Medical update

Friday I took Miss Riley to the Dr for a post Pneumonia check up and to get her 2 month immunizations that we missed with her being sick. All was good and she was cleared to return to normal activity. She weighed 12lbs 12ozs so she is getting ready to make a run at her buddy next door Cameron that checked in at over 17lbs at her Dr visit this week. There must be something in this Cranberry Twp water that grows em big. Reagan and Riley are both felling better. Rileys acid reflux is improving with the Zantac. Reagan has still been trying to kill Andrea overnight. She has been hungry every 2.5-3 hours. Last night we started Reagan on the Rice Cereal and she went from 10pm to 3:30am without a peep. That is a record! Hopefully it is a trend that will continue. They both continue to get cuter by the day and are cooing and smiling lots. Check out the picture of Riley at the Dr. yesterday. Look at how red her hair is getting. I have always said that every red head woman I have ever met was insane. What am I in for?

Road trip

We have been a bit scared to take the girls out on any trips. Just the logistics of packing up everything was a little overwhelming. We decided to make a run at it tonight and packed up for Costco. I first had to figure out the stroller. That was an hour to figure out how both car seats went in. We then had to feed both, change both diapers pack them in their warm clothes, hats, blankets, binkys, etc. The dog then realised that we were leaving and decided he wanted to go. After about 90 minutes of preparation we were on the road. At Costco we then had to set up the stroller, keep the dog from jumping out of the car and get the girls loaded into the stroller. Since I have been up since 5am I was now ready to be done and we were not even in the building yet. As if it was any surprise to anyone, Andrea got to push the stroller and I had to push the cart. It was at about this point that we realised that we did not bring the diaper bag so we were hoping there would not be a blow out. We would have had to buy a box of 200 diapers for one. We finished the shopping and headed back to the car where we had to go through it all again. Remove the car seats, collapse the stroller, yell at the dog for jumping out of the car, get the dog back in the car, load all the boxes into the trunk, load the girls in the car and back to the homestead. Once we were home we had to get both girls, dog and food into the house. We then had to get everything put away and Reagan decided she had to be fed. It was an ordeal but we got through it.

Cooing and lots of smiles

The girls have been feeling better. They have both started smiling alot more and Reagan especially is doing lots of talking. Riley has been doing alot of her own kind of talking but hers sounds much more angry. She has been fussy from the acid reflux that we are still trying to get a handle on. I have no idea what they are saying but it seems very important to them.

Home sweet home

We came home Wednesday from Childrens. Rileys O2 sats are running around 95% and they needed to be over 90% to go home. We took Reagan to the Dr on Wednesday afternoon for a checkup on the Bronchitis and cold and she is doing better. She got her 2 month immunizations and was not happy about that. We took Riley to the Dr. Friday for a Pneumonia check up and she continues to improve. I would say as of now they are both just acting like little girls that have a cold. They have been a handful for the last few hours and tried to kill Andrea over night. Here was their feeding schedule since last night. It is 10:30 am now.

11pm- Reagan

12am- Riley

1:30am- Reagan

3:30am- Riley

4:30am- Reagan

5:45am- Riley

7:00am- Riley

8:30am- Reagan

9:45am- Both

CHP Day 2

We had hoped that we may be able to go home today but Miss Riley has decided that she wants us to sleep on these very comfortable couches at least one more night. She is improving in several areas. Her lungs are starting to sound better, she is eating more, her color is improved and she has not puked after eating. The O2 sats are the last hurdle before we can be released. She is on oxygen all the time and if you take her off it she still drops into the 80's The magic number is for her to be able to be at at least 92% on room air with no supplemental oxygen. I ran home today for an hour to check on Grandpa, Reagan and Boo Boo. Grandpa Paul cancelled his flight back south and is staying until at least Sunday. I have tried several times to get him to let me get him some help so he can get some real sleep but he is adamant that him and Reagan are just fine and he doesn't need any help. He is doing a great job, even changed his first massive poopy blow out diaper. We are waiting to meet with the doctors again tonight and we will see what they have to say. We are hoping for a Wednesday release but that is up to the little one.

Back to the E.D.

So I have decided this parenthood thing may be a little more than we thought. We went back to the E.D. last night at about midnight for Riley and were quickly sent by ambulance to Childrens Hospital for admission for pneumonia. Riley was in some moderate distress and they were afraid that she would crash at some point so Andrea rode with her in the ambulance and I followed. It started with Andrea waking me after a very restful 1 hour of sleep and we decided it was time to go in. I called my dad to come over and watch Reagan. It is a 20 minute ride so just as I thought 22 minutes later he was walking through the door. Riley is doing ok now at 1:30pm but still struggling to breathe. She is not a fan of being suctioned, x-rays and especially IV's. I know she will be fine in the end but it is hard to see her suffer until we get there. Andrea is currently sleeping on the floor on a pull out couch thing and Riley is out for a bit also. They have confirmed the pneumonia and are treating with antibiotics. She is currently on oxygen also and the last time we tried to take it off her it didn't go well. This will get better but her oxygen sats dropped into the mid 80's. Perfect is 100%. She is doing well on the O2 now at 98%. More updates to follow as I get time.

First trip to the E.D.

