Wednesday, April 30, 2014

They're Here!

The boys decided to make their appearance Tuesday night. 27 weeks, 6 days gestation. We almost made it to 28 weeks. I'll start with what everyone wants to know - they are all doing great. Me too. Not on Tuesday night though. We had a true emergency c-section delivery. It was probably the scariest hour or so of my life so far. But it's so worth it. We now have 3 beautiful baby boys!

The Birth Story:
I'll start with Tuesday morning. We had an appointment with Dr. Dora Tuesday morning. Everything was going great. My blood pressure was good, babies' heartbeats were good, and Dr. Dora seemed optimistic about our progress. I actually went to work and worked a full day. Luckily, Jack and I spent most of the day going through our client list and created a master to do list. So I feel pretty comfortable where I left things at work. As far as I knew, I was in good shape to make it to at least 30 weeks, maybe 32 weeks. Boy was I wrong!

Later last night, around 6 or 7, I started cramping pretty badly. I basically stayed on the couch and just tried to get comfortable. After dinner, I had a feeling that something wasn't right so I had Brian call the after hours number for the doctor and hospital. I have a really high pain threshold and I was in some serious pain. At that point, I was just cramping. They told me to come on in and let them check me out at the hospital. We sent Addison to the neighbors' house (thanks Don and Tracy!) and started getting ready to head to the hospital. Then I started bleeding. So we moved a little faster! 

Luckily we went to the hospital when we did! We got checked in and they sent us to triage. My pain was really bad at that point. Then they sent me to give a urine sample and my water broke! I knew what that meant. I also started having really strong contractions. Really strong to the point that I thought Mason was coming out right then! I was so scared! Brian kept his cool (in front of me).

They rushed me to the OR. Dr. Dora's husband Michael was on call and he delivered the babies. We were in such a rush that we didn't have time to give the babies steroids to develop their lungs. We also didn't have time for an epidural. They had to knock me out completely with general anesthesia. Brian didn't get to come back to the OR at all. I was really scared because there were so many people working on me and I didn't know what was going on. What I did know was that Mason was really trying to get out and I really needed to keep him in until they had me prepped for the c-section. Luckily I had a medical resident who sat right next to me and held my hand to keep me calm. 

Brian stayed with the neonatologist (premature baby doctor) and nurses during the c-section. He saw each baby as he was born too. Apparently Brian was freaking out too. I wouldn't have known this at all except that he told me.

So the babies were born around 9:45 pm. They came out in order, Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C. So Baby A is now Mason. Baby B is now Logan. Baby C is now James. Mason weighed 2 lbs. 2 ounces. Logan weighed 2 lbs. 4 ounces. And James weighed 2 lbs. 6 ounces. They are all doing great!

The Triplets' First Day

All 3 babies are doing great. They didn't get any steroids for their lungs because when they decided to come, they were ready to come NOW. Despite that, Mason and James had their ventilators removed this morning already. Mason and Logan have the same blood type so they MAY be identical. We won't really know without a DNA test, which is not necessary at this point.

Mason - The Oldest and Smallest

Mason is the leader of the boys as of right now. He's is pretty bruised up from trying to come through the birth canal. Apparently the doctor seriously considered delivering him vaginally but he chose against it because we would still need a c-section for the other 2 babies. His doctor put him under a light to reduce the bruising. He seems to like it.



Logan - The Middle Baby

Logan is our blond-headed middle boy. Logan was Baby B - the baby who lived in my ribs the last few months. He's also the one who refused to move his hands away from his face during the ultrasounds so we couldn't really see his face. Now he likes to sprawl out. He's having a harder time than his brothers but he's doing great too. He had to have a second dose of medicine to develop his lungs and is still on the ventilator. But he did great with the second round of medicine. Hopefully he'll get of the ventilator by tomorrow.



James - The Baby Baby

James was Baby C. If you remember, he had the most room out of all 3 babies. Now he's the calmest one and probably the most easygoing. He is definitely fraternal. He likes to sprawl his arm over the side like in the first picture. 



Addison got to meet her brothers this afternoon. I asked her what she thinks. Her response was "they're tiny!" She loves them already I can tell! Me too! 

I'm doing pretty good so far. My c-section went great and I'm recovering nicely so far. I should be at the hospital until Friday. 

And last but not least, for your viewing entertainment, here's my weekly picture - post-delivery.


The babies may be here until their 40 week due date - July 23. I'll post more updates soon! Thanks everyone for all your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. 





9 comments:

Wendy said...

Congrats! We are so excited for y'all! I know Brian must be so proud and also a nervous wreck right now. Please let us know if you need anything.

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Unknown said...

Glad y'all are all ok! I was quite surprised when Rachel told me the news after school. I can't wait to meet the little guys!

Spring said...

WOW! Congrats & I'm so glad everyone seems to be doing so well.

Unknown said...

I can't wait to meet these cuties!! Kyle can't either. We are so excited for ya'll!

Moogie P said...

Congratulations to the whole family! Happy tears from Shay Rafferty's mom.

Unknown said...

Congratulations. All the best as you negotiate the NICU in the coming weeks. It's so neat that you can tell their personalities already, isn't it? My triplets still have the same traits they demonstrated in NICU.

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Dawn Alexander said...

Congrats! Praying for a short and uneventful NICU stay.