1 week 1 day old (all three to come home tomorrow)

Paul (pooping?)

Alex (1 hour car seat testing)

Juliet (fashion statement thanks to creative NICU nurses)

1 week old

Paul (NG tube out)

Alex (still in NICU for 'technical reasons')

Definition: Technical reasons in NICU = delay that has nothing to do with the babies health. For example, malfunction in the A/C system plummets the temp in the room. The baby gets cold, someone records it in the chart, can't release the baby for 24 hours.

Juliet (in bassinet)

Day 6

Paul with Grandma

Alex (was to go home next day)

Juliet (last day in isolette)

Big Sister (set up a swing out of the box all by herself)

Day 5

Paul

Alex

Juliet

Day 4

Paul

Alex

Juliet off all oxygen

Day 3

Paul with Dad Kangaroo

Alex with big sister

Juliet off CPAP (on nasal canula oxygen)

Day 2

Alex off everything

Paul with NG tube

Juliet on CPAP

3 hours old

Paul

Alexander

Juliet

1st pictures

Alex

Juliet

Paul

Finally here on Thursday September 17, 2009

I didn't make it till next week. I had an appointment on Thursday 9/17/09. They measured the babies and decided that Paul is not growing fast enough. 

Here is the estimate of their weights that day by ultrasound:

     Baby A (Paul) - 3 lb 15 oz

     Baby B (Alexander) - 4 lb 10 oz

     Baby C (Juliet) - 5 lb 12 oz

This estimate put Baby A 2 weeks behind his predicted date, and for the first time he was thought of to be IUGR (intrauterine growth restricted), so they decided to deliver that day. 

Here are the babies statistics at birth:

     Paul, born at 6:29 pm, at 4 lb 4 oz and 17.3 inches

     Alexander, born at 6:30, at 4 lb 12 oz & 17 inches

     Juliet, born at 6:31, at 5 lb 5 oz & 18.5 inches.

The kids are in NICU, separated by hallways. Since birth, Paul has done the best, being on room air. Alexander is doing well too, was on C-pap for less than a day. Juliet has done the worst, still on C-pap. Paul and Alexander were on gavage feeds till Saturday 9/19 and now are on the bottle. Juliet is not on gavage yet, but on TPN. My milk has not come in yet, but I am pumping every 2 hours. Yesterday I kangaroo'd all three for about 1 hour each.

Pictures to come.

Scheduled for a C-section

It's on next Thursday, September 24. This will get me to 35 weeks 2 days. It's my niece's birthday and she is a great kid :). The kid part was tongue in cheek, since she is only 9 years younger than me. She is still great, though ;).

Will I make it one more week?

Today I am 34 weeks. I continue to confuse the docs. They, like me, wonder if I have preeclampsia or not. I only have one of the two things needed for the diagnosis of it - the protein in the fluid. Blood pressure is staying stone-cold normal. The confusion led them not to schedule me for delivery today, as they would if they were sure. Instead, yesterday I went to a fetal/maternal specialist for a consultation.

The fetal/maternal doc said that I do NOT have preeclampsia (high BP is a must). Considering that babies are still growing and moving, there is no reason to deliver right away. The misery of intense constant itching of supper swollen legs and feet excluded, she thought I was doing good for 34 weeks too (at least according to labs). She said that my OB's should probably schedule me for a C-section any time between 35 and 36 weeks. It's not a sure thing, but the babies may even come home with me!

Still pregnant, yet barely so

September has been tough.
It started at the end of August with docs telling me I may be starting to have preeclampsia/toxemia of pregnancy. It usually shows up with high blood pressure and a degree of renal failure (spilling protein in urine). Even worse, at any time it may go into full blown eclampsia, with seizures. It is the biggest reason in US for maternal death. I was told that I'll be delivered no later than at 34 weeks now.
At my next appointment, the day before my 32 week mark, I got hospitalized. It sucked. The babies, who were doing great, were each on a fetal monitor. To get the fetal monitors to stay perfectly positioned, the nurses asked me to lie without much movement in the most uncomfortable position, which led to days of pretty bad neck pain. I got a lot of IV fluids, even when I was allowed to eat and drink fluids at will. In fact, I was drowning in IV fluids, getting shorter and shorter of breath. Thankfully, when I asked to stop them, they agreed. I felt so much better after that, they let me go home the next day. I felt like I escaped from prison!
My feet and legs look like dough-boy's from Pilsburry (sp?) commercials. Probably because my belly has gotten so large that not much blood can return from below the belly. The extra IV fluids didn't help either. The skin of the legs is tight and tender. The worst of all is the itching. Some days it drives me up the wall. This past Saturday it drove me to call the on-call doc, who ended up seeing me in the hospital (they tried to give me IV fluids again!!!). I escaped same day with a medication prescription.

Pregnancy

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February

We conceived the day after my 35th birthday. We had help getting pregnant (in-vitro fertilization), although at the most we expected twins. The boy in the twin pair decided to split into two - so we got a pair and a spare (two identical twins and a fraternal twin). But we did not know this till later.

March

As soon as my boss was aware that I was pregnant, I was laid off for "no particular reason". My husband works, but I was the breadwinner. The day after the lay off, we found out that there were three in the oven. I nearly cried. My husband, thankfully, chimed in with "it's going to be OK".

April & May

My daughter's 11th birthday. The house has been on the market since March in this worse than ever time to sell a house. We are hopeful, though. I am looking for jobs like crazy.

June

The house is under contract. We tell my daughter about the triplets. She is excited, even volunteers to change diapers.

July

House is sold. What a relief (it was our biggest expense). We spend a week at my husband's first ever family reunion (his parents both died within the last 2 years). It's on the Outer Banks of NC in Rodanthe. I am 24 weeks now and feeling it. I am as big as a full-term woman with one child. I am thankful for the elevator at the house that was rented at the OBX. Otherwise we temporarily live in Raleigh, renting a room in a townhouse.

August

I got a job offer. It's less pay but more stability. Nicer town. And I can start in January! We found a school for my daughter, then a place to live near the bus stop. I transfered my care to local OB's. School started and my daughter liked it despite a ton of homework (a weight off my chest).