Our "Ruthi Girl"

I don't have many moments to actually think these days. And I think that's a good thing. The last several months have been some of the most challenging of my life. When Hudson and I found out we were having twins, we were hit with the same emotions most parents of twins are: excited, scared, anxious, worried, more excitement..and a little more scared. We knew from very early on that we were expecting twins and we also had anxiety about the pregnancy from early on. At my very first ultrasound we were told that twin B may not make it. It was a smaller sac than twin A. At each appointment Twin B continued to grow but continued to be smaller than A. Fast forward a few months when I began to have weekly ultrasounds to monitor growth. Twin B who we now knew was a girl, Ruthi Louise, was still smaller than Sims but it was a growing concern for our doctor. By 34 weeks I was put in the hospital on bed rest to keep a close eye on growth with the plan of taking the twins if the doctors continued to see a slowing in the growth of Ruthi. Just shy of 35 weeks, another ultrasound confirmed that it was time for them to enter the world. 

I had a Csection this time around and everything went as well as you'd hope. Sims came out screaming at 10:05 and Ruthi came out making her dainty noises just a minute later. Both babies were doing incredibly well for arriving unexpectedly 5 weeks early: both ate well, needed no oxygen or other interventions. In fact, Sims went home with us a few days later. Ruthi was a tiny little thing- smaller than predicted on ultrasounds....just 3 lb 7 oz. Her only job, and what kept her in the NICU for another 10 days, was plumping up. She needed to be 4lb...just 4 lbs to come home!! 

The days between bringing Sims home and waiting for Ruthi to grow were super hard. Having a newborn at our house in addition to a 3 year old, recovering from a csection, and driving back and forth to the NICU each day to visit and feed our sweet girl. I didn't have many moments to think- and it was a really good thing! 

Ruthi came home 10 days later and was so happy to be home! 

Just shy of 2 months, Ruthi picked up a cold that progressed into bronchiolitis. Over a period of a couple of days her runny nose and sneezing turned into lots of wheezing and turning purple while eating. We took her to the pediatrician who immediately put her on oxygen and called EMS to take her to Vanderbilt. She spent a couple of days in the ER, trauma room and PICU before becoming stable enough to be moved to a regular room. Ruthi stayed at Vandy for another 5 days until she could successfully be weaned off of oxygen. During her time in the hospital, she didn't gain any weight. She had an IV to keep her hydrated but wasn't able to tolerate eating much due to her respiratory rate being so high. Luckily, shortly after being discharged she picked right back up on feedings and weight gain started increasing again. It was such a blessing that I didn't have time to think and worry 24/7. 

A week after Ruthi came home, we took her in for two month shots. Shots and visit went well...she got an A+ all around. That afternoon, she started having blood in her stool. Turns out blood in stool is a pretty good indication of a food allergy. This persisted for over a month- I began cutting things out of my diet...dairy, soy and then later wheat, eggs, nuts. Still she had blood in her diaper and started refusing to eat. After not eating for nearly two days, we landed back at Vandy. Long story short- Ruthi has a food allergy (s) that really irritated and inflamed her GI tract. She was in so much pain that she had an aversion to eating. My elimination diet wasn't working or wasn't working fast enough so we switched her to a hypoallergenic formula that has MADE a world of a difference. Sign my up to be a spokesperson for Elecare!

The past few months have been nothing short of crazy, busy and nerve wracking. And, I'll tell you...sometimes it's a really good thing that you don't have time to worry. 

Ruthi is doing so well! I'm obviously a bit biased but I think she's the most beautiful baby girl in the world. And she's one heck of a strong girl! We are so very grateful and blessed and I thank the good Lord every day that our twin B hung in there!