Busy Dad, Busier Mom…

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated the blog.  The kids have been keeping us pretty busy the past couple months.  The triplets had their 4-month check-up last week and everything is going great.  Keri is now 13 lb – 3 oz, JD is 13 lb even, and little Maddy is 12 lb – 10 oz.  Man are they ever growing up fast!  All three are beginning to smile a lot and we started to get a few little laughs over the past few weeks.  It is so fun to watch them as they begin to interact with us and their surroundings.  Since JD’s trip to the hospital, all of the kids have been pretty healthy.  Last week all of the kids got a little cold, but nothing much more than the sniffles.  We’ve been counting our blessings every night that things have been going so well.

Over the past months Jill and I have pretty much become self-sufficient.  We still welcome our help when available, but it is really nice to know that we can go it on our own without a problem.  Somehow Jill even manages to take the Trips to daycare on her own (she has figured out how to carry 3 car seats…).  The last couple weeks, the girls have slept through the night pretty consistently and JD has been getting up only once.  That alone has done wonders to keep us rested.  All in all things have been going pretty well.

It’s been a challenge keeping pace with Lindsay lately.  That little bugger has a seemingly endless supply of energy.  Some days I feel that I am just stretched too thin to give her all of the attention that she deserves.  We’ve been making it a point to at least take her out with just Jill and I on the weekends and that has been wonderful.

Well……off to bed for some much needed rest.  I hope to keep the blog updated weekly now that we’re getting settled into a routine.  Thanks for reading!

As promised, here’s a quick photo of our triplets.  From left to right:  JD, Keri, and Maddy.

The girls finally came home on Friday!  I have to say, it was an afternoon of mixed emotions.  While Jill and I were ecstatic that Maddy and Keri were coming home, it was tough to leave JD behind.  We joked that he just wanted more time to flirt with the nurses.  After signing a bunch of paperwork and getting a final run-through of care instructions, we were finally on our way home.  As is tradition, the girls’ first stop was the McD’s drive-through for a Diet Coke.  The rest of the afternoon was surreal.  It wasn’t until later in the evening that it hit me………we have triplets……….and they’re really real!  It’s tough to explain, but in the NICU it’s really difficult to grasp the idea of multiples.  Because each baby is in their own isolette, you never really get to see all of them together.  At some point in time on Friday, I wandered over to the crib and saw both of the girls laying there.  I kind of froze for a moment as it sank in that I was truly the proud father of triplets.  While a bit tiring, the rest of the weekend has been wonderful.  The girls are and us are adapting very well to the change in surroundings.  It’s so wonderful to now have all four of my girls here at home.

In other news, JD had his MG tube removed this weekend, is no longer on oxygen, and is now wearing a onesie.  He is also eating very well, taking over 60cc at every feeding.  It is wonderful to see him doing so well again.  Based on what we’ve heard today, I’m thinking he will be home by the end of the week.  I miss you JD………and I’m drastically outnumbered here!  Can’t wait for you to come home!

I apologize that I’ve fallen a bit behind on my updates.  Here goes nothing…

We finally got over our colds and have been visiting the NICU again!  Last Friday the Trips had some out-of-state visitors when my cousin Dawn and her husband Joe (not the Dawn and Joe that just had a baby) came back to MI to visit the family.  My aunt Sharon was also able to come up with them.  It was great that they were all able to stop in for a visit.

The “playoff beard”:  What started as a lack of shaving on my part while I was at the hospital quickly transformed into a fun tribute to the NHL.  Similar to the proverbial playoff beards that are sported by many hockey players during the playoffs, I have decided that I would not shave until all of the Trips were home.  So, I guess I now have a NICU beard.  Who knows, maybe other NICU Dads will follow suit and it will become a new tradition…

Little JD continues to have a little trouble breathing.  It doesn’t appear to be anything serious, but he did have a precautionary echocardiogram today to rule out a few things.  We haven’t received the results yet, but we know that the tests were completed.  Hopefully the fact that the doc did not call means that everything came back normal.  We’ll find out for sure tomorrow when we can talk to the doc.

And the best news of the week…  Keri and Maddy are coming home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!  Jill and I are so excited and nervous.  It’ll be great to have them home, but it’s also kind of a bummer that JD will still be in the NICU.  Scheduling visits for JD will become a bit more difficult, but hopefully he won’t be too much behind the girls in coming home.  Tomorrow should prove to be the beginning of an exciting weekend…….I better get a bit of sleep tonight while I still can.  Take care everyone, and thank you all for your support and prayers.

Well, I survived my first full day back at work.  I was only able to make it up to the hospital once today, having just returned.  For the remainder of the this week and next week I have adjusted my work schedule to allow for NICU visits over lunch.  I’m happy to be home, but it just seems that my precious little ones are so far away.  It feels a bit strange every time I leave the hospital after a visit, almost as if I’m forgetting something.  But……there’s always the next visit to look forward to.

The best news of the day was that they will allow Jill to visit the NICU with a surgical mask.  Previously they had told us that her cold sore would have to be totally gone before she could visit.  Jill hasn’t seen the Trips since Friday, and having to wait another 3-5 days would have been pretty rough on her.  That info just made my day!

