Sunday, February 25, 2007
Time for a Serena y Edwin update
Serena and Daddy <3
Edwin's sweet face
Serena "clapping" her hands
Edwin watching Serena clap
Edwin sleeps so well in his car seat!
Serena cheering for Daddy!
Hello all. I figured since Edwin is in his swing and Serena and Daddy are sleeping on the couch I would write an update. On Friday the twins got their 2nd RSV shot (1st was in the NICU right before discharge). They cried of course but as soon as they were picked up and soothed by Mommy and Daddy they were fine. Serena is still my peanut and weighed 6 lbs 14 1/2 oz...that is still good though considering she weighed 6lbs 8 oz last Fri. Edwin is gaining weight quite well, and weighed 7 lbs 8 oz! He weighed 6 lbs 15 1/2 oz last Fri. So the pedi says we don't need to come back until next month when they have their next RSV shot! I was happy...I like our pedi a lot, but in the weather and with the O2 it's not always so fun to leave the house. Speaking of which, on Fri I had an appointment in the am before the pedi appointment. Daddy stayed with Serena and Edwin and I headed out. Apparently because we live on a small street with only a few houses they figured we don't matter and they barely plowed and didn't sand or salt our road at all! Well, I couldn't get up the hill, so I did a 3 point turn and headed down the hill...only to begin sliding and head right into a snowbank which was all iced over. Neadless to say there is now a crack in my front bumper. I am going to file a complain with the city because this is just ridiculous. So of course I was panicked to bring the twins out to their appointment, but the sun had melted some of the ice on our street, and we made it there and back safely. Thank goodness!
I realized I haven't writted enough about Serena and Edwin as we see them on the day to day...minus all the medical stuff so here it goes:
Serena
Serena fits her name to a T. It's funny, I had that name in mind before the abrupt arrival of her and her brother, but I was nervous to actually name her that. I didn't want to jinx anything and I was afraid the name (which means peaceful and serene) would fit her in a negative way...to be honest, I feared naming her that could mean that she just passed away peacefully. I know it sounds horrible but I was so worried about them not making it because they were so early. I wanted her to fight and survive, so it took me several hours to actually name her that and stick to it. She is a fighter, but is definitely also a Serena.
She is such a good girl. She rarely fusses. I know exactly why she is crying when she does, which is rare. Number 1...she is hungry. Oh I'll tell you....when Beana is hungry forget it. You can't warm her bottle fast enough! She wakes up ravanous! SO we have to turn her O2 up because she sucks the bottle so fast that she ends up choking 90% of the time. I have begun giving her a taste and letting her suck a little and then pull the bottle away before she gets carried away. I have convinced myself she just needs to know it's coming and she won't go crazy trying to suck it all down at once. It kinda works! :)
The other time she cries is when her binki falls out of her mouth...which is all of the time! Serena does 2 things after she eats...she either falls asleep or she is WIDE awake with those bright eyes and wants to suck. First you offer her the bottle again. When she is clearly done, she will make it known by putting her lips together and blowing (kind of like a raspberry kiss, and sprays the milk out of her mouth.) Okay, she is full. But she is looking around making that same fish face. Well, she needs the binki. If Serena is awake after a feed she HAS to have her binki. She sucks and sucks and looks around taking everything in. The only problem is she is so involved on focusing on the world around her that she drops her binki out every 3 seconds. Edwin have tried EVERYTHING to keep it in her mouth, and we usually end up propping a toy or blanket close to her mouth to help keep it in. Of course she only wants those green NICU binkis and it never fails that she accidentally spits it out; which is followed by her SCREAMING until it is put back in her mouth. SHe will then look at you with her bright eyes glossed over with tears and suck away. She is so adorable! The other thing about Serena is she has gas..a lot of it. 75% of the time she passes gas instead of burping during feeds. SHe passes gas at least once everytime she eats! The nurses try and try to burp her and I say over and over, she doesn't always burp, but she will get that gas out the other way. She never fusses because she is gassy, unlike her twin brother who we will get to. Serena also loves music and her mobile. As long as she has her binki she will focus attentively at the mobile going around and around. It's really cute. She also tries to suck her hands and anything else when she is hungry, including her clothes, your clothes, anything. I wonder if she will find her thumb soon? She is just so sweet and so easy going. I'm curious to know if this behavior will continue...I know Daddy hopes so! She is definitely Daddy's Little girl for sure!
Just in case you can't see from the pictures, Serena is beaufullly tan-complected, has large almond shaped brown eyes, brown hair with blonde highlights, and blonde eye brows. She has Daddy and her Abuela's nose and she is beautiful!
Edwin
Edwin is basically the opposite of Serena. In looks and in personality Edwin, I fear, is like his Mommy. He is major high maintainence! He doesn't tolerate pain (he is the screamer when the pedi just listens to his lungs, and for a shot, forget it he SCREAMS louder and longer than Serena every time). It's harder for Edwin I think because he has reflux. Feeding Edwin is an art to some degree. Lately I've literally been hoping and praying he doesn't spit up his food. I thought it was getting better until an hour ago when he did it again. It's like once a day that he projectile spits up part of his meal. I feel bad, but he doesn't cry after. He cries, or shall I say SCREAMS, when he has gas though. There will be times he is sleeping and he just lets out a wail and I go pick him up pat his back and he lets out a tiny burp and falls right to sleep. I am going to try drops to try and eleveate his gass. But Edwin is such a sweetheart. He can be a little fussy at times, but that is only when his tummy hurts, he is hunry, wet, or just wants to be loved. He immediately stops crying when he is picked up and just looks at you with these sweet eyes and long eyelashes and seems to say "I just wanted you to hold me please." Daddy went on the computer last night to try and find out when babies sleep through the night. He is obsessed with this magic date he believes exists because he has a really hard time waking up at night. They wake up every 3-4 hours to feed and it definitely doesn't matter if it's at night when Daddy fast asleep. I tried to tell him that they NEED to wake up that often to eat and it's a good thing...he doesn't agree. "Why can't they just take a lot before bed and then wake up in the morning." haha if only Daddy. They have no concept of night and day. So anyway, while Daddy researched this last night, he came into the living room where I was holding Edwin while he slept. He says, "Put him in his bed. He needs to learn he sleeps in his bed, he is going to be spoiled!" Well, that is an understantement, both are going to be spoiled rotten...with love that is. As of now Edwin doesn't need to learn where his bed is. As long as he is FAST asleep he will sleep anywhere, but if he isn't, and you try to put him down, he will fuss. Last night, I resorted to my trick of putting him in his car seat inside of his crib. Sitting up to sleep is better for him when he is really gassy, which he was last night. He was asleep on me but I put him down and he cried. I picked him back up rocked him, put him back and he opened his eyes. I talked quietly to him rocked his car seat back and forth and held his hands. He kept opening slits of his eys to peek if I was still there and finally fell alseep, upon which time I tip toed out of the room and he didn't wake back up. It's this kind of routine we play with Edwin that we don't have to with Serena. It's so funny that they have such strong personalities. Edwin also loves his swing. He is fascinated by the mobile and enjoys the gently rocking. I have one that rocks side to side and front to back. He enjoys both settings. He will sit quietly awake and look at the mobile without a binki...big difference there!He does like his binki from time to time though. Edwin is also the burper in the family. While Serena is passing gas, Edwin is letting out loud burps. You can count on him doing it 5-6 times per feed. He has also been making this little noise lately. Not exactly a cry but like the beginning of one. I wonder if it's his way of cooing. But he does it to get someone to come over to him. It's really cute I'll have to video tape him doing it.
Edwin is very fair complected. He has gold colored hair (literally) and his eyes are still that grayish hazel color. He has LONG curled eyes lashes, and perfect pouty lips. His eyes are a little smaller than Serena's but also almond shaped. He has the face of an angel and the hair color to match. He is so adorable too!
Well I hope that gives everyone a better glimpse of Serena and Edwin aside from all the medical stuff I usually write about. They are so loveable and so sweet, there is no doubt we made the right decision to save them. I know there are a lot of unknowns ahead (I still think about Serena's "echo" in her head ultrasound...I'm debating whether or not to get an MRI and get a diagnosis or not)...but no matter what I love my children and to me they are just beautiful, wonderful, perfect babies.
P.S. Daddy won the New England Golden Gloves... for the 3rd consecutive time. He also earned the Most Outstanding Boxer of the Tournament. He will be representing the New England region in the National Golden Gloves in Tennessee the first week of May. He is the defending champion. Let's make it 3 National Championships Daddy! One step closer to the Olympic Team qualifiers! We are proud of you! Thanks sooo much Grammy for babysitting us while Mommy cheered on Daddy!!!!
Edwin's sweet face
Serena "clapping" her hands
Edwin watching Serena clap
Edwin sleeps so well in his car seat!
Serena cheering for Daddy!
Hello all. I figured since Edwin is in his swing and Serena and Daddy are sleeping on the couch I would write an update. On Friday the twins got their 2nd RSV shot (1st was in the NICU right before discharge). They cried of course but as soon as they were picked up and soothed by Mommy and Daddy they were fine. Serena is still my peanut and weighed 6 lbs 14 1/2 oz...that is still good though considering she weighed 6lbs 8 oz last Fri. Edwin is gaining weight quite well, and weighed 7 lbs 8 oz! He weighed 6 lbs 15 1/2 oz last Fri. So the pedi says we don't need to come back until next month when they have their next RSV shot! I was happy...I like our pedi a lot, but in the weather and with the O2 it's not always so fun to leave the house. Speaking of which, on Fri I had an appointment in the am before the pedi appointment. Daddy stayed with Serena and Edwin and I headed out. Apparently because we live on a small street with only a few houses they figured we don't matter and they barely plowed and didn't sand or salt our road at all! Well, I couldn't get up the hill, so I did a 3 point turn and headed down the hill...only to begin sliding and head right into a snowbank which was all iced over. Neadless to say there is now a crack in my front bumper. I am going to file a complain with the city because this is just ridiculous. So of course I was panicked to bring the twins out to their appointment, but the sun had melted some of the ice on our street, and we made it there and back safely. Thank goodness!
