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Sorry I didn't update after Maliyah's surgery on Tuesday. Maliyah did great!! The surgery was about 3 1/2 hours long, I thought it was going to be a lot longer. They were planning on taking her NONE functioning kidney out, but they couldn't get to it because of all the scar tissue that has grown around it. We found out on Tuesday that she has MRSA, which freaks me out because she has a lot of surgery. For those that don't know what MRSA is, I will try and explain it. It a steph infection that you can't treat with antibotics. Its pretty scary because Maliyah doesn't have a good immune system to fight things off. Kendra's surgery went longer than the doctors thought it would, 6 hours. I got home not to long ago and she was still out. She is on oxygen because her saturation level drops low. She had two large hernias and they were able to fix her bowels. The Plastic Surgeon was able to remove some of the scar on the front of her belly. I was so happy about that, not that it wasn't a cute scar, but I am sure Kendra wouldn't want it there when she got older. Courtney was in a play today for end of the year assembly at school. She was a flower and did a great job!! We just got our family pictures back and will post them soon. My doctors are so great!! Thanks guys for your hard work. I better get some sleep because I have to get back up to the hospital really early tomorrow.
Maliyah's surgery is tomorrow. I am scared to death. They are going to be taking out her none functioning kidney and moving things around. I hope this helps with her infections. Kendra's surgery is on Wednesday. I will know more on Tuesday about Kendra's surgery. PLease say a prayer for everyone in our family because it so hard to face. I hate that they girls hurt and there is nothing I can do. I just hope and pray that they won't be in to much pain. We are going to give Maliyah a blessing tonight and Kendra one tomorrow. I will update you all tomorrow during the surgeries because it will give me something to do.
Things haven't been very good. Maliyah got really sick on Sunday and I took her up to PCMC. She was screaming at the top of her lungs because she was in so much pain. I was worried that her kidney was rejecting again. We spent 9 hours there and figured out that it wasn't her kidney. She had a kidney infection but it wasn't rejecting. They didn't put her on the right meds and she slowly got sick again. I called her normal doctor and he said that he needed to change the drug to something else. Kendra got sick at school because Maliyah wasn't there. She ran a temperature but I think it was just Kendra was missing Maliyah. Courtney has been stuggling at school. I think its because she is ready for the summer. The last month of school is so hard on the kids. Austin and Justin are making more that more messes. I final found a preschool for them that is 3 days a week. We went and let them meet the teachers. The boys didn't want to leave the classroom. I just hope they are potty trained by September when school starts.
There are just things that I never thought that I would have to say to my children. Justin and Austin had just gotten out of the bath and I was getting their diapers. As I turned around Justin was peeing on Austin. I had to yell "Justin stop peeing on Austin". He listened and stopped. I never thought I would have to say that. After laughing about it, Jake said you never know what boys are going to do next LOL. The kids are doing great.
Check out the new pictures!
Courtney got an A+ on her report!!! We were so excited for her. It was really hard.. She had to make a 3D image of the honey bee, which we made out of clay, a poster, than an oral report and than we made up a story about a bee named Honey. It was really cute.. Courtney came home and said that her teacher picked her report to read to the class because she liked it so much. I really enjoyed helping her with the project. I like being creative. I got my yearly check-up after the transplant, it went really well. I am so glad that I was able to give her the gift of life again. Maliyah also meet with her doctor and the transplant looks really well. I am so ready for school to be over with but not for the hot hot summer to start, I just want the kids to be out of school. I am so worried about Justin and Austin because they are starting preschool next year and I haven't found one that I want the kids to be in yet. I haven't decided if I want to do a home based preschool meaning they will go to someones home that has a degree in education or a school based preschool where I know that they are getting a really good education. I think I am going to try the school based only because I know that the teachers full attention will be on the children. Kendra and Maliyah went to a really good school based preschool in Bountiful, I will ses if its full. Well anyways, maybe I am just over thinking it, who knows? Thanks for listening.
We have been so busy since we got back from Disneyland on the 12th. We had such a great time, Jake was thinking about getting another night at the hotel. We took the kids on all the ride they could go on but most of the time they were scared, go figure. All the twins favorite ride was monster Inc. and Courtney's was Roger Rabbit. It was a long drive from Utah but shorter than we really thought it was going to be. We left on the 6th at 3:00am, the kids never really went to bed, we put them there but they never fell asleep. It took us 9 1/2 hours to get there. I loved all the ride because we were with our kids. We went to Newport Beach and had a great time playing in the water. One of the days we took the kids to Unversal Studio(sp) and Austin LOVES Dora the explore. When he saw her he ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug. Than afterwords Jake was talking to him about hugging Dora, he said he got to hug Dora but he didn't kiss her. It was so cute. Courtney went on all of the BIG rides. We had to force her to go but after she was so happy she went. She loved all of the fast ones. Kendra and Maliyah are scared of everything. I think it will always be a work in progess. Justin was so tired during the trip. We couldn't figure it out because we didn't stay up late or out to late. Then on the last night I started feeling really sick like I was going to throw up, but felt better the next day. Well when we got home Maliyah, Justin and I were sick. Justin and Maliyah were throwing up and I just was sick to my stomach. We are lucky it heppened when we were at home. Its funny because Jake and I were so scared to take all the kids by ourselves to Disneyland, but it really wasn't hard. Kendra and Maliyah have alot of special needs and we did great. We are already planning our next trip before the girls have surgery. Courtney and I work into the late hours last night because she had a big science project due on the honey bee. We had a great time paint the model and writting the story. I can't wait to see her grade. The kids have so much make up work from our trip, it will take them a week to get it all done. It was so worth it!!!
I don't know if I will have time to update tomorrow, but it will be 1 year since our kidney transplant, YEAH.. Its so cool!! I was talking to Maliyah about it today before school. We are so excited that everything is going so well. Kendra throw up at school yesterday, so she is on a different antiobotic for her strep. I think I am coming down with it too. This is really no fun. Kendra is staying home from school today and taking a nap so she will feel better. I hope everyone's meds start working soon.
Holy Cow!! It is almost time for our Disney trip and ALL the kids have strep.. Justin was up last night throwing up. I have to call the doctor about it today. Please don't write me about grammer errors, I really don't care! My children will someday be so happy that I had this journal, that I don't care.. We had such a fun night. Courtney danced at the Jazz Game, she was so excited. The kids met the bear and some of the Jazz Dancers. When Jake gets a minute he will put up the pictures. I hope Courtney will choose to take dance next year, but right now she is burnt out on dancing. She would rather play with her friends than dance. The girls surgery is scheduled for May 13 for Maliyah and May 14 for Kendra. They will be in the hospital for 5-7 days if everything go to plan. I am starting to worry. We are having a lot of problems with our insurance company. They aren't willing to pay for some of the girls medical supplies that they can't live without. I am getting really sick of dealing with them. Its not like we planned to have children with special needs and we pay alot out of pocket for insurance and copays. We just really need them to start paying for what they should. Kendra is crying so I have to close. Thanks for reading.
Maliyah's kidney on ultrasound looks great, so its not rejecting, like they thought. That is such great news! She is still having problems with her bladder, but we are trying to figure that out. I am just so glad it isn't her kidney. Kendra is doing really well on her crutches and using them, verses her walker. SHe loves them!! The girls don't have school today, so that is great news. The weather here is bad, its snowing like crazy. Courtney had school today, but gets out early. The surgeries are probably going to be in May, hopefully one after the other. We are still trying to schedule those. A wonderful lady from our web site sent us a Dateline Special, about another set of twins that were conjoined about the same way as ours. It was so neat to see these girls walking without crutches and just "a helper leg". They are so cute. I talked to their mom when I was pregnant with my girls and she was so wonderful to talk with. I am really excited to get the rod for the girls backs and get them up on their "helper leg". The girls were so happy to see those girls with two legs and walking that they wanted to get their leg right than and there. I really wasn't sure if they could get another leg because they had nothing for it to attach too. I tell the girls all the time that one leg is good enough and they are perfect just the way they are. I HATE the word different, so we never use it in our house. Everyone is the same in our eyes even if they bodies aren't like someone else. I am in the process of trying to find a preschool for Justin and Austin. I really can't believe that its time for that. It just seems like a few monthes ago I was bring them home from the hospital. Time flies when you are having fun. We can't wait for California, because the weather here is snowy. We are started to get things together and movies and games for the kids to play on the way. They can't stop talking about it. Have a great day The Herrin's
I don't know if I have told all of you how funny my children really are. We were all cleaning the house last night and Kendra said, "Mom I hope I get married soon, so I can have a bestfriend like you and Daddy are". My heart melted because I knew right than and there, they were watchig Jake and I, the way we were treating each other and just everyday things. I was so glad that I was being the best example to them of a good healthy relationship. WE haven't gone to Disneyland yet, but are counting down the days. I am beyond excited. When we were looking into the strollers at the park we found out that they don't rent double strollers. I freaked out and started crying because I didn't know how we would get everyone around the park. Well I started asking around and I found someone that was willing to help us out. She has two double strollers and she live right by Disneyland, so she will let us use them. Thanks Nicole for all your help, you saved the vacation. Jake has been working so much lately, he put in a 34 hour day(that means he never came home). He is work none stop. When he is home he is working, its been really hard on him but he loves what he is doing. It haven't been that bad on me either because the kids can play outside, so it makes the house stay clean. We are having problems with Maliyah's kidney again. She is having ALOT of thick blood in her urine. Her blood work still looks stable but her index levels are raising in her kidney. It might mean that she is starting to reject again. We will just hold out hope that she is going to be ok and the kidney is going to do its job. Sometime people think that I call Maliyah's kidney my kidney, but I want you all to know that I see the kidney I gave Maliyah as her's. I think it hurts her feelings when people talk about her kidney as it still being mine. It isn't mine and will always be her's. Everyone had such a great spring break, it wasn't long enough. The girls had sleepover at our house. The girls had a friend named Aliyah sleepover. When her dad came to get her she cried because she didn't want to go home. Than their cousin's sleeped over. That had such a great time playing together. Yesterday I was at the hospital with Maliyah most of the day. She had her workup with the kidney docs and than an ultrasound. Life is so busy most of the time. I love just being a mom(I know that I am not just "a mom"). Things are going so well lately. I feel more in control of life. I hope you all are doing well.
