New Bouncy Seats

Francis picked up two new bouncy seats a couple weeks ago and we are happy to report that both are a success! Especially with Evie - she had previously rejected our swing, 2 other bouncers, and she barely tolerates the glider. This was a problem - we needed to find at least one baby item that can keep her occupied!

Below, she is in her "Cradle in Comfort" pink seat. We often have to put her to sleep in this because that way we can move her into different rooms if we need to. Sometimes just as Gavin is falling asleep for the night, she decides to start fussing. We just pick up the bouncer with her in it, move her into another room and move her back to the nursery later. It's very snugly, and can grow with her as the extra padding is removable. It also has vibration and music.



Here's Gavin sound asleep in the new Fisher-Price Rainforest bouncer. The bouncer can either be on all the time, or the music and lights turn on for a few seconds whenever the monkey or bird toys are moved. Sometimes Gavin gets a bit overwhelmed by all the music and lights, but he will happily tug on the toys and look at the bright colors without the electronics on.



Here they are together in the Rainforest bouncer. When one of them is sitting in this one, the other one usually seems very interested in it. So a few times I put them both in it (while I was sitting right there of course). They are still small enough to fit!



Here are some short videos of them enjoying the Rainforest bouncer:

Test Results

I'm sorry I didn't have any test results to share with you on Friday morning, but I've got them all now! Both kids were in hospitals last week for tests. Gavin had his outpatient VCUG test at Edwards Hospital last Tuesday, and Evie spent the night at Christ Hospital last Thursday and Friday for her second cardiac catheter, i.e., angiogram. Needless to say, neither of them were happy about the procedures.



For Gavin, the pediatric urologist confirmed what the radiologist suspected: that Gavin has Grade IV Vesicoureteral Reflux (Grade V is the worst), which is where urine refluxes all the way up the ureter and back to the kidney. He will have to have some kind of procedure done to correct this, but not until he is closer to a being one-years old.

Normally, he would have to undergo a small surgical procedure, where they disconnect and reconnect the ureter (the tube that connects the bladder and the kidney). However, there is a new kind of non-invasive, outpatient procedure, called a "Stinger" (thanks Dan!) that the urologist will try first, where some type of gel is injected into the ureter tube to help keep the valve shut that is allowing urine to backwash up to the kidney. Although the Stinger procedure is not as successful as the surgery, it’s better to try the non-invasive procedure first.

The urologist will see Gavin again in 3 months, and in the meantime we will continue to give him a low dose of antibiotics that prevents him from getting another urinary tract infection. Although it's a shame he has this condition at all, it's for the best that it was discovered so early and that we can treat it right away.



Evie's angiogram went well (see the last blog entry for that drama) and her first surgery has been set for Thursday, February 21st. She will go in for a pre-surgery physical and blood work to make sure she doesn't have a cold or any other virus (like she did last month). Sharon will also be giving a pint of blood in case it is needed during the surgery.

This first surgery is called a unifocalization procedure. The procedure will take from 3-6 hours and she'll have a hospital stay of about 5-7 days. The angiogram revealed that the MAPCAS that have grown from her aorta and that are supplying blood to her lungs are narrowing, and thus, results in lower oxygen saturation levels for her. The unifocalization involves connecting a shunt from the aorta to her natural pulmonary artery, in order to better supply blood to her lungs. This is aimed at correcting her pulmonary atresia condition, which is just one part of her single ventricle congenital heart defect.

Unfortunately, instead of performing the unifocalization procedure on both the right and left lungs at the same time, the surgeon has determined that because Evie's natural pulmonary artery is so small, he only wants to perform the unifocalization procedure on her left lung during the February 21st surgery, and so she'll have to wait 2-3 months before having the right lung corrected.

Until then, the twins will just be hanging out with Sharon and getting bigger all the time! Gavin has been smiling and talking a lot lately, and Evie has been going to bed quite early in the evenings and sleeping for 10-12 hours straight at night, and napping well during the day.