I realized I haven't writted enough about Serena and Edwin as we see them on the day to day...minus all the medical stuff so here it goes:
Serena
Serena fits her name to a T. It's funny, I had that name in mind before the abrupt arrival of her and her brother, but I was nervous to actually name her that. I didn't want to jinx anything and I was afraid the name (which means peaceful and serene) would fit her in a negative way...to be honest, I feared naming her that could mean that she just passed away peacefully. I know it sounds horrible but I was so worried about them not making it because they were so early. I wanted her to fight and survive, so it took me several hours to actually name her that and stick to it. She is a fighter, but is definitely also a Serena.
She is such a good girl. She rarely fusses. I know exactly why she is crying when she does, which is rare. Number 1...she is hungry. Oh I'll tell you....when Beana is hungry forget it. You can't warm her bottle fast enough! She wakes up ravanous! SO we have to turn her O2 up because she sucks the bottle so fast that she ends up choking 90% of the time. I have begun giving her a taste and letting her suck a little and then pull the bottle away before she gets carried away. I have convinced myself she just needs to know it's coming and she won't go crazy trying to suck it all down at once. It kinda works! :)
The other time she cries is when her binki falls out of her mouth...which is all of the time! Serena does 2 things after she eats...she either falls asleep or she is WIDE awake with those bright eyes and wants to suck. First you offer her the bottle again. When she is clearly done, she will make it known by putting her lips together and blowing (kind of like a raspberry kiss, and sprays the milk out of her mouth.) Okay, she is full. But she is looking around making that same fish face. Well, she needs the binki. If Serena is awake after a feed she HAS to have her binki. She sucks and sucks and looks around taking everything in. The only problem is she is so involved on focusing on the world around her that she drops her binki out every 3 seconds. Edwin have tried EVERYTHING to keep it in her mouth, and we usually end up propping a toy or blanket close to her mouth to help keep it in. Of course she only wants those green NICU binkis and it never fails that she accidentally spits it out; which is followed by her SCREAMING until it is put back in her mouth. SHe will then look at you with her bright eyes glossed over with tears and suck away. She is so adorable! The other thing about Serena is she has gas..a lot of it. 75% of the time she passes gas instead of burping during feeds. SHe passes gas at least once everytime she eats! The nurses try and try to burp her and I say over and over, she doesn't always burp, but she will get that gas out the other way. She never fusses because she is gassy, unlike her twin brother who we will get to. Serena also loves music and her mobile. As long as she has her binki she will focus attentively at the mobile going around and around. It's really cute. She also tries to suck her hands and anything else when she is hungry, including her clothes, your clothes, anything. I wonder if she will find her thumb soon? She is just so sweet and so easy going. I'm curious to know if this behavior will continue...I know Daddy hopes so! She is definitely Daddy's Little girl for sure!
Just in case you can't see from the pictures, Serena is beaufullly tan-complected, has large almond shaped brown eyes, brown hair with blonde highlights, and blonde eye brows. She has Daddy and her Abuela's nose and she is beautiful!
Edwin
Edwin is basically the opposite of Serena. In looks and in personality Edwin, I fear, is like his Mommy. He is major high maintainence! He doesn't tolerate pain (he is the screamer when the pedi just listens to his lungs, and for a shot, forget it he SCREAMS louder and longer than Serena every time). It's harder for Edwin I think because he has reflux. Feeding Edwin is an art to some degree. Lately I've literally been hoping and praying he doesn't spit up his food. I thought it was getting better until an hour ago when he did it again. It's like once a day that he projectile spits up part of his meal. I feel bad, but he doesn't cry after. He cries, or shall I say SCREAMS, when he has gas though. There will be times he is sleeping and he just lets out a wail and I go pick him up pat his back and he lets out a tiny burp and falls right to sleep. I am going to try drops to try and eleveate his gass. But Edwin is such a sweetheart. He can be a little fussy at times, but that is only when his tummy hurts, he is hunry, wet, or just wants to be loved. He immediately stops crying when he is picked up and just looks at you with these sweet eyes and long eyelashes and seems to say "I just wanted you to hold me please." Daddy went on the computer last night to try and find out when babies sleep through the night. He is obsessed with this magic date he believes exists because he has a really hard time waking up at night. They wake up every 3-4 hours to feed and it definitely doesn't matter if it's at night when Daddy fast asleep. I tried to tell him that they NEED to wake up that often to eat and it's a good thing...he doesn't agree. "Why can't they just take a lot before bed and then wake up in the morning." haha if only Daddy. They have no concept of night and day. So anyway, while Daddy researched this last night, he came into the living room where I was holding Edwin while he slept. He says, "Put him in his bed. He needs to learn he sleeps in his bed, he is going to be spoiled!" Well, that is an understantement, both are going to be spoiled rotten...with love that is. As of now Edwin doesn't need to learn where his bed is. As long as he is FAST asleep he will sleep anywhere, but if he isn't, and you try to put him down, he will fuss. Last night, I resorted to my trick of putting him in his car seat inside of his crib. Sitting up to sleep is better for him when he is really gassy, which he was last night. He was asleep on me but I put him down and he cried. I picked him back up rocked him, put him back and he opened his eyes. I talked quietly to him rocked his car seat back and forth and held his hands. He kept opening slits of his eys to peek if I was still there and finally fell alseep, upon which time I tip toed out of the room and he didn't wake back up. It's this kind of routine we play with Edwin that we don't have to with Serena. It's so funny that they have such strong personalities. Edwin also loves his swing. He is fascinated by the mobile and enjoys the gently rocking. I have one that rocks side to side and front to back. He enjoys both settings. He will sit quietly awake and look at the mobile without a binki...big difference there!He does like his binki from time to time though. Edwin is also the burper in the family. While Serena is passing gas, Edwin is letting out loud burps. You can count on him doing it 5-6 times per feed. He has also been making this little noise lately. Not exactly a cry but like the beginning of one. I wonder if it's his way of cooing. But he does it to get someone to come over to him. It's really cute I'll have to video tape him doing it.
Edwin is very fair complected. He has gold colored hair (literally) and his eyes are still that grayish hazel color. He has LONG curled eyes lashes, and perfect pouty lips. His eyes are a little smaller than Serena's but also almond shaped. He has the face of an angel and the hair color to match. He is so adorable too!
Well I hope that gives everyone a better glimpse of Serena and Edwin aside from all the medical stuff I usually write about. They are so loveable and so sweet, there is no doubt we made the right decision to save them. I know there are a lot of unknowns ahead (I still think about Serena's "echo" in her head ultrasound...I'm debating whether or not to get an MRI and get a diagnosis or not)...but no matter what I love my children and to me they are just beautiful, wonderful, perfect babies.
P.S. Daddy won the New England Golden Gloves... for the 3rd consecutive time. He also earned the Most Outstanding Boxer of the Tournament. He will be representing the New England region in the National Golden Gloves in Tennessee the first week of May. He is the defending champion. Let's make it 3 National Championships Daddy! One step closer to the Olympic Team qualifiers! We are proud of you! Thanks sooo much Grammy for babysitting us while Mommy cheered on Daddy!!!!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Did you read this?
Thanks so much for the reflux suggestions...you guys are the best!
Did you guys read/see this?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17237979/
Did you guys read/see this?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17237979/
Monday, February 19, 2007
Reflux
Hello all...
I am writing for advice from the many knowledgeable micropreemie moms out there. Edwin has had reflux for some time. While in the NICU he was on Pepsid and Reglan. He was having "death spells" while being gavage fed and this was attributed to reflux, although I always believed it was more due to the tube being dropped and irritating the vagal nerve in conjunction with his reflux; since he didn't reflux or have "death spells" after breastfeeding. Well anyway after he mastered all PO feeds, and didn't have anymore spells, they DC-ed the reglan and kept the pepsid on board mainly because he is on steroids and this upsets the digestive system. He didn't spit up much in the NICU, a little wet burp here and there. Well since being home and taking more volume (?) he tends to spit up more. I told the pedi about it and she switched him to Zantac, she said that is what she usually perscribes, not Pepsid, and felt better about that. It has been almost a week and a half and I don't see any improvement...in fact it seems like it is getting worse. Daddy is convinced I am feeding him too much, but I don't think so./..he eats when he is hungry and takes between 3-4 ounces every 4 hours, I don't think that is too much at all...especially since he is now over 7 pounds I'm sure. I try holding him upright to fed and holding him upright on his tummy after his feeds, and sometimes he refluxes and sometimes he doesn't. I am just concerned it will get much worse and he will develop an oral aversion and I don't want that to happen at all! I also am not sure I want to go through a whole battery of test if they are only going to confirm the obvious...that he is refluxing. Does anyone have any experience and advice about this. Meds that work, medical interventions or test that are helpful? I sure would appreciate it. The pedi is great but I just don't feel confident pumping meds into my son that don't appear to be helping. Thanks!
