Update to Welcome Home

Oops...While prepping for another blog update, I realized we forgot to include Lisa on the list of NICU staff...My Bad! Sorry Lisa! You know we loved you!!!

Look for another update on our adventures at home soon!

Love,

MPEZC and the Kitties

Welcome Home Zoey and Cameron!

Good Morning Friends & Family,

Little Zoey and Cameron took their first car ride home yesterday morning! Everyone was very happy to be discharged and to come home.

On Saturday evening, both kiddos roomed-in again with Mommy and Daddy. They both did well, I guess you could say, although mommy and daddy only got a little more sleep than the night before. Zoey weighed-in at 4 lb 13 oz (4/10 at birth) and Cameron was 5 lb 3.5oz (5/2 at birth).

Mommy, Daddy, and Ethan are very excited to have our new additions to our family at home. We are happy that our NICU stay only lasted 10 days. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those little ones and their families who have to spend more time there. With that thought, we'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of the wonderful nurses, staff and doctors who helped us along the way...You could not have provided better care to all of us:

Drs. Garza and Schneider for making our second and third miracles a reality!

Dr. Suris for his wonderful care throughout the pregnancy and for delivering our two little miracles. Thanks to Dr. Carroll for her assist in the OR!

Dr. McFarland and her staff for their expert care in monitoring the babies development in utero and for catching that "little cervix" issue.

And to the NICU staff for all of their love, patience and understanding...We hope we captured everyone...Thank you to Barbara, Rebecca, Mr. Bill, Linda, Nicholas, Anna, Kim, Patricia, Jessica, Aleda, and Brandie. You were awesome!!

Also, a special thanks to Grammy Miller for all her help with Ethan and the babies, and for doing so much laundry and so many dishes over the last 12 weeks!!! Another big thank you also to our friends from Booz Allen Hamilton and River City Christian Church for those tasty bedrest and NICU meals!

Be sure to check back every few days for an update on their progress. Their first baby well visit will be on Thursday July 26. We'll post an update shortly thereafter.

We are also expecting a visit from Grandma Janice on Friday!

Check out this link for pictures from their last week in the NICU and from their Homecoming!

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IatGTZs5aMre

Much love,

The TX Myers Family

NICU Update: Result of Room-In

Good Evening,

Here it is, Saturday Evening. Both Cameron and Zoey roomed with Penny and I in a Post-Partum Room at North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio last evening and all of today.

The goal was to remove them from their monitors and allow us to take over the role of being primary caregiver to both of them. At the beginning of the evening, the only wire or tube still remaining was Zoey's feeding tube.

Although Zoey was probably a step or 2 behind Cameron in terms of readiness, the NeoNatologist decided to go ahead and let her room-in as well since Cameron was already doing it. She had struggled on Friday evening with her 6 o'clock feeding, but we made the decision not to use the tube but to see how the evening progressed.

Zoey and Cameron both rocked last night with their feeding! They both took more than the required amounts for both (47 ml) at this point. Zoey is on straight breast milk, but Cameron is able to handle 1/2 of formula and 1/2 of breast milk. Zoey did so well that her nurse decided, with our blessing, to remove the tube entirely last evening around 1130pm. I am happy to say that she did awesome again today taking all of her feedings via the bottle.

It was interesting to finally see our babies at night time. Zoey clinged to her brother and only felt comfortable sleeping next to him in the crib. Unfortunately, he was too happy to be with mommy and wanted to sleep next to her (and I think Zoey's kicking and prodding him didn't help either).

Because of the 6pm Friday incident, the staff at the NICU determined that we needed one more 24 hour window to claim success and consider a full discharge for both Zoey and Cameron. Rather than kick Cameron out now, they have decided to keep both for another night. So, Penny and I will spend this evening again at the hospital.

Wish us luck and I hope to be updating our Blog tomorrow with word of our release and first introduction into the heat and humidity of San Antonio, TX! Of course, I can't wait to send you all pictures of little Ms. Zoey without her tube. What a doll!

All our best!

Love,

Matt, Penny, Ethan, Cameron and Zoey

NICU Update: End of Week 1

Good Evening,

Zoey and Cameron have survived their first week of NICU Boot Camp! There they are learning the essentials of feeding and growing. They continue to receive excellent care from the NICU Nursing Staff at North Central Baptist Hospital.