We have decided that raising twins is not twice as hard as raising one baby, it is four times as hard. Especially when they are both sick. It has been a busy last 24 hours. Friday when I got home from work I was surprised to see my father sitting in my chair holding Reagan. It was a surprise because several hours earlier I had talked to him and he was in Charleston, SC. He knew we were getting our butts kicked and jumped a plane to the burgh to give us a hand. It was even harder than he thought it would be since Atlanta got snowed in and he was flying Delta. He got to the airport and his flight was cancelled so he got a different flight through Charlotte on USAir. We had no idea he was coming but it was a big help because last night at 6pm the Childrens Hospital nurse I was talking to told us it was time to take Reagan to the Emergency Department for dehydration. Luckily Passavant Cranberry has a pediatrician on duty in the E.D. every day from 1-10pm. Dad stayed with Riley and off we went. We were there for about 3 hours and they sent us home. Reagan and Riley are both puking alot now and we are having trouble keeping them hydrated. They both look so pathetic and helpless. You can tell by looking at them they feel miserable. Dad is here till Tuesday morning so it is a perfect time for an extra set of hands. Going to the E.D. is a scary experience for a new parent but we got through it ok. Looks like we are going to be house bound a few more days with two unhappy girls, two stressed parents and one very helpful grandpa.

Dr visit

Went to the Dr for Reagan. It's official, she has a cold. We weighed the girls while we were there.
Reagan- 11lbs 1oz
Riley- 12lbs 6 oz

Family status

Dad- Sick and tired
Riley- Sick, cold and acid reflux
Reagan- Sick, bad cold, very congested
Mom- Very tired
Booboo- Ignored

Crisis averted

The night dwellers continue their evil ways. I think it is a game to them to see how much they can keep us up overnight. Andrea has been doing more than her share of the overnight shifts as I have been sick for 5 days now. Monday overnight she only got 3 hours of sleep and I could do nothing to help her on Tuesday as I had to be on the road working. At about 9am our friend Linda called and asked if we needed anything at the grocery store. Big mistake, I told her that we needed nothing but for her to go to the house and watch R&R so Andrea could get a few hours of sleep. Being the wonderful person that she is she was there by 10:15 and Andrea got to sleep until 2pm. You have no idea what a few hours of sleep can do when you are exhausted, so a big thanks to Linda H. for the save. I think that both the girls have a cold but luckily we have their 2 month Dr visit today so we will look at that and Riley's acid reflux. They are also due for some vaccinations. Otherwise everything is going well except that this morning I went for coffee and I thought we were out. I frantically searched the kitchen and found one last pack buried behind the popcorn. I guess a Costco trip is in needed.

I spoke too soon

Ok, so when I wrote of the perfect storm a few days ago I may have jinxed myself. Here is my question, how did we go from 4-8 inches to the 2 feet of snow that is outside my house now? I still have a cold and Andrea was up alot last night with R&R so I was way happy to see my friend Bob show up with his snow blower today. This morning I let Boo out to pee and he disappeared into a snow drift. I had to dig him a spot just so he could go. We got the sidewalk and driveway dug out and we are settled in with enough diapers, formula and wipes. What more could you need? Andrea has been able to get some sleep today while the girls and I hang out and look at the snow. We were thinking of taking them out to church this weekend but it looks like we are stuck here for the duration. I guess it could be worse. During the blizzard of 93 I worked 72 straight hours.

The Perfect Storm

In a previous EMS life I can remember several calls where I showed up and had way more to handle than I could ever do myself. Times where I was with one other person and had multiple critical victims at a car crash or one time I showed up at a high school that had 30 patients show up at one time from a pepper spraying incident in the cafeteria at lunch time or the time that I got a 911 call asking my how many ambulances I could come up with immediately as a tornado had just hit Mt Washington. What I remember was that I did not get stressed out. I am pretty good at handling the big incident without losing it. I am a good multitasker. My skills were put to the test last evening. Working on 5 hours sleep the night before and with a cold I sent Andrea to WalMart for some things. As soon as she left it happened, the perfect storm encompassed my house. We had multiple pukes, multiple pees, multiple poops. Riley was angry, I am not sure at what but I think it was either the fiscal irresponsibility of the Democratic party or the DOW dropping over 200 points and Reagan was fairly convinced that she was never going to eat again. In the middle of it the dog had to go out and I got one call from a customer and one from Andrea upset that she had lost her cart at WalMart. I am still not sure how that one happened. We weathered the storm and got through it but it does make me long for days when the mass casualty incident was the most stressful part of my day.

A little relief

We started Riley on Zantac last week and it didn't really seem to do much. We have now started her on Rice Cereal in her formula and that with the Zantac may be doing something for the acid reflux. My dad was in town last Friday and Monday and Tuesday this week. We took full advantage of the situation and had him watch the girls several times, sometimes even several times a day so we could get some things done. He even had his first diaper changes. I mean the girls, not his. He isn't that old. He did a great job and is always welcome to take over again. ( On a side note it is currently 5:50am and I think I did something to Reagan to make her very angry ). Unfortunately I am taking him to the airport later this morning so we are losing that pair of hands. My parents will be gone for another month in SC and then we will get some help back in town. Thanks dad for the help.