We are 2 weeks old....

Hi all, I know everyone has been waiting patiently for us to update the blog. I was staying at the Ronald McDonald house from Wednesday until today (Ryan joined me on Friday) so I could go to the hospital several times a day. Which didn't leave me with much time to update the blog. We had a great experience at the Ronald McDonald house. It allowed us to be close to the babies and to be able to visit with them several times a day as it is within walking distance of the hospital. We will likely be staying there again in the coming days. This week I am going to try to stay home so I can get some things done around the house. I can FINALLY drive again so I will be able to get around a lot easier.

On to more important news....update on the babies. They are all doing really well. They each have their little set backs from time to time but nothing that a normal preemie wouldn't deal with. We are thankful everyday that they are so healthy. We know that it could be a lot worse being that they were born so early. They are all gaining weight: Emery is about 3lbs 8oz, Grayson is about 3lbs 3oz and Nathan is about 2lbs 8oz. They are all receiving 24 calorie formula or breast milk now. When they first start feeding they are only on 20 calorie formula/breast milk. Once they get to a certain point they increase the calorie in take so that they can start gaining more weight. Grayson had a little set back yesterday with his feedings. They increased his feeding pretty rapidly over the last few days and his belly just couldn't take it. Since his belly is irritated they have discontinued his feeds until tomorrow to give his belly a rest. He has been receiving all his nutrients from IV fluids. They will be starting his feeds again tomorrow. His bili numbers have also gone back up so he is back under the bili lights. It is pretty normal for newborns to go back under the lights several times but we are hoping this will be his the last time. The nurses have started bundling all of them and they really love it. When they are unbundled they seem to flail around a lot and seem to not really settled down.

We have been holding them as much as we can. It's the best feeling in the world holding them and being able to look at them outside their isolettes. We know they really like it as well. Their vitals are usually the best when we are holding them. We have had to divide and conquer quite a bit over the last few days to be able to do all their hands on (changing diapers & taking tempatures) and to be able to hold them. We are constantly going from one room to the next. It would be easier if they were all in the same room but for now they do not have space for them all to be in the same room.

Here are some pics of them all bundled up: Emery is in the first pic, Grayson is in the second and Nathan is the last one.







Here are some pics of us holding them.

Emery....







Grayson....







Nathan.....





And we will say good bye with a smile from Nathan.....

Back to work...

Hi All, Sorry we haven't posted any news for you to read so far this week. It has been a hectic few days as Ryan went back to work on Monday, which makes for really long days. I was at the hospital almost all day on Monday (which I loved). Lindsay took me to the hospital around noon and then picked me up at 3pm (Thank you Linds, you are an amazing friend). After getting home around 4, I turned around and went back to the hospital with Ryan at 5pm. Needless to say I was exhausted that night. Yesterday, I didn't get to the hospital until the evening with Ryan. We were there longer than the night before because we got to hold both Nathan and Grayson. Ryan and I had to divide and conquer to be able to do so but it was worth it. We both did Kangaroo Care with the boys and it seems that they love it. The more time we spend with the boys the more we realize their similarities. They both wrinkle their foreheads, squirm a lot in their sleep and make grunting noises in their sleep. It will be so amazing when they are together and we get to learn more and more about them.

We haven't been able to hold Emery since Ryan held her over the weekend. Over the last few days she has been breathing a little heavy. She seems to be taking more short breaths instead of longer deeper breaths. They think it may be because she has reflux. They have moved her feeding tube into her intestines, elevated her bed, and turned up her oxygen. They think these changes will help her. They are of course monitoring her very closely and will adjust her care as needed. I think I will be able to hold her later tonight. When I walked up to her isolette last night, I instantly noticed something different about her. She was in a little outfit and wrapped in a blanket. They have turned off the heat on her isolette and it is know at room temperature. This is allowing her to start to maintain her own temperature which is another step forward. At some point, we will be able to bring in outfits from home. Take a look at our little princess....



