|
I am so terrible! I haven't updated in a few weeks. Things have been hectic bringing both boys home and having Adelynn in the hospital still. She's doing very well. She's started back on feedings and is tolerating them! We're hoping that she continues on this road and they can just add volume to her feedings and we can take her home in a couple of weeks. They're keeping a close eye on her and watching everything very closely. It's been nice having the boys home. They let us take both of them on the same day which was great! They have transitioned into our family very smoothly! We try to get out and about as much as possible and not stay at home just because we have a lot of babies! We sure miss Adelynn and can't wait until we can transition her into our home too! I cleaned out my homeschooling cabinet today. It needed some help. I plan on starting Tyson back to school on Monday. We still have some 1st grade materials to finish up for the school year. I can't wait to start school in September! I will have Tyson in 2nd grade and Aniston in Kindergarten. I really don't think it will be too hectic having the babies here and doing it all. They are on a 4 hour eating schedule, and so far, it's not been too much tougher having three than one. I know that may sound crazy, but it's true. Our good friends Eric and Ali had twins and they always said that having two was easier than one and no one would believe us when we told them that. Well, now I can say I have first hand experience and I can see where that's true. We feed them at the same time, so it's not like it takes us any longer to feed two than one, we change their diapers one right after the other, so it's easier because all the stuff is out and ready to go! There's also twice as much (three times as much soon!) satisfaction because you have two/three beautiful babies smiling at you! The only time it proves a little rough is at night when they each have their turn at fussing and you have to get up to check on them each time. That part doubles, but other than that, we've eased into our new lives a little easier than I thought! That was a pleasant surprise! Here's some photos of the babies:
|
|
Adelynn looked so much better today! I had to post a photo of her! She was so alert! Bless her little heart! She started her feedings today. She's getting 2 ML every six hours of breastmilk and we'll see over the next week how her intestines tolerate it. Please pray for her!
|
|
I know I've made a couple of entries today, but here's some more photos from this afternoon... Adelynn
Evan
Landon
|
|
Keith's been spending every night at the hospital with the babies and here are his updates for today: Both boys are expected to come home by the end of next week. We get to give Evan his first bath today! Both boys are doing extremely well! Adelynn is doing well this morning. She isn't needing much pain medication and is responding when we talk to her. She'll also hold on to your finger for quite some time. X-rays came back good, she's still moving something through her bowel that was stuck for awhile, but it is slowly making it's way down. She's starting to coo again, which is wonderful because she was a very talkative and happy baby before all this happened. She's also on room air instead of having her incubator turned on and she's also off oxygen. The best news is that they took the IV out of her scalp and are using her central line to her heart now. One less thing to hurt her. I posted Adelynn's story and the latest photos below. I don't have many photos of Adelynn compared to the boys. I didn't want the flash to bother her and also didn't want photos of her being sick put up. I'll post more photos this evening. Thank you so much to all who are praying for her. |
|
Adelynn
Evan
Landon
|
|
My baby. On our way of checking out of the hospital on Monday, we got a call from the head doctor of the NICU wanting us to immediately come down. Keith and I dropped what we were doing and ran down to have four of the top doctors waiting to talk to us. We were taken into a small room and told that Adelynn had a poopy diaper with mucus in it. They decided to immediately take her to x-ray and found out that she had Necrotizing Enterocolitis. She had no other warning signs. It had taken over her liver, intestines and her colon. Completely. They told us in that room that we needed to call our family in and have our children come to the hospital to see her before she got worse. They told us she had a 25% chance of death in the next 10 hours and that it would be a good idea to have her baptized if we chose to. Keith and I literally dropped. Our well baby, the one that was bigger than the other two had within 1 hour became one of the sickest babies in the NICU. They told us it was one of their worst cases they see. WIthin a few hours she was heading downhill fast, but she never had any of the side effects that we were expecting. They told us in the first two hours she had a 90% chance she would need a ventilator to breathe, they would need to treat her for shock, her body would shut down, she would need blood and bone