Twins: Totaly the way to go

When we found out Mary Jane was pregnant with twins we were amazed at the amount of people who made comments to the effect of, “oh…you’re in trouble now” or “I have no idea how you’re going to do it” or some other type of sentiment. It really didn’t freak us out because we tried so long to get pregnant that twins seemed about right. As Mary Jane would always say, “These are our first…we won’t know if we have it bad or good, because we have nothing to compare it too.”
Now I find myself with two post womb babies and you know what? I can’t figure out how all you people with only one kid at a time do it. Have you seen these two? I mean, I put one girl down and I get to pick up the other. When I put that one down and need to wait a while before I can hold a baby I think I am going to crazy. It’s hard enough only having two babies to shower love on….how did all of you handle life with only one?

Here let me show you what I mean. Here are our first family photos (I’m so excited about being in the same room I can hardly stand it).

See? Don’t you want twins now? Of course, if you get some, I recommend getting the type that go home with you right away. (but you do get all those great big-eye photos with the NICU variety so I’ll let you make that call).

Moving Day!!!

In case the picture hasn’t made it obvious…the girls have been moved into the same room! To say we’re thrilled would be the understatement of a lifetime. It was a truly wonderful moment to have all four of the Broge clan in a room together.

I could go on and on. There are a few other things to say, but the short version is they had some issues with desats but stabled out. The girls are doing well over all but could certainly afford to get bigger.

It is late, we are tired. I will write a longer post tomorrow, but in the mean time here are some pictures to share the joy we have at being all together.
mom with the girls
dad, content, falling asleep with the girls
best friends already

To Hold You Over

(Emma Jane) "Oh for crying out loud! Stop with the dress up!!! Leave me alone."

(Emma Jane) "Of course...I am really cute"

(Parker) "shh...I'm sleeping here"

A Little Perspective...

So how big are those girls now? Well, as I said yesterday they are both over 2 pounds. (around 2 pounds 6 ounces each).
But what does that mean? I can't visualize it.
Hmm, okay, how about this? In order to help you visualize we offer this.

What is it? It is a bear with a blood pressure cuff on. But not just any bear and not just any blood pressure cuff. This is Parker's bear wearing one of Parker's blood pressure cuff.

Thanks...but how big is the bear.

Hmm....does this help?

Only a little? Okay...then try this.

Also worth mentioning...it the blood pressure cuff goes around her leg.

Spotlight on: Quilts…Broge style

My aunt Nancy has been making quilts for kids in the family since…well, she probably doesn’t want me posting in a public place how long she’s been doing it. Let’s just say…awhile. It’s a great tradition and I love the fact that there is someone in our family who does it. Thank you.
You will notice there is one pink and one green. I don’t remember telling her color preferences which leads me to believe someone is reading the blog.
Actually I know you guys are, and while I’m thanking you, I just wanted to say thanks for all the prayers, posts, e-mails, and what not.

How do you like your baby?

Maybe a little less toasty. Mary Jane spent the later part of the day fearing that she was being “that” mom. Parker’s heart was beating really fast and she just seemed to be really hot. The nurse during the day obliged Mary Jane and took her temperature only to find her core temp was fine. Later, after I had come back again from church, when we were taking Parker out so I could hold her, I noticed it too. She was my sneaky little red monkey. Turns out the Giraffe was too warm, and she was getting a little too toasty.
Thankfully that is pretty much the level of excitement for the day. The girls have had a couple of nice boring days. We’re praying for more of them. Currently they are both going down on the O2 they need and tolerating their feeds. In fact they have both worked their way up to their current max on their feeds and both of them are having their feeds fortified with extra calories. You may have noticed in some of the recent pictures they are starting to look bigger. They are both about 2 lbs 5 ounces. Compared to where they started that’s positively huge. The goal is for them to each gain an ounce a day, which they have been good at up until the last couple of nights. Overall they have slowed down a bit. We’ve been reassured that this is not a big deal. It’s something they will keep an eye on, but they aren’t worried now because the girls are taking the food, processing it, and getting rid of it in the…proper way…on their own. Our guess with the Parker part of the equation is that she is just that active.
Over all, another good day.

Spotlight on: The Kings (and Iris)

From the moment all this started the Kings have been there for us. Brian ran to the train station to pick up Emily. Liz was the one who spread the word throughout our small group. They have been there in prayer and been generally good friends.

Liz and her mother (Iris) also made these incredible blankets. You may have noticed them in the background of some of the pictures. They are personalized and are made with their bedding. Thank You! For those, and everything you’ve been doing to help.

