Groovy Sputum

Merry Christmas!

The Lord has truly blessed us this year: our home is nearly finished, He gave me a great new job, and we are joyously awaiting the birth of our eighth child, Micah Kathleen. God is good. Don’t forget to take time this Christmas to thank Him for all that you have and all that He is.

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Sad News

I am sorry to have to write this post, but Valerie and I went in for a check up this morning and the doctor was only able to find one beating heart. Sometime between last Saturday and today, Micaiah’s life ended. Valerie expressed our feelings much better than I ever could with “When The Answer Is No”. Please continue to pray for Micah. There is still a long way to go before she is able to live independently of Valerie and we appreciate each and every time her name is lifted up before the Lord.

Two Hearts

Dr. Rink just did a quick ultrasound and we saw two strong heart beats! That means that the surgery didn’t damage the placenta too much and that both girls are still getting nourishment. The question now is did the surgery do enough to even out the blood supply? Only time will tell and Valerie will be on bed rest for a while to try and prevent early labor. The doctors will also be following up weekly from here on out to look for TTTS returning. Please continue to pray that the twins grow evenly and that they can remain in Valerie until term.

So Far, So Good

Pastor Mike just left after reading Psalm 103 and praying with us. I spoke with the surgeon around 1:00 and he is pleased with the outcome up to this point. He mentioned that both girls hearts were beating strong when the procedure ended, but that we will know more in terms of how successful thing really are when he does an ultrasound tomorrow morning. Until then it is just a well deserved rest for Valerie.

Prepping

Valerie just went in for surgery prep. She should be in surgery until about 12:00 or 12:30.

Surgery

The three options to correct TTTS are: 1.) do nothing, 2.) drain some amniotic fluid, and 3.) operate on the placenta to try and correct the imbalance of blood flow to the girls. We have a great sense of peace that the third option is the best because it increases the chances that both girls will survive and it reduces the chances that they will be born pre-term should they survive the surgery.

The doctor just gave us an update and said that his team can be ready to operate between 10:30 and 11:00. Valerie will be awake but with an epidural. She will be in OSU hospital overnight and should be allowed to go home to bed rest tomorrow.

Twin Girls

I know we have been secretive about the gender of our twins, but we have been trying to wait until we had their names picked out before blabbing. After the doctor visit yesterday, we can officially announce them: Micah & Micaiah.

Because the girls share a placenta, they are identical twins. Their names are actually the same in Hebrew and mean “Who is like God?” The obvious answer to that is: no one. These girls may look alike, act alike, and be the same age, but nothing is like our God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Healer of life.

Please pray for these little girls. They are 20 1/2 weeks along and have developed Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) which basically means that the blood flow from the placenta is not equal. One gets too much and the other not enough. This is a fatal syndrome if treatment is not done, so we are meeting with a surgeon at The Ohio State University Medical Center this morning at 7:00 to get his recommendation on the type of surgery to have done. The surgery team has an opening around noon today and most likely something will be done then, so we need wisdom…in a bad way.

The hospital has Wi-Fi and I will be updating my blog through out the day. Please pray that God’s will be done in the lives of Micah & Micaiah. We selfishly want to see two little ones crawling around our Christmas tree next year, but that may not be His plan.

Ok, I Just Had The Best Espresso EVER!

We spent the day out yesterday tooling around Athens, Ohio.  It’s where my best friend grew up and we wanted to go back and see how the old town was fairing.  We went by Valerie’s old house, the elementary school she attended (which has since been torn down), the park where she used to skin her knees, and saw the local donut shop called McHappy’s.  The kids loved playing in the park south of town and we had a pb&j lunch in the very mild 50+ degree afternoon.

I began to get a bit drowsy mid afternoon (as is typical) so we swung by Court Street in pursuit of some espresso.  Many shops were closed due to the OU students being on holiday until the second academic quarter resumes in January, but I noticed a little shop that had its sign on.  It was called Court Street Coffee and I ordered a large mocha sans whipped cream.  Valerie had a decaf mocha with double whipped cream.  That’s how we roll.

Anyway, you might be wondering if I was being sarcastic in my post title about how good the drink was, but let me tell you I was not.  It was the absolute BEST espresso drink I have EVER had!  Seriously.  It was a perfect blend of espresso flavor, mocha, and creaminess.  Most mocha lattes you get grossly overdo the chocolate syrup and it drowns out the espresso flavor.  This drink had the ratio just right.  And the steamed milk was very creamy.  Typical lattes seem overly watery probably due to the fact that skim milk is used to save a buck.  I can’t verify if whole milk was used, but I suspect it was.

I savored the experience and took my time finishing the drink while Valerie had her’s consumed in a little over two minutes.  She later expressed remorse for her blunder, and I did feel pity for her, but not enough so to share my treasure with her. Selfish, I know.

The other cool thing about this place was that they are a Crimson Cup coffee shop.  I first discovered Crimson Cup Coffee a year ago when Valerie and I were away together in Marblehead. We stopped at a little place called Spill The Beans and they had the same cups as Court Street Coffee.  Crimson Cup is a Columbus based coffee company that supplies locally owned coffee shops with quality coffee.  They will even help you start your own, if you are into that sort of thing.  They are not a franchise, but a supplier, which allows for the local owner to be in charge.  If I ever get around to opening up The Mud Puddle, I will certainly think about Crimson Cup

Double The Fun…And The Stress!

I took the day off from work today and went with Valerie to her mid-term ultra sound reading.  This was particularly exciting because, as most of you know by now, there are two little souls in my wife’s pear shaped, hollow organ which made for a much more interesting time.  As a biologist, I always get a kick out of trying to stump the doctor by finding something he misses.  In this case, Valerie beat me to the punch when she correctly identified the membranes separating the babes, an observation the radiologist missed, by the way.  (Way to go, V!)  Two membranes means two sacs which means they have MUCH less chance of beating each other up before they are born.  Seriously, the risk of complications drastically goes down when twins each have their own sac.  Seriously.

Anyway, the ultra sound went well and the kiddos seem to be doing well.  They are the same size which means they are receiving equal amount of nourishment from mama, another bit of good news.  As for the “other” stuff you can see at the mid-term ultra sound, I’ll just say that we might know their genders, and we might know if they are identical or fraternal.  And then again we might not!  Mmmuuuuhahahahah! Evil, I know.

Here is where the stress comes in: do you know how difficult it is to come up with names for twins?  Seriously.  Frick & Frack are out (sorry, Charley) and we am not doing Cain & Abel or Jacob & Esau. Valerie would like to alliterate the names (that means that they start with the same letter or sound, Leigh Ann) but we are finding that difficult to do without lemmingly following current twin trends like Taylor & Tyler, Emma & Ella, Jacob & Jordan, or Madison & Morgan. We have traditionally gone with a Biblical first name that has a strong meaning and have used a family/meaningful middle name that is not necessarily found in the Bible.  If you have a suggestion, send it our way.