Brett Alan Tracy

It wasn't perfect and it wasn't routine, but then again neither was my pregnancy. Wednesday morning started at 3am for me, after a couple of hours my contractions progressed and I woke Nate up and we dropped off the girls. On the way into the hospital the pain that I had been having on my right side continued to intensify. The nurse started to monitor the baby's heart rate and after a few minutes she called my OB who arrived within minutes. The next thing I know, I have nurses all around me prepping me for an emergency C-Section. Somehow in the midst of all of this, Nate and I were left alone just long enough for him to give me a blessing(I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband)The baby's heart rate had increased to 210 and continued to go up. We arrived at the hospital at around 6:20 and by 7:36 baby Brett had arrived.

The pain in my right side was my placenta rupturing which put stress on the baby and caused his heart rate to increase and put him in a state of distress. Brett's recpitory was high, his blood oxygen was low and he had a PDA(Patent Ductus Arteriosus)a type of heart murmur. They started an IV, put him on oxygen, and to help the PDA correct itself he was put in a NICU box in a dark room and wasn't allowed any stimulation. Which meant that Nate and I weren't allowed to touch or even talk to him. I was a mess, I couldn't hold my sweet baby boy that I had worked so hard to get here. Finally Thursday afternoon wonderful nurse Jenny(she's been there for all 3 of our babies deliveries)came and got Nate and I. She decided that since someone had to hold Brett while she was changing his bedding that it may as well be us. We got to hold him for 10 minutes and then we had to give him back. It was Friday afternoon before we got to hold him again. They let me burp him after they fed him thru his feeding tube.

My poor little guy has had a rough go, but he is making progress everyday. He started Wednesday at 80% oxygen and tonight(Sunday)he is down to 33% and he has to be at 21% for 24 hours before he can go home. They took out the feeding tube this morning and he is nursing well. He still has 3 to 4 days of antibiotics left but I'm being optimistic that we'll be able to go home soon. Everyone has been so wonderful, so many prayers and visitors. The nurses and my doctors are amazing. Nate and I have been so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to help take care of us.

The countdown begins!

26 weeks ago I thought there was no way possible that I would make it this far, let alone with my sanity intact. After months of throwing up, needles, IV's, hospitals, and Dr.'s appointments I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! This pregnancy has been filled with ups and downs(more downs than ups) but I am so grateful to be having this baby boy. As of my last ultrasound 2 weeks ago, the baby is right on schedule. I have to say that with everything that has happened its been so nice to get to see him every 3 weeks, I've had 11 ultrasounds in the pregnancy. We just pray and are keeping our fingers crossed that there are no ill effects on the baby with everything that has happened and all the medication that they have had me on. My perinatologist and my nephrologist both think that it will take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks for my body to reset and if it doesn't then I'll have to have a biopsy done on my kidneys.

In other news, the girls are growing like weeds and watering them doesn't help! Every Thursday Nate flood irrigates our yard and the girls think that it is the coolest thing.  It's only been warm enough for the girls to play in the water once over the past month. The weather here has been crazy, rain, snow, wind, and if we are lucky, occasionally the sun will shine. So we spend a lot of time inside making forts, watching netflix, and using our imagination:

Here they are using empty diaper boxes as race cars, spaceships, and a train. I love that they play together, don't let me fool you....they definitely fight with each other and Maya loves to antagonize Jensen. Its really sad that Maya is only 2 and she knows exactly what to do to push Jensen's buttons! Nate and I really have to use our self control sometimes and not laugh when Maya does stuff to Jensen, we don't want to encourage her to pick on Jensen, but sometimes its hilarious! The girls share a room and have their own beds but sleep together. Every night at 8:30 they lay sideways on Jensen's bed, Nate reads them 4 to 5 of their books and then a chapter or two out of the classics, i.e. Peter Pan, The Little Princess, Camelot, and Treasure Island. They love story time and only Daddy is allowed to read, if I read to them Daddy still has to come in and read before they will go to bed.