Happy 3 Month Birthday Babies!

Do you ever have those days where you just feel proud? Proud of yourself, proud of your children, proud to be who you are and proud to have the life you have? Well I had one of those days today. It wasn't the type of day you would expect though. I had a super busy day following a bunch of other super busy days (which included working on Saturday and Sunday). Today was the second day of a 2 day trial in Hot Springs. I got up very early, drove an hour to get to court, spent the whole day in court, then finally made it to the hospital to see my boys a little after 6 this evening. (I also fit into my skinny suit pants and wore a belt today for the first time since early on in my pregnancy!) I made it home just a few minutes ago (it's 11 pm now as I'm starting to write this post). Needless to say I'm tired and exhausted. But when I finally sat down to write about this week (and to pump of course) I realized that I'm full of pride. These last 3 months have been extremely hard and it's taken a toll on me and Brian. But when I look back at how far we've come in just 3 months, I'm amazed. And proud. And so thankful that God chose me for this life and these challenges. And thankful that Brian is here to go through it with me and help me through it. I know there's no way I could do this without him! He's a lifesaver really!

I can't believe it really but the triplets are 3 months old today! I guess time flies when you're having fun right? Our journey hasn't been "fun" every step of the way, but I can honestly say that I am enjoying our first few months now that they're not critically ill anymore. Can they really be that old though?! Am I going to say this every month?! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll spend the 4 month birthday at home. We heard the "h" word today. For real! We are finally in a place where going home is within reach. (Still a few weeks away but it's huge that we're even thinking about it!)

To celebrate 3 months, I staged a reunion for the boys. And a photo shoot of course. 

I took individual pics too. Here's the best of each baby:

Mason (did not want his picture taken today):

Logan:

James:

Brian pulled mom duty because I've been working so much and got the month stickers. We missed 1 month and 2 months. But we'll get the rest of them! And in case you're wondering, we got the stickers at Babies R Us. 

We also brought cake to the hospital for the nurses, doctors, and everyone else who has helped us and taken care of the boys. Dr. Peeples strongly hinted that we should bring cake the other day. Because we like her (and because it was a good idea), we did it. 

And now for the weekly update on each of the babies:

Current weights:

Mason: 6 lbs. 5 oz. 

Logan: 5 lbs. 14 oz. 

James: 7 lbs. 1 oz. 

Mason:

Mason is doing great this week. Last week Dr. Peeples put him back on 2 liters of oxygen and stopped oral feeds because his co2 was high on Monday (a step backwards). But she slowly weaned his oxygen over the week. As of today, he's back down to 1 liter and we restarted oral feeds yesterday. Right now he gets 1 per day so I'm doing breastfeeding for him that 1 time. He's done great so far. Better than before actually. If his gas is good again on Thursday, we will probably increase his oral feeds. 

Some pictures of Mason from this week:

Mason is usually the most alert of the 3 boys. You can't tell that from the group picture though! Mason was the cranky uncooperative baby for the photos today! Totally opposite of his normal laid back attitude!

Logan:

Logan is planning his departure from the NICU! That's right! He was the sickest at one point (for a while actually) and now it's looking like he may get to go home first! Hopefully without oxygen too! He got an echo of his heart done last week and the results came back normal! That means that he can come off oxygen completely if he's ready! Right now he's on 1/2 liter. I hope he can get off completely though. Go Logan!

Logan has been a feeding machine this week too! He's on the oral feeding pathway (he started this last week I believe) and he's just moving right along. He has to take 75% of his oral feeds, continue gaining weight, and not show signs of distress during feeds at each step for 2 days before he can move to the next step. Well he's moving up every 2 days it seems. Right now he's on "milestone C" which is 6 feeds by mouth per day. I fed him 2 bottles today and he did great both times for me! My goal is to breastfeed each baby 2 times per day but because I was only at the hospital for 1 feed today, I let Mason breastfeed that time because he needs more work. I'll be there for Logan in the morning though!

Here's some new pictures of Logan:

Isn't he adorable?! And photogenic too! He seems to be the easiest to get photos of!

James:

James is like a normal newborn now! He's over 7 pounds! He seems HUGE compared to Logan! 

Mr. James had a big week! He is now on 1/2 liter oxygen! Wow! This is a big change for him. Yesterday they went from 2 liters down to 1/2 liter (skipping several steps). He's doing great so far. No desats (low oxygen saturation) or bradys (low heart rate). I think he likes the less intrusive flow. And once they get down to 1 liter the cannula isn't heated anyone, which means no water up his nose (when the cannula is heated, condensation builds up in the tube and inevitably goes up their nose). 

