Homeschooling With Heart - Homeschool Blogger

Everything

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:04:00 -0500

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

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:58:00 -0500

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!

More photos!

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:36:00 -0500

I know I've made a couple of entries today, but here's some more photos from this afternoon...

Adelynn

Evan

Landon

Updates

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:49:00 -0500

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.

New pictures

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:44:00 -0500

Adelynn

Evan

Landon

Adelynn Elizabeth

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:41:00 -0500

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.

New photos and info

Mon, 6 Jul 2009 02:36:00 -0500

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!

They're here!!!

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 01:43:00 -0500

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:

Hello!

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 21:41:00 -0500

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!

Update

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:18:00 -0500

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!