Mark & Teela

On September 26, 2008 at 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Mark Stephen Hendrix (Mary Jane’s brother) was married to Teela Moore. We were supposed to be in the wedding, but life took the change that has led to all of you reading this.
We spend a lot of time talking about the girls here, and so I figured you would be okay with taking just a brief moment for us to let Mark know we care.
Mark, we hate that we’re not there. We know you understand, if anyone would understand we know you do. Know that we are praying for the two of you. Know that we love you both.
Congratulations Mark and Teela!

Love Jason, Mary Jane, Parker and Emma Jane

“30 Weeks” or “How old are they anyway?”

(Mom, Dad, and Emma Jane)
If the girls had remained in utero they would be 30 weeks today. When you talk to nurses and doctors they still think of them this way. Developmentally that is where they are at. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since they were born (I know, can you believe it has already been 4 weeks since all this started, more than that since Mary Jane’s water broke). For the next couple of years, even if everything goes smoothly and well they will be developmentally “behind” by 14 weeks because, well they are 14 weeks younger. Eventually those 14 weeks really don’t matter. But for now…
All this begs the question, how old are the girls? It seems to me, that what we do is start the clock at conception and then restart it once they are born. Which on average works since the majority of babies are born right around 40 weeks, but there are a large number of children born early or late and we are zeroing them out with the others and then calling them developmentally behind, when really they are right on target for their actual age.Just something to think about

(Cindi, Mom, and Emma Jane)
Cindi left today. It was a quick visit. We enjoyed having her. She was particularly excited this morning when they gave her a sticker for each of the girls and not just one of them. (see picture).

Mary Jane and I have had the opportunity to see a few full term (or nearly) babies recently and have been stunned at how big they are. At some point you just start to adjust your expectations to what you are seeing on a daily basis, without realizing you are doing it. These so called newborns look like huge giant babies who could sit on ours.
The girls already had their head ultrasound. We haven’t heard anything yet, but are not worried. We’re heading back to the hospital soon and I will try to send out a quick update tonight.

(Parker hugging a pink elephant)

Cindi Poops Pizza

Amazing what a lack of commas does to a sentence. You ever see that book “Eats, shoots, and leaves”? Consider this my tribute.

Cindi Burger Barrett came to visit us today.

She’s one of Mary Jane’s friends from college and has been avidly praying for us and the girls and decided to trek her way over from Nashville to offer moral support and to see the cutest girls ever. (That’s right…I said it. Tom heard me going off on this rant a few days ago and seemed to think I was biased in my opinion because I am their father. I want to assure you I am not. It is an objective fact, proven with hard scientific evidence. After a series of uber scientific studies were done it has been verified that Parker and Emma Jane are, {after Mary Jane} the cutest babies ever. You still doubt? I offer you exhibits ‘q’ and ‘vv’ for your own study.)



It has been fun to see Cindi. It has been a while since we could hang out together. She told us fun stories about her recent adventures. Including a nasty little run in with a bottle of peppermint while she was in Africa. Cindi is a nurse and has developed a strong disliking for the smell of peppermint because it reminds her of the smell of poop. Why poop? Well at the hospital they use a peppermint smell to mask the smell of poop. It doesn’t do a good job and you are left with smell of peppermint poop in you nostrils. This, of course, is disgusting, and after years of this she has developed a nasty association in her mind. So Cindi is in Africa and some of the people on the trip with her had a glass bottle of peppermint with them, and because life is ironic, the bottle breaks, all over her clothes, leaving her smelling like peppermint all week, which of course reminds her of…
Speaking of poop, this is a sign hanging in each of the babies’ rooms

It always makes me chuckle a little. I think it's because there is a picture of a specific baby. As though they are saying if this baby.... We enrolled the girls in a study. They collect the stool rather than have it thrown away in order to learn more about something called Necrotizing Entercolitis (or Nec for short). Nec’s a pretty stinky thing and if looking at the girl’s poo will help them figure out how to prevent it…then look away.
All three of us went out to dinner; we had pizza, and then came back to the hospital again. There we got the chance to give Parker a bath. Which, come to think of it, is something I haven’t mentioned yet. We have gotten the chance to give them baths recently. It tends to make them really mad, but it’s a lot of fun and leaves you with a clean smelling baby.
They both had good days. Tomorrow is my day off, so I get to spend the whole day with them (very excited about that). They also get their next head ultrasound tomorrow.
Blessings,
The Broges

Boogers

There really isn’t a lot to say today. Which we think is wonderful. The most exciting thing to happen involved Parker’s boogers which we can hear flapping around and seem to get in the way of her cannula at times, but really aren’t a big deal. Yes, that’s right, we’ve included boogers on our list of blogable items. Pastor Biermann stopped by for a visit. We chatted about everything from calculus to Isaiah 55, all the while I held Emma Jane who was suffering from a case of the cutes. I think it’s contagious because Parker has it too.
Parker’s a funny little monkey. I believe I mentioned the other day that Parker has a tendency to flip her head back and forth. One of her favorite new tricks is to turn her head back and forth for a while and then finally decide to face plant herself right into her mattress. She lies there sucking on the blanket and only breathing because she has the cannula in her nose until someone comes and fixes her.

