Adios Oxygen

Back in May I posted on Facebook our exciting news about being done with oxygen, but never got around to posting it here.  Aryanna passed her sleep study and came off of oxygen at the beginning of May and Anthony had failed his sleep study, but we were pretty sure one of the many cords was essentially strangling him because he had a red mark on his throat for a week after the study.  Thankfully, our pulmonologist allowed him to repeat the sleep study with just oxygen and a pulse oximeter and not the multitude of other cords, and what do you know?  He passed when he wasn't being strangled!  So, by the time the twins turned one we were officially done with oxygen!  What an exciting day that was around here!  We're grateful that the oxygen helped them breathe while their lungs finished developing, but we were not sad to see all the equipment go!  We'll still have to be cautious this cold and flu season due to their preemie lungs - they just don't handle respiratory illnesses the way a full-term kiddo's lungs would.  It's nice to feel mostly "out of the woods" though!

What a day of celebration when we got to turn

these 2 giants off for good!

We actually had 2 of the large green

"T" Tanks, Aryanna's had already been

picked up at this point.

We don't miss all of these supplies one bit!

Me and my oxygen-free kiddos!

May 11th - What a difference a year makes

I am waaaaaaay behind on posting this, but way back on May 11th we participated in the March of Dimes, March for Babies.  We surpassed our fundraising goal so a huge "thank you" to all of you who donated!  I just read the other day that the premature birth rate in the U.S. is the lowest it's been in a decade - such good news!

One thing that wasn't good news was the weather on the day of the walk.  It was soooo windy.  We arrived well before the walk started since we were newbies and didn't know what to expect.  By the time the walk was about to start, the twins were freezing and had had enough so family and friends walked for us and we headed home to warm up.  Not exactly how we had pictured all of it going, but there's always next year!

The day of the walk also happened to be the one year anniversary of when I went into pre-term labor and was admitted to the hospital at only 27 weeks gestation.  Everything had looked great at my appointment the day before so when I started experiencing bleeding the next day I was totally shocked. We'd had a potluck at school that day and everyone was asking how I was doing.  I was telling them my plans to spend a lot of time on the couch in the air conditioning during summer vacation.  And then a couple hours later everything changed and I was rushing off to the doctor's office and getting admitted to the hospital.  When I was driving to school this year on the day of the potluck, a lot of emotions came up that I wasn't expecting.  I had to call Jose and get myself collected before class started.  It just hit me all of a sudden like a ton of bricks, almost like a flashback - reliving that day.  By the next day, the day of the walk, I was able to look back on the past year and just be grateful.  Grateful that I'd been able to carry the twins for two more weeks after being admitted to the hospital, grateful that they'd survived, grateful that we'd made it through winter without any major illness, grateful for our two amazing miracles.

The A-Team

The posters we made that were placed along the walk route.

The A-Team (Anthony & Aryanna) 

There were much happier once they got out of the

wind and back inside where it was warm!  

Crazy Iowa weather!