Thanks for all the neat emails that you have sent to us. There are always bad people in the world, but more good. We are so excited about the trip to Disneyland. Everyday the kids are talking about it and asking how many more days. I can't tell you all how much we need time away from this madness, of everyday life. I can't wait to jump in the car and drive 11 hours with 5 little kids. I know some of you are thinking that we must be crazy, but it going to be crazy fun to, for the kids. When I was little we never went to Disneyland, we took fun vacations but never to Disneyland. When we went on Kendra's wish to Disney World that was my first time to Disneyland or world. We have never been on a family vacation, just camping. I really don't like to camp, but Jake likes to go every year. Courtney had her first competation this last Saturday. They won first place for their Hip Hop dance and 2nd place for there Lyrical dance. She did so well, but I have so bad news, I forgot my camera, so we can't put pictures up on the web site. Kendra and Maliyah are having their first friend sleepover on Thursday. They are beyond excited! Jake is working alot this week and the kids miss him terribly. Justin and Austin got their haircuts, they are so cute! I am very busy with the book but more with the kids. The weather has been good here for the last couple of days and the kids have been playing outside. They are such good kids and play so well together. How could I ever ask for any better.
I am so sick of the rude comments that we recieve via-emails. I have decided for everyone I get I will be putting their email up so everyone here can have it. I hope you will all email rude comments to them, Schnzrhvn3@aol.com. We are really getting sick of it. There are so many wonderful and understanding people in the world. If you don't want alot of our friends to email you than don't email us rude things. We are a family and we have alot on our plate and I can't stand it anymore. So please email this wonderful person and tell him/her the comments aren't needed. thanks
It was also my Birthday on the 3rd of March.
Sorry its been so long sense an update. These last several weeks have been VERY VERY busy, ready to pull my hair out busy. Everyone is health again. WE had the case of the flu/colds/headaches and than some with bladder infections. We have seen to many doctors the last couple of weeks to say the lest. I think I started the big mess with a cold. We had some good doctors appointments to this week. Kendra and Maliyah visited with a orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday. We talked at great lengths about the veptars(rod that they place to straighten backs). It looks very promising. I got some emails from some of you about looking into braces. I did that and the brace will not work for the girls because they have many other health issues that will make it VERY difficult to have them hear a brace, but thank you for the information as I like to cover everything. We also had CTs and Xrays of each girls spine to help determine more of the degree of the curves. Than we meet with urology(sp)and went over some of what they can do to help the girls stay "dry" and it looks promising there too. So this will be the plan as of today. Kendra will be going into surgery for her bowel to be repaired, a double hernia and some deflex infections. Maliyah will be having her urinary tract operated on. Both of the girls will have back surgery this summer. We are also very excited to take the family on a vacation to Disneyland in April. The vacation is a much needed break for all of us:) Wish us luck on the vacation, we will need it.
Happy Birthday Kendra and Maliyah!! They are the VIP at school today. We are bring a poster for that and are bring donuts for their class. They are so excited.. I get to go and talk about them:)(but I have been to school everyday for the last 3+ weeks). When Maliyah woke up Jake told her that she looked alot bigger because she is 6. She thought that her dad was pretty funny. Kendra is still asleep. We have a lot of things planned for the day. After we get done at school we are heading to the movies and dinner. They want a playground for their birthdays. That is going to have to be for everyones birthday because it a BIG present. We also got them a few little things. Courtney got some presents to open on K&M birthday too. She didn't get much on her birthday last year because of her baptism. Hope everyone has a good day.
I took Maliyah to the dentist yesterday. What a difference a children's dentist makes. SHe was crying so hard when we got back to the chair, I thought she was going to pass out. I sat in the chair with her and they gave her toys to play with. AS soon as she saw the dentist walk in it started all over again. He sat down next to her and showed her all the different types of things he will use on her teeth. She cried more but his soft voice helped calm her, he told some very funny stories and made her laugh. Her teeth were very stained from all of her meds and from being on diaylsis but he got most of it off. I am so glad!! Everyday I worried about her teeth and her smile. It such great news!! Kendra is going to meet with the surgeon today because she is having alot of problems with her bowels. The surgeon is going to try and schedule Kendra for surgery the first week in March. I just hope they can do Maliyah at the same time and get both girls fixed so that they can wear underwear. That would be such a blessing. I am changing around 20+ diapers a day. I am sure that we could find away to spend that extra money we would save from 2 more being out of diapers:).
Another funny at the Herrin's. I had gotten a ghost email from a friend. Maliyah was setting next to me watching. So I open it up and the scary music starts. The rocking chair starts moving with no one around and than all the sudden a scary face appears. Well needless to say I scream and Maliyah was so scared so fall off the chair. Than Kendra had to come and see what happened, but I didn't show her. Good thing Maliyah didn't have nightmares last night. I had no idea what was going to happen. It was so funny! I wish I could of gotten it on tape.
We had a great Valentine's Day!! Its my favorite holiday. I love being creative with Jake's gift. We were tight on money, so I wrote him a letter that included 101 reasons I love him. Than I wrote each one of the kids a letter telling them how much we love them and gave them a small bucket of candy. I think they were more excited about cards from their friends than my notes to them. I just love doing fun things for them anyway. I hope you all had a great holiday. Love Us
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! WITH LOVE THE HERRIN'S
The girls can't stop talking about their birthday that is coming up on February 26th. Everyday they ask "how many more days". They are so sweet. Courtney hasn't dance yet in the Jazz pre-game. She is working so hard to get ready for it. She dances sometimes 8 hours a week. She loves going with her two BFF. Justin and Austin are doing well. They love Dora!! All my kids have been very into Dora and it just gets really old listening to it. It very funny when I can sing all the songs on the show. Kendra and Maliyah's surgery is not scheduled yet. I will hopefully know more this week. Their doctors are out of the office alot. The back surgery will more than likely be this summer. I have heard that its a long recovery process. I hope they are wrong. Thanks are the prayers. The Herrin's
Thank you for all of the kind comments about the stuff happening at school. I feel much better about things. I know its because all of you saying a little prayer for me and the girls yesterday. The school seems to be recieving things that I tell them better, YAY!! Sometimes I just feel like you all are getting me through some very hard times. Thanks again. With love Erin
Holy Cow,what a week!!! Its been pretty overwhelming with daily life. We are looking into more surgery for the girls. WE HATE THE THOUGHT OF THAT, but Kendra really needs things fixed in her colon. All the kids are feeling better. Kendra and Maliyah are doing so well on their crutches. Maliyah can take 4 steps with 60% help and Kendra can take 6 steps with no help. Courtney is doing really well with her dance. Her dance team is performing at the Jazz game. Kendra and Maliyah are having another performance in March. I am wondering if Maliyah will be willing to sing with Kendra, time will tell. As I am setting here writing this Austin said to me. "mom change me", I asked Jake to please do it while I am finishing, Austin looked at me and said "daddy always changes me" LOL. Kids say the funniest things. My stress level is pretty high because of something that are happening at school with K&M. Please pray that those will resolve and things will be fixed for the best interest on K&M. It really hurts when you feel like something is happening and you are trying to fix it and no one wants to work with you. The girls have been through so much and always done well, but this is something that I think is probably more stressful than the kidney tranplant. Just say a prayer for us and I know with all of you praying, things will be easier for us to handle. We love you The Herrin Family
Thanks for the message about Hannah. Can you tell her that my Grandma has Leukemia also. Children are so strong and wonderful. We will be adding her to our pray list. Children are the things in this world that are the most amazing. We had a talk at church about how to honor our mothers and fathers one of the greatest commandments. But than we need to honor are children as well. I feel that my children were sent to me to learn from them and to become a better person. I wanted to update also about our family. We are working so hard on getting this book out to you all. There is really nothing new to report. Everyone is healthy and happy here. Have a great day.
Austin is doing much better. Thanks for all the messages of help.
Kendra and Maliyah were so excited yesterday after coming home from their singing group. They are going to be singing a duet together of a Hannah Montana song. They were singing late night and I was trying not to cry. What wonderful children we have. Courtney came home last night from dance and was excited because she can do the right side splits. Justin is doing so great too. He loves chasing Allie around the house. Austin had a pretty bad day yesterday. He had been sick starting in the morning and just layed around all day long. Than about 3:00 he ran into me crying and start gaging. I ran him to the bathroom and he started to throw up bright red blood. It scared me to death. I ran him right up to the doctor where they got us in. He hasn't thrown up sense put is just very white. So I am taking him back up today for some more tests with the doctors. Motherhood is so much harder than I very thought it would be. I worry all the time about my children and husband. Just wish us luck today that we find out what is wrong with Austin. He is acting ok today just not eating or drinking normally. Please say a little pray for him today. There is also a little 8 month old boy at PCMC named Charlie, please pray for him as he is fighting for his life. If Charlie's parents are reading this, miracle happen everyday so please stay strong and we will continue to pray for Charlie and his parents. We wish you the very best:) Much Love The Herrins
Everything has been going ok. Kendra stayed home from school because her back and side was hurting. Justin and Austin have been quite sick this last week. Maliyah and Courtney are doing really well. I am just so surprised and grateful that Maliyah never got sick. We really have been blessed this winter with good health for the most part. We have really good news about the book. The cover has been designed, but its not set in stone so we could change it. This is just so exciting I can't wait to finish.
Jake's brother, Bruce, and I are working hard on the book. The title we have come up with is "Conjoined at the Heart" The inspiring saga of the Herrin Twins. This has been such an amazing time in my life. I love being able to co-write this book with Bruce. It is going to be so great. Everyone is doing very well. Its Grandma Patsy's birthday today. Hope everyone else is doing great. I will update more tomorrow.
We just updated the pictures!! The kids are so cute:) I hope you all like them.
Just thought I would update after a long day at the hospital. We spent 7 hours there. We started the morning with getting Maliyah blood taken. She was very upset because they missed her vein and had to poke her again. She was very brave! Than we went to meet with the kidney docs. Maliyah is doing great she has gained 1 1/2 pounds, yeah!! I was so excited because she was losing alot of weight, so the tube is helping. The next appointment was with the ortho docs. They first started with x-rays, we learned that Kendra back is a 45 degree curve, which is very large. Maliyah doesn't have a curve she her ribs that are making her spinal cord look cricked. Courtney needed her wound to be look at after her surgery, so my Dad brought her up for the appointment, thanks Dad. We meet with just one general surgeon Dr. Meyers. It was great to see her again. She checked Courtney's wound and said it looked great. Than she went over the girls and asked us our "wish list" for the girls. It looks like they might be able to fix some of the things that will make the girls lifes easier. Justin and Austin spent the day with Grandma Pasty. Even with her leg broken(her brace will be off in a week) she loves to watch the boys and I think that she missed them alot.