marrow transfusions, she would get severe sleep apnea, her blood pressure would have problems, etc... She had none, but fought like crazy for the first two nights. She was miserable, but we couldn't give her pain medication because her heart would have too many decelerations and she would have to go on the ventilator. She has been suffering greatly the past few days. My poor, beautiful little daughter. Over the past few days, her x-rays have slowly gotten better each day. Her blood work is staying the same if not better every day. Today they told us that her x-ray was normal for the first time. She has to stay off all food for the next week or so and then they will slowly start her back on breastmilk. Our problem now is that she has a high chance of needing intestinal surgery over the next few weeks because of bowel blockages or parts of her intestine that have died. We are praying hard that won't happen. God has already granted us a miracle with her fighting through this ordeal. We are extremely grateful and thankful. We have so many people praying for her and we can feel it. Thank you so very much. The boys are doing great. They expect Landon and Evan to be home by the end of next week. Keith and I are very tired and mentally exhausted. Keith's parents flew out right away and are here and my parents were here for a few days. It's been nice having their support. I promise to try and update as often as possible, but we are at the hospital nonstop. Please continue to pray for all three babies and especially for Adelynn, who has stolen our hearts and showed us how unbelievably strong she can be. We love her so very much. |
|
Landon after his first washing down:
Landon compared to a ball point pen:
Landon on his tummy:
Landon with his nurse:
Landon's first hour in the NICU:
Adelynn (the flat thing on her arm is to keep it straight for her IV):
Adelynn with her sunglasses from photo therapy lights for her jaundice:
Aniston's first meeting with Adelynn and Landon:
Mommy and Daddy meeting Adelynn:
Daddy and Evan:
Daddy feeding Evan:
Evan getting footprinted (he's so pale because the doctor had to cut through his placenta to get him out and he lost a lof of blood):
Evan's first buggy ride:
Mommy's hand on Evan:
Tyson meeting Evan for the first time:
I can't wait until all the kids are together so we can take some with all of them! |
|
The triplets have arrived! I'm just starting to feel somewhat like myself and I'm sorry I didn't post until now, but things were so crazy. Adelynn Elizabeth arrived first at 9:39 and was 4 lbs. 14 ozs. and 18 1/2 inches! Landon Keith was born second at 9:40 and was 3 lbs.12 ozs, and 17 3/4 inches! Evan Delwyn was born third at 9:41 and was 4 lbs. 8 ozs, and 17 inches! Here's Landon and Adelynn:
Adelynn:
Landon:
Evan:
Momma before:
|
|
Well, we're on the hourly countdown now! It seems like yesterday I called my friend Kelly after my nurse in Omaha left a message on my cell phone telling me what my hormone count was at and I immediately had her Google it because I was at Babies R Us! We knew it was high, but never in a million years did we guess we'd be blessed with triplets. We have finally come to the end of our journey and we are feeling extremely blessed and so, so happy. Keith and I took a tour of the well baby nursery, the operating room, recovery area and the labor and delivery floor yesterday. I have to say, I'm pretty freaked out about the surgery. I've never had surgery and I think it's the unknown and not being able to control the situation that have me worried, but Keith will be right there on one side of me, and God is in my heart and I couldn't have a better team than that! We saw four babies lined up in the well baby nursery. I looked at Keith and I said, "In a few days, we'll be taking THREE of those home with us!" It was like he was told we were expecting triplets all over again. We have had so much support from friends and family and we are extremely thankful to everyone who has called, left messages and prayed. There are so many people standing beside us. I am so grateful for all of you. Things have been fairly normal for me at the hospital the past few days. My blood pressure decided to spike tonight. 175/107, which is very high considering I'm on a medicine to keep my blood pressures in check. I think the medicine is Procardia. They'll be keeping an eye on it throughout the night. It would be just like the little stinkers to come 1 day early...enough to throw our plans off! :-) I will have Keith post photos on Friday probably late morning early afternoon. Please pray for a safe delivery for all of us. Tyson and Aniston have been patiently counting down the days and they are so excited! They have been clear out of their element the past few weeks and I'm looking foward to putting them back on their schedules and continuing their schoolowork and getting things back into a good routine for all of us. They are happy that Grammy is here with them. Especially Aniston. Keith is officially off work after today and he's doing last minute touches getting everything ready because there's a good chance that all three babies will come home when I check out of the hospital on Monday or Tuesday! He's worked so hard getting things ready and trying to keep things and normal as possible for the kids. He's exhausted mentally and physically and he's ready to have his babies here. I always thought I was the head worrier of the family, but I've got to give it to him. This has been the roughest on him trying to keep everything as normal as possible and I know he's been very concerned about the the babies and I. He's done a fantastic job and I'm so glad that God blessed me with a husband who above anything else puts his family first. I love you Keith! |