Evie at the Hospital

The day started at 2:30AM for Evie when Sharon woke her up to give her the last bottle she could drink before the cardiac catheter (i.g., angiogram) procedure. I got up at 3AM and was out the door with Evie around 4:30AM. We picked up my Mom and got the hospital about 5:30. We were the first ones in the waiting room and after some drama about finding the referral paperwork, they checked Evie in around 6:15.



In the waiting room, 5:30AM.



Short video of Evie; bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6AM!

We were taken back to the outpatient procedure recovery while we waited for the doctor and nurses to arrive, and changed her into a gown that would have been huge on Gavin. We waited for quite a while and by 7:00AM it had been more than 4 hours since Evie's last feeding. She usually doesn't go more than 2 hours, but luckily she wasn't too fussy and took a half-hour nap in Nana's arms (and heated blankets).




Around 7:45Am they were ready to take her back. She would have a general anesthetic and luckily they wouldn't put her IV needle in until after she was under. She looks ready to punch somebody's lights out in the picture below.



"Just let 'em try and stick me with a needle!"

The first time Evie had an angiogram it took almost 2.5 hours, but this time they were done in just over an hour! When I saw her in post-op, her face was beet red. The nurse told me it was just "flush" from the anesthetic, and her temperature was normal. But about 25 minutes later her temp shot up to 101 and she was an even brighter red.


"My next impression will be that of a tomato. Ta da! I'll be here all week folks."



Evie tells me in no uncertain terms how she's feeling at the moment.

The doctors thought she had some sort of allergic reaction to the anesthetic and gave her some Benadryl through her IV. Her fever went down about a half hour later and her color started to look better. Nana lulled her to sleep with the help of her Winnie-the-Pooh song pillow.



After she woke up, she was starving, and quickly downed to bottles... then she spit up part of the last one all over my shirt. Little Evelyn Rose was a big hit in the recovery area (she was the only baby) and all the nurses took turns holding her while Mom and I grabbed lunch in the cafeteria.




Typically, Evie would only have to stay in recovery for 6 hours following the procedure and could then come home, but because of her fever, the doctor wanted to admit her overnight to make sure she didn't have any more reactions. So, we moved her from outpatient recovery over to the pediatric ward in Hope Children's Hospital. Coincidentally, we got the same room number that Evie has been in for her last two stays at the hospital. Maybe I should have bought a "Pick Four" Lotto ticket on my way home?

Around 2:30PM, all of the sedatives had worn off and she was starting to perk up and act like her normal self (i.e., fussing). Her color looked really good and she took a few bottles and short naps.



My Dad arrived around 3:00PM and my parents stayed with her until 8PM when she finally fell asleep for the night. I took off for home when my Dad arrived to relieve Sharon, who had been watching Gavin all day. I'll be calling the hospital on Thursday morning at 7AM to see if she had a good night and if I can take her home that morning. It's a real shame that Evie had to spend the night, becuase she is always a reck for about 2 days following an overnight hospital stay, because her nap and sleeping schedule get all messed up.

Evie's cardiac team has their surgical pow-wows on Wednesday afternoon/evenings, so they will be reviewing her test results and hopefully we'll get some information on Thursday about the results of her angiogram and what the surgeon wants to do. Check back here Friday morning for test results!

2nd Angiogram for Evie

Evie had a second angiogram this morning at Christ Hospital. Her doctors felt this was necessary because 3 months have passed since her first one, and they want updated images of her heart just in case anything has changed. She did fine during the procedure, which took about 2.5 hours. The doctor thinks her MAPCA's may be narrowing. The cardiac team will discuss her case tonight and her cardiologist will call us tomorrow with the next steps.

Unfortunately, she is now running a slight fever (101) so they want to keep her overnight. We'll post updates as we get them.

Gavin and the Packers

Francis and I took Gavin for his VCUG test today. The doctor who did the test said it looks like he has grade 3 or 4 reflux (he was a radiologist, not a pediatric urologist so he wasn't positive), but we have to meet with Gavin's urologist to go over the results and find out what the next steps are.