We have moved the kids around a bit, Justin and Austin are no longer sharing a room. Justin really hates being by himself but Austin enjoys sleeping in his own room. We have been putting Allie in Justin's room with him to sleep. He loves it!! The last couple of time we went into let Allie out to go potty before we went to bed, Justin is down in Allie's bed sleeping with her. I wish that we could get a picture of them sleeping together but Allie always jumps up when she see us to go out. Courtney is going tomorrow to meet with the surgeon. Kendra and Maliyah are also going to meet with doctors tomorrow. Maliyah has her blood drawn tomorrow and kidney clinic. Kendra and Maliyah are meeting with the orthopedic doctors and general surgeons. The ortho doctors are seeing about there "robot legs". Kendra was very scared when I told her about this and thought that she was going to have surgery. Courtney told her that, silly Courtney. I told her that it wasn't true. They are also going to get x-rays with there backs for braces if they need them. The meeting with the general surgeons Dr. Meyers and Matlak(if he is around) will see how the girls are doing 1 1/2 years after the separation surgery. I will let you all know after the LLLLLLOOOOOOONNNNGGGG hard day at the hospital.
As you all could imagine we are busy. We had a pretty cool thing happen. About 2 weeks before Christmas we got a call from our Mayor. She said that we were nominated for family of the year. How cool is that! I would never have imagined all of these things happening after the surgery. Kendra and Maliyah have been major blessing, all of our kids have. I don't know how many of you all have a drama queen at your house but we have one. Ours is Maliyah Mae(as I call her). Her hair and clothes have to be just perfect. She is so funny. Last week I got her ready for school and I was running late and she wanted her hair in a headband. I just couldn't do it so she started crying and wouldn't go to school. She is so funny. She has to get ready for school pretty early because she has to have her outfit and hair just perfect. She is lucky that I LOVE to do hair! Courtney is feeling much better and will be able to return back to school tomorrow. I am just amazed how fast she bounced back. I wish that would of happened to me when I got my Kidney out. Maybe we adult are just babies and the kids are just alot stronger than us. Kendra is such an easy going girl. Sometime I forget about her J/K. Justin and Austin are doing great as well. The potty training isn't going well. Like I said before they are still little. Kendra is also doing well after her injections. I really think that its working, yeah Kendra!! Jake is doing great also. We had a big snow storm on Sunday and he was out snowblowing in his church clothes. Crazy Dad! Mom is working hard at home as always. There is a none stop loads of laundry to do, but I love my big family. I just really wish I could pay someone to do the laundry so I would have more time to scrapbook. I just recieved a new calling at church, Primary CTR 5(CTR stands for choose the right). I can't tell you how excited I am to teach the children. I love teaching!! Jake is in the nursery, its for children 18m-3 years old. He loves being in class with the boys. We are so healthy and happy right now I really hope that it stays that way. I had gotten some questions about the book so here some of the answers. I am co-writing it with Jake brother. His dream has always been to write a book. My dream has always been to stay up on our family history with scrapbooking and other things. So we are doing both. Also he just finished the outline and it brought tears to my eyes. I am so excited to share this with all of you that want to read it. I know that it is going to be great. One other story I need to share. We had a small New Years Eve party at our house. Jake's sister brought a friend to play games with us also. She had never met my children before. She called Jake's sister the next day and told her what a spiritual moment it was to meet Kendra and Mailyah. She said that she could just tell by looking in their eyes how special they were. She said that she felt close to the Lord when she was with them. I really hope that you all can see those things in the pictures that we post. There is something incredible about children with special need and just children. I also wanted to share one more thing and than I will stop typing. I have this cool new saying and it might help some of you "Do better, try harder". I know that I can always do better. Just thought I would share. Have a good day:)
I thought I would do a quick update. We spent a total of 10 long hours at the hospital today. It was pretty stressful. We got to the hospital at 6:00am and Courtney and Kendra checked into Sameday Sugery. Courtney was going first at 7:30am. When it was finally her turn, she cried bucket of tears. I cried along to, but didn't let her see me. She was holding on to me and crying when the doctor tried to take her from me(I would of done the samething at 8 years old). She was out in about 1 1/2 hours. She was so great when she wokeup, the nurse said that she didn't even cry. Yeah Courtney!!! Kendra was scheduled to go in at 11:30am(the hospital tried to change it but couldn't). It turned out to be more like 12:30pm. Kendra was crying from the moment we stepped back into the pre surgery waiting room after Courtney went home. I took a blanket and wrapped it around her and just held her and walked up and down the hall until it was her turn. I think that its great for kids to let us know in anyway what they are feeling and Kendra was doing that. Her sugery took about 1 1/2 hours also. She wokeup VERY VERY mad. I don't blame she a pit because the meds make you feel very weird. I really hope that Kendra's surgery works. Thanks girls for being great sports today. I am so proud of your bravery.
For some of you I have been reading your guestbook entries. Thank you for being supportive to Courtney. I will be reading her all of them when she gets home from school. I don't want her to be excited about the surgery because I want her to understand that it will hurt. I just don't want her to wake up and realize how much pain she is in and freak out. I want her to have all the attention that she can get from us. She is such a wonderful little girl and we love her so much. For Karen I am not sure if the infection scars the kidney only because of it being a transplanted kidney or if that always happens. Maybe someone else can answer that for you. I hope that you take care of yourself and keep your kidneys heathly. Keep me updated on your health. I know some of you were wondering about the D-flex that Kendra will recieve. She has reflex that goes up to her kidney. We don't want her to get kidney infections. It will be something that is very minor compared to the other things she has been through, but she still is going into the operating room and that is scary for her. We also are trying to potty train Justin and Austin. I know that they are still young, so we aren't going to push them. I hope that Jake can update the picture soon, but he is so busy with work. We love you Jake, thanks for working for us:) Thanks for still reading our updates. For some of you that think we keep updating to sell you the book. I can assure you that isn't it. We have come to love the people that read are web site and its a wonderful journal that we can keep for our kids. You guys are wonderful. Thanks
Merry Christmas to you all!!! This month has been so busy. Kendra and Maliyah go to a singing group on Wednesdays, they have had many performances. Courtney is dancing with a team Monday and Wednesdays, she also had many performances. The kids had a wonderful Christmas getting everything that they wanted and also recieve something from some of you, Thank you. WE have sad news to report, Courtney is having surgery on January 4th, she has two large hernias. Sadly Courtney is very excited to have the surgery. I think that she wants Mommy to wait on her like I did with Kendra and Maliyah. I will give her everything that she needs. I hope I can spoil her!! Kendra will be going in on the same day as Courtney for D-flex injections. That will be much easier than Courtney's surgery. Justin and Austin are getting alot bigger. They are talking up a storm. I have been feeling bad lately because I really don't want my little ones to grow up. Each of them are perfect the way they are right now. What else can I tell you all? Oh, yeah I went skiing yesterday for the first time in 13+ years. I have forgotten how much I love it. I was a little nervous about it and might take me time to get use to it, but it was fun. Jake decided that he was taking the week off work. Its been great having him home with us, sense the kids don't have school. Allie is doing great too!! She is so spoiled, she can't set on anything that isn't soft. Like if we are having a family movie night she has to set on the couch with the kids. She is alot of fun when we go sleighing in are backyard. She loves to jump on with the kids. She is getting to be more and more less like a puppy which I am grateful for! Jake's mom broke her leg slipping on the ice. Poor Grandma! She has about 3 more weeks. I am doing great with one kidney. Maliyah's kidney is working well too. She has had alot of infections this last month or two. I have been really worried about her. The more infections she gets the more it scares up the kidney. Which scares me. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a have a Happy New Year. WE love you all and stay safe. The Herrin's
Sorry for taking so long to update. We've just been crazy busy and tired and probably just lazy lately. All of us got the stomach flu last week, it was horrible. Kendra got it first, then a couple days laters Erin, Maliyah, Justin, and Austin got it. Then I got it a couple days after that. Courtney's the only one that got through scott free. Courtney got baptised on Saturday. We're so proud of her! We'll get pictures posted soon. We just moved our computer and everything has been a wreck with our basement getting done, so we'll try and get those up. But everything is going good. We had to put a feeding tube back in Maliyah, because the stomach flu really put her out and she got pretty dehydrated. But she's doing a lot better now. We'll leave it in for a while though until she's eating better. We're getting ready for Christmas. It just comes too fast.
We took Maliyah and Austin to the BYU football game yesterday. Austin loved it. He was yelling at the game, clapping, and dancing to the music the band played. He even started singing "We will, we will, Rock you." Maliyah liked it, but was more concerned about her nachos and hot dog than the game itself. BYU's mascot, Cosmo the Cougar, even came up by where we were sitting and gave the kids high-fives. After that, Austin had to know where he was at all times. He even yelled angerly "Right There!" at Maliyah when she asked where Cosmo was. It was hilarious.
The funniest thing happened yesterday. I went and got the kids from school and Maliyah started by telling me, mom I'm telling the truth. I wondering what she was talking about. Than she said that Mathew and Me love each other. That is a boy in her Math class at school. I laughted. Than Courtney told me that Mason in her class love to hug her in lane because it makes her laugh. Than she said Hunter tried to kiss her and she pushed him away. Way to go Courtney LOL!! I taught you well. Things are going better and better at our house. We are almost done finishing the basement YAY!! That has been one large project. Kendra is moving up from the walker to her crutches because the PT think she is strong enough. Maliyah is going from her wheelchair to just her walker at school. I order several months ago walkers for the girls and still haven't heard if they had come in and the old ones are breaking. I need to put that on the long list of thing to do today.