James is also progressing well with his feeds. Right now he's back on a 3 hour schedule. He's not quite on gravity feeds (where they just hang a tube with his feed every 3 hours) but he's getting close. He's currently getting his feeds every 3 hours over the pump for an hour. Depending on his gas on Thursday, James may be able to start oral feeds later this week! I'm so exited!

James also started taking Prilosec this week for his reflux. It seems to be helping! He's way calmer.

As promised, I took more pictures of James this week. He's actually not supposed to sleep on his belly anymore so it should get easier. 

James was actually the most cooperative for the 3 month photo shoot tonight! Anyone who knows James will be surprised! But I think he loves his brothers. He tends to calm down when he is with them. So sweet!

In case you can't tell from the photos, all 3 boys LOVE their pacis!

We have follow up eye exams tomorrow (Wednesday) so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Think normal results! I'm pretty nervous about it but I'm staying hopeful. Thanks so much!

Happy Due Date!

12 weeks old (and 1 day). We've finally made it to our due date! We were told at the beginning that we shouldn't expect the boys to come until around their due date. Well we've made it to our due date . . . but no one is home yet. And that's ok. We don't want them home before it's time. They need to be ready. I can wait for that (not really but I don't have a choice I guess!).

This is definitely not where I thought we would be at this point when I first found out I was preggo. I mean I didn't think I would actually make it to my due date (even with just 1 baby) because I didn't make it close to my due date with Addison but in no way could I have been prepared for this crazy journey we've been through! But it's our journey. Our story. And I'm kind of learning to enjoy it. I have learned to enjoy every moment spent at the NICU holding one of my boys, every minute talking to doctors, nurses, and therapists of all types. Don't get me wrong - I can't wait for my boys to come home. But for now I'm pretty comfortable with where we are right now. I couldn't imagine a better place (except home of course). The NICU experience has been wonderful (and terrifying at the same time) really. I can't really imagine anything else at this point. I just hope that the people who have done so much for our boys can stay in their lives. Is that possible? I hope so.

So because it's our due date, here's everyone's stats:

Mason: 6 lbs 1 oz., 17.7 in. (at birth 2 lbs. 2 oz., 13.5 in.)

Logan: 5 lbs 9 oz., 18.1 in. (at birth 2 lbs. 4 oz., 14 in.)

James: 6 lbs 13 oz., 18.7 in. (at birth 2 lbs. 6 oz. 14.1 in.)

The boys are getting big! All 3 boys are now wearing newborn size clothes! (Logan can still wear most of our preemie clothes too). And they're growing like they should. They're starting to look like full term newborns finally!

Mason and James are starting to look a lot alike! Logan looks different to me. Maybe it's his blond hair!

And we are finally starting to see some eye color. All of their eyes are still dark but they are definitely getting lighter! They all look grayish blue right now. I'm sure they'll keep changing colors but I really just started noticing color this week.

Some ways to tell the boys apart: Mason has the biggest chubbiest cheeks. And a double chin! James is the biggest. And he has the most hair. Mason and James have dark hair for now. Logan has blond hair and a different nose. And Logan is the smallest. No chubby cheeks on Logan! 

We're still in the NICU but all 3 boys are making good progress. It's slowing down but that's normal and expected. Basically we just need to get our oxygen requirement down and learn how to feed orally. Remember, this is the part where it starts moving at a snail's pace.

Some general updates for all 3 boys:

• We still don't have any major long term issues. Just normal preemie issues. Yay! 

• All 3 boys got their 2 month immunizations last week. They did great and had no problems. 

• They all got their term head ultrasounds last week too. And they all looked good. Logan's and James's IVH (intraventricular hemorrhage or brain bleeds) has completely resolved so they have normal newborn brains now. Mason's IVH is resolving and looks way better too! Yay! 

• All 3 boys got eye exams today. We didn't get the results we wanted on this one. Preemies are born before the blood vessels in their eyes finish developing all the way to the outside of the eye. So they get eye exams to make sure these blood vessels grow properly. Until today we have had all good results. We were zone 3 grade 0 last time. This means that the blood vessels have grown almost all the way to the outer edge of the eye (zone 3) and the vessels are normal size, shape, etc. (grade 0). Now we are all zone 3 grade 1. That means that the vessels are a little abnormal (like getting puffy or thick or something like that). This can resolve itself. I did some googling (I know I know better!) and found that the chances of this getting worse or needing treatment (more surgery - yikes!) are very small because the blood vessels have grown all the way out to zone 3. We get a follow up eye exam next week so we will know more then. I haven't talked to our doctor about this yet so I really don't know much. But please send us some prayers, happy thoughts, or whatever you do for good results!

