It Begins...

Angie and I have decided to start a blog as our trio arrived into the world on Friday, January 15, 2010. All 3 of our little ones are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where they will be for the next several weeks. Angie and I are the only ones allowed to see them while they are in NICU so we thought by starting a blog we could more easily keep our family and friends updated on their progress. We will try to update the blog as often as possible with pictures and information on how each of our little ones are doing.

Interestingly enough, the three little ones were born in the same order as they had been "labled" while inside: babies A, B, and C. They were born about a month earlier than we expected, at 29w6d. Below is a little birth info.

Baby A: Emery Elise, 3 lbs. 2 oz., 10:33AM
Baby B: Grayson Raleigh, 2 lbs. 11 oz., 10:34AM
Baby C: Nathan Brooks, 2 lbs. 4 oz., 10:35AM

A lot has happened in the past three days since they were delivered, so we'll try to spare you too many of the details on how we got to where we are today. All three babies are stable and looking good. We've been told they will lose up to 10% of their body weight in the first week as a result of them getting rid of the extra fluid they have in their bodies from being in the womb. It sounds like by the time we get to week two they will be back up to their birth weights and should then gain an ounce a day from there forward. All three have been receiving fluid nurishment (through IV) over the past few days and all of them started formula feeding today. The formula feeding is done using a feeding tube that goes in through the mouth and goes all the way into their stomachs. This is done because they would have too much difficulty trying to swallow the food and it's better to just "drop off" the food right in the belly. It is a good sign that so far they have been able keep the formula down since premies generally have digestive systems that are behind the curve when compared to full-term babies.

Here's a picture of Emery. When first coming out of delivery, Emery was considered to be acting "lazy" and had to initially be place on a venilator to assist her breathing. After about a day on the venilator, she showed signs of improvement and was removed from the venilator and placed on a CPAP (don't know what the acronym means). In simplest terms, there are varying degrees of breathing assistance that can be provided to the babies. The venilator actually initiates each breath for the baby and provides oxygen and pressure to keep their lungs open and prevent the lungs from collapsing. It is essentially breathing for them. The CPAP is similar, but the baby intitiates the breath, the machine detects the breath, and then provides the oxygen and pressure necessary to keep the lungs inflated. The amount of assistance the CPAP provides can be adjusted depending on how much the baby needs it. Since being placed on the CPAP, the doctors have been slowly reducing the amount of assistance the machine is providing and it sounds like she may come off the CPAP altogether in the next couple days if her checkups continue to go well. After the CPAP, she would simply be provided oxygen. One more thing about this picture and the others posted here, the bright, and in some cases, blue light over the babies will be used for the next few days or so to prevent jaundice. With the light comes their little "sunglasses". Pretty typcial for all newborns apparently.

Here's a shot of Grayson, who never needed the venilator, just the CPAP. And similarly, the docs are slowyly weaning him off the CPAP. One other thing with the CPAP, the oxygen mixture can be changed to accomodate whatever the baby requires, currently all the babies are receiving a 21% oxygen mixture, which is the same oxygen content we all breath outside the incubator.

Here's a picture of the littlest one, Nathan. He started on the CPAP, but was moved to a venilator after some issues breathing. Fortunately he was moved back the CPAP yesterday and has shown signs of improvement. In other news, he and the other babies have been doing well with their daily blood work and other types of monitoring.

Ang and I are very proud of out little fighters and we have enjoyed every minute that we have been able to spend here at the hospital. It'll be tough once Angie is discharged on Tuesday and we lose our base of operation, so to speak. It's been nice to spend the nights here knowing that the little ones are right downstairs and that we can visit them any time of the day, and within a five minute walk. After tomorrow we'll just have to get used to the fact that we'll be driving back and forth over the next two months. Whatever it takes.