Extubation

Need to keep it short and sweet tonight. Emma Jane was extubated today, which is wonderful news. And oh was she an angry little baby. She was not happy about having a tube yanked out of her throat. She cried for quite a while. Well, that doesn’t quite sum things up right. Her voice was really hoarse after they extubated her so she tried to cry but it was more of a meek, sad, croaking sound. Pitiful, sad, and cute all at the same time.
I got to hold her a little too. While I held her she got the hiccups. I learned something, tiny, hoarse, hiccups from a premature baby are heartbreakingly adorable.

Something to pass the time

Thought I would leave you with a few more pictures to pass the time while you wait for us to get through work and stuff today (I'm pre-posting this Monday night)

Emma Jane looking around.

Hey Liz, this is Parker, thanks for the hat, it looks great, especially on this bed of chest hair.


Emma Jane post surgery


Parker has been stepping us and letting us know Emma Jane is not the only one who can be ridiculously cute.

Waiting for an extubation…

Sounds like the title for a song. If it was, it would be off the album “Stopped at a Green Light.” The song would either be a Tori Amos ultra angsty played on the piano type song, or it would be a mid 90’s grunge band, ultra angsty type song. Of course it also could be an overly happy, chipper song sung by a group of happy folk singers.
It is also a great description of where we find ourselves.
Today was a much better day. Emma Jane has stabilized and even begun the weaning process. What was particularly exciting for me was finding out that they have even begun feeding her again. So now we continue to pray things go in this direction, and we pray that Emma Jane will even be extubated sometime soon. The sooner the better.

These pictures are taking a step backwards, but what with all the hecticness of the weekend, I never had the chance to post them. A week or so ago Mary Jane's friend Janyne showed up with a gift of micro-preemie clothes for the babies. Many people have kindly given us clothes, but the babies are still too small for the vast majority of them. Which is okay, because the babies are really too small to be wearing clothes. However we decided to play dress up on Mary Jane's birthday. Thank you Janyne for the oppertunity. Here's Emma looking all pretty for her mom on her birthday. Little did we know at the time she would be having surgery less then 24 hours later

Emma Jane fixing her hat and saying, "I look good in these clothes"













(Parker) "Leave me alone"













(Parker) "Yeah, this is how I roll, want to make something of it?"

“The Beast” or "How are you doing?"

