Luke and Addie - Home at Last!

The babes turned 5 weeks old today. It's crazy how time flies! I know that I haven't posted in awhile, but both Luke and Addie came home on the exact same day - Wednesday, November 14th. They spent a total of 17 days in the NICU and we are so happy they are home! They told us a few days before their discharge that Luke was going home, but Addie was still having a hard time feeding, so they thought she would be in the NICU for a bit longer. Thankfully, Luke came home in the morning, and Addie was able to come home that evening. Apparently twins usually aren't discharged on the same day (especially because they were in a separate hospitals), so it was extra special that they came home on the same day! Since they've been home, life has been a bit crazy but wonderful at the same time! My mom was here up until a few days ago, so it was a big help having three adults to two babies. Tomorrow Rich goes back to work, so it's the true test to see if I can handle two babies by myself for the entire day. Wish me luck!

Luke was too small to come home in this car seat, so they actually sent him home in this car bed! He was a whopping 3 pounds 14 ounces when he came home!

Luke, home at last!

Grandma and Luke

Luke and Addie, together at last!

The babies were weighed last Monday, and Addie weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and Luke weighed 4 pounds 11.5 ounces! So, in 10 days Luke gained almost an entire pound which is amazing for his little size! He is such a champ at eating, and is a really mellow baby, except for when you mess with his feeding. Addie is such a little cutie and gained half a pound in 10 days. She is starting to get a little bit chubby and I love it! It's been almost a week since they were last weighed, so I can only imagine that Luke is 5 pounds and Addie is now 7 pounds. It's crazy how quickly they grow!

Luke - at 3 pounds 14 ounces

Luke at over 4 pounds - look at those chubby cheeks!

Addie's first night home

Isn't she pretty?

Cute twins!

Falling apart

Is this really happening?

 Family Picture

Luke and Addison - My Little Miracles!

I am now a mom to the most beautiful babies that I have ever seen! I feel so incredibly blessed to have them and they are absolutely perfect! We have witnessed miracle after miracle during our whole pregnancy journey, and we feel so blessed!

This is my last pregnancy photo. I was 35 weeks here and the babies were born 2 days later.


On Sunday morning at 4:00 AM, to my surprise, my water broke! We came to the hospital and I started a medicine to start contractions. The morning was fairly uneventful until I received an epidural around noon. Sweet little Luke was having trouble through the contractions and his heart rate had been dropping dramatically through each contraction. I had to have a C section immediately.

The delivery was an absolute whirlwind. I could still feel pain and I was terrified that I would feel them giving me a csection. It ended up that the medicine wasn't completely working, so they put me under for my babies' birth. I don't remember a thing! They delivered the babes so quickly and passed them immediately through the window of the NICU.

We knew before the birth that Luke would be really small, as he wasn't growing very quickly in utero. The plan was to stabilize little Luke and then transport him to Primary Children's because he had also been diagnosed with a coarctation of the aorta. When they were born, Luke was really small- 3 pounds 7 ounces - but he was doing SO well! He didn't even need oxygen when he was born! Addie weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces and needed oxygen for only a day or two.

Luke Michael Hunter

Addison Grace Hunter

When Luke was born, they did an echo on him to see if there were problems with his aortic valve, which I was so worried about! It turned out that he didn't have any issues with it. When babies are in utero, they have something called a PDA duct that circulates their blood, by passing the aorta. When they are born, the PDA duct closes and the blood goes through the aorta. The next step was to see what happened when his PDA duct closed to see how his aorta functioned. Another MIRACLE occurred! His heart did GREAT when the duct closed, and he ended up not even having the coarctation of the aorta. He has NO heart defect and will NOT need surgery! This stumped the doctors and we feel SO BLESSED to experience yet another miracle! Thank you so much for all of the prayers on behalf of our little boy. We feel beyond blessed that he doesn't have a heart defect and that he is doing so incredibly well!

For now, Luke is at Primary Children's Hospital and Addie is at the NICU at the University of Utah. It's definitely hard to go back and forth between the kiddos each day! Addie is able to breathe on her own and regulate her own body temperature, so the last thing she needs to master is feeding. Then, she should be able to come home! Luke is such a cute little fighter. He is working on being able to feed - he sleeps ALL the time and has a hard time waking up to feed! - and gain more weight so that he can regulate his body temperature as well. Both babies are doing so WELL and we cannot wait for them to come home soon!!!

They brought Luke to my room on his way to Primary Children's. This is the first time I met my little guy!

