6 weekers!

Well the girls turned 6 weeks old yesterday. They are growing soo fast! They are all still in the NICU, but they are getting better everyday. They are all now co-bedding (all in the same crib) and they have been doing so since they turned 5 weeks old. Here is a pic of them on their first day back together right after we got them all setteled in. This is in reality set in for me....that I actually had 3 babies and now they are all together!! Yeah!

Now that they have been co-bedding, the girls seem to be doing alot better. They all have been waaay less tachypnic (breathing really fast) and they all have been eating better. It is funny because if you seperate them in the crib, they all fuss until you move them back close together. They have to almost be touching each other to be content. But anyways, they are all off of their IV's and taking any where from 1 1/2 ounces to 2 ounces each feeding. They still tire out sometimes and have to be fed through their feeding tube, but they bottle feed more than they tube feed so that is good and I breast feed each of them at least once a day for now. Braylea got started on Reglan because she has been refluxing which causes her heart rate to go down. Addisyn still has her oxygen but they are slowly weaning her off of it, but she is no longer on caffeine anymore. Braylea and Jayci are still on daily doses of caffeine but are off of the oxygen and have been for a while now and they are doing good. They all got eye exams last Saturday & today and so far their eyes look good, just haven't finished developing and they will get a recheck in 2 weeks. But, that is about the gist of it, the just have to continue to "feed & grow" and hopefully come home soon!! Here are the pics I took of their 6 weeks. They aren't to great, but better than nothing!

Ms. Addisyn before bath time- 5# 2.7 oz

Ms. Braylea looking for her grub-- 5#6.3 oz

Ms. Jayci all content with a full belly!-- 4# 6.4 oz

All my girls snuggled together!

On Thursday Justin went and picked Bradyn up from daycare and brought him up to the NICU, but since he isn't old enough to go in the NICU, the nurses let him look through the window at the girls. If looks could kill, I would have been dead! I was feeding Braylea when they showed up and I walked over to the window to show him & he did not like it one bit. He looked at his daddy & then would not look at me anymore! But, hopefully he will be different when they come home. Otherwise, he has been doing good, he baby talks up a storm and his favorite words have become "Pawpaw" (my dad) "Buckwheat" (one of my parent's miniature donkeys) and "STOP!" (he even has hand movements to this one!). He is quiet a character now days! One thing is for sure though, he will ALWAYS be "momma's boy"!

Until next time,

Take Care!!

1 Month Ago......

...yesterday my life was forever changed again (The first time was when Bradyn was born). My 3 beautiful daughters were born. I can't believe it has already been a month. My how time flies! I guess all the trips to the NICU and taking care of Bradyn everyday keep me a little occupied! They have all already changed soooo much and their personalities are starting to grow more & more everyday. They amaze me on a daily basis. I took little headbands and put on them yesterday for their 1 month pictures since we aren't able to get "real pics" made yet. You can see the pictures to the right. So far the girls are staying on the right track and are doing better everyday (trying not to jinx myself or them!). Addisyn is now up to 15 cc every 3 hours on her feedings and is slowly requiring less oxygen, but she still needs the little boost, either that or she just likes the smell of the plastic, not sure which one yet because she goes up and down on her oxygen saturations. But, she is hanging in there. She also still has to stay under the warmer because she hasn't quit figured out how to hold her temp that good yet, she has almost got it down though. Yesterday she weighed 4#3oz. Braylea is now in a normal open crib all wrapped nice and neat and actually gets to where clothes now!! She loves being swaddled. She has been off her oxygen still and is doing great on that. I got to start bottle feeding her yesterday (YEAH!) and she took all of it but like 10cc. She bottle fed 2 times in a row today while I was there & did great. She is now eating 30cc (or 1 ounce) every 3 hours. As of yesterday she weighed 4# 6oz. Jayci got to start feedings again yesterday getting 1cc every 3 hours and got moved up to 2cc every 3 hours today. It is just enough to piss her off because she gets fussy & sucks on her pasi like a mad woman! But, the doc is going slow with her so she doesn't have the same problem she had a few weeks ago (losing all of her feedings and not getting to eat for 2 weeks). She is tolerating her 2 cc w/o any residuals so I am excited about that! She was put back on a little oxygen over the weekend because she wants to take off and start breathing real fast and it makes her oxygen saturation levels drop, but she is doing good, I just think she was starting to miss the smell of the plastic to since she was without it for a week or so. And she is also still hanging out under the warmer in her diaper since she still has a little trouble regulating her temp. Yesterday she weighed 3# 11 oz, so she has almost reached the 4 # mark!
So, that is my quick little update for now! Hopefully we continue to stay on the right track and get to come home soon!
Until next time,
Take Care!

