Recap on Life Since Last Year's Post

There was a greater sense of urgency to blog at the beginning as there were so many people curious about the progress our twin girls were making and on Lauren's heart surgeries. It was good for Michelle and I to chronicle our experience so that we may be able to revisit this time and to show Lauren what a miracle she really is. Of course, getting back to the normal routine of life with our 4 young children, who really has time to blog? Even if we did have time, the real question is, what do we blog about if not heart surgeries and the routine we've come to know as life? For now, here's a brief recap on life since 2006. After this, we’ll see how it goes with blogging.

Update on Kirsten and Ethan:
Kirsten is now 6 and Ethan will be 5 in December. These two are now attending GACS, a private school in Atlanta, GA. There is so much to say about these two, I'll revisit in later posts.

Update on the Twins:
The twins are now 2 and half and are doing so well. They started a 2 year old class twice a week for 3 hours a day. (Yea for Michelle!!!) Again, there is so much to say just about the twins, more about them later.

Update on Michelle:
This woman is amazing in so many ways as a mother, wife, friend, daughter, and person. She's doing very well and staying as busy as always. When life could have slowed down with the twins going to school, she takes on more projects to stay busy.

We Moved to a New Home:
Last year (October 2006), we moved from a house that made sense to newlyweds with no children to a home more accommodating for a family with 4 children. The neighborhood is active with very social people and there are so many kids here. The tough thing about this move was it took 6 months of double mortgages before we sold our first house.

New Company:
February 2007, I took the plunge, secured some investment capital and left consulting to launch an internet based tech company. We've been keeping our product under wraps and everyone is anxiously waiting our beta release. Needless to say, this project is the biggest reason why so many haven't heard from me this year. We hope to change this by early next year as the product will be released this year. More to come on this later.

Hopefully this recap is enough to sort of pick up without boring you to death.

Something Nostalgic about Fall...

As the weather has been changing, high school football in full swing (go St.X ranked #1 in KY and #5 in the country), people in the past calling me out of the blue, I can't help but to reconnect with those really great memories of being in high school. Trying not to get lost in the spider web of websites and searching for the many people I knew from so many schools in Louisville, I started some random searches on myspace, facebook, friendster, reunion, and 30 minutes later realized I could do this all night. It was disappointing to see how many names I could locate, but no information about people. What are people doing these days, are they married, have any kids, where are they working, where do they live, and most fun of all, what do they look like now? All I could find is how old a lot of people are (calculated from birth dates) and new married names.

Anyway, it got me motivated to take a short break from my endless hours of working on my tech startup company and upload some new photos and catch up with the world. For those who find this web site, by all means, drop me a line. You can email me at blog_david@carrolljournal.com.

Oh yeah, thanks to my good friend Chris Ames, I am now using Picasa Web to host my photo albums. Check out all the new photos online and stay tuned as I try to start blogging more and updating our site.

New Pictures from October 2005 to March 2006

I can't believe I've gone 6 full months without uploading pictures of the family. It's been a busy 6 months. In anycase, I hope you enjoy these ultra adorable pictures of the kids.

Click Here for Photo Gallery...

Getting Back to Blogging

It's been a very long while since my last post. Once our lives shifted from keeping up with the challenges of an infant with congenital heart disease to a healthy and active family of 4 children, it's just been nice focusing on the chaos of our very active and demanding children. Since my last post, much has happened on the family front.

Twins-Almost 1 Year Old
First, all the children are doing fantastic. Lauren appears to be fully recovered and is developing as well as her twin sister Morgan. The twins will be celebrating their 1st birthday this May 12th. It's hard to believe how fast time has passed this year. The twins are just now starting to crawl and talk. Each girl is developing into their own person. It's such an early preview into the blueprint of their personalities. Everyday, without fail, Michelle and I still can't believe that we've ended up with identical twin girls. It's just an amazing feeling.

Ethan-Thank God For My Boy
Ethan turned three in December and is growing up all too fast. This kid is all boy, which is a good thing for me. I really need some male bonding in this household. Ethan is now into Star Wars, bad guys, and full body tackling. He really is my little man.

Kirsten-Our Little Girl is Growing Up
Kirsten, our first born, will be 5 years old Easter Sunday and she's turning into this little person. Michelle and I are amazed on a daily basis at how much she's growing up. She loves to sing, dance, play, entertain the twins, and help out her parents with anything and everything. She has a love for learning new things and understanding the why and how our world works.

