As Soon As You Figure Something Out, It Changes

While the meaning of the title of this post is pretty widely accepted and agreed upon, it's never been more true in my life until we had babies.  Already, I can't tell you how many times we thought we figured out exactly...

• how much food to give the girls to keep the full, yet not make them puke
• at what time to give Maddy her Prevacid and Zantac in between feedings to reduce the pain of the reflux
• what position they like best to rest and sleep
• how long or short they can stretch between feedings
• how to keep on a schedule
• how many feedings per day they'll take

...just to have it all change the next day or work well one day, then not the next.  At this age, there is no "set it and forget it" process that allows your brain to relax, not even for a moment.  Having triplets truly is taxing on the body AND mind.

If we're fortunate, next week, we'll get to throw another big variable in to our daily equation.  A variable that's invariably as cute as the others-Isabelle.  For the last week and a half, the docs and nurses at Edward NICU have been preparing her to come home after a way-too-long four-month stay.  They've continued to look for any explanation of why she may be having difficulty eating and have been practicing with a new feeding schedule.

I think I mentioned before that her ENT exam showed there was nothing anatomically wrong that would cause her to have difficulties eating, swallowing, or breathing. 

Also, the results from the MRI came back negative, too, which we were ultra excited to hear. 

Her direct billirubin numbers are also way back down, close to the normal range.  Hers was up near 4.0 and is now back down to 2.2.  2.0, and below, is considered normal.  We were expecting this to happen once she was off of the TPN and she's right on schedule!

Feeding-wise, they've been consistently sticking with a 9pm-6am continuous feed through her NG tube.  This gives her, and will hopefully give us, the most rest possible when she gets home so she can grow and we can try to keep our sanity.  She'll get four bottle-feedings per day at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, and 6pm.  We're expecting that she'll eat some by bottle, hopefully more over time, and then we'll have to finish the feed through the NG tube.

Meg and I have already received some training on the medical equipment we'll have at home for Izzy, but still have another session this Friday.  I'll write another post on that topic later, when I have some photos to go with it.  For now, I'll leave you with some pics from the last week, including Izzy's first captured-on-camera smile.  Enjoy!

Meg and Izzy, practicing with her bottle-feeding


This is the first photo I have of Izzy smiling.  I can't stop looking at it :)


No paparazzi (aka Dad)!  It's odd that I now have a shot of each of our girls in this pose.  Did they not know, in utero, that they were being born in to a photographically-focused family???


Meg's mom, Sharon, came to stay with us for a week.  She hadn't seen the girls since they were first born and was so excited to see her "big" girls.  She helped Meg and me out a ton and even managed to dress up some of our windows while she was here.  "Thanks Grandma Sharon!"



After many, many suggestions to try it, we are now on the Moby bandwagon.  This thing rocks and is Maddy-appoved!  It truly does have mystical powers that can lull even the crankiest of babies to sleep.


Madelyn, catching some Z's after a big bottle


Sophia, getting some tummy-time on the mat.  "Hey kid!  Why don't you try lifting that head up?"


Before we can bring Izzy home, her primary caregivers need to graduate from the NICU with training on how to feed her, as well as how to insert and remove her NG tube.  I stopped by the NICU today, but forgot to let them know I was coming and I missed my window.  I didn't even get to hold her because she fell asleep while she was eating and was completely knocked out!  Nurse Erin told me she hasn't been sleeping exceptionally well during the day.  There was no doubt that she was off somewhere in la-la land and I wasn't about to bring her back from that trip.  Erin had to hold her there for an hour like this!  I love our nurses :)

Twice the Fun

***Note:  Today, Friday, 11/4/11, was the girls' original due date.  I can't stop smiling when I think about the fact that we've been able to spend almost two and a half extra months with them.  Obviously, I hate the fact that Izzy was born so small and needed to have surgery on her belly, but what an amazing experience we've all shared. ***

This post is a few days late, due to Izzy's big surgery earlier in the week, but I didn't want to miss out on sharing Maddy's check-out day from the Edward NICU.  After spending a whopping 70 days in the NICU, it was time for her to come home.  It was time to make room for other babies in the NICU and time for someone to occupy the space in the crib under the name, "Madelyn."

Picking up a baby for the second time from the NICU almost seemed routine.  It was sort of like, "Oh, you're here to pick up another baby?  Here you go.  Here's your baby."  Relatively, ho-hum if you ask me.  Now, that was what it was like on the surface.  On the inside, we were on the verge of exploding with excitement, knowing that we'd soon have two of our girls home together.

Madelyn left the NICU weighing a hefty 5 lbs 10 oz, a far cry from her original weight of 2 lbs 8 oz.  Also coming home with Maddy, will be prescriptions of both Prevacid and Zantac.  She'll be on very small doses, but it kind of stinks that she still needs prescriptions in the post-NICU era.  They really do help her though.  She has horrible reflux and it's extremely difficult to see her in so much pain after each feeding.  The worst is when the grunting comes with spit up through both the mouth and nose.  It doesn't happen every time, but it's always tough to watch when it happens, knowing that there's nothing you can do.  The nurses tried rice cereal, but its effectiveness wasn't conclusive and one of the docs, who we really trust, told us that recent research shows that it may not make any real difference.

