My poor little Reed

I'm so happy Reed is now home, but I thought I'd blog about how it all happened. He started getting sick on Friday last week with fevers and a cold. I took him to the doctor on Monday and they told me he had a bad cold and just prescribed eye drops. Reed and Luke had a 6 month check on Wednesday so I took him to that and he got prescribed some antibiotics and breathing treatments. We came home and he went to bed. Awhile later he woke up fussing and I tried to feed him. He looked a little pale but when he took one suck of that bottle he turned extremely pale. I put him next to Luke and Reed looked like he had a blueish undertone to his skin. His skin was also very mottled (blotchy). I took a respiratory rate and it was 84 (babies his age are supposed to be 20-40 breathes per minute). Then I knew he absolutely had to go in. I got him to the emergency department and they took him to a room right away. His oxygen level in his blood was 86 (it's supposed to be between 95-100), his heart rate was 222 (normal is around 120), his reparations were still high. They immediately put him on oxygen at 1.5 liters (they prefer if they would be around .5 L). That helped but he still dipped with is oxygen saturation. We went for a chest x-ray and I was extremely surprised at the results. Not only did he have RSV, but pneumonia with infiltrates all over his lungs (collection of fluid). Then they mentioned that the could not care for him at Holland and he would have to be transferred to Helen Devos Children's Hospital. They transferred us by ambulance (without lights and sirens) because he had to be on oxygen. I would rather not repeat the ride, it can make your tummy queasy. We got there and they did several respiratory treatments and got him under control. They weren't sure at first if he would have to be admitted to the ICU or not, but thankfully they were able to keep him on the regular peds floor. They said that he had very diminished lungs sounds on the bottom of his lungs (he was not exchanging air on the bases of his lungs) and he was sucking in very hard to breathe. The whole day they couldn't get his oxygen down from 1 liter and had to make the call and put him on high flow oxygen (puts pressure in the lungs to open them up for air exchange) he was on it overnight and partway into the next day.

My poor pale Reed

They were finally able to get that under control and put him back on regular oxygen cannula. And from their he started doing much much better. He went from extremely pale to getting some color back.

Resting comfortably

Today he acted more himself then I have seen him in a week. I'm so thankful he was able to come home today!!! Like Leanne says "it's just not family without mommy, daddy, and Reed."

Twinners are 6 months old- we survived

Six months ago Luke and Reed joined our family and changed our lives.

Luke Grant 6 lbs and 4 oz (on right), Reed Lane 4 lbs and 15 oz (on Left)

It took us time to adjust. The older kids were with their grandparents for a few weeks and came home for visits. I missed them, but Ross and I needed time to adjust to 2 little ones. Life was really different, but good.

Leanne holding Reed

Clay holding Luke

Tricia Brummel came over to take some pictures of the boys.

I love this one!

Another new thing we had to adjust to was sending Leanne off to kindergarten. I was very overwhelmed trying to get into the routine of sending Leanne off to school and keep track of her weekly calender.

Leanne's first day of kindergarten and riding the bus

A few short weeks later, Clay also started pre-school. That involved me to get the twins, Allison, and Clay ready to head out the door. He goes to preschool 30 minutes away from home, so I had to plan where I was going to wait for the day. We spent a lot of time at grandma's house. It was just a lot in the beginning and I was easily overwhelmed. During this time, many people from church gave us meals. That helped immensely!! We couldn't have done it without all the help we received.

Clay's first day of preschool

Me attempting to feed both babies at the same time

We also got the babies baptized. I think they were 6-8weeks old. Ross held both of them at the same time while they got baptized. We had a Luke on the minister's left and Reed on the ministers right so he knew who was who when he baptized them.

Reed Lane on left and Luke Grant on right

We had a light lunch afterward (thanks to Ross' mom and sisters) and cake.

This verse is very fitting for our family. "Thy children like olive plants round about thy table"

Luke and Reed started to smile, coo, and giggle. Around 2 months old we noticed a big difference in their sleep patterns at night. They were doing longer stretches- Hallelujah!!! Instead of the broken up 3 hours of sleep we were getting a night we were getting a solid 4-6 hours at a time. We were starting to enjoy our babies more and started coming out of the sleep deprived haze.

Our first time in a bumbo!! Our older brother and sisters

needed to get in on the action

As the Luke and Reed got bigger, every day things became easier. We still had a very busy household, but it started to feel more managable. The kids started to get more involved with the babies. They love trying to get them to smile and coo at them. Luke and Reed are now becoming more interactive with each other.

Our backs are much sturdier now in our bumbos. We love

to play together!

Luke and Reed now eat baby food too. I put them in their bumbos on the table and spoon feed both of them at the same time out of the same bowl.

Dinner time

My clan

I can't believe they are 6 months old now. It went so fast!! I wish I could go back and visit for a couple of hours when they were newborns. I can barely remember them being so little, but I'm happy we're to this point with them. Each month brings something new and I look forward to watching them continue to grow.

Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding." This is my favorite verse in the Bible. It was actually our wedding verse. It was a good base to start our marriage on. This verse has grown in my heart during the 8 years we've been married. Trust is huge in the unknown of our lives. We never know what is going to happen one minute to the next. We need to learn to trust God in everything. I was reading out of "Come ye Little Children" book to the kids tonight for devotions. We are just starting to read about Moses and the Israelites entering into the desert and they had just complained about food the first time and God sent them manna. God was sending them through the desert to get to the land of Canaan to teach them lessons along the way. The Israelites needed to learn to trust God for EVERYTHING!! Food, water, and shelter were just a few thing they needed to learn. We can learn a lot from the Israelites. It seems like it happened so long ago that it shouldn't apply to us but it does. I've said it once to my co worker, Martina, that I've never liked reading about Moses and the Israelites and it was probably my least favorite stories in the Bible. I've had a hard time with it because all the people complained the whole time and you would think that they would learn their lessons quicker than they did. And then I realized that the reason I didn't care for it was because I am so much like the Israelites, and probably worse. I complain if it's too hot or too cold, I complain if I have to go grocery shopping, I complain if I don't get enough sleep. I endlessly complain and I'm not in a dry hot desert either!!! What an awful sinner I am! We have so much and we complain for more. It becomes an issue of contentment and trust. God gives bumps in the road so that we may learn to trust Him, just like the Israelites. Instead of our endlessly worrying that we do, we should pray and put all our trust in our Lord. I love that verse "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and LEAN NOT to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5 & 6
What a wonderful comfort.