they had to search for was Baby D. Quads A & B were born at 4:26. Quad C was born at 4:27. Quad D was born at 4:28. I understand that it was disturbing to watch, but doctors had to move quickly and get those babies out. She has a rather large incision that was stitched instead of stapled due to doctor's preference. Babies A, B, and D were wrapped up, put in an isolette together and rushed to the NICU. I went with them. They are beautiful! I didn't get to see Baby C at first because she was having help breathing. When I did see her, she was very blue. The doctor was amazed when she performed the surgery. There had been much concern that Sarah would require a hysterectomy, but she found that Sarah's uterus is a "uterus of steel." It did its job and sprang right back.The doctor said that it didn't even look like it had held multiples. Unfortunately, she was unable to attach the ligament that tore from the hip bone. It is just too thin. Sarah will have to tough it out and let it heal itself.

It has been hard on Sarah being on the Mom & Baby Floor without her babies. She hears the babies crying all around her, but she is alone in her room. It will be even harder to leave them when she is discharged from the hospital. However, she knows that they are where they need to be and is so thankful to have them in one of the top NICU's in the world. She is very thankful that God chose their birthday, especially since three of them are struggling to survive. That regret would have been hard to live with.


We are thankful for the prayer support from people all over the US and the world. God is using His people to literally hold us up with prayers, emails, cards and facebook. I can FEEL it! Sometimes, I am so tired and emotionally spent while driving home from the hospital that I am not sure I can make it. Without fail, God provides a boost just when I need it. I don't know where we would be otherwise. We have a long road ahead of us, but God and His wonderful people will see us through.

1 comment:

Jacqueline said...

Have been through some of this myself, so know that I am praying for all of you.... often, each day.
God bless.