The most gorgeous pics and video........

The most amazing lady emailed me a couple of weeks ago offering to do a photo shoot of our beautiful babies! As you can see, her work is amazing and it brings me to tears everytime I see these photos. Please check out her website at http://www.laurieruthphotography.com/ she is fabulous!

All of the babies are doing very well. The only scary thing that has happened lately is Preston has an infection but they are controlling that with antibiotics. Also, last week we were told that he would not have to have heart surgery to correct his PDA. Today, however, we have learned that his infection has opened the PDA and he will have to have the surgery now. The doctors are hoping that we can hold off until he is more stable and until they can get rid of the infection before they have to perform the surgery.

Madelyn is doing so well on her CPAP! Her settings continue to go down every single day! Dahlia and Parker are getting medications to help their ventilator settings become more consistent so that they can get on the CPAP as well.
They have all been gaining weight except for Preston, but this is very good because we want Preston to continue to pee out all of that fluid. Their current weights are:

Dahlia- 2 pounds 14 ounces

Parker- 2 pounds 9 ounces

Madelyn- 2 pounds 5ounces

Preston- 3 pounds 3 ounces

We are so proud of them! We are getting really excited for them to come home. It wont be for a while but we are so eager to be their primary caregivers! We also are very excited for them to meet their big sister Eva!!!

So Sad.....

Daddy and Madelyn

Baby Preston

Baby Dahlia

Mommy and Parker

Our Wonderful nurse Amber!!! We love love love her! She came to visit us and the babies. If it wasnt for her, I dont know what would have happened to these munchkins!

Little Madelyn holding onto her CPAP

Mommy and Madelyn

Daddy and Dahlia

Well when it rains it really pours... This post is going to sound silly to some, I know that, but it isnt to us. For those of you that know our family we have a cat named Target that is like a son to us. We call him Target because he has a beige bullseye on either side of his body. He is huge! Friends like to call him a bobcat he is so big! Eva just loves Target. She calls him Tider. She lays on him. Pulls his tail. Picks him up by the neck. He never once has snapped at her.

Well yesterday Target was howling underneath our bed. I thought he was mad. Today we found him pretty lethargic laying in the game room. We brought him into our closet so Eva wouldnt mess with him. He didnt move all day and he began shaking so I took him to the vet. The Doctor rushed him back and said his bladder was very enlarged. He was going to keep him for a while. The Doctor called tonight and said he died of kidney failure........the very illness Preston has been fighting.......

I know this may sound ridiculous but I believe in my heart that Target took this burden from Preston. It is just crazy that my cat dies of the same illness my son has been battling just days after Preston begins getting better. We will always miss you Target....

On a happier note...

All of the babies are doing fabulous! Preston continues to amaze the doctors and is now weighing in at 3 pounds 3 ounces!! They did an analysis on his urine and it looks like he has fought the yeast that was hurting his kidneys. He looks amazing! Little Madelyn has been extubated and is on CPAP now!!!! She is doing so great and we see that amazing progress as one step closer to coming home! She weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces. They will try to extubate Parker tomorrow!He has been doing very well and they are hoping to see him do well on the CPAP. He currently weighs 2 pounds 8 ounces. Dahlia is cruising right along and she is getting a little bit of a supplement so she can start gaining more weight. She currently is at 2 pounds 10 ounces. This week has been very good and we have enjoyed the breather from last week! We hope it will get easier and easier!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

We thought you all would like to see pics of our little ones, especially the new and improved baby Preston! Oh my goodness, he has been peeing like crazy and is getting smaller by the minute! In fact, they have had to wean all of the meds used to make him pee because they dont want him to get dehydrated! Woooohoooo!!!! Thank you so much for praying everyone!

Preston Before:

Preston after all of the prayers:

"Hooray for Preston!" says Madelyn!

"Way to go bro!" said Parker!

"Yippeeeeeeeeeee PRESTON!" Said Dahlia.

"Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy FOR BABY PRESTON!!!" said Eva!

Oh and we are all so excited because Aunt Mariah will be here in 48 hours!!!! Wooooohhooooooo!!!

We are so humbled...

We are so very humbled at all of the friends, family, and strangers that have said such sweet kind words also for all of those that have fasted and prayed for our sweet little children. We are so humbled to hear of all the sweet perfect little children that have rallied their friends and family members to pray for our situation. What a great example they are to us.

Little Preston is still fighting for his life. But I will be the first to tell you, the Lord has heard all of yours and our prayers. The day after my post, Preston was peeing diapers that you could literally ring out!!! What a miracle that was to see! The day of my post, Preston was peeing at a rate of 10. The day after my post, his rate increased to 100!!!!!!! Yesterday, his peeing slowed some, but he had not gained to much weight.

Today we got word that his urine output has increased from 1 ml to 2.5 ml (the doctor wants to see it at 3ml so he is almost there. The doctors are contemplating doing the same heart surgery Madelyn and Parker just had, on our little Preston within the next 24 hours. There will be a team of doctors discussing this as it could easily put way to much stress on his compromised body. But, there is some talk of it improving his situation.

After a very emotional and frusterating visit late last night,my mother spoke with the doctor (She is a nurse) and got the scoop on his condition. She then explained it to Trever and I and we finally understand all that is going on.

During the first two weeks of life, medicine can be given to close a PDA (an open artery in the heart). First they gave Preston Indocine but it did not work. So then they tried Ibuprofen, a different kind of medicine. The side affect of this medicine was a possibility of damage to the kidneys. After this medicine was administered, he started to get a little puffy and they found that he has Acute Tubuler Necrosis. Acute= Now, Tubuler= Tubes, Necroses= Death of tissue. This was found to be in the kidneys. So the tubes in his kidneys were dying. Then, the doctors did a urine culture, and found yeast. So they believe yeast is attacking his kidneys and causing a Urinary Tract Infection as well. They have administered antibiotics to fight this as well. On top of this, the doctors administered an antibiotic called Vancomycin to make sure the MRSA does not spread into the blood. So many scary things are happening inside of his body right now!

So at this point, our goals are:
1. Kill the yeast with antibiotics so the kidneys can recover and begin working properly.
2. Ventilator settings will get better as the fluid is excreted through his urine.
3. Swelling will go down.

So, we still have a few days to weeks before we visibly see him go back down to size. We are hoping he will be able to fight this and survive. We know with the help of all of your prayers, anything can happen. He definetly has alot of work ahead of him. We love you so much Preston, You are our little fighter!!

Dear Heavenly Father...Please lighten this burden.....

Dahlia

Madelyn

Parker

Preston

My heart is so broken right now for my little baby Preston. Yes, the above 2 pictures are pictures of my little sweet Preston. He should be the same size as the other 3. Right now he is in kidney failure. His little kidneys are very sick and he is retaining tons of fluid. The doctors say it is a cause for big concern. In fact, if his kidneys do not begin to work correctly again very soon, he will pass away in 3 to 4 weeks maximum. It kills me to think that if he doesnt start peeing soon, he will just keep ballooning until his other organs shut down. He currently weighs 3 pounds 8 ounces. He probably has one full pound of fluid trapped inside of his body! Our next biggest baby is only 2 pounds 6 ounces.

This pain and heartache is terrible. To think that I may not be able to raise this beautiful baby kills me inside. What I would give to still have him safe inside of me still. I know I have asked for so many prayers,but if you could please take a moment to say one especially for his tiny body, my family would be so greatful...

To make matters worse, Madelyn and Parker went into heart surgery last night to fix their PDAs. It was a very emotionally tough day. The surgery's went well and both of the babies are still under anesthesia. They should be waking up today. We hope better days are coming very very soon.....