During the last several days at home, she's been doing great!  She spits up from time to time, but she takes her medicine.  We try to keep her still after she eats for at least 30 minutes, and she seems to be thriving.

Maddy, right before she started wailing from being put in the carseat


We decided to try out our new Baby Trend "single" Snap 'n Go. It works great with the car seats we have and provided us with the ability to use the seats we needed for our triplet stroller (Peg Perego Triplette SW), without having to buy the expensive version of the PP individual stroller system.  This Snap 'N Go is pretty much just a frame that fits five or six of the major infant car seat manufacturers.  It's lightweight and is perfect when you have just one baby with you.  We did get the "double" version, too, so we could easily move around if Meg and I didn't want to push around the Peg Perego bus, but wanted to get out together.  These should both be pretty easy to resell on CL, so I kind of think about it like we're paying a rental fee during their use :)



Meg, peeking through the hole in the carrier cover




Buh-Bye NICU!


Our angel, lulled to sleep by the stroller




My aunt Kathy, now a great aunt, came to visit over Halloween weekend. Meg took her to the NICU to see Isabelle and Madelyn over the weekend, then she was able to help out and spend some time with Sophia and Madelyn at home.  "Aunt Kathy, come back whenever you want!"



Sisters - Maddy on the left and Sophie on the right


Meg, with two of her girls on Maddy's first night home

No Sweat

Is this all?  This is nothing.

Wait.  There's still more of them?

Well, as we finally settle in and get comfortable with one of our girls at home, we get ready to double our home workload today.  After a few false alarms, Madelyn will be coming home to join Sophia and end her time in the NICU later this afternoon.  She'll come home at a whopping 5 lbs 10 oz which is amazing considering she was born at 2 lbs 8 oz.  She's still having a lot of trouble with reflux, and the rice cereal they started adding several days ago really doesn't seem to be making much of a difference.  While it doesn't appear that she'll be coming home with any monitors, we'll need to continue with her doses of Prevacid and Zantac.  What's really scary is that all of our girls seem to love being held.  Who doesn't, right?  It probably doesn't seem as unmanageable when there's only one.  With the prospect of having three at home before Christmas, it will definitely be something we have to learn how to manage because I know we're each going to want to figure out a way to hold them all at once.  I'm sure we can find a way, but their necks keep getting so strong that if you're not holding on to one of them with both hands, they love building up some momentum and tossing their heads back.  If you're not holding on tight, you'd probably see some back-flips.

Maddy, sleeping through her last days in the NICU


A proud dad, working on his rarely used biceps


Maddy, with those yucky, green vitamins


Isabelle has been doing so well lately. She's up to 1940g or ~4 lbs 5 oz, which seems even more incredible when you remember the fact that she was born at 1 lb 7 oz. All of her labs continue to come back clean, which is something they're really watching because she's been on the TPN for so long. Also, the minor surgery she had a little over a week ago to keep her stoma in check, finally came undone. Now, Dr. Liu wants to do the big surgery sooner rather than later, but still wants her to be a minimum of 2000g, or ~4 lbs 7 oz.  So, we're only a few days away from hitting that target weight, though if she can make it longer and grow larger, without a lot of dumping, that would be ideal.  For now, we're probably looking at having her, hopefully, last major surgery, which will re-attach her intestines, within the next week or two.  Personally, I'm really torn.  I know that the larger she gets, the larger her intestines will grow.  The larger her intestines grow, the higher the likelihood that this surgery will work the first time.  I just want her to come home with her sisters and to be able to hold her without worrying that I'm going to hurt her.

Izzy, getting a lot of rest and growing as a result of it!


Sophie is really adjusting well to being at home. I can't say as much for the parents though. Obviously, we are thrilled to have her here with us, but she just doesn't seem to be as relaxed as she used to be in the NICU and it's definitely messing with our sleep. I'm not complaining, because I wouldn't miss a minute of it, it's just that she doesn't ever really seem to sleep for any extended period of time. I'm not sure if it's gas or if it's reflux or if it's because she's eating too much or too little, she just seems irritable for these small moments that wake her up temporarily, then she drifts back to sleep.  Maybe it's normal.  Maybe it's because they've almost reached 40 weeks GA and they're not going to sleep as much as they did when they were preemies.  All I know is that she keeps growing and we're finding better ways to each get sleep and share the responsibility.

Sophie, enjoying some time on the Boppy


No, before you ask, we don't let her sleep there


Perfect example of post-feeding cuddling to keep her upright


We haven't forgotten that parents need a break, too. Last weekend, we took advantage of some beautiful fall weather and a willing babysitter (thanks mom) and went downtown to watch Penn State beat up on Northwestern. We loaded up the truck with family--Meg, Kelly, Steve, Kaden, John, Jo Anne, and I--and found a great tailgating spot near the stadium. We had a great time, but it really seemed to fly right by. Penn State won. We got to spend time with family. Not much else you can ask for :)

Meg and I at the Penn State vs. Northwestern game last weekend


Meg's dad, John, enjoying some one-on-one time with Sophia


Also, I want to apologize for the apparent loss of any creativity on my part. I remember when I used to sit down with my laptop, process my photos, and had a difficult time deciding what part of our crazy life that I wanted to share. Now, even though I know so much has happened over the last week, I find myself struggling to write with any flow or sense of humor. "Just the facts, Ma'am." That's about all I'm capable of right now. It will get better (I hope).