Here's the update on each baby:

Mason:

Mason is currently on 2 liters of oxygen and getting all of his feeds through his NG tube straight into his belly. He was on 1/2 liter last week and we started oral feeds but we took a step backwards. His co2 has been high on his blood gas tests since last Monday so the doctor decided to go back up on his oxygen flow. It's a minor set back. But it is working. His co2 was better yesterday after turning his flow back up.

Because we had to turn Mason's oxygen up, we also had to stop his oral feeding attempts. I hate it! He was doing great with a bottle. We were starting to work on nutritive breast feeds too. He wasn't very good at it yet and seemed to get upset (I think because the bottle spoiled him) but I liked that we were at least trying. But I don't want to rush things (yes I do) so I'll let him take his time. 

Here's some new pictures of Mason and his chubby cheeks:

Talking to Daddy

We realized this weekend that Addison still hadn't held Mason so she got to do that finally! She's the best big sister ever! So sweet!

And Mason and I took a selfie tonight too:

Logan:

Logan is having a great week! He's taken the lead in the race to go home first! Everyone is surprised! Go Logan! 

Logan is down to 1/2 liter oxygen flow and he's on the "oral feeding pathway." This means that as he meets certain goals he automatically gets to attempt more oral feeds. Basically he has to take 75% of each feed by mouth, gain weight, and not have any episodes with his breathing. We're at the first step right now but he's doing great! He gets 1 feed per shift (or 2 per day) so we're doing 1 bottle and 1 breast feed. He's taken the entire bottle the last 3 or 4 days! And he's doing great at breast feeding too! He latched on all by himself. And today he took 34 mls, which is exactly 75% of his total feed! So if he does it again tomorrow we can probably move up to the next level. Go Logan go!!

Here's some new Logan pictures:

James:

Mr. James has had a pretty good week too. They took out his tpt and started feeding him into his belly again finally! Yay James! They are slowly getting him back to normal gravity feeds. He started with continuous feeds at 11 hours on 1 hour off. As of today he's down to 3 hours on 1 hour off. So he's getting closer. 

James is also doing better with his breathing. He's on 2 liters oxygen flow now and he's not really having many episodes anymore. His co2 is also a little high but it's getting better. We're focusing on his feeds first anyways though so hopefully once they get his feeds back to normal we can go down on his oxygen too. 

James also seems a lot less cranky over the past week. He still has his moments but he's much calmer in my opinion. We discovered that James loves to swing. I may need another swing if he's going to hog the only one we have! 

James is also the strongest of the triplets! We can see him lift his head and look around from across the room! The physical therapist even commented about his strength. He rolled over in his bassinet last week. That's not easy to do. If you've noticed from the pictures, the bassinets aren't very big. But James found a way. He was pretty surprised! He's so advanced! Ha! 

I only got this 1 picture of James this week! He's usually on his belly! I'll make up for it next week I promise! But doesn't he look like a big boy now?! 

We also had some visitors this week. My whole family came in town Sunday. We're almost never all in the same place at the same time except at Christmas. So Mom made us take family photos at the hospital. This was the best we could do. We're a special group!

Me and my brothers and sister. We're almost in order by age (me, Alan, Joey, John, Lizzie). My sister is actually the youngest. 

Two of my brothers also held babies for the first time!

John with Mason

Alan with James (I guess I got 2 pictures of James this week!)

Thanks everyone for your continued support! It's been a long 12 weeks. But it still seems like the boys were just born. It's both I guess - it seems like we've been in NICU for forever but I also can't believe it's been 12 weeks already! 

Sorry I posted a day late this week! I wanted to post on our due date so I didn't post yesterday too. I thought that would be too much! But I scared my mother in law! I'll let her know next time I do something crazy like delaying my weekly blog post by a day!

11 Weeks Old - And We're "Feeder Growers" Now!

Feeder Growers. That's what our babies are called now. I've never had a baby that came into this world knowing how to eat. Most people don't ever experience this. Most people have big fat hungry babies who just instinctively know what to do. In the NICU world, lots of babies don't know what to do. My babies included. Specifically they don't know how to suck, swallow, and breathe at the same time. Obviously we worked on the most important part of that first - breathing. But now that we're getting pretty good at breathing, we just need to learn how to eat. And we need to grow. Hence the name "feeder growers."  I know that Mason meets the criteria for a "feeder grower." I've been told that Logan and James are "feeder growers" too but I'm not sure because they are starting to eat just yet. But I'll take it! The title "feeder growers" also means that we aren't critically ill anymore. That's a huge deal! Yay triplets! Let's hope they stay that way. I know things can still change.

