Birth Day "Take Two"!!!!!

Stephen just texted the news!  "Babies are here!  Everyone is doing well.  Bailey Jo (2 lbs. 3 oz.) and Briley Jane (1 lb. 12 oz.)."  I know this family will love your continued prayers for them!

Birth Day!!

Good Morning Friends of Stephen and Gina,

The day has arrived!  From the beginning of time, God already knew that the Deck baby girls would arrive today, June 20.  They are one day short of 28 weeks.  Gina texted this morning that Baby A had a bad night and that the surgery would be this morning.  Please keep praying hard for this family and for these 2 precious little girls that will have a long fight ahead of them.  We will keep you posted as we hear updates.  Thanks for praying!

Gaining a New Perspective

DAY 22

We have made it to 27 weeks and 2 days today! My OBGYN said that from his experience, each day these little girls can stay inside me is two less days they will have to be in the NICU. Obviously there is no scientific research to back up that statement; however, it helps to give purpose to the most boring of days.

I am beginning to adapt my former routine to fit my current bed rest situation. I am still able to read and am beginning to make my way through the list of titles on my reading list. In addition to knitting, I have also been given a pattern and supplies for some cross-stitching. The knitting and the cross-stitching are past times that I enjoy, but are limited by what position I need to be in to best pick up the babies heart beats. This is actually a good thing, because when I do get the ability to sit up and work on them they are little added treats instead of everyday occurrences.

 Because I am continually on the monitors now, my daily exercise is limited to bathroom breaks and showers. While this can feel very confining, the upside is that I get to hear my babies at all times, day and night. I don't have to sit and wonder in between monitoring if they are okay. There is someone watching them at all times and the instant they begin to get into trouble we can take immediate action. I appreciate and respect the doctors for taking this course of action and refusing to take chances with the lives of my girls. I do not envy them their job. I will never forget the look on the specialist's face early Saturday morning after one of the babies had experienced several drastic drops in her heart rate. It was evident the weight of the responsibility he bore as he had to make the decision to take them then and expose them to pre-mature risks, or allow them to stay put and possibly lose one or both of them. I am thankful for doctors that value life and strive their best to make decisions to protect and preserve it. They need our prayers!

The kids decided that last week would be a great time to start teething so visits with them were limited due to the fevers they were running. They seem to be over that hurdle, at least for the time being, and Stephen has been able to bring them up to see me this week. While it is difficult to interact with them like I did when I was off the monitors, it is still a blessing to see their faces and to remind them that I love them, miss them, and am coming home soon! I am thankful that they are young enough that they won't remember this time I had to be away from them.

The nurses and doctors continue to help me and make my stay as comfortable as possible. I pray that as my time continues here, my attitude would stay focused on the Lord and that He would be able to use me to show His love to those I come in contact with. I remind myself daily that my situation was not a surprise to Him, and that He has put me in this place for such a time as this.

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, cards, visits, and gifts. My heart is truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I (and my family) have received from the body of Christ.

Not As Bored As They Want To Be

Probably within minutes of posting her blog on doctors orders to stay bored and pregnant, Gina was moved from 4th floor back to the 2nd floor at Wesley due to the monitoring on Wednesday evening.  Following are the texts that Gina sent us (Andersons):

Thursday:  "Things are stable.  The girls keep having some decelerations in their heart rates - that's why I'm being monitored continually.  Every baby, no matter how healthy, has these decells (decelerations of heart rate), but it's tricky with mine because that's the doctor's only way to tell if there's a problem.  They have redosed the steroids and magnesium just in case we have to take them sooner rather than later."

Friday: "I am doing well and the girls are doing well. Still having some decelerations in their heart rates.  I finished the mag(nesium) at 9:25...last night and had the last steroid shot this morning at 9....  They actually took me off continuous monitoring and moved me back to my old room.  However, that only lasted about 2 hours.  The specialist doctor reviewed the heart strips and wanted me back on the second floor for continuous monitoring again.  I think he is simply erring on the side of caution which I respect and appreciate.  It's hard for (my children) to visit when I'm all hooked up to monitors, and I can't get out of bed.  Plus, setting them on the bed with me can be dangerous because of my IV port and various extra things I'm having to wear."

