Happy 1 Month Birthday Trenna and Ellison!

(Now 34 Weeks Adjusted)

Today is a huge milestone and we thank God for bringing these little girls so far already. Their progression has been amazing, and to watch them from the day they were born till now has been an exciting time. Every new detail learned has given us another reason to sing His praises, and we do every time. We have gone from tears of being scared to tears of extreme happiness, and there will be so many tears of joy to follow. These little girls are loved by so many friends and family and they are lucky to be supported by each and every one of you. We appreciate the many prayers and words of encouragement throughout this journey thus far. Truly Blessed

On May 25^th, with an emergency c-section, Trenna Brinely was born with a large tumor the size a grapefruit attached to her backside.  It was unknown if she would even survive delivery let alone a high risk surgery. She weighed roughly only 1 lb 9 oz, and the tumor was the same size as her. Today we celebrate the incredible nurses and doctors that took amazing care of Trenna in removing the tumor in a 4 hour long surgery into the wee hours of the night, and of course being able to remove 100% of it! Today, we celebrate that her healing wound has made a great progression and that she is now able to put her calories towards gaining weight. The mass amount of tubes and IVs that were attached her; we celebrate that she is down to only her CPAP and a feeding tube. Today, we celebrate that she is NOW 2.1 POUNDS!!!!! We are so proud of you Trenna. Keep fighting, growing, and proving your place in this world. Although you are so little, you have already impacted ours and other lives in so many ways. You have shown us that God is here and he is a powerful, almighty, and miraculous God. We already know that you are meant for great things, and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for you.

Trenna is 2 pounds 1 ounce. She loves her paci and kangarooing with mommy. She is eating 18 ml of feed a day

On May 25^th, Ellison Makenna showed us that no matter how small you are, you can always be an amazing sister. She was delivered 10 weeks premature so her sister could have her fighting chance at life. Ellie has shown wonderful progress in everything. She is healthy and moving right along each step of the way. She was born at 3 lb 5 oz, and today she is weighing in at a whopping 4.8 POUNDS!!! She has learned how to suck on her pacifier and how to eat from a bottle. She is taking up to 35ml from a bottle! We are so excited that she has graduated from her incubator and has moved into a crib, so funny how teeny tiny she is in such a big crib! She is doing wonderful holding her temperature. We are so proud of you Ellison and we are excited to watch you continue to grow into a beautiful young girl and see the continuous love you will have for you sister. God has great things planned for you and we love you so much!

Ellie is 4 pounds 8 ounces. She is in her crib now, eating from a bottle, beginning to breast feed, and eating 40 ml each feed. Loves stretching her feet out and sucking her paci.

Enjoy the wonderful photos of the girls below; we are so excited to share these with everyone!

TRENNA

Day 1 after surgery

ELLISON

 Time Sure Does Fly By

These little girls have been here for 4 weeks now! And on Tuesday they will hit the milestone of 1 month! Wow, does time go by fast or what?! It is such a joy to watch these little girls grow and progress. Still so tiny, but beautiful and sweet nonetheless. 

The little Ellie Jelly Bean is doing fantastic. She is starting to learn how to take a bottle. She had 31ml yesterday and Shannon will start trying to feed her 3 times a day.  They have also decided to try again on lifting the top off of her incubator to see if she does better this time holding her own temperature. If all goes well, she will be placed in a crib! Bottles and cribs just move her one step closer to going home!

Tiny Trenna’s wound is healing up really well. Remember all those tubes and IVs 4 weeks ago? Well, we are down to just one feeding tube and the CPAP mask. Amazing! We are hoping that very soon they can take the mask off and give her the nasal tubes, as this will be much more comfortable for the little gal. Since her wound is healing nicely, all those calories going towards healing can start going towards gaining some body weight. However, she did lose an ounce this week and is back down to 1lb 14oz, but the nurses will be upping her calories to 26, and we think that she will start gaining some of that weight in no time. Come on 2lbs!

Everyone enjoy your Saturday and the rest of the weekend, I know we all sure will, visiting these two precious girls. It’s always a wonderful day when the whole family can get together!

Happy 1st Father's Day!

The little gals are now 3 weeks old, and are doing wonderful. Ellie will be hanging out a little longer in her incubator for now, the doc wanted to give her just a little more time so she's not burning so many calories to get her temperature up. She is still doing great. Trenna's feed is continuously increasing and they have started giving her a pacifier so she can start to learn how to suck. You can see below that she is liking the passy!

