TTTS World Awareness, etc.

Well, we somehow missed the TTTS World Awareness Day (on December 7). I should not really say we "missed" the awareness day, since TTTS, in some way, shape or form, is part of our every day life, but I missed advertising this on our blog and spreading the word around!
However, December is also TTTS awareness month, so it being still December, the post is somewhat timely!
This is an awareness campaign, and I wanted to link it in our current family blog. See the link to the left, and if you know anybody or hear of anybody (a friend of a friend, etc.) that is having multiples, please send them this link, it just may save a life, or lives.

On a related topic, Colby attended church for the first time this past Sunday. Related how? Well the mass was dedicated to Gavin. Gavin's name was printed inside the church bulletin, and he was specifically mentioned during one of the prayers. It was sad, but still a nice moment for all of us, and the church was packed (10:30am mass, Christmas season, catholic church, need I say more?). For once, we did get to church early, and got a decent seat! Colby did great (only a few small squeaks), and having a bottle on hand helped as well. We did not really advertise this particular mass, because it kinda snuck up on us (as things sometimes do these days). We got to briefly visit Father Sal, who had met both the boys at Wake Med and then presided over the funeral. He was truly delighted to see how big and healthy Colby is.

This holiday season has different meanings and has more intense emotions for us as first time parents, combined with all that 2008 had in store for us. Please pray and send positive energy to Colby for his continued good health, and please remember baby Gavin. What a year it has been.
s

Four months old!

Where does the time go? Four months already! Colby had his well baby 4 month check on the 12th. Poor thing had to get two shots, but he handled them very well and recovered from the trauma very quickly. He weighed in at 12 lb 4 oz and almost 23 inches long. He is eating well! He is just barely on "the normal curve" for weight, and just under the curve for height and head circumference. We are very pleased with his progress!

Some of the things he is doing - smiling, laughing, clasping his hands in front of his chest, following our voices, and holding on to things like our shirts. Steve can get the best smiles and the cutest giggles out of him - it's so sweet!

We made a visit back to the ICN at Wake Med and visited with some of the folks there. It was nice to see them and fun for them to see how big Colby has gotten. It was nice to visit, but so great not to be going there every day!

I am back at work just about full time, and that is going well. It is such a relief to be able to leave him at home with a great nanny. We hope keeping him at home will help him stay healthy this winter.

It's fun to have a baby at Christmas time, but it sure is hard to get things done! It took us five days to get the tree up and decorated! That's OK we just aren't doing as much this year - scaling back a little bit!

Thanksgiving - our first road trip

We had a really nice Thanksgiving with Steve's family at the beach. We loaded up the truck like the Beverly Hillbillies! It was our first significant trip away from home with Colby, and all three dogs so I wanted to be prepared for anything! I think we had enough stuff to survive for a month! Oh well. The beach was really nice, Colby and all the girls had a great time, and it was nice to visit with all of the Millers. It's fun to think that next Thanksgiving Colby will be running around!

We have a heavy drinker!

Boy, that milk makes the baby very, very sleepy!

A visit from our cousins!

Right before Thanksgiving we had some out of town company. This is Colby with his second cousin, Dakota. Handsome boys!

Shelby on guard

If only Shelby was as protective of Colby as she looks in this picture. The reality is that she is probably just waiting for Colby to leave so she can chew on his toys!

Colby is 3 months old, and starting to smile!

Latest news/updates

Colby had a scheduled/brief visit to the doctor today. The purpose of the visit was to get the monthly RSV synagis shot (which provides RSV antibodies), and he will receive these shots through March (typically the end of RSV season). As discussed before, RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus, and that virus is the #1 bug that is responsible for infant's ending up in the hospital. The main issue with RSV is that it produces a very thick mucus in the lungs and respiratory tract (causing bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia, among other ailments).
Infants (especially preemies or babies with lung issues), have a difficult time coughing up/excreting this mucus and it can be life threatening in some situations. Colby does not like this shot at all (who would?), but he settles down a minute or two after the injection.

Colebank is now slightly over 10 lb's and the Dr said everything looked great with him. The Dr's and staff refer to him as "Colebank," which sounds really distinguished and "official" to us, but a little funny too, since we usually call him Colby. He had a slight heart murmur at previous check up's, but that seems to have gone away (it was not a serious concern, but it's nice that it is gone). Continued good reports for this kid, a rock star since birth.

Changing babies here. I spoke with Dr. Crombleholme at the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati yesterday. I had called him to just touch base with him on what his opinion was with Gavin. Dr. C is the head of the Fetal Care Ctr, and was the lead surgeon with our TTTS laser surgery back in May. Since he deals with TTTS cases weekly and is highly respected in this field, I wanted his input. He reviewed our file and I updated him on some of the details of that up and down August week. His opinion, with out much waiver, was that Gavin had an infection and not so much a TTTS structural abnormality. He was perplexed, as the Wake Med Dr's were (and still are), that all of the cultures were negative. We will see what our Wake Med file review of Gavin produces, and will also will be back in contact with Dr C around that time. As mentioned numerous times, we may never know conclusively, but after all we went through, and to get as far along as we got with our twins, we kinda want to know what happened! Whatever it was, it was most likely TTTS related, either directly or indirectly. An infection can happen when prom occurs (premature rupture of the membranes, or water breaking), which was what happened at 29 weeks. The prom is an unwanted complication from the corrective TTTS laser surgery. Research shows that the most common maternal "complication" from the TTTS laser surgery is prom, and one study showed that it happens about 30% of the time.

til' next time
s

ps: Our dogs are all doing great, and yes, they still get alot of attention from us (and no, they have not been kicked out of the house!)

Fall Fun

We've been getting out and about a little bit this fall. We took Colby to the fair for his first funnel cake, went to a pumpkin carving party, and we all got dressed up for Halloween. Fun stuff!