I am writing for advice from the many knowledgeable micropreemie moms out there. Edwin has had reflux for some time. While in the NICU he was on Pepsid and Reglan. He was having "death spells" while being gavage fed and this was attributed to reflux, although I always believed it was more due to the tube being dropped and irritating the vagal nerve in conjunction with his reflux; since he didn't reflux or have "death spells" after breastfeeding. Well anyway after he mastered all PO feeds, and didn't have anymore spells, they DC-ed the reglan and kept the pepsid on board mainly because he is on steroids and this upsets the digestive system. He didn't spit up much in the NICU, a little wet burp here and there. Well since being home and taking more volume (?) he tends to spit up more. I told the pedi about it and she switched him to Zantac, she said that is what she usually perscribes, not Pepsid, and felt better about that. It has been almost a week and a half and I don't see any improvement...in fact it seems like it is getting worse. Daddy is convinced I am feeding him too much, but I don't think so./..he eats when he is hungry and takes between 3-4 ounces every 4 hours, I don't think that is too much at all...especially since he is now over 7 pounds I'm sure. I try holding him upright to fed and holding him upright on his tummy after his feeds, and sometimes he refluxes and sometimes he doesn't. I am just concerned it will get much worse and he will develop an oral aversion and I don't want that to happen at all! I also am not sure I want to go through a whole battery of test if they are only going to confirm the obvious...that he is refluxing. Does anyone have any experience and advice about this. Meds that work, medical interventions or test that are helpful? I sure would appreciate it. The pedi is great but I just don't feel confident pumping meds into my son that don't appear to be helping. Thanks!
Friday, February 16, 2007
Weight update, etc
Hello all. We went to the Pediatrician today and Edwin had to get 2 shots. :( But now he is all caught up and that's good (he was a little off schedule because of the steroids in the NICU.) Serena weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and Edwin weighed 6 pounds 15 1/2 ounces!!!! I didn't update last Friday, but at the Pedi's Serena weighed 6 pounds 2 1/2 ounces and Edwin was 6 pounds 6 ounces and were both 18 and 1/2 inches long....(longer than measured at the Pulmonologist the day before but go figure.)
I didn't mention their eye appointment from last week, but all was well with that. We will go back to see the Dr in 2 months. He is very pleased with the results of their laser treatment and expects their vision to be good if not great, but we really have no way of knowing until they are a few months older.
Things are going very well at home. I enjoy Serena and Edwin so much and it is so nice to be home. I am looking forward to Edwin's fights next week; if wins he will be the New England Golden Gloves Champion for the 4th consecutive year and from there earns a spot in the National Golden Gloves which will be held in Tennesse this year. That will mean Daddy will be gone for the first week of May and it will be tough without him, but I have my mom and friends and I am sure we will manage. If Edwin were to win the National Golden Gloves, as he did last year, he will automatically go to the quarter finals for the USA Nationals which is the tourney that dictates the USA Olympic team. We hope and pray Daddy keeps winning and makes it to China in 2008 as the USA middleweight! Bringing home the gold would be so great, and he has the most adorable twins as his inspiration! No doubt their will be a special on the twins and Daddy in the Olympic coverage if he were to make it...you know how they always do highlights of athletes that have interesting/inspirational stories to share.
I didn't mention their eye appointment from last week, but all was well with that. We will go back to see the Dr in 2 months. He is very pleased with the results of their laser treatment and expects their vision to be good if not great, but we really have no way of knowing until they are a few months older.
Things are going very well at home. I enjoy Serena and Edwin so much and it is so nice to be home. I am looking forward to Edwin's fights next week; if wins he will be the New England Golden Gloves Champion for the 4th consecutive year and from there earns a spot in the National Golden Gloves which will be held in Tennesse this year. That will mean Daddy will be gone for the first week of May and it will be tough without him, but I have my mom and friends and I am sure we will manage. If Edwin were to win the National Golden Gloves, as he did last year, he will automatically go to the quarter finals for the USA Nationals which is the tourney that dictates the USA Olympic team. We hope and pray Daddy keeps winning and makes it to China in 2008 as the USA middleweight! Bringing home the gold would be so great, and he has the most adorable twins as his inspiration! No doubt their will be a special on the twins and Daddy in the Olympic coverage if he were to make it...you know how they always do highlights of athletes that have interesting/inspirational stories to share.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Some Valentine's Day Photos
I love you THIS much!
Taking a ride on the big doggy daddy bought for us on V-Day
Edwin, Jr.
Serena Lynn
Taking a ride on the big doggy daddy bought for us on V-Day
Edwin, Jr.
Serena Lynn
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Daddy in the Sunday Telegram
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Six pack for Garcia, Gonzalez
Rivera ready to go...Pro debut for Nevsky...
BUD BARTH’S BOXING NOTES
Bud Barth
hbarth@telegram.com
Jonathan Gomez, Michael Rodriguez, Edwin Rodriguez, Josean Torres, Jackson Lowbridge and William Mosley will fight for New England Golden Gloves titles next week in Lowell.
For the first time ever, trainers Carlos Garcia and Rocky Gonzalez will have a shot at bringing home six New England Golden Gloves titles next week in Lowell.
Fighters in six weight classes from the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, led by defending national Golden Gloves middleweight champion Edwin Rodriguez, will be taking part in the New England Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 20 and 21, at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
Garcia said it’s the first time he and Gonzalez have had six fighters in the tournament; the most previously was four. All six advanced by winning local titles last week in Lowell.
At stake next week, besides New England titles, are berths in the National Golden Gloves tournament from April 30 to May 5 in Chattanooga, Tenn. And fighters who make it to the quarterfinals there automatically earn spots in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, set for August at a site to be announced.
The 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing, China. The first step in that quest begins next week.
Here’s a look at the six fighters from Worcester, trained and coached by Garcia and Gonzalez, who will fight in the semifinals on Feb. 20 and, if they win, in the New England finals the following night:
•Jonathan Gomez, 17 years old, 141 pounds — A three-time New England Junior Olympics champion.
•Michael Rodriguez, 18, 152 pounds — A three-time New England Junior Olympics champion and winner of the USA Boxing New England title in 2005, he’ll probably have to get past Demetrius Andrade of Providence, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the country according to USA Boxing. “Michael’s going to give it his best shot,” Gonzalez said. “He’s a man now, so I don’t have to baby him anymore,” Garcia said of Rodriguez. “When he was 14 or 15, I had to baby him.”
•Edwin Rodriguez, 21, 165 pounds — A two-time national middleweight amateur champion, Rodriguez (no relation to Michael) needs no introduction. He won the USA Boxing national title in 2005, took the Golden Gloves national crown in 2006, and has won the New England title three consecutive years. He’s got a real shot at making the Olympic team in 2008.
•Josean Torres, 19, 178 pounds — Won the Police Athletic League national championship in 2002 as a 14-year-old.
•Jackson Lowbridge, 26, 201 pounds — An officer at the Worcester County Jail, he’s a past winner of the New England Golden Gloves novice title. “I’m very high on this guy,” Garcia said. “This is a real good chance for him to be famous right away.”
•William Mosley, 30, super heavyweight — A Worcester police officer, Mosley won the Rocky Marciano Tournament about four years ago, according to Garcia, and is one of the three local favorites to capture a title next week, Lowbridge and Edwin Rodriguez being the others.
“I’m very happy with this group,” Garcia said. “I think they’ve got the discipline to go and give me what I want, win or lose, which is 100 percent. If they give me that, I’ll be happy.”
Garcia has another fighter, 39-year-old Joseph F. Riley, another officer at the Worcester Jail, who will be going after a New England Golden Gloves masters division title on Friday in Lowell.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Newspaper articles about Daddy
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Twin opportunity awaits Rodriguez
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Edwin Rodriguez, the national Golden Gloves middleweight champion from Worcester who has his eyes riveted on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, is going to be a father — twice.
Rodriguez, 21, said his live-in girlfriend, 23-year-old Holy Cross graduate Stephanie Rapa, is expecting twins on Jan. 21. The couple, planning to be married sometime in the future, will find out the twins’ sexes at a doctor’s visit on Aug. 29.
Shortly after that, Rodriguez will leave for Oxnard, Calif., and the National Police Athletic League championships, which are scheduled for Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. The winner earns the first of eight spots in the U.S. Olympic Trials, set for mid-June of 2007.
“It would pretty nice to be the first one to qualify because that says a lot about you,” said Rodriguez, a Doherty High grad currently on leave from his studies at Quinsigamond Community College. “All the best fighters in my weight class are going to be there, so it’s a good way to prove myself, that I’m No. 1 in USA Boxing.”
The USA Boxing rankings have already declared that. On the strength of his win at the national Golden Gloves in April, Rodriguez is No. 1 with 290 points, well ahead of Daniel Jacobs of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jonathan Nelson of Little Rock, Ark., who are tied for second with 150 points.
If Rodriguez fails to win the PAL gold medal, he has several other routes to the Olympic Trials, including the 2007 national Golden Gloves in April, the USA Boxing national championships in January (a title he won in 2005), and the USA Boxing Eastern Trials in March.
The gold and silver medal winners at the USA Boxing nationals earn spots in the eight-man Olympic Trials, as do the winners of the Golden Gloves, PAL, Eastern Trials, Western Trials, Midwestern Trials and Armed Forces Championships.
Rapa, a 2005 HC graduate with a degree in political science, plans to attend law school at Western New England College, where she has a scholarship. The fact that she’s carrying two new mouths to feed makes Rodriguez even more determined to succeed — not that determination was ever a problem for him.
