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Just a few pics from our stay in the hospital...
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Night Nanny Kristin
One of the most consistent pieces of advice we received while pregnant with multiples was "get a night nanny." I was a bit hesitant at first because I'm constantly concerned about finances and knew I wouldn't be working at all and I like challenges and thought we can do this ourselves. After much budget analysis, thought and prayer we decided to go ahead and hire a night nanny three nights a week. We hired the same one that my friend Kandace used for her triplets. She came for the first time the first night we brought the babies home from the NICU. I can sum her up with one word: Awesome. A lot of people, myself included, use the word awesome all the time for various things but she truly is awesome, a God-send. She came around 9 or 10pm that first night and stayed through the night. She came armed with a binder, spiral and charts for each baby to track how much they eat, wet or poopy diapers, medications if any, and special notes. She sent us to bed not long after arriving and getting the lay of the land. We woke up the next morning (I still woke during the night to pump) to find that she had organized all of our bottle supplies, she washed and folded all the baby laundry, she fed the babies every 3 hours during the night and made detailed notes in her spiral about each feeding and baby so that we would know what happened, she made bottles, washed bottles, washed pump stuff, etc. She is amazing. It's overwhelming bringing one baby home, let alone three preemies. She has been such an incredible blessing for our family. She is one of the kindest, most caring people I know. She has taught us so much about multiples, swaddling, scheduling, which products are good, etc. I really can't say enough good things about her. We will be losing her soon as her next set of triplets have arrived and will be going home any time now and we are so sad. She is like our Mary Poppins and now the weather is changing and she has to go. :( However, as of January 20th, our precious babies have been sleeping all night long from approximately 7:30pm until 6:45am. Yahoo! We have had a few episodes of them waking and fussing for a bit but they are doing so great!! We sleep trained Barrett by 8 weeks old but there is no way we could have sleep trained these guys without Kristin. It is just a totally different world with multiples.
To all of you who have contributed to our "nanny" fund, we cannot thank you enough. We are truly humbled by your kindness and generosity. You have made our lives so much easier by allowing us extra rest, which I know for me contributes to my ability to feed these three and to just function like a normal human and for Mark's ability to be productive at work. We are so grateful for each of you and cannot express adequately in words how much it has meant to us to have her.
I titled this post Night Nanny Kristin because that is what Barrett calls her. Every time. Not Kristin, but Night Nanny Kristin. :)
If you get pregnant with multiples or are having trouble with your singleton baby, call me and I'll give you her contact info. You will not regret it!
To all of you who have contributed to our "nanny" fund, we cannot thank you enough. We are truly humbled by your kindness and generosity. You have made our lives so much easier by allowing us extra rest, which I know for me contributes to my ability to feed these three and to just function like a normal human and for Mark's ability to be productive at work. We are so grateful for each of you and cannot express adequately in words how much it has meant to us to have her.
I titled this post Night Nanny Kristin because that is what Barrett calls her. Every time. Not Kristin, but Night Nanny Kristin. :)
If you get pregnant with multiples or are having trouble with your singleton baby, call me and I'll give you her contact info. You will not regret it!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Breastfeeding multiples
Before I start this post, let it be known that I am not a doctor, nurse, lactation consultant or La Leche league member. I am a mom who breastfed her first born for 15 months and has been breastfeeding the trio since their arrival on October 1, 2012. This post is to document our journey and maybe help someone else in their journey.
Prior to B's birth, I hoped to breastfeed but obviously had no idea what it would be like or if I'd be able to. He was born on a Wednesday and I breastfed him every 3 hours around the clock. We came home from the hospital on Saturday and my milk still wasn't in so I started to worry that it wouldn't come in! It seemed like so many people told me they didn't make enough milk or any milk. I sent Mark to GNC to get the mother's milk tea and everything like that. Barrett was also not too interested in eating and he never seemed to get a good latch. I had a pump so that Saturday night I pumped for the first time. I did it because I was concerned that he wasn't latching on and that my body would think I wasn't intending to breastfeed and thus, stop producing milk. The next morning (after attempting to nurse him during the night) I pumped again and there it was....precious liquid gold. Yahoo! We had to take Barrett to the pedi that Monday and once there the doctor diagnosed him as tongue-tied, meaning the skin under his tongue was too tight and was connected too close to the end of his tongue. We took him straight to the ENT and had it snipped. Ouch! Immediately he latched on and started inhaling milk. Yahoo again! From then on things were pretty easy for us. There were definitely the aches and pains that go with nursing (I'll spare you the details) but for the most part we were good to go. I had every intention of going back to work full time so I always pumped and nursed him. I froze all my pumped milk because I knew I would need it once returning to work. Turns out I only went back to full time work for 6 weeks and from then on only worked part time. I think (again not an expert) that because I had pumped and nursed him since his birth pretty much that my body just kept making milk which means I kept pumping for relief. I think I finally stopped pumping around 10-11 months and still had enough frozen for him to get through 15 months of nursing and pumped milk on my work days. I still have a few frozen bags in the deep freezer that are just for nostalgia at this point!