Maddy and JD are now off of the photo-therapy and Keri will likely be done tomorrow.  They all gained weight today, which is the first time that they’ve all gained.  They are now all over 32cc per feeding and today they started to add additional calories to help foster growth.  They also had their first vision test this morning and they all appear to be fine, with another test scheduled 3-4 weeks out.  Tomorrow they have a ultrasounds scheduled to check for any signs of brain trauma.  I know the odds are pretty low (though I’ve discovered that even bad odds are still not certainties) and that the test is standard procedure for preemies, but I think I’ll rest a whole lot easier once the results are back.  My little munchkins are doing so well……..we’ve truly been blessed.  Keep up the good work Maddy, Keri, and JD!

It was almost exactly four 4 days ago that I made my first visit to the NICU to see the Triplets.  I had no idea what to expect as the nurse took me up there to see them.  I have to admit that it was a little intimidating.  On the way up, she filled me in that everything was going very well, which at least helped put my mind at ease.  The nurse showed me how to call in and told me about the PIN numbers that had been assigned to each of the Trips in order to request information.  I was then led to the nursery that my brave little munchkins were calling home.  It was incredible to walk in and see the three warmers, with a sudden realization that all of them contained my precious little miracles.  The nursery has room for four infants, and when I first arrived they had the room to themselves.  It was basically the Sella Suite.  The on-shift nurse for the nursery then gave me a quick orientation outlining all of the health and security details and then explained all of the equipment that they were using to monitor the Trips.  The nurse that night did an awesome job explaining the current status of the babies and gave me a tentative plan for the next 24 hours.  It was very reassuring to know what they planned to do and why.

Since that night, the NICU has become a second home.  When I’m there I feel right at home and when I leave I always find myself wishing to go back.  The nursing staff there has been absolutely awesome.  They always welcome us to the room with a smile and fill us in with any new updates right away.  They even take care to notice little character traits to tell us about.  When you can’t spend much time with your babies, it is great to hear things like “We think Keri is going to be the feisty one.” or “Maddy is just so laid back, she never gives us any problems”.  It is so wonderful to see that the staff takes a genuine interest in each infant, above and beyond the medical necessity.

After I finish this post, I’ll be heading up to the NICU for the third time today.  All three triplets were put on photo therapy this morning to help lower their bilirubin levels.  Day 5 is typically when most infants will see peak levels, so it’s not too unexpected.  As of 6:00 this evening (my last visit) they were all responding very well to teh treatment and will likely be done tonight or tomorrow morning.  We got the chance to hold Maddy and JD before we left on Friday, but during the photo-therapy they have to remain under the lights.  I’m anxious to hold Keri, so hopefully the photo-therapy will be done soon.  All three also had they IVs removed today, as they are doing very well with their feeding.  Overall, they are just cruising along.

Well…..off to the NICU!

Tuesday the 24th began as a day of routine appointments.  We had an appointment scheduled in the morning with the high-risk specialist and then our weekly appointment with the OBGYN scheduled for the afternoon.  At this point we were at 32 weeks and 3 days and Jill had avoided any visits to the hospital and hadn’t been on any type of bed rest.  Jill and the triplets were doing outstanding!

At our appointment with the specialist, Madison’s heart rate was slightly elevated.  As a precautionary measure, the doc sent us over to the hospital for observation.  Once there, they began a non-stress test and verified that Madison’s heart was spiking occasionally, but nothing that seemed to be of much concern, as it returned to the baseline relatively quickly.  Shortly after being hooked up to the monitors, Jill began having contractions pretty regularly and before we knew it, she was having them every 2 minutes.  They gave Jill a steroid injection for the babies lung development and tried two medications to slow the contractions, which they hoped would provide them enough time to administer the second dose of steroids.  Despite the medications, Jill continued to dilate and at around 6:00 PM our doctor decided to move on the C-Section.

The following hours went by in a blur.  I quickly found myself donning scrubs and moving all of our stuff to a recovery room.  Shortly thereafter, I vividly recall sitting on a little bench, watching a seemingly endless string of doctors, nurses, and technicians pile into the OR.  That 15 minutes was just so weird.  Then……action!  I was called into the OR and quickly ushered over to a chair right next to Jill’s head.  I barely remember walking into the room, as I was trying to absorb all of the happenings going on.  The first few minutes where completely overwhelming.  The room was a blur of activity.  I finally got a little acclimated to the room, just in time to see Madison brought into the world.  A few seconds later, I heard the best sound ever……a little cry!  Within another minute, Kerilyn and Joseph were also delivered.  That single minute passed by a second at a time in what seemed like slow motion.  Soon after, Kerilyn and Joseph joined Madison in the most beautiful chorus of cries.  We were given a preliminary “thumbs up” and our three little miracles were quickly wheeled up to the NICU for further evaluation.

Jill and I have now been blessed with 4 amazing little miracles and would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Madison Rae was born at 7:08 PM this evening.  She was 4 lbs, 0 oz.