“Now I don’t only have to do it for myself, but for my family,” he said. “Now I have people who will be dependent on me, and that makes me work even harder and be more responsible about getting that gold medal at the Olympics.”
Certainly, there will be agents flocking after Rodriguez, trying to persuade him to turn pro now, but he said the fact that he has such a good chance at the Olympics makes him all the more determined to stick it out.
Rodriguez hasn’t been very active this summer, the result of USA Boxing’s decision to forego international trips while it gears up for the Olympics. He has done some sparring with unbeaten Worcester junior middleweight Enrique Palau (4-0-0, 4 KOs), and he won a three-round bout at the Marvelous Marvin Hagler Boxing Tournament for Charity last Saturday in Brockton.
Next, Rodriguez plans to travel to Ohio for an exhibition with Shawn Porter of Stow, Ohio, the fighter who dethroned him in the USA Boxing quarterfinals in March. Porter is ranked No. 5 nationally. For their troubles, Rodriguez and Porter will get all-expenses-paid trips to Hawaii.
Oct 8, 2006
Rodriguez keeps vigil over twin tots
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— They have a fighter for a dad, which probably explains why 8-day-old twins Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez are waging such an incredible battle to stay alive.
The tiny babies were due on Jan. 21, but apparently they heard the bell early and sprang into this world in the wee hours of Sept. 29 — four months early and weighing a frail 19 ounces each.
Their early arrival put off the plans of their father, Edwin Rodriguez, the defending national Golden Gloves middleweight champion from Worcester, who was supposed to leave on the day they were born for Oxnard, Calif., and the Police Athletic League national championships. That event is the first qualifier for next summer’s Olympic Trials.
Instead, the PAL crowned a middleweight champion in its finals last night while Rodriguez and his fiancée, Stephanie Rapa, kept their constant vigil next door to the battling babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus.
“The fact that they even made it through birth is amazing,” said their mom, who was only discharged as a patient herself on Friday, a week after the twins’ abrupt arrival. “They’re just little fighters. They take after their dad, I guess.”
The twins have had their problems. The first was their size — 1 pound, 3 ounces each at birth. Each also had an opening in their heart, but those were closed with medication. Then they began to lose weight, if that seems even possible, both sinking under one pound, although both have started to regain some badly needed ounces. Now they have infections, which are being treated with antibiotics.
“The nurses and doctors here truly work miracles,” said Rapa, a 23-year-old Holy Cross graduate, “because the babies were born at 23 weeks and 5 days, and any time before 22 weeks, they can’t resuscitate babies. So they basically just made it.”
Adding to the miracle is that their impending birth was only discovered through a routine doctor’s visit on Tuesday, three days before the surprise arrivals and the couple’s planned trip to Oxnard.
Now, of course, the entire focus of Rodriguez’s life is on his newborn son, whom he calls “Little Edwin,” and his daughter.
“We hope people will keep them in their thoughts and prayers because it seems like it’s helping,” Rapa said, taking the time to explain the situation after Rodriguez became overcome with emotion.
The couple became engaged recently, but no date has been set for the wedding. “So many things are going on right now, we haven’t talked about it yet,” said the 21-year-old Rodriguez, who was aware who was fighting in last night’s PAL middleweight final.
The combatants were defending champion Daniel Jacobs of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jonathan Nelson of Little Rock, Ark. Nelson is the man Rodriguez beat in the Golden Gloves final earlier this year, and also in the USA Boxing final to win that national title in 2005. It was the third straight PAL final for Jacobs.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez is keeping up with his training as best he can. He plans to fight Shawn Porter of Stow, Ohio, one of his national rivals, on Nov. 11 in a four-round benefit in Ohio. Then he plans to compete in January in the USA Boxing national championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., the event he won in 2005. The top two finishers there will punch their tickets to the Olympic Trials sometime next June, where the boxers will be chosen for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Being one of those boxers is Rodriguez’s dream at 165 pounds. But first he has to deal with the realities and frailties of life at 19 ounces.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
Twins still ‘very critical’
An update on the fragile twin babies born two weeks ago to Golden Gloves national middleweight champion Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester and his fiancée, Stephanie Rapa:
As of late Friday afternoon, both babies, Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez, remained in “very critical condition” in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus after being born four months premature on Sept. 29, according to their mother.
Rapa said the twins, who weighed just 19 ounces each at birth, are waging their battle for life “hour by hour, day by day,” and that she and Rodriguez, as well as the doctors and nurses at the hospital, are “still hopeful” for a full recovery.
“Little Edwin,” as the baby boy is known, was a little worse off than his sister as of Friday. His lungs are so underdeveloped that he requires 100 percent oxygen, and he came very close to death the day before. His sister redeveloped an opening in her heart, which is being treated with medication.
As before, Rodriguez and Rapa are asking for the prayers of friends, fans and readers.
Edwin Rodriguez, 21, Worcester: #1 Ranked Middleweight Boxer in America/Olympic hopeful
By Michael Shivick
Edwin Rodriguez and his trainer, Carlos Garcia, frequent the Boys and Girls Club on Ionic Avenue in downtown Worcester. Their passports have also been stamped in Canada, China, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and England. So goes the life of the number one ranked middle weight (165 pound) boxer in the US and the first MA resident to win the USA Nationals since 1973. After settling for a bronze medal in the 2006 USA Nationals, Edwin put his nose to the proverbial grindstone and brought home the gold medal at this year’s National Golden Gloves tournament, etching his name in history alongside past winners Mike Tyson, Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali), and Roy Jones, Jr, to name but a few. Tough in body but tender at heart, Edwin claims that spending a majority of his time on the road and away from his family ~ especially his newborn twins, Serena and Edwin, Jr.~ is absolutely as tough as any training he’s been through. When asked about any New Year’s resolutions, the gold medalist replies, “To try and walk around closer to my fighting weight of 165 [and] to work as hard as I can not only to make the Olympic Team but to also prepare myself physically and mentally to bring home a Olympic gold medal next year in 2008.”
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Rodriguez quits Pan-Am pursuit
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— In the name of fatherhood, Worcester’s Edwin Rodriguez — the defending Golden Gloves national champion as well as the 2005 USA Boxing national champion, both at 165 pounds — has abandoned his quest to fight in this year’s Pan American Games.
Rodriguez was one of four middleweights scheduled to take part in the Pan American Qualifier Box-Offs this coming weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., the first step toward fighting in the Pan American Games in July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Instead, the 21-year-old will stay home and learn infant CPR techniques and how to operate the oxygen equipment that will be needed when his 3 1/2-month-old twins, Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez, come home from the hospital in about three weeks.
The babies were born four months prematurely on Sept. 29, weighing a frail 19 ounces each, and have been hospitalized ever since at UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus. The tots have had numerous health problems, and both underwent successful eye surgery recently to prevent blindness. Both now weigh more than four pounds.
The premature birth of the babies by Rodriguez’s fiancée, Stephanie Rapa, prompted dad to cancel his planned participation in the Police Athletic League national championships in October at Oxnard, Calif., the first qualifier for the Olympic Trials. Rodriguez was to leave for Oxnard the day the babies were born.
Now, Rodriguez plans to begin defense of his Golden Gloves title in two weeks with local competition. If he repeats as champion at the finals in May at Chattanooga, Tenn., it will earn him a bye directly into the quarterfinals of the USA Boxing national championships in June at Colorado Springs, and an automatic berth in the Olympic Trials, to be held in August at a site to be determined.
If he loses in the Golden Gloves, Rodriguez still will enter the USA Boxing championships, where all eight quarterfinalists earn spots in the Olympic Trials. The 2008 Olympics will be in Beijing, China.
Said Rodriguez, who has been working out and training in between hospital visits: “Babies and family come first.”
Happy father's day, Edwin Rodriguez celebrates birth of twins with a resounding win
By CARMINE FRONGILLO, Sun Staff
Article Last Updated: 02/07/2007 11:33:44 AM EST
LOWELL -- Defending national champion Edwin Rodriguez turned the Greater Lowell Golden Gloves finals into a father's day bash.
Golden Gloves
Rodriguez's fiancé, Stephanie Rapa, gave birth to twins, Edwin Jr. and Serena Lynn in September. The twins were born premature, but are doing well and finally came home from the hospital last week.
His family demands have increased dramatically, but from the look of things parenthood agrees with Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, 21, a Worcester native, pounded his way to a unanimous decision victory over hard-working Eduardo Pena in their 165-pound Open Division championship bout before a crowd of 1,800 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium last night.
The victory improved Rodriguez's amateur record to 65-6. Pena, a Novice champ last year, just moved up to the Open class this winter and has an overall slate of 12-3.
"The twins were born on September 29," said Rodriguez. "Their due date was January 21. I guess they heard the bell early and came out. They're fighters.
"Thankfully, everything is well. They're doing much better. They are gaining weight. Everything is going smoother now."
From the outset, Rodriguez came out firing, and most of his punches were on target. He landed some fearsome shots, as his gloves were a blue blur.
Pena tried to match Rodriguez, landing some stinging combos of his own, but he simply couldn't match the all-out assault he encountered.
"I trained hard for this fight," said Pena. "He's a pretty good fighter. I tried to match him, one for one. But he was too fast. I couldn't even think when he was throwing punches. He throws a lot of punches. He's real fast. And he has good stamina."
Once Rodriguez got going, he never let up, applying constant pressure. He backed Pena into a corner several times and scored with piercing flurries.
