34 Weeks

Alexis, Jack, and Faith all continue to do great in the NICU.  They are all still on the nasal cannula, and we are very thankful that they have not had to go back on the CPAP.  Although the doctors say that they will try to take each of them off of the cannula before they go home, most likely each will need a little help with their oxygen saturation since we are at a high altitude, so it sounds like we should plan on them all coming home on oxygen.

Last week Thursday we had a "Care Conference" with the doctor which is a time for the doctor to update us on each baby's progress and for us to ask any questions.  The doctor also went over the requirements for each baby to go home, which includes:

• Getting off of caffeine, which they all have been getting since they day they were born to help them remember to breath, etc.  They each must be off of caffeine for 10 days before they can come home as it takes awhile to leave the body.  Tomorrow will be their first day without caffeine, but if the number of spells increases dramatically they would have to go back on.
• No spells for 5 days (no drop in heart rate and oxygen saturation).  We've heard this can be the most frustrating as many times a baby will go 4 days without a spell and then on the 5th day he has one, which means the clock restarts.
• Each baby must be able to maintain his or her own body temperature and come out of the isolettes.  We actually asked that they all be kept in their isolettes for one more week as it makes for a much quieter and controlled environment so that they can grow and not be woken up by crying neighbors.  We're not really worried about this one.
• All feedings by bottle for 24-48 hours.  This will also be hard to meet as it depends on each individual baby's progress.
• Originally I thought they had to be at least 4 pounds to come home, but it sounds like this is not a requirement, but most babies do weigh at least 4 pounds before being able to do all of the above things.

This past week we have been working on getting each of the triplets accustomed to the bottle nipple along with a little milk so that they can transition to bottle feeding in the near future.  I have been working with the Occupational Therapists at the NICU so that I can learn how to read each baby's queues as to when he / she is calm and ready to try to eat versus when he / she is stressed and needs a break or needs time to "get organized" before trying to suck on the bottle nipple.  We started out by giving them each an opportunity to suck on their pacifiers.  Once they were properly sucking on the pacifier we gave them little drops of milk so that they associated sucking with the taste of milk.  From there, we switched to the bottle nipple with drops of milk.  Once each one did well with the bottle nipple, we then put drops of milk inside the nipple to get each one used to sucking the milk through the hole in the nipple.  Once each baby is good at sucking the milk through the nipple, we will switch to an actual bottle, but instead of making the babies figure out how to suck the milk through the nipple, swallow, and breath on their own, we will pace them by giving them a few sucks of milk and then tipping them forward so that they pause, swallow, and breath.

Alexis, Jack, and Faith are all progressing well with the "feeding," and they are all moving forward at different rates which match their personalities.  Jack is very laid back and therefore has not been as eager to use the bottle nipple so far.  Alexis is more interested in the bottle nipple, but when we tried to switch her to the actual bottle today she had a bit of trouble and choked a couple of times, so we switched her back to just the nipple for now.  Faith has been super excited about sucking on anything and everything, and therefore she has already progressed to the bottle (she might be the smallest but she is definitely determined!).  Yesterday she had her first bottle and she drank 8 cc's (which isn't very much liquid, but a great start for a 34 week preemie).  Today she had another bottle and only got through 2 cc's before growing very tired.  The feeding process is going to take a lot of patience from me as I want them all to learn to eat quickly so they can come home, but from working with the OT's I understand that it is more important for each of their experiences to be positive so that they don't have feeding issues in the future, so we have to let each baby move at his or her own pace.  And some days will be good and others will seem like a setback, but eventually they will all learn.

Jack at the end of his bottle nipple session with Micah

Faith working with the bottle nipple a few days ago

Faith eating from her first bottle being fed by the OT

Alexis and Faith both had their cords fall off this past week, so last night Alexis had her first real bath and today Faith had hers.  Unfortunately I was not there when Faith got her first bath so I didn't get any pictures, but here are some from Alexis's bath (which Micah gave her while I held Jack and watched).

Getting her hair washed

Looking at Daddy

Soaking in the tub

Post bath snuggle

Many of you have been asking how Micah and I are doing.  We love hanging out with our babies and we wouldn't change anything, but we are stressed and exhausted.  We know that it will be exhausting and stressful when they all come home, but it will be a completely different kind of exhaustion and stress.  Right now Micah is working full time and going to the NICU every evening from 8:00-10:00 (or later), and spending time there on the weekends.  I am pumping 8-10 times a day, including waking up twice during the night, trying to be at the NICU from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and then I usually go back with Micah at night.  My day is so full with pumping and going to the NICU that I really don't have time (or energy) to do much else.  When I'm at the NICU I am doing care times (changing diapers, etc), holding one or more babies for 1-2 hours at a time, pumping (I have to pump every three hours to keep up my supply), and working on feedings.  The nurses try to give advice and tell me to take a break for lunch, and to make time for myself, and to get plenty of rest, and to eat and drink enough, while at the same time they make me feel like I should be doing all of the cares for all of the babies when I'm at the NICU, I should be holding each baby for several hours at a time, I should be giving each baby their baths, etc.  Although everyone means well with their advice, it is not humanly possible to do all they suggest which just overwhelms me.  We do believe things will be simpler when the babies are all home as even though we will not get a lot of rest, we at least won't be traveling back and forth to the hospital and stressed about spending adequate time with the babies and worried about getting everyone home as soon as possible. So we're just trying to take it one day at a time as trying to do it all is impossible.  

But all of the stress is worth it as we love these three babies more than we could have ever imagined! Here are some random pics from the last week.

Micah, Faith (left), Alexis (right)

Jack

Jack

Faith

Alexis

Alexis

Jack and Grammy

Jack getting weighed

Me, Faith (left), Alexis (right)

Faith (left), Alexis (right)

Alexis