Growing and Feeding

The babies are a week old today and doing amazingly well!! It's been an emotional week but every day gets better and better. We really have been lucky and have had only minor obstacles in our way, and the boys have overcome every single one of them fairly quickly and easily. Here's the latest on each boy...

We'll start with Jake. He came out breathing on his own and has been ever since. He never needed any oxygen, which was wonderful especially since he was the littlest of the bunch. On Monday, the nurses told me they needed to put a PICC line in him. That is basically a port for an IV. They kept having to change the site of his IV and were worried about breaking the skin in too many places. The picc line would allow them to use that instead and that can stay in as long as they need it to. I was a mess when they told me that.....just so hormonal. Well, they tried to get it in an weren't able to so they ended up going through his belly button. It's basically the same thing but this can only stay in 7 or 8 days before it has to be taken out....a higher chance of infection if it stays longer than that. Then....the next obstacle. He wasn't digesting his food and they were pulling yucky stuff out of his belly. They made the decision to stop feeding him for a couple of days just to let his belly rest. That too broke my heart. But...they started him again on Friday and he's doing great and has actually just about caught up to Nick (they're eating the same amount)!!!! We got the news yesterday that he was digesting everything and it was the BEST day yet!!! He was also jaundiced and had to be under the bili lights but was taken off of those yesterday too. He's doing great.....such a little fighter!!!

Nick.....He came out breathing on his own too but started having trouble when they got him up to the NICU. They gave him some surfactant to help his lungs and put him on oxygen. He was only on oxygen for a couple of days and has been off for probably 4 days now. He got a picc line put in too and that went fine. He's digesting fine. He was jaundiced too and I think they're going to take him off the lights today! Joe called last night and they were trying to get him to drink from a bottle!! So....everything's awesome with him!

Mack....(His picture is not updated....he's no longer on oxygen!) He wasn't breathing when he came out and they had to intubate him. The little stinker had pulled the tube out before they even got out of the OR!!!! They got him taken care of and put him on some oxygen (none of them needed a ventilator...just a tube in their noses). He's been our little champion. He got a picc line too just to avoid having to keep changing the IV placement. He's been digesting fine and is eating so much he's almost ready to come off of IV nutrition completely. He was jaundiced but has been off of the lights since Thursday. There really haven't been any issues with him (knock on wood). He's doing amazingly well and at this point just needs to learn to eat from a bottle. They actually tried the other day but he wasn't ready. He also tried to nurse too! It was awesome!

All of this stuff is VERY common for babies born at 34 weeks. In fact, the nurse the other day told me she couldn't remember the last time they had "healthy" triplets in there and told me how much fun it was to take care of them. So...despite all the things that we think are so scary, they're actually pretty routine and the boys are considered "healthy" among the NICU staff.

The doctor told us that they'll probably be able to come home in two weeks!!!

Luke's been amazing through all of this. He has yet to meet his brothers but is very excited about it. (it'll be interesting to see how enthusiastic he is once they're really home!). He's been having a blast with Moma and Boompa and feeding the ducks with Aunt Sheila! I think the time we have with him now preparing him for their arrival is priceless.