My favorite rollercoaster of all time is the Beast at a place called Kings Island in Cincinnati Ohio. I’ve been on plenty that were faster and higher etc. etc, but the Beast has two things going for it. It was one of the coolest rollercoasters in the world when I was a just barely tall enough to ride it, and even more importantly it is so long it has two hill that you have to be cranked up. Sure you have to wait in an obscenely long line, but at least the ride is so long you get cranked up a second hill (I think it clocks out at 4 minutes something). It’s an old wooden rollercoaster so you really feel it when you ride. (for some reason that’s supposed to be fun). It is full of twists and turns, little hills, and, of course, a bunch of giant ones.
I’m guessing that I really don’t have to unpack where I’m going with this. This whole experience is, as people have told me time and again, a rollercoaster. But it’s not just any rollercoaster, it’s “The Beast.” It isn’t the longest rollercoaster a person could go through, it’s not the “fastest”, it is not the most difficult challenge one would have to face, but I think it is safe to say it is no kiddy ride either. There are twists and turns, ups and downs, and I suspect there is another huge hill to be cranked up coming sometime in the future, but I have yet to get there so we’ll just have to wait and see. Today is a perfect example of this. There were ups and downs, twists, and turns galore, and just like riding ‘The Beast” I kind of feel like I have whip lash. Here are a few of the highlights.
Evidently this started last night at about 2 in the morning when the nurse watching our little ones called. I am told I talked to her; I have no recollection of this. After I got off the phone Mary Jane realized I was had slept my way through the entire conversation and commandeered my cell phone for the rest of the night. Again, I have no recollection of this. The first evidence I had something was amiss came a couple hours later when Mary Jane was handing me my cell phone back and telling me she was going to the hospital but that she didn’t think I had to rush there yet, but maybe I would have to, but for now plan on preaching. My intelligent response...how’d you get my phone. Like I said, I was asleep.
To speed the story up somewhat....Emma Jane started going up on her CO2 levels. Her latest blood gas came back alarmingly high. As the day unfolded we discovered that a good portion of her right lung had collapsed. I mistakenly believed this was something left over from surgery when I first heard about it, but it turns out it is much more likely this is a result of bad intubation tube placement (is there a name for the intubation tube? Probably. Do I have any idea what it is? No. Do I care 20 hours after all this started. Nope....sorry medical professionals reading this). Her lungs were also all gunky with liquid. The nurses got in there suctioned out a whole bunch of liquid and then the doctors fixed the tube and turned up her volume. If I understand this right the basic idea is that you increase the pressure and it sort of re-inflates like a balloon. If I’m 6 steps of crazy here Mary Jane will tell me tomorrow, and I will fix it then.
Where was I during all of this? Well I was at Church. We had three services this morning and I was the guy on deck for preaching, and I was determined, as long as Emma Jane was stable and in no immediate danger to stick things out and not leave my supervising pastor in a bind (I should mention he has been exceedingly accommodating and if I had needed to go he would have been the first to kick me out the door). At the end of every service, instead of walking to the back of the sanctuary where I usually go to greet people I ducked out the side, went into the vestry and called Mary Jane to get an update and find out pieces of this story as it was unfolding, as well as find out whether I was going to be running to my car or preaching the next service. (so, if you go to Salem and are reading this, and were wondering where I was...that’s where...) Every conversation this morning ended with something like “Honey”
(actually “honey isn’t the one of the cutesy names I have for Mary Jane, but I figure she doesn’t want me typing those on a blog that people seem to actually be reading, because then people at work and stuff would start calling her “honey...or whatever” to tease her, which is never any fun, but when I think about it maybe all this secrecy is just stupid because they’re pretty innocuous names and I use them in public without thinking and so most people probably already know them, and...hmmmm...this sentence got away from me)
“Do I need to get come there? Do you need me there with you?” And she would respond with something like, “No, all I’m doing is sitting here feeling like I’m going to throw up and you can just as easily do that at church while preaching.” So I stayed.
After Church I rushed over to the hospital. After a while it became apparent Emma Jane was stable. Mary Jane hadn’t slept for an incredibly long period of time, so she went home for a nap, while I stayed for a while with the girls. While there I held Parker. Parker’s day had been remarkably better than Emma Jane’s. She had her first poop without the help of a suppository (it was huge! She pooped over an ounce. An ounce!?! That is a sizeable portion of her weight). For the first time since her surgery she was completely back to her wiggly self. She thrashed and was annoying to every nurse who tried to do anything from listen to her heart to change her diaper. The girl has actually improved in her monkey like wiggling abilities. When lying on her tummy she can turn her head from the left (imagine her on her belly with the head facing to the left lying on her right ear) to the right (imagine her on her belly with the head facing to the right lying on the left ear). It was incredible to watch. She kept bouncing herself back and forth like she was some 1 year old getting comfortable and not a 29 weeks from conception year old (we should talk about the relativity of age sometime soon and how confused I am about how old they are and if we are really wanting to have fun with it, we’ll take it a step further and talk about the implications this has on “when life begins” but that will be nice and controversial...and is a longer post for another day). I just kept watching her do it and thinking...huh. Then she decided to really have some fun and ripped off her leads. I’m sitting in Emma Jane’s room talking with the nurse as she suctions Emma Jane again (or was doing something like that, I can’t recall exactly what at that point) and I notice the part of the monitor that is showing what is going on in Parker’s room has suddenly turned to question marks. So I causally said, “Jeannette is there a reason Parker doesn’t have a heart beat?” If you’re looking for sentences that get people’s attention quickly... Of course it didn’t take either of us long to realize she must have pulled off her leads. Really isn’t anything else that would do that. We go in to check on her and...sure enough, the sneaky little monkey had them on her arms. (Which is not to say she placed them there...now that would be amazing).
Later I held Parker. She looked around in amazement with her fully opened eyes as I sang little snippets of songs to her. She seemed to be trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. As I sat there, with Emma Jane struggling in the other room, and Parker (currently) doing so well, it hit me again. How am I doing? No idea. Look back at this story. I’m happy, I’m scared, I’m thankful, I’m frustrated, I’m anxious, and I’m in love with the three incredible women the Lord has blessed me with (wife and 2 daughters...in case you were confused). What’s more, I’m feeling all these emotions pretty much simultaneously. So yeah...that’s today.

