Cuddle Time- Take Two!

Hooray! Mckenna went off the ventilator onto the CPAP today as well so we were able to hold her today! Kyle hogged her while I held Madison and then I held Carly after Kyle went back to work. It's, by far, the best part of our day. And even preemies smell fantastic! With all this great news I hope there is still something to post about on their 3 week birthday....

Mckenna getting some Daddy time!

Cuddle Time!

Well, the girls are not quite three weeks old yet (2 1/2 weeks) but this week has already been filled with some great big steps and one setback. The big steps forward are that Madison and Carly have moved from their ventilators onto CPAPs (oxygen tube on the nose) and because they are handling breathing on their own (with a little assistance from the oxygen tube) we get to hold them! So today I held Carly and Kyle held Madison. I can't think of anything much better than that! I had a perma grin the whole time I was able to hold Carly. They call it Kangeroo care and you have skin to skin contact to help bond with them. It also really helps them to feel and smell their parents. Carly was very happy and just slept deeply during the time I held her. Madison wasn't super excited and a little upset when they first took her out of her incubater, but as soon as she was up against Kyle's chest, she calmed right down and also slept deeply. We knew they were going to feel small and light as a feather but I didn't realize how much until we really held them. Hopefully from now on we should be able to hold them everyday or at least every other day. I does take at least a minimum of 1 hour because of how long it takes to move all their millions of cords and oxygen machine, etc. around to the recliner you sit in. Unfortunately, we aren't able to hold Mckenna yet since she is still on the ventilator but we are hoping in the next couple days she will move to the CPAP and then we can hold her as well.

The other piece of news for the week is that Mckenna's blood pressure started going up a couple of days ago and they didn't know what was causing it so they did a bunch of tests and blood draws and found that her liquid in her brain was starting to fill up and put pressure on her brain. The only option was for her to undergo surgery where they put a small tube into her ventricles where the liquid sits to help drain out and take pressure off the brain so there won't be more serious trauma to the brain. The neuro-surgeon that performed the surgery has had a lot of success with the procedure so we trusted it was the best thing for her. The surgery went well and they will continue over the months to drain the liquid until the blood clots are absorbed by the body. Chances are very high that she will always have to have a drain in her brain that will run down to her stomach and drain there when she gets a little bit older and can handle a larger drain (or shunt). We just hope that this continues to help her. Her blood pressure did go back down after the operation and she is still moving forward to come off the ventilator which is still very amazing. I think she is a pretty strong little girl with everything she has gone through and we just keeping on hoping for the best for her.

Just wanted to share the news since a lot has happened in the last couple days!

Carly and Sunny cuddling!

Madison and Kyle cuddling!

Sweet little Mckenna expressing her frustration about not being held yet

Hooray! Two weeks old!

Geez! Let me sleep people! (Madison)

We celebrate the small successes right now and two weeks is a big deal for us and the girls! The girls are growing and it might not seem like it to everyone else but to us they change and get better and bigger everyday. This week has been all about trying out feeding. They have started eating and then stopped and started and stopped so many times that we can't keep track of it anymore. And according to the doctors and nurses that's what it's going to be like until almost the end. Their stomachs are very sensitive and are needing to learn to digest earlier than they would like to. And they hardly eat anything. They start them on 1 ml (or cc) every 8 hours (there are 30 ml in 1 ounce to give you an idea) and if they take it well they move to 1 ml every 6 hours, then every 4 hours, then every 3 hours. And then slowly (over weeks) they increase their dosage. So the eating process will take forever and they tell us that it's going to require a lot of patience on our part.

Some individual things about each girl:

Mckenna- At this point her brain bleeding has stabilized meaning that the liquids in her brain are not swelling and causing pressure on the brain. We just continue to hope that it stays like this. Within a week or so, her chances of problems will go down dramatically and then we don't have to worry about it as much. We hope that it hasn't caused any long term effects but we'll just wait and see years down the road. She is also not eating right now because they are worried that she might have a fissure between her bladder and bowels. They are doing a test this week to make sure; if she does they will perform a regular procedure to fix it and if not, she starts eating again. She has the most fickle digestive system so far.

But some fun stuff on Mckenna. She loves loves loves to feel things with her hands. She's all about touching new fabric. It's quite cute and the nurses say that she likes to put her hands on her chest because it helps her stay calm and know where she is. So funny, I'm thinking she will be just like mom and want to touch all the fabrics and clothes in stores when shopping!

