We are 1 month old today!

Our 1 month Birthday Photo

"I can't figure out why Mommy is always pointing that thing at me!"

Brother love

Holly Cow! Time flies! The kids have been home for 2 weeks already, and can you believe they are a month old TODAY? I can't! I have already had the "Oh my gosh! They aren't going to be babies forever!" feeling. It is crazy how much they have changed already. I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago and she mentioned she hasn't come to the point to not want any more kids yet. I understand how she feels...once you loose the new sweet baby part, I am sure you miss it (and she has quads!!) Now, I definitely don't want to have any more kids, but I see how them growing up so fast can make you sad. Already I get a little sad to think about how very, very soon they won't be my little babies anymore. I am scared I am going to miss something it is going by so fast already. Before you know it we will have 3 college tuition's to pay.

Jevin feels like a full term baby to me already. Well, actually he is almost full term technically...my original due date was October 31st. I can't get over how heavy his head is compared to my little Deuce man and Miss Mia. But, don't mistake it, the others are getting big too. They are all getting chunky little thighs and an extra chin. You can thank the 22 calorie formula for that one.

I also told Marcus the other day that I need to stop calling Mia, Miss Mia. I envisioned, one day with her little attitude that she will start telling people her name is Miss Mia. "It's Miss Mia to you Mommy." Can you see it? Then she does this little thing where she really has to work her cry up. She grunts for a few seconds and then lets this loud scream out. If you watch her, it is like the little scream startles her as if she didn't know where that sound came from. She is quiet for a few seconds after the scream and then she will work another one up.

The boys seem to have a sixth sense. They both fuss when the other fusses. Deuce will start fussin' then Jevin's face will get all sad and he fusses. They fuss back and forth over and over. Mia sleeps through their fussing, but let one of them get started and you can almost guarantee the other is going to be sad too. Kinda crazy to watch.

Till later...

Still Alive

Quiet time!

Miss Mia

Closest thing I could get to a smile from Deuce. I was always 2/100 of a second late. This is actually a prelude to a squeaky "cry" noise that he thinks has the grown-ups jumping to attention. It works sometimes, I won't lie.

This picture is why we love our new jobs. He is accidently happy in his sleep. Don't you wish you knew what he was dreaming? My precious boy Jevin..... it's so beautiful, I nearly cried.

Well, Me and Marcus are still alive. While the nights have been semi sleepless, it is getting better. Nana has been here for a week helping. It is kind of a double edged sword though. Nana Julie has been a big help and a relief for us, but she also has to leave at some point...well Sunday to be exact. So far, Marcus and I have only conquered 3 nights alone with the trio. It does look like their sleeping patterns are starting to change a bit. We decided not to wake them in the middle of the night for feeding, that is until one of them has woke up (is that a word?) Last night they slept for 4 hours!! I might be jumping the gun a little, but we will see what tonight holds.

I also just have to mention, all the things you swear you will never do as a parent, all go out the window at 3 am when you have a baby (or two, sometimes 3) that refuse to go back to sleep when you desperately want them to. So we have 2 rooms full of beautiful furniture...yeah...not sleeping in it, on it, near it... We have resorted to pack and plays that sit approximately 3 feet from the end of our bed, and sometimes they don't sleep in them either! I don't know who this person is at 3 am that makes the decision to let the bossy little baby sleep in our bed, but it's obviously exactly what the baby had in mind. They sleep.....they sleeeeep...what a relief. So, my theory is, it takes 21 days to create a habit...is it possible if we can get them to sleep in their own beds on day 20, they won't feel the need to sleep with us until they are in 7th grade? There seriously isn't room for 5 of us. Yeah, mental note to self...find way to get baby to sleep in their own bed!

My day was quite interesting. Marcus had to go into work for a meeting today so I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon with the triplets. It was a peaceful day, I didn't have a nervous break-down, I wasn't found in a fetal position in my walk-in closet, but some might say that I could have been diagnosed with temporary insanity. I am convinced that adults do the strangest things once they become parents. I caught a picture of Jevin smiling in his sleep. I then spent 2 hours with my camera aimed at the other 2 babies trying to catch them smiling too. Needless to say, I was a tad too late each time or I would get the edge of the boppy pillow instead of the little smiling face. I entertained myself for nearly 2 hours doing just this...makes me laugh. By the way...boppy pillows...must have!!!

