'D-Day"

On September 5th at 9:50pm, 9:51pm and 9:52pm our babies were born 7 weeks early via c-section.
Casey Patrick was the oldest and heaviest at 4lbs 9oz.
Mitchell Ty was in the middle at 3lbs 13 oz.
Maggie Marie was our littlest peanut at 2lbs 15 oz.

Casey was the biggest of the three but struggled the most on the outside world in the first few days. He was intubated for 3 days and then needed oxygen for just a few days after. After that he took off and never looked back. Casey was a little bit ahead of the other two with most things...he had the first bottle, first breast feeding attempt, first into a basinette and in the end the first one home. He seemed to be the laid back one of the bunch.

Here is Casey within the first few days.



Mitchell was intubated just overnight and then also needed oxygen for a little while after. He was, and still is, our little curious george...he looks at you and all around with such inquisitive eyes. When Mitchell was about two weeks old Daniel swore that he saw him crawling! He liked being on his tummy - he would be all crunched up with his knees in and bum up and then kind of scoot forward. He still curls up like a little koala on us.
Here is Mitchell in his first few days.



Maggie didn't need any help breathing in the beginning. She did need some oxygen off and on over the next few weeks. Maggie developed a bit of a reputation in the NICU for being a small but feisty little firecracker, a busy body. It was quite a sight to watch Maggie take her bottles. She would get so excited and just suck and suck and suck so hard and so fast that she didn't take the time to breathe. There was one day that she ate twice as much as she usually did and then ended up feeling like we do after a big Christmas supper...a little ill. It was like she was saying "you boys took my food when we were inside mommy, I won't let you take it again."

And Maggie in her first few days with us.


It was amazing to us to think that these 3 little babies were finally here and besides needing a little bit of oxygen they were totally healthy. We were so happy to finally meet them and just couldn't wait to get them home.

Where It All Began

On February 19th after many many months of waiting, we were ecstatic to find out that we were pregnant. Two weeks later we got the biggest shock of our lives to find out that that our family was about to grow faster that we ever imagined. Once we got over the initial shock we were so excited!!
Sadly, we lost one of our little angels at 12 weeks. It was a very hard time to go through, but we kept trying to tell ourselves that our 3 babies had a very good chance of being healthy.

My pregancy was fairly uneventful. I had "all-day sickness" for the first 3 months and a lot of fatigue. However, I know many women who were carrying just one baby that felt a lot worse than I did. I finished work at 20 weeks and spent the next (almost) 13 weeks trying to relax and getting ready for our babies to come. I was lucky to be able to remain fairly active up until the babies came. I was never on bedrest, I was just told to take it easy and rest as much as I could. I was at Costco with my friend Jen a few days before the babes were born (although I think I remember having a nice long nap after the shopping trip).
We had a fantastic doctor who we were very comfortable with and who took great care of the four of us. Unfortunately she was away when it was time for our babies to come, but another great doctor filled in for her.


31 weeks pregnant


On Sept. 2nd I went for my weekly ultrasound and the doctor was a little concerned about Maggie's size so she sent me for more tests to be done later that week. During those tests they realized that Maggie was not moving around quite as much as she should have been. When I saw the doctor later that day my blood pressure was extremely high and my liver enzymes were elevated. The doctor told me that I had developed HELPP syndrome and it would be best for the babies and for me to deliver them that night! So I went home and got my bag, called Daniel to come home from the golf course and we were back at the hospital about an hour later.


An hour or two before the babies were born.