David-Professional Life Getting Back on Track
For those not aware, I was at Global Payments as a consultant for over a year and a half. Typically, I take on new contracts within a few months if not juggling several clients at a time. However, Global Payments was a perfect place for me to be while I focused my energies on Lauren, twins, and everything else. In the end, it really worked out great for both Global Payments and me.

Since my last post, I've left Global Payments and joined Innovative Architects as a principal architect. My primary role is to provide technical leadership and direction for multiple clients, projects, and the team of consultants in the company. This is like a duck returning to water after a long break.

I've also been working diligently towards picking up the pieces of a product concept I started before news of the twins entered our lives in 2004. We’ll see how that works out in the months to come. Ultimately, there is so much to catch up on and look forward to in 2006.

Michelle
Michelle is the source of life and meaning in this family. Her energy and endurance keeping up with all these children day-in and day-out while supporting me with my pursuits is immeasurable. She takes on every new challenge like an absolute pro. I've never seen her struggle. Between keeping up with the kids at school, the twins at home, trips to the doctors office, keeping up with the house, and all the sub projects in between are enough to make the best of project managers struggle. She does all this with a smile (most of the time) and she makes it look effortless. She's just amazing. I will never take her dedication and love for this family for granted. For that and so much more, I love her with all my heart.

New to the Private School Experience
Next week, we'll get word of whether or not Kirsten will be accepted to either of the two private schools we've applied her to. She applied to Greater Atlanta Christian (GAC) and St. Martin's School. This has definitely been a learning experience with all that's involved with applying to private schools in Atlanta. Kirsten has completed a group test and an individual follow up test with GAC. She's been evaluated by a child psychologist with another admissions exam and underwent an observation session at St. Martin's with a group of other applicants. All private schools in Atlanta send out acceptance letters, wait-list letters, and denial letters on April 7th this year. So, we'll know the outcome at the end of this week.

That's it for now. I'll try to keep posting more frequently.

A Christmas Thanks

This year has been a miraculous year for us. There is much to be thankful for this Holiday Season. All at once, we were faced with a difficult reality that seemed unimaginable and the miracle of two lives entering our world. The birth of our beautiful twin girls was overshadowed by the anticipation and uncertainty of Lauren’s heart condition and two heart surgeries. However, Lauren has become an amazing story of recovery, survival, and answered prayers. We are truly grateful that God chose us to be her parents. Now we celebrate and embrace the joy of raising four beautiful children, each with their own unique characteristics.

This Holiday Season, we have reflected on how amazing our friends and family are to us. You have truly helped us through with your prayers, thoughts, love, and concern when we felt like times were getting tough. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We hope that everyone has a New Year filled with Joy and Peace.

All Our Love,
David, Michelle, Kirsten, Ethan, Lauren, & Morgan Carroll

Twins are 5 Months Old Today

A Family of Chaotic Bliss
Today marks exactly 5 months since our beloved twin daughters were born. How do we clearly express the welcomed challenge of raising a 4 year old girl, 2 year old boy, and 5 month old twin girls without taking anything away from the gratitude we have of Lauren’s repaired heart? My answer is, we simply cannot. This is definitely one of those experiences you have to live in order to fully understand the roller coaster of a ride Michelle and I are living. As intense as the ride may be, it is equally as exciting. Life at home is a constant deluge of chaos spawned by the unending and insatiable demands of our tiny little children. Yes, cute, they are indeed. But, they’re also ever-so-demanding and hungry for exclusive and constant attention. Nonetheless, Michelle and I are doing exceptionally well as a team and we are having a really great time being the parents of four. Despite the unending, ever changing, and exhausting challenge it is, Michelle and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Life is good, busy, but good.

Lauren’s Heart
It’s amazing to think that at 19 weeks of Michelle’s pregnancy, the peri-natologist was recommending termination due to Lauren’s heart condition. Here we are today, at exactly 5 months after birth, with healthy twin baby girls. Lauren’s heart is in great shape. She has recovered so amazingly well from her two surgeries and is as healthy as her twin sister Morgan. The cardiologist has taken her off her heart meds and is confident no further surgeries will be required.

Furthermore, there are no signs of developmental delays that may have resulted from her surgeries. In fact, Lauren seems to be as alert as, if not a little more than, Morgan. They both engage in deep conversations about formula, gas, loud siblings, and baby fashion. Coos and giggles are the talk of the day.