|
Keith and I found out that the NICU is on complete lockdown for visitors. Keith and I will be allowed in to see the babies, but absolutely nobody else for their entire stay. Our kids aren't even allowed to go in for a quick peek. They've had to take extra precautions because of the swine flu pandemic. We've also been informed that when the babies are released from the NICU and sent home, we cannot have them around any type of cigarette smoke whatsoever. For those of our friends and family who smoke, we have to politely ask that the day you come to visit, you cannot smoke. Not even if you change your clothes or wash your hands, it will still be in your hair an on your skin. They have told us that even though they may come home with us, they are still going to be five weeks premature and that we have to take those precautions for quite some time because their immune systems will be weaker for the first year. We haven't told the kids yet that they won't be able to see the babies. It breaks my heart. I know at last count, the NICU had 53 babies by itself, so I can understand why they want to keep visitors completely limited. As soon as they're born, I'll have Keith post photos on my webpage immediately. He'll keep everyone updated as soon as he can get to my computer. I just keep working on one day at a time and now we only have 5 days left until we meet our little miracles. God has been amazing. I'll post more as I have information or news. Love you all very much! |
|
Here's some photos of the kids and the things Keith has put up in the livingroom getting ready to bring babies home. Also a pregnant photo!
|
|
Yesterday and today were sore days. At this point, I can barely walk due to the tremendous pressure. I am constantly contracting, but nobody will flip out of their breech presentation to help mommy along a little. When I woke up this morning every one of my glands in my face, neck and shoulders were completely swollen and freakishly sore. They ran a CBC right away to check for infection, but my blood was normal. I couldn't even stand the kids hugging me around my neck tonight. They said they would keep an eye out for a fever and run another CBC if it is like this again tomorrow. So weird. Keith and mom came up with the kids tonight and ordered dinner in to eat with me. It's the second time they've done it and I love it. It's nice to have people to eat with and talk to. I didn't know how much I missed it until they came up and it was nice having someone to share a meal with. My doctor is going to run more liver tests on Monday, but we're still keeping our eye on Friday. Six days away. My nurses keep telling me that they just can't believe I am still pregnant. My blood pressure started going back up a little last night and today, so we're watching that too. Babies are moving less and less with the contractions. I think they're so cramped at this point that they don't want to move. We have a good set of friends who are leaving Colorado Springs today. My friend Jen C. and her husband and two kids are leaving to South Carolina. That's the way military life goes. Jen has meant a great deal to me and we watched our husbands each leave twice for a year. She has kept me company, kept me sane on some days and always is praying over us. They were such good homeschooling friends and they will be dearly missed. The good news is, they are only 1/2 hour from where my in-laws live! Have a safe trip Jen and Jason. We love you and we're praying for your new adventure! I'm sure life will bring us together in the future. |
|
All of my bloodwork and 24 hour urine test results came back. There are some things that are slightly elevated, but overall, everything is fairly normal. They're going to run another battery of tests in a few days to check on me then, but we're still on go for next Friday for the c-section. I am baffled. The head doctor said there is no good reason to deliver me. My blood pressure has returned back to normal...mostly reading 120's over 70's again...go figure! I think my body is so confused at this point it can't make it's mind up! Today I never made it out of my PJ's. I am very hot flashy, I've had several light-headed spells and I've been nautious a few times. I am still contracting...they are not as often. Once every four-six minutes and they are extremely hard. Enough that in order to sleep I'm going to have to accept meds again, which I feel awful about. We are just so