Saturday:  "The girls had a rough night with dropping heart rates.  It has been decided that I will remain on the 2nd floor with 24/7 monitoring for the remainder of my stay.  ....Everyone is trying to squeak out as much time as they can for the sake of the babies.  It can change any minute and we are very much aware that this has become a day by day, hour by hour thing.  Please pray for wisdom for the doctors as they make decisions and then for Stephen and I as we try and make decisions when everything is so unsure.  There is a peace and I am reminded that while things are out of my hands, they are in God's hands and He doesn't make mistakes.  For the time being, I would hold off on visitors.  Nights have been pretty interrupted as far as sleep goes and we still aren't sure about the events of the day.  They are going to be doing a biophysical on the girls (today)."

We will keep you posted as we know more from Stephen and Gina.  Please keep this dear family in your prayers!  Thanks so much!

Daily Routine

DAY 16

Someone once said, "No news is good news" and I suppose that sentiment rings true for me. Every day the doctors tell me to "Stay boring" and so far I think I have complied to their wishes. Unfortunately, boredom is not a very exciting topic to write about. Each evening I sit and think about my day and if there was anything newsworthy for me to blog. As I was processing the events of today, I came to the conclusion that it was a pretty routine day, but then I realized that some of you might be curious as to what a typical day in the hospital looks like for me. So here it goes.

Each day starts shortly after 5:00am with my night shift nurse coming in to take my vitals and listen to the babies heart beats so they can bring the doctors up to date before they go on their rounds. I had heard that a very rare breed of individuals operate at this un-human hour in the morning. I can assure you (much to my disbelief) that indeed they do. I however, am not one of them. At least not by choice.

I have two doctors that come by every morning to check on my status and to tell me my job that day is to stay pregnant. One doctor is the OBGYN that I was assigned to when I was admitted to Wesley. The other doctor, works under the specialist who reviews all the paper work of my pregnancy and makes the determining decisions of what is in the best good for the babies and for myself. This specialist comes by once a week to check on me and to verify that we are on the same page for that week.

Along with these doctors (and sometimes separately from the doctors) come a group of medical students. The first couple of days in the hospital, it was a little unnerving being woken up by so many people wanting to touch my stomach and ask me questions, but now I'm beginning to get used to it. 

Around 7:00am the night shift nurses turns her patients over to the day shift nurse. I am usually up by this point and a little more cognitive of my surroundings. Breakfast usually comes somewhere between 7:30-7:45. Being the mom of three little ones, I have learned how to eat quickly which has proved beneficial, since I have about 15 minutes (sometimes less) to eat my breakfast before the nurse comes in to monitor me.

As far as the monitoring process goes, I lay down on the bed and the nurse attaches three devices to my stomach. One device picks up Baby A's heart, another picks up Baby B's heart, and the third reads any contractions that I may have. Theses devices are attached to a monitor that then prints a graph readout of the information as well as provides a screen with which to see the information. If babies are good and don't move around too much, I am there for an hour. If they are active and keep rolling away from the monitors, so that the machine can't pick up their hearts, I can be there anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours.

After my monitoring I am free until 2:00pm. The nurse will come in later that morning to give me my pre-natal and folic acid and then dinning services will come by to pick up my breakfast tray and take my lunch menu. While I may not be a fan of everything that I have eaten here at Wesley, I am impressed by their variety and their very professional and friendly staff. If a meal is scheduled that I don't particularly care for, I have the ability to swap it out from a large list of additional items that are offered daily. That feature has been a very nice blessing!

I usually fill my morning hours reading, journaling, knitting, or working on Sudoku puzzles. If I am really antsy, I will put on my shoes and walk the floor. The nurses joke with me that I am putting in my rounds. I am not allowed to leave the floor without Stephen or another responsible adult with me. The same rule applies for going outside. While this rule makes me feel rather confined, I understand that they are looking out for my safety and the safety of my children. They simply do not want to risk me being alone, going into pre-term labor, and not having the ability to get back to where I need to be. I now understand a little better how my son must feel when he wants to go outside and I can't take him right away. It's all in perspective.

Lunch comes somewhere between 12:00-12:30. After my afternoon monitoring I have free time till dinner which comes 5:00-5:30. Dining services come back sometime during this span and take my dinner and breakfast order. The nurse also comes back to get another round of vitals. Stephen usually brings one, both, or all of the children during this down time. It is the best feeling in the world to see their faces come around the door. We have managed to keep the kids entertained pretty well in the room, and often take the opportunity to go outside with them. Joel is a big fan of riding in the wheel chair with me.

