We're 4 Months Old!

Can you believe it? The Mann Triplets are 4 months old already!! Actually they turned 4 months old last Friday. I just made it to the hospital for their monthly photo tonight because we've been so busy.

I have been wanting to take Mason and Logan up to see James for a while and tonight we finally packed up the Mann Van and headed to the hospital. If you've never traveled with multiple babies (or with oxygen and monitors) you're missing out! Ha! This requires a lot of patience! Especially because I wanted to take pictures too. We had a pretty uneventful start to the trip but it quickly went downhill once we got to the hospital. Logan started crying before we even got on the pink elevator (the one that goes up to the NICU). When we got up there, I had to get James dressed in outfit #1. And he peed everywhere! Luckily I "caught" it and saved his outfit (and mine too). We didn't really get good pics of outfit # 1. They mostly looked like this:

Once again Mason did not want to cooperate in picture day. We had to work really hard to get the few good pictures we got! But it's so worth it! Outfit #2 was more successful. The best ones are up top. We had lots of out takes too though. And lots of crying (mostly Brian). But overall successful considering I'm not a photographer and I'm trying to take pics of 3 newborns with my iPhone before Brian kills me. Note: I will get professional pictures done once the babies are all home if I can find a reasonably priced photographer with a lot of patience! I actually signed up to get free NICU photos through the Tiny Footprints Project but they haven't been able to find a photographer in Little Rock. 

Ok so enough about photos! Here's an update on the babies (the real reason everyone reads my blog!)

James:

(I know it's crazy to do James first but he earned it!) James is still in NICU but he's doing so much better! He just finished a 9 day steroid for his lungs which has helped tremendously! He's now on 1/2 liter oxygen like his brothers. And he hasn't had any issues. Yay James! He did have a hard time with the steroid though and kept dropping his heart rate. So they moved him back to a pod (out of a private room) so he can be monitored more closely. He hasn't had any episodes since he's been off the steroid. And we got him moved to pod 9, which is the best pod. And our friends from East (the NICU room where they keep the tiny babies and where we started) are in pod 9 too! 

We have been working to get James's reflux under control lately (as I'm sure you probably remember) so we've been trying to find the right formula for him. First we tried pregestimil. That helped but made James poop like every hour. So now he's on nutramagen, which is the nastiest smelling formula. But it's working so far so I'll take it. They've also taken James completely off breast milk. I'm not too happy about this. But I am ok with it. He got 4 months of breast milk which is more than I ever anticipated. 

Big news for James this week. He got his first bottle! 

He did great! They started him at 10 ml once a day and now he's up to 20 ml once a day. Hopefully he'll get on the oral feeding pathway soon! 

Here's some of pictures of James:

James weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz. now. And he's in size 1 diapers! James can roll over from front to back AND back to front now! And he's starting to smile, especially for Brian. Brian swears James likes his singing. I guess James doesn't know any better!

James's favorite things right now are his swing, books, his mobile (especially the lion), and his giraffe wubbanub. 

Mason:

Mason is doing great at home! He's our angry fussy baby. But we're figuring out what he likes so that's helping! Mason sleeps pretty well IF we can get him to sleep. Sometimes he'll even sleep for 5-6 hours at a time! Although he is pretty fussy, I've discovered that he's calmer if he's swaddled, even during the day, so I think maybe he's just overstimulated. 

Mason's favorite things right now are his bouncy seat with the hoot owls as our nanny calls them, being held (all the time!), and being swaddled, and his wubbanub (Mr. Monkey). 

Mason has started rolling over (belly to back) and smiling (not very often). I can tell he's beginning to be more alert and he loves looking around! 

Here's some pictures of Mr. Mason:

I wasn't kidding when I said he didn't like pictures!

Mason in the bouncy seat

Mason in the swing. Otis standing guard

Logan:

Last but not least (except in size!), Logan is doing great too! He's a pretty happy baby for the most part. I think I can see the biggest progress with Logan. He's starting to really check out everything around him. He loves to look around!  And he's pretty social too. He seems to really enjoy being with his brothers!

Logan is starting to get stronger finally. He has rolled over front to back but I think it was an accident. He's definitely making progress though! And he's started smiling too! And it's the sweetest smile ever! 