Ups, Downs, & All Arounds......

That has been our ongoing NICU journey. All of the nurses and the Doc told us that being in the NICU is like the 2-Step, 2 steps forward & 1 step back or vise versa. The girls have been keeping me on my toes that is for sure!! They all have gone through several rounds of infections/blood & plasma transfusions/going on & off of antibiotics. So, here are the individual updates:

Addisyn: Lil Miss Addy had been doing good, she was up to about 22 cc every 3 hours on her feedings with me getting to breast feed her once a day. She was still on her oxygen and was requiring a little more than her sisters. We also found out she has a ventral septal defect in her heart, but fortunatley, as explained by the doctor, her defect is a muscular defect, so it will correct itself & grow together as she gets bigger, where as if it was a membranous defect then she would have had to have heart surgery, but fortunatley we do not have to have surgery. But, last Monday morning about 2 am I got a phone call from her nurse telling me she had been put back on the ventilator because she started having bradycardic (heart rate dropping low) & apnic (quit breathing) episodes & not recovering from them so therefore she was placed back on the vent. I guess she had to have attention just like her sister Braylea (more on her in a few). Anyways, after extensive blood work up etc., she had gotten yet another infection (pneumonia) & a blood infection and her little body was just worn out from trying to fight it off. Yesterday she was extubated and is now back on CPAP oxygen therapy & has been doing good so far. She has been a wild child ever since she got off the vent, she gets mad & starts pulling off all of her stuff & setting her alarms off, her daddy says she got my temper! She got to start her feedings back today @ 5 cc every 3 hours so hopefully that will help her calm down. I just think she is hungry because she sucks on her pasi like crazy and tries to "root" on to everything. Today she weighed 4#1 oz.

Addisyn yesterday after she got off of the ventilator before they put her oxygen on her.

One of the few times that she was content & asleep today!!

Braylea: Lil' Miss Braylea had been doing about the same as Addisyn. She was up to about 24cc every 3 hours on her feedings with me also getting to breast feed her once a day to. She had got completely off of her oxygen last Saturday and was doing good on room air then about 11 Sunday morning I got a phone call from the Doctor telling me he as about to put her back on the ventilator because she had been having bradycardic & apnic episodes all nite and was just wearing herself out. So after extensive work up etc., she also had pneumonia & a blood infection. They had also connected her to an EEG machine because the nurses thought she was posturing during the nite like she was having seizures, and the doc just wanted to make sure that she wasn't. Fortunatley, that came back negative, she didn't have a seizure one. Braylea stayed on the vent for less than 24 hours, she was extubated Monday morning and put back on CPAP oxygen therapy. This morning she was taken off of that and has been on room air and has been doing good holding her own. She also got her feedings started again and she is at 16 cc every 3 hours right now. So after blood/plasma tranfusions and aggressive antibiotic therapy Addisyn & Braylea are doing soooo much better despite their setback last week. Today she weighed 4# 3 oz.

Braylea off in "la la" land.

Oh so cute!! :)

Jayci: Lil Miss Jayci has been my less dramatic little one. About a week and half ago she was up to 16cc every 3 hrs. One nite I was feeding her through her gavage tube and she started spitting up and it was coming out through her nose and everything. She had also done that several times early that day too so the nurse called the doc and her feedings were stopped and they put down another tube to her stomach to keep her stomach sucked out. Then the next morning the doc did an abdominal x-ray and he thought she might had been trying to get necrotizing enterocolitis (a stomach infection that premie babies are prone to getting). After several days of repeated x-rays he was able to rule that out & decided that she just had a bunch of air in her tummy. So, he let her tummy rest for about a week then this past Tuesday he tried to start feeding her again at 1 cc every 3 hours but she was not tolerating that (the nurse was getting like 1/2 cc residuals every time she went to feed her) so he stopped her feedings again for a few days because he didn't want to push her and have what happend last time happen again. He said he will try to start feeding her again on Monday. Otherwise, she has been doing good, she has been off her oxygen for almost a week now & has been doing really good. Today she weighed 3# 10 oz today.

Me holding Jayci for the first time yesterday.

All nice & cozy today!

So that is basically it. Hopefully we are on the downslide to coming home (keep your fingers crossed!). We just have to work on holding temps, feeding/eating & growing! I am soo sorry that I have been terrible at keeping up with this, I will try to do better! I can't believe that they are 4 weeks old today! Time has flown by waaaay to fast!!

Until next time,

Take Care!!