Update from Vandy

For those of you that don't know, we had to take Bailey to the ER last Saturday. Long story short she just wasn't acting right all that day. She was eating less and was less active all day. Then at the 3:00 feeding she wouldn't eat at all and felt cool. We called the pediatrician and our NICU nurses who advised us to go to the ER. In the few minutes it took us to get things together to leave she had turned pale and was barely breathing. We loaded Raegan in her carseat, Matt drove, and I was in the back holding Bailey trying to keep her awake. The further down the road we got toward the hospital the worse she got, I ended up having to give her breaths before we could get to the hospital. There they put some O2 on her and started a line with fluids and she slowly started to pink up and rouse a little.
The docs and nurses just knew she had RSV, but when the tests came back negative they realized she needed further attention, so off to Vandy we went. The poor girl has had every test imaginable run on her and all were negative for infection. Because she had a low temperature the docs said she needed to have the full 7 days of antibiotics as protocol to play it safe. She began feeling better within 12 hours, eating, awake, looking around and all. Then on Monday when they decided to put in a PICC line for the antibiotics she had a "spell". We had just finished feeding her and the PICC team came in to start the line so we had to leave. They wrapped her up really tight and layed her flat on the table when her Sats and heart rate decreased. We were told they had to bag her to get her stable and then moved her to the ICU. Later doctors talked to us about how it wasn't as alarming as it sounded. Turns out she has reflux and had spit up a little. In order to keep from choking you naturally will close off your wind pipe (stop breathing) to keep from getting any fluid in your lungs. This would have caused the symptoms to show up on the monitors.
She later was discharged from ICU because she was doing so well and we got to come to a room where the four of us could stay as a family. Which is where the second part of our drama took place. Matt was going downstairs with Tim ( a friend whose child is here also) when he noticed Raegan was red faced. She had been constipated so he didn't think much of it until she didn't take a breath. She was choking on saliva. We didn't have anything to suction her with so we ran out in the hall with her to get the nurses. She was still not taking in a breath, her face was still red, and her lips were turning blue. This all took place within maybe 45 seconds. We got suction at bedside hooked up, suctioned out her mouth, and gave her a little O2. She pinked up, cried a little, coughed, and then smiled at her daddy. Within about five minutes she wanted her bottle, took all 50mls, and was back to being our smiley girl. However, we still took her to the ER to get checked out. That's where they determined she was fine and probably would have recovered on her own. In fact we may have made it worse by turning up head down and whoopin' on her back as if she had an obstruction other than saliva. They think she has reflux also just a lesser degree than Bailey. So both of the girls will be on Prevacid when we leave here.
Needless to say it has been a very emotional first three weeks of life for the Ferguson twins. But, they are tough girls and have a lot of fight in them. We wish none of this had to happen, however it did and we can move on. That which does not kill us makes us stronger...and Bailey and Raegan are proof of that. We can't thank everyone enough for all the prayers, phone calls, visits, and support in many different ways since the girls have been born. There is no way we could repay the love shown to us so we will humbly say thank you. From the bottom of our hearts we thank each and every one of you here at home and in several states around the country.
We go home tomorrow after Bailey's last dose of antibiotics!! We'll see you all very soon. We love you and praise God for your belief in Him that kept our daughters safe.
Love,
Matt & Steph