Sunday Morning

Not sure what to say, but feel like I should post something.
Emma Jane had another bad night. Last night was worse then the one before. Her CO2 levels went even higher then before and her blood gases in general were not good. (She has left the ranks of the "weaners") They did another x-ray and her lungs don't look good. Strangely enough this was a good thing because it gave them something to work on. Mary Jane went straight over to the hospital this morning, I'm at Church, but with my phone on vibrate.

Okay…quick update.

Something longer and more intelligible tomorrow. This just in from Mary Jane: “every day we think we couldn’t get any more tired and then we wake up the next day…”
Emma Jane is doing better. She’s becoming a “weaner”, albeit is doing so ever so slowly. Mary Jane is heading over early tomorrow and I have to preach three services tomorrow so we will call this one short and early. Good night. We love you all.
PS Anyone know where a guy can get a cheap deep freezer?

Update part II

Don't have a lot of time. I just stopped at home to get changed so I can go preach, which should probably say it all. If Emma Jane weren't stable then I wouldn't be going. She's stable. They needed to go up a lot higher on her support then they wanted/expected. Lord willing that will be the only complication and it will just mean that it will take a little longer before she can be a "weaner" like her sister. I'll write more tonight. Thanks again for all the prayers.

Update

Emma Jane had a rough night last night. Her CO2 levels have been going up, which is something that is not supposed to happen. We're heading to the hospital right now.

“hole” lotta love Part V: The PDA strikes back

I don’t even know where to start.
We slept in this morning (meaning we got up 8) and were in the process of leaving when the hospital called. It’s never a good thing when the hospital calls you. They never call to just check up. It’s never, “Hi, this is Emma Jane and Parker’s nurse. I just wanted to tell you how cute they look. They really love you. I can just tell from looking at them.” No, it’s never that. If they call you it’s always more like, “Hi this is Emma Jane and Parker’s nurse. Are you sitting down? Yeah…things suck. You should get here.”
Well, that’s not exactly how they said it. At about 8:30 this morning Emma Jane decided to “desat” and they had a lot of trouble getting her saturation levels back up. Turning up the oxygen on the high humidity wasn’t working so they put her back on the cpap. By the time we got there Emma Jane decided she was done with the whole breathing, on her own thing and started stopping…a lot. She had a bunch of “a’s and b’s” and just started having more and more trouble keeping saturated. It was decided pretty quickly that the problem was most likely PDA related, however there was some initial concern at how quickly things had changed.
Could there be some underlying problem which was making the PDA suddenly a bigger issue???!!!???
They checked her blood gas and did rule out infection pretty quickly. Her white blood cell count was great. What they did find was that her hemoglobin was a little low, so they decided to give her a blood transfusion. This was most likely just due to the daily taking of small amounts of blood for things like blood gases and the like. Mary Jane thought this was a good idea and that it would help with Emma Jane’s color, which was…very, very pale when we got there. I would have described it as “dusky.” I’ve never seen dusky before. I’ve heard the word used, read it a gazillion times, but never actually seen an example of “dusky.” However when I saw Emma Jane this morning I said to myself, “self…that must be what dusky looks like.” And I was wrong. I kept the thought to myself most of the day, but when I finally let the observation slip from my lips I was promptly shot down by Mary Jane and the fellow (Jagoo….I’m not sure how to spell Jagoo. It is a nickname short for Jagurti. She’s one of the main fellows we deal with, and it turns out from Parma. Small world) Jagoo did a good job of keeping a game face and not laughing at me, but Mary Jane felt free to laugh and mock. Turns out dusky is more of a bluish thing and would have been an extremely bad sign. This was just pale. But pale doesn’t do it justice. Think goth. It was like my little girl had decided to rebel and become a goth chick over night. Well the blood transfusion did the trick and brought pink back into those pale goth chick cheeks (as well as the arms, legs, torso, etc.) but it did not solve the problem.
As all this was going on Dr. Dawson began the process of getting us to surgery. This process fascinates me. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is the episode of School House Rock with the bill sitting on the steps of Congress talking about how he could become a law (You remember… “I’m just a bill”). The whole process is long and convoluted. In many ways the decision is made before you even start. Basically what happens is this:
-- The resident sends in the fellow
-- The Fellow sends in the attending
-- The Attending calls up to cardiology
-- Cardiology sends a fellow
-- The Cardiology fellow sends the Cardiology Attending
-- The Cardiology Attending sends the Cardiothoracic Surgeon
-- The Cardiothoracic Surgeon gives it the official thumbs up and then sends the
Anesthesiologist
-- The anesthesiologist comes in and says a bunch of stuff to you that you don’t understand.
-- They make you sign papers saying you understand all the risks…take away your child
leaving you feeling helpless
-- Hopefully they bring them back all better
That is the way the system is supposed to work. But if your wife just happens to be a Pediatric Cardiac Nurse who works in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the hospital your at, and happens to work with those fellows, attendings, and surgeons, and has recently graduated from her Nurse Practitioner program where she worked with some of these people in her clinical hours…if these things are the case then things work a little differently. In theory the above frame is happening but in the background:
-- Attending is waiting to talk to you when you show up. It is decided surgery is going to
happen. He goes off to make the above frame happen
-- Meanwhile wife calls upstairs and says…when is the attending coming down?
-- She doesn’t see him for a while so she goes upstairs, leaves a phone message for the
cardiothoracic surgeon to get once he gets out of his four hour surgery
-- The Charge Nurse in the CICU sends the attending down.
-- Someone says…it will happen after afternoon rounds.
-- You wait while the other steps happen around you anyway with everyone acknowledging
the final outcome.
-- Everyone who comes in from upstairs is partially doing it just to hug your wife
-- People ask your wife’s opinion
Generally it is a much speedier and less scary process. I wouldn’t recommend doing it any other way. So if you don’t have a wife who is a CICU nurse then I would recommend either:
a) get one, or
b) don’t have a child in need of a PDA ligation.
Surgery happened at 5:00 PM. The Lord saw fit to once again bless us with his mercy, things went quick and easily. Now begins the recovery process for Emma Jane. Some of you may remember how much fun it was for daddy when Parker went through that. At least this time I have an idea of what to expect, still, not my favorite thing.
Thank you for all of your prayers. I will blog more tomorrow and let you know how she is doing. I will also try and upload some more pictures.