So now I'm pregnant with triplets. Of course I will try to breastfeed them. First, my sweet friend Kandace breastfed her triplets for a year so I knew it "could" be done. She was and is an inspiration to me. Thank you friend. Second, I knew there was a high likelihood they'd be born early and would need every extra advantage that they could get. Third, people say to me all the time "I can't believe you are breastfeeding triplets" to which I reply "I can't believe you think I'm going to buy formula for triplets when God has given me the ability to feed them for free." I am a budget girl! Fourth, I like a challenge. Just being honest.
Within three hours of the babies' birth I was on the pump. My dear friend Priscilla grabbed my pump from my house and brought it to the hospital because I was frantic about getting on the pump! I failed to remember that of course the hospital has pumps. Duh. So anyways, I'm on the pump within 3 hours of their birth. I pumped every 3 hours like clockwork. I would get like the tiniest millimeter of colostrum after pumping for 30 minutes! It was terrible! It was painful and discouraging because I was hardly getting anything. I kept thinking maybe I won't make milk this time because they were born so early, I had c-section, my body forgot what to do...every negative thought entered my mind. And of course, I'm exhausted, recovering from surgery, worrying about my NICU babies and my big boy at home, missing my husband but I stuck with it and pumped every 3 hours for at least 30-45 minutes from Monday night until the wee hours of Thursday morning when finally my milk came in! Praise God! Sweet relief!! At least mental relief, not physical relief of course because pumping is not fun and is not painless. I took a picture and texted Mark at 3am and said "MILK!!!!" I was discharged from the hospital the Saturday after they were born and gladly rented the hospital pump. It's like the Ferrari of breast pumps. I continued pumping every 3 hours for a long time. I can't even count the number of times I've pumped in the car on the way to the NICU, the way to the Mavs game, the way home from various places. I have an extension cord in the car that plugs in at the back and I set the pump on the console, wear my hands free pump bra and cover up with my nursing cover. I'm pretty sure I'd definitely get out of a speeding ticket if I ever got pulled over while pumping! I finally started pumping every 4 hours at the beginning of January when we moved the babies to a 4 hour feeding schedule. This was more out of necessity and scheduling. I only pump once during the night now. Must.get.some.sleep.
I also breastfeed the babies. Kellen is the best nurser. Annabelle was the strongest from the get go but she and Reid were both tongue-tied and we just had that taken care of in January and so they still have some trouble going from bottle to breast. And honestly sometimes its just easier to pump because I do it when I'm feeding all of them. If not, then I have to nurse them, then still pump so it's double the time. I can rarely double nurse them now because they are getting too big and squirmy! It was cool though when I could do that.
Right now they are eating a little more than 90 ounces per day. I do not think it's physically possible for me to keep up with that demand. Thankfully I have about 1,040 ounces in the deep freezer so we'll start thawing milk as soon as they pass me up. I anticipate that being in the next 3-5 days! Breastfeeding seems to be all about supply and demand. Using the pump, I tricked my body early on to think it was feeding frequently and for lengthy periods, so I kept producing more. That allowed me to build up a huge reserve while they weren't eating as much.
It's pretty stressful and daunting when I think about trying to keep up with them. I've had many breakdowns about it and the thought of not being able to provide for them. Especially on days when I don't seem to produce as much. I get very discouraged. Luckily I have Mark and great friends (in real life and on facebook) to remind me and encourage me! I repeatedly have to remind myself that I'm doing the best I can and that's all I can do.