We are enjoying every bit of it. I think we would get up every 3-4 hours for the next 18 years as long as we could experience this joy. I couldn't have even imagined how happy they make me. It is true, you never know the love you can have until you experience the love you have for YOUR kids. Words could never explain it.

One Week Down, 6545 more days to go

Deuce...mad at the Doctor

Mia

Jevin...Just ate...could care less

Our First Doctor's appointment

Brothers sleeping...Mia not...our social butterfly...

Ok...So sorry for the delay in posting an up date. SOOOO much has changed since my last blog post. The title of the last blog post, "What a day a difference makes", explains it all! So Monday October 5th we were informed Mia would be coming home Wednesday and the boys would be discharged maybe 2-3 days after Mia. Well, Wednesday arrived and we went to the hospital to move our little girl out of their little NICU room and into our home, and we were informed that Dr. Anderson felt the boys were ready to go home as well and Dr. August was going to be discharging them the same day as Mia. Yes, Wednesday! Of course I was in total shock. My mind couldn't think straight. I kept looking at the nurse, looking at the Dr., looking at the nurse (who is smiling), looking at the Dr., nurse, Dr., nurse, Dr. etc. With the nurse smiling, I thought they were playing some kind of joke on us and I actually asked, "Are ya'll joking?" NOPE! NOT JOKING!!! Of course Marcus was all for it. As was I, but I just couldn't get myself together. I was completely stuck on stupid for 10 minutes or so. After I got myself together, we made our 40ish minute drive home to pick up the boys' car seats, our other vehicle, and a helper to ride in the back seats with the kids. The kids had to have a "baby watcher" ride in the back seat with them to make sure that they did ok on our long drive home from the hospital. They were still just so small, they didn't really "fit" their car seats yet, and their necks were not all that strong to not get all contorted in their seats after sitting for a while. It was Deuce mostly...he passed his car seat, test but his head rested at a 90 degree angle on his shoulder. Slightly scary to look at him like that!

So, Wednesday night, we get them home just in time for their 8pm feeding. All goes well. 11pm, good, 2 am, alright, 5 am, not too bad...the first night home alone with 3 two week old babies was not too too bad. Then came the second night...oh no, and the third night, you've got to be kidding me! Needless to say, the nights progressively got more difficult the more sleep deprived we became. For some reason the three of them decided they didn't want to all sleep at the same exact time after the first night home. Last night was slightly better. It is weird though, they sleep soundly during the day, after 11pm, the fight is on. I know it will get better. We are still learning though. We do wake all three up at the same time to eat. When one wakes up, this dictates when the other two get up. We start our assembly line of diaper changing and then bottle feeding and (please Jesus) back to sleep. They seem to trade off on which one is going to be the restless for the night. Pray for us tonight...no restless babies!

We had our first doctors appointment last Friday. Things went very well. Jevin weighed 5lb 1oz. Mia weighed 4lb 14 oz., and Deuce weighed 4lb 7oz. The outing definitely taught us that we need to prepare the night before we will be leaving the house with 3 kids that need to be strapped into a car seat, taken out to the car. Should we take the snap-n-goes, is everything in the diaper bag that we need? Yeah, definitely need to think about all that stuff the day before...

But, over all, this last week has been exuastingly blissful! We are slightly sleep deprived, but over-joyed. I almost can't even remember life before the trio arrived. It's awesome, no wires, no beeping monitors, no feeding tubes...it was starting to feel like all that stuff went with babies. It was odd holding babies not hooked to something for the first time. Here are a few pics. Hopefully I can find time to post again before the week is up.

What a Difference a Day Makes!!!!!!

Big Man Jevin...sleeps like Daddy ...
Deuce, trying to get some rest

Miss Mia...Wide awake talking to daddy.

