A Miracle in the Making

Brian and I were married on May 5, 2007. On September 1, 2007 we found out that we were expecting. On October 8th we found out that we were having twins! Wow!! Talk about a surprise. We were due on May 17, 2008.


At 25 weeks gestational age, Isaac Jacob Campbell and Christopher James Campbell were born on February 2, 2008. Isaac was 2.1 lbs and Christopher was 1.11 lbs. Just before the delivery, the doctors came and had my husband and I sign papers stating that we knew our babies may not survive the delivery. Believe it or not, we were not worried. I was however scared to death after they wheeled the boys into my room to say goodbye as they were transferred from New Britain General Hospital to UCONN for a level 3 NICU. I couldn't see any skin on them because of all the tubes, wires and the fact that they were so tiny.


Twelve hours after being born Christopher had major surgery to have a g-tube placed on the left side of his belly because he could not eat. His esophagus did not connect to his belly, however his wind pipe did. Christopher was so tiny that the doctors did not know if he was going to make. His skin was transparent so that we could actually see the blood inside of him moving. It was horrible! There is nothing worse than seeing your baby for the first time and not being able to touch him because his skin would tear every time he was touched. The surgery began at 6:15PM and the surgeon came back into my room at 10:30 to tell us how it went. His exact words were, "It was as if I was sowing together a tomato. With every stitch air escaped." We walked into the NICU to see if he was okay, saw him there with his nurse, and all I could ask was if he was really still alive. The Pam was his nurse and she just gave me the most tender look and said yes. Brian and I left and went into our room where we sat and cried until we fell asleep.


Through all of this, Isaac was doing really well. He appeared to be the stronger twin. The doctors all hoped and thought that Isaac would get away with no complications. Well that sure ended when a week after being born Isaac was diagnosed with a grade 3 and 4 IVH. This is a major brain bleed on both sides of the brain. From this point on, every doctor told us that there was a 99% change that he would be effected by this mentally and physically. I can't even begin to tell you how hard we cried! Our beautiful little boys were deteriorating before our eyes and we still couldn't hold them!


Well that day one of Isaac's primary nurses, Sam gave us a present. She helped us hold Isaac for the first time. We had to keep him inside his incubator because the outside air was too cold for him, but our hands got to actually touch him. There is nothing stranger than having your baby in one hand. He fit completely. So we sat there holding him like this and crying...so afraid of what this meant for him.


The next week we went through more turmoil. When they say that you have to live each hour by hour in the NICU, they really mean it. Christopher was diagnosed with a grade 3 IVH. Now he too had a brain bleed. This totally devastated us. On February 10th, my mom's birthday, we got to hold Christopher for the first time in our hands inside his incubator. We cried and cried and cried! What a blessing!


Now our thoughts were that nothing could get worse. Well boy were we wrong. The following week, this is still February, Isaac was diagnosed with NEC. This is a horrific thing that can attack babies, especially preemies. Isaac started off looking great, and as the day went on his body got blacker and blacker. By the time I left the NICU that night he was black and I wasn't sure we were ever going to see him again. At 2AM he went to the OR where they removed 86 centimeters of his small intestine, leaving him with only 14 centimeters to absorb food for the rest of his life. They also brought the end of his intestine outside of his belly so that he would poop into a bag so that he would not have acid going over his liver killing him quicker. This is when the doctors took us into a family room and sat us down and told us that Isaac was not going to make it. There would be no way for him to ever eat, and his parental nutrition would kill his liver giving him only the possibility of a liver transplant for survival. But with his brain bleed, that would not be an option. Brian and I immediately left the hospital and met with one of our pastors who cried right along with us.


This was it. We were still newlyweds, married less than a year, having to think about what it might be like to bury our first child. There really isn't a worse feeling in the world. It tears at each and every part of your body. Not to mention that I was still going through the pain of having my babies ripped from me. I couldn't wait to get huge! I couldn't wait to see hands and feet sticking out of my belly. Then when I least expected it, the boys came and we couldn't stop it.


Well at this point, both boys were transferred to Connecticut Children's Hospital because that is where the surgeons were based out of, and boy did we need them. Isaac was stable for the next 2 months, however he kept getting yellower and greener as his liver began to fall. By May 11th, Isaac was bright green. In the beginning of March, Christopher got NEC. Luckily we caught it in time so that he only lost 1 centimeter of small intestine. Also in March, Christopher had surgery to fix his esophagus. All the ultrasounds showed that they would have to stretch this about half way down to connect it with his belly. Thus leaving him in a lot of pain. He was only about 3.5lbs at this point. When the surgeon came back after, he just looked at us and smiled and said I don't know how it grew this much, but all we had to do was sow them together, we didn't have to stretch it at all. This was a brutal surgery though. He had a chest tube in his back to drain the fluids, a central iv for his iv nutrition, plus a peripheral iv because they needed more access, plus his g-tube. Needless to say, for one full week he was swollen, unable to move and lifeless.


