Three Thumbs Up!

Thumb 1: The girls have gotten big enough and are maintaining their temperatures well enough that they have been taken out of their incubators and are now in cribs! The large crib was in use so they are in their own separate cribs but as soon as it comes available, the girls will begin living together. And then at some point Slade will join them and we will have all babies in one crib. They did this after we left today so I will post pictures tomorrow. Go ladies go!

Thumb 2: Slade has been doing so well breathing that tomorrow he will be put on the cannula and we will finally see his face! We are so excited to get to know him by his expressions and fully see who/what he looks like. Yipppeee!!

Thumb 3: The girls had another eye exam today and both have gotten much better. Ella now shows no signs of ROP at all and is classified as a 0 like Slade, hooray! Claire still has signs but instead of a level 2, she is now a level 1 in both eyes and it looks like it is fixing itself. We are now out of the woods for blindness and the worst case scenario is she may have to wear glasses in the future (which they are all probably doomed for with my genes anyway). Yeahhhhh!!!

50 Days...

Today is the 50th day the babies have been in the NICU. In 50 days we have learned a lot. We know in advance what times certain parking areas of the parking garage are fuller and when we need to go to another level. We have found a shortcut up the NICU hill through a secret staircase which saves us approximately 1 minute if the elevator is on time. We know the two front desk clerks by name and they know ours. We are friendly with other parents in our bay and know that Little Kellen is now 5.8lbs and baby Bowden will be extabated tomorrow, both parents are very excited. We know the different sounds different alarms make and can usually tell where they are coming from. We know when to run to a bedside and when to wait and see if the alarm stops. We know that when the scary alarm sounds its usually faster for us to run, open a porthole and jostle a baby before the nurses can put their gowns/gloves on and do the same. We can change a diaper through portholes with wires running up a leg and arms flaing in the air. We can take a baby out of an incubator with no assistance and put them back when we are done. We know what each number means on the breathing machines and when something is of concern. We understand the lingo and know what it means when someone says, "Slade has had 6 a's &b's, we upped his caffeine and are checking his hemocrit. His rate has been removed but we are still maintaining a pressure of seven so hopefully he won't get so tired." We have learned that babies are not just cute but are HILARIOUS. They have a million expressions from startled when a door slams and there eyebrows go up to annoyed when another baby cries to a sleepy smile when they realize that they have peed on their dad for the first time. We learned that gaining weight is a wonderful thing (Ella is now 4lbs!)! We learned that it is a scary rollercoaster, but seeing those cute tiny babies is totally worth it. (This sounds like one of those american express commercials....priceless, ha!)

We probably have another 50 days to go, and I can't even begin to imagine what we have left to learn. But with triplets I have a feeling the learning is never going to stop...

On another note, the other day I was pumping in the hospital storage closet on the phone with my sister in law when I notice something strange in one of the storage incubators. I gasped in horror...

I walked over, removed the sheet and was introduced to Sim Baby... the scariest baby in the hospital...

Only 2 Months to Go...

Yes, while it seems like forever, there are only 2 months left until the babies "official" due date. This date is important as its typically a pretty good indicator of when the babies will get to come home. Some babies come home sooner and some later, it just depends on their progress.

Everyone is doing great and holding steady. Claire has joined Ella and now both girls are on the lowest possible setting on their cannulas, the next step is no assitance at all. Slade has 2 steps to go before being put on the cannula, but we are hoping he will be there by Friday. I'll post this weeks weights in the morning when the nurses have done them.

I thought I was taking a picture of Claire before her diaper change but it turned out to be a short little video that she opened her eyes for. Love it!

Retinopathy of Prematurity

Today the babies had their first eye exams and the results could have been better and they could have been worse. First off, the good news is that Slade's eyes looked great. They still aren't fully developed which is expected but their were no signs of any issues. This is especially good because stats show that white males born under 800 grams have about a 80% chance of developing eye issues (darn wimpy white boys). He will continue to be monitored but for now,so far so good!

The girls however did have signs of Retinopathy of Prematurity. ROP is an eye issue that is extremely common with premature babies especially as premature as our babies are. In the most severe of cases, it can cause future vision problems or even blindness. However, this is rare and the "majority" of babies end up with normal vision (some studies say upwards of 90%). Ella and Claire both have Level 1 ROP in one eye and Level 2 in the other. Both levels are classified as "mild". They will check them in a week and we will be hoping for them to get better or stay the same. However, even in cases when they worsen, their is a good chance they will still resolve themselves on their own and cause no further issues. The other 10% that do not resolve on their own still have options that will prevent blindness although I'm not going to go over all that.

So while of course we would of liked to hear that everything was perfect, we understand that this is another "typical" issue that preemies face and it too will pass. In the meantime, we are hopefully for a rapid recovery and no lasting effects. It is tough though after such a nice ride at the top of the roller coaster for the last few weeks to have another dip no matter how expected it is to be...

Photos of Ella

Here are a couple pictures and videos of Ella. We weren't able to get her smiling but will keep on trying! The doctor said that hopefully in the next couple of days we'll get to see Mr. Slade on a cannula as well, can't wait! Loving the nose, it makes everything seem so much more real and less scary than having all the big tubing and wires...

Ella Rocks On..

Ella has done terrific on her cannula and it was great holding her today for the first time with a nose! I took a nice picture but unfortunately now can't find my camera. Hopefully, I'll find it and post it tomorrow! Slade & Claire continue to do terrific as well!

Huge props to all the ladies in the survey who breastfed for over 6 months, you are my hero! I am hopeful to do it that long as well but right now can't imagine pumping every two hours until April of next year which will be 6 months adjusted age (a total of 10 months pumping). Yawnnnnnnnn.....

Ella has a Nose!

Yeahhh its official, Ella too has now been moved to the nasal cannula and we have seen a nose! Unfortunately we weren't able to get a picture as we were trying to let her sleep after all the ruckus but we should have one tomorrow during her holding session. Hopefully, she does well on it and doesn't have to go back to the cpap but you never know... She is super cute and has a tiny little nose:)

Claire continues to progress and was all eyes and smiles for her grandpa's visit today. He took some great pictures that I will post soon (dad please email these to me). It funny how they tape her tube really effects how she looks each day. One day she looked a little grumpy, yesterday had chubby cheeks and today looked as if she were smiling every time she moved her mouth.

Slade also is progressing as he has been lowered on his cpap settings. He still has a ways to go before attempting the cannula but each little bit of progress is good news in our eyes. He is tolerating been held very well and has not had any heart rate drops during his holdings over the last few days.

As for us, we are doing well. The process is definitely tiring every day but as they go through these big changes, we get a sigh of relief each successful step. Now I will admit the first 24 hours of Claire on a cannula I felt that I couldn't breath well and now I'm repeating that with Ella. But as the hours wear on, I feel joyful that they are doing so well. In fact the doctor told me yesterday that they were "following the book" on what they like to see preemies do. Their "growth curves" were perfect. Its these kinds of statements that let me sleep a little sounder each night. I will say that as they get bigger though, I think its going to be harder and harder to leave them each night. Tomorrow I see my doctor to see if I've regenerated all my missing blood and to get the A OK to go swimming with my nieces, yippee!! Afterwards, I meet with the babies recreational therapist to learn how to stretch the babies since they lay there most of the day. "Baby Yoga" is what they call it:)