update #2 for today

So the updates are fewer and longer in between which is wonderfull because it's much less 'exciting' than Friday. That is a great thing! I haven't been able to get online today because I was driving to and from St. Louis!! My family drove up and back there today and Ann Bunch (Doug's mother) and Anna Bunch (Doug's niece) rode with us. We all got to go back to see the babies - two at a time!! There were other visitors as well on Doug's side of the family. Today was Dave's (Preston's Dad's) birthday, so my niece, Carolyn, who lives in St. Louis made an amazing meal with the assistance of her sister, Ahdra who drove in all the way from Columbus, OH. Francie said it was such a God thing. Elizabeth, in the middle of all this on Saturday told Francie she wished there was a way that they could celebrate Dave's birthday and that someone could maybe make a cake..... Then Carolyn delivered!!

Those boys are just so priceless. So I just want to describe kind of the layout as a visual. I was kind of envisioning a large room with many babies in the NICU. My children were not able to go back so this helped them to kind of visualize how it looked. This hospital (Cardinal Glennon) has a very nice set up for these very tiny (in most cases) babies. There are three hallways with several (at least 8-10) individual rooms. So Carson and Kellen are in their own room. Kellen is in the first 'bed'/ isolette. They keep him covered up with a blue blanket over his isolette so that all the 'action' on Carson's side of the room doesn't disturb Kellen. In between them is the ECMO machine. There are two nurses (at least) in the room at all times and one just watches the ECMO. Then Carson has a blue light on him to help decrease the bilirubin. This is very bright so he has 'sunglasses' on.... :) They look like they're made of a white felt or something like that but there is the outline of what looks like sunglasses on that. It was so cute! On the wall opposite the boys there are about 4-6 scrapbook pages on the wall..... So Carson's nurse had some time on her hands while he was off to surgery on Friday. She scrapbooked some of the most amazing pictures!!!! They took several pictures on 11-11-11 at 11:11am right before Carson went off to surgery with Kellen in Carson's bed.... You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it with your own eyes... Kellen just put his little hand on Carson's arm. It looked like he was saying "It's going to be OK buddy. I'm here." There was another scrapbook page with both of their hand prints and foot prints - with a very cute saying on it about twins. It was just so sweet that this nurse took the time to do something special like this for Preston and Elizabeth to personalize the room.

Elizabeth got dismissed on Friday from St. Mary's and on the same day an opening came up for her and Preston to stay at the Ronald MacDonald house about a block from Cardinal Glennon! How about that for a GMC?? ! They have a nice setup there. It sounded like one meal was provided for them each day and the room and in exchange they have 'chores' to do :). They get to clean up and vacuum the family room each day. I believe the day after surgery (one night anyway) They both got a really good night of sleep. Preston is feeling much better. Elizabeth looks GREAT for having had this major surgery and of course she absolutely never complains. She is pumping breast milk - which Kellen is getting in increasing amounts and a huge positive - Elizabeth got to feed Kellen his first bottle at about 3:00 today. The nurses kind of prepared her that Kellen may really not take the bottle at all today but he actually took about 5ml from the bottle on the first try. Little trooper!

Carson is still getting his nutrition from IV support at this point from what I understood. He looks remarkably good for this major surgery. He lies very still as they still have him sedated at this point. Francie and several have sang to him and he really seems to respond to that. They feel he is progressing very positively. The ECMO has been decreased several times. I'm not sure what the level was at today but they have discussed how low they can take it without increasing the risk for more clots before they start trying to wean off of the ECMO and onto just ventilator support. From what I was told he is tolerating everything very well to at the very least reasonably well! Please keep the prayers coming for no complications so he can continue to heal and get stronger.

The family today all expressed how grateful they are for the PRAYERS! We are watching God perform miracle after miracle through these two little men.

Thank you so much and continue to pray.

Posted by Alice

update #1 for today

Kellen is doing so well. He is at 25 ml every 3 hours for his feed. He gets to try a bottle one time today for the first time. Elizabeth is going to be here for it at 3 pm. They don't think he will do very well the first time, but he gets to try : ). Other than that he is getting close to not needing any IV fluids, YEAH!!!! Grandpa Bunch got to hold Kellen for the first time last night. He picked the right shift to stay for because Papa Clark had last night and didn't get to hold, but I am sure that will be coming soon. It is hit and miss at this point.

Carson is doing very well. He is done to 250 on his flow on the ECMO machine. It basically means he is doing better and we have to get him to 200 before they will consider weaning him off. He is certainly making progress because last night he was at 320. The clots do not appear to have changed and the perfusionist was not concerned. At this time, she is watching them and we don't need to change the tubing. Carson is peeing a lot better and we are so proud of him.

Carson had a head ultrasound yesterday and it showed a normal brain NO BLEEDS... praise the Lord. At this point, our biggest prayers need to be no bleeds in his brain from having so much heparin and no movement of the clots in the ECMO machine. And of course, prayers for direction of all the staff and doctors and continued healing. I am praying for miracles and complete healing of Carson so he will have no functional deficits when he gets through this. We are so proud of him and thank God at every moment for the miracles he has provided.

Posted by Sarah