Other stuff I have noticed....every mom wants to lose weight after having a baby, including me! I was in great shape before I got pregnant with them and man did that pregnancy take a toll on my body. And now I have 4 kids, a husband and a dog! I definitely don't have a lot of time to work out. A few weeks ago I decided to really focus on my diet so for a few days I ate salads, super healthy stuff and cut out the snacks. Big mistake, my milk supply dropped significantly. Now, I definitely still eat pretty healthy but have realized I cannot cut calories. I have to snack, I have to eat hearty meals, otherwise I just don't make enough milk. Does it suck? Well, not really, I mean I like to eat! But yes it sucks to know that I want to have my pre-baby body back but really can't do much about it and still feed these three. So I tell myself it's a season (actually Kate reminds me - thank you, love you). There will be time for running half marathons again and all that (well maybe there won't be "time" but you get my point). But for right now, my job is to nourish these babies and I'll do that as best I can. So don't make comments or jokes if you see me, k? I'm doing the best I can! I had one friend within a month after me having birth (I always say having birth since I had a c-section and didn't really do anything other than lay there) say "wow, I thought you'd be like this (holding up her pinky finger) after breastfeeding those 3 babies." Um, no, I'm not but thanks for that. LOL. I'm sure she didn't mean it like I took it. Postpartum hormones. Sensitive subject. Oh and for all you moms that breastfeed and it just sucks the weight right off of you, I am envious. That has not been my experience at all.
I also drink a ton of water. A ton. At least a gallon a day. Sometimes I forget to drink enough and notice a drop in supply. So I beat myself about it for a bit and then chug some water!
In summary, I am confident that if you want to breastfeed you can. I know there are women that cannot produce, have to go back to work, choose not to, take medications that don't allow for breastfeeding, etc. I'm just saying that if you want to, you can! Does it take a ton of work and huge commitment? YES. Is it hard? YES. Is it painful? YES (not every time though). I mean, seriously, tugging on the "girls" all day is not super fun. Do I want to cry when I think it will be at least a year before I sleep through the night again? YES! Is it worth it? Without a doubt, 100%, YES. It feels amazing to know that my babies are all over 11 pounds right now because of me. It is so awesome. I am committed and determined to do the best I can for them. And if they use up all the frozen supply and I have to supplement with formula, I know I'll be upset about it but I also know that I'm doing the best I can.
Prior to B's birth, I hoped to breastfeed but obviously had no idea what it would be like or if I'd be able to. He was born on a Wednesday and I breastfed him every 3 hours around the clock. We came home from the hospital on Saturday and my milk still wasn't in so I started to worry that it wouldn't come in! It seemed like so many people told me they didn't make enough milk or any milk. I sent Mark to GNC to get the mother's milk tea and everything like that. Barrett was also not too interested in eating and he never seemed to get a good latch. I had a pump so that Saturday night I pumped for the first time. I did it because I was concerned that he wasn't latching on and that my body would think I wasn't intending to breastfeed and thus, stop producing milk. The next morning (after attempting to nurse him during the night) I pumped again and there it was....precious liquid gold. Yahoo! We had to take Barrett to the pedi that Monday and once there the doctor diagnosed him as tongue-tied, meaning the skin under his tongue was too tight and was connected too close to the end of his tongue. We took him straight to the ENT and had it snipped. Ouch! Immediately he latched on and started inhaling milk. Yahoo again! From then on things were pretty easy for us. There were definitely the aches and pains that go with nursing (I'll spare you the details) but for the most part we were good to go. I had every intention of going back to work full time so I always pumped and nursed him. I froze all my pumped milk because I knew I would need it once returning to work. Turns out I only went back to full time work for 6 weeks and from then on only worked part time. I think (again not an expert) that because I had pumped and nursed him since his birth pretty much that my body just kept making milk which means I kept pumping for relief. I think I finally stopped pumping around 10-11 months and still had enough frozen for him to get through 15 months of nursing and pumped milk on my work days. I still have a few frozen bags in the deep freezer that are just for nostalgia at this point!
