Guest Bloggers Victoria and Linda

OK, I am going to turn the blog over to Victoria and Linda. I figure it is the least I can do considering all that they have done for us. However, before I do that, I have to let you know that Rachelle is doing fine and she is still not too excited about waiting until 34 weeks. Anyway, here are Victoria and Linda.

Aunt Victory here, Linda and I have had an extraordinary 5 days here in Austin, TX. We don't know what Austin looks like be we now know every nook and cranny of Jayson and Rachelle's house. Jayson has been incredible, letting two mature bossy know it all Aunts take over his house, possessions, and life for the past week. He's worked all day and come home to a TO DO LIST every night. Not once has he complained although late on Saturday night he was ready for bed and wearily said to us, " how can you keep working". We all laughed and then he went to bed and we continued to stencil stars in Riley's room.

We've met many of Jayson and Rachelle's friends this week and they have been so helpful and supportive. Our thanks to David for loaning us a van so that we could make Home Depot and IKEA runs, to Natalie and Randy for good advice, the best meal in Texas and a helping hand at hanging cupboards, to Liz and Bruce who also stepped in with last minute needed items and cupboard hanging.

On Thursday Linda hung a plaque in the kitchen, it is the word FAITH. That word sums up our visit at least for me. Jayson and Rachelle are an example to us of FAITH in action. As they have accepted this exciting and overwhelming responsibility they have moved forward with great Faith. We are grateful to Rachelle that she had Faith in Linda and I to let us help make here house a home. We know it was hard for her to be so far away as we attempted to make here beautiful new house into HER home. We have Faith that they will be truly wonderful parents to a much larger family. As we've met their friends and listened to their many enthusiastic plans for helping Jayson and Rachelle we have witnessed the Faith and Love they have for the Wilkinson family. It gives us great comfort to know there are so many here willing and wanting to help. We also have Faith in all of you out there who have followed this wonderful event. We hope you check out the Now to Help page of the Blog.

Before I go to bed tonight I would like to say that my sister Linda is truly tireless and creative and I've had a hard time keeping up with her. We both feel so privileged to have had this opportunity to help and also to spend time with Jayson. It was a joy to serve this family that we love dearly. Rachelle you are totally awesome and amazing.

Progress on July 15th

Rachelle is still feeling about the same. We are looking forward to Tuesday where we will reach the next magic milestone of 32 weeks. They have to monitor her almost continuously now because she is almost always borderline with her number of contractions.
Our house is looking great thanks to the help of Aunt Victoria and Aunt Linda who are organizational geniuses. I also have to point out that in my tired stupor of a few nights ago, I misspelled my aunt Victoria's name. It is actually "Victoria" and not "Victory". Like I mentioned in my last few posts, I can't believe the energy they have because they wear me out every night and then wake up about an hour before me every morning.

They came to church with me today and were really impressed with all the nice people in our congregation. They really are a great group of people that seem to be willing to bend over backwards for us.

Something that my aunt Linda asked me today was what it felt like to know that there are so many people praying for us out there. I have to say that it feels really good. I really like the fact that random people at work stop me to let me know that they are praying for me. I really believe that those prayers are a significant reason that we are doing as well as we are. Thanks everyone that is praying for us out there.

We are getting ready to send out a press release. The car dealerships considering a donation understandably want to see what the reaction of the press is before they really commit so I hope it is good. It seems like this would be fairly significant news but it might depend on whether there is more significant news that happens at the same time. A donation of a big van would be really really nice. However, if that doesn't pan out, then I am sure that something else will pan out for us.

Anyway, I think I am getting a cold or something which could be bad so hopefully I get over it before those babies are born because that would really make me sad to not be in the delivery room. If they really do push to 34 weeks, then I should have plenty of time.

Breaking the chandelier and Rachelle's status

Well, for the last 16 hours or so, my aunts and I have been doing more home stuff. It was pretty rough and I have to admit that I gave out before they did. Pretty shameful. I also managed to break a glass light bulb cover on the chandelier in our new house which was a bummer. I used to watch that show, "Trading Spaces" on TLC with Rachelle and thought those people always looked kind of exhausted when they were doing their jobs. Now, I understand a little more of what that is like.

