TWINS?

Who said twins are supposed to look alike? I would put some more words here but it is hard to type with Logan in one hand.

Sister likes to cuddle with her brother

Happy to be home

GOING HOME

Thanks to God for bringing us to this point. Yesterday Leila was discharged from the hospital and we packed up our stuff and left the Ronald House. She is tethered to an oxygen tank but we made it home. I would post some pictures but I dont know where the camera is in the mess we call our living room now. The real challenges are ahead, making sure they gain weight, two to three doctor appointments every week, not much sleep, no time to get groceries, trips back to chattanooga next week for more head ultrasounds. But it is good to be home. One day it will be good to be in our real heavenly home.

Pictures of the two of them together are interesting since they look nothing alike. I will post those first when the camera is unearthed.

TODAY WASN'T THE DAY

The doctor and her pediatrician in Tullahoma wanted to wait until Monday to discharge her in case she had problems taking the formula. That's understandable and is probably the best thing to do at this point.

We have a more serious problem though. Her head ultrasound, once again, brought more bad news. So they did a procedure to drain some fluid out of her spine to try to kick start the draining from her brain into her spine. Her next head ultrasound isn't until the end of next week. If they discharge her on Monday and she needs surgery for a shunt at the end of next week, that means re-admittance to the hospital. Only, we will already have moved out of the Ronald House and won't have a place to stay if she needs to have a shunt and recover for a week.

What do we do now? We have been praying for God's healing on this issue for three months solid and now we come to discharge time and there is a possibility of re-admittance. I don't know how to handle this...

TOMORROW COULD BE THE DAY

It is time. Tomorrow could be the day. Tonight might be our last night in the Ronald McDonald House. Tomorrow night could be our first night at home with both babies.

As far as we know, they still plan to discharge Leila tomorrow afternoon. They did  several tests today: an EKG for her heart, brain ultrasound again, kidney study. I pray that all these test results will be good and all the doctors will agree that it is time for her to go home.

She will have her carseat test tonight. She will have to sit in it for 1.5 hours without having any trouble breathing. Pray that she passes it.

She has to go home on a little oxygen so we have to have an oxygen tank brought to the house. Pray that all goes well.

We have been looking forward to this day. Now we will have an entirely new set of challenges.

15 WEEKS

Last time we asked for prayer for Leila again. The neurosurgeon looked at her head ultrasounds, decided that what they were seeing was not urgent and indicated that they would follow her as an outpatient!

The doctor also decided to do a study that all NICU babies get before they leave. It's a study to see oxygen and pulse levels over a period of twelve hours to determine if the baby needs to go home with oxygen support. They took Leila off all oxygen support earlier this week and she has done fairly well with only a little trouble when she eats. Tomorrow, they will review the study results and then, as the resident doctor put it, we will begin making bigger plans.

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Da (That's the fat lady warming up). That's right. I didn't stutter.    Our days in Chattanooga are numbered and I think I can count them on one hand.

That doesn't mean that all our challenges are over. We still have some challenges to overcome, but at least we will be in our own home. God has been good and brought us through some tough times.

Statistics show that only 50% of babies born at 25 weeks of gestational age go home... We are taking home two 25 weekers. I dare you to tell me there is no God and that he doesn't work miracles. I know from experience that he does.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Older picture but still cute

URGENTLY WAITING AGAIN

I shouldn't be having  this conversation with you. Two weeks of bad results from her head scans. Her regular neurosurgeon was on vacation this week so the neurosurgeon who looked at her head ultrasounds didn't want to rush into things. She will have another ultrasound on Sunday or Monday. At this point, she is close enough to going home that if her ventricles in her brain swell a little more this week then they will most likely put in a shunt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_shunt) next week. Needless to say, we wish God would heal her. We thought he did two or three weeks ago when everyone prayed and her results looked better.

I just don't understand. Where is God who is the Great Physician? I truly believe 100% that God is able to miraculously heal her in an instant. I also believe that he can choose not to because he is God. That is what scares me. We are not worthy of receiving anything good from God, so I guess if he decides not to heal her brain then we got what we deserved. Please be merciful, God. Church, please plead to God with us, we really are running out of time on this one.

DISCHARGE #1

Psalm 3:4 I cried to the Lord with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. 

Praise God! Logan was discharged from the hospital yesterday (11 June 2012). We spent all Saturday night, all day and night on Sunday and most of Monday doing Care by Parents. That's where they lock you in a room with your baby and when they return, if everyone is still ok, they let you go home. Well, mostly like that. Logan did great and we made it. Three quarters of the Binkley family is now in the Ronald McDonald House.

Just before we left the hospital

Rock On Guys. I'm Outta Here.

We are getting close with Leila too. She still needs to take all her feeds by bottle, which I think she has done in the past 24 hours. She also needs to learn to take a bottle with formula mixed in with the milk. She won't take it because the formula tastes so bad. Regardless, she needs the extra calcium and phosphorous, so we still have to figure something out. I think she had another head ultrasound today, so we pray to God that she still has good results there. I almost wish they would quit checking because I believe that she won't have anymore problems. She is still on a very small amount of breathing support, but we are told that she could go home with this type of support if needed, but again, I believe that she could come off the support if the right doctor will give her another try.

Long day. Sleep = good

Fell asleep with her hands up...

I love this picture. I have probably already posted it, but I want to post it again.

13 WEEKS

It has been a few good days. All that stands between Logan and freedom is being able to take all his feeds via bottle. Today he decided to start doing better and took two full bottles for me and Amie. He likes to verbalize how much he likes his bottles by "singing" to us. It sounds like a hum when he breathes out. He gets very excited and will eat really fast then stop to take a few breathes.

Leila is also doing better and is taking her bottle too. She had one good feed today and one yesterday. The doctor's are still weening her off the pain medication but she should be completely off that in a day or two. They tried her off the cannula twice now and she needed a little help. So they gave her the micro-flow cannula. She should be off all breathing support by mid-week. 

Guzzle, gulp, breathe, breathe, guzzle... repeat

You should have seen that bottle. It was this big

Leila just waking up

Off the cannula for a little while