Redefining a Family
Watching each member of our family naturally redefine ourselves with the introduction of the twin girls has been an absolute joy. Kirsten and Ethan have embraced their roles as the loving and caring older siblings and the twins have taken their places as the adorable and completely dependent infants they are. Michelle and I could not imagine our family any different than it is right now. Everything is as it should be.

Reality Check-Attack of the Viral Illnesses
The entire month of September was a new eye opener as we watched each of our four children fall ill to the Croup and Lauren with bronchiolitis in such a way that closely resembled a miniature epidemic. It’s surprising that Michelle and I haven’t gotten sick yet. We can vouche that Airborne and Cold Ease work wonders when it comes to preventing sickness. As a result of bronchiolitis, Lauren had to spend the night at Egleston a couple of weeks ago. Everyone has now fully recovered and all is well.

In Closing
It’s difficult to think that it’s only been 5 months since the twins were born. We’ve made so many friends from this experience, strengthened existing relationships, and grown stronger as a family. Everyday, Michelle and I are thankful that things have turned out as they have. Thank you everyone for your love and support. Without your help, we would not have held up as well as we have. I will try to keep posting updates when I’m able to come up for air.

7 New Photo Galleries

I've added 7 new photo galleries from the last days of Lauren's first surgery and her first time home, to her recovery in the last surgery. We're a little partial, however, I think the twins are absolutely adorable. You can see view the galleries at the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/dcarrdsp/.

New Photo Albums Added:
- Recovering from 2nd Operation
- Minutes before 2nd Surgery
- Life In July Before Second Surgery
- Home Life in June
- Lauren Comes Home for the First Time
- Step Down Unit from First Surgery
- Final Days in CICU for First Surgery

Lauren's Second Homecoming

Hooray!!! I had the best 30th birthday ever when we brought our baby girl home from the hospital this past Thursday which was only 6 days after her second heart surgery. Our day was spent caring for Lauren at home and keeping order with our other kids. However, Lauren is doing GREAT and that is the only thing I could ever want. I'm now starting to transition back into work and Michelle is taking on the 4 kids at home during the day.

Lauren's Heart
Lauren's heart is in great condition now and her quality of life has dramatically improved. She is taking in almost the same volume of formula as Morgan in about the same amount of time. Her breathing is effortless compared to before the operation. Lauren actually slept from 1 am to 7am Thursday night which is a good sign that our sleep deprivation is nearing its end. The murmur from Lauren's heart is almost non-existent now that her VSD (hole between the ventricle heart chambers) is nearly closed. Best of all, the difference in blood pressure taken between her upper body and lower body is exactly the same which is perfect. Before the operation, the difference was 70 and increasing.

Lauren's Vocal Cords
An ENT doctor placed a probe up Lauren's nose and down her throat to check the state of her vocal cords. The doctor found that the right vocal cord was swollen and had little movement while the left vocal cord was paralyzed with no movement at all. The right vocal cord was swollen due to the intubation. The left vocal cord was paralyzed due to the left vocal cord nerve being stretched during the heart surgery. Apparently, this nerve runs near the part of the heart where the operation occurred and needed to be moved to the side.

The ENT doctor and heart surgeon explained they expect this nerve to tighten back up which will restore function in her left vocal cord in about 3 months. In the meantime, her right vocal cord appears to have healed and Lauren is able to make low pitched sounds. However, when Lauren elevates her cries from calm coos to an exited cry, no sound is released from her throat. We can tell this frustrates her and she seems to be adjusting her cries to remain calmer and quieter. At least this way, she is able to send us some sort of a signal that she needs us. It's still so pitiful to watch her cry when she really looses it and no sound comes from her at all.

A Place of Hope and Miracles
Michelle and I will be forever grateful to the surgeons, cardiologists, and nurses of the Sibley Heart Center and Egleston. We thank God everyday for this place of hope and miracles. Lauren will be able to enjoy a life as long and healthy as her twin sister, Morgan. Spending this last week in the CICU and the Cardiac Step Down Unit felt like an entire month filled with anxiety and intense emotions. However, our spirits have since been lifted high and our emotions filled with relief and joy.