The kids had a great time last night. The boys especially. Finding out they could go knock on a door and get candy just amazed them. We just hope they don't go and try to do that any other day. Justin didn't want to wait to eat his, he would try to bite through the wrapper. He is such a chocoholic. It's tough to try to get him to eat other things since he's tasted chocolate. Justin dressed up as a construction worker and Austin a Police Officer. Courtney was Princess Jasmine, but to go trick-or-treating, had her face painted to be "dead Jasmine". Kendra and Maliyah both wanted to be Princess Genevieve, so they were. But Kendra also had her face painted to be "dead Genevieve". It was fun, but a lot of work when you have 4 little ones to help trick-or-treat. We'll try to get pictures in the next couple days. Also, the kids' cousin Lucas, is having surgery on the 8th to have a tumor removed. Please pray for him. Thanks.
Happy Halloween! Courtney had a great birthday. Mom and the girls went to the Hanna Montana concert on Saturday. Sadly we could only get 4 tickets, so dad was stuck home watching football, darn it :-). She then had a sleepover with her cousins Sunday night. The kids didn't have school Monday or Tuesday. They get to dress up for school today. We'll get some pictures of them in their costumes. Everything else is going great.
Today we were invited down to a football practice at BYU. They started a new program called "Thursday Night Heros" where each Thursday they bring in a family who have special needs children and recognize them. They had the entire team gather around us after practice and presented us with a football helmet signed by the team and a team flag for each of the girls, which was then signed by each player and coach. Then they asked Kendra and Maliyah to sign their flag that they carry out onto the field every game. They said that it was the first time someone other than the players and the coaches had signed the flag. And that it meant that the girls are also part of the team. Kendra proudly wrote her name on it, though Maliyah was a little timid, so Dad had to write her name for her. They told us that the girls are their heros and that they inspire them. We were in tears and even some of the big 300lb lineman were in tears. They all gathered around us and we all put our hands up and everyone shouted "GO COUGARS!" Then every one of the players and coaches came and shook our hands. We got some pictures with some of the players and coaches, and a few of the players interacted with the girls for quite a while, including the starting quarterback, Max Hall; starting safety, Quinn Gooch; and star Linebacker, Brian Kehl. Feshman runningback Ryan Love sat out with us for quite a long time after everyone else had left. His little twin sisters, who are K&M's age, were born with a lot of problems, so I think he just wanted to be around the girls because he misses his sisters so much. This was an amazing experience, right up there with their Make-a-Wish wishes. It is amazing the way this team is trying to give back. They say that athletes shouldn't be role models, but these young men really are and should be. The coaches put the priority on making the kids better people and football is secondary. That is the right way to do it, if only there was more of that. You just always hear about the greedy athlete or when an athlete breaks the law. But these guys do things the right way with little to no publicity. There were no cameras, just one very small BYU publication reporter. We were huge fans of the team before, but that has grown tenfold. We'll try and get some pictures on tomorrow. GO COUGARS!
We updated the pictures so take a look. About the book, we are writing it for our family mainly, but want to share it with as many people as want to hear it. We want to write it before many of the thoughts and feelings around the surgery are forgotten. We don't care if we sell 100 or a million copies, we just want everyone who may be touched or inspired by our story to have the chance to read it. It would be so much easier for us not to with as crazy as our lives are, but we feel almost obligated to our family and everyone who has prayed and supported us to share our story with them and keep it for our family history for generations to come. There is so much more to our story than has ever been written on this website or in any newspaper. Thanks to everyone pledging their support in us doing this. We didn't realize how many people still follow our website, but it really reaffirms to us the need to write this story.
I think everyone's over the bug that went around our house. Everyone is doing fine. Thanks for all the kind words and support about our idea of writing a book. We've decided to try and write one. But don't worry, we won't be doing it all ourselves. What would help us a lot is if we can get a list of names and email addresses of people interested in the book. This would help us show publishers the interest our book would have and also it would allow us to send information about the book to those who want it when it is released or close to being released. Please go here and signup if you are interested in the book http://www.herrintwins.com/emailsignup.htm Thanks for all the continued prayers and support.
We have alot to report. Maliyah has been in the hospital for the last several days. She was throw up and not able to keep anything down. I guess its Justin's turn. He caught the bug. We had Parent Teacher Conference a couple of days ago. All the kids are doing very well. Maliyah is doing better on her hand writting. Kendra is mastering the walker. She only using her wheelchair for art. Courtney is working hard on reading, but I am sure she will get the hang of it soon. Justin and Austin are still just being two. They have learned if you put alot of toilet paper in the toilet water will come out. So they can play in it. We are wondering if it would be a good idea to write a book? Would some or all of you would email us your idea of what you think. If it works out we will be giving your letter to the publish. So go ahead and tell us what you think. Thanks
Nothing new to report. Everything is still going great. The girls are doing so well in school. They are excited for Halloween.
The girls' school is going great. They love it. It's just hard for Mom and Dad to keep up with all their homework. Nothing really new to report. With it being so crazy, we've got behind on doing physical therapy with the girls, so we're trying to get a system and a schedule so we can get everything done everyday, but it is a challenge. And having the boys be such handfuls doesn't help the situation either. But it's a lot of fun and we wouldn't change it for anything.
The girls had their first day of school yesterday. Erin dropped Courtney off, but she wouldn't let Erin leave. She had a hard time but once she was there for a little while she did good and liked it. She has a lot of friends in her class from last year. Kendra and Maliyah did great. They were so excited to start school and the good thing was that many kids already knew who they were. It's going to be a lot of work, but it should be a good school year and it gives Erin a much needed break during the day, when the girls are at school and the boys take a nap.
We went camping over the weekend and had a great time. Courtney, Mom, and Dad did the whitewater on the river and had a lot of fun. The girls spent most of their time digging in the dirt, finding bugs and trying to catch fish with a net at a little pond. Mom, Dad, Courtney and the boys hiked up to a beautiful waterfall. Dad and Courtney almost got stuck when we climbed down to it. It started pouring rain and the hill got really muddy. We're excited and scared for the kids to start school next week. We're just trying to get everything ready. Thanks for all the wonderful comments about the video.
I just added the video to the Photos section. Check it out!
Well, it's the one year mark today. We're very excited. This time last year it was just a whirlwind of emotions and one of the happiest and saddest days of our lives. I don't think we could have ever imagined things going as well as they have. There has been little bumps along the way, but it's miraculous how perfect things have gone. We're so thankful to everyone for their prayers and kind words. We feel like we've made thousands of friends from all around the world and wish we hand a chance to meet everyone. Maybe we'll have to do a world tour :) We feel so blessed every day with how fortunate we've been and our hearts go out to those that haven't been so lucky. We're so happy that now our girls will be able to live separate lives and be able to accomplish anything they want to in this world. The doors are wide open for them and we know they will make the best of it. We're so proud of our other children as well. Courtney is such a good example and the girls want to do everything like her. Justin and Austin are so happy and fun loving, we know that they will grow up and makes us very proud. We want to thank all of our close family and friends for all the support and help they have given us. We never could have done this alone. Thanks again everyone and watch for the video that we will post later.
The girls did great at church yesterday. We took the walker again (we only have one) and Maliyah pushed it a little ways and got tired, but she was so determined to try. Kendra made it all the way from the car to the chapel, which is probably 50+ yards, without help. Then from the chapel to her class, another 30+ yards. The people at church were amazed to see her just walking in the hall with everyone else and at normal walking speed. Maliyah is getting less scared standing on her crutches and Kendra stood for well over 100 seconds last night. As for prosthetics, we'll let the girls decided if and when they want them. Most people we've heard from say that the kind they need are very heavy and cumbersome moving and they usually prefer just to use crutches. So we'll see. Thanks for all the wonderful comments. And no, Alli did not get up on the top bunk by herself. We put her up there, the kids like to play up there with her.
We just added some new pictures. The girls have been making huge strides with their walking since we've been working with them daily. Kendra was able to stand on her crutches without help for 35 seconds and Maliyah 16 seconds. Maliyah gets really scared though, but she's getting better. Kendra took 5 steps by herself(R-crutch, L-crutch, foot, R-crutch, L-crutch). Maliyah hasn't taken any steps herself, she needs more confidence first. But it's great to see daily improvement and see the girls motivated to do better. We are planning a little party for family and friends for the one-year anniversary of their separation. It will probably get some media coverage, so we'll let you know where to look for it. I'm working on a video for it, and I'll probably put it up on youtube when I'm done. Thanks to eveyone who's prayed and supported us this past year+. It's amazing to see how far we've come in such a short time. It really has been a miracle.
The girls have been making progress with their walking. Both girls were able to stand without help on their crutches for a short time. Kendra took her walker to church instead of her wheelchair, and was able to walk around church without much help. She still needs to get stronger because she gets tired easily. Maliyah was excited for her and asked if she could use her walker at church next week. We told her she could if she works really hard to get stronger and practices. So hopefully she'll now have more motivation to do it. Everything is still going great. To those that say we shouldn't make the girls do things they are scared of, the girls would have absolutely no experiences if we did that. They wouldn't have their wonderful dog that they love, they used to be terrified of dogs. They wouldn't jump on the trampoline, which they love to do. They even used to be afraid to ride in the car. They don't have the opportunity to run and jump like other kids, so a lot of things that go fast scare them. But if we get them to overcome their fears when they are younger, then they will have a lot more fun and be able to do more when they are older.
We took the kids to Lagoon yesterday (a local amusement park). The first ride we went on, an airplane type ride, I took Maliyah kicking and screaming. She didn't enjoy it at all. They went on a few other rides and did a little better. Hopefully they get more brave over time. Courtney went on the big roller coasters with us. She was scared but brave, and actually liked them after. We're so proud of her. The boys went on a few little rides with mixed reactions. They went on the baby boats and after taking 2 turns, threw tantrums when they had to get off. We also took them to the waterpark and had a lot of fun. Maliyah's appetite is a little better, we think she just had been sick. But everything's going great.
We took the kids swimming at a family party yesterday and then did fireworks last night. They had a great time. Since we've tapered off Maliyah's steroids, she hasn't been eating as well, so we have to push her quite a bit. She was sick on Sunday and Monday, but seems to be doing better. So far it's been a great summer, and we're planning a camping trip later this summer.
Just added new photos. We had a bit of a scare this week. On Monday when Maliyah went to transplant clinic, they heard a Heart murmur. So they ordered an echocardiogram for the next day. But her heart looks fine. Everything is going great. Maliyah is still eating and drinking well, but her appetite has decreased since her steroid doses have gone down. But she's able to eat enough to keep her feeding tube out. The boys have definitely started the terrible two's. It should be a very fun summer. We don't know if we'll be able to get away or not. We're too scared to leave since the rejection episode. But we're planning on going camping with the whole family sometime soon.
