We have been tested a lot this past year: spiritually, physically, emotionally, and every other “ally” that you can think of. Some I have written about and some I haven’t. This past week has been very difficult on us, the children and our volunteers. Today was the cherry on top.

The weekend before last, Angela and I decided to take the kids to the next step. We were going to change their feeding schedule from 5 bottles a day to 4 with more formula per bottle. We started to introduce solids on a daily basis. We adjusted the time of day in which they would get these bottles and food so that they would “sleep through the night.” We also adjusted their nap schedule. It was a really big change, but we thought we were doing it for the right reasons. The next day they started getting sick. All six of the kids started showing signs of the flu. Whether it was vomiting or diarrhea or both, they were all sick. At one point around 2:30 am last Wednesday night, Meredith got sick. I ran upstairs and got her to the bathroom. She got sick in the tub after throwing up on me. Angela came up to help. Instead of asking what she could do to help out, she asked when Meredith ate pickles. Par for this week. One half of all diapers changed were blowouts that required a little elbow grease on our end to get the poo out. We almost took Lauren and Alex to the ER late in the week as they couldn’t keep Pedialyte down. Dehydration was a very serious concern. Things started to turn for the better in the weekend. No one got sick yesterday. Win #1. Meredith didn’t get sick or have a messy/blowout diaper. Win #2. We’re on the path to victory!!!

I was in Minneapolis for work this morning. I was at Children’s Hospital in the parking garage when Angela called. She asked where I was and how long it would take to get home. I had to come home now!!! It was gonna take me 45 minutes in good traffic to make it home. She told me that she couldn’t wait and was gonna call 911. She broke her leg. She hung up. I swore something out loud something that I shouldn’t write. You would all think less of me, if that’s possible.

I was in the parking garage of the hospital and hadn’t even found a spot to park yet, when I turned around and headed for home. I ended up going right to the hospital and beat her and the ambulance to the hospital. I broke several laws today. It took me 32 minutes to travel the 41 miles through the city.

Angela was in a lot of pain when she arrived at the hospital. She knew she broke it. I had spent the previous 32 minutes thinking about her, the kids, and how the hell we’re gonna make this work. Was it really a broken leg? A sprained ankle? Was it a serious break where bone was showing or a simple break where she’d get a cast a go home? What if she needs surgery? What if it’s more serious and she has complications and something more serious happens. How will we make it with our ROCK out of commission? I think a lot while I’m driving in the car. Too much sometimes.

So here I sit in her hospital room watching Entertainment Tonight with my bride at my side. I hate this TV show! Angela is recovering. From what you might ask. Here’s the story. Angela was going down to the basement to start some laundry. Meredith, being the helper that she is, insisted that she go along. She was goofing off on the steps and Angela lost her balance. She fell about 7 steps to the basement floor breaking her leg along the way down. Meredith is fine. She was pretty shook up with the paramedics and seeing her mother carted off on a stretcher while in a neck brace and hooked up to an IV and crying. Meredith is doing fine now. Angela broke her fibula and a part of her tibia (both of her leg bones) just above the ankle and another part of her ankle. She needed surgery today to fix the multiple breaks. She went in around 4:00 this afternoon and had a few pieces of hardware placed in her leg to put her back together again. She will be off her feet for 6 week, minimum. Dear Lord, what horrible things did Angela and I do in a prior life to deserve the hands we’ve been dealt over the past year? I don’t mean that prior life thing because I don’t believe in it, but really, have we not passed Your tests yet? Seriously?

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Angela will come home tomorrow. We have a split level home. I have no idea yet how we’re gonna work out the logistics of her getting around the house; sleeping arrangements, additional help for the kids, etc. We’ll get it figured out. We always do. We really don’t’ have a choice. We just do it.

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful volunteers who came through for us today in a very difficult situation to hold our home together and care for our children. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to really show how much we appreciate what you do for us every day. You really are the best. We’re gonna lean pretty hard on you the next couple months.

