The girls are 8 months

We are so blessed!!!! Isabella and Sophia are doing so good. We have been busy learning how to be parents to four children. The girls are now starting to crawl and just got their first two teeth. Its amazing how they seem to do everything together. Isabella showed her teeth one day before and Sophia crawled one day before Isabella. They are precious and we are enjoying them so much. JT has started drivers ed and got his permit and is playing basketball, Hannah is enjoying basketball also and Drama.

The girls are home

Sorry once again for not posting but we are so busy now with the girls. The are home and doing good. They were sent home with Apnea monitors and that has been an adjustment. I never thought that I could handle some of what God has allowed us to go through. Both girls have Apnea spells nightly, however Isabella has about 6 a night. She corrects herself on her own and all we have to do is mainly stimulate her by touching her face or by rubbing her feet. This week we go back to the doctor for a growth check and they may have to go on some medication for Apnea. Leon and I are so exhausted but blessed. It has been wonderful to have my parents here to help run the house and to get JT and Hannah to there places and to maintain teenagers schedules. Both JT and Hannah have been so helpful with the girls and our home life seems to be very full and peaceful. I have just decided to stay in my pjs all day that way I can just crawl in the bed when the girls are napping. I am still breastfeeding every three hours so we have to sleep when we can.

My family gave the girls a shower in Salisbury, NC even thou we could not be there. Isabella and Sophia have been on visitation restriction until they get a little bigger and their immune system gets stronger. Our house has turned into "germ a phobias", and we constantly are washing our hands and trying to stay germ free. They are just now at 37 weeks (born at 32, therefore 5 weeks old) and should be able to be cuddled by our friends and family at around their due date when they would be 40 weeks.

We have been so blessed with our family and friends and especially for the meals they have been a lifesaver. We have updated photos on facebook and I will try to figure out how to add more to my blog. Thanks again for all the prayers and continued support. We are truly blessed!!!!

What a Journey with the NICU

Sorry it has taken us so long to blog. The girls are really doing well now but the first 48-72 hours were tough. They both had issues with thier lungs and both needed surfactant, both went on the CPAP and then Isabella eventually had to be put on the ventalator for a couple of days. Today however we found out that they were both coming off the cannula oxygen tubes and that they will be moved up to intermediate status by tonight. YEAHHHHHHHHH

This has been such an emotional journey for our family and we are so very thankful to God for our precious girls. We feel so good about our decision with our doctors to take both Isabella and Sophia at 32 weeks because their cords were very tangled. Both the Neonatalogist and my Doctor said that they had never seen such a tanlged cord in thier career. Our girls are truly a miracle from God and we are so very thankful!!!! Thank you all for your prayers and support during this time.

THEY'RE HERE!!!!! NO MORE COUNTING!

Kim delivered this morning at 7:56am and 7:57am this morning. We're now the proud parents of 2 more children (4 total) of babies;

• Isabella Grace - 4lbs 8oz and 18" long

• Sophia Marcella - 4lbs 5oz and 17" long

Both went pretty quickly into the NICU and were breathing okay but the Dr's put them both on CPAP for about the last 10 hours or so however, the NICU Doctor just came up and told us that they were going to give Isabella "surfractant" to help her lungs a little more and that this was "not unexpected" but the first 24-48 hours would tend to be the critical time in terms of their lung development but not to fret. Of course, we fret but also know God is in control and we simply walk in His care and grace.

Kim is doing pretty well and expected to get out of the bed tonight so we can venture up and let her see the babies again (since delivering). We're out of the old room and here just for a few more days and continue to pray for our girls health and development.


Just wanted to give a quick update and thank you to all our family and friends. We'll upload some photos soon.

Leon and Kim

DAY 50! ONLY 11 HOURS TO GO!!!!!!

Well we're down to "HOURS" instead of days! Praise God! They've started getting Kim ready for surgery tomorrow; installed her IV port, started her on Mag (magnesium) which apparently is something relatively new that they believe can help with potential for brain issues in premies.

Kim is now confined to the bed until surgery in the morning and will be checked every 30 minutes all night until surgery tomorrow. We're scheduled to be 1st in the OR tomorrow morning and her Doctor said she'd be starting by 7:30am. It's hard to believe the time, day and hour has finally come.