After dinner I usually read or work on a blog till my evening monitoring. Another pastime is listening to Charles Swindoll on my iPhone. Once the evening monitoring is finished (usually by 9 or 10) and the nurse has taken my last round of vitals, I am on my own for the rest of the night.  

The days tend to move rather slowly but looking back on the weeks, they go by fairly quickly. When I am tempted to complain, I often hear the words of the old hymn Count Your Many Blessings run through my head.

" Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly.

And you will be singing as the days go by.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God has done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God has done."

Well, I hope I have been able to give you a better picture of what my hospital stay looks like so far. I will keep trying to find new topics and exciting updates to bring you while still staying boring and pregnant. Doctor's orders!

NICU Tour

DAY 12

Praise the Lord for determined nurses. Being in the hospital for almost two weeks, I have become familiar with almost every nurse on the fourth floor. Many of them I have had several times, multiple days in a row. Several, however, I have only seen as they have worked on different wings. The nurse that was in charge of me today was one of those latter nurses.


The nurse shift took place at 7:00am this morning and apparently she had been discussing my situation with some of my previous nurses. She heard that I had been attempting to schedule a NICU visit for the past several days but had been unsuccessful. Well, she came into my room bright and early as a woman on a mission. My tour was going to happen on her shift if she had anything to say about it. I told her that I would like my husband on the tour if at all possible, and she asked how soon he could get to the hospital. Once I told her he could be there in half an hour she called down to the NICU and spoke with the charge nurse. The NICU nurse acknowledged who I was and then said they would do everything in their power to get us in at 5:00pm. I called Stephen and he said he would be there. We knew that even with the best laid intentions and planning when 5:00 rolled around there was still a chance we wouldn't be able to get in, but when the time came, my nurse knocked on my door with a wheelchair and triumphantly said, "Your chariot awaits my lady." Praise the Lord!!


She wheeled me down to the admissions desk outside the NICU and instructed Stephen and I to wash our hands and arms thoroughly. Then she handed us over to the NICU charge nurse. She was an extremely busy woman who talked a mile a minute. We struggled to keep up with the information she was pouring out upon us. I'm not sure if I was prepared for what awaited us when she pressed the code and the automatic doors of the NICU swung open.


The area that we walked into was separated into three different sections. Little plastic toped containers that are commonly associated with the NICU lined the walls with an occasional open crib between them. Monitors were everywhere. Tiny bundled heaps lay in majority of the basinet containers. There were groups of people huddled around certain ones in the room. Doctors were seen standing over babies or looking at computer screens, nurses bustled back and forth. There was a lot of beeping. It smelled and looked very much like a hospital.


The nurse asked how far along I was. "Twenty-six weeks'" I said, still taking in the sights around me. She directed Stephen and I over to a small basinet and told us that this baby was 26 weeks. What baby? I thought. There was so much tubing and wiring going into the container that I had to stand up out of the wheel chair to see the baby. He was tiny. His foot was the size of the tip of Stephen's pinky finger. A penny could have covered his whole hand. His head was about the size of a small orange. His face was covered by a white bandage to help protect his eyes since he was laying under some light treatments. I starred at wonder and disbelief as I felt the girls kicking inside of me. The only thought I could form was "Lord, please don't let our girls come yet."


She continued to tell us about the various tubing and wiring coming out of the baby and what purpose it served. She also showed us several other babies at various levels of treatments. Some were able to be in open cribs with just some nasal tubing, others were laying under heat lamps with feeding tubes.


At one point she wheeled us into a waiting room for moms and dads to wait in while doctors and/or nurses did examinations of their babies. She gave us some reading materials and then tried to explain how visiting and feedings and other tasks worked in the NICU.  She explained that for our girls to be able to leave the hospital, they must be able to hold and keep a healthy body temperature,  be able to eat and gain back their birth weight, and they must be able to breath on their own without any intervention. They did not release babies based on a weight, just on if they could pass those three tests. She also explained that our babies, upon birth, would be assigned to two different NICU teams since they would each need immediate attention. Because of this, they would probably start their NICU experience separated from each other in different areas of the NICU. My mommy side did not like this. She did assure us, however, that they would do everything they could to put the babies next to each other as soon as possible, but kindly explained they couldn't guarantee it would happen right away. She said putting babies in the same container or crib together is not practiced there, but if a serious situation arose and we (as the parents) thought it would benefit our babies we were welcome to ask for it. She said while it is not the norm for them; they have been known to make special exceptions. She encouraged us to ask questions and assured us that their goal was to do everything they could for our girls. My mommy side liked that answer.  