On a lighter note and I don’t want to forget about this because it was important to us. We had some pictures of the kids taken at the house over Easter weekend. Erin Hegrens took the photos. I have a few of them on our media page, but there were so many and the quality was so good I couldn’t get them on our website. I placed them on Snapfish and you can find them here. You need an account with Snapfish to view them, but it’s very easy to set one up. You can find more information on Erin Hegrens by clicking here. She did a great job!!! Thank you Erin!!!

Thank you for reading, helping, praying, or whatever it is that you do for us. We couldn’t make it through the day without all of your help and support.

Hopefully I come to you with better news next time that I write.

Until then…

Did anyone have trouble viewing the photos? Angela told me that she had to log in to snapfish with a password and she didn’t know what our password was. If anyone else having that issue? If so, I need to know so that I can make some changes.

If its an issue, please post a comment so that I know about it. Unless someone tells me that there’s an issue, the issue doesn’t exist.

Until next time…

Hello

Just breathe. Everyone is ok. We have 5 healthy babies today. Outside of some assistance with oxygen, we have 4 healthy girls and 1 healthy boy. Madeline, Brooklyn, Lauren, Emma, and Alex. I don’t know the order or any other vitals if I’m not looking at my cheat sheet and I’m too tired to go get it.

Angela is doing fine. She’s resting now.

Thank you so much to the staff at ANW and at Children’s. The care you provided today was AWESOME!!!

After while, I’ll try to get some more up on the site. We’re just beat! If you’d like more info, there is a story at www.startribune.com.

Until then…

For those old enough to remember (and we’re barely old enough), Angela and I sang the theme song from “The Jeffersons” on our way up the elevator to Unit 54 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital this afternoon.

“We’re Moving on up”

“To the East Side “

“To a deluxe apartment in the sky.”

Moving On Up

For those not familiar with the Jeffersons, the lyrics from their theme song are about a family from the slums moving up the socioeconomic ladder to the nice part of town. The ironic thing about Angela and I singing that song in the elevator on our way up to her “new apartment in the sky” is that there really isn’t anything deluxe about the room that she’ll be staying in for the next weeks and hopefully months. For those blessed with the opportunity to visit sometime, you’ll get a chance to see what I’m talking about. It was just a funny moment and a bit of insight to our sick and twisted sense of humor.

Sorry about the delay since our last entry. Lots of stuff going on, but wasn’t sure how relevant it was. Since our last post, the Riley Family stopped in for a visit last weekend. Adam gave me a hand with a few projects around the house. It really looks good as our new basement is really coming together. Jessica is just AWESOME. She volunteered to take on the responsibility of watching Meredith along with her two children; McKenzie, 22 mos. and Carter, 2 mos. Thank you so much for your help. We really appreciate it.

Meredith is with Oma and Opa this week back in Rock Rapids. With Angela’s admission and my work schedule this week, we felt it was best for her to spend a little time at their house. She’ll get a lot more attention that way. Thanks for helping out. We’re looking forward to seeing her back next weekend. Giving her up is getting a little easier. I’m still not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. That’s emotionally very confusing for me.

As for Angela’s status…Today was another ultrasound day. Angela’s cervix is in awesome shape and unchanged over the past couple weeks. They took measurements of the babies again today too. All five are doing well and have all progressed equally since our last appointment a couple weeks ago. They all measure right on pace as if they were singletons. All five of them range in estimated weight between 15 and 17 ounces. All of them gained 6 oz since last time, meaning that they’re all growing equally. There are still 4 girls and 1 boy. The boy is one of the bigger ones. The reason that I bring that up is not because I want my one boy to do well, but we’re being told that girls do better than boys when they’re born so premature. Having him a bit bigger will only help with his development.

Baby C Profile

This weekend Angela’s mother, Becky, will be spending the weekend here with Angela to keep her company while I get some things done at home. I normally have a guy’s weekend every year with some old friends from college. I obviously had to back out this year, but the guys talked about it and decided to volunteer to make a trip to River Falls to help me with some additional things that need to get done. Angela and I have plenty of things on the list: hanging window blinds, washing windows, paint touch up, and filling nail holes, etc. For those of you who know my friends Nathan and Brendon, I’m sure you’ll understand my hesitation giving them a paint brush or a cordless drill, but I guess we’ll see what happens…

By the way…you’ve obviously noticed the change to the graphics of the site recently. We’re aware that we still have a few kinks to work out. The site is very much like the garden theme that’s mentioned on the welcome page. It’s a work in progress and you can expect to watch it grow over the coming weeks and months. A very big Thank You to Paul, Matt, and Brent for their assistance with the site! Without you guys, we’d be lost. Thanks!