Sweet little Addie! She got rid of her oxygen quickly!

Luke's little body!

I LOVE these little videos of Luke!

 Cute Luke

 Addie in her crib - She should be coming home SOON!

Please pray for our little man!

Today, I made it to 35 weeks! It is an absolute miracle that I've made it this far. I have been in and out of the hospital at least 7 times, to the point that most nurses at the hospital know us. We had scares that I would have to deliver as early as 26 weeks, and my doctor told me at one point that he expected me to deliver at 32 weeks. When I met with him a few days ago, he told me he was shocked that I was still pregnant and that he would plan on inducing me at 36 weeks. Well, it looks like that is not the case anymore - I'm trying to go even longer - at least 37 weeks! The reason for this is because our little man is not doing so well. He is still so SMALL and he was diagnosed today with a heart defect. The doctors want to keep him inside of me as long as possible because he will need open heart surgery about a week after he is born. I'm obviously having a very difficult time with this new diagnosis as I feel like all odds are against my sweet tiny little guy. I can't quite believe it honestly.

Today, he was diagnosed with a coarctation of the aorta. Last week, they saw something on an ultrasound that led them to believe that it was the coarctation, so they referred us to Primary Children's for an echo. It turns out that his aorta is thin and will need to be corrected with open heart surgery.  The prognosis is very good with this surgery. Usually, people who have this surgery will not need repeated surgeries and they can go on to live a normal life with no restrictions. So, this is great news! However, they are a little concerned that in addition to the coarctation, that our little guy may also have a more narrow aortic valve. His valve is currently thinner than it should be at his gestational age, but he is also soooo much smaller than he should be too, so they aren't really sure if that's why it's thin. If his valve is thin, the prognosis isn't as good because the valve does not grow with the child and he would need repeated surgeries. At this point, we are hoping and praying that his aortic valve is not thinner than it should be, and that his only problem is the coarctation of the aorta.

In regards to his small size...My OB thinks that he is small because of an insufficient placenta which is related to my preeclampsia. We won't know for sure until the twins are born what is causing this growth restriction. However, it is definitely concerning to the cardiologist that our boy will be so small for his surgery. Ideally, they would like for him to reach 4 pounds before the do surgery. They did a growth scan on Monday that said that our boy is 3 pounds 8 ounces (give or take 8 ounces to give room for error) which is a MIRACLE because he had only gained 3 ounces in 3 weeks before that. I'm absolutely thrilled that he is gaining weight, so I just need to keep the twins inside for a few more weeks to give him as much time to grow as possible!

We are planning on naming our little guy Luke Michael Hunter. Rich and I both loved the name Luke and Michael is my dad's name. Our little girl (who by the way is doing GREAT! and has no problems at all! She will probably be 6 1/2 - 7 pounds when she is born!) will be named Addison Grace Hunter. That's the plan, but who knows- it could change. :)

Right now, I am borderline having severe preeclampsia, so please pray that I can carry on for a few more weeks with this condition. They diagnose severe preeclampsia when you have 5,000 mg of protein in your urine, and I am at 4,000 mg right now. I went from 2,000 mg to 4,000 mg in 3 weeks, so it will be cutting it close to try to make it to 37 weeks!

Please pray for little Luke that he will continue to gain weight. We would love for him to reach the 4 pound mark before surgery! Also, pray that he does not have the thin aortic valve and that he will do well with his upcoming surgery.

Thank you for your prayers and support during this very difficult time. It honestly means the world to us, and we have seen so many miracles so far because of prayer. I know that our little guy is such a fighter and that he will be okay, but it is still so so hard to have so many unknowns about your child's future. Sometimes I just want to count down the days until my twins are born, but I know that once they are born, it will be such a JOYOUS time, yet such a hard time. I feel so blessed that I get to be a MOTHER to these little angels and I will do whatever it takes to keep them healthy and safe!

Bummed.

On Monday, at the hospital, I went in for an ultrasound to check on the babies' growth. It had been almost 3 weeks since the last growth ultrasound and I really expected our little guy to have grown, especially because the cord dopplers had looked so great over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, our little guy had only gained 3 ounces in almost 3 weeks! This is devastating news as we only weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces at a little over 33 weeks. Our little girl is doing great and weighs 4 pounds 15 ounces! I am so bummed because I really thought the little guy would weigh over 3 pounds by now. I am coming to terms that he is going to be REALLY small and we will be lucky if he makes it to 3 pounds by the time he is delivered. The doctors think that he is just outgrowing his placenta. I am going to be so happy when this pregnancy is over, but I am just having a hard time with another thing going wrong. I am so worried about our little guy and that he will probably end up being half the size of his twin sister. They say that IUGR babies catch up within a year or two, so that is great news, but it still is difficult knowing that my baby is so so tiny!! Please continue to pray for our little ones, especially our sweet little guy!

