Little Fighter Kaiden
The twins were born prematurely at 28 weeks on June 10th 2018.
Tucker weighed 2lbs 2oz
Kaiden weighed 1lb 2oz
Tucker was discharged from the hospital in late August, while Kaiden is still in the hospital continuing to fight.
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My sister Katie and my bro in law Evan, as you know, are doing everything possible to give birth to TWO healthy baby boys. This is a costly journey to say the least, but their hearts and faith are keeping them committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their unborn babies.
Please help me, help them. Funds raised will go to the costs associated with this journey. Primarily medical costs, but will also help support their financial obligations due to this unforeseen situation.
The medical expenses Evan & Katie face follow one of two paths: surgery then eventual NICU placement for the babies for several months, or hospitalized bed rest, and then delivery and a NICU stay for several months. Hospitalization runs in the thousands per day, and while they're insured, whether or not their insurance views any of the above treatments as experiential or "out of network" is unknown. Either way, their out of pocket expenses will be severe, and any love and support to practically help them during this time will go a long way.
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Here is their journey:
February 4th:
TWO is a BIG number in our house.
Beckett turns TWO this month.
And we’re adding TWO this Summer.
Identical twins coming AUGUST 2018.
Beckett is in for it...And so are we!
March 25th:
When I posted the poll for the sex of our babies I didn’t realize the rollercoaster that we would soon be facing. In all pregnancies the ultimate wish is for healthy babies. Unfortunately, at our appointment on Tuesday, we were blind sighted by news that has put Evan and I on an extremely long and emotional path until we hopefully end up with 2 healthy babies. Odds don’t seem to be in our favor as what we are facing is complicated and rare. For now, we won’t be going into much detail. At this point, it’s a multitude of specialist appointments in various states, emotions, and continued hope and prayer. We respectfully ask for privacy at this time until we are ready to provide more information but most importantly we ask for prayer for our twins.
March 28th:
Now that Evan and I have decided a plan for care moving forward, we thought we should provide a little more information about what we are going through.
On Tuesday, March 20th, I had a routine 16-week appointment which included finding out the sex of our babies, whom are boys, and we are very excited. It was the first appointment that Evan was unable to make so I chose to not watch the ultrasound or find out the sex without Evan being present. Later that day we found out together but we weren’t as eager to know after hearing the news we learned.
After the exam, the doctor came in and had me put Evan on the phone. At that time she proceeded to tell us that Baby A was 40% smaller than Baby B, had a velamentous cord insertion, and irregular umbilical blood flow. She recommended we see a specialist in Kirkland, Washington on Friday as what we were facing was extremely concerning regarding the safety of the entire pregnancy.
Shocked and emotional, Evan and I packed our bags and headed to Washington. At our appointment they confirmed the previous findings and informed us of options and the unlikelihood of baby A surviving the pregnancy along with risks for baby B. What our babies are dealing with is rare. Only 10% of monochorionic pregnancies develop this and ours is a severe case. It’s called sIUGR for those that care to research it further.
We have limited options in terms of care and either option isn’t ideal, with 1 or both babies being at risk regardless of our choice. At this time we’ve decided to go with Expectant Management, where I’ll be seen by the doctor and have detailed ultrasounds to determine present levels 2-3 times a week.
Our only goal at this point is making is to a growth scan (2 weeks later) to determine if baby A is managing to get enough nutrients to grow on their own growth curve. The goal appointment is on April 5th and I have 3 other appointments to monitor the pregnancy within that time. Each appointment we will have to decide if we feel it’s safe enough to continue monitoring, go into surgery, or we could unfortunately find out we lost both babies. We will literally be looking towards 1 appointment at a time, fearful yet hopeful of the news we might hear. Luckily the doctor felt comfortable waiting till our next appointment, this Thursday, where we will again have to decide if we still want to continue monitoring or the need for surgery.
All of this means Evan, Beckett and I will all be living in different places. By the grace of God we are lucky enough that it allows us to utilize family. I’ll be living with my sister in Kent, WA and she will attend all my emotional appointments with me. Beckett will be living with my parents in Yelm, WA, whom I’ll visit on weekends. Evan will go home to Eugene, OR to continue working, visiting us as much as possible. If an emergency happens he will immediately hop on a plane to Seattle.
The most ideal scenario is that we will make it with expectant management till viability (24-26 weeks) where I will then be placed on continuous monitoring through bed rest in the hospital, till they decide it’s safest for the babies to be born via emergency C-Section rather than continue the pregnancy. Once born, we expect extended NICU stays (3 months or more) in Washington till they are strong enough to come home. We pray that both babies are strong enough to make it thru this challenging journey.
I firmly believe prayer is working. On Monday’s appointment the doctor didn’t say there was enough difference since Friday to say there’s been improvement, but baby A had some intermittent and reversed blood flow rather than continuous reversed. We will take what we can get and considered it a sign of possible change for the better.
At this time all I can do, though minimal, to improve our odds, is take baby aspirin, soak in warm baths up to my neck for an hour, and eat as close to 175 grams of protein daily.
Please continue to pray. We are hoping that come this Thursday’s appointment we will either see some intermittent/reversed flow or only intermittent flow rather than just reversed. And as said earlier, our main goal and hope currently is that we are able to get to our appointment April 5th without surgery or death to have more data to determine what’s the best path going forward.
We appreciate everyone’s well wishes and continue to ask for privacy and prayers as we embark on this extremely challenging journey.
