Amazing Baby!

I just got home from the hospital for the second time today. I am exhausted. I went back to work yesterday so in between visits to the hospital, I get to work. It's been an interesting transition so far, but I'm sure it will get easier. Anyway, I attempted to feed my little Scarlet tonight. We start by putting her on the scale to see how much she weighs, then I feed her and we weigh her again. She totally rocked tonight! She took half of her feeding from me before she totally konked out. I am so proud of her! This is a monumental step. We are getting that much closer to coming home! I think she even saved up her poops for the day for me too. I had to change 2 poopy diapers tonight. They were actually the first poopy diapers of hers that I have changed. Ever. Usually Ryan ends up with the poopies. Oh, and I have mentioned how much she LOVES her dad? It is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. She always smiles when she hears his voice, like huge grin smiles. See, I told you she's amazing!

In other news, when we went to see her in the NICU yesterday they told us she moved downstairs. What the? Yep, since she is one of the more stable babies, they moved her to the peds ward/NICU overflow. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love being in the NICU (at least when we were in her nice big suite), but I also love being downstairs where it is super quiet. In the peds unit, she shares a room with 2 other babies, both boys... David and Lucas. Maybe they'll be friends one day? I sure love that babe!

Dr. Scarlet

Scarlet is doing well in the NICU. She was moved to the step-down unit on Saturday and has been there ever since. She has a nice little suite right by the front door. She also moved up to the incubator. Apparently she can grow better in there. It's like a greenhouse for a baby. Her feedings have been advanced and she is tolerating them well. She has started doing non-nutritive breastfeeding, but she freaks out when she gets my milk in her mouth. She still just gets all of her feedings through a tube since she is too small to suck strong enough to take them from a nipple. We are so proud of our little fighter! (p.s. I'm pretty sure that doctor's outfit is a build-a-bear outfit, small enough for those tiny bears, yet too big on our little Scarlet!)

Good Afternoon

Love,

Scarlet

p.s. Thank you to the cute NICU nurse who took these photos of Scarlet!

Day 7 in the NICU

Day what? No way has it already been a week that we brought these precious babies into our world. Wow! Tomorrow will mark one week since they were born. Here's the update on Scarlet. She's still very adorable. She is off of all oxygen and has been for a few days now. She is doing great on room air. She still has an IV in her umbilicus that helps with her nutrition and other things. She just has a little feeding tube in her nose right now because she is still too tiny to suck strong enough to eat from a bottle or from me. She absolutely LOVES her daddy. When she hears his voice she will open her eyes and take a look at him. I swear sometimes she will even smile at him. She has been on and off the bililights, currently back on them because her bilirubin keeps going up and down. Her feedings are being advanced everyday and she is tolerating them well. She gets my milk every 3 hours. Today she was getting 11 mL and tomorrow it will go up to 14 mL. We have also been doing a little skin-to-skin holding. She loves it. Tonight we went in and she was very upset at her nurse for changing her diaper. We picked her up and held her next to our skin and immediatey her heart rate dropped as well as her respiratory rate. She calmed right down for us. Overall she is doing fantastic and we couldn't be more proud of our little fighter.

Scott singing to Kingston

Here is our dear friend, Scott, singing at the funeral. Don't forget to turn the music off on our blog and turn the sound up on the video so you can hear just how beautiful it really was. Enjoy!

A Most Blessed Day

Today was amazing! I cannot even find the words to express the feelings that were felt today at Kingston's funeral. It was beyond beautiful. Everything was perfect. Ryan's mom read a letter I had written to Kingston, then Ryan spoke. After that, we had our good friend, Scott, sing a song (which was absolutely amazing). My dad then spoke. He read a letter he claimed from was heaven from Kinston to me and Ryan. It was very cute and just what I needed to hear. He then dedicated the grave. The peace that was there was so amazing. I only hope the people there felt the spirit just as much as I did or at least a little inkling of what I felt. I came home full of joy and happiness. That is how a funeral should be. Thank you to all who participated in the service. Thank you Jesse and Garret for carrying our precious baby. We could not have picked better hands for him to be in. Thank you to all who came! You all have been amazing supporters throughout our jouney and we are so grateful for all of you! Thank you for making our day even more beautiful.