So...As you can see I wrote a blog yesterday that I never posted. Well less than 24 hours later, things have changed! I went to the hospital this morning and Miss Mia was missing her feeding tube! Of course I didn't want to assume anything, so I told the nurse in more a question enunciation then a statement, "Mia doesn't have her feeding tube innnnnn..." She informed me that Mia had received doctor's orders to remove the feeding tube in 24 hours. However, miss thing decided to remove her own feeding tube yesterday evening and since she had taken it out herself, and they were going to remove it today anyways, they just left it out. She is on 8 bottles a day!! And let me tell you, she has this eating thing down! Today I fed her at 11am and she finished her full feeding in 6 minutes. Marcus came for the 2:00 feeding and she finished 30 cc's in 4 minutes (even with yucky poly-visol added to the milk...a vitamin that definitely tastes just as bad as it smells) and she did finish about 15 more cc's in about 6 more minutes. I usually refrain from abbreviations, but OMG! Then, Dr. Anderson shows up. She says that Mia will be going home tomorrow. Yes Tuesday, the 6th of October! That I needed to go home and bring the car seat so they could do the car seat testing. Wow! Well, then on my way home to get the car seat, Dr. Anderson calls me and says that Mia won't be going home Tuesday, that it will be Wednesday because Sunday she didn't finish one of her feedings and they had to gavage (tube feed) 18 cc's. No worries though, this was still the best news I was likely to hear all day. What is one more day. Then, I also wonder who the nurse was because I do feel that there are nurses that are not as persistent in making sure the bottle is finished. One day last week we had a situation where the kids had done extremely well and finished all their feedings the day before, but the next day at their 8 am feeding, none of them finished...we had to wonder if it was possibly the nurse, but I suppose it could be possible that they just didn't finish...Over all though, we can't complain about the care the trio has been given.

I want to explain the car seat testing. Originally, I pictured it to be a safety type testing, maybe a harness fitting or something to that effect. It turns out it isn't a crash test dummy type of experiment. Actually what the car seat test is is they place the baby in the car seat for 2 hours I think is what the nurse said. During this time they monitor to see if the baby is breathing ok, if their blood gas and saturation levels are good, etc. If the baby doesn't do well then we know that they wouldn't do well in a swing, bouncer seat, and so on for a little while.

The boys should probably be home 2 or so days after Mia. If they do well today and tomorrow, their tubes will be removed also. Awesome Awesome Awesome. I have sat around and imagined what it will be like with our little precious babies home with us...Before they arrived I was so impatient for them to be born, then on the 22nd I was worried about them being born. Now I have been dying for them to come home, and today I had a small twinge of anxiety. It is somewhat of a relief to have trained professionals around to watch out for any scary happenings that could arise, but I am so so ready to have our little family home.

Getting closer!

****I wrote this yesterday and saved it with the intention of posting it with some pics once I got time to transfer them from my camera*** Then things changed a bit...

Well, like nearly every post since I have started this blog, everything is going well. The trio is doing awesome. They are all gaining weight. As of today, everyone is 4 pounds or better. Mia is at 4lb. 6oz. Deuce weighs 4lb on the dot (Yay for little man!!) Jevin is weighing 4lb. 10oz. He is gaining a little slower then the rest, but he did drop to under 4 pounds after he was born, so he had some making up to do. They were born weighing 3lb 14oz. for Mia, Deuce @ 3lb 7oz, and Jevin was 4lb 4oz.

They are doing well with their bottle feedings. Mia was increased to 6 a few days ago, but when we went Thursday, I think it was, they were only giving her 5. Now she has really been given doctors orders to bottle feed 5-6 times daily, but for some reason yesterday they only gave her 5 in the 24 hours. 2 of which Marcus and I fed her. I was kind of upset. If she has the opportunity to feed 6 times, I would want her to be bottle fed 6 times instead of tube fed, but I am just the mom...I also know that if she doesn't do 6 a day, then she can't move to 7 a day. Until they can take all eight feedings for 2-3 days without trouble, they can't come home. Ugh!! Am I being impatient again? (First, I just wanted them to be born...I got my wish. Now, I just want them to come home...)

We fed them today and they all did extremely well. All of them finished their bottles in under 15 minutes. If they continue at this pace, they should be able to be increased. If they are taking a full 30 minutes to finish a bottle then they are struggling a bit, and the bottles will not be increased. They want the babies to not view the bottle feeding time as a negative.