The boys had a fun birthday. We had a little family party on Friday and then they got a slip and slide and the kids played on that and a little pool. The girls are taking a cheerleading class this summer and love it. I haven't seen them, but I hear they do pretty well at it.
Maliyah got her feeding tube out! She is eating more than any child in the house, almost enough to drive us crazy by her saying "I'm hungry" every 2 seconds. But we can't complain since the opposite is much worse. She's doing a great job taking all her medicine by mouth. The only tough thing about it is getting her to drink 48+ ounces of water a day. But she does great if we give her drinks in 1 ounce cups, 4 per hour. Everyone else is doing great. It is Courtney's last week of school and she's done so great. Kendra's doing great. The girls are excited to start kindergarten in a couple months. The boys will be 2 on Sunday, we can't beleive how time flys. This time last year we were getting ready for the girls to go into the hospital and that seems like forever ago. Thanks again for all the prayers and support.
Maliyah came home this morning! We went straight from the hospital to a private showing of Pirates of the Caribbean we were invited to. We had a great time. Maliyah's appetite has improved 1000% because of the steroids she's on, hopefully that will continue once she comes off. If so, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Everyone else is doing great, we're just glad to be home once again.
Maliyah's creatinine has come down a little, which means she's responding to the steroids. We don't know when she'll get to come home, but she's doing really well.
I need to update the site. I took Maliyah into the hospital on Friday because she had a fever of 101. We met with one of the doctors, he wanted us to be admitted to the hospital to get IV fluids. I really wasn't very worried, I just thought it was maybe a virus. She did very well that night, but the very next morning she started to have terrible stomach pains. It was starting to scare me that something was very wrong with her. Maliyah's temp went up to 39.5c. So fast forward to yesterday. They went in and took some of her kidney to see if it was rejecting. We found out today that it's in acute rejection. Which means that they can save the kidney, but that it may have some scaring. We don't know when she will be coming home from the hospital. I am just asking that tonight say a special prayer for her, especially the little children there isn't anything in the world closer to the Lord that they are. This has been a very emotional day for me and Jake, but as they started the treatment you could tell right away that she started to feel better. I am very greatful that I went with my gut, because I know that it could of been alot worse.
We went swimming on Saturday and the kids had a blast. The boys were kind of unsure about it at first, but then they started liking it. The girls would stay forever if they could. Everyone's doing great. Mom and Dad are thinking about a vacation away from the kids pretty soon, since the real crazy stuff is behind us. We just feel like we've hit a wall and need a little break. We're just trying to figure out where the perfect place would be.
One more thing. Maliyah is starting to eat better, little by little. She is still very picky, so it will take some time, but she'll get there.
Everything is going great. Sorry for the delay in writing. We will probably go back to writing when things happen, not at a particular interval. If you followed before the surgery, that's what we did. I understand people want to know the girls are ok, and we'll make sure to update if something's wrong or if a big event takes place. Just know that if you haven't seen an update for awhile, that we're just living our lives. Maliyah's doing perfect. They've just been playing with their cousins a lot lately. Erin is feeling like herself again. She's starting to pick up the kids again, but not overdoing it. No big plans that we're looking forward to and no major events have happened. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Things are just perfect right now.
Everything still going great at home. We're trying to get Maliyah to eat better, but she's a stubborn little thing. So she'll probably have tubes feeds for quite a while longer. She got to play outside yesterday and you'd never know she just had major surgery 3 weeks earlier. Erin is doing great and feeling a lot better. She still can't lift the kids yet, but other than that she's just about back to herself. Everyone else is doing great and it's nice to be back to the normal chaos at our house.
Maliyah came home today! We're so happy. She doing great. Her cousins came over to watch movies with her. She was so excited to leave, she woke up at 5am asking the nurse when she could go home. But She's finally home, but we just have to really make sure we're on top of her meds, labs and doctor's appointments. But she'll do great. Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Maliyah went in today to get her dialysis catheter out. She's doing great, but they are still tuning her meds and feeds, so we're still not sure when she's going home. Erin is starting to feel better, but still sore and doesn't have much energy. Everyone else is doing great.
Sorry for the delay in updating. Everyone is doing great. Maliyah is still in the hospital but doing great. They are just trying to get her meds, feeds and everything else balanced and figured out before she goes home. Erin is doing a lot better, but still sore.
Make sure to watch Oprah today, as they will be doing something about the girls. Everything is going fine. Erin's starting to feel a lot better, but still really sore. Maliyah is able to eat now, so we're trying to get her to eat so she doesn't have to have that feeding tube again and she seems really intent on not having it. But she's not used to eating very much so it will be a challenge. But everything is going good and hopefully Maliyah will be home by the end of the week.
Everything is going great. Erin came home today, but is still in a lot of pain. The kids got to come up to the hospital yesterday. Maliyah was very excited to see them. She is doing really well, hopefully she'll be home soon.
Everything is going great. Maliyah is being moved out of ICU today. She is doing perfectly. Erin is doing so much better. She is getting up a little, but is still in a lot of pain. I had to stay home yesterday because I woke up with a terrible cough and I didn't want to get them sick. So it was nice to stay home with the kids. We went to the store, then got slurpees, then went to the park. It was nice and I think it made the kids feel like they got a special day with dad.
Maliyah is off the ventilator and awake and pretty happy. She isn't in much pain and she is doing perfectly with her new kidney. The doctors are amazed. She wants to talk to Kendra, so we're planning on calling her later. Erin got to see Maliyah, but doesn't remember it. We're having some problems figuring out the best medicine to control her pain, but also keep her head clear. She is a lot like the girls in that regard and a lot of the same medicines that affect the girls certain ways, affect Erin the same way. So I have to try and remember what medicines the girls do well with so I can let the doctors know. But everything is really going good. Again, thanks for all the prayers and support.
Everyone is doing great. Maliyah will have to be on the ventilator for a day or two, but all her labs and levels look great and she is producing tons of urine. Somebody took a picture of the urine that was collected from Maliyah and brought it to Erin, and Erin just cried to see that it was working so well. Erin's doing great, but she's having a hard time not being able to see Maliyah (They are in the same hospital but different floors). She's starting to settle down and get some rest. We can't beleive how perfect things went. Thanks for all the support and prayers, we know they worked yet again. We'll let you know how things are going tomorrow.
Maliyah is done. They are transporting her to ICU. Everything went perfect. She is doing great and so is Erin. Erin has been in some pain but she's doing good.
Maliyah is making urine! They are starting to close her. She is doing fine. I'm with Erin now. She's still pretty drugged, but she's doing fine. She is so worried about Maliyah, but I told her the news. I'm sure I'll have to tell her a few times though.
Erin is done and doing great. She'll be in recovery for a little while and then moved to a room. The kidney is doing great. We haven't heard if it's produced any urine yet, but we heard the doctors feel good about what they have.
The kidney is out and they're putting it in Maliyah. Everyone is doing fine.
No Scar tissue and everything on Maliyah looks as good as they hoped! They are just waiting on Erin's kidney which should be out very soon.
Erin and Maliyah both went back. Maliyah went back first and Erin held her while we took her down to the OR. We had to wake her up this morning, so she didn't talk much and she was probably a little nervous. She started to cry a little when we told her it was time to go, but then she was absolutely fine until she went to sleep. Erin did great, she got emotional when they have her some medicine to calm her nerves. They just barely started Maliyah's surgery and will probably be prepping Erin for a little while. The sent Maliyah first so that they could make sure there wasn't much scar tissue to get through, but they didn't think there would be.
Well, we just got checked in the hospital and are getting ready for surgery in the morning. Maliyah is so excited. She has been telling everyone that she's getting her kidney tomorrow and that today is her last day at dialysis. Erin is a little nervous, but she's doing good. We'll try to keep everyone updated throughout and after the surgery. The girls have learned to pedal their bikes perfectly now and Courtney just got a new "big" bike. The boys are just their funny selves and talk more and more every day. Thanks for all the support and prayers.
The surgery is scheduled for next week, but may possibly get moved back. Everything is going great. Maliyah is ready for it. It will be hard having Erin down for so long, but I know we'll get through it. It won't even be close to the hardest thing we've ever done. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and support. We hope this will be the last big hurdle for awhile. We hope to get this over with so we can have a very fun summer, unlike last year. But we've come so far the past year, it's truly remarkable. The girls can't wait to start swimming and take swimming lessons. We'll let everyone know how the surgery goes. Thanks for everything.
Everyone is finally feeling better. We had a meeting with the doctors yesterday and they will be scheduling the transplant the first couple weeks of April, depending on when they can get all the doctors together. They will have to take Erin's right kidney, so they won't be able to do it laparoscopically. But they say it shouldn't be too much different than recovering from a C-section, so we know all too well about that. They said that Maliyah is all ready to go and there shouldn't be too much of a problem fitting the kidney in her. She'll have to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, mainly to make sure they have her anti-rejection medication adjusted correctly. She is so excited to get her kidney so she can go swimming this summer. Right now she can't be submerged in water because of her dialysis catheter. Everything else is going great. Kendra is peddling her bike so well now. Since it's been warm we've been spending a lot of time outside. K&M were jumping on the trampoline the other day, though they hate it when anyone else jumps while they're on because it makes them bounce too high. Austin is a maniac on his little ride on toy. He tries to crash into the curb and go fast on it. Courtney has been putting Justin in a stroller and taking him everywhere with her. He's like a little doll and doesn't make a peep. It's so funny how small he is and how big Austin is. Austin is almost as tall as Kendra when they are both standing. Courtney had another test and did so good on it. She only got 1 wrong again. We're so proud of our kids and how lucky we have to have 5 of the best kids in the world. Thanks to everyone for everything.
Well the girls had a great birthday. They got their Dora bikes and love them. They are doing really good on them. We had a fun family party with them last Sunday night. They are so loved. We celebrated Erin's birthday this weekend, but she was sick all weekend, but felt well enough Saturday evening to go out to dinner. She still isn't feeling very well. Kendra has an ear infection, they gave her antibiotics that didn't work, because she's immune to some antibiotics. So we changed them and it seems to be clearing up. Still no specifc time on the kidney transplant. The doctor's are meeting next week to make plans about it, so we may know more then. Other than the sicknesses, everything is going perfect. We can't wait for it to warm up and get the kidney transplant over with it, even though it will be hard having to be at the hospital again. Thanks for all the continued support and prayers. We posted a few new pictures, check them out.
