Home Sweet Home

We have some great news... WE ARE HOME! ALL OF US! We are happy to announce that Hattie & Ava came home on Thursday after almost 3 months in the NICU in Houston. We are so happy to be back in our little town in our own home! This past week has been amazing.. tiring, but amazing. We are adjusting to life as 'new parents' all over again. We cannot thank everyone enough for their prayers during this difficult time. Both girls came home on apnea monitors due to the severe reflux. It helps ease my mind for sure!! Please continue to pray that they grow and thrive! We would love to beat the Dr.'s expectations and 'catch up' before two years old.  Everything from here on out with go by the girls' adjusted ages.. Which means they get 3 extra months to meet milestones. So while they are 3 months old in our eyes, they are only 2 weeks old to the Dr.'s... Hattie came home weighing 5.1 lb and Ava weighed 6.8 lb. At our pedi appointment Wednesday they weighed 5.8 & 6.13!! Doing good girls! They seem to be adjusting to life at home and have decided that they need to be held a lot ;) We cannot wait for everyone to meet them. We are taking strong precautions and asking the no school age or younger children be around the babies for the next few months. Also if you have had any symptoms of an illness please respect our tiny babies! Leaving the NICU was such an emotional experience. I was so excited and nervous yet sad all at the same time. Our primary nurses got to tell the girls bye and we all cried like babies. I have formed relationships with them that mean more than anything. They have prayed over us in our pod and lifted our spirits when we needed it most. We will forever be grateful. We look at them all as Hattie & Ava's Godmothers! Stay tuned for more updates! :)  Here are some fun pictures of the girls..

Father's Day

Father's Day was extra special this year!! We had an amazing day spent with our two little gems. My father-in-law was out of town Sunday so we got to do dinner a few days early, it was wonderful! Life is so much easier when your 'in-laws' are like your other parents! I can't wait for our big family vacations with the babies. We attended the March of Dimes Father's Day event at the hospital. It was perfect being casino themed, right up our alley. The hospital is so kind to put on these events to make the NICU stay a little bit more enjoyable. There were great prizes and chances to meet other NICU families! For Father's Day I dressed the girls in fishing outfits for their Daddy! They were perfect! I didn't get the best pictures because they aren't always the most cooperative ;) For those that don't know our delivery story.. it was pure chaos. On a Wednesday night after some severe upper gastric pain we made our way to the L&D floor at the hospital. Within hours I was knocked out and things were put in place for me to be life-flighted to Houston. Turns out I had developed toxemia and was borderline HELLP syndrome and things were getting worse. My blood pressure was uncontrollable. My liver and kidneys were in the process of shutting down. Once we made it to Houston I was put on meds to try and put off delivery for as long as possible. The girls were not in any type of stress. They were just fine. My body was the one freaking out. So Sunday, when my body was in pure shut down mode, we had to deliver. Scariest thing ever. The girls are here now and things are making forward progress but I wanted to make a public announcement.. I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND EVER, no really. I left out several details that we had to deal with and Bryan was right there. Never freaked out, after all I was doing enough for the both of us...ha.  Before, during, after the delivery Bryan never crumbled. He had to deal with SO much, yall. SO MUCH. He still to this day has to handle all of their medical calls and my melt downs! There was never any doubt before and there surely is no doubt now that I married the perfect husband and the perfect daddy to our girls!  Below are a few fun pictures of the girls! 2 month photos.. they were not impressed! And a few in their Father's Day attire.. Daddy's fishing buddies!

2 Month Update

WOW! Our girls are 2 months old today! It seems like time has flown by, yet somedays seem to last forever!! Hattie & Ava are making great strides and getting closer and closer to coming home! We thank God every single day for keeping His hand over our babies! Things could have been way worse. Have things been tough? Yes. Where there times I thought I was going to crumble? No doubt. But God has been right here with us through it all. Everyday I lay my hands on the girls I pray the same prayer our Pastor prays over us each Sunday. "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine down upon you. May he turn his countenance toward you and grant you HIS peace, HIS shalom!" I know I am praying it over the girls but a big part of me is praying it over myself. His peace is the only thing that is getting me through each day!   Here are some updates as well as some pictures that are our favorites!  AVA

Ava loves her new hat!

Our sweet little chunky monkey! As of last night Ava weighed in at 4lb 15oz! Almost 5 whole pounds!! She is drinking most of her feeds from the bottle so we are hoping this next week her feeding tube will be taken out! Can you imagine what a site that will be? We have never got to see the girls completely tube free so it is a HUGE deal!! I am so excited, although she is still beautiful as ever even with tubes! Her face is so full and she is even starting to get little rolls on her thighs. They are beginning to ween her off of some of her extra calories which means she is getting close to being home. Ava is still on Lasix to help with fluid on her itty bitty lungs but it is a totally normal preemie thing. She may/may not have to come home on it. Now that Ava is in a 'big girl' bed she is much more alert! She loves to look around and get the nurses full attention with her little fusses!

