Each day is one step closer to home...

Today was a quick visit to the NICU...we got there kind of late and right before they close to visitors for an hour...so we only got about 10 minutes of time in there today before we were booted out. Bummer. I cried, I felt so guilty. I wonder if I will ever stop being emotional??? Sigh....anyway, even though it was a short visit we got some good news!

Kamryn: Kamryn was upgraded to Level II NICU! That is great news as she is one step closer to being able to come home. She will be moved to the Level II NICU as soon as there is room for her in there. Her blood pressure has been stable, however the Dr detected that her heart murmur is back. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but while we were there, I noticed her heart rate and breathing was a bit erratic...this worried me and fortunately the neonatologist was there and saw it too. He said she was scheduled for another echocardiogram of her heart tomorrow so they will make sure she is ok before moving her. She does have an enlarged right ventricle and they are concerned she may have the same leaky ductis that Kayla had...so we shall see what comes of that. She also has had a few apnea episodes since being taken off the ventilator...this is common with preemies so I'm trying not to worry about it too much. The Dr said she will come home on an apnea monitor, so Kiko and I will need to take Infant CPR classes before she can be released.

Kayla: This little girl is a BIG fighter, let me tell you! I think she got wind that Kamryn was doing really well and didn't want to be outdone! She had the CPAP removed this morning and is now just using a nasal canula for some additional oxygen...what a beautiful sight that was! I can see her little face and yes...she and Kamryn are definitely identical! She is having some problems digesting my breast milk they started her on yesterday...so they are backing off of that and going to try again a little later. Hopefully she will be able to tolerate that soon as it will help her put on weight and come home sooner.

Didn't have a chance to take any pictures today...but I'm planning to take a lot tomorrow! Stay tuned...

Another GREAT day!!!

I hope every day that the girls are in the NICU can be as good as the last few days have been. I got to hold Kayla today for the first time and it took everything I had not to just cry from happiness. She is just SO tiny, I felt like I was going to hurt her. Here is a picture of Kayla being held for the first time:

Kayla: My little fighter had her first poopy diaper today! Woohoo!! Actually, she had THREE! I think this is a sign of things to come...LOL. She also started on breast milk through a tube today which is a huge accomplishment. Now they will watch her to make sure that she is tolerating that well. I didn't think she would be on that so soon...guess I need to start watching the spicy food now! She has a little bit of jaundice and is back under the lights for a few days, but that is ok. Oh she now weighs 2 lbs, 11 oz! So she's put on a little bit of weight which is great!! She is still on the CPAP but doing very well with breathing on her own.

Kamryn: My little super girl is doing just great! She looks so big compared to her sister! She now weighs 3 lbs, 8 oz so she also has put on a little weight. Her blood pressure has been stable so far which is great news! They have increased her feeding amount also so she is handling the food well. She has had a few episodes of apnea since being off the CPAP, but she didn't have any today so I'm praying those are done now. Here's a picture of Kamryn "vogue-ing" for Daddy!!

I'm so happy with their progress so far...I pray that the worst is behind us now and that all they have left is to just grow and gain some weight so we can bring them home! My hope is to have them home by Valentine's Day...I can't think of a better Valentine's present for Kiko and I than to have our little girls home with us.

What a wonderful day...

I think today was one of the best days we have had since the girls were born...appropriate since it is also their one week birthday!!

Kayla was able to be weaned from the ventilator today and is breathing essentially on her own with only very little assistance from a CPAP machine!!! And Kamryn was taken off the CPAP machine and is breathing completely on her own!! I was so overwhelmed with relief and excitement that I broke down crying when I heard the news. Yes, you can cry just as much with good news!!

Kamryn was also moved to an isolette today, which is an improvement. We will also be able to hold Kayla tomorrow when we get to the NICU...needless to say, I'll be bugging Kiko to leave first thing in the morning!! :)



Here is a picture of Kamryn (sorry it is so dark...we only had the video camera and it doesn't take very good pictures). Now that she doesn't have the CPAP on, we are able to see her beautiful little face!!! And let me tell you...she looks JUST LIKE DADDY!!! I mean, there is no mistaking these are Kiko's little girls!!!! I'm ok with that too...let's just hope they have my brains and charisma!! LOL!






















I want to take a second to thank everyone who donated blood and have been saying prayers for our little girls. I can't tell you how much it means to all of us. I want to have our precious girls just wrapped in a cocoon of prayers to keep them safe and for all of God's healing powers!! We do have enough blood now for both girls for a few weeks so please feel free to pass along our thanks!! All donations made now will be used for the general population.

An exciting day...

Today was an exciting day for Kiko and I...we got to hold one of our girls for the first time!

Kamryn is doing well enough for us to spend a few hours holding her and it was so wonderful. She didn't open her eyes and she's still so small with a LOT of wires, but it was truly wonderful seeing this beautiful girl in my arms. Here are a couple of pictures. I love her little hat! Volunteers came around and gave her a new little beenie hat...so cute!! You can barely see her little face past the CPAP on her nose.

Kayla is hanging in there! She is still on the ventilator and morphine for comfort following her surgery, but she is showing some signs of improvement. The doctors want to give her a day or two to get her lungs healthier before trying to wean her off the ventilator. She is very comfortable but it is hard to see her like this. She's so sweet and tiny...my little fighter!! Here's a pic of her from today also!

Updates on Kayla and Kamryn

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to post but it's been a bit hectic lately...now that I am finally home (YEAH!!!) I hope to update this blog every evening with the latest and greatest news on our little girls!! First of all I'm working on getting the pictures up somewhere for everyone to see...this blog is too limited for ALL of them that DADDY KEEPS TAKING!!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures...This is right after they wheeled me into the recovery room and brought Kamryn in to see me...this is as close as I could get but it means so much...

