2 months old!!

Our babies celebrated their two month birthdays as well as their first Halloween on October 31st. I'm sure they all would have rather stayed home then go to the doctor to get their two month shots, but they handled it great and the doctor is super happy with their progress. Little Michael is now our biggest baby. He weighs 9 pounds and 7 ounces. Matthew is just right behind him at 9 pounds 6 ounces. They are going to be in the double digits in no time. Maybree is a bit behind her brothers, but she is holding her own at 8 pounds 4 ounces. We are looking forward to celebrating their first Thanksgiving this month. I have already bought them their Thanksgiving outfits, so I will be sure to post those when it comes time, but for this post I have included their 2 month old pictures. They weren't super cooperative and Little Michael was really sleepy, but we managed to get some photos. I hope you all enjoy and if I don't get a chance to update the blog before Thanksgiving, I hope everyone has a great one. I know we will since we have 3 little bundles of joy to be thankful for this year!!

Matthew

 

Michael

Maybree

We have officially reached our due date!!

We have finally reached October 25th and the day that our babies were supposed to be due. It's hard to believe that they will be 8 weeks tomorrow, but yet they were just due today. They are all doing great and getting really big. Michael went to the cardiologist on Monday and he was 8 pounds 5 ounces. Matthew was 8 pounds 1 ounce on his last weight check on the 17th and the princess was 7 pounds 2.5 ounces on the 15th. All three of them go to the doctor for their 2 month well visit on the 31st and I can't wait to see what they will weigh. This will be our first time taking all 3 anywhere (other than for a walk), so it should be quite adventurous. It will also be Halloween, so they will definitely be dressed up for their appointment.
Today is not only our due date, but it's also only 2 months until Christmas. I know most of you didn't want to be reminded of that, unless you are like my husband who loves Christmas. This year has flown by and we are excited to celebrate the first Thanksgiving and the first Christmas with our little bundles of joy! I know they won't remember it, but it is still exciting and I have already picked out a super cute Christmas outfit for little Maybree. It even has a tutu. Dressing babies is so much fun!
That's really about all that I have as far as updates go. Our life is pretty much a continuous loop. Feed babies, change diapers, sleep a little, and repeat, but we are enjoying every minute of it. I have included a few new pictures of the babies. My Aunt Bea and Uncle Rick were visiting from Ohio and got some really good shots of them! I hope you all enjoy.

And then there were five.....

   Sorry it has taken me so long to give everyone an update. There just doesn't seem to ever be enough time in the day to sit and write a blog. There is always laundry to do or bottles to sterilize or babies to feed. But the good news is that all three babies are now home! Yay! No more daily trips to West Palm. Maybree came home September 22nd, Matthew came home September 30th, and Michael came home October 4th. They all had a fairly uneventful stay in the NICU, however Matthew and Michael will both need to see a cardiologist for a while.
  
 It is crazy how much they have all grown. Michael had a check up this past Monday and he weighed 6 pounds and 14 ounces. Matthew had a check up on Wednesday and weighed 6 pounds and 14.5 ounces. Meanwhile, Maybree is holding her own and weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces on October 1st. She goes back to the doctor next Wednesday and I am curious to see what she weighs now. It is so hard to fathom that each one is so big and healthy, yet technically they are still supposed to be in my belly. We are still a little over 2 weeks away from our original due date. It's very hard to believe.

   Our life has certainly changed drastically over the past 7 months. After finding out in March that we were having triplets, we have since moved out of our 700 square foot rental house and into our very own home. We have also traded in our vehicles for a mini van. I never in a million years thought that I would be driving a mini van, but I am going to totally rock that mini van and I'm pretty sure that I'll be the coolest mom ever! I've had several people ask me how it is to have triplets at home. I'm pretty sure that most people think I'm crazy when I tell them that it actually is not bad at all. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would love to sleep more than a 3 hour stretch of time at night, but I am usually tickled to death and consider myself very lucky to get more than an hour of sleep at a time. We have definitely been blessed with good babies, but it also helps that I am a stickler when it comes to keeping them on a schedule and I think that has been the key to keeping my sanity.

