Tag: nicu

Tank.

The boys have this friend, Ethan. Well, first, George and I were friends with his parents. Well, before that, I knew his dad. But anyway. Ethan is about seven months younger than the boys. He was born almost three months prematurely, but considering his nickname at the daycare he went to with the boys was Tank, you really hardly would have known.

Ethan is just an awesome kid. You know. He’s like one of my own, he fits right in with my boys, and they all run around like goons when they get together. (When Miles and Ethan were both Luke Skywalker for Halloween a few years back, epic battles ensued. I guess Ethan isn’t as used to seeing a clone of himself as Miles is.)

Anyway, due to Ethan’s prematurity, he was diagnosed with a form of Cerebral Palsy called Spastic Diplegia. It affects the way his brain communicates with his muscles and causes tightness and weakness making it difficult for him to walk and balance even while standing still.

There is a surgical procedure that has helped other children with Spastic Diplegia called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). SDR treats muscle spasticity caused by abnormal communication among the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles, and Ethan will be having the surgery this summer at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

This is a spinal surgery, and Ethan will require lots of physical therapy for six months after the surgery.

So it’s a big deal, and it will be life-changing for Ethan. He’ll be able to walk without falling, and without tiring so easily. (Not that I’ve ever seen Ethan complain. He gets up, brushes himself off, and keeps on running.) But it’ll mean a lot of expenses for his family. So let’s help!

There’s a GoFundMe page here, where you can donate.

Or come to our garage sale on April 18 and buy snacks and beverages from the boys (don’t worry, I’m not going to let them actually make them or anything. But they’re in charge of selling.)

You can also sponsor Heather as she does the Ironman in New Orleans on April 19.

There will be other fundraisers to help raise money for Ethan’s surgery, so keep your eyes open for those!

So long ago


Oliver, originally uploaded by pyjammy.

What I need to do is go to bed, and sleep while my sick little guys are sleeping. Because it ain’t gonna last long. But instead, I am going to post some pictures of each boy when they were teeeeeny tiny. Because I can.

It blows me away to look at this tiny baby now. Oliver is my chunker, weighing in at somewhere in the 17 lb range now. He’s two days old here, and he weighed 4 lbs, 10 oz at birth. He’s almost quadrupled his birth weight! I could fit him almost in my hand, look!

I remember when I first got to see the boys. It was earlier that day, the day after they were born. I didn’t get to see them until about 28 hours had passed, because I was on a magnesium sulfate IV to bring down my blood pressure. I can’t say it was the worst thing in the world – I was sad to have to wait, but honestly, I was so doped up on morphine and pain meds that I don’t remember much of their birth day anyway.

I didn’t really bond with the boys right away. I think maybe that had something to do with the fact that I didn’t get to see them for so long? Or because they were in the NICU and I was seven floors below them in my hospital room? I could only go see them for a short time every day, if I could get someone to wheel me up. (George had a cold and didn’t get to see them until they were four or five days old!)


But now I look at this tiny baby and look at his little angry face that he makes even now when he cries, and my heart gets all gooshy and melty and I think, man, I love that kid!

And his brothers, too…

Tiny Miles:
Miles

And big brother Linus:
Linus

Home at last!

Geez, you’d think I wasn’t busy with three newborns or something. But as requested…more pictures!

Remember, you can always see them at my flickr photostream, too…

home at last!

santa pictures taken by NICU nurses… (i had to take pictures of the pictures, sorry)
(order is, as always, linus, oliver, miles)

sweet!

Oliver’s home!

Well, Oliver’s home and well, sleeping like a baby. Heh. That is to say, sleeping well. Last night went well, rooming in at the hospital. Turns out we only had Oliver last night, not all three. Oh well. It’s okay. Soon enough we’ll have all three – like by Tuesday! Miles is coming home on Monday and Linus on Tuesday. Yay!

Getting the hospital pictures taken was an adventure. The photographer was determined to get all three in one shot. Not so easy. We have friends who want to take pictures of all three, which will be really fun – at home. Not at the hospital. And with decent cameras. So I can’t wait for that.

I must say the NICU nurses are awesome. And I love them especially for putting the boys on a schedule. It’s so easy – just change and feed every three hours! Okay, easy with one. Possibly more challenging with three. Heh. But seriously, these boys eat like champs. Earlier, I had Oliver changed and fed within seven minutes. No wonder he’s gained 10 oz since birth!

Triplet update

Well, things are moving along…tomorrow night we’re spending the night at the hospital in a room with all three boys. Yikes! And then on Saturday, we’ll be able to bring Oliver home. Yay! Linus and Miles have been having a few issues (nothing major, completely normal for their age – Oliver is just being an overachiever) so they’ll stay a few more days.