Ava saying 'hi' from her big girl bed!

She's definitely gaining some weight! ;)

HATTIE

One of our favorite pictures of Hattie

My dearest Hattie. Bless her heart. Out of the two girls Hattie has definitely had to deal with a lot more 'preemie junk' than Ava. She is anemic so she has had two blood transfusions since she was born with the latest being two nights ago. Totally normal for a preemie to be anemic. Thankfully she doesn't show any signs of anemia besides her blood levels. She always has lots of energy! About 3 weeks ago, Hattie got sick. At the time the doctors wanted to be extra cautious and ordered extra blood work as well as a spinal tap. Something no mommy wants to hear! She was moved back to Level 3 NICU and put back on her CPAP so she didn't have to spend extra energy on trying to breath without the oxygen. THANK YOU JESUS the spinal tap and blood cultures showed NOTHING! At the time the doctor's believed it was UTI but have since said they think it was a virus. After antibiotics, blood transfusion and some good TLC she is doing SO much better and is back in Level 2 NICU right next to her sissy, Ava. Hattie's little tummy has also had its fair share of 'preemie junk' as well! I started noticing about 1 1/2 weeks ago that Hattie seemed extremely uncomfortable when trying to feed and feedings usually ended up in some major spit ups. Dr. M decided to put her on some acid reflux medicine and it has helped TREMENDOUSLY. She is back to being my sweet cuddle bug! As of last night Hattie weighed 3lb 14oz..almost to 4 pounds!!! 

Daddy getting to feed Hattie for the first time!

Big step for Hattie!

Both of the girls are such joys to be with. They now have very different personalities and I just can't get enough of them! I can have a list of things to do and the minute I sit down with them it all goes out the window, before I know it, it is 6 hours later and I have done nothing but sit and hold/stare at my beautiful jewels! We cannot wait for them to be home and meet everyone who has prayed continuously for them! We can't express how thankful we are for everyone's prayers and encouraging words during this phase in our lives! The good news is that this is temporary!! We will soon be home and will get to begin our life as a family of 4!! 

Side note: If any of you are interested in donating blood for/in Hattie's name (in case in the future she needs another transfusion) please let me know so I can let you know what exactly you need to do! Hattie's blood type is A.

For those that ask about specifics to pray for:

- Both girls got their 2 month immunizations today, tolerated well. Pray no pain tonight!

- Hattie's weight gain

- Ava's fluid on her lungs to go away so she can stop taking the medicine.. it's tough on the kidneys.

Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers!

XOXO - Bryan, Julie, Hattie & Ava

Family of 4!

Oh babies! Literally! In January we announced that we were expecting twins! In February we announced we were having twin girls! Our due date was July 3rd but we were understanding when the doctor told us she just wanted us to make it to June! My personal goal was also June but I knew that all could change when we were least expecting it.. On Wednesday April 8th (one day shy of 28 weeks) after lunch with my mom I had terrible upper gastric pain.. like severe hunch over think I am going to die pain. I thought it was the pizza I ate. I threw it up, and went about my way. That evening it hit me all over again. Bryan was determined I was dehydrated and insisted we go to the hospital, of course I refused so Bryan put a call in to the doctor. The doctor said it sounded like dehydration and it would be an easy fix. So, to the hospital we went. Once there they discovered I had critical ranges of protein in my urine & my blood pressure was critically high. The decision was made to life flight me to Women's Hospital of Texas in Houston so I could be taken care of properly, as well as the girls. I don't recall most of this because I was so drugged.. The goal was to put off delivery as much as possible to allow the girls' lungs to develop further. Once we arrived in Houston I was put on several meds and blood work was taken every 6 or so hours. The doctor told us that once my levels reached a certain number we had no choice but to deliver. This was a miserable three day, but I am so thankful for those three days to allow Hattie & Ava to grow more! The morning of the delivery was very scary. My liver and kidneys had began to shut down so we were rushed back and next thing we knew our girls were here! Hattie was 2.1lbs and Ava was 2.4lbs! There were some scary moments in there.. Ava had to have a blood transfusion! However, we are SOO blessed at how great our girls were at birth and still are today. They both were breathing room air through their CPAP almost immediately and have taken their feedings well. They continue to grow each and every day amazing us with what their little bodies can handle! We can't thank God enough for keeping His hand over us during all of this chaos. And of course, for all the prayers from family & friends and even strangers!  I will update soon.. 