Kingston's obituary

Kingston Ryan Hone

Kingston, born August 11, 2010, blessed us for 1 precious hour and then returned home. Our little King, you have "earned the crown without the conflict." We are so proud of you! Kingston is survived by his parents, Ryan and Ashley Hone, and twin sister, Scarlet. He was preceded in death by his uncle Chad, who he will be buried with. Graveside services will be held on Tuesday, August 17, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. at the Springville Evergreen Cemetery.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Today was a monumental day for us. Ryan and I went to the NICU this morning to visit little Scarlet and it was our lucky day! First, they let me change her diaper (something Ryan got to do last night without me). I was nervous, but so excited at the same time! She is so tiny and precious! Also, they let us hold her for the first time. There is nothing quite like holding your child for the first time, especially when you have waited so long for that moment. I couldn't have been happier. She is such a calm and relaxed baby. She didn't make a peep almost the entire time we were there. She only cried for just a second when we unwrapped her to get a mold made of her foot. Tonight when I went to see her, I took Dari with me. I was so happy to have shared my precious daughter with such a great friend. They had to put Scarlet on the bililight this afternoon so Dari unfortunately did not get to see just how cute her little face is.

On another note, I hopefully will be leaving the hospital tomorrow. It has been a nice stay here with the room service and all, but I think I'm ready for my own bed, not to mention I have a funeral that still needs the final touches put in place. We are so grateful for all of you out there who have been praying for us and holding us up through this tough time. Thank you so much!

My first visit with Kingston

Warning: I am still on the operating table. You only see my face though, no yucky stuff. This is the first time I got to see Kingston and talk to him. He opened his eyes wide for me. I will always love and cherish this moment.

Scarlet in all her glory!

Here is our little precious lady. She has been extubated and is just on high flow oxygen now. She is doing great!

Scarlet and Kingston

What a crazy week this has been! It all started Tuesday. I went in for my routine non-stress test and our little boy was having some crazy drops in his heart rate every time I would contract. The doctor's office decided they would just send me to labor and delivery for monitoring for a little while and see what was going on. I was with my mom and of course I was freaking out by this point. I stopped off on the 2nd floor to talk to Ryan and told him what was going on. His amazing co-workers pulled together so he could come upstairs with me to labor and delivery. Once I was all hooked up, things seemed just fine. Normal rhythms on both babies. I thought for sure I would be going home that afternoon. WRONG. When they checked me, I was 2 cm and 80% effaced. I actually didn't change that entire day, which was a good sign. Then the doctor came in and told me he wanted me to stay overnight so I could be watched a little while longer just to make sure things stayed the same.

Through the night I felt like I was having contractions but I couldn't really see much on the monitor. They had given me morphine so I was totally in and out all night long. I had told Ryan to go home and sleep and to just come pick me up in the morning. I was way off. The doctor came in Wednesday morning and checked me. A big surprise is what happened next. We found that I was 6 cm and 100% effaced. I had no idea I was dilating so quickly and was actually in full-blown labor. The doctor looked at me and said, "call your husband. You're having these babies today." I was in complete shock. It was almost instantly crazy. Nurses were everywhere and they had the epidural ordered before I could even grab the phone to call Ryan. I believe I may have called him as they were putting in my IV. It was a mad rush. I pretty much told him to get to the hospital as soon as he could. We were having these babies. I think it scared the crap out of him.

