Happy New Year 2013!

After about a week-long hiatus, it's time to acknowledge that it's January and finally time to get rid of my holiday-brain.  Honestly, things still seem too relaxed for it to actually be real life.  It's not that life got any less busy over the holidays, it's just that the corresponding pressure that always accompanies our busyness didn't seem to have the same effect.  It was a great feeling.  It was also great to really get to spend some QT with Meg and the girls.  There is a part of me that feels good to be back at work, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't thinking about all of my ladies all day long.

As we enter 2013, I can't help but think about everything we accomplished in 2012.  2011 was a difficult year, but 2012 definitely ranks as one of the busiest in our lives.  Maybe it will always be that way.  Maybe I'll always write that the year just ended was busier than the one before.  For now, all I have under my belt is my first full year of being a father to three baby girls, and everything it entailed, while also trying to be the sole income earner for our family, as well as a good husband.  I'm sure I could improve in all of those areas, but I'll leave that topic for a future post.

There were stressful times (sicknesses and surgeries) and sad times (death of Meg's mom, Sharon), but we also got to experience so many good times (the girls' first vacation, their first birthday, their first steps, the end of bottles, sleeping through the night, Sharon's wedding on the beach, etc).

Meg and I are beginning 2013 with a fresh perspective.  We're adapting, and will always be adapting, to being the parents of growing and changing toddlers.  We still consider ourselves extremely blessed each and every day we get to spend with our girls.  We both know that life can change on a dime.  Every hour, every day, and every week, we are thankful.  Every cry, every tantrum, and every poopy diaper, we are thankful.  2012 proved that innocence and loved ones can be lost in a minute and that even the very young are not immune to the craziness that exists in our world. I WILL do better at cherishing every moment and every experience I'm lucky enough to share with our girls.

The girls begin 2013 with hopes of getting more teeth, trying new food, figuring out what's on the OTHER side of the gate, being photographed less (not going to happen), everyone eating solids TOGETHER (that means you Izzy), getting off of all meds, figuring out what happens when mommy and daddy sit on the toilet, going crazy in their new bounce house, and saying their first "real" words.

For now, I'll leave you with the reason we now need to go buy gates for the staircase, courtesy of Miss Sophia.



Maddy, discovering her love for grilled cheese


Sophie, sharing in her sister's love of grilled bread and fromage


Izzy, taking steps with the walker over to mom (she's getting quite fast!)


All of the girls were sick over the Christmas holiday, which produced an unexpected result.  Izzy, who normally turns her head away from all food, seemed a little interested in this squishy stuff her sisters were eating.  While she was sick, we were able to keep her hydrated, but her gag reflex was overly sensitive and she wouldn't keep her formula down.  So, it appeared that she was quite hungry.  She didn't go overboard with it, but she actually put her mouth towards the food and kind of rubbed her face around in it.  It's not eating, but it's definitely the kind of progress we love to see!









We've been giving Sophie and Maddy some chicken and spinach-filled ravioli lately.  While this picture looks like she grabbed it out of the trashcan and is very excited about it, I can ensure you that she brought it with her.  What I can't tell you is when we cleaned our trashcan last.  Yuck.





Meg, taking care of her tired baby




Sophie is going through a phase where she REALLY wants to see what's happening on the island when we're making dinner.  It's pretty difficult to hold her and cook, so now she has a seat.  Though her legs are getting long enough where she can almost stand up with the her high chair strapped around her waist.  Not sure what we'll do next.



Honestly, it's amazing how she slows from 100 to 0 mph if we left her sit up there with us.  All of the girls have amazing eyes, but for some reason, Sophie's just really seemed to be glowing on that particular day.



Miss Izzy, practicing getting up early on Christmas Eve


Even though we'll occasionally still try to fit them individually in the sink, it was time to move to the big bathtub.



Sophie, just a little excited about bath time


"Rubber ducky, you're the one..."




"Hey, we're naked over here!"




So, it was actually getting cold in our kitchen.  In order to save air vent grate, we had closed it and covered it up with the rug leading out to the patio.  From time to time, the girls would remember it was under there, lift the rug, steal the grate, the proceed to scare us by sticking their limbs down the hole.  Enough was enough!  We opened up the vent and warm air rushed out, immediately warming up the kitchen.  There was only one option to keep our sanity-painter's tape, though duct tape would probably work, too, though it might leave some residue later.  So far, the girls haven't figured out how to peel off the tape and now go over to the grate to let the wind blow their hair around :)

Izzy, analyzing the best way to get the tape off


Maddy, letting the grate work her up a new hairdo


With Miss Izzy, we've started the weaning process from her Sildenafil.  If you recall, she was taking it to help relieve the pulmonary hypertension they were seeing from her lungs not being able to get enough oxygen to her heart.  When we began with the med, the blood vessel wall loosened up, allowed more oxygen-rich blood to get more easily to heart.  Her energy levels jumped and she became more active.  The docs now think she's grown enough to get the oxygen she needs without the med.  We're on a six-week weaning process.  We're already two weeks in to it and there's no sign of her slowing down.  If anything, she seems to be speeding up.  One second she's in the kitchen.  I turn around and two seconds later, she's crawled across the family room and is pulling up on my leg!