"This is the type of fight I've been working out for," said Rodriguez. "It was a brawl. I had to just keep coming. That was my game plan in the gym. I executed it today and did pretty good.
"He stood his ground. I give him props. He took pretty much everything I had. He looked like he was going, but he never did."
To his credit, Pena fought hard to the final bell.
"You can't take a step back against a fighter like him," said Pena. "He just keeps moving forward. He kept coming at me and caught me in the corner. It was tough to fight my way out. This was a good learning experience. I'm just going to go back to the gym and pick up the pieces."
While Rodriguez goes back to being a proud papa.
Daddy and Edwin
Twin opportunity awaits Rodriguez
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Edwin Rodriguez, the national Golden Gloves middleweight champion from Worcester who has his eyes riveted on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, is going to be a father — twice.
Rodriguez, 21, said his live-in girlfriend, 23-year-old Holy Cross graduate Stephanie Rapa, is expecting twins on Jan. 21. The couple, planning to be married sometime in the future, will find out the twins’ sexes at a doctor’s visit on Aug. 29.
Shortly after that, Rodriguez will leave for Oxnard, Calif., and the National Police Athletic League championships, which are scheduled for Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. The winner earns the first of eight spots in the U.S. Olympic Trials, set for mid-June of 2007.
“It would pretty nice to be the first one to qualify because that says a lot about you,” said Rodriguez, a Doherty High grad currently on leave from his studies at Quinsigamond Community College. “All the best fighters in my weight class are going to be there, so it’s a good way to prove myself, that I’m No. 1 in USA Boxing.”
The USA Boxing rankings have already declared that. On the strength of his win at the national Golden Gloves in April, Rodriguez is No. 1 with 290 points, well ahead of Daniel Jacobs of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jonathan Nelson of Little Rock, Ark., who are tied for second with 150 points.
If Rodriguez fails to win the PAL gold medal, he has several other routes to the Olympic Trials, including the 2007 national Golden Gloves in April, the USA Boxing national championships in January (a title he won in 2005), and the USA Boxing Eastern Trials in March.
The gold and silver medal winners at the USA Boxing nationals earn spots in the eight-man Olympic Trials, as do the winners of the Golden Gloves, PAL, Eastern Trials, Western Trials, Midwestern Trials and Armed Forces Championships.
Rapa, a 2005 HC graduate with a degree in political science, plans to attend law school at Western New England College, where she has a scholarship. The fact that she’s carrying two new mouths to feed makes Rodriguez even more determined to succeed — not that determination was ever a problem for him.
“Now I don’t only have to do it for myself, but for my family,” he said. “Now I have people who will be dependent on me, and that makes me work even harder and be more responsible about getting that gold medal at the Olympics.”
Certainly, there will be agents flocking after Rodriguez, trying to persuade him to turn pro now, but he said the fact that he has such a good chance at the Olympics makes him all the more determined to stick it out.
Rodriguez hasn’t been very active this summer, the result of USA Boxing’s decision to forego international trips while it gears up for the Olympics. He has done some sparring with unbeaten Worcester junior middleweight Enrique Palau (4-0-0, 4 KOs), and he won a three-round bout at the Marvelous Marvin Hagler Boxing Tournament for Charity last Saturday in Brockton.
Next, Rodriguez plans to travel to Ohio for an exhibition with Shawn Porter of Stow, Ohio, the fighter who dethroned him in the USA Boxing quarterfinals in March. Porter is ranked No. 5 nationally. For their troubles, Rodriguez and Porter will get all-expenses-paid trips to Hawaii.
Oct 8, 2006
Rodriguez keeps vigil over twin tots
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— They have a fighter for a dad, which probably explains why 8-day-old twins Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez are waging such an incredible battle to stay alive.
The tiny babies were due on Jan. 21, but apparently they heard the bell early and sprang into this world in the wee hours of Sept. 29 — four months early and weighing a frail 19 ounces each.
Their early arrival put off the plans of their father, Edwin Rodriguez, the defending national Golden Gloves middleweight champion from Worcester, who was supposed to leave on the day they were born for Oxnard, Calif., and the Police Athletic League national championships. That event is the first qualifier for next summer’s Olympic Trials.
Instead, the PAL crowned a middleweight champion in its finals last night while Rodriguez and his fiancée, Stephanie Rapa, kept their constant vigil next door to the battling babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus.
“The fact that they even made it through birth is amazing,” said their mom, who was only discharged as a patient herself on Friday, a week after the twins’ abrupt arrival. “They’re just little fighters. They take after their dad, I guess.”
The twins have had their problems. The first was their size — 1 pound, 3 ounces each at birth. Each also had an opening in their heart, but those were closed with medication. Then they began to lose weight, if that seems even possible, both sinking under one pound, although both have started to regain some badly needed ounces. Now they have infections, which are being treated with antibiotics.
“The nurses and doctors here truly work miracles,” said Rapa, a 23-year-old Holy Cross graduate, “because the babies were born at 23 weeks and 5 days, and any time before 22 weeks, they can’t resuscitate babies. So they basically just made it.”
Adding to the miracle is that their impending birth was only discovered through a routine doctor’s visit on Tuesday, three days before the surprise arrivals and the couple’s planned trip to Oxnard.
Now, of course, the entire focus of Rodriguez’s life is on his newborn son, whom he calls “Little Edwin,” and his daughter.
“We hope people will keep them in their thoughts and prayers because it seems like it’s helping,” Rapa said, taking the time to explain the situation after Rodriguez became overcome with emotion.
The couple became engaged recently, but no date has been set for the wedding. “So many things are going on right now, we haven’t talked about it yet,” said the 21-year-old Rodriguez, who was aware who was fighting in last night’s PAL middleweight final.
The combatants were defending champion Daniel Jacobs of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jonathan Nelson of Little Rock, Ark. Nelson is the man Rodriguez beat in the Golden Gloves final earlier this year, and also in the USA Boxing final to win that national title in 2005. It was the third straight PAL final for Jacobs.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez is keeping up with his training as best he can. He plans to fight Shawn Porter of Stow, Ohio, one of his national rivals, on Nov. 11 in a four-round benefit in Ohio. Then he plans to compete in January in the USA Boxing national championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., the event he won in 2005. The top two finishers there will punch their tickets to the Olympic Trials sometime next June, where the boxers will be chosen for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Being one of those boxers is Rodriguez’s dream at 165 pounds. But first he has to deal with the realities and frailties of life at 19 ounces.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
Twins still ‘very critical’
An update on the fragile twin babies born two weeks ago to Golden Gloves national middleweight champion Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester and his fiancée, Stephanie Rapa:
As of late Friday afternoon, both babies, Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez, remained in “very critical condition” in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus after being born four months premature on Sept. 29, according to their mother.
Rapa said the twins, who weighed just 19 ounces each at birth, are waging their battle for life “hour by hour, day by day,” and that she and Rodriguez, as well as the doctors and nurses at the hospital, are “still hopeful” for a full recovery.
“Little Edwin,” as the baby boy is known, was a little worse off than his sister as of Friday. His lungs are so underdeveloped that he requires 100 percent oxygen, and he came very close to death the day before. His sister redeveloped an opening in her heart, which is being treated with medication.
As before, Rodriguez and Rapa are asking for the prayers of friends, fans and readers.
Edwin Rodriguez, 21, Worcester: #1 Ranked Middleweight Boxer in America/Olympic hopeful
By Michael Shivick
Edwin Rodriguez and his trainer, Carlos Garcia, frequent the Boys and Girls Club on Ionic Avenue in downtown Worcester. Their passports have also been stamped in Canada, China, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and England. So goes the life of the number one ranked middle weight (165 pound) boxer in the US and the first MA resident to win the USA Nationals since 1973. After settling for a bronze medal in the 2006 USA Nationals, Edwin put his nose to the proverbial grindstone and brought home the gold medal at this year’s National Golden Gloves tournament, etching his name in history alongside past winners Mike Tyson, Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali), and Roy Jones, Jr, to name but a few. Tough in body but tender at heart, Edwin claims that spending a majority of his time on the road and away from his family ~ especially his newborn twins, Serena and Edwin, Jr.~ is absolutely as tough as any training he’s been through. When asked about any New Year’s resolutions, the gold medalist replies, “To try and walk around closer to my fighting weight of 165 [and] to work as hard as I can not only to make the Olympic Team but to also prepare myself physically and mentally to bring home a Olympic gold medal next year in 2008.”
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Rodriguez quits Pan-Am pursuit
By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com
WORCESTER— In the name of fatherhood, Worcester’s Edwin Rodriguez — the defending Golden Gloves national champion as well as the 2005 USA Boxing national champion, both at 165 pounds — has abandoned his quest to fight in this year’s Pan American Games.
Rodriguez was one of four middleweights scheduled to take part in the Pan American Qualifier Box-Offs this coming weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., the first step toward fighting in the Pan American Games in July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Instead, the 21-year-old will stay home and learn infant CPR techniques and how to operate the oxygen equipment that will be needed when his 3 1/2-month-old twins, Edwin Kelly Rodriguez Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez, come home from the hospital in about three weeks.
The babies were born four months prematurely on Sept. 29, weighing a frail 19 ounces each, and have been hospitalized ever since at UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus. The tots have had numerous health problems, and both underwent successful eye surgery recently to prevent blindness. Both now weigh more than four pounds.
The premature birth of the babies by Rodriguez’s fiancée, Stephanie Rapa, prompted dad to cancel his planned participation in the Police Athletic League national championships in October at Oxnard, Calif., the first qualifier for the Olympic Trials. Rodriguez was to leave for Oxnard the day the babies were born.