A few of Logan's favorite things: Sophie the Giraffe, swinging, his play mat, and his wubbanub (Mr. Floppy Ears). I think the Wubbanub company needs to pay us for an endorsement deal. If you can't tell, my boys love the Wubbanubs! (They actually have 2 each but we haven't tried the second set yet!) 

Here's a few pictures of Logan: 

Brian caught a partial smile!

And here are some selfies the boys made me take. James was first, then Mason, then Logan (but he wasn't too happy about it):

M

James's selfie. He started the trend!

Mason's selfie with Addison photobombing in the background

Logan says stop taking selfies Mom!

And here's how I find Brian every night when I come home:

And a few pics of Mason and Logan:

And a few of Logan and James:

Sorry I took so long to post this week! I'll try to post sooner next time!

2 Home 1 To Go

I think the NICU spoiled my babies . . . And it's ok. They had a rough start to their lives. A rougher start than probably anyone I know. And they fought and survived. So it's ok that they're spoiled. It just means that they're loved. We have an amazing group of primary nurses, practitioners, doctors, therapists of all types, and techs who love our babies so much. What more can you ask for for your babies? Not much. That being said, my babies are spoiled rotten! The ones at home at least!

So the boys are 16 weeks old this week (a few days ago on Tuesday). That's 4 weeks adjusted. So they're basically like 1 month olds. 1 month olds who were born 3 months early. It's still hard for me to fully comprehend the last few months. I'm sure I won't fully wrap my arms around it for a long time. I may never fully understand why or just how much we've been through. But I do know that we're triple blessed. And that we have lots of love. Lots of love from everyone around us. And lots of love to give these boys. 

This week has been crazy, which is why it's Wednesday night and I'm sitting here with James just now beginning to write something. And why I'm finishing this hours later at home. And why it's now Thursday and I'm finally actually posting this!

Here's our weekly update:

Mason:

The biggest news of the week is pretty huge. Mason came home on Sunday! Woop woop! (That's an official medical term that Dr. Miquel uses during rounds. It's always good when you hear that!) Yay Mason! He's doing great so far. He didn't sleep well the first night (and neither did we) but he's slept great since then. The days are a different story though! Mason is the super spoiled one! He's very happy as long as someone is holding him. And he doesn't care who it is! Apparently he doesn't realize that he's a triplet! We're trying to break him of this but it's so hard because he's super cute and cuddly! 

Mason is on 1/2 liter oxygen like Logan so we now have 2 oxygen tanks and 2 sets of tubes running around our house. Luckily Mason's pulse ox alarm doesn't go off hardly ever. Mason was discharged with a full page of diagnoses like Logan. And pretty much everything is resolved! That includes his IVH (the brain bleeds). He had a normal head ultrasound last week! Yay! Mason's only follow up appointments are with his pediatrician and the high risk newborn clinic. 

We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday and Mason looks great! He weighs 8 lbs 0 oz! He's a big boy! And he actually slept 6 hours straight the night before his appointment so we asked if we have to wake him up to eat every 3 hours. Guess what? The doctor said he can sleep as long as he wants because his adjusted age is 1 month and he weighs 8 lbs.! We're still waking him up though and he hasn't missed any other bottles (but much slower than during the day).

Logan:

Logan is also doing great this week. He is really getting adjusted to being at home and he's getting more curious about his surroundings. The other night I laid him on his play mat and he laid there for about 45 minutes just looking around. And he's starting to make and hold eye contact which is huge! And tonight he rolled over all by himself! (See, when I post late I get to share more exciting news!)

Logan is much calmer than Mason! He goes straight to sleep at bed time. He is more independent and ok being putting down (most of the time). And he sleeps through Mason's meltdowns! 

Logan  only weighs 6 lbs 7 oz as of last Friday so he still can't sleep through the night. But hopefully soon! He does go right back to sleep after his middle of the night feeds though so it's not too bad! 

James:

James has had a rough week. His reflux is really bad. Maybe worse than before. And I think he misses his brothers. He just seems so sad! I know I've said it before but it really breaks my heart when he cries because he's in pain. I wish I could do something, anything, to make it to away. We did double his Prilosec on Monday and I think it's starting to to help. 

