"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art." - La Rochefoucauld

Monday, September 25, 2006

Dear Family, Friends and Blog Junkies!

Danielle and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us through this very trying time in our lives. We thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, letters, emails, blog posts and phone calls of constant support. We truly believe in our hearts that the positive thoughts and many, many prayers have given our boys this opportunity to thrive in the NICU.

While this experience has been difficult for me personally, I cannot explain how difficult this has been for my beautiful bride. Imagine being bedridden for nearly 4 months straight. After that first week of rest and relaxation, the idle time begins to turn into clock watching, restlessness and the feeling of being unable to be self-sufficient. I cannot begin to explain the amount of respect I have for my wife for doing whatever was best for our boys when they needed it most. I know as parents, we would do anything necessary for our boys, but the consumption of 315 cans of Boost protein shakes warrants high praise. I drank one can myself and I can honestly say it was utterly disgusting. It tasted of medicine, metal and chocolate. A wonderful combination!

So our boys continue to amaze us every day. They are doing exceptionally well in the NICU. They remain on room air with the assistance of nasal cannula’s lightly blowing the room air through their tiny nasal canals. They both have done very well with their feedings, which are administered via feeding tube every three hours. Jake is currently taking about an ounce every 3 hours and his lil’ bro is sucking down about 2/3 an ounce every three hours. I was asked why they were fed so little and it made me think about the amount they were receiving. When you put this amount in perspective it makes a little more sense. Currently Ben weighs approximately 34 ounces ( 2lbs 2 ozs) and he is receiving daily feedings of approximately 5.5 ounces of milk. That amount of milk is over 16% of Ben’s total weight. That would be like a 150lb person consuming 24 pounds of milk…….daily!!!

All in all we are absolutely thrilled with the boys continual progress and their overall good health. We continue to ask everyone that has a direct line to the big man upstairs to continue to give a shout out for Jake and Ben, our little miracles. We hope to update the blog more frequently now that we have somewhat of a routine in order and the dust has begun to settle. Keep visiting the blog for the latest action photos.

Love Kevin and Danielle

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kevin and Danielle, your faithfulness and endurance are encouraging. Those little boys are truly a blessing from heaven. I know that God will continue to bless, sustain, comfort, enrich, and provide for those adorable boys and the both of you :) Keeping you all in prayer,
Melissa

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Danny and Kevin just caught up today and we checked out your site and I can't believe what you have been through. God bless you all!
Your sons are beautiful little guys and before you know it they will be jumping on the sofa and throwing food (I'm not joking :-)
Hang in there and have fun with those little sweethearts.
Love, Danny , Michele & Lucas

Anonymous said...

Hi you two wonderful parents!!!! I am soooo thrilled with all the updates I have received from my sister....I just can't wait to meet them...but am really looking forward to seeing you soon! God bless and everyone are still in my prayers:)

Anonymous said...

Hi, guys! So glad to hear that the boys continue to defy the odds and these little miracle babies are hangin' tough! I think they get that persistance and will from you two as you have lead by example this entire pregnancy. I continue to pray for all of you and am so thankful for this blog so I am updated on the latest.
xoxo (from Seattle!!!)
Jeannette

Stephen & Fiona Roberts said...

Dear Kevin and Danielle,

I think that hard times are put into our lives to build that appreciation for what we get following the hardship.

As a new parent myself, I understand only now what a fantastic gift children are. Enjoy them.

We've put your blog as a link from ours so our relatives can share and appreciate your hard but ultimately fantastic story.

Regards

Stephen and Fiona - South Africa