The Boyz: Garrett Winsor & Grant William

Hello Everyone, We recently added two new additions to our family. Grant William and Garrett Winsor, were born at 7:36 PM and 7:35 PM on Monday, October 8. They weighed 5 lbs. 3 oz. and 6 lbs. 2 oz. Once the boys were born they whisked them off to the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because they were four weeks pre-mature and appear to have experienced Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Mom and boyz are doing very well.

Mom with Garrett (left) and Grant (right)

The boys (Grant on the left and Garrett on the right)
on their way to the NICU.

Mom after the delivery

GrandMary spending time with Garrett.

Grandma enjoying some one-on-one time with Grant.

35 Weeks: (almost 8 months)

Hello Everyone,

Well... September 8 has come and gone & you're probably wondering if we've added two little boys to the family. The very good news is that even though Winona is tired of being pregnant, the boys haven't been born yet. Winona is now 35 weeks. We and the doctors are ecstatic with their overall growth and health. Dr. Soffici said "if he was a betting man, he would have lost money" and to "keep doing what we're doing." We know that with the faith and prayers of our family and friends, we would not made it this far. We will keep you posted with any new developments and/or photos should the little tikes show before the next post.

Love to all,
Aaron, Winona & Caleb

Estimated Time of Arrival

Winona had an ultrasound appointment last week with Dr. Soffici. The doctor suggested that she have bags packed for her next scheduled appointment on Thursday, September 6 as the smaller of the boys isnt growing at the same rate as he has been. If our next appointment shows the same growth rate, Winona could be admitted to the hospital. Two days of preparing the boys for delivery and they could be born on Saturday, Septmber 8 (Aaron's birthday).

BTW- We are considering Garrett Winsor and Grant William as names for the boys. Thoughts? Hugs to all!

Good Times

Santa Barbara Zoo (Jamie and her family, Grandma and us)

Caleb loves big cousin Ryder

Everyone loves the Santa Barbara train


Caleb loves the frog on the merry-go-round despite the serious look

Sun and Sand

The boys get warmed-up before charging the waves
(Caleb, Brock & Ryder)

Ventura pier (Nona at 6 Months)

Big cuz, Miranda and Caleb

Riding bikes in La Conchita

Donovan, Brad J. & Caleb

7 Months (28 weeks)

Winona at 28 weeks (7 Months)

Family Photo (:

Great News: Two Peas, One Pod!

Nona is expecting!!! Many of you're already aware and (we think) its now safe to say since Nona is 26 weeks (6 months), that we're having two boys.

At the start, we learned that Winona was expecting twins at 8 weeks. I didn’t even attend the appointment as I thought it would be a routine visit. It was a Friday afternoon when Nona called me to say that I wasn’t going to believe what she had to say. After she told me, she couldn’t stop laughing and I had to speak with the doctor to confirm the news (even though the ultra-sound picture shows two distinct little peanuts). We we're on cloud nine for the next few weeks, yet very cautious to let friends know as obviously anything could change.

As the pregnancy progressed, we couldn’t believe what was going on as neither Nona nor I have multiples in our families. Family was very supportive and jogging their memories for old family members that were twins. We we're looking forward to our next doctor’s appointment just to confirm that the two little peanuts we're still in there and doing fine.

As we met with Dr. Ralph Quijano, they were indeed still there and since we were expecting multiples had to meet with another doctor since it is a high risk pregnancy. Luckily it was Dr. Alex Soffici, who we've met with before (for Caleb) and who has a great reputation. When we met with him, he again confirmed that their were two boys but that they were sharing a placenta and couldn’t see if there was a membrane separating the two from one another. He also noticed size differences between them and looked concerned as he performed the ultra-sound. We talked afterward about what could be going on but we had to visit another doctor at USC.

One minute we're elated that we're expecting twins yet concerned as their lives could be at risk. The boys were experiencing a uncommon disorder called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). In a nut shell, one baby (recipient) was receiving too much blood; the other baby (donor) wasn’t receiving enough blood. We felt very fortunate to live 45 minutes from doctors who could correct the situation as other may have to travel from other continents here to the U.S to visit highly specialized doctors. After an hour long ultra-sound, the doctor told us that the situation was bad but not bad enough for Nona to have the surgery. The car ride home was very quiet as we had more questions and unsure what was going on. The only thing we could think of was to have the family participate in prayer and fasting. We called Bishop Norris in the Carpinteria Ward and asked if the Ward could participate. Since the family and ward participated in the fast, the situation has turned from status quo to improvement to dramatic improvement.

As of right now, we have moved from weekly appointments to appointments once every three weeks. We have another appointment today with Dr. Quijano who was very pleased with the progress.

We are so fortunate to have such loving family and friends! Please continue to pray for us as we have 10 weeks to go.

Love to all!

Aaron, Nona, and Caleb

Greetings

Since this is my first experience blogging, I'm trying my hand at including information that family and friends would find interesting. For right now, I'll stick a few family photos into the blog to at least give the site some content.
Peace, AR