Let's see what has happened since our last post.

Earlier in the week, Zoey and Cameron continued to flip-flop daily on which one wanted to step out and be ahead of the other. The staff continued to tell us that girls typically do better in NICU than boys and yet, here as of Friday, Cameron seems to be ahead of her. Neither really loves formula but both really seem to be into the taste of Momma's Milk. Cameron will guzzle his bottle feedings (in about 10 minutes). Imagine a little less than 2 oz taking 10 min to drink...

Cameron pulled out his feeding tube on Thursday afternoon and probably hasn't had a tube feeding since Tuesday (?). Zoey still has her tube, but she hasn't had a tubal feeding since Thursday. We convinced the nurse yesterday afternoon (Thursday) that Zoey was ready to try to have all of her feedings via bottle (at least to attempt it). The night nurse also agreed and today's nurse let us put it into action. Zoey did so well for being so small.

Each day they both progressed closer to 50 cc(s) of formula/breastmilk. Cameron got there on Thursday and Zoey hit the 50 cc mark this morning (Friday).

Penny and are about to head back to the hospital (we were there earlier today from about 830 am until 630pm) to "room-in" with both of them. This is their chance to be off all of their breathing, respiratory and other monitors and spend the night with us in a room. It will be Cameron's final test before he can head home. Yes, that is right, if all goes well, Cameron will be able to come home on Saturday and Zoey, maybe on Sunday if she continues to gain weight and take her feedings like a champ!

As of now, Zoey is weighing in at 4lb 11.3 oz (4lb 10oz at birth) and Cameron weighs a stout 5 lb 1.5oz (.5oz below his birth weight). They will be weighed again this evening and I expect that both will be over their BW.

Look for an update tomorrow morning on our "room-in" and perhaps also some updated pictures as well! Wish us luck!

Love,

Matt, Penny, Ethan, Zoey, and Cameron

ZoCam Day 3 Update

Good Evening Friends,

For Penny, Day 3 started rather early at 430am with a visit from her Doctor doing morning rounds. Based on that discussion, it was decided that Penny would be able to come home tomorrow (Sunday) assuming that all was well during the Sunday visit. As of this evening, she is up and moving around and is walking, but she is definitely sore. She still doesn't feel as bad as she did with Ethan (thank goodness!). She was just excited to get a shower. Thank goodness for no hurricanes (this time).

As you probably read in last night's entry, Zoey and Cameron were put on feeding tubes yesterday to help them receive proper nutrition. Last night, the staff in the NICU upped their formula to a special higher calorie blend for premature babies. They are now on a proper rotation of breast/bottle feeding and tube feedings. Assuming they continue to progress appropriately, they'll continue to wean them off the tube as they get more used to breast/bottle. Unfortunately, that continues to be a challenge as Penny's milk comes in. Zoey seems to have the suck/swallow/breathing thing down quite well, but Cameron still struggles, despite being heavier still than Zoey. Even when they do get some of the formula through a bottle, they still get tuckered out pretty quickly and it takes much longer than it should for them to drink their required amounts. Then we are forced to pass the formula through the tubes in their nose which goes down to their stomachs. Cameron still seems to be having some gastro-issues, but we hope those will go away with time as well.

As of last night, Zoey was down to 4lbs 5oz and Cameron was down to 4 lbs 15oz. This weight loss is not unusual, but since their feedings are sketchy at best (unless via a tube), it is slightly a cause for alarm. Hopefully, their weigh-in tonight will produce no more lackluster news.

All said, they are quite cute and we can't wait to bring them home. The staff "guess" that will occur between 1 week and 2 weeks (after birth). These challenges to be expected with smaller babies born early. We are just thankful that they continue to receive loving care, they have each other, and that we are only 5 minutes from the hospital.

Please keep little ZoCam in your thoughts and prayers and please hope that they make a quick recovery and are able to come home soon.

Check out these links for photos of Zoey and Cameron from Thursday and Friday/Today's visit with Ethan & Grammy Miller.

Photos from July 12 are available at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IatGTZs5aMqa

Photos from July 13 and 14 are available at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IatGTZs5aMq4&notag=1

Love,

Matt, Penny, Ethan, Zoey and Cameron

Day 2 in the NICU and ZoCam Meets the Big Brother

Good Evening,

Day 2 has come and gone and our precious twins are still in the NICU at North Central Baptist Hospital here in San Antonio. We couldn't wish for better care for them both.