We received some REALLY good news yesterday regarding Nathan. He was diagnosed with having a moderate PDA a few days after birth. PDA is a common heart problem in premature babies. Before birth, much of a fetus' blood goes through a passageway from one blood vessel to another instead of going through the lunges, because the lungs are not developed. This passageway should close soon after birth. If it doesn't close on its on drug treatment is the first step they will take to help close the passageway. If that doesn't work then they will perform surgery to close it. Nathan had an ECHO yesterday afternoon that confirmed his PDA had closed on its own!!!! We were so thrilled to hear the news. Now that it has been confirmed that his PDA is closed they can start to increase his feeds more rapidly. Which will help our little guy gained weight and catch up with his brother and sister. Below is a picture taken when Ryan was holding him on Sunday. As soon as we get more pictures we will post them.



Grayson has come off the bili lights again. We are hoping he stays off of them this time but it will all depend on his levels staying low. He is still breathing without any assistance and has been doing well. Below is a picture of him from yesterday when he was still under the bili lights. We haven't gotten many pictures of them over the last 2 days but we will over the next few days and will post them as soon as possible.



I am going to be staying at the Ronald McDonald house the rest of the week through the weekend so that I can get to the hospital more times in a day and have a place to rest in between. Ryan will be joining me on Friday so that we will be able to spend as much time with them as we want over the weekend. We should have more pictures for everyone over the next few days. We know how much you all want to see them and we like showing them off...LOL!!

In our arms

This weekend was an exciting one for us. Ryan and I were able to hold all 3 babies. Nathan was the only one we were allowed to hold on Saturday. Grayson and Emery could not be held until today as they had to have their PICC lines adjusted on Saturday. Anytime an adjustment has to be made to their PICC lines they are unable to be held for 24 hours. I was the lucky one who got to hold Nathan on Saturday. It was such an amazing feeling to have him in my arms. He seems to really like being held. He was smiling a lot and then he eventually went to sleep.





Below are some pictures taken of Emery and Grayson on Saturday. Emery was all about her paci while Grayson was being his laid back self.





Today Ryan held Nathan and Emery and I held Grayson. I was actually allowed to do Kangaroo Care with Grayson which was so nice. Grayson had to go back under the Bili lights, as his bili numbers went back up, so they only allowed me to hold him for 30 minutes. Ryan held Nathan for an hour and Emery for about 20 minutes. She was not taking deep enough breaths so they thought it was best to put her back in her isolette. The amount of time we are allowed to hold them depends a lot on how they do with maintaining their breathing and heart rates. It's a totally different experience visiting the NICU knowing we are going to hold them in our arms instead of touching them through the isolettes. We should be able to hold them everyday going forward unless there is a medical reason preventing us from doing so. I am going to try to make it out to the hospital as much as possible so that I can hold them. I still not allowed to drive this week but have an amazing mom and friends who have offered to drive me to the hospital so I will get there one way or another.







Some additional good news is that all the babies have gained weight and their feedings are being increased on a daily basis. Emery and Grayson have passed their birth weights and Nathan is back to his birth weight. They should start to gain about an ounce a day as long as their feedings continue to increase. Consistent weight gain is a good sign so we are so happy to know they are all putting weight on and hope they continue to do so.

Happy 1 week B-Day

I can't believe that it has been one week since the delivery. Although each day feels like 2 days, it has gone by pretty quickly. Ryan and I can't believe how much has changed with the babies over the past week. We are just hoping they continue to move forward. Today was another day full of good news. Ryan and I just got back from the hospital and all 3 little ones are doing well. Nathan has been taken off his antibiotics, as his white blood cell count and platelets have come back into the normal range, which means he has fought off the infection he had. We were pretty worried about our little man so we were excited to hear the good report today. Emery and Grayson both got their PIC lines put in (IVs outside the umbilical cords) so it looks like we will be able to hold all 3 of them this weekend. We are SO excited to finally hold them in our arms. The NICU is big on Kangaroo Care. For those who don't know what Kangaroo Care is, it is a skin to skin holding method that has proven to help preemies develop. All 3 are gaining weight and should be back to their birth weight within the next few days. Their feeding are being increased just about every day so the more they eat the bigger they will get.

Here are a couple pictures of Emery that we took yesterday after her bath. You can really see how much hair she has. It was sticking up all over the place!! It is amazing how dark her hair looked the day of delivery but now that she is very clean, you can see how blonde she actually is.