Here's my favorite picture of the week. If you're friends with me on Facebook you've probably already seen it but I'm sharing again because I love it and I don't care that most people have already seen it. Now that I've rambled on about it, here's Mason with his first bottle!

He did great! No desats (low o2) and no bradys (low heart rate) and he drank 14 mls that time. He's taken as much as 26 which is over half his bottle! For those of you with babies (or anyone who has given a baby a bottle) the weird angle is intentional. The occupational therapist wants him in this position so we can control how much he gets. This way he only gets about 1/2 to 3/4 of a full nipple so it's not too much. 

We haven't made lots of changes this week but we have made some pretty huge progress. All 3 boys have come down on their breathing support! We got new nasal cannulas this week too. The new ones are clear so I can see their faces better now! And they're all doing great. Only 1 minor hiccup this week. Here's a short weekly update:

Mason:

Mr. Mason had a great week. He was weaned all the way down to 1/2 liter on his nasal cannula. This is huge. 1/2 liter isn't much support at all. They actually send babies home on this amount of oxygen. (I hope we go home without it but there's a pretty good chance one of our boys will heed oxygen at home). Mason's blood gas wasn't very good yesterday (high CO2 and high bicarb) so his doctor bumped him back up to 3/4 liters. But we added a medication to fix the bicarb and his gas was better today. So he gets to stay where he is on his flow (and he gets to keep eating).

If you skipped the top part or didn't see me on Facebook or in person this week, the biggest news this week is that Mason got to start PO feeds and non-nutritive breast feeding. What does that mean? Well PO feeds are feeds by mouth (as opposed to by feeding tube like we've been doing). Non-nutritive breast feeding is basically practice for Mason. I pump first then Mason gets to practice breast feeding but nothing (or very little) comes out. He's doing great. He latched on the first time and seems to know what to do. Now that he's gotten a bottle though he gets frustrated when nothing comes out. Hopefully we can try real breast feeding this week. The lactation nurse said he's ready. I know I am ready. And very nervous!

Here's a few pictures of Mason:

Dad got to feed Mason too!

Logan:

Logan has had a good but quiet week. He's down to 2 liters on his nasal cannula now. And he's doing great! He hasn't seemed to notice when the doctors wean his support. Don't tell him! Once he gets down to 1 liter he may be able to start non-nutritive breast feeding too. I think he needs to be on 1/2 liter before he can start with the bottle. Hopefully soon!

I know I've said it before but Logan is super sweet. He's really laid back too. He lets out little cries every now and then but he usually calms himself down before anyone gets to him. He usually has to share a nurse with a tiny little girl who takes up all the attention. But Logan does great! He's also the only one of our babies who will still tolerate being swaddled. But he does try to escape. I'll look over and he's fighting to get his hands free!

Here's a few pictures of Logan:

James:

Mr. James has had a great week too. He's also down to 2 liters on his nasal cannula. And doing great so far! Like before, don't tell him. James still has the TPT (feeds going into his intestines) so he probably won't get to start PO feeds until he can start tolerating milk in his belly. Hopefully we can try that this week some time. Then he'll probably be the last to get a bottle or any form of breast feeding.

James's only issue seems to be his reflux and perhaps some gassiness. He's definitely our cranky baby. But he's gotten better this week. He's consolable for sure. And he's not the loudest or crankiest baby in our pod either. There's a little girl in there who has him beat by a long shot! 

I'm starting to think James really likes the NICU and doesn't want to go home ever! Remember when we thought James would be the first one home by a long time? Well not anymore! He's going to come home last at this rate! And he's been the least sick of the triplets! 

Here's a few pictures of James:

And here's cranky James:

The good news is that I'm learning what James likes and doesn't like. He likes it when I pat his back. But not when I rub his back. He likes to swing. And he likes to be held. But he doesn't like position changes (physical therapy is working on this) and he doesn't like being put back in bed. And he loves sleeping on his belly. Great news. He can't sleep on his belly when he comes home! I hope they stop spoiling him before it's time to go home!

Thanks again everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. We're in the home stretch. This part may be the hardest because the babies may take a while to get the hang if breathing and eating. And in case you don't remember, the babies are in charge. 

I apologize if I left anything out. I actually wrote this earlier but forgot to save it so I had to start over from scratch! 

10 Weeks

We had a other great week this week! Not much to report really. We're getting to the part that the doctors have warned us is the hardest. Not because we're having bad days. Hard because things start moving slower and we make less changes. 

