The Faith of a Child

So this morning Carol Lin came into our room at about 6:00 am complaining that her ear hurt. All of our kids have been fighting off colds lately so I wasn't looking forward to having to deal with two fussy 7-month-old babies and a needy 4 year old (and by that I mean I wasn't looking forward to leaving Jill at home all day having to deal with that). The twins had already kept us up for a good portion of the night and I was sleepy so I tried to get Carol Lin to go back to bed. "The best thing to do for an ear ache is to get plenty of sleep," I said as I tucked her back in (and her sister Emma who is always out of bed if her older sister is) so that I could crawl back into bed for another hour.

At this point Carol Lin reminded me of a story she heard at church about a little boy with an ear ache that went to the doctor and said a prayer that his ear would get better. She said that the little boy's prayer was answered.

I told her that she could say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help her ear feel better.

She folded her arms and said a short sincere prayer, asking Heavenly Father to make her ear stop hurting.

I then admonished her to go to sleep to give Heavenly Father a chance to answer her prayer. Then I went back to bed to try to get just a little more sleep.

About an hour later Carol Lin and Emma appeared in our bedroom doorway again. This time a delighted Carol Lin in an excited voice said, "My ear isn't hurting anymore!"

I asked her to explain to Jill what she did to make her ear ache go away. It took some reminding, but she remembered the prayer that she had said and realized that Heavenly Father answered her prayer.

At my suggestion she knelt down and said a quick prayer to thank Heavenly Father.

Oh, to have that kind of faith!

I love being a father!

All four

Recently I have been trying to do preschool with Carol Lin and Emma. Emma's favorite part is singing time and the twins like to watch. The twins are usually happy as long as they have food in their tummy and clean diapers. I admit that life can get pretty hectic but it is totally worth it!

Our family

Life at home...

We have really enjoyed having Matthew and Amanda home. They have been a wonderful addition to our family. Even though we don't get as much sleep as we once did they are so worth it!

Everyone is home now!

It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but we now have 4 kids at home. Matthew was discharged from the hospital Friday afternoon, but Amanda still wasn't quite ready to come home. The nurses and pediatrician informed us the only thing lacking for her to go home was to go 24 hours eating on her own.

We were given a room at the hospital for the four of us. The room was probably about 9 ft. by 7 ft. with a twin bed, a hide-a-bed whose mattress was narrower than my shoulders, a hospital bed-side table, and a small chair. We also had to fit two hospital bassinets in there too. With the hide-a-bed extended you practically couldn't see the floor!

Amanda needed to be fed every 3 hours, and she needed to eat 40 cc each time in less than 30 minutes. We moved our things and our twins into our closed after their 3:00 pm feeding. Amanda had finished all of her feedings since 9:00 that morning, so all we had to do was make it through one night. If you have ever slept with a newborn in your room you know how light a sleeper you become. Every little noise they make wakes you up. We didn't sleep much Friday night. On top of that every 3 hours we had to get up to feed both Amanda and Matthew. They both required quite a bit of encouragement still. We were determined, however, that we would be bringing Amanda home so we did everything we could to get her to finish her feedings. It came down to the wire on some of them but she did it.

We are so happy to have the twins home. We aren't getting much sleep now, but it is worth it to have the twins home.

Before and After

Matthew is coming home tomorrow!!!

Sorry I haven't been keeping everyone up to date the past few days. Let me catch you up.

This morning I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that Matthew can come home tomorrow!! Amanda still has a little bit of work to do. She is off of the oxygen and doing pretty well in that regard, but she isn't eating as well as Matthew. In order to come home she has to be able to either bottle or breast feed 40 cc in 30 minutes every 3 hours. Right now she is only managing that about every 6 hours. In between they are feeding her through a tube. It shouldn't be much longer now until she is ready to come home too!

Progress report

Matthew

First let me fill you in on Amanda's status. Yesterday they stopped giving her antibiotics. There is no sign of infection, they were just a precaution. Yesterday evening they removed her I.V. She has also moved on from the oxygen hood to the nasal prongs and is doing very well. They no longer need to watch her as closely so they have wrapped her up in a blanket. The best part is her respiratory rate is down into an acceptable range. She has also been able to nurse and take a bottle for at least part of her feedings.

Matthew is now completely off of the oxygen and holding his own. He has also had his feeding tube removed. He has been able to take a bottle for all of his feedings since last night.

Update on the twins

Well, Jill is home and doing well. Just as I suspected Amanda turned the corner yesterday. Her oxygen requirements are down from 60 to 34 (if I remember right). Matthew was able to nurse for the first time this morning. They are currently trying to wean him from the oxygen. He has been able to go for a while on room air. He is on the oxygen again, but he will probably be on and off for the next little while while they wean him.

Matthew


Amanda

Jill is coming home!!!