KAYLA ANNE: Here is the latest on our little fighter! Kayla had minor heart surgery yesterday afternoon to repair a leak in her heart that was sending blood into her lungs. This was causing resperatory problems for our tiny girl and if we didn't repair it would not have allowed her to live. The doctors performed the surgery right there in the NICU which is amazing and took about 45 minutes but she was a trooper and everything is better now. She does have some anatomical irregularities with her heart (I don't know all the technical terms) but she's got an extra vein or something that isn't supposed to be there but they have reviewed and decided it shouldn't cause her any problems in the future. She is still on the ventilator and will be for a few more days while she heals from the surgery...hopefully they will be able to wean her off of that soon. She's still so tiny, probably only about 2 lbs right now...but she's our BIG FIGHTER right now!! Here is a picture of Kayla Anne right after being born. You can see the difference between her and Kamryn due to the TTTS. Kayla was the "donor" baby and if we hadn't delivered when we did, we most likely would have lost this little girl. I'm so thankful for my Dr and the wonderful nurses at Woman's hospital for keeping all of us safe!!

KAMRYN GRACE: Here is the latest on our super girl!!! Kamryn keeps us guessing from one day to the next that is for sure! She is our bigger girl, weighing about 3 lbs right now. She was initially on the ventilator for several days but is now breathing only with some assistance from a CPAP machine which is wonderful!! She has been having problems with high blood pressure which the doctor's are trying to figure out. They initially thought it was due to a line that they inserted into her stomach...they removed the line and her blood pressure came right back down. However, last night and today it's been creeping back up again...the doctor's are looking into her kidney function now as a culprit so they will be doing some testing and ultrasounds tonight or tomorrow. I hope they can find something so she doesn't have to go onto any heavy duty blood pressure medication. Kamryn also started on breast milk today!! This was very exciting for us to hear...they will watch how she handles the food over the next few days as she's at risk for tearing her intestines at this young of an age so it's a slow process to wean them onto breast milk. The Dr also said that hopefully tomorrow we will be able to hold Kamryn for the first time!! I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to hold one of my little girls...wires and all!! I'm scared to death, but I know the nurses will be there to help me figure it all out. I hope to have pictures of that tomorrow! Here is a picture of Kamryn from when she was first born...she has lost some weight since this was taken, but I definitely think they both look a LOT like DADDY!!!

Please welcome Kayla and Kamryn Novilla to the world!!!

Sorry for getting to this so late!! But we are happy to announce that Kayla Anne and Kamryn Grace Novilla entered this world at 8:40 am on January 9, 2009!!! Kayla weighed in at 2 lbs, 6 oz and Kamryn was 3 lbs, 6 oz. They were born at 31 weeks, 4 days and are currently in the NICU.

As I wrote in the last post, the girls were scheduled for a c-section on Saturday afternoon but it turns out they and my body had different plans. On Wednesday night, Jan 7, the Dr came in and said she didn't like how the girls were handling the environment on their heart rhythms, indicating they were getting stressed in utero. The Dr decided they couldn't wait till Saturday and wanted to deliver the next night on Thursday, the 8th. No problem...except that I had already been given my blood thinners for the night which could cause problems with me having a c-section by epidural. So Thursday came and went with my blood counts not being good enough to do the c-section the way we wanted. We could have done general anesthesia, but then Kiko could not have seen the birth and I had previous problems with general that the Dr wanted to avoid. Not to mention, that stresses the girls out even more with that type of surgery...so we tried again for Friday morning the 9th. My bloodwork was still borderline but the Dr felt we needed to get them out now and waiting was no longer an option. Either surgery was going to be risky so we let the Dr decide for us because I was a wreck and couldn't make a decision either way!!

Now the latest, the girls are doing "OK" in the NICU right now. Since they were struggling in utero with the TTTS, they are having some problems right now also with the changing over to the outside world. Both girls are on ventilators to help them breathe easier, both have heart murmurs (which aren't really a problem but could be) so they will be getting extra testing done today on that, both have jaundice and both have anemia. Little Kayla who was the smaller of the two babies seems to be doing a little better than her sister right now, the Dr's say it was because she was so distressed inside me, getting out is almost like a breath of fresh air!! Whereas Kamryn was pretty comfy in there and really didn't want to come out and now she's having to struggle a little more to get adjusted. She's got some problems with high blood pressure right now and they are trying to pinpoint the cause, it could be from low blood counts (so they started her on a blood transfusion yesterday), she could also have a heart problem or kidney problems. So she will be going through more testing this morning to see if they can get her blood pressure down as it can cause hemorraging, blood clots, etc.

Well that's the latest, check back later and I will have Kiko post some pictures of the girls for you to see. Thank you again for all the well wishes and prayers!! We will keep everyone updated as best we can!!

Love,
Kristen, Kiko, Kayla and Kamryn

And the big news is...

Well it looks like Kiko and I will be parents by the end of the weekend. The Dr has scheduled my c-section for this Saturday (assuming there are no problems before then that would warrant an emergency c-section). Little Kayla has reached her limits and the girls will be better off in the NICU than in me unfortunately. She has fallen below the 10th percentile range and has reached 5.0 in her amniotic fluid. Her heartbeat is strong and steady and there is still good cord flow, but she is just not growing anymore and her BIG sister is taking more nutrients than Kayla can get. So the Dr wants to try and get as close to 32 weeks as possible before taking them out hence waiting till this weekend. Kayla now weighs 2 lbs, 7 oz and Kamryn weighs 3 lbs, 10 oz as of Monday.

Sorry this is so short, but having contractions as I try to sit up and type. Keep us all in your prayers and I will try to update as soon as we can!!

Love, Kristen and Kiko