Thanksgiving

We had a busy week of family and activities!  Aunt Neenee (Steph) was here all week and was a huge help.  It's always easier with three people in the evenings and two during the day.  She knows more than anyone how things work and how we do things, it's a great relief.  Also, since she was close by we chose this week to transition to the crib.  It went pretty well!  They slept great from 10:30/11:00 until 3 or 4 in the morning (for the most part), and then until 6:30 or 7.  Every night we pulled at least one of them into bed with us at some point, but that's ok... we're not ready to give up cuddling yet!

Nano and my Aunt Mary also came into town, and our friends Jim and Linda Burke also joined us all at my parents for dinner.  The babies had lots of laps to sit in for their first Thanksgiving!  After dinner number 1 we went to dinner number 2 at Sean's parents house.  This was the babies first trip to either grandparent's house and I think both went well, though our time frame is always dictated by feedings.

Evan, Collin, Ryan

Sean with Evan

Bear with Collin

Nano with Ryan

Sean and I (baby free for the moment)

Kathleen with Collin, Susan with Evan

Friday we started the day with the second round of Synagis injections.  They are antibodies for RSV that last one month.  The nurse weighed and measured the babies, here are their stats:

Evan weighed 10# 5.8oz, his head measured 38.5cm, and he was 21.5" long
Ryan weighed 10# 10oz, his head was 39cm, and he was 22" long
Collin weighed 10# 9.3oz, his head was 38.5cm, and he was 22.25" long

They are getting soooo big!  I can't believe it!  We've been in 0-3 clothes for a week or so now and size 1-2 diapers.  Then we took Christmas pictures and had a visit from Steph's friend Maggie.  Then we watched Nebraska beat Colorado.  Friday night Sean, Steph and I left the babies with Nano, Mary, and Marmee and went with Bear (my dad) to the OKC Thunder game.  It was a great game, but a late night.  Fortunately we came home to the babies sound asleep in their crib.  We are in love with our video monitor... it enables us to watch them sleep on a handheld receiver or on our tv :)

Saturday Sean and I escaped to the OU/OSU Bedlam game.  During the first quarter I was convinced we would have to leave at halftime because the game was horrible, sloppy, and taking forever.  OU finally got it together though and it was actually a fun game.  We still left in the fourth quarter though.  One of many ways these babies have changed my life... I used to NEVER leave a game early, EVER.  Those people were bad fans.  I'm now a bad fan.  I think about the babies the whole time we are gone and can't wait to get home to them.  We ended the day playing bridge with Steph, Nano, and Marmee (my mom) while holding and cuddling babies and watching football.

Sunday we have more plans... sadly Steph has to drive back to Houston :(  We'll miss her, and the babies will too, but she'll be back in 3 weeks.  And tomorrow we start a new week, during which I go back to work 1/2 day.  I'm looking forward to it but also nervous about how it will all go.  Has to happen sometime though!  And I'm lucky that I have a job that I love and employers that allow this much flexibility.

More cute pics from our photo shoot...

Thankful

With Thanksgiving approaching I have been thinking about all the things I am thankful for, and there is nothing like reading a blog like this one to put things in perspective.

I am thankful, in no particular order...

for 3 healthy babies to snuggle and cuddle and feel their babysoft skin
for a healthy extended family who loves us and supports us have enabled us to survive the last few weeks
for a church family who has prayed for us
for a roof over our heads, even though it feels small these days
for a job that I love and for the flexibility I've been given
for friends I can talk to about anything, near and far
for the generosity of friends and family for helping to provide for these babies
for my husband, who through good and bad is my best friend and partner on this crazy adventure

On a less serious note, I am thankful for a few things that make my life easier and more enjoyable these days...
pacifiers
online shopping
triple stroller
digital camera
vibrating chairs and swings
chocolate
working on those baby smiles that seem to be right around the corner
Sean getting home from work!

the boys on their two-month birthday

Big, big babies!

We had our two month check-up on Wednesday.  We have big, growing babies!  They are all right on average for the preemie growth chart and look perfect.  Ryan has a small hemangioma on his back, which I suspected, and we're just monitoring it for now.  It should go away on it's own by around a year.  We've noticed it for the last month or so and it has gotten a little bigger as he has.  So here are their stats...

Evan 8# 9oz, 21.25"
Ryan 8# 15oz!!, 21.75"
Collin 8# 8oz, 20.75"

They got their first round of vaccines, hate those.  No more vaccines until January, but two Synagis injections before then.  We also found out the 5 ounces they've been getting at a feeding is two much, which I suspected, and probably contributing to the spit-up and reflux we've had.  They are good, good babies, not fussy except for one to two times a day when they get reflux and get fussy and scream and spit-up.  So we started rice cereal, and that through a wrench in our routine.  We had everything going so well.  Now it seems we are starting all over trying to find a quantity of formula and cereal that works and our schedule isn't quite so regular.  We also had to switch nipples for the formula/cereal combo, very stressful the night we figured out the formula wouldn't flow!