Jill is being discharged today from the hospital. She is doing great. Matthew is still doing quite well and as far as number go Amanda is still the same, but this morning she was doing a lot of stretching and looking around. She just seemed healthier to me. I'm optimistic that she will be turning the corner today. I'll post some more pictures later today.

Pictures

Here is Matthew


Here is Amanda

Matthew's progress

Matthew has now moved out of the "hood" (the bubble that they put over his head and fill with oxygen). He has graduated to nasal prongs. No change on Amanda since this morning.

I still can't add pictures. I'll try again later

They're Here!!!

Matthew and Amanda arrived Tuesday night at 10:46 and 10::47. About an hour or so after Jill's Appointment with her OB she started labor. We went into the hospital and hoped that we would be sent home after an hour of monitoring. Instead we ended up having a c-section. Matthew was born first at 5 lbs 7 oz and 19 in. Amanda followed at 5 lbs 14 oz and 19 in.

The lungs are always the biggest concern with babies born 5 weeks early. At first they both seemed to be doing quite well, with Amanda handling life slightly better than her brother. However at this point Amanda is struggling quite a bit more than Matthew. This morning Matthew was on 30% oxygen (21% is normal air) and doing quite well. Amanda, however, is currently on 50% oxygen and her lungs are having more trouble inflating. We are praying that she will turn the corner and start improving so that she won't have to be taken to Spokane for neo-natal intensive care.

Jill seems to be doing quite well. Yesterday evening she was taken off of all of the tubes and is now able to walk around the hospital on her own. She is still dealing with some pain and discomfort from the surgery; but is managing it well with the help of medication.

My mom is in town helping with the girls and we are expecting Jill's mom on Sunday. Please remember us in your prayers, especially little Amanda.

For some reason I am unable to post pictures right now. I will add those later.

We have made it past our 34 week mark! The babies are getting heavy. I hope I make it at least a week and a half more. Full term for twins is between 36 and 38 weeks. We are all very excited about their upcoming arrivals.

See how they grow!

We had an ultrasound today. Matthew weighed in at nearly 6lbs and his sister, Amanda weighed in at 5 1/2 lbs. I am 33 weeks today. We'll see how much they weigh at 37 weeks if I last that long.

The picture above was taken sometime before 32 weeks

The picture above was taken at the end of 32 weeks.

Chris was right about everything he has informed you guys except that my ancestor's last name was Chiles not Child. Anyway, we are really excited about the upcoming births of our twins. I am especially excited to be finished with this pregnancy. So far I have at least about 8 lbs of baby in me. Tomorrow we will have another ultrasound and find how much they have grown in the last month.

Names for the Twins

I think we finally have names for the twins. These are of course subject to change.

We have finally convinced Carol Lin that we are not naming our son Hank. It seems to me that before Emma was born Carol Lin was dead set on Kermit the Frog. When she grows up I can't wait to find out what my grand-kids are going to be named!

Anyway back to the task at hand. Our boy will probably be born first. The name we are most settled on at the moment is Matthew Vaughn Armstrong. Matthew is the name of two of my best friends from when I was growing up (sorry Daylyn I couldn't convince Jill to use your name). Unfortunately I have lost touch with both of them. Mathew is also my still-born little brother's name. Vaughn is of course my brother's, dad's, and grandpa's name. Perhaps one day my brother will name his first son Vaughn IV, but for now a middle name will have to do.

It has taken us a long time to come up with the name Mathew Vaughn. It was the exact opposite for our new daughter. We came up with her name pretty quick. We are pretty much decided on Amanda Rae Armstrong. Carol Lin was the first one to suggest the name Amanda. She has a friend, Bryson, down the street who's mom is named Amanda. Amanda tells us that when Carol Lin first told her this she expressed how honored she felt that Carol Lin would want to name her baby sister after her. To which Carol Lin replied, "I just like the name." Jill also has an ancestor by the name of Ruth Amanda Chiles that she has done some of the temple work for. Rae is both my mom's and my sister's middle name.

By the way we are still waiting it out. According to the doctor it would be really bad if they were born any time before April 10. Ideally we could make it to 37 weeks at least which is May 1.

So there you have it Mathew Vaughn and Amanda Rae. (Hopefully next week I won't be posting corrections.)

This was taken outside our house yesterday

Our girls love to dance. (Sorry no music)

Our 4 Children

Our son in 3-D.

Ultrasound profile of our third daughter.

Our first and second daughters, Carol Lin and Emma.

yummy!

Today Carol Lin turned 4 years old! She had a fun birthday. Chris made and decorated her requested panda bear cake. I think he did a great job!

latest news

Emma and Carol Lin with diapers on their heads.

Our latest news is that we are expecting a boy and a girl! We are very excited. Now we just need to figure out what to name them. We still have a few months to figure this out. The babies are due sometime in May.