13 Days Old

"There are babies everywhere and most of them are ours."

-Quote from Rich about visiting the NICU

Our little triplets are now 13 days old and doing better and better each day. As of four days ago all of the babies were free of all of their oxygen, IV's, bili lights (i.e. sunglasses) and only the feeding tubes remaining. They seemed so much more relaxed and happy without being attached to so much. Rich is at the hospital for 3-4 feedings a day and I try to be there for 2-3 feedings. When I say feedings it is really the chance that we get to change diapers and take their temperature and do kangaroo care which is holding the babies with skin to skin contact. The feedings are all done through their feeding tubes but we are anxiously awaiting when we are able to feed them by bottle.
Unfortunately, I was banned from the NICU for a few days because I'm sick with a fever. I had to be fever free for 24 hours before I could go back and visit. I'm on antibiotics and feeling much better so I'm be back in the swing of things but in the meantime Rich took video while he is there and shows me when he gets home.

He is such a good dad and certainly should win some sort of award. His present for Father's Day this year was about 10 poopy diapers. I'm sure our little babies love kangaroo care with their dad because they get to lay on his hairy chest and pull his hair with their tiny little fingers. Luckily I don't have that problem.
They are all back up to their birth weight which is a relief and increasing their feeds with the exception of little Beckett because he is on a new medication where they have to essentially give him no food for 36 hours and restart his IV and give him nutrients by IV for a few days.
Within a few days of birth both girls received an echo of their heart to be sure there were no problems with the VSD they identified in utereo. They didn't find any problems but then we were hearing from the nurses that Beckett had a heart murmur which was unexpected because we thought any heart problems would be with the girls. Anyway, it turns out that Beckett has a patent ductus arterious, or PDA. Essentially this a duct in the heart that all babies have in utereo and normally closes within a few days after birth. His has not closed which I guess is not that uncommon in preemies. They are trying to close it with medicine which is why he is back on the IV and his feedings are limited. If it does not close with the medicine then he will have to have surgery which we are trying to avoid. But they are no longer hearing a murmur so hopefully the medication worked. We will know for sure when they do another echo today and they are also increasing his feeds back up again.

Here is picture of him from Saturday with his IV back in his hand. He looks very concerned and a little cross-eyed!

Another picture of our wrinkly little man.

The girls are doing great. Somehow in the last few days they have switched personalities. Where at first little Eloise was the terror tangling herself in wires, velcroing her feet together, scooting the side of the isolette and so forth. Now she is very calm and sleeps most of the time but wakes up and shows us her beautiful blue eyes when we are there changing her. Now, she just poops a lot especially in middle of changing which can get quite exciting in those little isolettes with all the blankets and wires.

Here are few pictures of Eloise doing what she does best these days- sleeping all snuggled up.

Adeline is now the active one. She gets really mad easily and will scream when she is wet or wants her pacifier. She even somehow got herself to the edge of the isolette the other day which we thought was only an Eloise trick. The funny thing is that she calms down as quickly as she becomes mad so she is back to sleep in seconds or at least just staring at you with those big eyes until she falls back asleep.She loves her pacifier and sucks on that like it is going out of style. She also is the one where we can see that she is putting on weight.

Never thought I'd be so happy to see a little such a pot belly on my little girl.

I guess now we know that the girls are not identical. Adeline and Beckett look more similar than the two girls but maybe that is just because of their similar sizes and bald heads. In fact, Adeline looks a little like she has some male pattern baldness going on and Beckett seems like he is getting blond hair. Don't know where that came from...

And here is a picture of me holding Eloise last night.



As you can see, I'm starting to look a little more normal and not so much like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Woman. I've already lost 40 lbs but I think that is really a reflection of all the blood volume and water weight.

Rich is at the hospital right now (he goes every morning at 7:30 for the morning milk delivery) and I'm supposed to be showered and ready to go with fresh milk for the late morning milk delivery and running behind which is not a good way to start the day. We are still getting used to being home and trying to find the balance between running back and forth to the hospital, pumping milk (that's me, not Rich), eating, walking the dogs, and keeping our house in half-way decent order but we'll get the hang of it one of these days!