The last week of April, The NICU doctors had called in a specialist because I wanted answers about what to do to help him. Brian was still at work when all this happened. The doctor looked me straight in the face and said, "In my 25 years experience, I've never seen a baby like Isaac make it." My only response was, "Do you have any hope?" He said, "No." That was it. Our baby was going to die. Sobbing hysterically would underestimate what we went through. Actually just me. Brian would not believe it. God had told me I was pregnant before I was, named our children when we thought there was only 1, and told us the week before they were born that there would be bad news and that we were not to believe it. I am so blessed to have him as my husband!


That night we started doing research. We found that Children's Hospital of Boston has an Intestinal Rehabilitation Program. We contacted them right away and they confirmed that Isaac was a candidate. Brian and I went up there to meet with the doctor and nurse practitioner would be taking care of him. We immediately fell in love with them as well as the floor where he would be living for awhile. They have a new med called Omegaven that replaces the lipids in the iv nutrition. It's fish oil. But because it does not have acids in it, it doesn't break the liver down. It actually helps it. Not to mention that it helps make babies smarter. Isaac was the 88th baby to be put on it, as it is still a research drug. On May 12th Isaac moved to Boston. The week after we got there, his billiruben level topped out at 35.5. For a normal baby it is below 1. Thus we began our duel states life.


Christopher was still in the NICUat CCMC and Isaac was on 10East in Boston. I was beyond blessed to have the most encouraging boss at team at my job. I was allowed to work from Boston 3 days a week. So I lived in Boston Saturday through Wednesday while Brian stayed here with Christopher. Then he came to Boston on his 2 days off from Wednesday through Thursday. This way Isaac was hardly alone.


On June 12th Christopher came home for the first time! He was 6.5lbs! We thought he was huge! Now life was getting tough because we couldn't be with Isaac as much. Plus Christopher now had to make the journey every other day with me to Boston. He was such a champ. At then of July Isaac went in for surgery to have his intestines put back inside and reattached. This would tell us how good he would do eating. Before this, the doctors in CT told us he would never eat more than 6cc's an hour of formula. All we can say to this, is never believe everything a doctor tells you about a child because no one can predict what they are capable of. Isaac's surgery went well, but a few days later his belly opened up. He had a pocket of puss that needed to drain. This set him back a month, but on September 24th Isaac came home for the first time!


His coming home one amazing and hard! When Christopher came home he came home with his g-tube. He was on continuous feeds over night, 9 meds and an apnea monitor to make sure he kept breathing. When Isaac came home he was on 24 hour continuous feeds through his g-tube that he got in his last surgery, as well as 4 meds and iv nutrition 14 hours a day. Having an iv at home is hard work on parents! One day one of Isaac being home we pulled his g-tube out. It got caught on the bathtub and we had to go back to the ER to make sure it was okay. Luckily it was okay. On October 30 we had to go to CCMC to get his picc line (iv) removed and have another central line put in because this one was not pointing in the wrong direction. We were admitted for one night (Isaac and I) and went home on Halloween. Well that night our IV nurse came over to change the dressing and Isaac had an allergic reaction to the smell of smoke on her. He and I went back to the ER until 2AM when we got to go home. The next night it was the same thing when she got to our house, so we had to ask her not to smoke any more. Since then he's been fine.


However On December 21 Isaac had to go back to Boston. We were admitted back onto 10East with a iv line infection. We ended up spending Christmas in Boston. Not exactly what we expected. But we made due. Now in about 3 weeks, Isaac will be getting his iv out! Just after his 1st birthday!!! His feeds are at 50 cc's an hour! He takes bottles of only an hours worth, but still bottles all day long. He's allowed to eat baby food. He doesn't seem to have any mental of physical handicaps of any kind!! And to think, had we believed other doctors, Isaac would not be here today!


Christopher will have his g-tube removed in March. He has not used it since right before Christmas. There are many complications that can go along with all that our babies had, yet Christopher hasn't had any!


Today our boys are doing great! Isaac weights 20.65lbs and Christopher weights 21.5lbs. Isaac has 2 teeth and Christopher is crawling all over backwards. These babies are amazing!


This post is an overview of all that has happened in the last year. I will continue to update this, however to read any or all of our past emails, please go to this website that a friend of ours has been maintaining http://web.mac.com/sanchep/Prayer_Blog/Campbell_Babies_Prayer_Blog/Campbell_Babies_Prayer_Blog.html


Through all this, we know that we would not have either of our babies without the power of prayer and Jesus. No one gave us hope for either baby. Yet they are both alive and doing amazing! We were so blessed to have the most wonderful nurses who helped support us and love on us during all this. God is so good!!!