Blessings.

This may show up twice

Tried to publish this a second ago and it didn't show. If it shows later and you have two...sorry.

Emma Jane is not doing so hot. She needs to have surgery immediately. They will be doing a PDA ligation later today. More later.

Prayers are appreciated,
thank you

Surgery

Emma Jane has had a bad day. Things are not going well. We have gone from let's keep an eye on her and see if she needs a PDA ligation to...how soon can we do it, in a matter of hours. Turns out how soon is pretty soon. They will be doing it tonight.

We would appreciate your prayers,

Blessings,
The Broges (Jason, Mary Jane, Parker, and Emma Jane)

shmily

Today is Mary Jane’s birthday.
I’ve tried writing this post a couple of different times, a couple of different ways. The problem is, there’s just not the time, nor the words to say all I want to say about her. Mary Jane is a gift from God. I remember the first time I read Ezekiel 24 and heard God describe Ezekiel’s wife as the delight of Ezekiel’s eyes. I remember being blown away. What a description of how important Ezekiel’s wife was to him. I remember praying to God and asking him for a wife like that. (please ignore the events which occur after that…just talking about the love they clearly had for each other) In Mary Jane God answered me yes in spades. She is, after salvation, the greatest gift God has given me. She has strengthened my faith, in ways she doesn’t even realize. She has helped me to be a more godly man. She’s loved me unconditionally, and kicked me in the derier when I needed it. Anyone who knew me before Mary Jane can easily testify to how good she has been for me. She has helped me focus and be the man I needed to become. And none of this was done in some overbearing way; it just happened as she met me and loved me as a wife should love a husband. She’s the fiercest, most loyal, most loving, and cutest person ever. She’s my favorite, and if I have to go through all this I am so thankful I can do it with her at my side. There is no other woman I would ever want to be the mother of my children, the grandmother of my grandchildren, or the woman by side every morning I wake up.
God, thank you for Mary Jane.
Mary Jane…Happy Birthday.

“We should get jersey’s, cause we make a good team. But your’s would look better than mine cause you’re out of my league. And I know that it is so clichés to tell you that everyday that I spend you is the new best day of my life.” ~ Reliant K “Must Have Done Something Good” (a song Mary Jane may never have even heard, but it came on my ipod while I was writing this and I though…hey…that’s what I’m trying to say)

“hole” lotta love part IV: A New Beginning

Well…here we go again. Some of you may remember from way back when (about a week ago) when we were going through the PDA campaign, that Parker needed surgery because she was not responding to the ibuprofen, but Emma Jane handled the ibuprofen well and it was closing her PDA, but had not closed it. Well, guess what…the PDA has gotten larger.




