Early Intervention Graduation

When we were preparing to be discharged from the NICU, a NICU social worker insisted that we pick an Early Intervention company to work with in ABQ as preemies born before 32 weeks automatically qualify for services whether or not they have obvious delays. Thankfully I had an acquaintance that used to work in EI in ABQ, so I asked her for advice. She highly recommended the one she used to work for, Inspirations, and I am so glad she did. She also contacted her prior employer for me and requested certain therapists for us to work with, which was awesome because I feel like we ended up with the best people!

At the time we had no idea whether or not our trio would be delayed. Since they were born at 31 weeks (9 weeks before most full-term singletons are born) there was a good chance that they would have some sort of delay. Also, multiples tend to have delays regardless of when they were born. 

Charity, our Care Coordinator, came to our house to meet with me before Faith was even home from the hospital. The thought is that the earlier babies receive Early Intervention the better chance they have of overcoming any delays, and of course I wanted the best for our babes, plus Charity was on top of it. I was thankful for her right away as she had twin boys that are less than two months older than our trio. I didn't know anyone personally with multiples in ABQ, so she was a great resource for me. During our first meeting we talked about Alexis, Jack, and Faith's health and we set some goals for the next 6 months, which were very simple since they were newborns. We also set up the first evaluation of our trio.

Faith ended up coming home from the NICU the day before the team of therapists came for the evaluation, so all three were able to be evaluated on the same day. Besides Charity, the Care Coordinator, there was a PT, a speech therapist, and a vision therapist. No delays were found initially beyond the two month adjustment for their prematurity, but it was decided that Ann, a Child Development Specialist who is also certified in infant massage, should meet with us weekly to monitor our babes' development and also to teach me infant massage since touch is so critical for infants and it's hard to make time for it when you have multiples.

This is how Alexis, Jack, and Faith spent a lot of their early days at home. They are 2 months old in this picture.

Ann and Charity quickly became a big part of our weekly routine and our lives. I didn't get out much with the babes early on, except for walks with the stroller, and we didn't have a lot of people coming to help, so I looked forward to Ann and Charity coming every week. Knowing they were coming gave me a reason to shower and tidy up the house, which was a good thing even though I was plenty busy taking care of the babes (I know you didn't expect me to do that Ann and Charity, but it was healthy for me!). I learned so much from both Ann and Charity as EI is just as much for the caregiver as it is for a child. For example, I believe a big reason our kids love to sing so much is that Ann encouraged me to sing to them often early on, which wasn't something I was doing on my own. Singing was a way to calm our babes and to keep me calm during stressful moments. 

Every six months I sat down with Ann and Charity to re-evaluate our babes. We determined whether or not they met the goals that I had set six months earlier and we set new goals. Our initial team of therapists also came out every six months to evaluate our babes to make sure there wasn't a delay beyond the adjustment for their gestational age. At one point Jack needed speech therapy so the speech therapist came regularly for a few months, but then he caught up. We also saw a nutritionist a couple of times since our babes were teeny and not gaining a lot of weight. I even met with a counselor at one point to discuss Jack's mental health as he seemed to be having a hard time with his hospital visits. 

I loved having Ann and Charity come regularly so that I could ask random questions about Alexis, Jack, and Faith's development, and so that any delays could be caught right away. They gave me a million tips over the last three years. For example, when it was taking our babes a long time to learn to stand, Ann suggested finding something lower for them to stand with, which seems obvious in hindsight but it's not so obvious when one is in the midst of triplet baby craziness. We took the couch cushions off for a few weeks and set out some bins that they could easily stand by, and this did the trick!

They also brought over fun toys, such as this tunnel, and let us borrow them for extended periods of time!

Standing at the couch without the cushions

Charity helping us practice with our handles

Part of EI's goal is to help families get out and do things within the community. It took awhile for me to be able to get out of the house with our trio regularly, but around age 2 it became much easier. There were still some things, though, such as story time and exploring new parks, that were difficult for me to manage simply because I was outnumbered. So for the last six months I met Ann and Charity at various places around town to practice being out in public and to give the kids new experiences that required extra adults. This was awesome for me and the kids, and we looked forward to the two times a month that we met (our visits became less frequent as the kids got older).

With Charity and Ann at the zoo

Our first trip to Hoots with Ann

Charity catching Jack at the bottom of the slide at Hoots

Charity and Alexis at story time at the Balloon Museum

Big hugs for Ann amidst our crazy first week of potty training

Another fun toy

At the Rio Grande Nature Center with Charity

At the zoo with Ann

Charity and Jack on the zoo carousel

When Alexis, Jack, and Faith turned 3-years-old last week they officially graduated from Early Intervention. This is bittersweet as I'm thankful that they are no longer delayed, but I am sad as Ann and Charity have been an integral part of our lives since Alexis, Jack, and Faith were discharged from the NICU. They watched them grow from premature teeny tiny babes into 3-year-olds who have opinions and love to be in the spotlight. They have coached me through surviving the early days with three infants at home all the way to parenting strong-willed toddlers. Ann and Charity loved on our kids, and me, so well. Thankfully we plan to stay in touch, but we will definitely miss our regular visits. Thank you Ann and Charity for your service and the impact you have made on our lives and the lives of so many others. We miss you already!

Ann put together a fun tea party for the kids to celebrate their graduation. The kids loved pouring their own drinks with the teapot (and we now do this regularly...another thing I never thought of!).

Alexis, Jack, and Faith don't always willingly pose for photos, but Ann and Charity know that tickling helps. This is from our last visit with Ann and Charity.