Happy 3 Week Birthday

Happy Birthday to our little triplets. Right now they are what everyone calls "feeders and growers" meaning that their biggest obstacle now is putting on weight and learning how to eat. Here is an update:
Eloise- 3 lbs
Beckett- 3 lbs 7 oz
Adeline- 3 lbs 14 oz
- all are now wearing clothes so that means they are able to maintain their own temperature. They look so different in clothes even though they just swim even in the preemie sizes.
-the nurses keep telling me to bring their own clothes but somehow all of the preemie clothes at my house got mixed in with the newborn so it is going to take a few days to sort that out. Also, if I bring their own clothes then I'm hauling it back and forth to wash it. I'm fine with them wearing little tee shirts until they come home. I'll have plenty of time to dress them and do the laundry in the future.
-Beckett's PDA closed by the medicine they gave him last week so no surgery!! What a relief. While he was on the medicine they only gave him 1 ml of food 8 times a day and slowly increased his feedings which is why he has not gained too much weight. Also he went back on the bili light for a day last week but now is just cruising along.
-We had a little scare with Eloise last week because they thought her belly was distended so they did an x-ray to look for signs of infection which was inconclusive and a follow-up x-ray the next day showed she was just full of poop. So for a few days we were watching her diapers very carefully and every poopy diaper was celebrated. Just today she was such a good pooper while I was changing her she pooped and it hit her stuffed bear which I then had to bring home to wash.
-Adeline's old IV site in her head looked very sore and then a few cm down from that she developed what looks like a huge pimple. They were watching it for a few days and just today decided to do a culture of the site so they lanced her little head and sent off cultures to see what was growing. Until the cultures come back she is on "contact isolation" meaning that we have to put on a gown and gloves to touch her. It makes it more difficult than normal to change her and touch her with the gown and gloves but hopefully it will just be for 48-72 hours. They did more blood work on her and nothing else indicates that she is sick with infection in any other way but we have to wait until the cultures come back to know what is going on.
-This is especially sad because little Adeline is on isolation while Beckett and Eloise are now sharing an isolette today for the first time. I think she is teaching him her tricks because normally she pulls her feeding tube out of her nose 2-3 times a day and today Beckett did it for the first time while his milk was going in. It was a terrible mess. Or maybe Eloise pulled it out for him. They are very cute snuggled together but it is just really tricky to change the linens or change their clothes because of all the wires and tight quarters.

And now what you have been waiting for:

Beckett and Eloise- you can see that she is pretending to sleep and reaching for his feeding tube

Beckett and Eloise

Beckett and Eloise before all the trouble with the feeding tubes
This is Eloise's leg in a preemie onesie- you can see how big the leg hole is of the onesie compared to her little leg.
Beckett from a few days ago. This is why we call him our wrinkly worried little man.
Adeline in her big girl clothes. She looks like a baby doll with her fat little cheeks and double chin.

Adeline in her hat.
All of the babies have a stuffed animal in their isolette and we wanted to compare how big they looked compared to their animal...

Eloise and her pacifier, it is almost as big as her head!

Adeline sleeping so peacefully. This is before the infection on her head. You can just barely see the old IV site.

As other families can tell you that have had children in the NICU or the hospital, each day has its ups and downs. Some days are good and others not so good. It was a great day when we found out that Beckett would not need surgery but then his bilirubin levels were up and he had to go back under the lights. Then the next 2 days we worried about Eloise and if she was developing an intestinal infection. Then today, it was so sweet to see two babies together and then little Adeline is fighting this infection and is by herself. So it is up and down but we are just happy that they all seem to have just little set backs and their progress outweighs any of the steps backwards.

We have been keeping a crazy schedule with visiting the NICU and of course I'm still pumping 8-9 times a day so I know I'm slow on responding to phone calls and emails and I know it is tricky to get a hold of me because my phone is always off when I'm at the hospital so I apologize for the slow response! I promise, I'm not ignoring anyone. This is little taste of our daily schedule:

6:30- pump, walk and feed the dogs, eat breakfast and go back sleep until 8:30

8:30- pump, shower, get ready for the day, do some laundry, pick up the kitchen

10:30- leave for the hospital

11:00-1:00 hold babies, breastfeed, change diapers

1:00-2:00 eat lunch, pump

2:00-4:00 hold babies, breastfeed, change diapers

4:00- go home, pump, feed the dogs, laundry, eat dinner

7:00- pump

7:30 back to the hospital

8:00-9:30 hold babies, breastfeed, change diapers

9:30- go home pump, go to sleep

11:30- wake up and pump

4:00- wake up and pump

6:30- start over again!

The schedule is crazy but I'm so fortunate that my job now is to hold the babies and make sure they are getting the best nutrition possible. I think I'm tired now, just wait until all three are home with us but we can't wait!