Back in Arizona

I arrived back in Arizona today and visited with Rachelle. She really looked great. She is a bit uncomfortable...OK, I understated that, she is a lot uncomfortable but she will make it. There is just 13 more days until the scheduled C-section. Normally 13 days doesn't seem like very much but now it seems like a lot. In at most 13 days, all of this buildup with come to a head and we will have some interesting new challenges to think about. It is a little surreal I guess.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday was that I was really grateful for the haircut I got from Cassaundra and the help that our friend Natalie gave us in helping get our broken cupboards fixed. Without the help of all these people I would probably have some sort of breakdown. Having all these wonderful friends has made this whole experience bearable.

In coming back to Arizona, I also got to see my kids again. When I talked with them last, they asked me to bring one thing, their toy light sabers. I am not sure why these were so important (although anyone that knows me well is probably not surprised that toy light sabers were a thing of great value) but I was diligent and, wanting to be a good dad, found them and put them on my desk so that I wouldn't forget to bring them...which is where they are at right now. Of course, the first thing that Riley asked when I saw him was, "Hi Dad! Do you have our light sabers?" That was one of those moments that is kind of like those dreams where you suddenly realize that you signed up for a math class and forgot about it until the day of the final. I felt really bad because I failed in the only thing that he asked me to do and he gave me that look of extreme disappointment that I knew was my fault. So, I decided that it would be OK to go to Target tonight and get some new light sabers. They are only 7 dollars so I figured it was OK. I got lots of hugs for this and now I just have to keep Riley and Kaiya from hitting each other and any of the stuff in Aunt Jeanie's house.

On a non-related note, we went swimming again today and both of them did something new. Riley learned how to float on his back which was a major accomplishment and Kaiya jumped off the diving board. It was funny because at first, she didn't even want to jump into the 3 foot section. However, after I convinced her that I would be there to catch her, she was able to do that and we progressively got deeper and deeper until she said she wanted to go jump off the diving board. Then after a few times of fearfully jumping off the diving board, she suddenly yelled, "cannonball!" and actually jumped up and tried to grab her knees. It wasn't a great cannonball by some standards but it was one of the funniest things I had seen in weeks. She and Riley are just so funny sometimes. It is stuff like that that makes me realize that having kids is one of the best things you can do to get the kind of perspective that brings long term happiness. Seeing them accomplish even something as small as floating on their backs or doing mediocre cannonballs off the diving board provides such a feeling of satisfaction and makes all the difficulties of raising kids worth it.

My July 4th trip to Arizona

On the 3rd and 4th of July I drove to Arizona. It was a long drive but it seemed much shorter without the kids. I arrived and got to go swimming with Rachelle and the kids. She was doing well but seemed to be much more uncomfortable than she was when I was here a month ago. She kept tossing and turning in bed all night. Anyway, we had a good fourth and fifth of July. I was glad that she wasn't in the hospital when I got there because we were sure that she would be by this time.

Anyway, on July 6th, she "failed" her contraction monitoring two times. She normally monitors for 1 hour two times a day and they count the contractions during that one hour. If she has more than 5, that is too many and she has to re-monitor. If she has more than 5 again then she usually has to either go to the hospital or do something else out of the ordinary. Well, on the morning of July 6th, she had 8 on her first monitoring session and 6 on her second. The doctor was not available to make a call on the contractions so they told us to go to the hospital. I took her in and we were pretty sure that she was in for good this time. When we arrived, they gave us the bad news that she was going to have to go on the magnesium again to slow the contractions. This is the medication she had before that made her feel really awful. I guess it feels like a really bad flu except that you also have double vision (if that gives you any indication of what it is like). It probably wouldn't be so bad except that she has a whole bunch of weight sitting right there on her front side that makes it difficult to adjust sleeping positions.

Well, they put her on it and kept her in the hospital. As of Saturday night, July 7, the contractions appeared to have slowed a little bit but not as much as they hoped. They are hoping that they slow more over the next few days. They gave her some steroids to help the babies develop their lungs better but the steroids caused the contractions to get worse. She receives her last dose of the steroids tonight (July 7th) and after that wears off, the contractions should come down. I still think she can make it to July 31 which would be 34 weeks.

She could technically have the babies now and they would probably be OK but it would be much better if they could hold off until at least about a week and a half from now. One of the problems is that the NICU at Good Sam Hospital is totally full. You might have heard about the recent sextuplets that were born in Phoenix. Well, those babies are doing well but are still in the NICU here. Apparently, if our babies were born in the next week, they might have to be sent to another hospital which would be scary for us. However, I am pretty sure that won't happen. I think that Rachelle will be able to hold them off until the end of the month.

In reality, Rachelle is really lucky to have come this far without having to go to the hospital. The doctor told her that he hadn't seen any other mom be able to stay at home as long as she did. Many of the moms had to stay in the hospital, on the magnesium, for much longer than Rachelle will have to stay. Our good friend, Lindi Briggs, had quadruplets and had to stay in the hospital on the magnesium for more than 2 months. Neither of us can imagine what that must have been like. Rachelle thinks that she can endure it for as long as it takes to bring these babies here healthy.

Aside from that, the other kids are doing pretty well. Rachelle's aunt Jeanie has a pool in her back yard (like many people in Arizona) and Rachelle was using the pool daily because it actually felt really nice to get in the pool and be away from gravity for a little while. I found that during the time I was here, it didn't actually cool me off very much because the temperature here has been above 110 every day I have been here. When it is that hot, the water in the pool feels more like a warm bath. Despite that, however, Riley and Kaiya have really been enjoying their own private pool. Riley could barely swim when we first got here but now he can swim all the way across the pool as well as dive to the bottom of the deep end. Also, before the last couple of days, Kaiya couldn't even stick her head under the water but today (July 7th), she not only stuck her head under the water but actually swam about 6 feet! I was really excited but sad that Rachelle couldn't be there to see it. I am also sad that tomorrow I am heading back to Austin so I won't have a chance to teach Kaiya any more swimming.

We visited Rachelle today and she was in pretty good spirits but a little out of it. I think things will stabilize in the next few days and she will feel better. We continue to appreciate all of the many prayers people have been giving for her and us. We also continue to appreciate all of the other things we have received. I think we will have more than enough preemie clothes now. Also, because of a new found friend, there is a good chance that one of the local car dealerships might give us a van which would be really exciting. I don't know if it is actually going to happen but it sure would be nice. I doubt it will look like the A-team van but, really, who wants a black van in Austin anyway?