Now, Rodriguez plans to begin defense of his Golden Gloves title in two weeks with local competition. If he repeats as champion at the finals in May at Chattanooga, Tenn., it will earn him a bye directly into the quarterfinals of the USA Boxing national championships in June at Colorado Springs, and an automatic berth in the Olympic Trials, to be held in August at a site to be determined.
If he loses in the Golden Gloves, Rodriguez still will enter the USA Boxing championships, where all eight quarterfinalists earn spots in the Olympic Trials. The 2008 Olympics will be in Beijing, China.
Said Rodriguez, who has been working out and training in between hospital visits: “Babies and family come first.”
Happy father's day, Edwin Rodriguez celebrates birth of twins with a resounding win
By CARMINE FRONGILLO, Sun Staff
Article Last Updated: 02/07/2007 11:33:44 AM EST
LOWELL -- Defending national champion Edwin Rodriguez turned the Greater Lowell Golden Gloves finals into a father's day bash.
Golden Gloves
Rodriguez's fiancé, Stephanie Rapa, gave birth to twins, Edwin Jr. and Serena Lynn in September. The twins were born premature, but are doing well and finally came home from the hospital last week.
His family demands have increased dramatically, but from the look of things parenthood agrees with Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, 21, a Worcester native, pounded his way to a unanimous decision victory over hard-working Eduardo Pena in their 165-pound Open Division championship bout before a crowd of 1,800 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium last night.
The victory improved Rodriguez's amateur record to 65-6. Pena, a Novice champ last year, just moved up to the Open class this winter and has an overall slate of 12-3.
"The twins were born on September 29," said Rodriguez. "Their due date was January 21. I guess they heard the bell early and came out. They're fighters.
"Thankfully, everything is well. They're doing much better. They are gaining weight. Everything is going smoother now."
From the outset, Rodriguez came out firing, and most of his punches were on target. He landed some fearsome shots, as his gloves were a blue blur.
Pena tried to match Rodriguez, landing some stinging combos of his own, but he simply couldn't match the all-out assault he encountered.
"I trained hard for this fight," said Pena. "He's a pretty good fighter. I tried to match him, one for one. But he was too fast. I couldn't even think when he was throwing punches. He throws a lot of punches. He's real fast. And he has good stamina."
Once Rodriguez got going, he never let up, applying constant pressure. He backed Pena into a corner several times and scored with piercing flurries.
"This is the type of fight I've been working out for," said Rodriguez. "It was a brawl. I had to just keep coming. That was my game plan in the gym. I executed it today and did pretty good.
"He stood his ground. I give him props. He took pretty much everything I had. He looked like he was going, but he never did."
To his credit, Pena fought hard to the final bell.
"You can't take a step back against a fighter like him," said Pena. "He just keeps moving forward. He kept coming at me and caught me in the corner. It was tough to fight my way out. This was a good learning experience. I'm just going to go back to the gym and pick up the pieces."
While Rodriguez goes back to being a proud papa.
Daddy and Edwin
Pulomonology
Hello.
Today and Edwin Sr and I packed up the twins and headed to their first pulmonology appointment. I really like the Dr, he is very nice and down to earth. He is intelligent and practical and is very straightforward. I told him how the twins were doing, how Champ tends to be a little more unstable in terms of his sats than Serena, but that he mostly desats to the high 80s and is able to recover. He often does it while eating too quickly or during a diaper change. Serena tends to get ahead of herself when she is very hungry and will also dip into the 80s. Other than that Serena is normally 98-100 and Edwin is more like 95-100 when comfy. The plan is to turn the twins up by 200ccs while feeding to avoid these dips and encourage good weight gain(so Serena will go to 500ccs and Edwin will have to go to 750ccs because the regulator we have that goes past 500ccs only goes in incriments of 500, 750, 1000, etc.) Edwin weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and Serena weighed 6 pounds 0.6 ounces. They weighed 5 pounds not quite 6 ounces the day of discharge which was 1/29. They were happy with this weight gain. We will be weaning Edwin's steroids first, before we touch his flow. On Monday I will begin weaning him by .5 MLs every week. I am happy about this because it makes me nervous that he has been on steroids for so long. Serena will be seen by a Dr from Mass General about her raspy cry to make sure her vocal cords are okay. We will wait 2-3 months for this appointment.
Other than that no changes, and we will see the pulmonologist again next month.
Both have significant CLD (chronic lung disease) based upon blood gases, chest x rays, and echos of their hearts. It makes me concerned of course but I know it's part of being 23 weekers and having the difficulties respiratory wise that both of them had. I am hoping as they grow, they will get better respiratory wise and they won't experience long-term issues related to their CLD.
We see the Pedi and the Optomologist tomorrow, so I'll update again. For now I wanted to post all of the newspaper articles that have been written about Edwin in which the twins were mentioned. Most are from the Telegram and Gazette and the latest one is from the Lowell Sun. We are very proud of Daddy and look forward to this summer to see if he can achieve the honor of making the 2008 Olympic team!
Today and Edwin Sr and I packed up the twins and headed to their first pulmonology appointment. I really like the Dr, he is very nice and down to earth. He is intelligent and practical and is very straightforward. I told him how the twins were doing, how Champ tends to be a little more unstable in terms of his sats than Serena, but that he mostly desats to the high 80s and is able to recover. He often does it while eating too quickly or during a diaper change. Serena tends to get ahead of herself when she is very hungry and will also dip into the 80s. Other than that Serena is normally 98-100 and Edwin is more like 95-100 when comfy. The plan is to turn the twins up by 200ccs while feeding to avoid these dips and encourage good weight gain(so Serena will go to 500ccs and Edwin will have to go to 750ccs because the regulator we have that goes past 500ccs only goes in incriments of 500, 750, 1000, etc.) Edwin weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and Serena weighed 6 pounds 0.6 ounces. They weighed 5 pounds not quite 6 ounces the day of discharge which was 1/29. They were happy with this weight gain. We will be weaning Edwin's steroids first, before we touch his flow. On Monday I will begin weaning him by .5 MLs every week. I am happy about this because it makes me nervous that he has been on steroids for so long. Serena will be seen by a Dr from Mass General about her raspy cry to make sure her vocal cords are okay. We will wait 2-3 months for this appointment.
Other than that no changes, and we will see the pulmonologist again next month.
Both have significant CLD (chronic lung disease) based upon blood gases, chest x rays, and echos of their hearts. It makes me concerned of course but I know it's part of being 23 weekers and having the difficulties respiratory wise that both of them had. I am hoping as they grow, they will get better respiratory wise and they won't experience long-term issues related to their CLD.
We see the Pedi and the Optomologist tomorrow, so I'll update again. For now I wanted to post all of the newspaper articles that have been written about Edwin in which the twins were mentioned. Most are from the Telegram and Gazette and the latest one is from the Lowell Sun. We are very proud of Daddy and look forward to this summer to see if he can achieve the honor of making the 2008 Olympic team!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
New pics
Uncle Ramon and Serena
Titi Facely and Edwin
Edwin in his crib
Serena all bundled for her Dr's appointment
Auntie Amie and Serena
Mama and Edwin
Serena Bean
Champ looking at his fish
Serena's bed
Edwin's bed
Twin's nursery
bath time for Edwin
Serena Bean in the tub
Scrub-a-dub-dub Edwin
Titi Facely and Edwin
Edwin in his crib
Serena all bundled for her Dr's appointment
Auntie Amie and Serena
Mama and Edwin
Serena Bean
Champ looking at his fish
Serena's bed
Edwin's bed
Twin's nursery
bath time for Edwin
Serena Bean in the tub
Scrub-a-dub-dub Edwin
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Audiology
Hello all!
I am so relieved right now because Serena had her audiology appointment today. As I wrote in previous posts, she "referred" (a nice way of saying failed) her hearing test at the NICU in her left ear. I was so worried that she would be found to have no hearing in that ear.
The appointment took 2 hours, not to mention the letter said get there 1/2 prior to appoint (which was at 8), so my hungry baby girl, (you can't feed the baby 3 hours prior to the test so they eat there and fall right to sleep) Grammy, and I waited outside the audiology department while the door was locked and no one had arrived. Why do they say get there 1/2 before your appointment with a starving child if they aren't going to be there? It was okay though, the Dr was very nice and apologized.
The whole procedure took 2 hours, and I nervously sat watching my daughter hooked up to probes sticking to her head...she looked like the cutest little alien I've ever seen! :) The Dr had a student in the room and they kept whispering things and going and readjusting lines and leads on Serena's head and ear. I was soooo worried and had convinced myself that something was very wrong. I began to get chocked up but mangaged to hold it together. After what seemed like an eternity, the Dr said "we got some very good results today."
Serena has mild hearing loss in her left ear, and VERY mild loss in her right. They tested both ears and found that she has fluid behind both eardrums, so they are thinking this is why she presents the mild loss. The Dr assured us she can hear us speaking and that it sounds like she just has water in her ear, which literally she does. She will return in one month to check if the water has drained naturally, and if not, she will see a Pedi ear specialist and we go from there...possibly get tubes placed, etc.
Of course I asked a lot of questions, one being, what if the loss is not due to the water but to an inner ear problem. The Dr said she would be fitted for hearing aides, but her loss is so mild that she is nowhere close to deafness and her ability to learn language even now without the aides will not be affected.
