Trio

Feedin' time

Here's what feeding time looks like when I'm on my own (which isn't that often, luckily)- it works out pretty good! Usually takes about an hour total- feed the two hungriest first (whoever's awake), then the last one a 1/2 hour later. Eddie's the fastest- our night nanny calls him "Easy Eddie"- he's a big boy!
You wanna see something so cute you can't stand it?? Here you go! Mary Beth and her feet:

ALL HOME!!

Jake came home today!! Of course we are super excited, and a little nervous given his history- we are watching him like a hawk, but he is doing great! What a journey that was- now on to a new (and crazy) chapter of our lives! Lots of exclamation points!!!

So total time in the NICU was:
Eddie: 31 days
Mary Beth: 51 days
Jake: 54 days

Jake, Mary Beth, and Eddie TOGETHER AGAIN:
Here's Bea feeding Meowmie. She's a good little mama:

Mary Beth is..

Home!!

Here are daddy and Jake. Jake's new 5-day count is over on Wednesday morning, so we're hoping he'll make it home then.

More Bea Cuteness (and Silliness)

Precious...Ballerina tantrum (they do that sometimes- ballerina's are known to be divas):
Can I just keep her in there?

Someone got into the make-up

I woke up from my nap to this:
I don't know why she thought of mustaches or how she knew to draw one so precisely, but it looks pretty good and she was proud of herself. She was also completely naked, wearing a backpack. Stylish.
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Also, my friend Sarah was here changing Eddie's diaper and the following conversation took place:

Sarah: "Bea, look at his cute behind!"
Bea: "that's not his bee-hind, that's his Eddie-hind!"
Quite clever.

3 steps forward, 2 steps back

Here's the latest:

Mary Beth is probably coming home Sunday! She's taking the bottle for every feed and doing well, if a little pokey. Takes her a while to eat, but she gets it down.

Today is day 6 after Jake's 5-day post caffeine count. When I got to the NICU, the nurses said he had an episode this morning!! Little stinker turned blue and had a low heart rate for over a minute - the nurse had to give him oxygen. So this puts him back at least another five days. It makes me sad because once Mary Beth comes home, it's going to be even harder for me to get to the hospital to see Jake. But once again, I'll do my best. It's all I can do!!

Jake also has something called pulmonary stenosis. One of the ventricles in his heart is not growing along with him, and they're going to have to put a balloon in at some point to open it. He is obviously not big enough to do so right now- the doc said he'll have to be more like 10 pounds. They said it's pretty common so I'll just have to have confidence that it will work out okay.

I'm officially on the "3-hour plan". Meaning I really can't think ahead any more than three hours. And I really don't want to make decisions regarding anything other than the kids right now- it's too overwhelming, especially on little sleep. So far, this plan is working for me!

They are coming home soon- yikes!

Okay, am I ready for this??

Mary Beth is "nippling" full time and if she keeps it up, she will be home Tuesday or Wednesday [MONDAY UPDATE: she got moved back on her feeds b/c she's so sleepy- they'll try again on full feeds in a couple of days]! Jake got off his caffeine this morning, and he has to go 5 days with no apnea episodes then he's home- he's already nippling full time. They both passed their car seat tests as well. Wow- I know this is what I've been wanting, but now that it will actually happen, I'm wondering how I'm going to handle it! We will have a night nanny, so it actually will be easier at night.

Jake in his car seat with his froggie binkie:

Eddie is still doing great- easy as pie. I think I've gotten too used to only having one baby home:
Bea swimming:

Yup, they're out!

They got the precautions taken off today!

Update on the other two

Well, Jake and Mary Beth are doing well; we've had a few setbacks, but nothing big. The doctor said he believes it will be at least two weeks before they get out. Some of the issues:

1. Mary Beth's white blood cell count has gone down. It's borderline; just enough to put both of them on precautions because Jake is co-bedding with her. That means I have to put on gown and gloves to touch them and feed them, and can't take them out of the incubator. Poo. (Although a couple of nice nurses have taken Jake out for me to hold a few times).

2. Jake is still on the caffeine to help him breathe. Until he goes 5 days without it, without a breathing "episode", then they can't even think about releasing him.

3. Neither one of them is "nippling" full time. They are doing it 2 out of 3 feeds- they still get some feeds through the tube. Mary Beth is just very lazy, and Jake gets tired.

But these are minor things that I think will just take time and growth for them to get the hang of...
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Mary Beth had her eyes open for a while today, something she doesn't do much (she's very sleepy):
They are both getting some baby fat:

Big Sis

Bea is totally excited that Eddie is home. She expounds upon how much she loves him, calls him a "cutie pie", and wants to help sooo much. She was very excited when I asked her to take his laundry to daddy, and asks to give him a bottle.

Unfortunately, she has a cold and her doctor said it would be best if she stayed away from him for a week! :( So we can't let her get too close (the above pic was taken before we found out, fyi). But she's going to be a great helper (well, most of the time, anyway).

Eddie is very easy right now- preemie's aren't developed enough to cry much. We just wake him up to change his diaper, feed him, and do it all again in two and a half hours!

Home

After 35 days in the hospital, Eddie is here! I'm just getting organized, making my charts, nursing and pumping. Augh!

So much to do, not to mention the other two who are still at the hospital (and the big sister who's at her gramma's with a fever- poor thing). It looks like they may be at the NICU for a little while longer. Jake had to go back on the caffeine, as he was having breathing episodes without it. They've also cut back on his and Mary Beth's "nippling". This means they don't eat as much out of the bottle/breast. In order for them to come home, they have to be nippling for every feed, and of course breathing on their own with no assistance for at least 5 days. So we'll see on those two. I'd rather they have those problems in the hospital with all the doctors and nurses around than here at home!

Who's your daddy?

No, he doesn't look like daddy at all (yeah, right):

Eddie home on FRIDAY!!

Wow! Just got home from the hospital - I get to start rooming in tonight and that little stinker will be home Friday- yay!! Now I have a million things to do with my remaining 6 hours of freedom...

A baby home this weekend?

Well, everyone at the NICU is telling us that Eddie may be home this weekend!!! He passed his car seat test, and so far is doing well in the open air crib and on the lower calorie supplement (they "have" to add it to the breastmilk to make them gain weight). We are very excited! They said the others won't be far behind him, either. They are all progressing so fast.

Anyway, if that's the case, I won't have as much time to update here (obviously). Or to return phone calls or emails. I will TRY my best to keep this blog updated when I can, because I know so many people look at it to check on the babies, and I appreciate that!

Just a word of warning..this blog is about to become a lot less active!!

Jake: Off the Canula!

Hooray! He hadn't had any episodes for 24 hours. Coincidence that his brother had joined him 24 hours ago?
Mary Beth, Burrito Baby:

Brothers!

When I got to the NICU today, I had a nice surprise: Eddie and Jake are co-bedding! Eddie's going to have to get used to someone smacking him around- Mary Beth was so sleepy all the time.

The top pic is a little blurry; but I had to put it here because Jake is "smiling":
Eddie was a super nurser today! The nurse said she wouldn't be surprised if he came home in about a week- YAY!!!! Let's hope...

A visit from Nama

My mom got to hold/feed all three babies- and guess what? She liked it.

Burping Jake:

Feeding Mary Beth (who was very sleepy):