Evan, Ryan and Collin have arrived!

Wow, what a blur the last week has been... We'll tell the story with a paragraph per day.

Tuesday... I had a hair appointment and had arranged for one of the dogs to be groomed, the other would go in Wednesday. I felt lousy all day, didn't feel like eating, in and out of the bathroom every hour, and much more fatigued. I still went in for my flu shot at Walgreens that afternoon, and by the time I got home I was done. I started to feel more uncomfortable that evening, and feeling crampy and more frequent contractions. I did sleep for an hour or two... until Sean woke me up before midnight to tell me I was snoring! The rest of the night was horrible... cramping and contractions all night; I moved from bed to couch to recliner to bed to bathtub and could not get comfortable.

Wednesday... I'm 34 weeks, 3 days. By 5:3oam I knew I was in labor and woke Sean up to have him get ready and help me. I wanted to wait to call the doctor because I wanted to go in to the office and not labor and delivery, but Sean caved and called the emergency number after I threw up. I was in enough pain that I wanted drugs, I'm not ashamed to say it. We got to the office by 7:45, by 9 we were being wheeled to the hospital, and by 10:30 I was in the OR. There wasn't anything wrong that necessitated the hurry, except for my level of discomfort. The surgery was great, I was so much better once I got the spinal, and the atmosphere was so relaxed and everyone was excited for us. There were at least 20 people in the OR between us, the doctors, and nurses (some of which had been called in just for us). At 11:07 Evan Patrick was born, Dr. Stanley said he was going to have an attitude because he came out butt first. He had a perfect apgar score, weighed 4# 15 oz and was 18". Ryan Jackson was born at 11:09, 9/9 apgar, 5# 5 oz and 18.5" (his head was a little molded from my hip bone/pelvis and his butt had been bruising my ribs for days). At 11:10 Collin Avery was born, he had stuck his little hand and arm out when they were pulling out Ryan and really wanted to be second. He was 5# 4.5 oz and 18", but his apgar scores were 7/8 and he was grunting more, he went straight to the NICU for them to monitor his breathing. All the babies were crying and really loud in the OR and the other two went to the transitional nursery, though Ryan quickly joined Collin in the NICU because he was breathing fast as well. Sean went to the NICU with the babies, and I went to recovery without babies. It took a few hours before they could wheel me to see them, they had IVs and nasal cannulas, but otherwise were fine, just breathing a little too fast so we couldn't stimulate them too much. Evan got brought to my room for a 30 minute trial to see how he would do, and he came back for good not too much later. He never went to the NICU and did great!

Thursday, Friday, Saturday... The babies continued to improve, coming off oxygen, maintaining body temperature, going on and off bili lights and bili blankets, and moving from critical care NICU to intermediate care NICU to the satellite NICU (in a different wing, least critical). Evan stayed with us and did fabulous, I am so grateful we were able to have a baby to cuddle and love in the room. Evan and Collin were circumcised, but they didn't want to stress Ryan. Collin was gavaged through a nasogastric tube until his respiratory rate improved; Ryan was eating well and then not, he was gavaged and bottle fed, and seemed to improve a little slower than Collin.

Sunday... We get to take Evan home! I really didn't have any problems with the c-section, I was up and walking the next day and as long as I took my pain meds on schedule I didn't even feel like I had had surgery. By the end of the day both Collin and Ryan were in the satellite NICU, we were so happy to not have 3 babies in 3 different rooms. Our first night at home went well, Evan is such a good baby.

Monday, Tuesday... The home/NICU madness has begun. We worked out a schedule where Sean and I would go to the NICU for 9 am and 3 pm feedings, either my mom or Sean's mom would babysit Evan during those times and then go to the next feeding afterwards (12 or 6). Things are fine and work well, but they are crazy. I'll just be thrilled when we don't have to travel back and forth. Tuesday we also took the Infant CPR class as part of the NICU discharge protocol and had a visit to the pediatrician for Evan (he's doing well, gained 1 oz since discharge from Mercy). And Tuesday I didn't bring my pain meds with me, didn't plan for the extended absence, and suffered for it. Everyone at the hospital has heard of them, one even said "oh, you are the one with the old triplets". Apparently they have never had a triplet skip the NICU and room-in, I'm so proud of these boys!

Wednesday... Evan did so great last night, he is on a schedule and does really well: eats, sleeps and poops like a champ! At the NICU Collin doesn't have a feeding tube anymore and they are working on pre-discharge, we find out later that he can go home tomorrow evening!! Ryan is probably 24-48 hours behind him :) Pictures to come... Happy 1 Week Birthday Evan, Ryan, and Collin!