Pictures Coming This Weekend
Please be patient. I have some really great pictures I’ll upload either tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks,

The Carroll Family

Lauren is still at Egleston

Finding time to complete an update in the hospital is near impossible. Access to a computer is limited and since we've been moved from the CICU to the Step Down Unit, we're either constantly meeting with nurses, techs, doctors, and consults or providing constant care for Lauren. It's become a juggling act just to find time for a quick bite. Time here at Egleston feels like it's in slow motion. This past week feels like a month has already passed. Coupled with some of the really sad events we've seen with other patients and being separated from our other three children, Michelle and I are mentally and emotionally drained. I'm sure it will show in the tone of this post.

Update from the CICU
Recovery in the CICU was slow and tough. We originally expected Lauren to be extubated from the ventilator the morning after surgery. However, due to excess internal fluids in and around her lungs, she had to stay on the ventilator until late Sunday night. Lauren has shown obvious signs of pain, discomfort, and distress. At one point this weekend, she spiked a fever which could indicate an infection in the heart from the repair. After running some blood cultures and giving her some antibiotics, we were able to rule out this dangerous scenario the next day. She started to show progress once she was breathing on her own. Before being extubated, we were prepared to be in the CICU for another week. However, Lauren overheard our concerns and decided it was time to start breathing on her own. Her various chest tubes and most of her IV's were eventually removed. All that remains are the pace maker wires plugged directly into her heart and one IV for meds in her foot. Originally, Lauren wouldn't have anything to do with her feeds. We had to place an NG Tube up her nose and down her throat to her stomach to force the formula into her body. However, she came around and showed us she can chug formula with the best of them. Actually, her feedings have greatly improved compared to pre-op. She's gone from drinking 2 ounces in 45 minutes to 6 minutes. This is much like her sister, Morgan.

Update from the Cardiac Step Down Unit
Lauren was released to the step down unit yesterday afternoon. She is now coughing out mucus from the fluids in her lungs. This mucus is causing her to gag and choke frequently. Since Lauren was intubated for a longer period of time, we're not certain if the heart surgery has resulted in damage to her left vocal cords or if her throat is just really sore. Either way, Lauren doesn't make any sounds when she cries. Her cries have been so violent she holds her breath while crying until she starts choking and her head is as red as a can be. Crying without any sound makes this episode pretty intense to watch. It's been very difficult to calm her down when she get's like this. In the CICU, the nurses would give her morphine to relax her. In the step down unit, we keep a very close eye on her. We've been doing the 7 mile walk in between feeds and the nurses are constantly checking her oxygen levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. So far, her vitals have remained strong.

At this point, we're not sure when we are going to be discharged. Lauren still has pace maker wires plugged into her chest, she needs to transition from IV meds to oral meds, and she needs to demonstrate she can tolerate her high calorie diet. They started her on a 20cal/oz diet and moved her to 24cal/oz. She needs to show she can take in 27cal/oz before leaving. I've been trying to get Lauren home since yesterday. However, they want to keep a close eye on her. At the very least, she will need to be here for another day after the pace maker wires are removed from her chest and she transitions to the oral diarretics. I'm trying to get all these orders put. We are also waiting to meet with an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor to evaluate the condition of Lauren's vocal cords. We hope they will find no issues.

Ready to Get Back to Life
We're so grateful this is Lauren's last operation. Every stage of this experience is so different and just so tough. Whether it's the part where we handed Lauren off for surgery, waiting during surgery, recovering from surgery, or waiting to be discharged, we're just so tired and drained. The staff here is incredible and we'll forever be thankful. However, the experience is overwhelming.

We miss Kirsten and Ethan so much. They've been bounced around from place to place this past week, but, they are doing well. Morgan is also doing well with Grandma. It's been impossible for me to get back to work. We originally planned on me working this week during the day and staying at the hospital at night. It's just been really tough to work this out. Right now, Michelle and I just want to get all our children back under the same roof and for normalcy to be restored.

We hope all is well with everyone. Thank you to everyone who have been keeping up with us and doing so much for us. At some point, we hope to be able to repay each and everyone of you for your help and support.

Anxiously waiting to go home,

David and Michelle

Lauren In Recovery

Lauren is now recovering in the CICU and is doing well. The surgery went very well and nothing unexpected came up. She is on a ventilator and still under the anesthesia. They are planning to wean her off the ventilator tomorrow morning. We are planning for a quick recovery. I’ve got to run for now. I’ll post another update later.

David