James also started another round of steroids today to help his lungs. He's not really making progress like he should so he needs some help. He's on methyl prednisone, which is the same steroid they gave him to get off the ventilator. He'll be on the steroid for 9 days. The plan is that he can get down to 1/2 liter flow by day 7 then we can think about starting oral feeds (finally).

I don't know what it is about James but  he seems to get stuck and need more help moving forward sometimes. Maybe it's because he's the baby of the babies. Whatever it is, it's frustrating because we thought he was the healthiest of our babies with the healthiest lungs. Maybe he's a faker. Whatever it is, I just hope he can get better so he can come home! Unfortunately I think he'll be living in the NICU for at least another month. Poor baby! 

It's harder for us to get up to the hospital to see James now that we have 2 babies at home, we're back working a more regular schedule, and Addison just started back to school. Yesterday I went up to the hospital for about 30 minutes this morning before work then another 45 minutes after dinner. Today I only made it up there in the morning for about 30 minutes. Luckily we have our awesome primary nurses who James gets all to himself now. And they love him and know how to make him happy. 

I know we've been calling James the feisty one, etc. but I think he's probably the calmest one of the three. He only cries when he's hurting or when someone holds him down. And then he fights back! But he's usually so sweet. Today he smiled for Brian. And Brian swears he did it on purpose. He posted the video on Facebook so check it out there. I teared up when he sent it to me!

Here's some pictures from this week:

Mason getting ready to go:

Mason leaving the hospital (with his friend Logan of course). Mason in the front, Logan in the back.

Mason and Logan in the Mann Van (Logan on the left, Mason on the right, my worst enemy the pulse ox machine in the middle):

Mason and Logan at home right after we got home from the hospital (Mason on the left, Logan on the right).

Mason at home:

A few of Logan:

Sweet James:

Brother time:

James and Logan

Mason and Logan

Mommy time:

If you noticed in the pictures, all three of our boys LOVE their Wubbanubs (the pacis with the animals attached). Mason has a monkey, Logan has an elephant (Mr. Floppy Ears), and James has a giraffe. I love them too. Not only are they super cute, they are actually really good for the babies. They are weighted so their pacis don't fall too far and they can sometimes get them back without my help. And they give the babies something to hold onto, which they all love, especially James.

Thanks everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers. I know it's been a long time and we're in the home stretch it seems but we still need it! And we still really appreciate it!

15 Weeks (and 1 Day) Old

Life got a little more hectic this week. In a good way of course. Now that Logan is home I'm being pulled in 4 directions instead of 3. I'm still trying to work some so I can take off more when all 3 boys are home finally. But it's going really well. (If you missed it, I posted about Logan's first few days home here.) Needless to say, I'm a day late posting this week. That may be a good thing though because I got some more news to report though. 

Mason and James are still in the NICU. It's starting to get to me. I don't know if it's because we've passed the 100 day mark or if it's because I know what I'm missing now that Logan is home or if it's because we've been in the NICU longer than almost everyone else there right now or if it's none or all of these things. But what I do know is that I'm ready for my babies to all be home. 

We had the greatest day ever last Wednesday with Logan coming home. I can't even explain how happy we are to have him here. That makes the struggles from the NICU this week even harder though. We've had some steps back this week. But also some triumphs. 

Good news all around - all 3 boys had eye exams today and they all graduated! That means that the blood vessels are fully grown in their eyes so thier ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) will not progress and they don't have the risk of retinal detachment. They just have normal preemie eye risks like near-sightedness (like lots of people have). Yay!

And Mason and James moved to big boy beds yesterday. They were getting too big for the little plastic bassinets and Brian was worried James would throw himself out of it!

Here's the weekly update:

Mason:

Mr. Mason has had an up and down week. Last Thursday his blood gas wasn't good so the doctor took him off the oral feeding pathway and decreased him to only 4 oral feeds per day. (The oral feeding pathway allows the baby to dictate when he increases his oral feeds. Because Mason's gas wasn't good, he doesn't get to do that and he goes up only when the doctor writes an order for him to go up). But his gas was better Monday so she moved him back to 6 feeds per day again. 