Then Jevin pulled his feeding tube out. Poor thing, to hear his cry when the nurse had to put it back in was HORRIBLE! I almost lost it. Mia and Jevin, both, pulled their tubes out yesterday. I am glad we left before the nurse fixed them. Man...

We also gave baths yesterday. Talk about fussy babies! They weren't really into bathing, but they will love it in a few months I am sure. We should have taken pics. It is too funny. They bathe in these little storage tub thingies. It is hard telling the temp of the water. You want it to be between 99 degrees and 101 on the little temperature strip. Too hot, then too cold...back and forth, back and forth... Finally! When they bathe, they are swaddled to keep them from loosing too much body heat, and you have to go quickly. You want to anyways because you feel so bad for their little crying shaky selves.

Soul Searching...

I don't have any pics of the babies today, but I just wanted to post a few interesting thoughts or things that have been going through my mind. All good of course...Becoming a parent has been one of the most amazing experiences. Nothing I have done or lived until now has been this fulfilling. Originally when we found out we were having a baby, it was the highest feeling of joy. Then we found out there were three, and I was worried. Worried for many reasons, but I remember being worried about "What if I don't like being a parent?" I wanted to have "A" baby so badly, but I had only thought of it in terms of one baby. How were we going to handle three newborn babies? I wanted to enjoy motherhood. I wanted to be overwhelmingly happy and bask in the light of a precious little boy or girl that I could hold, cuddle, and kiss. I can truly say that I am overwhelmingly happy! I would not change or wish for anything different then having the triplets. They bring me unmeasurable joy. Again, as you have probably read, I worry about the wrong things.

Second, Marcus and I just reached our 10 year anniversary yesterday. The arrival of the trio was the best gift we could ever ask for. The best gift we could give each other. It is awesome to know that we celebrate two very special times in our lives. I love seeing Marcus as a Daddy. I have always known that he deserved and needed to be a Dad. Years of watching him interact with children and coach his boys in football and basket ball touched my heart and I am thankful he can finally experience his own children. This is our year to remember for sure!

So, just a week ago, or a little over a week ago, I was still carrying those precious little people in my belly. Before they were born, I did not realize how tough it was. You wake up day to day, your belly is growing, the babies are moving, you are gaining weight, mobility becomes increasingly difficult, but you adjust to the changes. It's like dealing with a bad knee that gradually deteriorates over time and you become accustom to the pain or discomfort of it. I never realized the true work it took to complete tasks that many of us take for granted. It was just something I was supposed to do. My job was to carry and nurish those pretty babies, and why complain about it? Then again, I thought I felt pretty good, even up until last Tuesday. I have finally come to know my own strength. Now that I have, in one day, lost 25 pounds from one day to the very next, I can walk again. I can tackle the stairs, I can do the dishes, I can sweep a floor, I can clean the toilet, I can bend over, I can stand in the shower, and so on, with very very minimal difficulty. Now, I still do have the pain of the c-section, but that is quickly fading as the days pass as well. Give it up to pregnant mothers of multiples!!

Lastly, just a quick update...the babies are all doing incredibly well!!!! Mia was increased from 4 to 6 bottle feedings yesterday. She has been playing us this whole time. At first we were told that she was having difficulty bottle feeding and turns out in a matter of 2 days she has become the best eater. She might be coming home next week if she continues to do well. Also, we did request that if one was going to come home before the others, that we at least have the other 2 come home on the same day. We don't want to leave one by themselves, so I believe what the doctor is doing is keeping Jevin at 4 bottle feedings until Deuce can increase to 6 too. It also makes sense to keep the twins together since this is what they were used to in utero. She said that once the babies can take all 8 feedings, the insurance will want to kick them loose as to not pay for the NICU expense. So, even though Jevin could probably take 6 bottles, Deuce might not be ready to do so and in order to keep them together, it is best to pace them or keep them at the same pace I guess is what I am trying to say.

Stay tuned. I want to post a pic of me post partem that ya'll can compare to my 34 week belly. I will have more pics of the kidos soon. You just can't help but take pics because you think every little movement is so dang cute.

P.S. Thanks Heather for reaching out to us. Thanks for the ride yesterday. You and Brett are truly special people.