"You've got to be kidding me!"











What does this mean? Good question. For a more precise explanation we turn to the graduated nurse practitioner in the family: Mary Jane
“Clinically Emma Jane appearance is unchanged. They have been able to wean the flow on her oxygen, she is tolerating her feeds, she shows no signs of distress, however she does have a murmur again, the PDA is larger and if she does begin to show signs that the PDA is affecting her adversely then she will have to undergo a PDA ligation as her sister did.”
For the medically ignorant explanation we turn to Jason:
“Emma Jane looks the same, but looks can be deceiving, lurking underneath is the same danger which was plaguing her sister. Currently this is not putting her in any immediate danger, however, as we saw with Parker, things can change fast, and we may end up having to have the same surgery. They want to wait as long as possible because the older she is the easier it is on her.”
For the overly simplistic explanation we turn to Jojo the idiot boy:
“Emma Jane eat. Emma Jane poop. Emma Jane breathe. Emma Jane heart go..um swishy swishy (sound of a murmur).”

On a lighter note: Grandma left. Nana is coming back tomorrow, and she is bringing the cord with her. So a big thank you to all who offered to pick it up for us, or even ship it to us (wow Weav…that was cool), but it is coming by way of Nana.

Blessings,
The Broges

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY (sorry we haven't called...life is...well...you know...but we love you and wish you the happiest of birthdays)

2 Kilos of babies

We’re going to be short and sweet tonight. Life is hectic but good. The girls are each a kilo. One of these days we will tear ourselves away from the hospital long enough to go to Best Buy and get that cable and then….watch out! Cute cute videos coming your way. Until then you will just have to close your eyes and picture the cute babies moving around a lot. Or even better, go to a post with one of your favorite pictures, open it up and then get out of your chair and move back and forth until it looks like it is moving.

Parker got her stitches out. I didn’t get to see it but Mary Jane said she didn’t cry. I think that’s pretty funny. She’s been a fuss-bucket lately and the one time when she has a an incredibly good excuse to scream her head off she just sucks on a pacifier the size of her head and refuses to make a sound.

Okay. Need to finish writing my sermon for Sunday, and need to sleep, sooo goodnight, and God bless.

There’s a first time for everything…

Note to self: When the nurse puts a suppository in the baby and then says “Do you want to hold her?” Respond with “um…yes, but maybe we can wait a little while.” Let’s just say suppository + kangaroo care = Big mess…all over daddy.
I don’t mean to spend so much time talking about digestive processes, but as I said a couple of days ago, they’re important. Emma Jane and Parker both tolerated their feeds but haven’t “finished the process” since then. They had their food held up until they could … well… poop. By the time we had left it had worked for Emma Jane, once again with spectacular results. I had originally been intending to entitle this entry something about Emma Jane being a kilo today…but she’s probably not anymore.
(Pictured above mom, dad, and Parker...we're tired. I started this great idea of getting to work extra early every morning to get more done and get out earlier and get to the hospital earlier...makes for a tired Broge...we'll see how long this lasts)

When it rains it pours...no really it pours

So it rained last night. It really, really rained. Nothing like what it was like for those in Texas, but we didn't too shabby. So I went to church this morning, came home, changed clothes to get ready for heading to the hospital, and just when I thought we were about ready to leave my mom comes upstairs and says, I think something's leaking down stairs. I head down stairs and sure enough...that rain water had found its way in. We were thrilled! Thankfully there was no standing water. We did a lot of work to the basement to turn it into a study area for me, and one of the things we did was put in some cheap carpeting. There wasn't a ton which came in and the carpeting did a good job of acting as a sponge. So I called Mary Jane, who was at the hospital, and would you believe my cell phone stopped working. There was a moment there where I just had to stop and say...okay God...yes, I know, you're still in control and the universe will work as use so desire. Thankfully the phone decided to work again. I'm not sure what was wrong with it, maybe it was just sad.
On the upside the girls had a good day and everything is going in the right direction for them. Parker's eyes can both open now. She has a tendency to open them only one at a time and still doesn't really like opening them at all. Generally, she doesn't like being awake. The girl has decided to be a little crankerpants. Which is okay with us. She has spunk and fight in her and she needs it.
Actually it is amazing how different they are. The girls both have such strong personalities that shine through three months before they were supposed to be born. Parker is a feisty little monkey. She's got spunk and energy. She flails around and never seems to stop moving. Parker will be the sort of girl who gets into mischief. Not because she's trying to get into trouble, but just because she runs head long in without thinking. I pray the Lord will grow her to be someone who has the courage to cling to her faith in any and all situations no matter the obstacles or opposition. Emma Jane on the other hand just lies there. If she is awake she just looks at you calmly and hardly ever fusses. Even when cleaning up her diaper she only fusses a bit as if to say, yep..this is embarrassing. But she has a stubborn streak. Remember, Emma Jane is the one who extubated herself five times. Three of them in the operating room. She will be calm and good but when she gets her mind set she will be as stubborn as a bulldog. I pray the Lord will grow her into someone who is stubborn for her Lord and will never look away. I pray they will both wise and loving. I can't wait to see what the Lord does through their lives.