Big News!

We have a super exciting announcement to make!  WE ARE HAVING TWINS!! Yes, twins! Can you believe it? Neither could we!

I am hoping to keep up with my blog throughout the pregnancy for friends/family wanting to see exactly what is going on from my perspective!  We found out at about 6 weeks that we were pregnant with twins.. I was SO sick! Miserable. I was told I could still travel and just to take it easy so we traveled about 5 hours away for a wedding, big mistake. I didn't even make it to the wedding and ended up having a bleed due to severe dehydration from throwing up so much. Thankfully I was prescribed some great meds that have helped me get to this day! Still have to take the religiously or I throw up all day everyday, boo.  Here I am at 14 weeks and things are going great!  Here are a few little facts: Baby A: Very relaxed Smallest Strong heartbeat Baby B: Very Active at every ultrasound Largest by far Strong heartbeat We have started construction in our "little house" for the nursery,  as we will build our "forever home" in a few years!  Pregnancy has been everything I expected and nothing I expected all at the same time. I will say that being this sick has been disappointing as I feel I can't "enjoy" the pregnancy! But I pray I am making a turn soon and will no longer be sick!! My belly seems to be huge. At the last Dr. appointment I was 13.5 weeks but measured at 18 weeks!! We know that this will be a hard journey but we cannot wait to meet our little bundles!  We will soon find out what the babies are and we cannot wait! Here are a few pictures from so far..

 

To Read or Not to Read

I like to call myself a "reader" but don't necessarily think I deserve that title. I hated reading in school and never really did, just used spark notes like a bad student. I don't enjoy reading books that aren't true. but give me a book about someone's life and I'll read it all day, everyday. I have been dealing with some issues in my personal life that have sent me into a tizzy. I found myself pulling away from God and asking "Why?" instead of leaning towards Him saying,"Please comfort my heart and give me joy unspeakable!" So to Lifeway Christian Bookstore I went. I received their newsletter earlier in the month and saw a few books that seemed interesting. I settled for "Choose Love" by Stormie Omartian. I will be starting this book today. It is about 3 simple choices that will alter the course of your life. Even though I feel like I need a book titled "Choose Joy" during a time like this, I am hoping to get something great from this book! I will keep you all updated as I go through my journey with the book and my personal journey (that I plan to soon blog about once I get the "ok" from my Hubby!). 

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Have you ever visited somewhere that you just couldn’t get enough of? A place where nothing else matters and you want to stay there forever? That’s what Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic is for me. My husband and I planned our honeymoon expecting beautiful beaches and relaxation time but what we expected wasn’t all we received while on this trip. I was fully aware that we would see beautiful sites throughout the trip but,
 I had NO IDEA that my heart would be so full and I would be able to
 experience exactly where God wanted me to be.
As soon as I can convince my extended family to move to Punta Cana, that is where I will be! 

The dust was so bad that you had to wear bandanas to breath! 

May not be super fashionable, but so worth it!!

Not only did we see everything we wanted to, we saw so much more. Of course we did the “touristy” things.. zip lining, beaches, pool time, etc.. We also went on a Polaris Rzr tour that we had heard great things about. We were told we would visit caves, a place where the locals made coffee and cigars and that we would get a chance to see the prettiest beach in the DR. Once we arrived at the caves several tourists went swimming. We had forgotten to wear our swimsuits so we headed over to the local shops to search for some souvenirs.  Across the street I saw the local schoolhouse and asked the locals about it. They proceeded to tell us that the school was new and built for the children in the area because the usually had to walk miles and miles to get to school everyday. 

I have a heart for children so of course I asked if I could walk over there. We were told we could so a few of us made our way across the street. Once inside my entire heart melted. So many children, so eager to learn. A teacher who didn’t get paid but chose to be a teacher to these beautiful kids. I have always wanted to work in the mission fields and I immediately felt like this was where my heart belonged! Not only in the DR but in the school systems in the Dominican.

The children did everything they could to make a dollar. 

Helped put her helmets back on, dusted our seats, helped buckle our seat belts. 

I can only pray that one day I am able to help build schools in the DR and work hand in hand with the locals there! I encourage everyone to take a trip to the Dominican! It is so beautiful and peaceful and safe! I am a scaredy cat and was very worried that I wouldn't feel comfortable, but I would have felt safe by myself there! We plan to take another trip there soon and I absolutely cannot wait!

I encourage you to find where you feel God wants you to be. It could be anywhere. 

When you least expect it God send you to a different country. 

Are you prepared to go wherever He may send you?