Biggest news of the week - we got to hold all 3 babies at the same time! If you're friends with Brian or me on Facebook you've already seen the pictures (we got 200 likes each! Wow!) 

Here's my first time holding all 3. They're not in order because James has the white hat so he had to be in the middle. Logan is on the left, James in the middle, Mason on the right. If you know me you know I prefer that they be in order (Mason, Logan, James), but the hats were in charge here. Also, Logan's bed is to the left and James's bed is to the right, so it was easier this way.

I only got to hold them for a few minutes but I loved it. And they did great! A tip for anyone who ever has NICU babies - always say yes to photo ops. I got to do this because we allowed the hospital marketing people to take pictures of our babies for marketing materials. (Brian almost said no too!)

Brian got to hold all 3 babies the next day. They're actually in the same order here (Logan, James, Mason). He got more time too! He said it was one of the best days of his life. I agree!

I can't wait to hold them all again! 

We finally ran out of breast milk this week. I actually can't believe we made it this long. I'm not good at pumping! Unfortunately it's all I do! I figured out that I spend around 4 hours every day hooked up to the machine! That doesn't include the time it takes to set up and clean up! But I know it's so good for the boys. They are supplementing with donor breast milk right now. We'll switch to formula next week because they save the donor milk for tiny babies. We're actually too old but they let us get it because we've had tummy issues. So we'll take it! My new goal is to get at least 1/2 of their milk from breast milk. If not I'll just do my best. That's all I can do right?

Here's the weekly update on each one of the boys. 

Mason:

Mason doesn't have any major changes this week. He's now on 1.5 liters on his nasal cannula. (I learned this week that it's 1.5 liters per minute not per hour.) This is great news because he can maybe start trying to bottle and breast feed once he gets down to 1 liter. Yay! I can't wait! Our goal is to get him down to 0.5 liters at 100% oxygen (this isn't really much at all) and leave him there until he can eat and breathe at the same time. 

Mason also had an EKG this week to look at his heart to make sure one of the ventricles isn't enlarged. This is a normal thing they look for in preemies with chronic lung disease (all of our babies have this because of how early they were born and because they were on ventilators for so long). Mason did great! No issues. That means he can come completely off oxygen when he's ready. (If the echo had shown an enlarged ventricle then they would just keep him on oxygen until it was better.) I assume they'll check for this on Logan and James too later. 

Mason's only real issue this week was a diaper rash. He had to lay on his belly with his little booty in the air with his diaper off for a few days so it could get better! Poor guy! Good news - he's allowed to wear pants again. 

Here's some pictures of Mason from this week:

Mason without tape on his face. He wasn't happy! 

Logan:

Logan has had another great week. He's currently on the lowest cpap setting as of today. The goal is to wean him to the 3 liter nasal cannula by the end of the week. He's doing so well with his breathing! Nurses keep commenting about how great he's doing!

Logan has not had any other withdrawal symptoms since last week. Yay! He was so sad! They've actually been able to wean his methadone and he's tolerated it very well. 

Here's a few pictures of Logan:

He likes his paci a lot if you can't tell!

Logan is super laid back! And super sweet! He loves to cuddle and he loves his paci!

James:

Mr. James has had a good week too! And yes he's Mr. James. I think it's the attitude that makes it fit him. He's a good baby really. He's just the crankiest of our 3! Compared to some of the other babies I hear in the NICU, ours are not cranky at all (even James).

James finally got back to the 3 liter nasal cannula today. Yay! He seems to like it so far. He had less desats (episodes where his oxygen level goes down) than he had on cpap. I think maybe he didn't like the cpap. James got an EKG yesterday too but for a different reason. His doctor wanted to make sure his heart looked good (and that his PDA was still closed) before changing his respiratory support. He did great! No acute issues. So his doctor weaned him to just oxygen today. Yay James! 

Here's a few pictures of James from this week:

He looks suspicious doesn't he?! He makes this face all the time with one eye cracked open! He's just not sure about grown ups!

We had some visitors this weekend again too! Everyone came to hold Logan because they've had to wait so long! 

Teresa with Logan 

Lou Ann with Logan. I'll have to watch this one. She may try to take him home with her!

And don't worry. Mason and James got loved on too!

Nana with Mason (in his new hat!)

Lizzie with James

We also had a great 4th of July! We bought lots of fireworks, had a little neighborhood party, and went to another party the next night to shoot fireworks. And the boys got red, white, and blue hats in the NICU. Sorry I didn't get good pictures of them in their hats! But here's our loot from the fireworks stand:

And Addison picked out the grand finale - the Loud and Rowdy!

I can't wait to see where we are next week! Thanks so much to everyone for the continued support and prayers!