Penny is doing much better and has been officially unhooked from all machines (as of 8pm Friday)...She is still incredibly sore (like she just did 1500 situps), but she is recovering well and actually feels better than she did after Ethan's childbirth.

Friday the 13th started out with them in separate cribs across the room from each other. Both were doing well. All of their glucose and other tests were normal and there was some discussion of them coming home with Penny either Saturday or Sunday. It was not until we started to try to feed them this morning that we began to have a few challenges. Both were experiencing some gastrointestinal "distress." Despite our efforts to feed them every 3 hours, it became a battle to keep them awake long enough to actually get them to nurse or drink from a bottle.

During the late afternoon, the doctors and nurses determined that the babies needed to be fed

through a tube. Despite their best efforts to fight off the doctors, both babies succumbed to the

tubes which went through their nasal passage and down into their stomachs. To help ease their stress they decided to also co-locate the babies into the same crib (photo on the right).

We had promised Ethan a visit this afternoon to meet his new baby brother and sister today.

After I picked him up from school, I brought him to meet them. He was very excited to meet ZoCam. He was very fond of rubbing Cameron's head and letting him hold his finger. We think

he'll be a great big brother and he is very proud of his new role in our family. He was also very excited to take photos of his new baby brother and sister to school today to show all of his friends.

Keep checking back for updates. I'll try to upload all of these photos and more to Shutterfly soon and I'll be sure to post the link so that you can view them all!

Enjoy!

Penny, Matt, Ethan, and ZoCam

Welcome Zoey and Cameron!

Earlier today at North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, we welcomed two new additions to our family. Ms. Zoey Makena (above) and Mr. Cameron Patrick (below) joined our family. Zoey was born first at 2pm CT and Cameron arrived shortly thereafter at 202pm CT. Despite being older by 2 minutes, Zoey weighed 8 oz less than Cameron at only 4lb 10oz. Cameron weighed in at 5lb 2oz.

Both babies and mommy are resting comfortably this evening after a long eventful day. Both babies did really well during the delivery and immediately afterward, despite their size. After they were whisked away to the Nursery, scrubbed up a bit, poked and prodded a little more, they received their first meal. Unfortunately, we learned that their glucose levels were below the normal range (39 when they needed to be at least 50). This is not uncommon with smaller babies and we had come to expect that it was a possibility. Just to be safe, the babies climbed into another cart and were carried down the hall to the Special Babies section of the NICU. The excellent care they received in the NICU had already sparked a tremendous comeback and their scores were up in the 60s only an hour or so later. Both babies nursed and took in some extra formula and were resting.

Of course, Ethan is very excited to be a BIG BROTHER. He also gave birth to his "baby Cameron" this evening as well. Thanks Grammy Miller! He is looking forward to seeing his new siblings tomorrow afternoon and he can't wait to show his classmates and teachers their pictures tomorrow at school.

Check back again tomorrow or Saturday for another update.

The babies are coming!!!

Hello All- Just thought I would send a quick update to let you know that the babies are coming on Thursday July 12th. My c-section is set for 1:00PM Central Time. The babies are doing good. I have been a bit under the weather but on the mend.

There is a good chance that the babies will be small, based on ultrasounds and the fact that Ethan was small and he was almost 40 weeks when he was born. With that, they may have to spend a few days in the NICU because small babies have a harder time maintaining there body temperature and blood sugar levels and that has to be good before they can come hang out with us in our room. Either way, they will be in good hands and can get the care they need to grow big and strong.

We will be at North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio-not sure the phone number, but we will have both Matt and my cell phone in the room after the c-section, so you are welcome to call on those. If you are local and would like to come visit, Saturday would probably be best since hopefully by then I will be able to shower :)

My cell phone is 210-818-6791 and Matt's cell phone is 210-412-4157. We will of course publish some pics as soon as we can.

Thank you all for your support through all of this and especially the last 11 weeks of bed rest. We are looking forward to becoming a family of 5 :)

Love,
Penny, Matt, Ethan and soon to be born Cameron Patrick and Zoey Makena