I was so worried about today, and I am thankful things turned out okay. Of course I wish she had NO hearing loss, but with 23 weekers you have to count your blessings. Nothing is going to go perfectly, and I know that. I am just greatful she can hear Mommy tell her she loves her. Edwin will go for a more brief check considering I asked why Serena would have passed on her right ear at the NICU and then had very mild loss according to their machine. I was assured this machine was far more precise, and to calm my concerns Edwin will be check next month as well.
Edwin fights tonight and I think I am going. It is a big fight and I rarely see him fight around here because no one wants to fight the 2 year in a row national champ. He wants me there, and even though it will be hard to leave the twins, I know my mom and stepdad will do fine. THe nurse will also be here at 10pm and I like her a lot.
I really like this poem, and at my shower a fellow mother of twins had it engraved with the twins's names and pictures on it...I wanted to share it for other twin mommies...
One plus one is two
and that's the both of you.
Twice as much to love,
two blessings from above.
Two precious lives to mold,
two little hands to safely hold.
God touched our hearts
so deep inside,
our special blessing
Mulitplied!
I am so relieved right now because Serena had her audiology appointment today. As I wrote in previous posts, she "referred" (a nice way of saying failed) her hearing test at the NICU in her left ear. I was so worried that she would be found to have no hearing in that ear.
The appointment took 2 hours, not to mention the letter said get there 1/2 prior to appoint (which was at 8), so my hungry baby girl, (you can't feed the baby 3 hours prior to the test so they eat there and fall right to sleep) Grammy, and I waited outside the audiology department while the door was locked and no one had arrived. Why do they say get there 1/2 before your appointment with a starving child if they aren't going to be there? It was okay though, the Dr was very nice and apologized.
The whole procedure took 2 hours, and I nervously sat watching my daughter hooked up to probes sticking to her head...she looked like the cutest little alien I've ever seen! :) The Dr had a student in the room and they kept whispering things and going and readjusting lines and leads on Serena's head and ear. I was soooo worried and had convinced myself that something was very wrong. I began to get chocked up but mangaged to hold it together. After what seemed like an eternity, the Dr said "we got some very good results today."
Serena has mild hearing loss in her left ear, and VERY mild loss in her right. They tested both ears and found that she has fluid behind both eardrums, so they are thinking this is why she presents the mild loss. The Dr assured us she can hear us speaking and that it sounds like she just has water in her ear, which literally she does. She will return in one month to check if the water has drained naturally, and if not, she will see a Pedi ear specialist and we go from there...possibly get tubes placed, etc.
Of course I asked a lot of questions, one being, what if the loss is not due to the water but to an inner ear problem. The Dr said she would be fitted for hearing aides, but her loss is so mild that she is nowhere close to deafness and her ability to learn language even now without the aides will not be affected.
I was so worried about today, and I am thankful things turned out okay. Of course I wish she had NO hearing loss, but with 23 weekers you have to count your blessings. Nothing is going to go perfectly, and I know that. I am just greatful she can hear Mommy tell her she loves her. Edwin will go for a more brief check considering I asked why Serena would have passed on her right ear at the NICU and then had very mild loss according to their machine. I was assured this machine was far more precise, and to calm my concerns Edwin will be check next month as well.
Edwin fights tonight and I think I am going. It is a big fight and I rarely see him fight around here because no one wants to fight the 2 year in a row national champ. He wants me there, and even though it will be hard to leave the twins, I know my mom and stepdad will do fine. THe nurse will also be here at 10pm and I like her a lot.
I really like this poem, and at my shower a fellow mother of twins had it engraved with the twins's names and pictures on it...I wanted to share it for other twin mommies...
One plus one is two
and that's the both of you.
Twice as much to love,
two blessings from above.
Two precious lives to mold,
two little hands to safely hold.
God touched our hearts
so deep inside,
our special blessing
Mulitplied!
Monday, February 5, 2007
Pictures!
Serena all bundled up
Edwin sleeping on Daddy
Serena and Daddy
Serena asleep in her bouncy seat
Edwin looking so sweet in the swing
Twins laying on Mommy holding hands
Edwin sleeping on Daddy
Serena and Daddy
Serena asleep in her bouncy seat
Edwin looking so sweet in the swing
Twins laying on Mommy holding hands
Saturday, February 3, 2007
A quick update since I have time
Hello all.
Well, since Little Edwin is in his swing enjoying the rhymic motion and Serena is in her chair sleeping like a princess, and Daddy and Uncle Ramon are watching boxing on Showtime, I figured I would come write while I had a chance. I've been reading up on our micropreemie friend's blogs, especially the older archived posts about their NICU days. I can't help but be curious about other micropreemie's courses, since they are all different yet have many similarities. I figured I would write some brief overviews in case people don't have time to read all of my older NICU day updates.
Mom hospitalized at 23 and 2/7 weeks pregnant. 3 centimeters dialated at admission. Received both doses of steroid treatment.
Serena "A Twin"
Gestational age 23 weeks and barely 5/7ths...(born at 3:18am on the 5th day)
Born by emergency C-Section. Breech
Birth weight:
1 lb 3.2 ounces 12" long. Lowest weight 14 ounces.
Respiratory:
No oscialltor. Conventional vent until Nov. 16 (48 days) Stayed on CPAP after first attempt. Never returned back to conventional vent.
CPAP until Nov. 28 (12 days) onto nasal canula
Currently on nasal canula at 300 cc. a little more than 1/4 liter O2
Treated with one short course of steroids (Dex)
PDA:
PDA ligated after attempts of Ibuprophen (first time used at the NICU they were at originally worked, and later failed when ductus reopened)
IVH:
Bilateral Grade II. IVH resolved. "Echogenisis" detected on head ultrasound (not sure of implications, not definitely being called PVL or anything other than an "echo"
ROP:
ROP stage 2/3 zone 2, some zone 1, no plus disease. Treated with laser surgery
Other issues:
"Referred" in left ear on hearing exam. Follow-up appointment next week
NICU Stay:
122 days
Edwin "B Twin"
Gestational age- 23 and (barely 5/7ths...born at 3:20am on the 5th day)
Born by emergency C-section. Breech
Birth weight:
1 pound 3.6 ounces 12" long
Respiratory:
Oscillator Sept. 29-October 29 (30 days) Came off oscillator only after first steroid dose given at 28 days old.
Conventional Vent until Nov. 27th (29 days after coming off the oscialltor)
Made it to CPAP on Nov. 27th Stayed on CPAP after first attempt; never returned to conventional vent.
CPAP until second week of December (not sure of the date) onto nasal canula
2 courses of steroids (Dex), currently on Pregnisolone at 2.5 mls every other day
Currently on nasal canula 500 cc aka 1/2 liter O2
PDA:
PDA ligated after 1st dose of Indocin originanly closed the ductus, but it reopened after a couple weeks
IVH:
At first called a grade II IVH, but later called a grade I. Resolved itself
ROP:
ROP stage 3 mostly zone 2, some zone 1 and plus disease. Treated with laser surgery
Other issues:
Reflux medicated with Reglan and Pepsid. Currently only on Pepsid
Follow-up renal ultrasound for calcification
NICU stay:
122 days
I know these are the issues I read about in other people's blog so I figured in case anyone else was interested they could easily read the main issues Serena and Edwin faced as 23 weekers. If anyone has similar or different issues related to extreme prematurity please share. Thanks!
Well, since Little Edwin is in his swing enjoying the rhymic motion and Serena is in her chair sleeping like a princess, and Daddy and Uncle Ramon are watching boxing on Showtime, I figured I would come write while I had a chance. I've been reading up on our micropreemie friend's blogs, especially the older archived posts about their NICU days. I can't help but be curious about other micropreemie's courses, since they are all different yet have many similarities. I figured I would write some brief overviews in case people don't have time to read all of my older NICU day updates.
Mom hospitalized at 23 and 2/7 weeks pregnant. 3 centimeters dialated at admission. Received both doses of steroid treatment.
Serena "A Twin"
Gestational age 23 weeks and barely 5/7ths...(born at 3:18am on the 5th day)
Born by emergency C-Section. Breech
Birth weight:
1 lb 3.2 ounces 12" long. Lowest weight 14 ounces.
Respiratory:
No oscialltor. Conventional vent until Nov. 16 (48 days) Stayed on CPAP after first attempt. Never returned back to conventional vent.
CPAP until Nov. 28 (12 days) onto nasal canula
Currently on nasal canula at 300 cc. a little more than 1/4 liter O2
Treated with one short course of steroids (Dex)
PDA:
PDA ligated after attempts of Ibuprophen (first time used at the NICU they were at originally worked, and later failed when ductus reopened)
IVH:
Bilateral Grade II. IVH resolved. "Echogenisis" detected on head ultrasound (not sure of implications, not definitely being called PVL or anything other than an "echo"
ROP:
ROP stage 2/3 zone 2, some zone 1, no plus disease. Treated with laser surgery
Other issues:
"Referred" in left ear on hearing exam. Follow-up appointment next week
NICU Stay:
122 days
Edwin "B Twin"
Gestational age- 23 and (barely 5/7ths...born at 3:20am on the 5th day)
Born by emergency C-section. Breech
Birth weight:
1 pound 3.6 ounces 12" long
Respiratory:
Oscillator Sept. 29-October 29 (30 days) Came off oscillator only after first steroid dose given at 28 days old.
Conventional Vent until Nov. 27th (29 days after coming off the oscialltor)
Made it to CPAP on Nov. 27th Stayed on CPAP after first attempt; never returned to conventional vent.