Update on Things

I am happy to say that I am officially 33 weeks pregnant!! I came into the hospital on Thursday to have a non stress test done, which is basically when they monitor the babies' heart beats. It came to attention that our baby boy had a few decelerations which was concerning to the doctor. They immediately took me to labor and delivery and strapped me up to monitors. They told me that I couldn't eat or drink anything because if the little boy was under distress, they would do an emergency c section. I was obviously terrified thinking that our little twins may come 7 weeks too soon!

It ended up that our little boy was not under distress, as he was able to come out of the decelerations in his heart beat. They don't really know what causes this to happen, but they imagine that the little guy grabbed his cord or some how pinched it for a second. The key thing is that it wasn't anything prolonged, and he is doing just fine. They kept me in the hospital for further monitoring that night and I had a miserable night.

I was hooked up to an IV, oxygen, an oxygen monitor, blood pressure monitors that went off every hour, and 3 huge monitors on my stomach (which made it so that I couldn't lay on my side which is awful when you are pregnant). Let's just say that I was a tad uncomfortable for the entire night! Luckily, our little boy looked great all night long and they moved me to another room where I didn't need such heavy monitoring.

As for now, I am on hospital bed rest which is causing me to become restless! However, I am grateful to have made it this far and I know that I will be done SOON!! I am grateful that the little boy is doing well and that I get to keep these little guys in a little bit longer! :)

Preeclampsia

Yesterday, I was diagnosed with mild preeclampsia. I find it so ironic that my last post had me bragging that I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get preeclampsia!

I went in on Wednesday for my weekly check up, and I was sooooo nervous about my little baby boy and his growth. They didn't do a growth scan, as it isn't as accurate when you do it every week, but I was so happy to see that his cord flow was in the normal range. The week before, the doppler showed that he wasn't getting enough blood flow, but this time it looked normal!! So, he is growing! I don't know how much he weighs at the moment, but it is so reassuring to know that things were looking good with him. I thought everything was great and I even considered going to my baby shower that evening which was hosted by my awesome ward.

We then met with the doctor and they found protein in my urine, which is an indicator is preeclampsia. Basically, you can't feel preeclampsia until you are at the severe stage, but they diagnose mild preeclampsia with high blood pressure (which I've had for the past 6 weeks) and elevated protein in your urine. The protein is an indicator that my kidneys are over working themselves. Luckily, my blood work came back normal for kidney and liver function - which are the two main organs that are affected my preeclampsia. However, the normal count for protein is 100 - 200, and mine was at 2,000! Yikes! The good news about my situation is that women who get mild preeclampsia can usually carry the baby or babies for an additional 3-4 weeks after being diagnosed. Once I hit the severe  stage of preeclampsia, they will have to deliver the babies immediately. I can't express how grateful I am to have made it to 32 weeks, and I still can look forward to hopefully carrying the babies for a bit longer! Preeclampsia is very serious, as it causes harm to the mother and babies, but if it is caught early - which in my case it was - they can monitor me extremely closely and make sure that things turn out for the best. One part of preeclampsia is that the placenta doesn't always attach properly, which is most likely the case with our little guy. We just hope and pray that I can keep these little babes in for two more weeks and hope that both of the babies are growing from now until then. It is reassuring that they measure the heart rates every few hours, so if either baby goes into distress, they can deliver them. I still feel like it is WAY too soon, but I just know that I have to walk forward in FAITH!

