Max sleeping peacefully

Izzy meets her little sister Kate

Still Chad here: Karen’s hands are still too swollen to type. Everyone is doing just fine. Karen is still being pumped full of antibiotics for the listeria. One of our nurses, who has been here 30 years, said it’s the first case of listeria she’s ever seen. Our NICU nurse, who has been here 22 years, said the same. Even Dr. Lombardi thinks its very strange. There are only 2500 cases of listeria a year…and 500 of those cases end in death. Don’t be alarmed; Karen is getting much better. It did NOT pass along to Max and Kate so no worries there. If it had gone undetected much longer though it’s very possible that Izzy and I would have been left alone. Thank you God for protecting our family! (ps. No sooner did I post this than the Infectious Disease Dr. walked in. He nows says they aren’t 100% it’s Listeria. He said it looks like it, but they can’t say for sure so they are sending her lab stuff off to the “state” ie CDC. They are going to do some testing on Karen’s heart this weekend to make sure it’s not infected. He said when she goes home she’ll have a pikk line with 2-6 weeks of IV antiobiotics. Karen is taking the news in stride. Max and Kate are fine.)

Both babies are doing exactly what 31 week gestatational age babies should be doing. We’re going to have our hands full with Max. He fusses almost non-stop. He has a squeeky little fuss – it’s almost funny. Kate is very relaxed – too relaxed sometimes. She having some apnea problems. When she gets too relaxed and falls into too deep of a sleep she “forgets” to breathe. In most cases she remembers herself and wakes herself up. Some time the nurse wakes her up though; that’s very annoying to Kate. I’d rather hear her crying though than have her not breathing. The NICU drs. say they are both doing great. The apnea is a very normal thing for preemies.

I’ve decided that nurses are angels. Karen’s antipartem nurses have all become her friends. They’ve taken such good care of her. The NICU nurses, drs, and therapists are incredible. That’s the most stressful environment I’ve ever been in. Don’t misunderstand, it’s a very state of the art and “peaceful” place, but there is underlying stress everywhere. Beeps, buzzers, and alarms are going off nonstop. All of them mean that a baby needs to be checked on. Each nurse has only 2 babies to watch, so Max and Kate are monitored non stop. We’re very blessed to have a couple of the larger babies in the NICU right now. Imagine that – 4lbs being large.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We still need them.

Chad: We learned this morning that they will take the babies this afternoon at 3:00pm. They look great. Karen is feeling a little better as well, but the infectious disease doctors are concerned about Karen’s “levels”. She has an infection somewhere and they can’t find it. Please say prayers for us this afternoon.

The babies are 31 weeks now. They weighed 3lbs each two weeks ago, so we’re hoping they are closer to 4lbs now. We’ll meet them in a few hours.

Chad again: Karen had another tough day. She feels like she has the flu, but thus far all of her tests have come back negative. Her amnio results are all negative as well. One thing is certain, she has been miserable and no one is exactly sure whats going on. There appears to be an infection somewhere in her body, but doctors from several departments haven’t been able to find it. Karen and I made the decision early this evening to request that the Magnesium drip be removed. She has been on the Mag for the entire 8 weeks. It’s purpose is to curtail or control contractions. Mag can cause lots of nasty side effects which to this point Karen has seemed immune to. Her dosage was upped to the maximum about a week ago when her cervix dropped down to a 5. Since then she hasn’t felt well at all. She’s off the Mag, off the Procardia (controls blood pressure), and off a couple of antibiotics. We’re taking a chance here, but everyone feels that Max and Kate will be fine even if they come in the next few days. Everyone also agrees that Karen has done all she can do and has been very strong. Now, we’re just waiting to see what happens. Karen is feeling a little better already. Contractions could start in the next couple of days…or be several weeks away. We just don’t know, because she hasn’t been without the mag in 8 solid weeks. Say a prayer for all of us tonight. Karen is confident that it was time to let God decide when Max and Kate will arrive.

More later.