It’ll be interesting to experience life with one baby, just for a few days. But I can’t wait to have all of them at home with us.

They got weighed again, they’re gaining lots!

Linus – 4 lbs, 14 oz
Oliver – 5 lbs, 2 oz – woah!
Miles – 4 lbs, 7 oz

Yay for the boys getting bigger!

Triplets

Okay, another post! This time I have more to say, and pictures to post.

We’ve had some great improvements since my last post. All three have been in one crib since Sunday, and last night they were moved to the step-down unit. That’s the last stop on the way home! At this point, even the nurses aren’t sure why they’re not at home, but I guess they just want to keep an eye on them a bit longer.

They’re taking all of their feedings by bottle. Linus and Oliver are eating 40 ccs per feeding (don’t ask how much that is, I think an ounce is 30 ccs) and little Miles is eating 35. Today we tried out breastfeeding, and it went pretty well, considering that gestationally, they’re really not old enough to know how. So we’ll just keep practicing until they get it.

We have a tentative take-home date of this weekend, but who knows? George is hoping for later rather than sooner, as our stairs still aren’t done yet – and they really HAVE to be done by the time the boys come home. So let’s hope it will all work out. George took today off to paint and varnish, and he is just exhausted now. Poor guy. But he did get to hold and feed Linus and Oliver last night. Still hasn’t changed a diaper, though. Soon. Sooooon!

Pictures!

Miles smiles! (or, has gas)

Oh yeah. George said he found some blog where people were debating our baby names! And someone else said they heard a radio show with them being discussed! As you can imagine, Linus got the worst of it. Hmmph. Ah well, such is the price of fame. 😛

Update

Sorry I haven’t been updating a lot, but I will try to do so more now, before the boys come home. I imagine after that, it’ll be very hard. And no, we don’t know when they’re coming home. I don’t think it’ll be too too long – I imagine they’ll be home by Christmas.

And they’re doing very well, thank you. Linus got moved to an open crib yesterday, and I hope that the other two will follow shortly. Once they’re all in the open cribs (and able to regulate their own body temps) they’ll be put in one big crib, all together. So cute!

They’re eating well, out of bottles. Not sure what proportion of their nutrition is coming from bottles vs IV fluids, but I think it’s pretty high.

Anyway, now that I’m at home, my biggest challenge will be how to get to the hospital since I can’t drive, and George is still a bit sick. And really, that’s only today. During the week, I will ride to the hospital with a friend who works there, and then George will come after work to see them and bring me home.

Famous!

Just so you know, from here on out, if you want to talk to me, you’re going to have to have your people call my people.

Hee hee, just kidding. Today was pretty nutty. The highlight being, of course this moment:

Not that we were on national news, but that I got to hold all three boys at once. It was so amazing. Amazing too because they were heavy! I can’t believe they were in my tummy just two days ago!

Sadly, George still hasn’t held them or seen them in person since they were first born. He’s had a cold and I really, really, really hope that he’s better by tomorrow. I want nothing more than that. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to see him hold our babies?

If you want to see the clip from ABC news, it’s here.

Yesterday was a really bad day for me, pain-wise. Boy, c-sections are awfully painful. Ugh. I’m sure not helped by the fact that I was bed-ridden all day on Tuesday. Anyway, today was MUCH better. Except when some ice went down the wrong way and I had to cough. More pain, and feelings like my insides were going to explode out of my body. Hee. And I have a bad rash but I got some steroid cream today that I hope will help.

And you know what I’m going to do now? See if I can’t find some Christmas stockings for my boys. 🙂

Oh yeah…want to see LOTS of pics? Here!

Edited to add: Thanks Aunt Kristina for the boys’ first Christmas stockings! They are so cute!

Names

Oh, so you want to know names? Not A, B, and C?

Okay…

A is Linus
B is Oliver
C is Miles

Their middle names are the maiden names of me, my mom, and my mother-in-law.

Tomorrow we’re going to be interviewed by the news people (WDSU) along with the quad moms who delivered 12 hours after us, yesterday evening. They had all girls, which is fun. I wonder if they’ll trade us a boy for a girl. That’d be fun.

Ha ha, don’t worry, I’m kidding!

Pictures!

Here are pics of our nameless boys!

Baby A
2088048458_fbec040ce9_o.jpg

Baby B
2087272857_a5f6f636f7_o.jpg

Baby C
2088053270_2483d41111_o.jpg

More updates

More baby updates!
Weights: 4 pounds 10 ounces, 4 pounds 10 ounces, and 4 pounds 3 ounces
Also, the doctor thinks that they are identical.

12/4/07

This is Kristina. Pam had the babies. Everyone is healthy. They are all … BOYS! I’ll post again if I get more details.