Preeclampsia is rare (only 3-8% of pregnant women get it) and it's obviously serious. It's crazy to me that with my diagnosis, I honestly felt really at peace about things. I didn't even cry about it - I teared up when I knew that I couldn't go home after my routine weekly visit- but I haven't been overly emotional or concerned about things. Looking back on our pregnancy journey, the times that I had a really difficult time were the times I thought something was wrong with one of the babies. Now that my health is more of the concern, I don't seem to mind as much. I am grateful every day that I've been on bed rest that I get to keep these little babies inside of me for a day longer. I am so grateful for the hundreds of people (Yes, I said hundreds! We feel so LOVED!) that have kept us in their prayers. That is honestly how we've been able to move forward with such faith. We understand that these twins are miracle babies and are so grateful to that we get to have them. It has been a difficult journey, but I feel that I've learned so much from all of this. While it seems that the end of the road is not far off, I understand that things will be hard even when they are here. I've been asked by the nurses if I would like to tour the NICU, and every time they ask me, I tear up a little knowing that they will most likely spend some time in there- especially our small little guy. It will still be so hard when they are here, but it will be so worth it! Rich has been an absolute rock through everything - I can honestly say that I have married the best husband - and we will continue to move forward. I remember one of the midwives looking at our chart halfway through my pregnancy, and told us that we had our fair share of drama so far, and that nothing should happen towards the end, and I actually believed her. I thought - how much worse could things get? I never would have imagined that I would be on bed rest for 6 weeks (and counting!) and that my pregnancy would end of being so complicated. Sometimes I look at women who get pregnant so easily and have the easiest pregnancies ever, and I get a little bit jealous. However, I am so much BETTER than I was a year ago, and I have so much to be thankful for!! Whenever I go outside (which is rare these days) the leaves have turned a prettier shade and the air is that much crisper.  My perspective on life has forever changed, and I appreciate things so much more. Yes, things are hard, but things are so GOOD! We have a lot to be thankful for! Keep those prayers coming - they definitely give us the strength to move forward!

Update on the Twinners

It is so wonderful that I have made it to 31 weeks so far! I have officially been on bed rest for 5 weeks and it hasn't been terrible at all! I sleep in, buy baby stuff online, read, watch TV and hang out with visitors. I honestly feel fulfilled right because I know that what I am doing is important - growing these little babes. I guess I am already learning what it is like to be a mother - to give up EVERYTHING - my job, my  church calling, my body, my social life, etc - for them. I gladly do it!

Five weeks ago, I was put on bed rest because of high blood pressure. Miraculously, it did not turn into preeclampsia (apparently 50% of pregnant women who have high BP before 30 weeks get preeclampsia). My doctor even thought I could get off bed rest because my BP is being controlled through medication. That did not turn out to be the case. I ended up on bed rest again due to a shortened cervix which meant that I was already 50% effaced. For a few weeks, I didn't really think about my BP, but instead I worried about going into preterm labor.

On Wednesday, we went to our weekly doctor's appointment, and nothing really prepared me for what happened. They did a growth scan via ultrasound, and it ended up that our little boy was not growing at the rate that he should be. At 31 weeks, both babies should be weighing around 3.3 pounds. Our little girl was 4 pounds one ounce, and our little boy was only 2 pounds 11 ounces, putting him in the 17th percentile. They looked further and learned that the umbilical cord was working too hard to provide the nutrients that he needs, and it is looking like he has IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction.) There is something wrong with his placenta and this actually correlates with my high BP problem. My doctor says that he is better off inside of me, as he is still growing, but that it will be a breath of fresh air for him once he is born and he can get the adequate nourishment that he needs. Basically, he is developing at the normal rate, but he isn't putting on enough weight. I had a really hard time hearing this, as my little boy is literally starving inside of me. There are luckily no life long issues that result from his condition, but he will just take an extra year or two to catch up weight wise. There is a chance that he will never reach his growth potential, and I have never been so grateful to have married a man who is 6'6". Even if our little guy doesn't reach his growth potential, he will still be pretty tall!

I had a really hard time hearing all of this terrible news, but I am feeling really great about things now. Even though 31 weeks gestation seems terribly early to deliver, I am so grateful that I've made it this far! A few weeks ago my doctor didn't think I would, and I am defying the odds. My doctor is very positive about things and really isn't terribly worried. It is a reality that our little guy will be small - most likely in the 3 pound range - but he will catch up and be fine. For the first few years of life, his twin sister will be much bigger than him, but that's okay with me. He's going to be my cute little guy and I'm going to love my two miracles that much more. My doctor feels like I am going to be able to keep the babies inside for a few more weeks - even until 35 weeks or so - and I am so hoping that is the case. It is still a reality that our little guy will be in the NICU and that our little girl will go home weeks before him. Nothing with this pregnancy has been normal, and it has honestly been the craziest roller coaster, but I am so grateful for the blessings and miracles that I have witnessed. When my IVF doctor told me months ago that these were special miracle babies, I knew he was right then, but I believe him even more now! Keep praying for our little guys - they will be here before I know it!