CPAP until second week of December (not sure of the date) onto nasal canula
2 courses of steroids (Dex), currently on Pregnisolone at 2.5 mls every other day
Currently on nasal canula 500 cc aka 1/2 liter O2
PDA:
PDA ligated after 1st dose of Indocin originanly closed the ductus, but it reopened after a couple weeks
IVH:
At first called a grade II IVH, but later called a grade I. Resolved itself
ROP:
ROP stage 3 mostly zone 2, some zone 1 and plus disease. Treated with laser surgery
Other issues:
Reflux medicated with Reglan and Pepsid. Currently only on Pepsid
Follow-up renal ultrasound for calcification
NICU stay:
122 days
I know these are the issues I read about in other people's blog so I figured in case anyone else was interested they could easily read the main issues Serena and Edwin faced as 23 weekers. If anyone has similar or different issues related to extreme prematurity please share. Thanks!
Friday, February 2, 2007
Update from the home front
Hi everyone!
Sorry it has taken awhile to write. It is busy with the twins, not to mention Edwin enjoys his XBOX which he plays online, so sometimes I can't get online when the twins are sleeping...Edwin needs his release and I'm happy it's his XBOX and not a night out on the town.
Everything is going well...better than expected actually. Serena and Edwin are sweet babies, and they rarely fuss...Edwin a little if he is put down and wants to continue to be held...thanks primaries...haha just kidding! I LOVE holding them, in fact I get little done around the house because I have them in my arms even when they're asleep. My mom's a huge help though, washing dishes, doing laundry, and organizing EVERYTHING around the house! That's been huge.
The twins had their first pedi appointment today. Serena weighed 5 lbs 10 ounces, and Edwin was 5 lbs 14 ounces. I am so happy they gained weight!!! We will return weekly for awhile for weight checks.
I had to make a decision not to have one of the private duty nurses return. (We qualified for 84 hours a week in private duty care because of twins on O2 with extreme prematurity). I'd like to think I can easily get along with most people, but something didn't click. She didn't do anything wrong per say, minus not washing her hands enough for my liking, but it was more of an uncomfortable feeling and I guess mother's intiution. We gave up Mon-Fri worth of overnight nursing, but it was the right decision for our family. The other nurses I've met are great, and I will be meeting another Sunday night (the mom of one of the nurses I met today.) We only used 20 of our 84 hours, but that's okay.
This is in reponse to the email my mom sent out ebloggers:
As for the O2 company, I don't want people to worry that we didn't have any oxygen for Champ or Serena. We had spare tanks, it was just the delievery was confused, and it was scary to think they were unaware that we needed large "M" tanks, the tanks the twins are hooked up to on the day-to-day. I had a spare for each baby, but one of the covers was cross threaded and wouldn't come off. Serena is on a lower flow, so she was fine, so I just switched over Edwin's tank and they assured me we would have a correct delievery today, which we did. The driver couldn't get the top off the big tank either, and we made sure all the tanks he delievered today opened properly. We also had to switch out Serena's regulator because it was reading that the new tank was not filled, but it really was. Ah the joys of parenting twins on O2. The monitors are working well though, rarely any false alarms, which is good, especially since Edwin and I are doing the overnights!
I am able to care for the twins during the day, and take cat naps when they sleep. Edwin or a nurse are usually with me, and in the evenings my mom has been coming over to help out. We only have nursing 9-2, so my mom, as usual, has been a life saver. I still don't feel 100% confident being alone with Serena and Edwin. Not because I don't know what I am doing, but just with them being on O2 it is nice to feel like I am not alone in the case of an emergency with the tubing, the tanks, nasal canulas, etc. On another note, we opted to discontinue using the humidifying water attached to the O2 tubing because water droplets were moving into the tubing. We run the humidifying in the twins bedroom and that seems to be working fine.
We really don't feel too sleep deprived, although it has been a tough transition for Edwin, especially since he trains twice a day. He has been great though. I am lucky. Speaking of Edwin, he won his fight on Tuesday (an easy fight according to him, he didn't even get hit he said.) I was going to go and my mom was going to stay with the babies with the nurse who is no longer with us, but Edwin got the lottery of the first fight and his brother and I would not have made it since you find out when you are fighting only 1/2 hour before the fights start. We hadn't even left Worcester yet when Edwin called to say he got the 1st fight. It was okay though, I didn't mind being home because Serena and Edwin are home! Edwin fights again this coming Tuesday and then come the finals. I am not exactly sure when those will be, but I will let you know once I know. If you Google the Lowell Sun it brings you to the local newspaper in Lowell, which is covering the tourney; there may be more info there, I haven't checked yet. I hope maybe some can make it this Tuesday; Grammie and Grappy will be babysitting so I can go!
Well I can't find my camera as of now, so I can't upload the pics I have taken, the ones posted are from my mom's camera. I will look for it now and get the pictures out asap.
Thanks for caring so much about Serena and Champ. We are looking forward to warmer weather and healthier babies so we can have a large celebration. We are so fortunate to have both our babies, and we look forward to celebrating their miraculous young lives!
Take care,
Stephanie
Sorry it has taken awhile to write. It is busy with the twins, not to mention Edwin enjoys his XBOX which he plays online, so sometimes I can't get online when the twins are sleeping...Edwin needs his release and I'm happy it's his XBOX and not a night out on the town.
Everything is going well...better than expected actually. Serena and Edwin are sweet babies, and they rarely fuss...Edwin a little if he is put down and wants to continue to be held...thanks primaries...haha just kidding! I LOVE holding them, in fact I get little done around the house because I have them in my arms even when they're asleep. My mom's a huge help though, washing dishes, doing laundry, and organizing EVERYTHING around the house! That's been huge.
The twins had their first pedi appointment today. Serena weighed 5 lbs 10 ounces, and Edwin was 5 lbs 14 ounces. I am so happy they gained weight!!! We will return weekly for awhile for weight checks.
I had to make a decision not to have one of the private duty nurses return. (We qualified for 84 hours a week in private duty care because of twins on O2 with extreme prematurity). I'd like to think I can easily get along with most people, but something didn't click. She didn't do anything wrong per say, minus not washing her hands enough for my liking, but it was more of an uncomfortable feeling and I guess mother's intiution. We gave up Mon-Fri worth of overnight nursing, but it was the right decision for our family. The other nurses I've met are great, and I will be meeting another Sunday night (the mom of one of the nurses I met today.) We only used 20 of our 84 hours, but that's okay.
This is in reponse to the email my mom sent out ebloggers:
As for the O2 company, I don't want people to worry that we didn't have any oxygen for Champ or Serena. We had spare tanks, it was just the delievery was confused, and it was scary to think they were unaware that we needed large "M" tanks, the tanks the twins are hooked up to on the day-to-day. I had a spare for each baby, but one of the covers was cross threaded and wouldn't come off. Serena is on a lower flow, so she was fine, so I just switched over Edwin's tank and they assured me we would have a correct delievery today, which we did. The driver couldn't get the top off the big tank either, and we made sure all the tanks he delievered today opened properly. We also had to switch out Serena's regulator because it was reading that the new tank was not filled, but it really was. Ah the joys of parenting twins on O2. The monitors are working well though, rarely any false alarms, which is good, especially since Edwin and I are doing the overnights!
I am able to care for the twins during the day, and take cat naps when they sleep. Edwin or a nurse are usually with me, and in the evenings my mom has been coming over to help out. We only have nursing 9-2, so my mom, as usual, has been a life saver. I still don't feel 100% confident being alone with Serena and Edwin. Not because I don't know what I am doing, but just with them being on O2 it is nice to feel like I am not alone in the case of an emergency with the tubing, the tanks, nasal canulas, etc. On another note, we opted to discontinue using the humidifying water attached to the O2 tubing because water droplets were moving into the tubing. We run the humidifying in the twins bedroom and that seems to be working fine.
We really don't feel too sleep deprived, although it has been a tough transition for Edwin, especially since he trains twice a day. He has been great though. I am lucky. Speaking of Edwin, he won his fight on Tuesday (an easy fight according to him, he didn't even get hit he said.) I was going to go and my mom was going to stay with the babies with the nurse who is no longer with us, but Edwin got the lottery of the first fight and his brother and I would not have made it since you find out when you are fighting only 1/2 hour before the fights start. We hadn't even left Worcester yet when Edwin called to say he got the 1st fight. It was okay though, I didn't mind being home because Serena and Edwin are home! Edwin fights again this coming Tuesday and then come the finals. I am not exactly sure when those will be, but I will let you know once I know. If you Google the Lowell Sun it brings you to the local newspaper in Lowell, which is covering the tourney; there may be more info there, I haven't checked yet. I hope maybe some can make it this Tuesday; Grammie and Grappy will be babysitting so I can go!
Well I can't find my camera as of now, so I can't upload the pics I have taken, the ones posted are from my mom's camera. I will look for it now and get the pictures out asap.
Thanks for caring so much about Serena and Champ. We are looking forward to warmer weather and healthier babies so we can have a large celebration. We are so fortunate to have both our babies, and we look forward to celebrating their miraculous young lives!
Take care,
Stephanie
Finally new pics!
Edwin and Serena
Big beautiful eyed Serena Lynn
Edwin Jr and Serena Lynn
Serena sleeping with Grammy
Serena in her crib
Champ givin the wink
Cutie girl with Grammy
My little guy
A very tired Mommy with her loves
Big beautiful eyed Serena Lynn
Edwin Jr and Serena Lynn
Serena sleeping with Grammy
Serena in her crib
Champ givin the wink
Cutie girl with Grammy
My little guy
A very tired Mommy with her loves
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