Londyn's all settled in!

Thursday was a big day for our baby girl...she came home!!  At only 8 days old and still weighing under 4 pounds, this little fighter surprised everyone including us!  She was the first one to move out of her incubator into the open crib, then continued to maintain her temps, oxygen, and feeding, beating her brothers home!

Of course we were thrilled, but I think my sisters were even more excited b/c they haven't even been able to hold her while she was in the NICU, and have been waiting 9 months for this moment :)  Londyn's also had fun visits from her other "adopted" aunts- Kelley, Darcie, and Christi (more pics to come!)

She has been SUCH an easy, calm baby so far.  If not for waking her up to do feedings every 3 hours, you'd hardly know she is here...just a few cute little noises occasionaly, but her lungs must be too tiny to cry much yet!

The hardest part is balancing our time with her, and that of traveling back and forth each day to the med center to see and feed her brothers.  At least we know she's in good hands with mom (Cee Cee).  When we came back one day, mom had her all dressed up for us :)

 

Layton and Lance are still doing really good....both out of the incubators and keeping levels stable. We though Layton was coming home Friday, but he didn't pass his nicu carseat test (they stay connected to all their monitors while sitting in their carseat which is SO huge for them right now.  His oxygen dropped at one point, so he barely failed).   IF he can retest and pass, he'll come home tomorrow.  Lance has to maintain temps in the open crib a bit longer, then take his test, but it's possible he could be discharged tomorrow too!


**I want to thank sweet Christi Corbin for setting up a fabulous meal calendar, and also to all of you who have signed up or already brought by delish dinners!  We appreciate it SO much, and are so thankful to have one less thing to worry about during the chaos of all 3 being home!  Yall are blessing us more than you know!!

home, but without babies :(

Home, sweet home--well not as sweet without the babies yet, but still feels good!  I was discharged last night, so we stayed as long as possible to hold our babies and love on them!

They have all been doing great and making progress, but are still no where near being ready to go home :(  Londyn is still behind the boys at 3 lbs 9 oz, but boys aren't too far ahead and still right around 4 pounds.  They have been breathing and feeding on their own (Lance has been an all-star breast feeder, the others are still trying to get their teensy mouths to work with that!)  All IVs are out, but they are still connected to lots of monitors and cords.

Next step is to move out of their isolette incubators to the regular open cribs when they can maintain a temperature for set time (should be in a few days).  Dr. said yesterday it's possible for one to come home near the weekend, but no promises!
Meanwhile, we are so thankful that lots of family has been able to visit them in the NICU.  Originally we were told only us and grandparents could, but we got lucky b/c of some sweet nurses and connections, and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc have been able to sneak a peek :)   No one can feed them but us and our parents, but i'm so glad others don't have to wait too long :)

Here is some of their family seeing them over the past few days :)

The babies are even able to wear clothes over their monitors now, although even the tiniest preemie ones we have our still big on them!  It's hard to show through pictures, but their little bodies are so little it's unbelievable!  With each day we're feeling more comfortable with feeding, changing, etc. but it's so different than any newborn i've held before. 

We were also so blessed by other family and friends who visited us in the hospital, and also sent beautiful gifts to make my room a very happy place!  Thank you all so much for your kindness!!



Happy Birthday Babies!!!

The babies are here!!!  I'm finally getting a few free minutes to type, so i'll make it quick and then post more later!
 Let's start from the night before:   Dr. had me check in and stay the night at the hospital just to start all the monitoring, meds, etc since surgery would get started early wednesday.  Had several visitors come by that night and before the delivery to reassure me!  Come 4:30am, we were very unrested, but so ready to go!!

On August 10, at 6:48, 6:49, and 6:50 am our 3 new loves made their debut!! Here is them first meeting the world:

Lance Craig  4lbs   17 in

Layton Jack   4lbs, 6oz    17in

Londyn  Grace  3 lbs, 9oz     16 in

While dr was finishing up on me, they whisked them away to stabilize and show daddy.  Amazingly, there weren't any "Huge" issues that required immediate action, so I was able to hold 2 of them while still on the operating table. 

Lance needed oxygen and had to go under the hood, but i still got to touch him through the incubator!


While I was in recovery, the took all 3 to our waiting families for a quick view on the way to the Nicu, then grandparents were able to go see them up there.

Since they made it to 34.5 weeks, we weren't expecting any life threatening issues upon birth, but definitely thought they'd need some help breathing, feeding, etc.  Amazingly, only Lance needed oxygen!  They still have to have lots of monitors on fully time, along with IVs and a few other tubes, but we were SO happy with the way they arrived!
We were even able to have our sisters go visit for a bit that day, then later I was able to be wheeled up to hold them!

