3 Days Old

The triplets are 3 days old today. We had a pretty busy day. They're all doing great. I got discharged today too. Here's an update. And some new pictures of our teeny tiny miracles.

Mason:

Mason is Baby A in case you don't remember. His birth weight was 2 lbs. 2 oz. He was 13.5 inches long (I just found this out last night). Today he's 2 lbs. 3 oz. (maybe smaller because he's gotten lots of fluid and a blood transfusion today). He's doing great. 

He is also our little exhibitionist. Until tonight, he hasn't worn a diaper. He peed all over his nurse tonight though so she put a diaper on him. 

Mason had lots of bruising when he was born from trying to come through the birth canal. He looked like he'd been in a fight. And lost. They've had him under the blue light since Wednesday and he looks like a different baby now. The bruising has gone way way down and his skin is getting stronger and pinker. 

Mason is back on the ventilator now. He was having to work too hard to breathe and that they had suctioned some blood out of his lungs. So they put him back on the ventilator Thursday mourning. He's had no more blood in his lungs since that one episode. And he's breathing much much better. As of tonight, his ventilator is set at 21%, which is the same as room air. His day nurse Cindy told me that he just needs more time. 

Mason also had a head ultrasound yesterday. They do this for all babies but Mason got his early because of the blood in his lungs. They saw a possible brain bleed. It's either a level 2 bleed or nothing. The treatment plan us to watch it. The good news is that a level 2 bleed doesn't involve any swelling or bleeding in other parts of the brain so it's manageable and treatable. The doctors don't seem overly concerned so we are optimistic. 

I got to help clean him up and change his "diaper" yesterday. I say "diaper" because he just had a spread out cotton ball covering his man parts and he was laying on a pee pad. This was so he could get as much light as possible. The light is really helping with his bruising.

Other than that, Mason is just hanging out. 

Logan:

Logan is Baby B. He weighed 2 lbs. 4 oz. at birth and was 14 inches long. We don't have an updated weight on him because he's been hooked up to ventilators since he got here so they can't really get an accurate reading, especially with his current ventilator. 

Logan never got off his ventilator. He's been struggling the most with his breathing. All 3 babies got a dose of surfactant to help their lungs develop right after they were born. The surfactant didn't work completely for Logan. We were hoping he'd do better after a second dose and he did. Just still not 100%. His lungs were still a little white and foggy on the chest X-ray so they changed his ventilator yesterday and gave him a third dose of surfactant. Now he's on a high frequency oscillating ventilator. This ventilator shoots short bursts of air and also help get the carbon dioxide out of his lungs better than the regular ventilator. The most important thing that this ventilator does is that it does not allow Logan's lungs to completely deflate. His latest chest X-ray looked way better. Please keep the prayers coming for this little guy!

We found out tonight that Logan's bed has an Angel Eye webcam attached to it. So we can watch him from home. The other babies don't have the webcams on their beds right now. But that could change. They're all on humidified beds for 2 weeks then they'll get new beds. So their new beds could have webcams. 

James:

James is Baby C. He was the biggest at birth weighing 2 lbs. 6 oz. He was also the longest (barely) at 14.1 inches. As of yesterday, James weighed 2 lbs. 2 oz. Most babies lose 10-15% of their birth weight so this is normal that he is losing weight. They should all lose a little weight then gain it back by around 2 weeks. He's doing the best so far out of all 3 boys. 

James got off his ventilator on Wednesday and he's stayed off of it. He has a nasal cannula/cpap that is helping him with extra breaths just so he doesn't struggle. Tonight this was set at 21%, which is the same as room air. 

James is feisty apparently. So I was wrong the other day when I said he was our calm baby. He's the only one who isn't sedated so he seems very active compared to his brothers! He doesn't like to be touched though. He fights with his nurses when they do his assessments. 

James is also the only baby I've heard cry! It's the sweetest little cry ever! He calms himself down pretty quickly too so he doesn't cry for long. 

New Pictures:
All 3 babies are under the blue light so I only got a few pictures where they don't look like aliens!

Mason

Mason in his Top Gun glasses and cotton ball "diaper"

Logan:

James:

We are so in love with all 3 babies! I may be a little biased but I think they are beautiful and perfect. Mason and Logan look a lot alike to me. They may be identical (they have the same blood type). James looks different to me. Only time will tell I guess!

Mom and Dad:

We're doing pretty good too. I got to go home today which was bittersweet because we had to leave our little boys at the hospital. I was prepared for this a long time ago though so I'm doing ok with it. I know they're in the best possible place (besides still in my belly). Brian is struggling with it a little more than I am. He would stay up there every night and all day every day if he could. 

Brian has been so awesome through all of this. He stayed calm on Tuesday night when I couldn't. And he's taken great care of me throughout the entire pregnancy but even more so the past few days. And he's already such a good daddy. I can tell he's going to be very overprotective of these boys. At least while they're little.

We also got these awesome hospital bands - one for each baby. I have one for myself too of course.

And yesterday we got these badges. I like to think of them as badges of honor. Our parents get them too!

Thanks so much to everyone for your kind words of encouragement and prayers and good thoughts in general. It means more than you know!

Mason's nurse said something to me that we all need to keep in mind. "Never Trust a Preemie." They will have good days and bad days. They may take 2 steps forward then 1 step (or 2 steps) back on their way to full strength. And one more thing - "the babies are in charge at this point."