So now I'm pregnant with triplets. Of course I will try to breastfeed them. First, my sweet friend Kandace breastfed her triplets for a year so I knew it "could" be done. She was and is an inspiration to me. Thank you friend. Second, I knew there was a high likelihood they'd be born early and would need every extra advantage that they could get. Third, people say to me all the time "I can't believe you are breastfeeding triplets" to which I reply "I can't believe you think I'm going to buy formula for triplets when God has given me the ability to feed them for free." I am a budget girl! Fourth, I like a challenge. Just being honest.
Within three hours of the babies' birth I was on the pump. My dear friend Priscilla grabbed my pump from my house and brought it to the hospital because I was frantic about getting on the pump! I failed to remember that of course the hospital has pumps. Duh. So anyways, I'm on the pump within 3 hours of their birth. I pumped every 3 hours like clockwork. I would get like the tiniest millimeter of colostrum after pumping for 30 minutes! It was terrible! It was painful and discouraging because I was hardly getting anything. I kept thinking maybe I won't make milk this time because they were born so early, I had c-section, my body forgot what to do...every negative thought entered my mind. And of course, I'm exhausted, recovering from surgery, worrying about my NICU babies and my big boy at home, missing my husband but I stuck with it and pumped every 3 hours for at least 30-45 minutes from Monday night until the wee hours of Thursday morning when finally my milk came in! Praise God! Sweet relief!! At least mental relief, not physical relief of course because pumping is not fun and is not painless. I took a picture and texted Mark at 3am and said "MILK!!!!" I was discharged from the hospital the Saturday after they were born and gladly rented the hospital pump. It's like the Ferrari of breast pumps. I continued pumping every 3 hours for a long time. I can't even count the number of times I've pumped in the car on the way to the NICU, the way to the Mavs game, the way home from various places. I have an extension cord in the car that plugs in at the back and I set the pump on the console, wear my hands free pump bra and cover up with my nursing cover. I'm pretty sure I'd definitely get out of a speeding ticket if I ever got pulled over while pumping! I finally started pumping every 4 hours at the beginning of January when we moved the babies to a 4 hour feeding schedule. This was more out of necessity and scheduling. I only pump once during the night now. Must.get.some.sleep.
I also breastfeed the babies. Kellen is the best nurser. Annabelle was the strongest from the get go but she and Reid were both tongue-tied and we just had that taken care of in January and so they still have some trouble going from bottle to breast. And honestly sometimes its just easier to pump because I do it when I'm feeding all of them. If not, then I have to nurse them, then still pump so it's double the time. I can rarely double nurse them now because they are getting too big and squirmy! It was cool though when I could do that.
Right now they are eating a little more than 90 ounces per day. I do not think it's physically possible for me to keep up with that demand. Thankfully I have about 1,040 ounces in the deep freezer so we'll start thawing milk as soon as they pass me up. I anticipate that being in the next 3-5 days! Breastfeeding seems to be all about supply and demand. Using the pump, I tricked my body early on to think it was feeding frequently and for lengthy periods, so I kept producing more. That allowed me to build up a huge reserve while they weren't eating as much.
It's pretty stressful and daunting when I think about trying to keep up with them. I've had many breakdowns about it and the thought of not being able to provide for them. Especially on days when I don't seem to produce as much. I get very discouraged. Luckily I have Mark and great friends (in real life and on facebook) to remind me and encourage me! I repeatedly have to remind myself that I'm doing the best I can and that's all I can do.
Other stuff I have noticed....every mom wants to lose weight after having a baby, including me! I was in great shape before I got pregnant with them and man did that pregnancy take a toll on my body. And now I have 4 kids, a husband and a dog! I definitely don't have a lot of time to work out. A few weeks ago I decided to really focus on my diet so for a few days I ate salads, super healthy stuff and cut out the snacks. Big mistake, my milk supply dropped significantly. Now, I definitely still eat pretty healthy but have realized I cannot cut calories. I have to snack, I have to eat hearty meals, otherwise I just don't make enough milk. Does it suck? Well, not really, I mean I like to eat! But yes it sucks to know that I want to have my pre-baby body back but really can't do much about it and still feed these three. So I tell myself it's a season (actually Kate reminds me - thank you, love you). There will be time for running half marathons again and all that (well maybe there won't be "time" but you get my point). But for right now, my job is to nourish these babies and I'll do that as best I can. So don't make comments or jokes if you see me, k? I'm doing the best I can! I had one friend within a month after me having birth (I always say having birth since I had a c-section and didn't really do anything other than lay there) say "wow, I thought you'd be like this (holding up her pinky finger) after breastfeeding those 3 babies." Um, no, I'm not but thanks for that. LOL. I'm sure she didn't mean it like I took it. Postpartum hormones. Sensitive subject. Oh and for all you moms that breastfeed and it just sucks the weight right off of you, I am envious. That has not been my experience at all.
