Home At Last

Finally we had everyone home on October 3rd, just shy of 1 month old. It was a bit of a hectic time but we actually settled into things pretty quickly. Daniel was off work when the babies were born and then again when everyone was home. Both my parents and Daniel's were here with us off and on to help us out. We appreciated it so much!
At first the babes were eating every 3-4 hours throught the day and night. They didn't start stretching out their night time feedings until they were about 3 months old. That first month or two was kind of a foggy blur of feeding, me pumping, washing/preparing/sterilizing bottles over and over in a day. In the beginning I spent over 12 hours of the day/night feeding, pumping and doing bottle stuff.
Basically once everyone was fed and sleeping there was very little time to do anything except clean up and start getting ready for the next feeding.
Sleep came in bits and pieces through out the night but I could usually get a total of 4-5 hours. Your body just learns to function on less sleep (as all of you parents know). I know you are supposed to sleep when the baby(ies) sleep, however, that just wasn't as easy with 3 babies. I did get a few naps in when we had grandmas or grandpas with us.
I had problems with my incision not healing properly and went through a few weeks of home care coming to the house. It kept getting worse, so I had to go back in for another surgery to clean things up. I just had to stay overnight in the hospital and then came home the next day. What a relief it was to finally get that healed!


We quickly figured out the best way to feed 3 babies at one time. If I would have fed everyone separtately that is all I would have done all day. So in the beginning I sat on the floor with all 3 propped up on a pillow in front of me. Two bottles held with one hand and one with the other. It only took a little while to really get the hang not only feeding, but the burping part when everyone else wanted to keep eating.

After they got a little bigger I would have two on a pillow in front of me and one in a bouncy chair beside me. Maggie is the one usually in the chair because she is lighter than Casey to lift in and out of the chair with one arm and Mitchell is too squirmy. I could prop Maggie's bottle up with receiving blankets if I needed two hands for the boys. We have it down to a science now.


Daniel has mastered feeding two at once, so sometimes I get to cuddle just one baby. Or if we have company over and it's mealtime they get handed a baby pretty much as they walk in the door.

NICU Days

Everyday we couldn't wait to get back to the hospital to see Casey, Mitchell and Maggie and find out what kind of a night they had and how they were doing so far that day. When Daniel was back at work he would come to the hospital in the evenings. I would be there for most of the day and then again in the evenings. It was tiring to be spending most of the days there, pumping either at home or at the hospital and then back again in the evening. But I did not want to be anywhere else than with our little ones.
Most of the days there were good days. They were doing so well progressing from IV feeds at the start to tube feeds and then finally to bottle feeds. They also moved from very warm isolettes to having the roof taken off and finally to being in a basinette. We looked forward to hearing how many grams everyone had gained from the day before. That meant that were that much closer to coming home. Once they could eat well without any issues (no need for oxygen), they could maintain their temperature in a basinette and they were steadily gaining weight and at or near 5 lbs, they would be ready to come home.

Casey

Mitchell

Maggie


We had been waiting and wishing to hold all three of our babies at the same time for months and months. That day finally came two weeks after they were born. I was holding Mitchell at the time and a very nice nurse brought Maggie over to me and said that "she misses her brother" and handed her to me. Another nurse went and got Casey and all three of them (the four of us) were finally together again. It was such a wonderful moment to hold all of them together for the first time.





Our first family picture came the day that Casey was being discharged. This was also the first time that Daniel got to hold everyone at once.




On September 26th, Casey came home after being in NICU for 3 weeks. He enjoyed his time at home having mom and dad all to himself. Mitchell and Maggie had to do a little more work to do with eating. Then one week later on October 3rd, after 4 weeks in NICU, Mitchell and Maggie both came home.
Words cannot describe how great it felt to have everyone home with us and healthy.
This is the first picture of all of us at home. You can't really tell from the picture but they looked pretty tiny on those car seats.

'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.