And now for the real reason you are reading this blog...Rachelle is doing fine. They were monitoring her until about 2:30 AM last night and finally decided she was OK. The bad part about that was that 2:30 AM isn't a decent time to go to bed. However, she seemed like she was doing well anyway when I talked with her. She was just glad they didn't have to put her on the mag again. It is a day to day gamble to see if they are going to stick her on it. I think she is now big enough that she can't type very much anymore so I don't know if she will be able to do any more posts on her blog. The doctor came in and said that the goal is still 34 weeks. She asked him if 33 weeks would be OK but he said "no" so I guess that is that. She is just afraid that they are going to get way to big in that time. I am guessing that she must be getting noticeably bigger every day (which is something I never thought I would say in a public about my wife). Anyway, I guess that we are just going to push for 34 weeks but I will go out there anyway just in case.

A really nice guy from Australia whose wife had triplets sent me an email the other day commenting that he feels my pain. It is nice to hear that there are people out there who do. We had the pest control people out yesterday and I am really glad that we did because, like most new houses, this one has some bug issues. I went out and saw a bunch of dead bugs that were the result of the treatment they did yesterday. One of those bugs was a scorpion. Although, scorpions are kind of cool when seen from a distance, I don't really like them in my house (especially with a bunch of babies). Also, as we were moving the bricks out to the back yard, my aunt Linda picked one up that had a huge spider in it. The body of the spider was about an inch but with the legs and everything it looked to be about 3 inches. It pretty much made me jumpy for the next hour or so such that when I was picking up some bricks, some sand dropped on my foot and caused me to yell and throw my bricks into the air.

Today I listened to a podcast that talked about humility. I have learned that you should never pray for humility because you will get it and it will not come to you in the way that you had hoped. I seem to be experiencing dose after dose of the type of humility that comes in ways that are not as I had hoped. I often feel not quite up to the tasks I am facing. My aunts came in and did more in 6 hours than I had managed to do in three weeks. Every once in a while, I realize what is happening in my life and it almost knocks me over. However, most of the time, I have a calm assurance that it will all work out. So far, there seems to be many things that are just working out...except for the broken chandelier.

Status on July 14th

I was going to write the status for July 13th but then I looked down at my watch and realized that it was 12:10 AM and was now the 14th. Rachelle is doing OK. Right now it is a day to day thing. She had been having contraction issues all day I guess and they kept threatening to put her back on the mag. She also told me that for some reason these contractions felt different. "Tighter" was how she described them. So far, however, she is still not on it but that could change by the late morning.

The reason I am up so late is that my aunt Victoria and aunt Linda are here in town fixing up my house. Trying to do it by myself was just not going very well. I was actually embarrassed when they came over because everything was almost all still in boxes. Even though I had been here for about three weeks or so, it looked like nothing had been done. In just two days they have completely transformed the place. I think I need to put pictures of Riley's and Kaiya's rooms on here because they did a really good job. They also did a great job in rearranging everything to be in the best place. I had just arranged stuff so that it wasn't totally in my way but they have taken it and made it look great. My good friend Neil Taylor came over for the last two nights and helped me install ceiling fans in all the rooms. I think he even missed out on going to Sea World with his family to come and help me out. It was a huge pain and I wouldn't have been able to do it without his help. One of the rooms wasn't even blocked for ceiling fans and we had to re-block it without access to the attic space (if anyone wants to know how, they have a really cool thing at Home Depot that you can stick up there to secure the block between the beams without ripping out the drywall). Anyway, we have been up late every night trying to get it all ready and, much to my relief, it is really getting close to being ready. As soon as I have pictures, I will put them up.
A lot of people have thought I was in Arizona (which is really where I should be) but I have been in Austin for the last 5 days trying to tie up loose ends at work and get the house really ready. This time of year happens to be the most difficult time of year for my team (I manage the multimedia group at National Instruments). In particular, I would normally be in charge of the AV for our big conference coming up in August. However, I have to say that the guys on my team and on my friend Amanda Webster's web cast team have really stepped up and are making it possible for me to leave without being too worried. I am really grateful for that. Anyway, I am planning on leaving for Phoenix next Wednesday. I thought that if I could hold off on going out there until Rachelle was at 32 weeks, it would give her that much more incentive to wait until then to have them.

There is still a lot to prepare and a lot of unknowns going on right now but things are really starting to work out with all of the help I am receiving. Some things we definitely don't need anymore of are blankets and preemie clothes. I think our babies will definitely be dressing in style (thanks to all the generous people) for the first few months of their lives. It almost makes me want to have them a little earlier so that they will be sure to be able to wear all the preemie clothes they have. OK, I am kidding there. I wouldn't mind it if they were just too big and healthy to fit in any of those clothes.