   I want to thank everyone again for being so supportive of Michael and me and our three little wonderful miracles. I'll try to update the blog more often as well as post more pictures on facebook.

Happy 10 days old!!!

Hi everyone! I know I haven't posted any updates or pictures lately, so I thought I would today. The babies are all doing well. They are still in the NICU, but have been downgraded from level 3 to level 2. All of them have been maintaining their body temperature on their own. Matthew was actually moved from a closed bed to an open crib today, so he has a little extra challenge of trying to keep his temperature up. Hopefully his little body adjusts so he can remain in the open crib. Maybree is a little jaundice again and is back under her lights and Michael's levels have gone up a little and may have to go back under the lights, but so far so good. They are all eating a ton now. Michael and Matthew are eating 36 ccs per feeding and Maybree is up to 29 ccs. The boys were both able to have their IV's taken out and Maybree will hopefully have hers out any day now. This is a huge relief because they were having to have new IV's inserted on every shift. Poor babies! Almost everyone is back up to their birth weights as they had all lost weight after they were born. Maybree is back up to 4 pounds 1 ounce. Matthew is 1 ounce shy of his birth weight at 4 pounds 7 ounces and Michael gets the gold sticker for weight gain since he has gained 3 ounces more than his birth weight and now weighs 4 pounds and 7 ounces as well. Yesterday was our first attempt at giving any of them a bottle. Maybree was the lucky chosen one, but she had absolutely no idea what to do and ended up spitting out more than she actually drank, so we will continue to work on that. They all love sucking on their pacifiers, so I don't think it will take them too long to figure it out. It is just very hard for a preemie to learn how to suck, swallow, and breathe at the same time. We will definitely get there though. I think that is about all the updates. They are doing very well for their age. The nurses absolutely love them and all fight over who will get to have them each shift. Lately the charge nurse has trumped everyone and she has them at night when we go to visit. We will be so very excited when they finally get to come home. Our new house is over flowing with baby stuff and we will hopefully be able to move in by the weekend, so we can get everything ready for them to come home. Thank you again for all the prayers and kind words. The NICU is not a fun place. It can be very scary and overwhelming, but our babies are tough and will hopefully be home in no time!!

Maybree Lynn

 Michael Philip Jr.

 Matthew James

Happy 32 weeks!!!

Well we officially made it to our biggest milestone! 32 weeks! I'm pretty sure that no one thought we would make it this far, but we did. By 32 weeks, the babies are now fully developed. They just have some more growing to do, but my belly isn't going to be able to accommodate that for much longer. Trying to get in and out of bed is quite the chore. My belly is huge! Dr. Stoessel has officially taken me off of the magnesium around 10:15am. For those of you who don't know, the magnesium is given intravenously to keep contractions away. I still have contractions non-stop regardless, but I don't feel any of them so they haven't been a worry. Most people are only on magnesium for 24-48 hours, but it has been almost 9 weeks for me! If my body cooperates once the magnesium is out of my system, Dr. S may let me go home! Yay! Please pray that everything works out. I'm so ready to go home. Also, if I get to go home, I will now be able to have the babies at Tradition. This would be so much closer and convenient for us while the babies are in the NICU for a while.
So, that's about all of my news for today. Michael and I have moved our date night from last night to tonight just so he can be here if something does happen and we have to deliver the babies. It's pretty much just a waiting game at this point. I will be sure to keep everyone updated. Thanks again for all your prayers and kind words! We are finally in the home stretch! Thank goodness!

Happy 31 weeks plus 2 days!!!

Well, I am still pregnant! Today's ultrasound showed an unbelievable amount of growth which leads us to believe that the last ultrasound was incorrect. As of today, Baby A ( the princess) weighs 3 pounds and 10 ounces. That's a 10 ounce gain. Baby B is still the chunky one at 4 pounds and 3 ounces. That is an 11 ounce gain. Baby C which supposedly didn't grow at our last ultrasound is now up to 4 pounds which is a 15 ounce gain. This means that I now have 11 pounds and 13 ounces of baby inside of me and let me tell you, I feel like I am carrying that much. This is not to mention the 8-10 extra pounds that make up all the amniotic fluid and the 3 separate placentas! Whew! There is sure a lot going on in there.
After Dr. Stoessel discussed the weights and went over the report with me, he then decided to shock the heck out of me! I still can't wrap my head around it. As some of you know, I have been on magnesium sulfate for 8 weeks now in order to control my contractions. Typically, magnesium is only used for 24-48 hours but my body has tolerated it well and I have been through 123 bags of it thus far. Since I am quickly approaching 32 weeks, Dr.S said we would talk about going off of the magnesium on Friday or Saturday and see how my body handles it and if everything is okay he said I could go home!!!! At 32 weeks, I am able to deliver at our new hospital, Tradition Medical Center. For those of you who don't know, that's only 25-30 minutes from our house compared to over an hour at the hospital that I'm currently at. This would be such a blessing to be closer to home and I know Dr. S would have never mentioned it if he had any doubts. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm thankful to have something to look forward to this week. Being able to look forward to things and counting down the days until my next ultrasound or my next test are the biggest things that have gotten me through the last 8 weeks. I know the end is finally in sight and we will soon be holding 3 babies and living in our new house which will be done very soon!! Lots of exciting things going on and I just wanted to keep everyone updated. Please continue to pray for us and pray that my body will cooperate after I am taken off of the magnesium. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to spend the remainder of my pregnancy at home with my husband and my family and of course my very cute and cuddly cat!!

Happy 31 weeks!!!

I really don't have many updates, but we have officially made it to 31 weeks!!! I totally had a meltdown in front of my doctor this week when he told me that he would let me go as far as 35 weeks before he took the babies and he wouldn't let me do home bed rest either!! Just the thought of being in the hospital for 4 more weeks mixed with hormones of a woman pregnant with triplets was enough to make me cry and to make him feel bad. This got me two perks though. I now get to eat off of the hospital VIP dinner menu. I'm not sure what normally qualifies someone as a VIP, but I'm happy to say that I am officially a dinner VIP and the food is way better than the regular food. Thank goodness. My second perk was that I got to ride in a wheel chair to get an ultrasound. This is pretty huge because when I say that I am on hospital bed rest this means that I haven't left my hospital room in 8 weeks. Needless to say, somehow I was forgotten about and ended up sitting in the hallway for 30 minutes after my ultrasound and for someone who is not used to sitting up for so long, I was completely exhausted the rest of the day. No more wheelchair rides for me.
In other news, we have ultrasounds every other day to check fluid levels and blood flow. All of the results have been great. We have our next growth ultrasound on Monday. Dr. Stoessel says that if Baby C hasn't grown again then it is possible that we may have to deliver them on Monday. If this is the case, I will be sure to update everyone as soon as I know. It is crazy to think that we can possibly be meeting our babies in 2 short days. I would like to thank everyone again for your thoughts and prayers. This has been a very long journey and definitely not what I thought my pregnancy would be like but it will be worth it when we lay eyes on our babies! It's still crazy to think that we are having triplets. Life will never be dull or boring again!!!

Happy 30 weeks plus 3 days!!

We have officially made it into the thirties!! Today also marks 7 weeks since I moved in at St.Mary's and I am more than ever ready to go home!! A person can only stay sane so long being in this place!
I know it's been a while since my last update, but I had a pretty tough few days. Last Thursday I started not feeling very well which led to blood tests that said my liver enzymes were elevated. Friday morning, I was put on a liquid diet and told that if my liver enzymes didn't stable out or go down that I would be having the babies. Needless to say, my levels remained stable and we didn't have the babies. Saturday I still wasn't feeling super great, but my levels were still okay. By Sunday, my levels were back up again and Dr.Stoessel once again put me on a water only diet and said we may have to deliver the babies if my second set of blood work didn't remain stable or go down. It was hard waiting those 2 hours for my results considering I could have been having my babies that day. When the results finally came back, they had went down a little so the babies were staying in. Since then, my liver enzyme levels have declined and I have been feeling better.
We still have our sites set on reaching the next milestone of 32 weeks, but babies born after 30 weeks thrive, so I feel that a lot of the pressure is off. We did have another growth ultrasound done on the 14th. Everyone is growing except for Baby C. Baby A gained 5 ounces and now weighs 3 pounds even. Baby B is a chunker. He gained 8 ounces and now weighs 3 pounds and 8 ounces. And as I said, Baby C gained only an ounce and weighs 3 pounds and 1 ounce. Since Baby C is having growth issues, I have ultrasounds every other day in order to make sure that he is getting proper blood flow and that all the babies have plenty of amniotic fluid. So far, all of our ultrasounds have shown that everything is functioning as it should. Our next growth ultrasound will be on the 24th and we will reevaluate Baby C's growth. It is very common for multiples to become growth restricted, so we will have to wait and see what the next ultrasound says.
Oh, one other important thing that I forgot to mention, Dr. Stoessel did finally decide to give me steroids to build the babies' lungs. This will help the babies breathe easier if they are born within the next week or two.
Okay, well I think that is all of the updates that I have for now. Everything is pretty much a guessing game right now because these babies could come at any time. It's like riding space mountain at Disney World and not being able to see what is coming next!
Again, I would like to thank everyone for your kind words and prayers. It's fantastic to have such wonderful friends and family who have reached out to me and Michael and our parents during these past 7 weeks. I'll be sure to update everyone again after our growth ultrasound on the 24th unless something happens before then that needs updating!!

Happy 28 weeks plus 3 days!!

Well, today marks 5 weeks since I started calling St.Mary's Medical Center my home, but it has all been worth it since last Saturday we hit another huge milestone by making it to 28 weeks!!! We have also received some really great test results in the past few days! On Friday, we repeated the FFN test (the test that tells you the likelihood of going into labor in the next 2 weeks) and we once again received a negative result, which is great news. The same day, I had my cervix checked and it actually has remained stable. So again, some very good news! However, I think the best news was from our growth ultrasound yesterday. As many of you may remember, our babies were not growing so good for the past few weeks. Matter of fact, they had hardly grown at all in the 10 day span between the previous 2 ultrasounds. It was such a big worry that my doctor was actually talking about taking them out at 30 weeks. Well, yesterday's ultrasound proved to be better! Baby A (the princess) is currently weighing in at 2 pounds 11 ounces. That's a change of 11 ounces in only 10 days! Baby B is now 3 pounds even. He gained approximately 13 ounces in 10 days! And finally, Baby C is also an even 3 pounds, which is approximately a 14 ounce gain in 10 days! I met with Dr. Stoessel today and he was very pleased with this progress and he is still going to hold off on giving me the steroids to build the babies' lungs which means he thinks we can keep them in for a little while longer. I should be having another growth ultrasound in approximately 10 days so hopefully we can continue the progress and the princess can work towards 3 pounds and the boys can work towards 4 pounds! When put into perspective, it's crazy to think that I'm currently carrying 8 pounds and 11 ounces of baby and I'm only a little over 28 weeks. It's crazy what a woman's body can do!
I just want to thank everyone for their continued prayers and kind words! Please keep the prayers coming! The longer we can keep these babies in, the less chance they have of any long term effects from being a preemie! So, happy trails until next time!

Happy 27 weeks!!!

Well, another week has come and gone and we have officially made it to 27 weeks and the third trimester! This week has been fairly quiet, however, we did have a growth ultrasound yesterday to check the babies' growth. Unfortunately, they aren't growing quite as quickly as I'd like them to. Baby A is 2 pounds (no change since 11 days ago) Baby B is up to 2.2 pounds and Baby C is up to 2.1 pounds. My doctor assured me that there is room for error in the measurements and he wasn't overly concerned since the babies are still getting the appropriate blood flow and have great fluid levels. Please say an extra prayer for them that they start picking up some weight. My doctor says that we are going to keep them in as long as everything keeps looking good!
In other news (as my gee says), I had a lovely date night with my honey last night! We had a delicious dinner consisting of a salad, homemade lasagna, and cookies courtesy of Momma McFarland (thank you so much) and then Michael did my nails for me! He actually did a very good job after some trial and error! I tell you, I hit the husband jackpot. Not many men would paint their wife's nails. Thanks again honey! I was also very happy to have him here with me when Dr.Stoessel went over the ultrasound results this morning.
Well, that's really all that I have for this week. I will keep everyone updated if there are any changes as we make our way to the next big milestone of 28 weeks! Thanks again for all the prayers and kind words after last weeks blog! It's great to have so many family and friends who care! Hugs to all of you until next time!

Happy 26 Weeks!!!

Today is the day that our babies having been baking for exactly 26 weeks! Hurray! Every day is a blessing! For those of you who may not be up to date on everything that has happened in the last 18 days, let me catch you up to speed. On July 1st, we went in to my MFM (aka - high risk doctor) for our normal 2 week check up. The babies had really grown, but during the cervix check they found that my cervix was starting to funnel (aka- open up from the inside) and baby A's head was putting pressure on it. They quickly hooked me up to the contraction machine to see if I was having any contractions and sure enough, I was. Keep in mind that I had worked all day and never felt a thing! This was a routine doctor's appointment after all, or so I thought! When I was done on the monitor, we got to meet with Dr. Stoessel (best MFM ever). He reviewed the babies' sizes with us and told us that my cervix was funneling and had gotten shorter. He thought this could be due to the contractions I was having and told us to go to Tradition hospital immediately to be treated for preterm labor. Wow! Not the check up that I was hoping for! It was quite scary to hear. At this point, our babies were a mere 23 weeks and 3 days. They were no where near ready to be born! So, off we went to labor and delivery at Tradition hospital. After waiting quite a long time for a room, we were finally able to see my regular OB. They started an IV (after multiple attempts to get a vein) and gave me fluids and magnesium to stop the contractions. By now, my contractions were every minute and a half to two minutes. That hospital decided that they couldn't fix the situation and decided to have me transferred to St.Mary's. St.Mary's has a level 3 NCIU, so had the babies been born they would have had a higher chance for survival at the better hospital. So, after a lovely ambulance ride, in which my darling husband never separated from us, we made it to West Palm. I was first put on the labor and delivery floor, but was quickly moved to the antepartum floor. What a crazy night!l
Since that night, I have not left the hospital and it will be my home until I deliver. My cervix has further shortened, but has remained stable where it currently is. My FFN, the test that tells you how likely you are to go into labor in the next 2 weeks, came back negative on Thursday, so that was a blessing. Dr. Stoessel feels we are not at immediate threat to deliver these babies, so we haven't had to receive any steroid shots yet. Him and the nurses tell me that every day I manage to keep these little trouble makers in, is equivalent to 2 days that they won't have to spend in the NICU. Every day is awesome, but our next milestone to reach is 28 weeks! Please pray that we can make it. And thank you everyone for your kind words and all the prayers that you have already said for our little family. I'll try to keep.everyone updated through this blog as we get test results and make it a little further each day! Hospital bed rest and being over an hour away from your husband and family is not easy, but we are surviving! Michael and I even had our weekly date night last night when he stays overnight at the hospital with me. We had pizza and watched movies! I always look forward to Fridays and thank God every day for such a great husband! Well, I think I have written enough for one blog post. Please excuse any misspellings. I've written all of this on my nook while laying on my side in bed! Time to roll to my other side! Thanks for reading!