Tonight was a beautiful night. It was the perfect fall night, just a little cool and crisp. I love a cool crisp fall night. Makes me want to get all Americana. Makes me want to drive out to Eckerts with my wife and pick my own pumpkin and pick our own apples. Now that is a fun time. Still a little early for that, but a nice fall Saturday out at Eckert's followed by fun fall activities and a nice fall walk is my idea of perfection.
Won't get to do that this year, but that's okay, because next time we do it it will be with our daughters!

“Enema Jane” or “Emma’s big poop” (guest starring Parker Broge)

Emma Jane seems to have felt left out, what with all the attention going to her sister lately. She decided last night t to not tolerate her feeds and then scare her parents this morning. It’s a long story, but since it all works out in the end I will shorten things up and tell the quick version. She was showing signs of something seriously wrong with her intestines. They did an x-ray and decided that she probably just needed to poop. Actually this whole “regularity” issue turns out to be a really big deal. The amounts of food they are getting now is still not enough to be their primary source of nutrition, but it is imperative their digestive systems kick into gear. Both girls have been very slow about “producing stool” which is slowing down the amount of food they are being given. Parker is way behind Emma Jane on this, but that is to be expected with the surgery. Emma Jane has been a champ up till now, but the stress of being good has finally gotten to her and she has decided to hold onto her poop and to not tolerate her feeds. In response it was decided to suspend Emma Jane’s feeds until she pooped (Parker was in the same boat still from the day before). In order to help make things “easier” for Emma Jane she was given a glycerin suppository (okay…so it was a suppository not an enema…but I couldn’t resist a title like “Enema Jane”). Let us just say…the suppository worked and…um…I don’t think Emma Jane weighs 2lbs anymore. I don’t think any parents have ever been so excited to see so much poop at one time come out of someone so small.
The rest of the day went well. If you are looking for specific prayer requests it would be for our girls to be “regular” and that they would tolerate their feeds.
Thank you. Blessings,
The Broges (Jason, Mary Jane, Parker and Emma Jane.)

PS Mary Jane would like it to be known that she disapproves of the title to this post, not because it isn’t clever and witty (it is and she knows it), but because she is afraid you will walk away believing Emma Jane had an enema. I have shown her, and read to her the sentence where I explained the whole suppository thing, but she wants to be really sure you know exactly what went up Emma Jane’s bottom. She is a nurse after all.

PPS There are actually two other HUGE events we need to discuss in the near future, but they both deserve their own posts of thanks. Let me just say for now that the nursery is now a lovely shade of yellow and the girls will be bundled in two of the cutest blankets ever made…again, more about that later.

PPPS Here are some fun pictures.

PPPPS And some more silent videos from the camera (still haven’t gotten that cable)
Parker...buck nakedParker on dad with a tastefully placed blanket to hide the unseemly chest hair

Grandma, Dad, and Parker (also shown...tastefully placed blanket)

Parker starring in "No Pictures, No Pictures"
After 10 hours, mom and dad are starting to get a little bit tired

Emma Jane is practicing the "Crane" move made famous by the Karate Kid

Emma Jane buck naked....boy is she going to be embarrassed we she tries to get married.

Emma Jane has learned how to suck her finger.

Very cute, and the moment we turned the camera off...she puked.

2 Weeks...and 2 lbs

Yes that's right, the Broge twins are Two Weeks Old, and have made it to Two Pounds. I know I said somewhere that we are celebrating every little victory, and this is definitely on the list. You'll have to wait for an update. I'm actually writing this Friday night to appear Saturday early afternoon, so I really don't know how their doing yet, it isn't today yet...er that it is to say it isn't tomorrow yet. Well, that isn't right either. Your yesterday is my today and in my today it is not tomorrow and in your today it is still yesterday when I am writing. There. Get it?

Well, if you do, explain it to me, but either way, you'll have to wait for actual information.

Blessings.

PS the above are some pictures which I never got around to posting (who are we kidding? There are far more pictures then we could ever post.)