The Nikazy Twins

New Blog!!!

knikazy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:50:17 +0000

http://thiscrazynikazylife.blogspot.com

surgery and more surgery

knikazy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:45:21 +0000

I took Kate for her appointment with the ENT today, and she will have to have surgery on her preauricular tag (it is a small skin tag beside her ear). Unfortunately, it cannot just be clipped or tied off due to the amount of cartilage and nerve endings. They also found another one underneath the skin on the other side. It seems that these form during the “embryonic period”, so this is not related to their prematurity, but it is a fairly simple procedure. They need to perform this because there is a high risk of infection as she grows, and since they are connected to her sinuses, there could be hearing loss with any infections. No big deal, just another minor procedure. She will, just like Max have to wait until she is at least 6 months adjusted before she can be put to sleep – so we’re looking at later this summer. Max is scheduled for his procedure on October 6th. I will not go into any more detail on his, since I received some very ugly responses from people that do not even know our family or our reasons behind having it done in the first place. Guess that goes along with blogging, though! Thank goodness for the delete button!

Max and Kate go to church!!!

knikazy — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:17:31 +0000

Max and Kate made their first appearance at our church, Brentwood Baptist, today! Dr. Carr gave us the ok to get ‘em out a little bit, and I have been itching to get back into our church routine. I always feel lost when I miss service, even though thankfully I can watch it with live streaming (yeah – we go to a big church with lots of technology!) The ladies from church have been so helpful to make everything comfortable for us – they even set up a room just for Max and Kate today and they each had their own caregiver – they are getting a little too used to being spoiled! We also got to visit and get pics with Pastor Mike today – he is an awesome man and pastor, and we are so lucky to be involved with such a great church.

I have to admit, the sermon was very fitting today as well. I’ll keep it short, as Chad says I veer too much from talking about the babies, and it is THEIR blog (by the way – I’m working on a new one since this one was really just meant to chronicle a simple pregnancy, but we all know what happened there). Anyway – it came down to trusting God and not being afraid – it was geared toward everyone who has been struggling so much with the economy and job loss, and other uncertainty. Before the sermon, Chad pointed out in the bulletin where they were offering finacial counseling. For those of you who don’t know, Chad is the Director of Counselor Training at Dave Ramsey’s. It made me realize just how blessed we are that Chad is helping people all over the country with what he does. I wondered how many other church bulletins offered the same thing to their congregation, with a counselor that Chad has worked with. It is mind-blowing to think of the impact he is having in the lives of others – over 50 people went through Counselor Training last week alone, and I can only imagine the number of people each one of them will help. I am so glad that Max and Kate and Isabella have such an amazing man in their life!

A couple of new pics

knikazy — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:14:40 +0000

Home again. Hopefully for good.

knikazy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:00:43 +0000

Chad brought Max home Tuesday night, and I took him back for a follow up today. He seems to be doing much better, other than a little stuffy nose and cough. He is starting to be more awake again, and back to smiling again! He was actually doing some big time flirting with Mrs. Pamela next door today.

Izzy is still a little sick, so we are waiting until tomorrow to bring baby Kate back, and I am going crazy not being able to see her sweet precious smile. I think Max misses his little sister, too, as he doesn’t seem as content in the crib right now!

I am hoping that all the next posts will be with good updates, and no more Vandy visits, but we have been warned that with the babies being so premature and born in October (right before cold and flu season) this may be ongoing until their little bodies are big enough and strong enough to fight off these viruses. We do our best to keep everything clean, hands washed, keep the babies in the house, and they have still managed to get sick. But we are just grateful that they haven’t been more sick, and that the outcomes have been so good when they were.

Here are a few of the more recent pics – Max has since lost just a bit of weight because of his sickness, but obviously he wasn’t (and still isn’t) hurting

Update

knikazy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:54:10 +0000

Max got moved out of the critical care unit last night and is now in a regular room. He was taken off of his oxygen at 12:30 today and seems to be doing great! We were excited to see his regular pediatrician Dr. Carr here this morning – and he is happy with Max’s improvements. Now it is just a waiting game to see how he does on room air. He is not needing as much suctioning, either!

I actually got a good nights sleep for the first time in months last night - a whole 6 hours!!! The sleep rooms here are actually pretty nice. And Sue from our church brought me lunch from one of my fave’s – Puffy Muffin – today. It was so nice to have some adult conversation that was not about respiration or suctioning. But enough about me.

We are hoping to get little guy home late tonight or tomorrow as long as all goes well. Little sister will stay at Nana and PaPaw’s for a few days until we are sure little brother is better, and Big sister will stay at Gramma and Grandfathers until she drives them nutty. Thanks for all your prayers, yet again. These little ones are ready for cold and flu season to be over!