Until next time…

Angela had another appointment today with her doctors. Everything turned out as well as possible. They’ve given her one more week at home with Meredith and me. During today’s ultrasound they checked for heart tones (they look at the heart, watch it pump blood and measure the heart rate). All five of them looked as good as can be. They didn’t do any measurements today, but we anticipate that they will do that at our next appointment next week. They did measure Angela’s cervix today. It is a little shorter than it was two weeks ago at her last appointment, but it is still measures similar to that of a normal ranges.

One more piece of news from today’s appointment, we think that we know the sexes of all five now. Unless they missed something, it looks like it’s gonna be 4 girls and 1 boy. The poor little guy isn’t gonna have a chance. He’ll be wearing a dress and singing show tunes by the time he’s five. That’s ok though…I like show tunes and I’ve worn a skirt before too. Heck, I was in an all men’s glee club for cripes sake.

So…what’s this all mean? We’re gonna try to enjoy as much time with momma this week as Meredith is at home all week with us. We’ll also try to do a little planning for her time at ANW. I have a feeling that a conversation about names will pop up once or twice as well. Our friends from UNI, the Riley’s, are gonna come and visit this weekend. Adam’s gonna give me a hand with a few projects that will likely include tipping a few “cows.” Jessica has volunteered to watch the kids (Meredith, 17 mos; McKenzie, 22 mos; and Carter, 8 weeks). God Bless her. The kids will have a great time playing together.

Thank you so much to everyone for your continued support, prayers, and interest in how we’re doing!

Until next time…

Sorry for the delay since our last post as we really haven’t had much go on since last time.

The Tille Family had a little reunion late on Friday night. Meredith came home after being at G-ma Pansegrau’s house in Tama for more than a week, including Easter Sunday. Becky and Katherine (Angela’s Mother and Grandmother, respectfully) drove up to River Falls late on Friday night after work. The trip from Tama to River Falls is about 5 hours when Meredith is on board. Thank you so much to Becky, Katherine, Debbie, and anyone else who helped out with Meredith during the week. Meredith learned a few words while at G-ma’s. “No.” and “No?” have been popular. Other favorites include: “cheese,” “cookie,” “dirt,” and we’re working on “please.” “Yeah” has been her favorite. She had started screaming when she didn’t get her way just prior to going to G-ma’s. She seemed to perfect that “skill/habit” while she was there. G-ma says that Angela didn’t do that when she was little, so I’m not even questioning that she’s getting that spirited attitude from me. Even with the screaming, we’re so excited to have Meredith home for a week or two.

Angela and I really had mixed feelings and emotions during the week. We really hate leaving Meredith behind. With our “free” time, Angela had a great chance to get some rest and I had a chance to get some things done around the house. Now that we have the carpet in the basement, I’ve been trying to move everything back in to the basement from the garage during the week. Our basement has been stored on one side of our garage for more than a year. It feels like forever. I made some real progress this week. John (a neighbor from the sac (cul de sac)) gave me a hand and helped me move my desk and bookcase back inside. I finally have my home office back. I needed that so bad.

The weather was also really nice here this past week. We finally have some of our plants in our garden coming in. We really spend a lot of time and effort on our yard and it’s good to see it start to come in. That will be referenced in our new website graphics when they get updated. I’m told it will be very soon. We did a ton of planting last year for the first time as our house is new and all the landscaping is new too. We’re really excited to see what comes in. It’s been really dry here and today is the first time it’s rained in weeks. The grass turned green overnight. Ang and I grilled out a couple times this week and we sat outside for dinner. That was really nice. It was good to get a little time for the two of us.