Right now we are working toward sleeping in the crib, a strategy the babies may have discovered and seem to be trying to thwart.  We had been sleeping fabulously at night except for the occasional bout of reflux that resulted in brief uncontrollable screaming and spit-ups (our babies don't like their faces to lay in their spit-up, it bothers them horribly).  We had been napping wonderfully in the crib during the day.  That has all changed.  Now I can't seem to get them all to nap in the crib, someone and more often two someones are invariably fussy and want their pacis but keep dropping them.  Soooo frustrating.  The plan is still to try sleeping in the crib at night next week when Auntie Steph is close by (the nursery is across the house).  I desperately want my bedroom and bathroom back... the babies have taken over the whole house and I want one room back!  We have a whole changing table set-up in our bathroom, and Evan had an explosive poo incident that caused it to go everywhere.  Plus our comforter has spit-up spots all over, we can't wash it often enough.  And we have baby clothes in the nursery, baby clothes in the bedroom, laundry all over.  I'm trying to move the stuff out of the room before the babies, because even though I tell myself I'm ready, I'm not sure that I am.  I think this is the time though, they need to get used to it sooner rather than later.  We'll let you know how it goes...

So far we're still acting more like newborns than 2 month olds, a little developmentally delayed.  They are looking at things and can track things with their eyes a little.  No smiles or coos yet :(  Hopefully soon!  We are really, really cute right now though, I'll try to post pictures soon :)

Squirmy Wormies!

Babies' First Halloween!  We got adorable costumes and sat them out on the porch for all the neighborhood folks to meet :)  They were so good, and the weather was fantastic.  Weirdly, lots of the kids and even some adults asked if they were real...

Collin, Evan, and Ryan

The babies are becoming much more alert, they focus and are starting to look at objects.  They smile, though I'm not convinced it is at anything in particular yet.  When that day comes, look out!  We washed all our 0-3 month clothes today, most of the newborn things are getting snug.  It's crazy how fast they grow!  Seems like yesterday the Newborn things started to fit.  The Preemie clothes had a VERY short lifespan, some much shorter than others, and some even started too small since our kiddos were so long.

We had our first shot on Friday, the Synagis injection for RSV.  The babies are only getting 3 injections based on insurance, because of their age and size (which were good) but bad since they only get 3 months of added protection.  We used the DumDum sucker trick, but they still screamed.  And Evan stopped breathing!  He wailed and used all the reserves in his lungs, then forgot to reload!  He did again really quick, but not until after I told him to breathe twice!  His face got really red, and his lips a little purple.  But we made it.  There will be a lot of shots in the next few months though, the next two Synagis doses and their 2 month vaccines.  The nurse that gave the injections weighed and measured the babies, here are their stats...

Evan 7# 4.5oz, 20.8"
Ryan 7# 10oz, 20.4"
Collin 7# 9oz, 20.2"

They are pretty similar to the measurements from earlier in the week, probably since those were right after eating, and these were right before eating.  These chunky monkeys are still chow hounds!  They now get at least 5 oz at each feeding, my breastmilk stores are going to get devoured quickly and it is harder and harder to even keep up with 50% of their meals.  We're stopping pumping soon anyway though.  They have dropped another feeding though, we're stretching them through the night so we really only have about 6 feedings per day (today it is 7, 10:30, 1:45, 5, and probably 8/8:30 and 11).  And we've had help, both of my parents on Saturday and my sister this weekend, and an old friend from grade school who is expecting came on Friday.  We are always happy to have our babies held and to have help changing and feeding them!

I know I say this all the time, but I can't believe how much they change on a daily basis and how they will get big before I know it...

Our life now...

Ryan, Collin, and Evan

The baby boys will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, how time flies! That is sure to be a redundant theme... They are still doing fabulously. They eat great, 4-4.5 oz of breastmilk and 5 oz of formula every other feeding. They spit up a lot too. We go through a big can of powder formula every 5 days at least. We are full on in newborn diapers, and they may be getting a bit snug. We go through a package of diapers every 2 days (about 21 diapers a day minimum). They stay awake more, they are looking around a lot more, but not playing or really interacting yet. They have graduated from the big stroller bassinet in our bed to two in the cradle (we tried squeezing three in the cradle for a couple nights, it was too tight of a fit), and one baby in a single bassinet. The sleeping varies, some nights it's great and we get 3 hours at a time, some nights it's not so great. We have spoiled them and developed the very bad habit of pulling them in bed with us one at a time if they fuss too soon (or even right on time if we're not quite ready to rise and shine). I don't know what to do about that. They settle right down in bed with us for the most part, though sometimes it seems were plucking pacifiers back in their mouths every couple of minutes for hours. Hopefully when we move them across the house to their crib they we'll stop that habit. That time should come in the next month or so.

Speaking of the stroller, we have it up and running with all parts in. We've taken several walks around the neighborhood, people always stop us to see the babies and one mom even came out of her house to check us out. They do really well on the walks and it feels good to get them out of the house.