excited to meet our babies and we don't like waiting on the ups and downs to see what's going to happen next. I'm trying to keep it foremost in my mind that God isn't ready for one reason or another to bring them into this world. I feel very fortunate that I received my 4th and final steriod shot this morning at 9 a.m. The babies will now have the best possible chance that any set of triplets can possibly have. As far as my doctor is concerned, Keith and I had a meeting with the patient advocate who was very understanding and agreed that the doctor has crossed the line. We've asked for her to be removed from my care. I have two other doctors in the same office who are brilliant and they will at least answer our questions and don't seem to have the "let's wait and see" approach. Right now my main focus is to rest, rest, rest and stay calm, calm, calm. I'm still worried about little Landon, but everything is in God's hands at this point. I may not understand it, but I know everything is happening for a reason. I am grateful for everything that everyone has said and done. It means the world to Keith and I. I can't express that enough. We love you all. I'll update again tomorrow and remind Keith to bring the camera!! |
|
The last few days have brought good and bad. Let's start with the good. I am blessed that I received steriod shot #3 and will receive my 4th and final tomorrow morning. It's a very good thing for all three babies. Most women don't even get one in time and God blessed me with #3 and hopefully #4 tomorrow. Yesterday and the day before were good. Other than pelvic pain, I kept about 6 contractions an hour, which is good. The kids have done really well on their visits and my mom came to spend time with the kids so that they have a little bit more normalcy. We've still got Kelly (love you Kelly) on back-up, but her husband is coming home from deployment on July 3 and they are moving right after. The kids have loved having my mom here and it has helped Keith greatly. Keith is getting ready to start a second college class and he's doing very well in the other one. It's even raining enough every day that we haven't had to water our lawn! Today was a very, very bad day. I've been full on contracting since this morning. They are every 3 minutes apart and are lasting 1-3 minutes each. They are hard and I'm rating them at about 6.5-7 out of 10. I know what 10 is like after birthing Aniston without meds. My doctor is extrememly brilliant. She is incredibly smart, but her bedside manner and her manner to those around her isn't the best. However, I've never been on the receiving end of it, so I decided to ignore it because I knew she was the best in Colorado and that was important to me. Things have changed. Because baby A (Landon) is on the bottom, he has now gone into a breech position and doesn't have his head in the birth canal. This is a problem because I'm in full on labor, yet my body can't progress because there's not a head pushing down into my bith canal with each contraction causing it to dialate. That's right, call me Mrs. Cervix of Steel. I am not dialated the least bit and I my uterus is soft, but very thick. Now, they want to medicate, medicate, medicate. Landon's amniotic fluid has gone down about 2.5 points in the past two days. He's not at a dangerous level yet, but he's nearing closer and closer. He's also a pound behind the other two, he's the one being laid on and squashed the most and my "mommy meter" is pegged with worry for my son. He's always the one who has had trouble getting all eight points on the biophysical profile and I am finished. I am done. My blood pressure is high. It was 158/101 today. Now mind you, I'm on Procardia, which is a big-time heart medication. They found out it helps stop labor too, which is why I'm on it. They have started a 24 hour urine at 4 a.m. this morning to see if I have any protein in my urine. IF I do, they are taking me off of the Procardia and watch to see what happens. One or two of three things will happen: Nothing, I will go into severe preeclampsia and have to have a c-section right away or I will start contracting and dialating (which is happening now, but I CAN'T dialate). I essentially told the doctor that the only reason they have kept me on the Procardia up to this point is because if my blood pressure gets too high, it goes right down after taking it. Also, if I start contracting, they will give me my dose early to ease the contractions, which up until today has worked fairly well. I DO NOT WANT TO RISK MY LIVES OR THE LIVES OF MY THREE CHILDREN ANYMORE! I have made it almost to the end. I am nine days away. I spoke last night to the head neonatologist and he said I am only the second woman he's seen since he's been here to make it this far with triplets. He said the babies will be in the NICU for a week, but that they should do beautifully. I have to do a c-section either way and I don't want to risk anything to see how far they can get me to go (which is a big deal to the head doctor...p.s. I am NOT wanting to be used as their statistic) or sit in a bed and wait