Here We Go Again….. Vandy Round 2

knikazy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:40:30 +0000

Instead of telling the whole story – let me just say it is like deja vu. Same critical care room in the ER, same trauma room in the ER. Only this time it was Max. Chad and I took him Sunday afternoon, after he developed a little stuffy nose on Saturday that progressed to a cough and shallow breathing by Sunday morning. The doc sent us to Vandy where the same thing happened that did with Kate in December. After we got there his breathing got worse, he started having apneic spells, his breathing became labored and shallow. Luckily, after monitoring him in the trauma unit, his doctors decided he would not have to be intubated. He was placed on CPAP (forced oxygen through his nose – attached to what is basically a cloth helmet to hold it in place) to assist with his breathing. He seems to be doing better, so they have just switched him to the nasal canulas to help with his breathing still until he can fight it on his own again. They are still suctioning gobs of mucus from his lungs. It looks like RSV again, but the tests are negative. From what we have been told, his lungs are just not completely developed, his airway is so small form the prematurity, and he is pre-asthmatic. Unfortunately, it looks like this may be a way of life for us for the next couple of years with our little ones – with their prematurity, they just need extra help fighting off these infections. Poor little guy is just so hungry and cannot take his bottle right now. He is slowly taking pedialyte now, along with his IV fluids, since he had some episodes with vomiting yesterday.

Big sister has a stomach bug, so we are sending her to my moms. Kate is the only one not showing signs of being sick – let’s just hope it stays that way – so she is going to H’ville with Chad’s parents. For now, I am going to stay with my Max since he seems to need me the most. Will keep everyone updated.

Reflection

knikazy — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:21:18 +0000

My parents are babysitting all 3 of the munchkins right now, and I should be sleeping. I just can’t stop thinking about how fast the last few months have flown by, and all of the ups and downs that we have had – all leading to the absolute best outcome – happy, healthy babies and this wonderful family I have. I am so blessed and so grateful to God for everything he has given us!

I just remember the day at Vanderbilt that the doctor sat down with Chad and me and told us that Kate was “critical”. Her infection was life threatening and they were doing “what they could”. It was the hardest day of my life – hearing those words, seeing the IV in her head, seeing her swollen with the ventilator breathing for her. I remember being told months earlier that I could lose both of them because of my cervix, feeling as if it was my fault – my body was not strong enough. I remember worrying when I got sick that the babies were too little, they would be too sick – they couldn’t be born yet. And I remember the weeks – MONTHS – spent lying in that hospital bed wondering what the outcome would be. I also remember that horrible day last year when my doctor said the words you never want to hear during an ultrasound “I’m sorry, but there is no heartbeat.” There was a point that I just decided I had to “Let go, and let God”. And God, as always, came through. There at Baptist, there at Vanderbilt, and there with me when I cried out at Him in anger after my miscarriage. Everytime we needed Him, He was there.

Chad and I learned on Monday that a friend of ours was killed in a tragic accident, and it has been on our minds constantly since. It gives us the realization that life is so short, and that we need to cherish every moment we have with each other, our family, and our friends. Our prayers are with Jon’s wife, Susan and their children, as well as his parents and brother. My hope is that God will bless and comfort their family as they deal with this loss. I know He is there with them – even in their sorrow, as He was there with us – in sorrow and in joy. They will have joy again, too.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. – 2 Corinthians 1:3

Max and Kate’s First Christmas! (and pics of big sis, too!)

knikazy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:56:18 +0000

Baby Update

knikazy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:35:33 +0000

Many of you have been asking how they are doing, so here’s a quick update. Both of them are great! They are both wonderful babies, but they are so different – night and day…… literally. Max is a night owl, and Kate likes to play all day and sleep all night. She is so alert all the time. Max on the other hand likes to eat and sleep. Kate is smiling now, and has even laughed out loud a couple of times. Max is “Mr. Serious” all the time. If he is not eating, he is thinking or dreaming about eating. And if you have seen the latest pics, you can see that he is eating well! On the rare occasion that he is awake, he has found his hands, and they like to be all over Kate’s face, much to her dislike. Kate just takes everything in, and has already taken a liking to daddy. I love to watch her look at him! Max has taken a liking to nothing but milk. I’m working on him.

Both of them are doing great healthwise as well. Kate is still a little raspy, but we are not sure if that is natural, as big sister is naturally raspy. Both of them have doubled their weights, too! Max is over 8 lbs! Most of which is in his cheeks. Max has a little umbilical hernia, but the doc thinks it will resolve on its own. It really just looks like a big “outie”. Unfortunately, Max will have to be re-circumsized when he is 6 months, he was just such a little guy when it was done, and it did not heal properly. But if that is the biggest problem we have, we can deal with that At least he will never remember having it done……. twice.

Chad and I are cherishing every moment with these two little ones, and enjoying watching how they grow and change every day. I am ready for cold and flu season to be over myself so that I can get them out a little more and show them off! Until then, we will try to be better about pics. I should have some more up tomorrow!