Things going great. We're looking forward to celebrating the girls' birthday this weekend. We're trying to find them bikes, but don't know how well they will be able to peddle them. They tried some bikes at the neighbors house and did ok, pedaling them. It's just a matter of finding what will work the best for them, because they'll need a lot of practice to ride them well. I think we're all finally over our sicknesses. We'll probably post some more pictures after their birthday. Thanks to everyone who wrote to 20/20. We haven't heard from them yet, but if they won't cover it, we won't have much of a problem finding someone you will. Doing the media is a pain sometimes, but it gives the girls something to look back on and also gives others who are having challenges hope, so it's worth it. Have a great weekend!
20/20 has decided not to cover our story anymore since we went on Oprah, this includes an hour long special they were going to do after the kidney transplant. Would everyone please write to 20/20 at http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123566&page=1 and tell them you want them to cover our story. If we get enough people to email them, maybe they'll consider doing it. Thanks.
Erin just had her last test, an CT Scan, and it looked good. She has to retake a few others ones, but the transplant is pretty much a go. It may take place in the next 2-4 weeks. Maliyah got an infection in her dialysis cathetor again, but is doing better now. Kendra has been having some pain in her side. They did xrays and can't see anything wrong. Everyone had a great valentines day.
Everything is going good, but we had a round of a bug again. The boys have RSV, luckily they're old enough that it isn't serious. It just seems like a cold. Austin has an ear infection and Dad, Mom, Courtney and Kendra have had another round of the stomach flu. The girls just got their new wheelchairs. They like them a lot and can get around good in them. We're still trying to get the girls more physical therapy so they can get better on their crutches. Courtney got her report card and got all A's except for only 1 B+, we are so proud of her.
Everything is going great. Hope everyone got to see the Oprah show on Friday. If you didn't go to youtube.com and search for "Herrin twins", it's in 2 parts. Thanks to whoever posted it. The trip was fun, but fast. We flew out Monday, went through a run through of the show and then went to our hotel, ate dinner and went to bed. We had to get up very early to get to the studio, get ready, then do the show. After the show we talked to Oprah very briefly, then got our stuff ready and were whisked back to the airport. Courtney went with us and Oprah told her how beautiful she was (like she didn't already know! :)) We joke at how stubborn the girls are and how even one of the the most powerful women in the world couldn't get her to say four words. It was a good experience, but very tiring and we were just glad to be back home without any incidents. Everything is still just status quo. Kendra's wounds is about the size of a dime and looks like it will heal over any day now. Erin does her last test for the kidney transplant next month, then we'll know more about when it will be.
Sorry we haven't updated for awhile. Things are still going great. We just wanted to let everyone know to watch the Oprah Show on Friday because we will be on.
Everyone's finally over their sicknesses. We've taken out Kendra's feed tube and she's doing great. She almost has too much of an appetite and is always asking to eat. Erin's just finishing up the last few tests for the transplant and so far, so good. We don't have a date yet for the transplant. Everyone else is doing great.
Everything is going great. The boys have still been sick, so they went to the doctor today and have rodo virus which has been going around. Hopefully it will pass soon. Maliyah has also been sick lately. She gets really dehydrated, but thankfully they are able to give her extra fluid from dialysis. Kendra is doing great and eating really well. We ended up putting her feeding tube back in, but she shouldn't need it too much longer. She went with dad to work while mom took the boys to the doctor. Courtney is staying busy with school and her friends. We just posted some new pictures, sorry it's taken so long. Thanks for the continued prayers and support.
Well, we had quite the weekend. Mom, Dad, Justin, Austin, and Kendra all got the Flu. Trying to take care of 5 children, with more than half of them sick and mom and dad both sick is quite the challenge. Luckily dad's only lasted about half a day, everyone else's is still lingering. We had a fun New Years eve. All our family came over and played games and the girls got to stay up to ring in the New Year. Then dad took the girls (including Alli) sledding on New Years day. K&M were terrified, but dad made them each go down the hill once while we were there. Maliyah went first and she had fun, though she didn't want to go again. When Kendra went she screamed, until she realized it wasn't that bad, but didn't want to go again. Dad, Courtney and Alli then went, it was a lot of fun and we ended up going down half the hill backwards. The girls start preschool today, they are very excited. Kendra is done with the Hyperbaric chamber and just goes to the wound clinic once a week now.
We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids were so excited Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. It was a nice break to be able to spend time together without having to go to work, diaylsis, dressing changes, etc. Kendra has her wound vac off for now, hopefully her wound continues to heal well and can keep it off. It looks really good and is so close to being fully healed. She has to take a break from the hyperbaric chamber because somehow it made her eardrum bleed the last time, so she's been put on antibiotics in case there's an infection. Her feeding tube came out last night and she promised to eat good so she doesn't have to have it put back in, so we'll see how she does. She got a lot for Christmas, but her favorite thing has been the boys' ride on toy. She's a little old for it, but we realized she never really got to experience toys like that when they were conjoined. Maliyah is doing good. Dialysis is going well, but we're anxious to get her transplanted. We hope once she is, she won't feel feel sick so much. But overall she usually feels good and is very happy. She also got a lot and probably enjoys her portable CD player the best. She loves music and would spend all day in her room listening to CDs if we let her. Courtney is doing great, she got a Nintendo DS for Christmas and her and mom have been playing the heck out of it. It's fun to see them play together and getting so excited about it. The boys are quickly becoming little men. They play so well together except when they fight over toys. We thought it would be ok not getting them 2 of everything, but we were probably wrong. Alli is getting big and is such as sweet dog. She is so good with the kids and even plays tag with Courtney. She picked Mom as her favorite and is constantly jumping into her lap. Erin doesn't know how that happened, but has really warmed up to her. Things are going even better than we had ever imagined things would be at this time. We hope everyone has a Happy New Year
Wow. Just got the site back up. Sorry about that. Everything has been going great! The kids are very excited for Christmas. Courtney is still doing very well in school and we are amazed at the progress she's made. Kendra's wound is healing nicely and shouldn't be much longer before it's healed. Maliyah is just going right along, dialysis is going well and we think the transplant will take place in a couple months. Austin is starting to talk like crazy and Justin is just starting to say a few words. We went to a Christmas party the other night at our church and Courtney and Maliyah sat on Santa's lap. Maliyah was scared at first, but once we put her on his lap, she was fine. Kendra wanted nothing to do with Santa and screamed when we even took her close to him. It was quite the scene! We are so thankful for all that we have been blessed with and are so luckly to have such wonderful healthly children. Thanks to everyone for all the continued prayers and support. And have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season!
Great News! The test to see if Erin was a match to Maliyah came back and Erin is a 5/6 match. Normally parents are no better than a 3/6. The better the match, the better the chance that the kidney won't be rejected. The chances of finding a better or similar match is very low, so most likely Erin will be the donor. The kids are doing great. Nothing really new to report. We're very excited for Christmas. We're still working on the crutches, but not as often as we should be. It will be nice when the girls go back to school so they can get physical therapy. Austin is starting to talk more and Justin learned to go down the stairs, before Austin did. That is about the only thing he's done first. Courtney is still doing really well in school. She got all A's and B's on her first report card. We're so proud of all our kids. Our lives are so normal now that we forget to take video and pictures like we used to. Thanks for all the continues support and prayers. Here's a recent news story that was done. http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_325182716.html
Everything is going great. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. It was nice spending a lot of time together as a family. Sorry for the lack of updates, but things are very settled now, so updates don't need to be as frequent anymore. We'll update as things happen and hopefully get an update at least weekly. Courtney has been putting one leg in her shirt and pretending she has one leg and crawls around like Kendra. Maliyah scoots on her back, so she doesn't have much hair left on the back of her head. We keep trying to get her to turn over, but she always reverts back to what she's used to. Kendra's wound is looking really good. They took off her wound vac for the weekend, because she had a bit of a rash, but it looks a lot better. Austin is starting to talk a little, he says "Uh, oh" and "Alli". Justin is just his sweet self, but still passes out when he gets upset. Alli is a wonderful dog, she just needs a little work letting us know when she needs to go outside. Thanks for all the continued support.
We had a great weekend. On Saturday we got to go down to the BYU football game. They let us sit up in a press box. We were worried that the girls wouldn't tolerate it the whole time, but they had a wonderful time. We even got to meet BYU's legendary coach, Lavell Edwards. It was so much fun, and joked that this was kind of like dad's make-a-wish. We want to thank BYU for the opportunity. Everything else is going great and we're looking forward to Thanksgiving.
Everyone's doing great. Kendra just got tubes put in her ears and is now going to the hyperbaric chamber every weekday. Her wound is doing awesome and we may not need a skin graft. Maliyah was a little sick on Monday and Tuesday, but is doing great now. Maliyah just got her crutches, so we'll start working with her. Have a great weekend!
Everyone is doing great. Kendra had a rash and some swelling on her leg so we took her to the ER on Friday and they determined it was a skin infection, so they put her on antibiotics and sent her home. It seems to be doing much better. Other than that everything is going great. Nothing too exciting to tell, but life is good. Thanks again.
We just posted new pictures. Maliyah just got a monitor to check her oxygen levels and it seems that she's ok when she's awake, but needs oxygen when she sleeps and when she gets dialysis. So that's one less tube she need to be hooked to during the day. We will continue to monitor her to make sure she can stay off it, but so far she's doing great. Kendra's doing great! We're still not sure if we want to do a skin graft, we hate to put her through another surgery, but we want her to be completely healed, like Maliyah. So we'll let you know what we decide. Erin went a played volleyball at our church last night, so that was a nice break for her. Everything is going about as good as we could ever hope for right now and we are looking forward to the holidays and how thankful we are for all that we have been blessed with in the past year. It has been a wonderful and very memorable year that we will never forget. Thanks for the continued prayers and support.
Everything is going good, not much to report. We had a good weekend. Mom took the kids to their friends house to play on Saturday while Dad took the boys to their cousins' to watch football. Kendra is really coming along on her crutches. Maliyah has a ways to go to put weight on her arms.