Rachelle's Status on July 9th

First I want to say that a whole lot more people read Rachelle's blog - which is how it should be. I figure that many more people read my post in her blog today than have ever read my blog. That is just as well, because hers is much more interesting for the bulk of people who read these blogs since it is from the perspective of the person actually going through the trauma. Well, I think I am still going to put posts here anyway and this one will update you on Rachelle's status today (July 9th). They actually took her off the Magnesium which was a relief. She started to feel a lot better and can actually walk now. I think the Magnesium sort of depresses you a little and she sounded much more upbeat today after coming off it. Anyway, the doctor is still aiming for 34 weeks which I personally think is good. The doctor is just being a good negotiator. He has to start high in order to come out with the best result. If she can actually make it to 34 weeks, it would be amazing. I actually think she can do it. I told her I thought she ought to get the Harry Potter book when it comes out and see if she can finish it before the babies come. Of course, if too many important characters die (like Harry) then it might prove to be more traumatic and could cause the babies to come early. My dad had a suggestion that we should name the babies: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and... I am not sure what the 5th one was. Maybe Minerva? Anyway, I don't know if Rachelle would like it so I won't bring it up. Still, if for some reason they were born on the 21st, those names would be appropriate.

My July 4th trip to Arizona

On the 3rd and 4th of July I drove to Arizona. It was a long drive but it seemed much shorter without the kids. I arrived and got to go swimming with Rachelle and the kids. She was doing well but seemed to be much more uncomfortable than she was when I was here a month ago. She kept tossing and turning in bed all night. Anyway, we had a good fourth and fifth of July. I was glad that she wasn't in the hospital when I got there because we were sure that she would be by this time.

Anyway, on July 6th, she "failed" her contraction monitoring two times. She normally monitors for 1 hour two times a day and they count the contractions during that one hour. If she has more than 5, that is too many and she has to re-monitor. If she has more than 5 again then she usually has to either go to the hospital or do something else out of the ordinary. Well, on the morning of July 6th, she had 8 on her first monitoring session and 6 on her second. The doctor was not available to make a call on the contractions so they told us to go to the hospital. I took her in and we were pretty sure that she was in for good this time. When we arrived, they gave us the bad news that she was going to have to go on the magnesium again to slow the contractions. This is the medication she had before that made her feel really awful. I guess it feels like a really bad flu except that you also have double vision (if that gives you any indication of what it is like). It probably wouldn't be so bad except that she has a whole bunch of weight sitting right there on her front side that makes it difficult to adjust sleeping positions.

Well, they put her on it and kept her in the hospital. As of Saturday night, July 7, the contractions appeared to have slowed a little bit but not as much as they hoped. They are hoping that they slow more over the next few days. They gave her some steroids to help the babies develop their lungs better but the steroids caused the contractions to get worse. She receives her last dose of the steroids tonight (July 7th) and after that wears off, the contractions should come down. I still think she can make it to July 31 which would be 34 weeks.

She could technically have the babies now and they would probably be OK but it would be much better if they could hold off until at least about a week and a half from now. One of the problems is that the NICU at Good Sam Hospital is totally full. You might have heard about the recent sextuplets that were born in Phoenix. Well, those babies are doing well but are still in the NICU here. Apparently, if our babies were born in the next week, they might have to be sent to another hospital which would be scary for us. However, I am pretty sure that won't happen. I think that Rachelle will be able to hold them off until the end of the month.

In reality, Rachelle is really lucky to have come this far without having to go to the hospital. The doctor told her that he hadn't seen any other mom be able to stay at home as long as she did. Many of the moms had to stay in the hospital, on the magnesium, for much longer than Rachelle will have to stay. Our good friend, Lindi Briggs, had quadruplets and had to stay in the hospital on the magnesium for more than 2 months. Neither of us can imagine what that must have been like. Rachelle thinks that she can endure it for as long as it takes to bring these babies here healthy.

Aside from that, the other kids are doing pretty well. Rachelle's aunt Jeanie has a pool in her back yard (like many people in Arizona) and Rachelle was using the pool daily because it actually felt really nice to get in the pool and be away from gravity for a little while. I found that during the time I was here, it didn't actually cool me off very much because the temperature here has been above 110 every day I have been here. When it is that hot, the water in the pool feels more like a warm bath. Despite that, however, Riley and Kaiya have really been enjoying their own private pool. Riley could barely swim when we first got here but now he can swim all the way across the pool as well as dive to the bottom of the deep end. Also, before the last couple of days, Kaiya couldn't even stick her head under the water but today (July 7th), she not only stuck her head under the water but actually swam about 6 feet! I was really excited but sad that Rachelle couldn't be there to see it. I am also sad that tomorrow I am heading back to Austin so I won't have a chance to teach Kaiya any more swimming.