I also drink a ton of water. A ton. At least a gallon a day. Sometimes I forget to drink enough and notice a drop in supply. So I beat myself about it for a bit and then chug some water!
In summary, I am confident that if you want to breastfeed you can. I know there are women that cannot produce, have to go back to work, choose not to, take medications that don't allow for breastfeeding, etc. I'm just saying that if you want to, you can! Does it take a ton of work and huge commitment? YES. Is it hard? YES. Is it painful? YES (not every time though). I mean, seriously, tugging on the "girls" all day is not super fun. Do I want to cry when I think it will be at least a year before I sleep through the night again? YES! Is it worth it? Without a doubt, 100%, YES. It feels amazing to know that my babies are all over 11 pounds right now because of me. It is so awesome. I am committed and determined to do the best I can for them. And if they use up all the frozen supply and I have to supplement with formula, I know I'll be upset about it but I also know that I'm doing the best I can.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Reprocessing
One thing I didn't really anticipate about having triplets or just another baby, was explaining breastfeeding to a 4, now 5 year old. When Barrett first saw me pumping, this was how the conversation went:
B: What are you doing?
Me: Pumping milk for the babies.
B: The milk is in that yellow thing? (the pump)
Me: No, the milk is in my body?
B: Where?
Me: Uh, in my boobs.
B: (with the biggest eyes ever) I didn't know girls had milk in their boobs!
Me: (thinking oh dear he's going to go to school and tell all his girlfriends this) Well, after mommies have babies they have milk in their boobs. But your friends at school don't, this is just family talk, etc.
B: Okay mom.
So that somehow turned into "boobing" so when I'm going to feed the babies he'll say "mom are you going to boob one of them? or are you going to double boob them?" Etc. Funny stuff.
Since the babies have been born Barrett has been very interested in his stuffed animal babies....in particular the two monkeys Frank and Fletcher. Frank is 100 and Fletcher is 0. They seem to have birthdays each week but their age doesn't really change. So Fletcher, the baby, wears diapers now, needs to be swaddled, goes in the swings, drinks a bottle, etc. Barrett wanted a pack and play for Fletcher ($5 on FB Garage Sale page - score!) and all he wanted for Christmas was a car seat for Fletcher. Well, it is extremely difficult to find a boy print play car seat. I finally found one on Amazon made by Joovy for FIFTY dollars. I was not thrilled about that since I'd already done all his Christmas shopping before he decided and told Santa this is all he wanted. So anyways Fletcher is like a family member. Barrett is his dad and I'm his mom and Mark is also his dad. :)
A few weeks ago I see Fletcher is up Barrett's shirt. Um, Barrett are you breastfeeding Fletcher? Barrett looks at me like I'm a complete idiot as he says "mom, I'm a boy, I don't have milk in my boobs." Duh. I said what are you doing then? He said "it's called reprocessing mom. I drink milk and then I cut a hole right here next to my belly button and Fletcher can get the milk out." Reprocessing? Seriously. This kid never ceases to amaze me and crack me up!
B: What are you doing?
Me: Pumping milk for the babies.
B: The milk is in that yellow thing? (the pump)
Me: No, the milk is in my body?
B: Where?
Me: Uh, in my boobs.
B: (with the biggest eyes ever) I didn't know girls had milk in their boobs!
Me: (thinking oh dear he's going to go to school and tell all his girlfriends this) Well, after mommies have babies they have milk in their boobs. But your friends at school don't, this is just family talk, etc.
B: Okay mom.
So that somehow turned into "boobing" so when I'm going to feed the babies he'll say "mom are you going to boob one of them? or are you going to double boob them?" Etc. Funny stuff.