Angela has had a little trouble resting as its getting difficult to roll over and she’s starting to have hip pain from laying on her side so much. She also feels that she’s having a little insomnia on top of the other issues. A little good news…the nausea that took over her life for several months and led to several hospitalizations has seemed to finally subside. I hope I just didn’t jinx it…

Angela and I go back for another ultrasound on Tuesday for more baby measurements. Based on what they see compared to two weeks ago and how she’s generally feeling, they will either give her one more week at home or keep her there until she delivers. We should have another post up in a couple days once we’ve learned what the next step is on this journey.

Until then…

Angela and I are finally home after a long road trip. It was great to see some family that we haven’t seen for such a long time, but it’s so unfortunate that we all got together because of a funeral. Angela’s grandfather is truly in a better place. Morgan and Tyler were home. Tyler saw Meredith for the first time in a year and a half!

The drive back home was long and quiet. Quiet because we decided to leave Meredith with G-ma and G-pa Pansegrau in Tama for the week. My work week this week has some very early mornings that would have made care for Meredith extremely difficult. Becky (Angela’s mom) was planning on making the trip up to River Falls next weekend anyway to come and visit. She’ll just bring Meredith with her next weekend. It was really tough for us to leave Meredith again, especially with today being Easter Sunday. It’s nice getting the break, but just doesn’t feel very good leaving her behind for so long.

On the way home Angela and I took some time to talk. We stopped in Cedar Falls for lunch at the OP (The Other Place) on the hill. Angela and I used to live a couple blocks down the street while going to school at UNI. To this day, the “House Special” from the OP is our favorite pizza. While there, we took some time to discuss baby names. We’ve got it narrowed down quite a bit now and I think we have a few leaders in the clubhouse. I spent so much time at the OP with the guys from the Glee Club while in school and it brought back so many memories. http://www.unigleeclub.com/ Check out the site as there’s a story on the Tille’s in the most recent edition of the Camerata.

With our free time this week, I’m gonna try to get the bathroom in our basement finished up and Angela’s gonna focus on growing the babies and enjoying her remaining time at home.

Until next time…

Mel Gibson screamed in the final sceen of Braveheart, “FREEDOM.”   How amazing it must have felt for Angela today as she said the same word.   Angela was discharged from ANW today because of how well she’s been doing.    History shows that complications start to set in around this time in the pregnancy, which led to her original admission.   We had a very good ultrasound today that showed that her cervix is as good today as it was 6 weeks ago when they sewed it shut.   That was awesome news.   They also measured the babies today.  Everyone is growing as they would with a normal pregnancy.   They all range from 8-10 oz.   Angela is offically 19 weeks along as of tomorrow morning.  What a good feeling to have the peace of mind that all of them are developing normally at this point.   Medical technology is amazing.   They could show us the lens of the eye.  The fact that they can measure certain sections of the brain to evaluate development is so awesome.   We saw them color code the blood flow through the four different chambers of the heart on the ultrasound today.   We also got to learn the sexes, kind of.   They were moving around so much, it was difficult to get a good view on baby “C” so we think that we’re gonna have 3 girls, 1 boy and 1 TBD.   A huge sigh from dad.  There had to be at least one, right?

I brought Angela home today, but had to make a stop along the way.   We stopped at Handi Medical Supply in St. Paul for a wheelchair.  www.handimedical.com  Angela asked when leaving the hospital “Do you know a guy that might have a chair for me?”  Handi Medical is one of my most loyal customers and I do happen to know a guy.  Thank you to everyone at Handi for your support and interest in helping us out!  We need a wheelchair because Angela’s doctor said that she would need one when we go to Tama this week.   That’s right, we (as a family) will be traveling to Tama, IA this week.   Here’s the bad news.   Angela’s grandfather, Romayne, passed away last night.  He had a very serious stroke last fall and had been in a nursing home since then.   Things had turned south very recently for Romayne.   To my surprise, Angela’s doctor said he felt it would be fine to travel the 4 1/2 hours to Tama for the funeral with the understanding that she may not over do anything, and that includes using a wheelchair whenever possible.   I specifically asked him about attending so that it would be clear to Angela that she couldn’t attend, but he caught me a bit off guard, to say the least.

So, it was a good day for us, but also a very sad day.   We’re comforted knowing that Romayne is in a better place now.  