We had our first round of diaper rash last week (Evan was most affected, Collin was least affected, overall it was pretty mild). We went through two tubes of Desitin. Between that and our ridiculously frequent spit-ups, they get bathed twice a week now and should be probably more often. Bathing is time consuming, and labor intensive. It doesn't help that one or more babies invariably poops during the bath and we have to start all over after the clean-up. Here are our new weights as of yesterday during our bath (OMG, are these the same babies?!?!)...

Evan 7# 5.5 oz.

Ryan 7# 10.5 oz.

Collin 7# 8.5 oz.

I've been on my own A LOT, and it feels great. It's hard, don't get me wrong, definitely not easy or relaxing. One of these days (or never) I'll feel normal again. Here's what the schedule is like for me, give or take 30 minutes... or an hour...

8am - Sean helps feed the babies and I pump before he goes to work. If I'm good, this is when I shower and get cleaned up (no point getting TOO clean, see spit-up issues addressed above). Done by 9:00.

9am - Clean bottles from overnight, take all the formula and overnight supplies back to kitchen and start dishwasher. Move baby swing and seats into living room (put up at night so kitties don't make them beds). Babies hang out in their Boppy pillows on my bed.

11am - Change babies and feed babies (takes one hour if I prop the bottles and feed three at once, takes 1.5-2 hours if I feed them one at a time), I then pump when I'm done (additional 30 minutes).

1pm - I eat something, check email, and start prepping the next round of bottles. Maybe transfer a load of laundry and empty dishwasher. Babies in swing/seats or on playmat.

2pm - Change babies and feed babies, then pump.

4pm - Breathe, what else needs to get done? Babies are napping, sometimes in their crib, sometimes in their Boppy pillows, sometimes in their swing/seats.

5pm - Change babies and feed babies, then pump.

6-6:30pm - Sean gets home! Yay!

And this is what we all want to do...

We have some super cute Halloween costumes for the babies this weekend, I'll post those pics next week :) And, really really exciting, I am getting out of the house for some fun! So far I've only left the babies at home twice, once for a pedicure and once for a one year-old's birthday party. Tomorrow will be a big day for me, I have a doctor's appointment in the morning for my 6 week post-op and then tomorrow night we are going to a nice dinner downtown and then to the OKC Thunder for the first game of the season! Soooo excited! Thanks to all the parents for helping babysit to keep me sane :)

One Month Old!

I cannot believe these babies are one month old today... they are getting big sooo fast. Literally, big. We got a baby scale and weighed them yesterday, here are the stats:

Evan 6# 12.5 oz

Ryan 6# 15.5 oz

Collin 6# 15 oz

They are doing so well. They eat 2.5-4 oz. of breastmilk or formula, they alternate each feeding between the two. Only giving 50% breastmilk allows me to keep up, since I'm still pumping. Hopefully I can continue for another month, but we're still taking it week by week. They are still only having one middle of the night feeding (1-3), with one late evening (10-12) and one early morning (5-7). So far so good...

I have uploaded all their pics to my mobileme site, but here's a few from yesterday...

Evan after his bath

Ryan

Collin

I love the fall...

But our babies were born at the wrong time of year. It's not because it's football season and I'll likely miss every game this year. It's not because the days are getting shorter and the weather less hospitable. It's because it's prime time for flu and RSV; in Oklahoma RSV season is from November to April, yay. Any respiratory disease can be more severe in our premature babies with their under-developed lungs, but RSV in particular can be devastating. It's a virus that affects almost all babies by 2 years of age, in adults it is very mild and may only seem like a runny nose or mild cough. It wreaks havoc on the lungs of babies, but in particular those of premature infants. It can necessitate hospitalization, cause lifelong asthma, and even death. Even though I'm dying to get out of the house, and desperately want to show off my babies to everyone I work with and all my friends, we've been cautioned by our pediatrician and the NICU staff to keep them at home. When we go to the pediatrician we don't wait in the lobby, he has us go straight to his office until an exam room opens up. And he doesn't want to see us until the babies' 2 month well-check unless there is a problem; there is just too much flu and illness at his office. The babies will get an extra "vaccine" for RSV, it doesn't prevent illness but can reduce the severity of symptoms. You have to apply to have insurance cover it, as it is $1200 per injection and each baby gets a series of 6. Our pediatrician also requested, and insurance will cover, a nurse to come to the house to give the shots.

So we ask that anyone that visits our babies not have any symptoms of a cough, sniffles, and definitely no recent fever. We also ask that anyone with young children not visit if the kids have had any kind of respiratory symptoms, fever, etc. Sean and I and our immediate families have all gotten flu shots, the first time ever for me. We also ask that even if you have been the picture of health, you wash your hands as soon as you come in our house. And we have bottles of Germ-X everywhere should you feel the need to decontaminate during your visit. In the meantime, we'll be keeping our munchkins at home, away from church, work, grocery stores, and anywhere where there are lots of people and potential transmission of disease. Hopefully we'll make it through the season without too many issues.

Some pics from our recent visit from Sean's Aunt Sharon and cousin Tamara...

Evan

Ryan

Collin