Ryan got to the hospital quite quickly and impressed everybody with his mad skills of quickedness. (that's a new word) I got my epidural right after Ryan got there, which by the way was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually quite amazing. After that, it was show time. They wheeled me off to the OR and got me all prepped and ready to go. All of a sudden I hear the doctor say, "Okay, we've made the skin incision." I had no idea they had even started. There was a lot of tugging and pulling and a bit of discomfort. Then, all of a sudden, out came our little Kingston. When I say little, I mean LITTLE. They showed him to me and it was almost scary how tiny he was. It wasn't moving at all and so that was a little scary too. Ryan went off with the baby and neonatologist to assess the situation. In the meantime, I was still being tugged and pulled and then out popped some legs, a bum, and then with a lot of pulling, out came a head! Little Scarlet was born. She looked beautiful. Apparently she started screaming immediately. I couldn't hear her. Just like that, it was all over.

Ryan and the neonatologist brought little Kingston to me and Ryan was crying. I could tell things weren't going well with him. They put my little boy close to my face so I could kiss him and tell him just how much I loved him. That's when he started making the sweetest noise in the world! He would just kind of grunt at us, but I'm pretty sure he was telling us just how much he loved us too. He was so perfect.

After I was all sewed up, they wheeled me back to my labor and delivery room and let me hold my little King for the first time. He was absolutely beautiful. My mom and dad and Ryan's mom were there to greet us and meet their grandson. They eaech took their turns holding him and then gave him back to me. I held him next to my heart until his spirit returned to our Heavenly Father. It was the most calming and peaceful feeling. I could just feel the angels among us. He lived for just over an hour, but touched many lives in that short period of time. We couldn't feel more blessed that he is our child.

I will post pics when I get the camera charger and the cord to download the pics. I was totally unprepared for all of this. For now, here are the stats:

Kingston Ryan
Born: 9:02 a.m. on 8/11/10
Weight: 2 lbs. 2 oz.
Length: 12 inches

Scarlet Soo
Born: 9:04 a.m. on 8/11/10
Weight: 3 lbs. 12 oz.
Length: 16.5 inches

Scarlet totally looked like an Amazon woman compared to Kingston. It was, and still is, hard to believe they were/are twins.

Scarlet is currently in the NICU and fighting hard. She has to be on the ventilator for now because it was just too much work trying to breathe on her own. Other than that, things seem to be going well with her. She is thriving and abosultely beautiful! Hopefully real soon I can get some pics of her on here. I still have yet to hold her. I cannot wait for that moment. I'm sure she'll be happy too since all I can do now is tickle her feet and I think it makes her really mad.

32 weeks!

Honestly, I cannot believe we have made it to 32 weeks. I'm still doing non-stress tests twice a week. Yesterday I was having some pretty solid contractions and the doctor told us I will eventually go into labor, we just aren't sure when. I feel my body is becoming tolerant to the nifedipine (meds for stopping contractions), so the contractions are coming more often and are getting more intense. Ryan and I are officially mentally and emotionally exhausted at this point. I'm not trying to complain, but when you have no idea what is going to happen to your children and everyday is a new "adventure," it gets really exhausting. I know our son isn't going to live, but I had no idea it would be this hard to deal with. Every time we go in for the NSTs, I'm worried they won't find his heart beat. I try not to freak out, but it's hard. Yesterday his heart rate dropped way low and I just laid there with tears in my eyes. I'm not ready for it to be over yet. Thankfully my nurse just put her hand on my arm to comfort me. This was so hard for me and I know it's only going to get harder and hurt more because the worst part isn't even over yet. I think we are ready for closure. We need closure. Of course if we can get in 2 more weeks with these babies inside, we will be even better with the health of our little girl. We can do it!

I also forgot to post about our perinatology visit last week. We went to see Dr. S. on Monday to make sure the amniotic fluid was okay. The fluid on our son is low, which we expected at this point due to his bladder outlet obstruction. Thankfully our daughter's fluid was great. Again, it was so comforting to talk to Dr. S. They measured the babies too. Girl: 3 pounds 4 ounces; boy: 2 pounds 11 ounces (but hard to get accurate measurements). I was glad to see she was over 3 pounds.

Here's to 32 weeks and hopefully a couple more!