thetadpoles.com

I’m sure by the title you can guess what happened. We were able to spring him from the coop. Well we had nothing to do with the actual getting him out but we were more than helpful with the holding part.

Tadd went on the Santa Barbara Toy Run yesterday morning. There were 600 motorcycles that participated. All of the riders brought toys to benefit Unity House of Santa Barbara (they help low income families with food and toys during the holidays). I wont go on the motorcycle anymore for 2 reasons. 1: Tadd’s dad Jim was in a horrible motorcycle accident last year where he went over a cliff and had to be taken by helicopter to the nearest hospital. It took him months to recover. 2: working on the trauma floor at the hospital you see horrific injuries from motorcycle accidents. It is usually not the riders fault, it is because cars hit them. The twins have been trying to get their dad to sell his 2003 H-D Road King with loud pipes and low mileage (any takers?? Please email me, I’ll make you a great deal on it) but he is being a hard head. Anyways Tadd went to the ride with a Dora doll and I went to the hospital to see the babes. They were looking adorable as usual. After the ride Tadd brought lunch up to the hospital, then we went in and took up our spots by the incubators. After awhile we noticed it was really quiet. Which is weird in the NICU, because if it isn’t our twins who have bells going off it is some other baby. All the babies seemed to be quietly napping. Tadd mentioned aloud how quiet and calm everything seemed, which is a big no-no in the hospital. It is like jinxing the floor to go into a flurry of activity. Maybe because he is a CPA the hospital Gods decided to keep things calm. We asked the nurse if we could hold Derby. She got the respiratory tech and started to set things up. As much as I wanted Derby Tadd got to hold him first. I know it was a big deal for him to do something first. They were worried Derby might get cold so he was wrapped in 3 blankets and a little hat. They unhooked him from the vent and put him in Tadd’s arms. Tadd looked so calm while the nurse and the RT were moving all around him hooking things back up and securing the breathing tube to Tadd’s shoulder. Our little man was finally out in the open. All the excitement caused him to ….. sleep. You know Derby, it takes a lot to get him to open his eyes. Finally they were getting ready to put him back to bed when they asked if I would like to hold him since he was already out. Who says no to questions like that? I grabbed a gown and got ready to claim my son. He definitely is heavier than Loen and calmer. Once he was in my arms I noticed his breathing sounded different. The RT came over and suctioned out his tube, it still sounded a little off. After a little bit they had to keep turning up his oxygen because his levels were dropping. They had to put Derby back into the incubator. I was sad and glad at the same time. As much as I loved being able to finally cuddle him his breathing was worrying me. The RT thought that when we changed from Tadd to me his breathing tube may have shifted against his trachea not sufficiently inflating one of his lungs. Once back in the incubator he returned to normal. FINALLY we have been able to hold them both. I hope we don’t become complacent about holding our kids, though I doubt we will be deliriously giddy every time.

Derby quietly napping before we decided to get him out of the incubator

Tadd holding Derby first

Tadd looking very happy he got to do something before me (or maybe it is because he got to hold his son)

Now it is my turn

Looking worried as Derby’s oxygen levels drop

Derby was dressed like he was going to Antartica, which turned out to be unnecessary because when they put them back into the incubator his temp was 99.5. I guess all that chub was useful.

I know this was mainly a Derby post. Here is Loen quietly letting her brother get all the attention.