for my health to go totally south while they do an emergency c-section. I am not making an uneducated decision based on nothing. I tried to talk to my doctor, who didn't like having any questions asked or someone disagree with her. She has never had children, yet she tells me, "I totally understand how you feel." She also told me that these are the exact resons most people don't "choose" to have triplets. That was it for me. I love my babies. God gave Keith and I these babies. I have starting seeing light spots with my vision, which happens with preeclampsia, and I have had a few minor headaches, also associated with preeclampsia. I know things aren't terrible, but I know we're starting to get close to having things go haywire and I don't want to risk it. Keith is terribly worried. My kids want their mommy. I don't want to be an experiment anymore and I want my babies born before things start going badly. My doctor told me she wouldn't answer anymore of my questions or address my concerns until my 24 hour urine comes back tomorrow and she walked out of my room while I was trying to talk to her. Very unprofessional. If my urine comes back with no protein, we just let my body contract like crazy and keep watching the babies and take them emergency if they start not handling the contractions very well. They only take their heartones twice a day and I have a biophysical profile every other day. It's not enough! It's too far apart to catch something! Let's also keep in mind that if I don't have protein in my urine tomorrow, I could have on Friday or Saturady, which is not being closely monitored because they only dip my urine on Monday mornings. Oy yoy yoy yoy. I am trying like crazy to remember that God is in charge and that he takes rank over my doctor. I am trying to remain calm about poor Landon. I am praying my children won't remember that I wasn't there for them. I am thankful for my super wonderful loving husband. I am thankful that my mom is here. I am thankful for all the phone calls from friends and family. I am thankful for all the messages, text messages, etc. I love all of you for it. I am trying to remember that God will never leave my side. The amount of prayer support we have received has brought me to my knees. I will have Keith bring the camera tomorrow and download pictures that he took of our livingroom or "baby grand central station". I will post results of my urine and protein tomorrow evening or afternoon. I'm not sure when the lab will be finished with it. Please pray for my husband, my children and myself. Also, the doctors who are taking care of us. My other two doctors have still been blessings to me, but there's nothing they can say or do because the head doctor is their boss. I have even talked to patiend advocacy over their office...guess who her boss is...the main doctor that I have. How that works, I don't know. But anyway, I'm going to sign off. The one thing I didn't want to to, drug our babies with narcotics because I can't stand the pain anymore has now happened. I'm on two vicoden every two hours. The guilt from that hasn't been pleasant. I'll write an update tomorrow. I love you all. |
|
Here's our latest update: The doctor came in to visit with me today and told me that my blood pressure is still going up. One of the medicines I have to take daily to keep my contractions at bay, Procardia, should be making my blood pressure a lot lower because it is also used as a heart medication, but regardless, I'm still raising even though I'm on it. She said if I wasn't on it, my blood pressures would be a whole lot higher. SO, Tuesday they are going to run a liver function profile and then on Wednesday do a 24 hour urine to check for protein. My doctor suspects that I will have some, so they are going to give me a second round of steriod shots starting on Wednesday and ending on Thursday. Then, if my blood pressure keeps elevating and my test for my urine and liver come back elevated, they are going to schedule the c-section for this upcoming Friday. I am still conrtracting, but not as frequently. When I do have contractions they are lasting longer and they're a whole lot harder. My doctor said that I may not even make it to Friday, but we're trying to plan ahead as much as possible. My hips and bottom are hurting badly from the stretching and the laying and sitting a lot. There's not much they can do about that, but I'm limited to laying on my left side or sitting up due to the fact that some of my Heparin shots have caused hematomas under them. The little "cyst" nodules are extrememly painful to lay on. I'm also swollen beyond belief and they are taking all of that into consieration. I love my doctor. She's compassionate and she listens. Keith is happy and is counting on Friday being the delivery day. He's literally ready to bust at the seams with excitement. I know how badly he wants to hold his three babies and I can't wait to give them to him. Please continue to pray for our family and for the safe delivery of all three babies. I will keep updating my blog as we get more information. Love you all. |