Great Aunt Mary got the girls a Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy for Christmas.  They love it so much, I was debating on whether to go buy two more.  Then I thought to myself, "at some point, they really need to work on their sharing."  The point is, they love this puppy.  So much so that I find myself singing songs that the puppy sings.  How lame is that?







Lastly, I still have a post from my dad's visit before Christmas that I haven't posted yet, but we had some additional visitors between Christmas and New Year's Day.  Grandma and Grandpa Carrick spent the week with us and got their triplet fill.  Probably enough to last them a couple of months :)

Conquering Cold Feet

We're up early this morning.  Not because the sun is creeping through the windows or because the birds happen to be chirping a little closer to our quiet home, but because today, Isabelle is going in for surgery and needs to be at Comer Children's Hospital by 6:00am.  By the time she's done, she'll have one less tube on her face, a new tube on her belly, and a device at the top of her stomach that will help control her GERD.  She'll be the proud new owner of a G tube and a Nissen.

I'd be lying if I said that we weren't having cold feet about the surgery, but I think we know in our hearts that it's the right next step for her.  We've written extensively on how we got to this point and what eventually led us to this decision, but if you're just reading this blog for the first time and are looking for the short story, well here it is.

 Isabelle was born with several intestinal perforations.  She had surgery within the first couple of weeks of her life that created a situation which required her to be intubated for lengthy periods of time and kept her from feeding orally for quite some time.  Also, she was born at 1 lb 7 oz and her lower esophageal sphincter (LES) had almost no tone, meaning it wasn't keeping the food down that we were feeding her.  We believe that most of this was caused by prematurity and IUGR due to Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.

As she healed from the surgery, she was eventually allowed to try to eat by mouth again, but demonstrated some oral aversion and seemed very uncoordinated with her sucking, swallowing, and breathing.  She made some improvements while still in the NICU and eventually came home without oxygen, but with an NG tube.  She really seemed to struggle with her oral feedings, even though we were receiving input from multiple doctors and therapists on how to potentially treat her eating issues.

Eventually, we came to the conclusion that she needed to be back on oxygen because she was, in essence, trying to run a marathon while eating.  She had become so used to it that it didn't bother her, but did affect her eating. 

So, for the last couple of months, she's had both the NG tube and the nasal cannula on her face 24 hours a day. On the positive side, she's been gaining weight, good weight.  On the negative side, we haven't really been able to increase her daily volume in quite some time, she regularly spits her food up beyond what you would be used to seeing, her reflux is still causing her pain, she spends more than half her day upright either sitting in her bouncy chair or the sitting still in the swing.  The latter has resulted in some physical delays that keep her from catching up to her sisters.  Essentially, we feel like it's starting to affect her quality of life.  If she has it her way, she'll be on the move soon and the last thing we want is for her to be tied down by tubes.

The Nissen will be placed near the LES and will let food down, but not let it back up.  We still need a way to feed her when she can't finish her bottle by mouth, as well as the stomach will need a way to vent its gas when the Nissen won't let it come back out.  This is where the G tube comes in.  So, they kind of go hand-in-hand.  Not everyone who gets a G tube needs a Nissen, but logically it makes sense that most who need the Nissen will need a G tube.

I promised the short version, so I'll leave it there.

The surgery isn't supposed to take very long and will be performed by the same surgeon (who we really like) who did her previous bowel surgeries--Dr. Liu.  They told us to expect her to stay in the hospital for three to five days.  Meg will stay for the weekdays and then I'll swap with her on the weekends so she can see the other girls.

I know that as her parents, we'll never forget these experiences and the sometimes heart-wrenching decisions that accompany them.  It's my hope that she grows up not remembering these early painful days and that one day way off in the future, I'll be able to explain to her where her scars came from because she really doesn't remember herself.

Please keep us in your prayers today.  We're not expecting anything to go wrong, but it's another surgery and there's always risk, especially when you go under anesthesia. 

I'll try to write an update post when we know how the surgery went.