By the way, the smile on Meredith’s face was priceless when Mamma walked in the door late this afternoon.  I will take that vision with me forever.  Our next appointment isn’t for 2 weeks, so content on the blog might be a bit light until then.   Thanks for reading and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Heath, Angela, and Meredith

Well, it’s been a few days now since Ang’s admission to ANW. We’ve had a few good things happen and a few setbacks. First of all, Meredith is home! Robert and Gwen brought her back over the weekend. Thanks guys for making the trip. Thanks Oma and Opa for watching Meredith last week. It’s been so good to have her back home. She’s been so good. She loves her new basement. She runs around in the new big space just giggling, laughing and screaming in delight. We’re really gonna like that new space. I should be able to have everything finished in the coming weeks. Meredith also really likes going in to see her Mamma. When I ask her if she wants to go see her Mamma, I’m 100% confident that she knows exactly what I’m talking about when she replies “Yeah?!?” In addition to seeing her Mamma; she gets to run around through the halls of ANW, she gets a wheelchair ride, and she gets McNuggets and fries every time she goes. Just like her mom, she loves McDonald’s fries. (There’s a McD’s at ANW near the cafeteria.)

Tomorrow will be a big day. Angela is gonna have an important ultrasound tomorrow. They’ll do some measurements and check a few others things that will help determine how Angela is progressing. They’ll also be evaluating a few other things that have popped up in the last day or two; her blood sugar and iron levels. We should know more tomorrow. Lastly, Angela and I were faced with the idea of doing a little family “planning” this week. We need to start making some very difficult decisions for the purpose of putting things on paper should things turn south in the coming weeks. We’re trying to stay so positive through this entire thing, but the idea of a bad result is so difficult to consider, but also so necessary. It’s frankly, a miserable situation. With that said, I pray that the following development may help to comfort us with any decisions that we make.

We received a nice call at the house today from the Pastor Williams at Ezekiel Lutheran Church here in River Falls. www.ezekiellutheran.org They’ve received our transfer from our previous church back in Racine. They are willing to accept our membership transfer which should be final in the coming weeks. He commented that he was worried about us as he hadn’t seen us the past couple weeks. He asked how Angela was doing and asked where she was staying so that he and others from the congregation could check in on her. I feel really good about our new relationship with Pastor Williams and everyone else at Ezekiel Lutheran.

Lastly, I was really busy with work this past week. I attended a SUNA Seminar in Rochester, MN over the weekend (Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates, www.umcsuna.org ). The members of this organization are critically important to the success that I have with my job. I really want to thank everyone associated with this organization for their tremendous support of our situation. Jill, I read the book tonight. I cried. Thank you so much for the gift.

We should have some new info for everyone in the next day or two and Angela’s status. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get to find out sexes!!! No promises though. I told Oma today to just plan on 5 more girls unless I let her know otherwise. I’ve just got a feeling about it…

Until nextime,

Heath

Well…where do I begin. I don’t really know what to write…I’m really tired and emotional…I had to send Meredith away earlier this week and I had to admit Angela to ANW (Abbott Northwestern Hospital) today. This has been a very difficult week. We hate not having Meredith at home, but we know that its better for her to be with family right now and in the coming months. I’m really looking forward to having her home next week. She drives me crazy from time to time, but I miss it so much.

As I mentioned, I had to leave Angela behind at ANW today. I want to be there for her and spend every minute with her, but I have so much on my plate right now. With that said, I can’t begin to imagine how hard this is for her. Its gonna be a long 3 months or so… We both believe that all things happen for a reason. We’ve got faith that this is gonna all work out in the end.

We saw a quick ultrasound today after Ang was admitted. Week 18. Clear and good heart tones. They looked obviously bigger than last week and one could be seen trying to breathe. Its amazing how much they’re moving already!!! We have another big ultrasound scheduled for next week where they’ll take some measuments.

Thank you so much to our families for your help and support during this journey.

Also, a big thanks to Matt, Brent, and Paul for providing us with this forum to share. This site is gonna be a very large tool for us and over time, we really look forward to seeing it complete.

Until next time…