  

Over the next few days, babies have continued to grow and do well!  They are all feeding on their own, and only Londyn still has her IV in her head for extra nutrients.  They've dropped to below 4 pounds, but that's to be expected. 

Timmy has been staying full time in my room even though we don't get ANY sleep, but he has been an amazing daddy with the trio, and a HUGE help to me! There's no way I could pump every 2 hours or be able to visit them as much as I do if he weren't here!  It has been SO hectic and we've had probably a total of 2-3 hours of sleep each night, but we couldn't ask for anything more!  Between dr visits, nurse consults, lots of family and friends visiting, pumpings, feedings, and just holding our loves, we don't have any spare time to rest, but i'd take that anyday over not having londyn, layton, and lance!

Our families have also been so amazing with taking care of us, doing feedings, and spoiling their first grandbabies already!!

I'll be staying until Sunday, but we have no idea yet when the babies will come home. 

LOTS more pics to come, but we have to go up to Nicu now!

reached the goal!!

Well, this will be my last post as a “normal” 26 year old in a family of 2!   I still cannot believe they will be here in a few days!  Our delivery has been moved up to Wednesday at 6:30 am (Dr. wanted this earlier time originally but couldn’t get it till now).  I’ll go see her Tues. morning to get final weights, pre-op stuff, etc. then she’s having me check into the hospital that day to be monitored and so that things aren’t so hectic the next morning.

Made it to 34 weeks!  This was past my original goal, far enough along for dr to be happy, and 2-3 weeks past the average triplet stay!   So thankful that they are still hanging on, and even more thankful for a relatively “easy” multiples pregnancy!  Since I have nothing to compare it to, I would say this journey didn’t turn out to be near as unbearable or crazy as I anticipated!  Granted, the many tests, frequent dr/hospital visits, long time off work, and overall reduction in what I was “allowed” to do was at times very frustrating!  But I feel so lucky to have had the experience I did…I know very well from many other blogs, tv shows, nurse stories, etc. that many mommies aren’t so fortunate to have it this good.  If I had to do it all over again, I definitely would and could….IF we decided later to have another, this might make that singleton pregnancy seem easy.  That’s a big IF by the way J, you never know!

More than anything, I just wanted to say thanks again to all of you for your amazing encouragement and support over these past months.  I know it’s cliché, but I honestly could not have made it this long without feeling so loved and built up by so many people.  God has continued to reveal his awesome love, grace, and peace that surpasses all understanding through my amazing family, friends, co-workers, and even people I’ve never met but who still send me such love!

Please keep us in your prayers on Wednesday and the next few weeks as they continue to grow and develop in the NICU.  I know they will be in good hands there, but it’s still scary to think of all those tubes, IVs, machines, etc. that will be helping them out.  Mom’s already got the room decorations and Incubator name signs all ready to go (of course she does), so at least they will be arriving in style J

Here's a Final "Stats" update:

how far along?  34 weeks

diagram of the trio!

how are you measuring?  Close to 44 weeks
size of babies?  Should be over 4 pounds each…hopefully 4.5 when we go on Tues.

total weight gain  +38 pounds

stretch marks?  Looks like it’s not happening!!
sleep?  Falling asleep quickly, but still wake up at least every hour to go to bathroom, take my nighttime meds, etc.

maternity clothes?  Oh yes! Mostly a big tank or tee around the house b/c it’s so hot!!

 best moment this week?  Setting the date for delivery, and then having it moved up!!

movement?   YES—they’ve been squirming a lot! Londyn keeps pressing with a hand, and Lance has the hiccups almost daily ha!



The pretty pearl necklace
 (3 peas in a pod) that's
 to be my "push present"
Love it!



food cravings? Anything cold/frozen…lots of smoothies, ice cream, juice, etc

what i miss:  going grocery shopping! I’m a bit OCD with my lists, coupons, planning, etc--Had to send timmy this week, and he did a good job (after the 4 phone calls to ask about types of cheese, etc. J) He’s done an awesome job with the cooking--i’m so lucky to have a guy that genuinely loves cooking (and watching Food Network), trying new recipes, and actually makes delicious stuff!

what I'm looking forward to:  WEDNESDAY of course!!! 

how are you feeling?  Not bad!! Still able to move around the house, but mostly staying on couch so nothing will get stirred up! Often tired and still having lots of contractions, but last week Dr. upped my meds for that and it’s helping a lot!