It's been one heck of a journey and want to tell my wife how proud I am of her, going 51 days in the hospital alone is enough to make anyone crazy never mind the constant strain of the type of pregnacy shes carried! I'm proud of our kids JT and Hannah on how well they've done in her absence and thankful for my mother and father in law who have taken care of the kids, the house and everything inbetween during this time! Thank you to our family and friends who have faithfully prayed, visited us, and encouraged us during the last seven months. It's meant so much to our family.

I think sleep will come fleetingly tonight but the anticipation and anxiety of meeting our children (new children) tomorrow morning will be such a great moment and then the next chapter of our journey will begin........!

We'll update again in the next day or two once the twins are stable and their assessments have been done.

Thanks again for your thoughts, prayers and helping Kim get through the last few months.

Leon and Kim

Day 47, only 3 days to go:)

Well my family just left the hospital room and Hannah was able to spend the night with me last night. We all were able to realize that this would be the last weekend with just the four of us. After Wednesday we will be a family of six. We had a nice prayer and it was so special.

Pray for the kids next week because they will have their standardize testing in school and will have a lot on their minds. I am scheduled to go on Magnesium sulfate Tuesday night( which is something new that MUSC is doing to help benefit premature baby's )then I will deliver by c section first thing Wednesday morning. Needless to say I am getting a little nervous. Pray that God will help me with my fear!

Thank you all for your prayers and we will update everyone when the girls are here.:):):):)

Day 40- The countdown is on T-11 Days to go!) Another post from leon

DAY 40 - The Count Down is on T-11 Days to Go! (Another post from Leon)

Had some contractions again today and they administered another dose of brethane (spelling?) however, the Doctors said that will be the last dose as they will let the contractions run their course from here moving forward.

Kim's now on continuous monitoring with the exception of 2 short walk breaks, a shower break and off monitoring from 12am-4am. Which doesn't lend itself to getting much sustained sleep as the nurses are having to constantly come in to find the babies and get them back on the monitor.

The journey is coming to an end but the anxiety and stress seem to be multiplying. The closer we get the more the tension seems to rise, and Kim is getting exhausted. We continue to pray and ask God for His hand to deliver our girls in 11 days healthy, safe, and happy!

We're having the last growth ultrasound on Monday (3/16) and looking forward to seeing the weights of the babies (2 weeks ago they were 3lb 5oz and 3lb 3oz). Then we're only 9 days away from delivering. Kim's OBGYN has scheduled her C-Section for Wednesday March 25th!

Thanks again family and friends for your thoughts, prayers, calls and wishes. We'll keep you posted as we move forward.

Leon and Kim

DAY 36 Today (3/10/09) NOTE FROM LEON;

Well the contractions got a little worse last night, so they had to give Kim 2 different doses of medicine to stop them. They were coming roughly every 3 minutes but the meds stopped them (around midnight). Today they've started back up, but Kims doctor said she wasn't going to stop them (via medicine) again!?! Not sure exactly what this means yet, but they are beginning to subside a bit in intensity and duration (as of 4pm).

Kim's sister left today and is heading home tomorrow (back to Switzerland) and know how much Kim appreciated her being there (and the fact that she spent 3 nights in the hospital in a fold out chair/bed)!!! :)

We're obviously still praying that God will lead our twins through this time and He will ultimately bring our (new) girls into this world when He is ready. There are a number of different options from this point depending on how the contractions go from here however, we're taking it one hour at a time.

Starting tomorrow (30 weeks) Kim will go on to 24/7 monitoring, which means we're now only 15 more days away from delivering anyway!! Praise God.

Will update again soon as we learn more, thank you for the prayers for our girls and family.

Day 33

My sister Sabrina is here from Switzerland, YEAH!!!!!!! We are having great pj party's and it has been so good to spend time with her. The babies are doing good, only a couple of contractions but nothing really to worry about. I cant believe that we have been in this room for 33 days. Only 20 days to go before I meet the twins. God is good!

Day 28 and only 25 days left:)

I just had my ultrasound this morning and the girls are doing good. Thier weight is Baby A and 3 pounds and 5 ounces, and Baby B is 3 pounds and 3 ounces. This is great for me being 28 weeks! Thanks for all your prayers and we are doing good. Only 25 days to go!!!!!