Everyone's doing great. We have been working with Kendra on her crutches really hard and she's doing great. She can't do it without help yet, but she'll get there. Hopefully Maliyah's crutches will come soon. We tried to get her to use Kendra's, but she refused. She is pretty stubborn, so it will take her longer, but we'll keep trying. Have a great weekend!
The kids had a great time last night. It was very cold so the boys and K&M only trick-or-treated on our street. We took Courtney and their cousins out for quite a while and they got so much candy. Courtney got soda at one house and it broke in her bag when she tripped and her candy got wet, but she didn't care. Then when everyone was done we went to a huge mansion and Courtney wouldn't get out of the car because she thought it was haunted. She finally did. We got pictures of her but I forgot to bring the memory card, so I'll have to put them on later.
The kids are so excited for Halloween tonight. Their cousins are supposed to be coming over to go trick or treating with them. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of Courtney in her costume, she was running around with her friends when we were taking pictures, but we'll make sure we get some tonight. I put up pictures of our van, it's on the menu off the main page under "Van for Sale". The girls are doing great. Kendra's done with her hyperbaric chamber treatments. We haven't seen her wound, but they said it really improved from Friday to Monday. They are worried that more treatments would hurt her ears. The doctor want to do a skin graft, but we're not sure if we want to put her through another surgery. Maliyah had her dialysis catheter redone again yesterday and it went well. Hopefully this will be the last one for awhile. Everything else is going great. Have a Happy Halloween!!!
We had a great weekend. We went to a Halloween party at our church and the kids got to dress up. We put more pictures up so take a look. We went to church again Sunday and the kids had a program. Courtney did such a good job and memorized her part. Kendra did good for about half the program and then wanted to sit with us. Maliyah stayed up there the whole time and sang all the songs and said her and Kendra's parts. We were so proud of all of them. We are looking for a new van. Right now we have a full-size van with a wheelchair lift, but it only seats 6 with the lift in it. We don't think we'll need a lift anymore as the girls are much lighter now being separate and shouldn't be wheelchair dependant forever. So we are looking into a mini-van and think it will be much easier to get the kids in and out of. If anyone is looking for a van with a wheelchair lift, email us and we'll give you the details.
We had a lot of fun last night. We went to the movies and the girls sat through the entire movie better then they ever have. Then we went out to dinner and they did really well. Kendra got her crutches yesterday. She doesn't like using them much yet, but we will work with her. As far as we've heard the other conjoined twins just born are doing well. We aren't going to update on their progress as it is hard enough to keep up on our own. But we got most of our information from http://www.ctv.ca/news . Have a great weekend.
Everything is going well. The girls are getting fitted for their new wheelchairs today. We are going out to dinner and a movie for Courtney's brithday tonight. The hyperbaric therapy seems to be going well, although we haven't seen her wound since they started.
We will update about the girls later. There is a set of conjoind twins that will be born tomorrow. PLEASE pray for these beautiful baby girls.
We put some new photos on. They aren't very recent, just a few we took over the past several weeks. Sorry none of them has the girls together, because they took turns in and out of the hospital. The hyperbaric chamber therapy went well. Mommy got a little chlosterphobic and had to get "freak out medicine" according to Kendra. Kendra was fine with it. Her aunt Anette will be taking her from now on so mommy doesn't "freak out". Maliyah had a great round of dialysis yesterday and actually finished before Kendra. For those that wanted to know more about hyperbaric therapy, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_oxygen_therapy
We had a great weekend. We took all the kids to church Sunday, and they did great. It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of help from some of the wonderful people at our church. The girls were very excited to go and that is just another milestone that we have gotten to. Our lives are slowly but surely getting back to normal. Kendra can stand up against the couch and pull herself onto the couch. Maliyah can get off the couch and scoot around. We can't wait to get their crutches. They are getting Pink and Purple ones, but they have been on backorder. We know they will just take off once they can start practicing with them. Sorry about not posting any pictures recently, but we have just been so busy at home that the last thing we think of is getting the camera. I know we need to be better, so we'll try to get some pictures in the next few days. Kendra started her hyperbaric chamber therapy today, but I haven't heard yet how it went so I'll let everyone know tomorrow.
Maliyah came home yesterday as you all may know. She's doing great. Still a very wild sleeper and she crawled out of bed and was sleeping on the floor when I checked on them in the middle of the night. Kendra starts hyperbaric chamber therapy next week and will probably only need it for a couple weeks. It's nice to have everyone home. By the way, Maliyah is O+ and can receive any O, as some of you were wondering about who can donate. There is tissue typing and other tests they do, so blood type isn't the only requirement. We don't know yet if we will go outside the family, but will let everyone know if we decide to. Thanks for all the offers and support, it's incredible and humbles us so much to know how many people are there for us. Thanks again to everyone for their support and prayers. Have a great weekend and we'll update again on Monday.
We met with the surgery team for Maliyah's kidney transplant. We really aren't sure if Erin will be able to donate her kidney to Maliyah. With how much healing the girls need they don't think it is wise for Erin to undergo a HUGE operation with 2 children with VERY special needs(with them both in and out of the hospital) and 3 others that need her. We will pray about what will be the best thing for our WHOLE family. We will keep you updated.
Maliyah is coming home today. She's so excited and so is Kendra. They did a CT scan yesterday on Maliyah and can't find any sign of a blood clot, so that is wonderful news, we just don't know why she needs oxygen. She is also tolerating her feeds well. Kendra will start going to the hyperbarick chamber next week. Hopefully it speeds things up. Her wounds are looking a lot better, so maybe a few treatments and we could be done with the wound vac. Maliyah's wounds are closed and she doesn't need a wound vac anymore. The less things we have to worry about the better.
We decided to update again since we didn't give much of an update earlier. It's been a little crazy and hectic, and we just wanted to let everyone know that Maliyah is doing OK, for all those that were worried. Maliyah is missing her dog, Alli, and her brothers and sisters very much. They did an echo on her heart today and found out that her heart is fine, but she has a blood clot in her Vena Cava. They will be starting blood thinners tomorrow to clear that up. It was caused from her dialysis catheter. She probably won't be able to come home tomorrow, because they will have to monitor her for a little while. Erin and Maliyah were painting, coloring and playing doctor today. She loves getting the sharp needles out and giving her doll shots. Erin thinks it make her feel better to be able to poke her doll after they poke her. Dad changed Kendra's wound vac dressing today for the first time. The dressing probably is completely wrong, but she will go in tomorrow to get it re-changed. I couldn't get ahold of Erin for her to help me, but I think I did pretty well. We are looking into doing hyperbaric chamber therapy for Kendra. Thanks to those who recommended it. Dad also painted an old football helmet for Maliyah because she wants to be a football player for Halloween. Kendra wants to be a cheerleader, Courtney wants to be Barbie of Pegasus, Justin is going to be a Teddy Bear and Austin is going to be a Horse. Courtney is doing so good in school, she's at a 2nd grade level in math and loves school. She got 100% on her geography test. She's learning cursive and is very excited about it. The boys are getting a lot of teeth and are in to everything. Good thing for naps or we'd be bald by now. Please don't be worried if we don't update for a few days. The last little while has been overwhelming having one child in the hospital and the others at home. It's really hard on Erin because she spends so much time at the hospital making sure everything is done right for Maliyah. She really misses the other kids and (normal) life. But she really is amazing how knowledgeable she is about the medical needs for the girls and I know I would go absolutely crazy being at the hospital as long as she is every day. We gave her last weekend off from going to the hospital, so hopefully it gives her a little stamina to make it through the rest. I don't do well at the hospital, but am fine with all the kids at home. So hopefully once Maliyah is home, I can send Erin off for a weekend getaway somewhere, if she'll go. Thanks again to all of those who are supporting and praying for us.
Maliyah is still in the hospital, but she is doing good. They started feeding her last night and it went well and she may be able to come home tomorrow.
Sorry we didn't update yesterday. Maliyah is doing well. She's still in ICU but may go to a regular room today. She has been in some pain and the regular pain medicine they give her doesn't work very well on her. They can't give her anything orally yet. Right after the surgery it was funny, Maliyah was her onry self and yelling at us to get her different movies and Erin was getting a little annoyed by it. I told Erin that it's just the medicine making her act that way, and she said "No it isn't, she's always like this." Then Maliyah jumped in and yelled, "YES IT IS!!!" It was pretty funny and we had to laugh. Everyone else is doing good. Kendra's wounds are coming along. Justin is starting to walk on his own little by little. Austin is still Austin, a very busy kid. Courtney is doing very well in school and her teacher said she is very bright. Alli is doing wonderful. She is learning sit, come, stay, speak, and lie down. She is such a smart dog, we can't beleive it.
Maliyah is almost done. The surgery went well, but was more complicated than Kendra's because she had a lot of scar tissue they had to get through. Her intestine had wrapped around the tissue expander that they inserted during the separation to save a space for her kidney. They had to remove the expander, so hopefully there will still be enough space for the kidney. They were able to close her skin completely from the separation, so she won't need a wound vac anymore, which is great. They are just fixing her dialysis catheter then she will go to the ICU. Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Well Maliyah is going in for surgery tomorrow morning. It should be about the same as Kendra's was and they will try and close her up tighter to help her heal faster like they did with Kendra. We know everything will go ok, but it will keep us in the hospital for up to another week, so that is hard. Please pray everything goes smoothly. Thanks for all the continued support. Otherwise she is feeling fine. They are concerned about her needing oxygen and may do some tests on her heart to make sure that is ok. She hasn't needed much oxygen at all and we've had her off it for awhile tonight and she's doing fine. Kendra, Courtney and the boys are all doing fine, so is the dog and mom is getting warmed up to her.
Well, Maliyah has been in the hospital since Friday with some kind of blockage, but they don't think it's the same as Kendra's and haven't said anything about surgery yet. They are doing more testing to find out where it is. But it is very common for dialysis patients to get "backed up" because of diet and fluid restrictions and we think that's all it is. Other than waiting and being in the hospital she's doing very well, as well as everyone else.
Well Maliyah isn't feeling very well today. She threw up twice last night (which isn't that uncommon) so we stopped her feedings. And she has thrown up about 3 times today and doesn't feel very good. After dialysis they will do an xray to make sure it's not a blockage like Kendra had. Hopefully it's nothing and she starts feeling better. Everyone else is doing great.
