Happy 1 Month Birthday Mason, Logan, and James!

I can't believe my babies are 1 month old already! They're getting so big! (They're still tiny compared to most babies but HUGE compared to where they started!) All 3 boys are over 3 lbs. now! Mason is 3 lbs. 5 oz.; Logan is 3 lbs. 4 oz.; and James is 3 lbs. 3 oz. They are all still on the ventilator (Mason on the jet; Logan and James on the conventional) so the doctors are considering a steroid (methylprednisone) to help their lungs mature so they can get off the ventilator. And all 3 babies are getting milk in their bellies. As of today, Mason gets 3 ml every 3 hours, Logan gets 5 ml every 3 hours, and James gets 12 ml every 3 hours.They are all at a point now where they will increase the amount every day until they are getting all of their nutrition from milk rather than from IV fluids.

Here's a picture of all 3 babies from today, their 1 month birthday:

Mason

Logan

James

They are so much bigger than a month ago! Look at the comparisons:

Mason April 30 (my favorite picture still!)

Logan April 30

James April 30

We've learned a lot this month! Some things we've learned this month:

• The babies are in charge . . . Seriously 
• The babies have attitudes when they don't get their way. Especially James. 
• Babies like morphine just like adults. At least my babies do. See Logan's picture below if you don't believe me!
• The babies "talk" to each other with their alarms. So when one of their alarms goes off, usually another one is right behind him. Mason and Logan do it the most. But don't feel bad for James. He gets in on the action too. 
• The babies compete with each other. And not necessarily for good. It seems like they compete for worst baby more often than for best baby. Probably because they get more attention when the act up. For example, yesterday Logan had a rough day and got lots of attention. James was being good most of the day. Until he wanted some attention. He decided to hold his breath when his nurse tried to turn him over. The ventilator can't get him the air he needs when he does this so his vitals all dropped. Really low. And he got lots of attention. Little stinker. 
• Neonatologists are my favorite kind of doctor. They save babies' lives. So they're like living guardian angels for premature babies. How can you top that?
• NICU nurses are pretty awesome too. Especially the ones who love my babies like I do.
• Breast pumping is hard work. And I'm not good at it. And it's stressful. 
• It's hard to get anything accomplished in the 2-3 hour windows between breast pumping.
• I have completely lost the ability to multi-task. I start each day with plans to go to the hospital for a few hours then go to work for a few hours. This has worked out one day in the last two weeks. Today I didn't get to work at all.
• The hospital is like a time warp. This is related to the last few things.
• We've also learned lots of medical terms. We ask lots and lots of questions. Apparently more than most people. We're like fake doctors now. I wouldn't trust us with your kids though. And I hope the doctors don't get tired of our questions!
• Doctors, nurses, and everyone else who works in the NICU like our baby names. I can't even count the number of times someone has said "I'm so glad you didn't give them rhyming names!" Ha! I guess that would make their jobs harder!

Here's an update on each baby from the past week:

Mason:

Mason has had a pretty good week. He's been very stable on his ventilator all week. They have weaned him some so he's on pretty low settings now but not low enough to move him from the jet to a conventional ventilator just yet. Mason has developed an infection so the doctors are treating that before they do the steroid (they don't like to do steroids for a baby with an infection). Right now we're waiting for results from his breathing tube and urine cultures to determine exactly what type of infection he has. We should know in the next few days. But they are treating him for a fungal infection now already because they know that much. 

Mason's head ultrasound on Tuesday was better than last week - the swelling of his ventricles has gone down. Yay! Even though this week we got good news, we still won't know the effects of the bleed he had a few weeks ago and the swelling for a year or so. This is pretty hard for me to deal with! Ultrasound day is the hardest for me I think.

Also I got to hold Mason this week finally!! And my best friend Carly got to be here for it! That made it even more special. In case you missed it, I wrote about it here.

Here are a few more pictures of Mason from this week:

I already posted this one but I love it so much! Such a sweet boy!

Logan:

Logan had a pretty good week too. Until yesterday. He was uncomfortable all day yesterday. He was flailing all over his bed, he tried to escape, he was fighting his ventilator, and he required more oxygen and higher settings. At one point he lifted his head completely off the bed and tried to turn it! (Although this is good for most babies, this isn't good for a baby this small, especially one with a breathing tube in his mouth!) Today wasn't much better. They decided that maybe he was mad about being on the jet ventilator still. Apparently a lot of babies start fighting the jet when they are feeling better and are ready to get off that ventilator. So today Logan got what he wanted and got off the jet! He seems much much happier. We're keeping our fingers crossed he can stay off it! 

They ran tests on Logan for a possible infection too. So far he doesn't appear to have anything. As long as Logan's blood cultures stay negative, he may start a steroid to get off the ventilator tomorrow. This will be a 9 day steroid (similar to the blister packs they give adults where you take what seems like 20 pills the first day, then decrease every day after that). Some babies can get off the ventilator in just a few days after starting the steroids. I hope Logan is one of those babies!

Logan also stopped peeing again a few days ago. Last week he got a steroid for adrenal insufficiency. It worked and he peed a lot at the beginning. But once the dose was weaned he stopped peeing again. So he's back on that. And he's peeing again. His adrenals should kick in soon. 

Logan's head ultrasound on Tuesday was also better. Yay Logan!

Here are a few more pictures of Logan from this week:

Logan sprawled out (still has favorite position apparently)

This is Logan's mad face. He makes it a lot!

Logan loves morphine. Can you tell? Ha! We'll save this for when he's older for sure!

James:

James had a typical James week. No major issues. He is still on the ventilator but he's on pretty low settings. Unfortunately he won't let the doctors wean his settings. He throws a fit whenever they try! He has a big attitude! And he doesn't like being touched! 

James is progressing well with his feeds. Hopefully he'll get bigger and this will allow him to get off the ventilator without steroids. We'll see I guess. He's very moody!

James got to get out of his bed several times this week. I got to hold him Friday and Saturday and Brian got to hold him Sunday. This is my favorite thing in the whole world! I can't wait until I can hold them whenever I want!

I got to hold sweet James again last weekend!

James's porn star pose. He looks pretty comfortable. Saving this one for when he gets older too!

James with his eyes open yesterday. This was after his major meltdown. He looks pretty sweet here!

Mom and Dad:
Brian and I are still hanging in there. Brian probably better than me! Having 3 babies in the NICU is hard! It's like I worry about one baby, then that baby gets better and another one takes over. And it goes on and on like that. But, I know that they are actually doing really well and they're getting better every day (well not some days but overall better as time goes on).

Sunday night I got the best surprise ever! I had a particularly rough day but when we got home, my friend Carly and her little girl Maddy were at my house. Surprise! I had no idea they were coming. I really needed it though! I needed a friend that day more than anything. I love how things just work out sometimes. Thank you Carly for being here for me!!

Brian and I also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday. (Actually we went out to dinner Tuesday night). It was nice to get out and do something normal. We went to dinner at a new(ish) restaurant. And I had a glass of wine. It was delicious. I guess there's a reason that moms drink wine! (I already knew that actually).

Thanks again to everyone who has been praying and thinking about us the past month. And thanks especially to everyone who has called, texted, Facebook messaged, etc. Even if we don't always respond we see that you thought about us, we read your comments, and it means the world to us. I promise. So seriously, thanks so much!

Here's one more picture. This is the NICU room where all 3 of our boys live right now. Logan is on the left in bed 3 and Mason is in bed 2. James is actually right behind where Brian took the picture, in bed 6 (directly across from Logan).