Gavin did well, considering he had to have a catheter. We requested "sweet-ease" sugar water to calm him, because he's too small to be sedated. It's just water with sucrose, given to infants. (Evie had it during her echocardiograms because she wouldn't lay still.) I just dipped his pacifier into this water and he loved it! It distracted him from the catheter insertion - I am not sure how much it calmed him down, but at least he wasn't fussing. We were in the radiology area, and they used a machine to see his bladder fill up and then empty. He peed all over the table like the champion pee-er that he is! Then he fell asleep in the car for a 2.5 hour nap. It was a tough morning!

It was also a tough night for Green Bay Packer fans. The kids had their Packer onesies on, ready to cheer on the Pack. I think they were actually asleep by kick-off time, but they were dreaming of a Packer victory. Sadly, it wasn't to be....Gavin showed what he thought of the Packers' performance by peeing all over his outfit during the night.

Then and Now

It’s Sharon blogging…the twins are 3 months old now. To me, they already look so different than when they were born. Evie has gone from 5 lb 1 oz to 9 lb 2 oz, and Gavin has gone from 5 lb 9 oz to 11 lb 4 oz! They just look huge to me! I realize that women give birth to babies this size all the time, but from my perspective I just can’t imagine a 9 or 11 pound newborn. That being said, I did have a total of 10 lb 10 oz of baby inside me, so I can sympathize from a pregnancy viewpoint!

Here are some early pictures and some more recent ones:


Evie, about 2 weeks old, holding Daddy's thumb


Evie, 2.5 months


Evie, 3 months


Gavin, 6 days old, getting ready for a bath


Gavin, 3 months old, getting ready for a bath

A Smiley Morning

It's Sharon again...I wanted to take a picture of the kids in some of their new Christmas outfits. So I put them in the pack-n-play, but they just look kind of bored when I had the camera on both of them together. But when I took individual shots, they gave me huge smiles!










"If you think I'm cute, you should see my twin!"

Life on the Playmat

Now that the twins are beginning to focus on things (other than just staring off into space or at bright lights), we've introduced them to "The Playmat." There's lots of things to do, see and explore on the mat... and I'm sure they'll enjoy exploring those things when they're a bit older, but right now all they like to do is kick and swing at the hanging animals, and occasionally look at their reflection in the mirror (Gavin like to pull on the monkey's legs!). One corner is touch sensitive and the lights and music go off when they press on it. We also use the mat for tummy time.

It's been a great help to Sharon the last few days, now that she's flying solo with the kids since her mother went back to work on the first of the year (thank you for three dedicated months Mom!). The kids will entertain themselves from 30-60 minutes on the mat, giving Sharon a chance to grab some lunch or feed one or the other.








Gavin still has a cough (as do I), but Evie seems back to normal. Gavin is still getting nebulizer treatments so hopefully the cough will clear up soon. So far, Evie has infected Gavin, myself, Sharon, my mother, Sharon's mother and her father with her virus. Evie sees her cardiologist on Thursday for a checkup. If she gets a clean bill of health then maybe we can schedule a surgery date.


Gavin getting a nebulizer treatment.


Not too bad! What's all the fuss about?

Here's a short video of the kids on the mat. Evie began wildly swinging her arms around and it seems like Gavin wants to snack on them!

America's Next Top Baby Models, Part 2

Sorry for the lack of blog updates lately...Evie has managed to give all of us her virus. We have been sleeping in as much as possible! We have to use the purple dinosaur nebulizer with Gavin, who tolerates it a little better than his sister. The good news is Evie is almost fully recovered and the rest of us are doing better.

Gavin went to the pediatrician last week for a check-up. At almost 3 months old, he weighs 11 lb 4 oz! This is more than double his birthweight of 5 lb 9 oz. He is still 24 inches long. He had to get 4 shots, and he has Evie's cough, but he endured it like a champ.

Below are various pictures of the kids in some of my favorite outfits:


I love her pink pointy hat!


Daddy says Evie reminds him of a pack of Fruit Stripe gum in this sleeper.


This onesie says " In my little world, bows are a must!"


"Daddy's little helper." I don't think Gavin likes this one because every time I put it on him he peed on it.


This is my all time favorite! Grandma Cordes got it at Baby Gap.