Day 23

Well I had my first real mental day yesterday. I just think the reality that I have been in this room for three weeks and I still have four more weeks to go just got a little overwhelming. Also my neighbor friend on this floor with twins had her babies on Monday night and I was able to stay with her during her monitoring when her babies went into distress and was able to stay with her until she went into the OR. It really scared me about my own situation and just made everything so real. Her babies were born and weighed 2-4, and 2-11. They were born at 31 weeks. I am planning on seeing them today in the NICU with my friend, and they are actually doing very well for their gestation age.

Today is a brighter day and I am trying to work on having a positive attitude. I think the big thing is is that you just have no privacy or control when your in the hospital. People come in left and right for different things and you just have to deal with it. My showers have become a sanctuary for me because it is really the only place to have privacy and a real therapeutic meltdown.

Leon, the kids, and the Grandparents are doing very well. I am so thankful that mom and Dad were able to come and just take over the reigns of our family. Leon is at the hospital with me often and came this morning to meet with our doctor. My monitoring is now 3X NST (Non stress Test) daily with fetal tones in between. The doctor said that we are planing to have a c-section the day that I turn 32 weeks which is March 25th, therefore our goal is 28 more days:)

Day 18

Yeah it is day 18 and I am still sane:):):) Jt spent the night with me last weekend and Hannah was able to spend the night with me last night. We we had such a good time. Hannah and I walked the halls in our PJs and watched movies until she passed out. Even when the nurses came in at night she still didn't wake up so it was a good time. We did have another scare last night which made me a little nervous with Hannah here. Baby A had some decels variations (? not sure about the spelling) which showed some signs of cord compressions, but the nurse came in and once again quickly turned me to my left side. After a couple minutes both babies went back to normal. My doctor didn't seemed to be too concerned and stated that with this pregnancy it is normal for there to be some variations during monitoring and that it wasn't anything to be alarmed over. Especially since the babies responded to my moving on my side.

I have been so blessed with many visitors and also a visit from my pastor and a representative of our new church "Newspring Community Church". Our senor pastor also called which was very touching as well. I feel so blessed and honored to have so many people praying and thinking of our family. There are so many women on this floor that just do not have a family support system to help get them through the tough times. Its been really nice to form relationships with other long term pre-term patients. I have one friend that has been here for three weeks and will also be here until she delivers her twins. We both try to look at our situation like as if we were stuck in a sorority our freshman year with no means to escape. I am probably driving her crazy because when I get bored I talk and pull her out of her bed for us to walk the halls:) Its also amazing how much I am enjoying my brief walks outside on the sidewalk and my daily shower.

Thank you all once again for your prayers, your visits, your emails, and your phone calls. we so appreciate all of you. For those of you at Kings Academy and Newspring, make sure you give my children a big hug. They are really doing great but I'm sure its not easy with mom gone. You also might want to give the grandparents and Leon a big hug too, because they are also doing such a good job handling my long term hospital stay.

I m now looking forward to Leon coming and spending the night with me to night with popcorn and blockbuster movies. God is Good!

Day 15, Its been 2 weeks:)

I can not believe it has been two weeks!!!

Sunday night and Monday night we had a little scare when the babies heart rates went up in the 170's and 180's and stayed for about 15 minutes. I was being monitored, just like I m everyday and the nurses rushed in and ask me to move on my side. I could tell they were nervous which in turn made me very nervous. After laying on my side for about ten minutes the babies starting behaving better and baby As heartbeat went back to normal. They called the doctor on call and he just said to watch them a while so we did and the girls were fine. Last night the were high again but they came back down more quickly so the nurses were not to worried.

We had a great ultrasound and the girls weight are wonderful for their gestation age. Baby A weighted 2 Pd's,5 ounces. And Baby B weight 2 Pd's, 8 ounces. They looked so uncomfortable on the screen especially baby A. Baby B is literally just curled in a ball on top of Baby As head. They will definitely be closed sisters when they grow up.

Today i am going to spend some time in the NICU to help prepare myself for the girls delivery.