The best news of today... Ellison and Trenna were able to be held together in their father's arms for the first time! What an incredible Father's Day gift for Trevor! The girls finally side by side again!

Trevor's gift from the girls

ELLISON

TRENNA

Her wound on her bottom is really starting to show improvement in healing. This is so great because now that her body isn't using so many calories to help her heal, she can start using them to gain some weight!

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him" Psalms 103:13

Lord, thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon our family. We thank you for the wonderful father Trevor has already become in this short time, and we pray that you continue to bless him and guide him on this new journey of excitement watching these precious girls grow. Amen

Let Us Shower Them

Friends and Family,

We are so sad we were not able to throw Trevor and Shannon a baby shower to help them get those items they need to take care of these two little chickadees. They are in need of many items as these little girls are getting bigger and stronger. Ellison will get to leave the hospital much sooner than Trenna, and that time will approach quickly. Please visit their registries below, and help us shower them with all the wonderful things newborns need. We appreciate your love and support so much! We cannot wait for Trevor, Shannon, and the girls to be welcomed home and their house made whole again. We will host a wonderful welcome home celebration for them later this summer, and we hope that everyone will be able to join us. We want to show our love and appreciation for all of you, and the prayers you have sent up for our family. We are truly grateful, and we see God working in each and every one of you. 

"Be confident of this, the He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phillipians 1:6

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord,.. Jeremiah 29:11-14

Trenna Brinley

Ellison Makenna

BuyBuyBaby.com Registry # 6707292 (click here)

BabyLi.st.com Registry (click here)

 UP UP and UP

The girlies are doing wonderful. This past week has been so wonderful having both girls in the same hospital and directly across from each other. Makes it a little nicer to just have one place to be to watch over both girls!

Trenna is doing really well, she is a feisty little gal and all the nurses say that is a good thing! She is starting to move her little head around which is a great improvement and she is breathing much easier. She  is now weighing in at 1 lb. 14 oz. She lost a little bit due to the transfusion and the Lasix she was on during her minor set-back but, HEY,  she is still gaining and that is GREAT. They will be upping her feed to 14 ml by this evening, and they will be taking her pic line out. She is not getting as upset when they go in for check-ups, meaning they will now be able to go to room air on the CPAP today! She will also start getting a multi vitamin like her sis! 

You can see Trevor's wedding ring laying on Trenna's arm

Ellison is doing great as well. She is now weighing in at 3 lb. 8 oz. Today they will be working on having her incubator turned down to see if she can start to hold her own temperature, so they’ve got her all bundled up in cute little hat and onesie. They are hoping to have her in a regular crib this afternoon. No more incubator! How amazing, no more staring through the plexi-glass to see Ellie! Can. Not. Wait! 

Below are a couple of little videos of the girls.

This is Trenna, she has a little bit of cushion on her face from where the CPAP mask sits, but must take advantage of every little minute we get to see her full precious face! And eyes open!

Shannon getting to help in teaching Ellison to practice eating

 Two Weeks Old

Well the girls are now two weeks old. We are so happy that they have come so far in just these two short weeks. They went by so quickly!

We have had some wonderful news in these past few days. 

Ellison was approved to move from Good Sam over to Children's to be with Trenna. She was transferred this past Friday, and even more amazing, her bed is straight across from Trenna! The Sherwoods have taken over the back of Pod H! We are so happy the girls can be near each other and thrilled for Shannon and Trevor to not have to go back and forth between hospitals anymore. Amazingly convenient! 

Look how beautiful Ellie is, all that is left on her is her little orange feeding tube.

You may notice that the tube is placed down her nasal passage. This is done so that it is easier for her to continue to learn how to suck, she must be able to do this before she can even released from the hospital.

They are hoping that she may only need to be at Childrens for maybe 4 more weeks.

Trenna is doing pretty good, she is now up to 8ml of feed. This little gal is pushing through each day. We experienced our first minor set back today. The doctor said it was nothing too alarming and can be expected with premies. Trenna is working very hard to breathe, so they needed to up her oxygen along with a blood transfusion in order for the blood to carry more oxygen throughout her tiny little body. Because of the additional blood, they needed to place her back on lasix. The doctors will continue to watch her and believe she will be just fine.

So excited to share the first family photo!!!!!!

Trevor with Trenna and Shannon with Ellison

 Who Do The Girls Look Like!?

Well as the girls are growing, we are starting to see some features come out.

I thought it would be fun to look at some young photos of Trevor and Shannon while their young physical traits continue to develop.

Have fun looking at these cute little pics!

SHANNON

 

TREVOR