Madison- Madison has had very little in terms of complications. Sometimes she gets wet lungs and she is still having problems with her billirubin (spelling?) so has to have the light therapy on her still, but besides that she is steady as a rock with her breathing and such. She is up to eating every 4 hours (but that could change at any point) so hopefully she stays there or eats more. And her eyes are finally opening! They were sealed still when she was born and one of the pictures below is of her looking around. They look so different with their eyes open.

We've just learned in the last couple days that Madison is very expressive with her face. When she isn't happy you can see it all over her face. She scrunches it up when she doesn't like what's going on. Maybe she will be our drama queen.

Carly- Carly is still the bigger baby of the three. She just has accumulated her baby fat a little bit easier than the other two. I predict she will be the first one to come home because she is the first to eat, first to breathe on her own, etc. She is also eating every 4 hours and hopefully keeps on going. Her right arm that was really bruised when she was born is still red and bruised but they did tests on it and there's nothing wrong, it just might take some time to heal. The arm is quite a bit bigger than her left so we call her Popeye. Hopefully it doesn't stay like that.

Something new about Carly is that she loves to lay on her belly. She puts up fights and even stops breathing until she can go on her belly. Silly girl!

One last thing: They are all receiving steroid shots in the next five days that should help mature and expand their lungs so that they can take them off their ventilators in the next five days and put them on what they call a CPAP which is just oxygen in the nose when they need it and they are completely breathing on their own. Hopefully it works and they can start making their lungs strong. We'll update next week.

Pictures below are of the girls at 2 weeks old. Notice that they have their dad's wedding ring on their fingers to show just how small they are.

I'm opening my eyes now! (Madison)

Mckenna- 2 weeks

Madison- 2 weeks

Carly- 2 weeks

A Mother's Day Surprise

The triplets have arrived! They were a bit of a surprise because they were exactly three months early. They were born on May 11, 2009.

Mckenna led the way and was born at 7:56 am at 2 lbs and 14 1/2 inches long. She very long and lean with very dark brown hair and from what we can tell looks like a carbon copy of Kyle.

Madison came second at 7:57 am and was 1 lb 15 1/2 oz and 13 1/2 inches long. She is the runt of the litter (only by an inch) and might end up being a blondie. She had the least amount of hair but it looks lighter than the other two. We're not sure, but we think she looks more like Sunny.

Carly was our final baby arriving at 7:58 am and weighed 2 lbs 4 oz and 14 1/2 inches long. It is amazing how big of a difference 4 ounces makes! So far she is the one doing the best but the others are right behind her. She has brown hair and we think it will be curly (hooray!) and looks like a combination of Kyle and Sunny.

Mckenna and Madison had PDA, which is a heart valve issue that is fairly common in preemie babies. They have been treating the problem with drugs, and we found out Saturday that the valve has closed, which was great news. Mckenna is the one we are worried about most because she has had bleeding in her brain, which is quite serious because there is not much they can do to treat it. We got a call from the neuro-surgeon on Sunday, and he said that it looks like the brain bleeding has stopped and the bleeding is not putting pressure on the brain. This was such great news because the brain bleeding can cause mental and developmental disorders. I'm sure that how well they are doing is directly correlated to the fasting and many prayers from our family and friends. We want to let everyone know how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

We are quite lucky that the babies were born at St. Luke's in Boise, and they are in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) there. The NICU is an amazing place and the teams of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are outstanding. The NICU is so quiet and peaceful, and is almost a sacred place. It is unlike any other area in the hospital, and I'm sure it is because of all those special spirits there that are so fresh from their Heavenly Father's presence.

We will continue to keep updating about their status as time goes along. The pictures below are of each of them on their one week birthday. We already love them so much and are so excited to be parents of these special babies.


Carly

Madison

Mckenna

It looks like a baby crib store!

I thought I might as well put up a picture of the babies's room. It looks like a baby factory with three cribs in there and these pictures don't show that very well, but you get the idea. Thank you to mom for helping me decorate this bedroom since I am on bed rest until these cuties comes! (And to Kyle and dad for being patient and helping with the heavy lifting and crib assembly.) Also, I threw in a picture from my baby shower of the cute diaper cake that was made. Who knew a diaper cake could be so cute?

Entering the blogging world....

Well, I've been meaning to do this for awhile but have finally taken the leap. I figure with three triplets on the way I should get used to blogging since I plan on putting pictures up of the new kiddies when they arrive. We'll see how much time with three new babies that I will even have. Anyway, I have just begun...