Mason is very opinionated when it comes to eating. He's doing great with bottles. No problems. Breastfeeding is another story. Mason either fights me and then goes to sleep or he does great. No middle ground with this guy. I'm hoping he doesn't give up on breastfeeding! 

Ready for the good news? It has to do with the "h" word. IF (that's right all capitals) Mason has a good gas Thursday he can go to full oral feeds. Then IF (all caps again) he takes all of his feeds AND (more caps) has no other issues, he may go to the place we don't say out loud (you may prefer to call it the zoo, Disney, or McDonald's) on Sunday! Mason is notorious for having bad gases though so I'm optimistic but trying not to get my hopes up!

Mason pictures for the week:

Wearing Dad's hat

Do you see those cheeks?! Mason got put on a diet momentarily (1 day) because he's gained so much weight this week (10 oz. in 1 week!) but then he went back to 24 calories per ounce. FYI breast milk and regular formula is 20 cal per oz. Preemie formula is 22 cal per oz. We actually use more powder to make the milk (straight formula or breast milk) 24 calories. The doctor thought Mason was gaining too fast but the nutritionist said he's doing ok and should stay on 24 calories. I hope he doesn't get too fat! (a little fat is ok though)

Mason weighs 7 lbs. 8 oz. now! He weighs the same as James (but James took his time getting there)!

Logan:

Logan has spent most of the last week at HOME! After a brief adjustment period (of 1 day) Logan has done really well. I just posted about Logan over the weekend (Logan is Home) so I'll just give a brief update on Logan. 

Logan went to his first pediatrician appointment on Monday. He weighs 6 lbs. 4 oz. (up only 2 oz. from his discharge weight) and looks great. Logan also had an eye appointment today. As I said above, his eyes look great and he graduated! 

We had some issues with the pulse ox monitor going off all the time so we talked to our neonatologists and ended up increasing his flow to 1/2 liter. That has helped tremendously! Now we can actually sleep! 

Logan has been out of the house several times since he came home. Mostly just to visit his brothers. So far he loves riding in the Mann Van. And this morning I took Logan to the hospital by myself (with his oxygen and pulse ox monitor) because his appointment started at the same time as Addison's school. I had no trouble so I'm thinking I can do this!

Logan has decided he doesn't like his crib during the day! He loses it if we put him in there! The good news is that he sleeps great in his crib at night. I think it may be because we swaddle him and turn all the lights off at night and we don't do that during the day (?) so we may try that for nap time too.

Also thanks to Logan we have already washed the carseat! I'll spare you the details but I'll just say my husband is pretty awesome for cleaning up the mess!

Here's a few more pictures of Logan:

After dinner time

James:

Mr. James has had a rough week. His reflux is really bad. I can tell he's hurting and it breaks my heart. I wish I could do something to help him. Unfortunately all I can do is hold him and make sure his nurses know what he likes and doesn't like. 

James took a pretty big step back this week. His gas was bad on Monday so he's back up to 2 liters on his oxygen (insert frowny face). Hopefully if his gas is better on Thursday he can go back to 1 liter. His doctor told me it may take "a while" to get him better. I asked what "a while" means and she said a few weeks or a month. I'm thinking James will stay in the NICU for at least another month. He hasn't even gotten to the point where he can even start attempting oral feeds. 

James also started blood pressure medicine this week for hypertension. His blood pressure was higher than mine! The good news is that the meds are working. We think his chronic lung disease is causing the hypertension. (Babies usually have secondary hypertension, meaning that something else is causing high blood pressure). His doctor ordered a renal panel and checked his kidneys and everything came back normal so that's good news. 

Here's a few pictures of James:

Addison:

Addison started school today! 5th grade! I can't believe she's that big already!

Here's our obligatory first day of school picture:

And here's Addison getting her back to school haircut. She's not happy with me! If it were up to her she would never get her hair cut. So this once every year haircut (and only trimming off the dead ends) is torture!

And here's my favorite picture of the week. My sister holding Logan and James who were both crying. So Lizzie cried with them: