A new little guy?!

So I haven't blogged in quite a while!  We haven't had a lot going on, but we did take a little trip to Brown County a few weeks ago!  I was getting stir crazy, to say the least, and needed to get out of the house!  Since my sister is home during the day and my mom is home in the evenings, I decided it might even be a bit of a break to go home (ya right-a break, with triplets?!).  Nikki was here over the weekend, so I followed her home on Monday and stayed home until Thursday.  Monday morning, after the boys ate at 5:30am, I stayed up and started packing and getting myself ready.  Here is a picture of most of the stuff that had to go with us!  We also took the 3 bouncy seats since the boys LOVE their bouncy seats!  Oh, and I took the triple jogging stroller because we were hoping to go for a walk, but it wasn't quite nice enough.  boo!!  Now you see why we had to get the dreaded minivan! 

It definitely helped knowing that I had my sister in her car in front of us in case we needed to stop (I have a tiny bladder-imagine me trying to take all 3 boys inside somewhere for me to use a restroom!!). Well, I was able to hold my bladder, but by the time we got packed up and left, I realized the boys were going to be due to eat during the 2 1/2 hour drive.  So about an hour into our trip, Noah was screaming because he was hungry.  I pulled over, climbed into the back seat, and fed him in his carseat.  Of course, about halfway through his bottle, Cooper woke up too!  So I fed Cooper too, pulled them both out to burp them, and we were back on the road.  I was hoping Mason would sleep until we got back, but no such luck!  about 45 minutes later, he woke up screaming, so I pulled over AGAIN and fed/burped him!  I heard Noah tooting, but I hoped it was just gas and decided to press my luck and wait to change them until we got to Brown County.  Bad decision......by the time we got to my sister's house, Noah and Mason had both pooped out of their diapers!!  So here is the result of those explosions.....their clothes were packed up in the back, behind the stroller, so we had naked babies for a little bit!  By the way, look how similar they look now!  Noah is on the left and Mason on the right-you can tell Mason is bigger but not by much anymore!! 

Anyway, Dusty made us all dinner (yumm!!) and then I headed out to my parents' house!  My parents have one regular sized crib and one older crib that is huge, so I decided to put the 2 little guys (Cooper and Noah) in the big crib together, and Mason in the other crib by himself.  Well Cooper didn't sleep very well and kept squirming and kicking Noah in the head.....bad idea!  Mason's crib mattress had a liner on it that he apparently didn't like (it was kinda noisy) so he also squirmed most of the night!  I think I got about 3 hours of sleep total!  I decided the following night they were sleeping in their bouncy seats!  While I was home, we also made a trip to Aunt Kim and Uncle Jeff's house for dinner!  It was the boys frist time at their house and we had fun!  That night was also the first time Mason put his binky in himself-big accomplishment!!  We also got to visit with Brooke and her mom while we were home!  And I CAN'T forget, we ate Benny's pizza-the BEST pizza ever!!!  yumm!  On Wednesday I suddenly developed a cold, and by Wednesday night, I noticed Cooper was starting to show symptoms of it as well.  I am a paranoid first time mom of preemies, so I decided to drive back first thing Thursday morning in case he needed to go see his pediatrician.  The trip home was much smoother, although Mason cried from about Alton to home (30 minutes probably)! 

Going home was fun, but it made me realize how much help RJ really is!!  Just having him (or someone that knows our routines) around, even if it's only in the evenings, is a huge help!  I also realized how much I love having a changing table (thanks to my brother for making it!) and how much it helps that we have things organized/laid out in ways that allow us to function so well at home!  I was glad to be home for sure, but an occasional trip is necessary for my sanity! 

So all 3 boys ended up getting my cold, but none of them developed croup or RSV, which was what I was really worried about!  As soon as we got back, I called their nurse to come give them their Synagis (RSV vaccine) that I'd been putting off-I had thought about not getting it anymore, but decided maybe it's worth it!  When she came out, she had to weigh the boys to get their dosages.  My goodness, these boys are growing like weeds!!  Mason weighed 16lbs 3.5oz, Noah 14lbs 7.5oz, and Cooper 14lbs 2.5oz.  That's right, we have a new little guy!!  No, the title of the blog does NOT mean we are HAVING a new little guy!!  Noah and Cooper have switched nicknames!  I think Noah's going to catch up to Mason soon too!!  Mason was actually so big that they didn't send enough medication for him!  The nurse had to use the leftovers from Cooper and Noah to give Mason his dose! 

We haven't had much else going on lately.  We've had ridiculously warm weather for February so the boys and I have gotten out for several walks lately.  We got to catch up with Mary and Grace (former coworker/friend and her daughter that live in our subdivison) and go for a walk last week!  I CAN'T wait to be able to walk every day-the boys really seem to like it!  Maybe one of these days I will attempt taking the dogs too-I think they are feeling left out  :( 

We had lots of visitors this past weekend!  My parents and Nikki and Conner came down on Friday night.  Saturday morning my mom, Nikki, Conner, the boys, and I all went to the MOMMES sale!  We didn't get a lot, but a few things!  My dad and RJ stayed home and worked on installing the new garage door!! yay!!  It's almost done-I can't wait to park in the garage again (the previous owners had backed into it so it was bent anyway, and then a wind storm further damaged it to the point where it wouldn't open).  RJ's dad, his significant other, Linda, and his brother Gabe, all came down on Saturday afternoon and stayed until Monday.  We loved having lots of visitors! 

Just a few updates on the boys....they are getting so fun!!  They are "talking" more and more!  They also giggle and scream (mostly Cooper).....super cute!  Everyone is still teething, but no teeth yet.  The boys turned 5 months old on March 4th-I can't believe it!!  The next day (right after all the visitors left and after daddy went back to work), Cooper rolled over from his back to his belly!  He was the last to roll from belly to back, but first to roll onto his belly!  He is rolling all over the place now!  I can't leave him unattended for long!  He even does it in his crib-makes me one nervous mama!  A couple times I've found him sleeping flat on his face-I almost had a panic attack!  He just LOVES to practice his new trick!  The little guys are also starting to have fun in their exersaucers and jumpers now-it's adorable!  I think they are starting to notice eachother more too!  They just kinda stare at eachother and smile a little bit, but it's a start! 

I'm still job searching-who knew it had become so hard to find nursing jobs?!?  They filled all of the positions I have applied for-I didn't even get calls or interviews for any of them (since the L&D interviwe).  I've applied for 5 more jobs, including medical oncology at MoBap-I planned to get out of oncology, but since I've been so specialized in that area, it might be my best/only option.  I'm hoping to hear something soon, but in the meantime, we've picked up insurance through RJ's work, so at least that relieves that stress!  It's more expensive, but I'm just glad we are covered!  As RJ put it, "maybe God doesn't want you to work right now"  Maybe he's right, caring for the boys is a full time job, and I'm hesitant to trust anyone else with them for extended periods of time, even RJ!!  :)  I just haven't been unemployed since I was 15 years old-I'm not used to it!  Plus, I'm the worrier of the two of us, so I constantly worry about money!  Hopefully RJ's job will provide enough for us until I get a job!

The boys have started sleeping SO well lately!!  They go to bed around 7:30-8 and sleep through the night, until 5:30-6, sometimes later!  After they eat, they go back to bed-usually for about 2-3 more hours!!  And they STILL nap several times throughout the day!  I feel like they are sleeping too much, but I guess I should just enjoy it while it lasts!!  Plus, if I try to keep them up, they just get cranky and fussy, so it's not worth the effort!  Yesterday I FINALLY attempted napping in cribs instead of bouncy seats!  They slept from 11:30-1:30 and then ate when they woke up, and then we played until it was time for RJ and I to eat dinner.  I couldn't keep them entertained, so they fell asleep for about 15 minutes in their bouncy seats, and then it was time to for them to eat, get baths, and go to bed!  Yay!  Hopefully they keep doing well with it, because they are starting to get too big for those bouncy seats already!!  Plus, I will be able to get SO much more done around the house now!  yay!! 

We have a few outings planned in the next few weeks-maybe my next posting will be more interesting.....or maybe not!  ha!  I was going to post some pics from my phone, but realized they are saved on my phone, not my SD card, so I'll work on that for next time....

Our Valentine's Day and a photo shoot

I completely forgot to get the boys something cute to wear on Valentine's Day (not that I've really been anywhere to get something anyway!) so I improvised.....and this is what I came up with!! 

This is a pretty typical picture.....Cooper has his hands up and his eyes wide open, Mason has his hands in his mouth, and Noah just looks angry!  By the way, check out Noah's double chin.....and that belly is getting pretty big too!!  :)

Anyway, the boys and I spent Valentine's Day with our good friend Maureen while RJ was at work!  We had quite the fun day!  After RJ got home, we had a pretty low-key Valentine's Day!  We ordered chinese and watched TV.  Not the most exciting Valentine's Day we've had, but we had fun with the boys!!  Our plan is to hire a babysitter in the next couple weekends an go on a real date-our first since probably about 2 weeks after the boys were born! 

In other recent news, the boys got their first spoon fed cereal last weekend!  They aren't big fans of it, mostly because when they get hungry, they want to eat NOW!  This whole spoon business takes entirely too long for them!  Kim, Jeff, and the girls were here for it, so Alexis recorded it for us, but the videos are too long to post.  I'll post a few pics though-they were quite messy when we got done!! 

Mason after a couple bites-it got MUCH worse!! 

 Cooper-and he's probably our best spoon eater so far.....not saying much huh?! 

 and Noah-he was SUPER messy-but this picture was before he made a huge mess! 

So as most of you know, there is a bit of a Cards/Cubs rivalry in this house!  So RJ made me PROMISE to put the boys in their Cubs shirts (that Stevie and Jeremy made them) since they got to wear the Cardinal's shirts on Valentine's Day.  I must say, they do look pretty cute in blue (note to self-buy them NON Cubs blue shirts!!).  So here we go....this is hopefully the only time they will be photographed in Cubs attire!

ok, this is it-the boys in their cubs shirts  :) 

ok, ok, here is one of the front too-this is how the boys feel about them!  (No, Cooper isn't crying, but that doesn't mean he likes it-he's just a laid back baby!!)

They really do look cute in blue.....I just wish they weren't cubs shirts!!!  Hopefully we will never see these onesies again  :)

And just wanted to add this one in because we hardly ever get good pictures of Noah smiling.....he tends to be our stoic little guy

and a cute video of Cooper....he has been doing this ALL night....that's the reason it took me over 3 hours to get this posted!  Sorry-I know it's sideways, but again, I can't get it to rotate.....



Oh ya, one more thing-the boys had their 4 month pictures taken last week by Dela and Jill Awadzi @ Delafotography!  If you go to their webiste, click client access page, and type in "triplets", you can see their newborn pics and their last pics!  Super cute!  We had more trouble getting good pics of them this time because they are too mobile!  We couldn't get them on their bellies because they'd just roll over, so we used the bumbo seats.  They just really weren't in the picture mood, but we got some good ones anyway!  Here's the link......

http://delaphotography.zenfolio.com/

Pictures!

Here is the adorable video of Mason giggling.....I'm pretty sure he has awesome taste and was actually laughing at Friends-you can see him trying to look over my shoulder and you can tell he laughs when the audience does! 

Some of my favorite pictures of Cooper.....always our bright eyed baby!

A few minutes after he was born and after daddy got to give him his first bath!

Sweet little guy....

Hi mommy!

Cooper is ready to go!

Getting ready to come home!  Sorry I can't get it turned for some reason!!

 Cutie!

 Ella keeping an eye on Cooper

Such a little poser!

Hi!!

Here are some favorites of Mr. Mason.....

Shortly after he was born!

Just being cute in the NICU!

another NICU picture....all swaddled up!

Looking comfy despite being under the bili light and wearing the cool sunglasses!

Mason's ready to go home!

I'm so small in my carseat!!

Hanging out with dad!

Mason isn't a fan of tummy time.....probably why he was the first to roll over!

Finally some pictures of little Noah!!

Noah when he arrived in the NICU

Poor little Noah in his skinniest days.....  :(

LOVE this picture-the special care nursery nurses made these pictures to put in Noah's crib!!

all bundled up!

hanging out with mom!

FINALLY ready to come home.....although he doesn't look too excited!!

close up!

And some of my favorites of the boys together!

Their first picture together....we weren't there for it, so it's a picture of a picture  :)

Our first time holding all 3 boys!  Noah, Cooper, Mason

 Their first Halloween!

All 3 boys on the day Noah came home!!

Cooper and Mason on their first Thanksgiving, with Alyvia, Alexis, Morgan, and Conner!  Poor Noah was still in the NICU, but we all went to visit him!

cute butts!!

Our first Christmas as a family of 5!!

This was taken when the boys were 12 weeks old-this is one of their preemie outfits....kinda makes me sad how fast they are growing up!!

Taken on their 3 month birthday (well actually 1 day after.....)

Only these boys could all 3 fall alseep at the same time in their bumbo seats!

Cute bibs!

Their first khakis  :)

I forgot to mention this in my blog post-we got out of the house for the first time when we didn't HAVE to!  We had nowhere to go, we just walked around the neighborhood for a bit!  I'm pretty sure we spent more time getting dressed and packed up than we did walking, but it still felt great!!  

Cute outfits.....this is what they wore for their 4 month pictures!  I will post a link to them when I get it!

I can't get this one to rotate either.....darn computer!!!



our last few busy weeks!

We seem to have established some sort of routine, so here I am, finally blogging after vowing to do it nearly every day for the last two weeks or so!  Our routine is:  eat around 2-3 am-whenever the boys wake up, sleep for 4 more hours, then we eat again around 6-7 (on a really good day, daddy takes this feeding!!), then we change everyone’s diapers, I pump and eat breakfast, and the boys fall asleep during this time for about 2 hours! Then we get everyone dressed for the day, eat again, change diapers again, pump again, play for a bit, repeat!  Not much down time around here! 

So anyway, lots of little things to update everyone on...

I’m still unemployed-technically I’m still a BJC employee, but not for long!  A little background, in case you don’t know-I have been off since early September when I went into preterm labor.  I’m still employed, but after my 3 months of FMLA, 30 days of non FMLA leave when I wasn't medically released due to my c-section complications, and an additional 30 days of job searching (since I decided not to go back to my Monday-Friday “9-5” schedule), I’ve exhausted my time off and have reached the point where I will be “removed from payroll”.  I’m not being fired, it’s considered voluntary resignation.  Anyway, I had an interview on the labor and delivery floor at Barnes, but they hired someone with L & D experience.  L  So we are back to the job search!  I’ve applied to labor and delivery at MoBap, as well as their NICU-not sure if I’m prepared to work there, but it was the only thing that remotely interested me!  The good news is, I found out that when I’m removed from payroll, I can continue to buy BJC insurance until I’m rehired-at cobra rates, but better than being uninsured!  Plus, as long as I’m rehired within a year, I will still get my benefits at a discounted rate if I am a part time employee, as well as all the other benefits of being an employee.  Basically, the only thing I will lose is my seniority, which as all nurses know, gets you NOTHING anyway!  So, until I get a job, these boys continue to be my full time job! 

The boys had their first babysitter during my interview, well technically second, but the first was my parents so I wasn’t quite as nervous leaving them!  Heather, a nurse I worked with (and trained!) on 6900, who is now a NICU nurse at St. John's, watched the boys!  I think they were good for her, with the exception of the requisite diaper blow out by Noah!!  Anyway, the boys did great and I think Heather had fun too!  I knew they were in good hands since she cares for 3 infants at a time at work! 

We’ve also had LOTS of visitors lately!  Aunt Nikki, Uncle Dusty, and cousin Conner came to visit (as they do basically every other weekend!)  They are always helpful and entertaining!  Plus, Dusty helped us out with some handyman jobs around the house!  We no longer have mold on our garage ceiling (from having a leaking roof that our insurance refused to fix FOREVER), our fence doesn’t have any holes in it anymore, so I’m not chasing the dogs around the neighborhood anymore, our sink doesn’t leak, etc!  What a relief!!  Thanks Dusty!  Last weekend cousins Alexis and Alyvia spent the night on Friday and helped out with the boys-they even got to help me give Mason a bath after he pooped and peed all over himself!!  Kim, Jeff, mom, and dad all stopped by on Saturday after leaving the Dot Foods convention/conference thing they went to here in STL.  Gram and Gabe came down this past weekend too!  Plus, Dorothy made us a yummy lasagna while she was here!!  Our frequent visitors also stopped by-Maureen, Kendra, and Kim Reiniger!  They had to get their baby fixes in, and Kendra cut my hair while she was here!  A fellow MOMMES member, Tiffany, and her 4 year old triplets came over and brought lunch last week too!  It’s so fun to see what we might be dealing with in 4 years-I just hope our boys are as well behaved as her kiddos!  We’ve had a very busy few weeks-but we love visitors/helpers!! 

We’ve also had several doctors appointments recently.  Noah had an appointment with plastics at Children’s to have his hand evaluated again.  If you don’t know the story, his IV infiltrated when he was a few days old, and it had TPN/lipids infusing at the time.  The poor little guy just has a small scar on his hand now, but basically had a burn on his whole lower arm/hand that they were working with up until he got discharged at 8 weeks old.  Of course it’s his right hand too-daddy was hoping the silver lining would be that he could become our little left handed pitcher!  Fortunately, the plastic surgeon doesn’t think he will need a graft or any intervention for that matter!  She wants us to bring him back when he’s 2, to reevaluate it.  YAY!  He also had an appointment with Endocrine, since he has hypothyroidism like his momma and grandma Bev.  His synthroid dose was adjusted and the doctor said he will likely outgrow it by the time he’s 2, but if it is some sort of inherited hypothyroidism, it could be chronic.  We’re hoping he will outgrow it, but at least if not, it’s just 1 pill daily and it has no side effects!  Last, but certainly not least, all three boys had their 4 month checkup yesterday (yes, they are 4 months already!)!  These boys are growing like weeds!  Our big boy, Mason, is up to 15 lbs 6 oz!  He’s now in the 57^th percentile on the growth charts for normal babies, not the preemie growth chart!!  YAY Mason!  Cooper weighs 13lbs 8oz, he’s in the 19^th percentile and little Noah is 13lbs 2 oz and is in the 14^th percentile!  Daddy’s nicknames of “the little guy” and “the medium sized guy” might have be switched around for Cooper and Noah soon-Noah is quickly catching up to Cooper!  On a note so exciting note, the boys had to get their 4 month vaccines too-not fun for mommy and daddy!  Mason wasn’t too fussy last night, but Cooper and Noah took turns screaming most of the night! 

We’ve noticed the boys have been getting hungry earlier and earlier during the night-only sleeping 4-5 hours instead of 5-6+, so I asked the nurse practitioner about starting the boys on solids and cereal!  I was hoping they would let us, since they are on par developmentally, but unfortunately their doctor recommends waiting until 6 months for breast fed babies….boo!!  However, when I told her we started giving them very small amounts of cereal over the weekend (without asking-oops!!), she said we could go ahead and continue since they have good head control, but she wants us to give it to them with a spoon instead of in their bottles.  So tonight, we will have our first spoon feeding adventure!  I’ll be sure to post pictures of it!  She also said that if I really wanted to, I could go ahead and start 1^st foods between 5-6 months, but they still don’t recommend it.  I think I’ll do it anyway-these boys are hungry and I can barely keep up with their appetites by pumping and supplementing for 2 feedings/day!! 

As I’m typing this in a word document to make sure I don’t lose it, I’m realizing I must be much more wordy than I’ve ever realized!  I’m at almost 3 pages!  I remember telling myself that all my entries wouldn’t be as long as my first one, but I think this one is right up there!  Oops!  A few last (and more fun) updates-the boys are all rolling pretty good now, starting to giggle (I will post the adorable Mason giggling video in a bit), smiling and interacting a lot when you talk to them, teething (I think anyway-drooling, eating their hands, chewing on binkies, etc), grabbing toys and bringing them to their mouths, and are just getting cuter by the day!  I think I’m a little biased though!  The boys are starting to stir now, but I’m going to try really really hard to post some pictures and videos later today! 

Our Story

So I'm going to start with some background info, I'm really recording this for myself, so if you don't feel like reviewing the last year, you can skip to the bottom 2-3 paragraphs! 


RJ and I found out last March that we were expecting!  My doctor said he wanted to draw labs to see how everything looked, but that they don't usually see patients until they are 8-9 weeks pregnant.  After my initial labs, Crystal, my nurse, called me the same day to tell me that I was "definitely pregnant" based on a high hcg level.  They wanted to go ahead and check another level a week later.  The follow up hcg was still extremely high, and Crystal said she thought I was almost definitely having twins, and maybe TRIPLETS!!  We were shocked/scared/excited/thrilled, etc!  We went in the following week (March 23rd) for the first ultrasound, and we saw THREE heartbeats!!  We found out we were expecting triplets, one fraternal and one set of identical twins (monochorionic, diamniotic twins).  WOW!  All I could do was laugh, I didn't know how else to respond to the news!  RJ looked like he was about to pass out!  We were most definitely excited, but shocked initially at the thought of 3 babies!! 


My care was transferred to the high risk team at Barnes and the plan was to deliver there so the babies could be at childrens if needed.  I had ultrasounds every 2 weeks throughout the pregnancy.  At 13 weeks, we found out we were having 3 boys!!  At 21 weeks, they told us that they thought baby C (Noah) might have "double bubble" or duodenal atresia.  They said they would continue to watch for it on subsequent ultrasounds, but explained to us what this might mean.  Basically, there was likely a narrowing or closure between his stomach and his intestines, preventing the passage of food (amniotic fluid) through his digestive system.  If this did turn out to be the case, Noah would have to have surgery after birth to repair the atresia.  Subsequent ultrasounds did determine that duodenal atresia was present.  Before the boys were born we were able to meet with Dr. Segura, one of the surgeons at SLCH to talk about what the surgery would likely entail.  We were very fortunate to know about the atresia prior to birth-most babies are only diagnosed with it after they begin spitting up everything they eat.  Since we knew ahead of time, they were able to plan for the surgery prior to delivery.


My pregnancy was actually great and relatively uneventful until I hit 30 weeks.  I worked full time and didn't have any issues at all!  However, at 30 weeks and 1 day, I worked a full day and then went shopping after work.  I apparently did too much that day, and also probably dehydrated myself slightly.  I started having contractions every 2-3 minutes that night after I got home.  We called the on call doctor and were told to come in to be evaluated.  They determined that I was slowly progressing, changing from 1cm dilated to 2cm dilated after several hours.  I was admitted to L & D for observation, IV fluids, and Magnesium Sulfate to stop the contractions.  The magnesium causes extreme muscle weakness and fluid retention, so they put a foley catheter in to monitor my intake/output closely (this will be relevant later  :)).  After several days of magnesium and fluids, I wasn't having any contractions and hadn't progressed any further than a 1-2cm, so I was sent home!!  However, the following morning, I woke up with contractions and heart palpitations, so we went back to be evaluated again.  This time they had a little more trouble stopping the contractions.  I was put back on the magnesium and given more fluids.  We ended up finding out that I had pyelonephritis (kidney infection, likely caused by a lack of sterile technique when the catheter was inserted).  Apparently many pregnant women end up in the ICU when they get this, so I guess I was lucky!  Anyway, UTIs/pyelonephritis can cause contractions, so that was the cause of the 2nd round of preterm labor.  Since we'd found the culprit, I was allowed to go home again!  However, I was told not to return to work, which was fine by me!  I had gained 20 lbs in fluids with all the magnesium, and none of my clothes or shoes fit anymore!!  I was pretty miserable!  I spent the next approximately 3 weeks on my couch, with my feet elevated (didn't help AT ALL!!).  For those of you that know me, I almost went crazy during those 3 weeks!!  I couldn't sleep, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't really go anywhere, couldn't clean my house-basically, couldn't do anything but watch TV!  That was a VERY long 3 weeks!  I struggled between wanting to get the babies out, and wanting to keep them in as long as possible, since it would be best for them! 


At 33w6d,  I went in for a doctors appointment and was found to be hypertensive, at about 140/90.  They decided to admit me overnight AGAIN for observation and work-up for preeclampsia.  They drew labs and found that my platelets were down to 85!!  The doctor came in the next morning (10/4/11) around 10:00 and told me we were having babies today, around noon!!!  YIKES!!!  I was alone at the hospital, my phone was dead, I couldn't call long distance from the hospital (everyone I know is long distance from the hospital), and RJ was at work!  The nurse let me use her phone charger, and I caught RJ on his way into a meeting.  He cancelled it and headed right to the hospital.  I tried to call my mom, dad, sisters, brother, sister in law, mother in law, etc, but NO ONE answered!  I left lots of voicemails, and had to turn my phone off since it was going dead.  They took me right to labor and deliver and started prepping me, consenting me, etc for a c-section!  By 12:15 I was walking into the OR!!


The boys were born on 10/4/11, at exactly 34 weeks!  Cooper Quinn was the first born, at 12:35.  He weighed 3 lbs, 14 oz and was 18 1/4 inches long (longest and smallest!).  Mason Eli was born next at 12:36; he was our big boy at 4 lbs 6 oz and 17 3/4 inches.  Noah Griffin was last at 12:37-he weighed 4 lbs even and was 17 1/4 inches.  All three boys were doing very well initially-Mason and Noah needed a little bit of oxygen via nasal cannula, but they were all breathing on their own. 


Cooper and Mason were taken to the special care nursery where they were classified as "feeders/growers".  They both had IVs and feeding tubes so they could take their feedings via tube if they didn't take them by mouth.  Noah was taken to the NICU at SLCH as planned.  In addition to an IV and all the monitors, he had a replogle, which was a tube that went through his nose, down into his stomach to relieve gastric distension.  Noah had to wear oxygen for about 24 hours, but after that he was satting well on his own! As expected, Noah did have duodenal atresia, so he was unable to eat anything by mouth.  He would be started on TPN and lipids (nutrition that goes through the IV), and his surgery would be scheduled when he reached 2kg (a little over 4 lbs).  


I didn't get to meet the boys until over 24 hours after they were born.  Since I had become so severely preeclamptic, I had to be put back on the magnesium for 24 additional hours!  RJ went and met all the boys and took lots of pictures for me!  He even got to give Cooper his first bath!!  Grandma Bev, Aunt Nikki, cousin Conner, Aunt Kim, and cousins Alexis and Alyvia all came to visit the first day!  They all (minus the kids) got to meet the boys before I did....I will admit, I was slightly jealous!  Mostly though, I was proud and wanted to show them off, even if I wasn't there with them! 


On Wednesday afternoon, I finally got to meet the boys and hold everyone!  I was actually the first person to hold Noah!  I was pretty sore from the c-section, but started feeling better every day.  On Friday, Grandma Dorothy and Uncle Gabe came to visit!  Gabe got to meet Mason and Cooper, but he wasn't allowed in the NICU because he was only 14 and had to be 15.....boo!!  Mason and Cooper were actually transferred to the NICU later on Friday, not because they needed it, but because it would be more convenient for us!  That was definitely much appreciated and helped a lot!  I was discharged from the hopsital on Saturday; it was very weird and very hard to leave the boys and go home.  I felt like I had forgotten something, plus I was so worried that they wouldn't get enough attention in the hospital. 


We spent the next 2-3 weeks visiting the boys in the NICU.  Mason and Cooper got to come home on October 24th!  Our first night home was rough!  We tried to put the boys in their pack n plays in our room, and Cooper didn't sleep AT ALL!  At about 4:00 am, RJ finally took them to their room and put them in their cribs, and they went to sleep!  So after that, they've always slept in their cribs and they do great in there!  The next few weeks were the hardest-Mason and Cooper were home, but Noah was still at Childrens.  I wanted to visit Noah all day, every day, but I also had to take care of Cooper and Mason, pump, sleep, recover (I was still dealing with complications from my c-section), eat, etc.  I tried a few times to take the boys with me to the hospital without RJ, but it was just too hectic!  We decided to make sure at least one of us visited him every day, but we only took the boys on the weekends, when we could all go together!  I frequently went to visit after RJ got home from work, and he stayed home with the other boys. 


Noah reached his goal weight and his surgery was scheduled for 10/26.  Grandma Bev came down to babysit Cooper and Mason, while RJ and I spent the day at the hospital.  Noah's surgery went well, but he wasn't able to be extubated right away because he was so sleepy-the doctor said that is fairly normal with babies.  He was able to be extubated easily the next morning.  The doctors and nurses said he seemed very comfortable without pain meds, but they did give him some tylenol just to make sure he wasn't in pain.  He continued on TPN and lipids for a week following his surgery, and then they did an upper GI scope to make sure he was completely healed from surgery.  The scope looked great, so Noah was able to eat for the first time on 11/2-the nurses were nice enough to wait for us to get there, so I got to give him his first bottle!!  His goal was to eat 5 ml, and he ate about half of that!  Over the next few days/weeks, they would gradually increase his feedings until he was eating his goal (based on weight so it varied).  He did so well initially that they increased his feedings too quickly and he started spitting up frequently.  They had to backtrack a little bit, so we had a small set-back.  However, as we neared mid-November (the goal discharge date), the nurses and doctors said he should still be ready to come home around 11/15!


Unfortunately, right before he was set to come home, Noah started having episodes of bradycardia (heartrate slowings).  They were brief, and always resolved on their own, but the doctor said they had to keep him for 5 more days (he would have to be free of any episodes for 5 days before being released).  It seemed like every time we got close to the 5 days, he would have another episode.  As we got closer to Thanksgiving, they said they would try their hardest to let him come home by the holiday!  They worked him up for GERD (acid reflux), did a head ultrasound to look for a hemorrhage (bleeding), and did an ECHO (ultrasound of his heart) to see if they could find a cause, but everything was inconclusive.  Finally, they decided it was likely due to his prematurity and they said he would gradually outgrow it.  Unfortunately, he did not get to come home for Thanksgiving.  My family came to our house this year for Thanksgiving and cooked at our house!  We went and visited Noah after we ate!  Finally, on 12/2, they decided to let Noah come home with a heart monitor since he kept having the episodes occasionally.  yay!!!  Finally everyone was home together, which was a huge relief!!  Having 2 boys at home and 1 in the hospital was definitely the hardest time. 


Noah was discharged on a Friday, which was great because we had the weekend to adjust to having all 3 boys home before RJ had to go back to work!  Having 3 babies at home actually wasn't THAT much different than 2.....just slightly more time consuming!  Initially, we both got up in the middle of the night for all feedings (usually every 4 hours, so only once during the night and once early in the morning!).  Eventually, we learned how to "prop bottles" and were able to tackle feedings by ourselves!  I did the night feedings and RJ did the morning feedings.  RJ initially tried to come home whenever he could during the day as we adjusted to this crazy new life!  Overall, I think we were doing ok-we both showered everyday, ate every meal, RJ went to work everyday, and I was able to continue pumping for the boys!  Don't get me wrong, it was extremely hectic, but we were making it work! 


WHEW!!  This "overview" is getting long!!  I'll make the rest of this brief!  We've spent the past couple months perfecting our routines and finding the most efficient way of doing things!  I think we've gotten things worked out pretty well, except when our routines are altered by doctors appointments or nurse visits!  So far, we haven't hired anyone to help out, but when I go back to work (likely working the night shift), we will hire someone to help out when I get off work so I can sleep for a few hours. 

The boys are growing like crazy!  The most recent weights for the boys are:  Mason-12 lbs, 5.5 oz, Cooper-10 lbs 11 oz, and Noah-11 lbs 9 oz (he was more recently than the other two-he's still the smallest).  They all started smiling responsively right before Christmas-we counted 12/23 as the first smile for all 3 of them.  Mason was the first to roll over, on January 15th, then Noah rolled over the following day, January 16th.  Cooper waited until he had an audience and rolled over on January 21st.  Considering they were 6 weeks early, they are right on par developmentally!  They are still small for their age, but they are catching up-I think they are all on the growth charts now, instead of being negative!  They are really starting to develop their own personalities and are so entertaining!  I'll elaborate more on each of their personalities later! 

OK......I'm going to end there for now-I will try to start posting weekly now, with updates only, not a HUGE post every time!  I'll also work on adding some pictures and/or videos this week!