The kiddos were pretty wiped out today while we were at the hospital visiting them as you can see in the pictures below. The first pic is of Nathan, second is Grayson and the third is Emery.


Tomorrow should be another exciting day for us as we should be able to hold our sons & daughter. You can count on pictures of it because we are sure to take a ton!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Baths all around

Well, the entire trio had received baths today by the time we saw them, and they were all wiped out as a result. Diaper changes will probably never be so easy again. While we were there today Nathan and Emery had their bili lights removed. So nice to be able to see their faces. Grayson actually had to go back on the bili light after he had come off it yesterday. Sounds like its pretty common for preemies to go on and off the light a few times before their numbers stablize, so we're justing hoping that he'll be finished with it in the next few days.

Today was good, we were able to do "hands on" with all three of the little ones. Hands on takes place about every four hours and consists of the docs doing a number of things with the babies including taking their tempurature and changing their diapers, which Ang and I are allowed to do if we can make it to the hospital in the right timeframe. The tough part is that all three babies aren't necessarily on the same schedule. However, today they were all within an hour or so of eachother and the staff was very accomodating in that they allowed us to go early with Nathan so that we could be sure to get the other two in as well. Sooooo, below is shot of me doing a daiper for Emery. As I mentioned before, if it weren't for the baths that seemed to have mellowed the babies, I might have been there all day. As you can see, I'm in pretty deep concentration on this one. Angie took care of Nathan and Grayson, but I was a little too consumed with watching the babies and neglected to snap any daiper changing shots (oops). But I suppose there may be a fews opportunities in the future to do so. Below are also some other pics of the trio.



Great shot of a glowing mother with her beautiful daughter.



Nathan on the light......



Nathan off the light (and super happy 'bout it).



Grayson back on the light but enjoying the rays.



Okay, till next time.

No more CPAPs

Hi All, Angie here. Today has been an emotional day for mom. You would think with me being in the hospital for almost 10 weeks, I would be happy to leave, but that isn't the case. It's really hard not being there when our babies are. I think it will get a little easier to deal with as the days pass but I will not feel 100% until they are home with us. We were at the hospital for about 4 hours today, got some new pictures and received some good information we wanted to share.

Emery and Nathan were both taken off the CPAPs and are currently on tubes providing oxygen called canulas (spelling?). We hope they will not need to go back on the CPAPs and that they continue to move forward. With the CPAP gone we were FINALLY able to see Emery's face!!! Ryan saw her the day they were born but I didn't as the CPAP had been put on her before I was able to get down to see her. When we arrived to her, she was all bundled up and very comfortable as you will see in the first picture below, but we asked if we could see her face so they turned off her light, removed her glasses and turned her a little so we could see her. That's her in the second picture below showing her pretty face.





And here's Grayson saying heelloooo while he catches some rays under the bili light. He looks pretty cool with the shades on but we'll be happy when he no longer needs the light and the shades can come off so we can see his cute little face and his curious eyes.



Here's a shot of our other little man, Nathan. Again, you can see he is off the CPAP. When we visit, Nathan is often on his belly. He seems very content in that position. Whatever makes his stay comfy.

A few more pics

Hi everyone. Here are some new pics from yesterday. We are thankful that the babies continue to do well. We can give a little more detailed update later today or tomorrow. Just wanted to make some more pictures available for everyone. The hospital internet connection isn't very fast so we haven't been able to get any videos posted yet. Hopefully we can do so when we get home.

Here is Grayson showing his face for the first time after coming off the CPAP. He is breathing room air now. The docs turned off his light for a minute so the sunglasses could come off. This is pretty much our first look at his cute little face.





Here's the other littler guy, Nathan. He is plugging along and is still on the CPAP as you can see. He's loves lying on his belly. The third pic is of Angies taking his temperature.





Last but not least is the little princess, who is actually the largest of the bunch right now. She is also still on the CPAP. We can't wait to get a good look at her face and see her hair. The CPAP may come off in the next day, we are hoping for the best. The last pic is of Ryan working a daiper change. Better hone those skills now!

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.