We visited Rachelle today and she was in pretty good spirits but a little out of it. I think things will stabilize in the next few days and she will feel better. We continue to appreciate all of the many prayers people have been giving for her and us. We also continue to appreciate all of the other things we have received. I think we will have more than enough preemie clothes now. Also, because of a new found friend, there is a good chance that one of the local car dealerships might give us a van which would be really exciting. I don't know if it is actually going to happen but it sure would be nice. I doubt it will look like the A-team van but, really, who wants a black van in Austin anyway?

My second trip to Europe

Well, last week I was in Europe again. While I was there Rachelle had to briefly go to the hospital just like last time. Fortunately, this time was much more brief and she was out in just a few hours. Unlike my last trip to Europe, I actually got to see something interesting. I went to Aachen Germany and Ge,neva, Switzerland and in th first part of the trip I went one night to the church in Aachen where Charlemagne was crowned. It was built in circa 800 and was pretty interesting.

In Aachen, I was there to make a video about an application from a company called FAG. Apparently, in German, the acronym FAG doesn't have the same meaning when you say it as a word. Well, they were very nice there and I didn't have any of the strange light problems because I had done my homework and had prepared myself with European voltage compatible lights. The big problems didn't start until we went on our next leg...

After Aachen, we then drove to Frankfurt and flew from Frankfurt to Geneva, Switzerland. When we arrived in Geneva Switzerland, we got off the plane but my luggage never did. I had three checked bags and, fortunately, I had one of the others traveling with me check one of my bags (the one with the camera and camera gear). The bags I checked never arrived. To make it worse, I had accidentally left the little luggage receipts at a security desk in Frankfurt. These pieces of luggage had all of my clothes, toiletries, and all of my lighting stuff. So, again, despite all of my careful preparation, we still had issues. Fortunately, one of the others traveling with us, Darcy Dement, had a lot more European experience and a cooler head than I did and called someone we knew from Geneva and was able to find a company that, for some strange but wonderful reason, had 24 hour service for renting their lighting equipment. The video shoot in Switzerland was at CERN, home of the worlds largest super collider and was much more significant than our video shoot in Aachen so I was so glad that we were able to find something that worked. I think we were really lucky to find a lighting company at all and one that offered 24 hour service (with a really nice guy named Oliver) was truly a miracle.

Unfortunately, although we were able to solve the problem with the lights, we were not able to solve the problem with my clothes. I only had that one change of clothes so I washed them in the sink (with shampoo) and dried them with the hair dryer in the wall. This actually worked surprisingly well but just took a long time.

Something that ended up making me feel a little better was that when we got to the hotel, I looked at the building right next to ours and noticed that it was a church with a familiar looking steeple. I walked over to it and, sure enough, it said (in French), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On my last night there I went over to it and tried to get in just to find some comfort in a familiar setting but it was locked. Then someone from inside saw me and came over to open the door. He turned out to be the bishop of the local English speaking congregation and we chatted for about a half hour which was fun and comforting after the stress of the previous few days. I told him about my babies and he, like most people, was a bit shocked. Anyway, it was nice to just sit and talk with someone for a while and made me feel much better. I think it is amazing the way that God works to help us in our times of need. I decided that as long as Rachelle was OK, then the stuff I was dealing with just didn't matter that much. Now that I am back home, wearing clean clothes, and getting word that my luggage is, apparently, making it's way back from Europe, I can see a little clearer that it is all unimportant relative to how well Rachelle is doing. She continues to exceed the doctor's expectations and it is just amazing to me. For me, the events of the last few months, weeks, and days are clear evidence that there is a God and he cares about us even enough to help me find a little comfort in a church in Switzerland over something as minor as lost luggage.

Last week, our friend Natalie Woods went to visit Rachelle and took some pictures. Below is one of the pictures. I noticed that her face is actually starting to get much thinner but her belly is getting much bigger. I assume this is normal but at first it made me nervous because I wasn't sure if she was getting enough to eat. Rachelle was visited by a ton of people this last week. My Sister Alicia and her husband Mike were there to bring Riley and Kaiya back to Arizona. My uncle Larry and aunt Gloria along with their son Danny and his wife also visited. People ask me if she is just going crazy with boredom and I have to say that I don't think she has enough time to go crazy with all of the people there to hang out with her. It is just amazing to me that we have been so blessed with all of the things we have had and seen. We have received so much from many people who seem excited to get the chance to help us out. Without all of the help we have received from so many people, I don't know how we would have made it. There is still a long way to go but I think, based on past experience, things will work out fine.