I explained that they were going to take the babies at thirty-two weeks and asked if it would be possible to see a thirty-two week old baby. She thought for a moment but before she could answer, a dad, who had been sitting in the room while she was talking, said, "They can see ours!" She wheeled us over to where his wife was standing by a covered bassinet. They had twin girls. One was dressed and bundled up under a blanket with only a feeding tube. I was not sure of her current weight but she weighed  3 pounds 10 ounces at birth. She looked like a normal baby just much smaller. Her tiny little eyes were open and looking around The other girl looked more like the first twin we had seen upon entering the NICU. She was drastically smaller and weighed only a pound and some ounces. I wondered if it were a case of twin to twin transfusion (babies share a placenta and one baby robs the nutrients; therefore growing bigger).


By the time Stephen and I arrived back in my room, my head was whirling with all the information. I was glad to have the tour and to be able to picture the environment that our girls would be in, but was so desperately wishing that we would be able to take them home with us. This summer will definitely be broken up into two very difficult chapters in our lives. The first is my hospital stay; the second is the girls' hospital stay.


My thoughts as I think back on the tour this evening is what a great God we have. Not only did He create life as seen in these tiny, delicate babies, but He has allowed us the ability to learn and develop medical capabilities to sustain that life at such an early age. Each child in the NICU (and everywhere) bears the handprint of God. They are miracles and witness of God's goodness and the loving intricate care He takes in fashioning each one of us. I am looking forward to meeting these two little girls that he is so carefully forming inside of me at this moment!

Weight Day

This is my first update on the new blog. I want to give a HUGE thanks to Mark and Anbeth Anderson for helping me figure out how to set up everything. Hopefully, this will be good tool to help keep all of you who are praying for me and my family updated.

DAY 10



The girls did very well on their morning and afternoon monitoring. We have had trouble in the past with them being very active during the times the nurses come to monitor their hearts. Their constant movements create a lot of disruption on the strip that records their heart waves; therefore, making it difficult for the doctors to give an accurate assessment. Today, however, they held relatively still so the strip gave a nice clean read.


I find myself breathing a sigh of relief each time the girls' hearts are picked up on the monitors. I am reminded as I lay there listening to what sounds like horse's hooves hammering away, that this moment is a gift from God. This time that I have been given to feel their movements, to hear their hearts beating, to see their little faces on the ultrasound machine, these are all reminders that life is precious and carefully designed.

Psalm 139:3-16

 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Sometimes I think if I listen very carefully, I can almost hear them saying "He made me! Isn't our God an awesome God!" Anyone who believes life does not exist before birth or that God is not real clearly has never seen two unborn babies interact together in the womb, or seen a four chambered heart (the size of a dime) thumbing away. Truly an amazing sight.

In addition to my monitoring, I had my weekly sonogram this afternoon. Every week they do what is called a biophysical on the girls. They check breathing practices, movements, cords, and probably a few other things that I wouldn't know how to spell or pronounce. They also did a weight check. One baby is 1 pound 8 ounces and the other is 1 pound 9 ounces. It will be another three weeks before they are weighed again. It's always a challenge to see how big I can get them for the next time. Just a warning, but a twin pregnancy diet can ruin you for life. It is basically eat anything that you see and then help yourself to seconds. Calories become your friend and milkshakes are encouraged.

Stephen came down to see me without the kids this evening. Our hope was to be able to get a tour of the NICU, but we are learning that it's not as easy as it may seem. They can't schedule appointments because of unpredictability of when babies might come to them. Here is how the system works. We tell my charge nurse when we are ready to go down, and she calls to see if they are available.

If they are, great! If not, we wait until the set time they give us (when they think they will be available) and call back to check again. So far Stephen and I aren't having much luck. We have struck out twice. Oh well, we aren't in any hurry to use their services. Hopefully, these babies will stay put for another 7 weeks. (Please fly by....please fly by.....please fly by)

The nurses have been wonderful and have taken great care of me. They listen patiently as I go on and on about my kids at home, showing them picture after picture on my phone.

I miss my family and am counting down each day knowing that I am one more day closer to going home. Stephen brings the kids to see me regularly, and we Facetime in between visits. Thank the Lord for modern technology!!!!

While this is not the path I would have planned for myself, it is the path the Lord has chosen for me. My prayer is that I would take every opportunity to glorify His name through every day and every experience that comes my way. He has done great things and is worthy to be praised!