Once again my family and friends have been wonderful to come and visit and call. I feel so honored to have such a support system. God is good ! I am praying that time will continue to fly and that the girls and I will be able to make it to our 32 week goal. Thanks for your prayers.

Day 13

Well my friend on this four had her baby:) Remember the one that we pushed in the wheelchair and I was so nervous her water would break while we were on our walk? Well She had her baby that very night and both baby and mom are doing well. The baby was at exactly 33 weeks and was 5 pounds and is in the NICU. He is doing well and did not need any breathing help or anything. They he will be able to go home next week.

The babies and I are still doing good and working on keeping our sanity for 5 more weeks. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Day 10

Today has been another great day. The babies had great readings on the monitors and behaved very well for the nurses. What usually takes 2 1/2 hours for each reading only took 1 hour and 15 minutes today. Still having some contractions but nothing serious. I was able to go outside the hospital to meet Leon and the kids to see my dog "hunny" . That was a nice surprise.

Yesterday, Two girls that I met on the hall and myself went for a walk out side. I can only imagine what people thought to see three very pregnant patients in their PJ's walking outside on the sidewalk. One of the girls, we had to push in a wheelchair because she did not have walking privileges. Before we left the hall one of the nurses said for us to get her back quick if her water broke, jokingly, but still made me a little nervous. We had a blast and it was so good to be outside on such a pretty day. We were only gone for about 20 minutes but when you are stuck in a room all day that 20 minutes is priceless. Its nice to have some friends to share it with.

My doctor is on vacation starting today until Monday so please pray that all goes well while she is gone. So far everything seems to be going so well. Next growth ultrasound is scheduled for Monday and we will be able to see if the babies are both maintaining weight growth and also see if there are any signs of TTTS. Thanks once again for your prayers!

I also have moved rooms due to construction.

Week two or day 9

Well the doctors up my monitoring to twice a day for one hour, with every four hour fetal tones. Last night however the babies were moving so much that the monitoring took from 7pm to almost 11:30pm on my back strapped to the machines just to get a complete one hour reading. Praise God the girls are still doing good. My doctor says that we will try to continue to increase the monitoring as the girls get older and by 30 weeks we will probably be on continuous 24/7. My doctor is very honest with us and told us this morning that even with all the monitoring something could still happen at anytime. Even with continuous 24/7 monitoring, she says that I could go to the bathroom or take a shower and the girls could get in trouble with there cords. Its hard to hear but I still have this incredible peace that they are going to be OK.

I'm enjoying my little bit of freedom that I have now, and I love being able to go outside. I have had so many good friends that have come to visit me and also all of my wonderful friends online and from Australia that have constantly been emailing me with support and prayer. I can not tell you all what that means for our family right now. Thank you so much! Also my parents have been so wonderful to stop there life to come from Alabama for 5 months to simply move in with us and help us through this difficult time. Leon of course is up here daily for dinner with me and the kids have also been by often and we skype alot as well. All in all everything is going great.

Day 7

I can not believe that I have already been in this hospital room for a week. God has been so good because the time is going by so fast. I had some contractions over the last couple days but they are pretty normal and the nurses didn't seem to be nervous at all about them. I was so excited to be able to have one of my really good friends (Kendall) to be my nurse over the weekend because she normally does not even work the preterm area.

Today, I got my first dose of Celestone which is a steroid SHOT (that really burns:)to help the babies lungs to develop and to prepare them for a preterm birth. I will get the second dose in 24 hours and a third dose when I am 30 weeks. Please pray that the babies lungs will respond well to the Celestone and accelerate their development.

They are planning on increasing my monitoring to two 1 hour continuous session and heart tones every four hours. This will at least allow me to still have walking privileges and not be strap to the bed 24/7. I even got to walk outside yesterday and today and it felt like a Christmas morning. I have have never been so glad to get outside.

Mom and I started a Beth Moore bible study today that we will do long distance with my sister in Switzerland. It was so funny today because it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get through the first DVD session of our study because of the nurses in and out and different little check ups of the babies.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I am very thankful to God for getting us this far and really have a peace that He is in control. Even in times when they struggle to find the heartbeats, God still gives me a peace. My children are doing great with Grandma and Papa and Leon comes to see me every night for dinner. God is good!!!