Nothing new to report. Last night Maliyah was on her climbing kick again and got stuck between her bed and the bookcase. She still loves to eat paper and gets angry when you tell her not to. Kendra is pretty easy going and happy. Courtney is doing very well in school and likes her new school a lot. Justin still won't walk much, but can if we encourage him to. Austin is a busy boy. He always has to have something in his hands and gets into everything.
The girls are doing great. Maliyah is the wildest sleeper I've ever seen. Last night she was completely on her pillow, with her whole body against her headboard and her head hanging off the side of the bed. I don't know how Kendra put up with her when they were together. Then she managed to climb on the top of her bookcase to get her cup of water. We put her water out of reach because we have to limit her fluid intake because of dialysis. Maliyah looks so chubby because of all the fluid she retains. It's so cute. The girls continue to go to the hospital on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for their wound dressing changes and Maliyah's dialysis. So those days are very hard and exhausting for both Erin, Amy (my sister who helps Erin) and the girls. Overall, it's been a pretty good week.
Everything is still going great. The girls are eating better and healing well. Still a long way to go before they are fully healed, but the progress so far is significant. Thanks for the continued prayers and support.
Everyone is doing great. Nothing new to report. Maliyah is really warming up to Alli (the new puppy). She used to be deathly afraid of all dogs and now Kendra (who wished for her) is more weary of her. She'll warm up to her soon enough. We took all the kids on a wagon ride last night. They really like to be outside. It was nice to have one day to not have anything going on and to just be a family. We are starting to get a routine and it's starting to feel not so overwhelming anymore, but we'll continue to have ups and downs.
Sorry about the website. I hope it will finally stay up. It's been a crazy week. Kendra came home yesterday. She's doing really well. We found out this morning that Maliyah had an infection in her dialysis catheter, so we had to take her to the ER to get IV antibiotics. Then after about 5 hours we got to go home. Then Kendra's IV went bad so we had to take her back to the hospital so they could place a new one. But everything is fine now. Hopefully we won't have to go near the hospital until Monday. Thanks for the patience while getting the website back up.
Well, Kendra is back in the hospital. Yesterday her broviach broke and Erin took her to the hospital to fix it. They fixed it, then when they got home Kendra starting to not feel so well and was running a fever. So she took her back up to the ER. They got some blood for testing and gave her some antibiotics and IV fluids and she started feeling better, so she brought her home. Well at 3AM I get a call saying that her blood test grew out a nasty bacteria quickly and that we better get her back to the hospital so they can start antibiotics. So I brought her in. She's doing fine other than not wanting to be in the hospital. They will be taking her broviach (permanent IV) out later today. They think that is the source. So we shouldn't be in the hospital long.
Everything is still going well. Nothing really new to report. Kendra is not feeling so well today, she may have a bladder infection. Maliyah may be off her wound vac soon, as her wounds are pretty close to fully healed. Again thanks for everything.
Finally got some new pictures on. We had a good, yet tiring weekend. Sorry we weren't able to update more, weekends are tough. I will probably be able to update most weekdays, so plan on updates Monday through Friday, but probably not weekends unless something significant happens. The girls are doing great. We finally got through a whole night without a pump or some kind of alarm going off, so that was nice. We've come to the conclusion that no 1 person can take care of all 6 (including the dog) kids at once. Yesterday mommy took a nap and daddy almost went completely insane. We've also come to the conclusion that our house will not stay clean longer than 3.2 seconds when the kids are home. It's so much fun though and wonderful being home.
Sorry for the late update, it's been a crazy day. The girls are doing good. They are very tired. We had our first outing as a family today, to their cousins' house. They had fun, but were ready to come home. The new puppy is great. She is already so well behaved. She goes to the bathroom outside really well. She is very calm, yet playful. Maliyah has really warmed up to her and Kendra seems more timid now for some reason. I think Kendra just had a hard day and didn't feel like playing with her. Maliyah had to go on oxygen, because when she went in for dialysis last time her oxygen was pretty low. So that's just something else they have to be hooked to. Hopefully soon, we'll be able to start taking things away, instead of adding new things. But it's still much better than being in the hospital, even though it's so much work.
The girls are doing good today. They got their puppy yesterday and were a little timid of her at first, but once we started playing with her and showing them that it wasn't scary, they warmed up to her and held her. They had an argument today about who was her mommy, each saying that she was. They don't like her to lick them though, but we'll work on that. She is so tiny and Courtney carries her around like a rag doll. She got up very early to get her out of her crate. The boys love her too. Justin tries to head butt her and it just licks him and he laughs. Austin pets her and barks like a doggy. We know she'll be a wonderful addition to our family. They changed Kendra's formula for her feeding tube and it seems to be helping. She's less dehydrated. Maliyah slept through the night and was the last one to get up this morning. She's doing great. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Watch 20/20 tonight for a little update about the girls coming home and their new puppy.
Sorry about the last entry. What a few people have written has not discouraged us one bit. It just bugs me that some people would use our guestbook to try and make a statement and the only reason it bothers me is that I have to take the time and delete the stupid thing every time someone writes something ignorant. I just wanted to let people know that our faith is too strong for that to even come close to having an impact on us. Anyway sorry about the rant. The girls are doing good. They had a better night's sleep last night. We are having to give Kendra extra fluid at night because she is getting dehydrated, hopefully that will clear up soon. Maliyah had no pain last night. We have to figure out things that Maliyah can eat and it seems that almost everything is a no. The kids get their new puppy today and they (and daddy) are so excited. Thanks for the huge response to the last update, but it really was no big deal, don't worry.
The girls are doing great today. Last night we got to eat dinner with everyone at the table. K&M didn't eat much, but it was very nice and something all of us missed so much. The girls seem to be taking full advantage of their operation. Maliyah wanted to go to bed early last night and Kendra didn't so they were able to each do what they wanted. And this morning Mom and their Aunt Amy took them to the hospital for dialysis and wound dressing changes and they both wanted to ride in Amy's car, but she only had one car seat. So it was agreed that Maliyah would ride to the hospital and Kendra would ride home with her. We can already tell that this is what they wanted and it feels good to have that reassurance from them. One other thing I want to bring up. Several people have expressed their negative opinions about God, prayer, and our specific faith. We understand that there are those that have different views than us and we respect that, but you don't have to disrespect our views so that you can try and make a statement. We encourage all that want to learn more about our religion to do so, but don't degrade it when you don't know anything about it. We know that without it we would have never made it this far. We know that the Lord has a plan for all of us and that our trials have been to strengthen our family as well as to inspire and strengthen others. We know that those that try to insult and bring us down, do not have the understanding that we do. There was a time when religion wasn't of any interest to me, but going through the things we have has made me see that it needs to be the most important thing in my life and I still struggle to make it that. It is so easy to get caught up in things that don't matter. We just hope and pray that by sharing our experiences with the public that it may make an impact, no matter how minuscule, on how you see life. We know that all prayers are heard, no matter what religion. Many of our doctors have told us about their experiences during the separation surgery. We know without a doubt that without God's help, we wouldn't have had such a great outcome. We give all the credit in the world to our doctors, our angels. We wish everyone could have been in the waiting room as we waited for K&M. There was a feeling that was stronger then I have ever felt before and I think anyone who was in that room would say the same thing. There was no denying it. We continue to thank all those that have prayed for us and even just supported us. We read and cherish all the nice comments that we are sent or are written in the guestbook, even though we aren't able to respond to most. We hope to one day be able to let K&M and the rest of our family read all the wonderful things people have written from all over the world. This has been such a wonderful experience, however difficult at times. We thank you all so much for caring so much.
Sorry for the late updates, the website has been doing some really weird stuff the last couple days and now just isn't a good time to be doing that. The girls are doing really well. Kendra got a feeding tube last night because she just isn't eating enough, even though she wants to. So hopefully it will help her heal faster. Maliyah got down on the ground on her back and scooted just like she did when they were conjoined. We need to teach her a different way so she doesn't have a bald spot forever. They will be getting crutches pretty soon, so they are excited. Today Kendra hit Maliyah with a Barbie, so she was punished for the first time separately. We sent her to her room, where she fell asleep. Before there wasn't really a way to punish one without punishing the other, so that's another plus. It is so nice to be home. Maliyah slept much better last night, so I think it will keep getting better now that we're out of the hospital. I should have new pictures up in a little while.
Everything is going great. Maliyah is getting dialysis right now and Kendra is at home. They are quite a lot of work, but I think once we get on a routine, it won't be too bad. Kendra slept great, she was out like a light once we put her to bed. Maliyah cried every couple of hours because of her muscle spasms. She is on a muscle relaxer, but it didn't seem to make a difference. We will post some new pictures as soon as we get a chance. Thanks.
Well the girls are home and they're doing great! There was a huge homecoming party for them. All their family, friends, and neighbors were outside to greet them as they came home. They wanted to see their new beds. Kendra played her computer. Maliyah went on a walk in the stroller. Courtney pulled Kendra in the wagon. They played with their little brothers and their brothers seemed so excited for them to be home. We put Kendra down on the ground and she crawled around like she had been doing it for years. It's so wonderful to be back together as a family again. It sure is a lot of work though, but it's so well worth it. Thanks again to everyone.
We're coming home tomorrow!!! We are so excited. We have been getting this house and the girls' room ready. We can finally get back to a somewhat normal routine. We aren't sure what time we can come home, they have to check Maliyah's labs and make sure she doesn't need a little dialysis.
Well no homecoming today. There is still a lot to be worked out as far as their home care. But we could come home as early as Sunday, but I wouldn't be surpised if it was Monday or Tuesday. We just know it will be soon and that we have a lot to look forward to. Thanks again to everyone for the support.
Everything is still going great. We still don't know for sure when they will come home, it looks to be Monday. The girls are very excited to come home and now we get to count down to a good thing instead of to surgery. Don't worry, we will continue to update once we are home. As time goes on, it may not be daily, but it will be for awhile to let everyone know how the girls are adjusting and improving. It feels good to know that there are so many concerned with their well being.
GREAT NEWS!!! The girls may be going home soon. It's possible that they may go home on Friday, but most likely it will be Monday. They have to order everything for the home cares and it may not be ready by Friday. We hope so. Thank you everyone for praying for us. We know every one of the prayers have been heard and we appreciate all |