A Gift Of Photography.

NICU Nurse Amy Cherry is not only a highly skilled nurse, she's also a talented photographer.  Last week, Amy gave us the gift of a portrait session as a surprise!  Check out the photos here:  Grace and Lily by: Amy Cherry Photography   Visit Amy's website here:  Amy Cherry Photography

One Month Pics

Here are some pictures of the girls with their one month stickers!

43 days later...

Here we are at day number 43 of the girls' stay in the special care nursery. They have made so much progress and grow so much each day. Since the beginning, the girls have been taken out of their isolettes and are in open cribs since they are able to regulate their own body temps, they are off their breathing assistance all together (no more nasal cannula!), they are bottle feeding (no more feeding tubes!), and finally they are not dropping their heart rates and oxygen levels nearly as much as they used to (less & less ding ding ding dinging!). They recently passed their eye exams and hearing tests as well!  They continue to gain weight each day and as of April 28th, Grace weighs 5lbs 13oz and Lily weighs 5lbs 6oz.

Wanna play a game?

Yes, we are playing the waiting game now. In order for Lily & Grace to be discharged, they must continue to eat at their feedings and gain weight. Additionally, we are now in the home stretch which some may argue feels like the longest part because they must go 5-7 whole days with out any "episodes"--by episodes we mean, no significant drops in their heart rates and oxygen saturation levels. Grace has gone 48 hours without any episodes at one time and Lily pretty close to that however, they have had one or two each over the past couple days so the 5-7 day timeline starts over again. We obviously want our little ladies to come home as soon as possible but know that the special care nursery is where they need to be right now. Once they go 5-7 days with out these episodes, statistics show that they are ready to go home with out the worry of them having these episodes any longer. We're getting close!

The Surprise Arrival...

 WELCOME!

Welcome to "The Herr Family" webpage! We have created this page so that everyone can keep up with the twins' progress and what has been happening with us. We hope you will check this often! -Michelle & Jeremy

A Little Recap...

Here's a little recap of the surprise arrival that shocked us all!  I was supposed to have my baby shower on March 17th however, the twins had other plans in mind. At around 4:30 am, I woke up with some minor back pains which within minutes, quickly escalated to full on contractions. We decided to go ahead to the hospital after the pain was increasing in intensity. We checked into the hospital at about 5:27am where they assessed the situation and quickly came the conclusion that I was in full labor. The decision was made to do an emergency C-Section since the babies were at 29 weeks gestation and labor had progressed so quickly. I was rushed into the OR around 5:50am and Grace was born at 5:58am and Lily was born at 5:59am! 

 About the Twins...

Grace was born weighing 3lbs 5oz and needed breathing assistance from the beginning. Lily was born weighing 3lbs 4oz and needed to be intubated immediately. The girls were taken to the special care nursery and were put into their isolettes (incubators) where they were attached to heart monitors, feeding tubes, fluids, etc.The doctors and nurses were optimistic about Grace & Lily and their weights at birth were better than they expected for 29 week twins. By the next day, Lily was taken off of the ventilator and put on the c-pap machine just like Grace. Below are pictures of Grace at 1 week old, and Lily at 1 week old! They made so much progress in one week. What you see near their noses is called the RAM cannula which is on the c-pap setting.