Day four

Today has been a good! We had a little scare this morning when we could not find Babys A heartbeat but after searching for about 15 minutes we found her hiding:) I have such a peace about being here and have even made friends with a couple of other high risk pregnant moms. Everyone here at Mcleod have been so nice and have really worked hard at trying to monitoring the twins. I have walking priviledges which means that when Im not being monitored I can walk around the fourth floor, and when Leon comes to see me I can even go to the second floor and even to the cafe to get his food for dinner. Leon has dinner with me every night and is even spending the night tonight and we are planning to watch the movie "The Express". Mom and Dad and the kids have also been by to visit often along with some good friends.

Next week they plan to up my monitoring and administer two steroid shots to help prepare the babies lungs for preterm delievery. Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for our babies Also pray for me that I may be positive and be a light to these new friends of mine on this floor. It can be such a scary place when your child is at risk.

An example of cord entanglement

Here is a picture of the cords of a mother of mono/ mono twins. She is from my momo support website known as momma Kate. Her girls were born at 32 1/2 weeks and are doing great now. Its a great example of cord entanglement, and this is why it is so important for me to be inpatient now to monitor the babies and make sure that they are getting everything they need. Thanks for your prayers.

Day one and two in Hospital

Well, I am finally here. I arrived on Tuesday around 4:00. My room is very nice and the nurses seem to be very nice as well. They all seem to be very informed about momo twins and realize that I will be here a longggg time. Once admitted, I had alot of blood work done and was ( or we tried) to have the babies continously monitored for 1 hour straight with a stress test. The nurses had a very hard time getting both babies on the montiors for one whole hour. With momos, this seems to be very difficult because they are so close together.

My orders are to montior the babies with a stress test every morning, and then if everything looks ok to just check the every four hours. I didnt realize that also meant in the middle of the night. That was very hard last night to have to be woken up by the nurse at midnight and then at four to be monitored. But I keep telling myself this is not about me but for the babies.

Leon of course was with me all day and Mom and Dad and the kids came to see me last night. I think we all realize that this is a whole new chapter in this pregnancy and we are in for a long haul.

Day two

Woke up at 5:30 am and walked around the halls twice. It was also nice to see the snow outside in Florence sc. The nurses once again are having trouble getting the readings on both babies for one continous hour. In fact, After trying for about an hour they are going to let the babies settle down and try again in a bout 45 minutes. I saw my doctor and we discussed when I would go on continous monitoring, but with them having a hard time getting it for one straight hour I cannot imagine doing it non stop all day and night. The babies seem to be very active which is good but also makes it very hard for them to see how they are actually doing with thier heartbeats and blood flow. At least I get to hear thier heartbeats all throughtout the day and to be honest that alone has helped me to relax a lot more then if I was at home. Im glad and thankful that I am here.

Had a great Appointment at MUSC

We had a great appointment on Monday. The girls are doing good and have gained some weight. Twin A is 1 pound 3 ounces and Twin B is 1 pound 1 ounce. They do not seemed to be anymore tangled then before. They also said that "twin to twin transfusion" does not seem to be anything we need to worry about which is a bigggg praise. They are very active and have good heartbeats.

Its so funny because everytime I go for my appointment at MUSC they have student nurses and or doctors that will come and observe our "momo twins" on ultrasound. This week I had two doctors that came to talk with us. Im glad we can assist in there education, especially since momo twins are so rare:):)

We are scheduled to go into the hospital on Feb 3rd at Mcleod. We had our appointment to tour the NICU at Mcleod and were very impressed. We were able to see babies born as early as 25 weeks. It was very humbling to see because they were sooo small. The staff seems to really be great there and everyone is so freindly.

On Feb 3rd I will be 25 weeks when I will be admitted to the hospital and so we are hoping and praying that I can make it to 32 weeks. Therefore I am trying to prepare myself for a long stay. I am looking forward to finally getting into the hosptial so that I do not have to worry anymore everytime I dont feel the girls moving. At least this way I can know that they are ok on a daily basis, which will be wonderful!!! The plan is that I will have continous montoring and if the girls get into distress then they will do an emergency c section. This is pretty standard for momo twins.

I just want to say thank you all so much for your prayers! Everyone has been so supportive. Thanks again!