Since the babies have been born Barrett has been very interested in his stuffed animal babies....in particular the two monkeys Frank and Fletcher. Frank is 100 and Fletcher is 0. They seem to have birthdays each week but their age doesn't really change. So Fletcher, the baby, wears diapers now, needs to be swaddled, goes in the swings, drinks a bottle, etc. Barrett wanted a pack and play for Fletcher ($5 on FB Garage Sale page - score!) and all he wanted for Christmas was a car seat for Fletcher. Well, it is extremely difficult to find a boy print play car seat. I finally found one on Amazon made by Joovy for FIFTY dollars. I was not thrilled about that since I'd already done all his Christmas shopping before he decided and told Santa this is all he wanted. So anyways Fletcher is like a family member. Barrett is his dad and I'm his mom and Mark is also his dad. :)
A few weeks ago I see Fletcher is up Barrett's shirt. Um, Barrett are you breastfeeding Fletcher? Barrett looks at me like I'm a complete idiot as he says "mom, I'm a boy, I don't have milk in my boobs." Duh. I said what are you doing then? He said "it's called reprocessing mom. I drink milk and then I cut a hole right here next to my belly button and Fletcher can get the milk out." Reprocessing? Seriously. This kid never ceases to amaze me and crack me up!
Adios first tooth!
On January 15th, our biggest kid lost his first tooth! It had been loose for a while so we knew it was coming but still...he just turned 5 in October?!?!?! It was the first tooth that came in at FIVE months old so it's not too shocking that it fell out early. Of course it fell out at 8:30pm and we never have cash on hand it seems. All we could find was $5. So we had no choice and we called it the first tooth bonus. This tooth fairy will not be paying $5 per tooth!
We recently let Barrett watch Star Wars (the original one) and he LOVES it. He calls Darth Vader...Dark Vader and light sabers are light savers. Cracks me up! The other day he had some friends over to play and one of them came down to tattle that someone was spitting so we called them all to the top of the stairs (5 kids) and we questioned them and Barrett said "I didn't even take a spit, Mom." LOL! The way he says things cracks me up and I constantly wish I had video rolling on him. I'll start blogging them so at least I can read it and remember! Right now his favorite thing to play with is his trophies. One is from soccer and one is from baseball. One is named Roger and the other Blixen. No idea. They have a room (under our dining room table) and they eat dinner with us and have plates. Hysterical. They wear clothes which are baby wipes that he pokes their arms through and makes them like jackets. Seriously where does he come up with this stuff?
He also told us he is going to win the Heisman Trophy like Johnny Football. Get your autographs while you can peeps!
We recently let Barrett watch Star Wars (the original one) and he LOVES it. He calls Darth Vader...Dark Vader and light sabers are light savers. Cracks me up! The other day he had some friends over to play and one of them came down to tattle that someone was spitting so we called them all to the top of the stairs (5 kids) and we questioned them and Barrett said "I didn't even take a spit, Mom." LOL! The way he says things cracks me up and I constantly wish I had video rolling on him. I'll start blogging them so at least I can read it and remember! Right now his favorite thing to play with is his trophies. One is from soccer and one is from baseball. One is named Roger and the other Blixen. No idea. They have a room (under our dining room table) and they eat dinner with us and have plates. Hysterical. They wear clothes which are baby wipes that he pokes their arms through and makes them like jackets. Seriously where does he come up with this stuff?
He also told us he is going to win the Heisman Trophy like Johnny Football. Get your autographs while you can peeps!
We looked over from the kitchen the other day and saw this. He was just talking to and playing with the babies. I grabbed Mark and hugged him as tears welled in my eyes. We have 4 amazing, beautiful children. I still cannot believe it. We are so blessed and thank God daily for our blessings.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Life in the NICU
After leaving the OR I was transferred to ICU. Because of my mild heart thing after Barrett, they just wanted to be extra careful and make sure I was okay. I had to be in the ICU for 8 hours before I could see the babies so I didn't get to see them until 4am on October 2nd. Having babies in the NICU is so much different than having a baby in the regular nursery. One, a nurse doesn't bring your baby to you every 3 hours to eat or whenever you call and say you want to see your baby. Two, you have to get a wheelchair and be escorted to the NICU to see your babies, which means you have to get out of your hospital bed. Now, if you have had a c-section you know this is no small feat. Luckily at 4am I was still really doped up on pain meds so getting in the wheelchair wasn't too bad. My first trip to the NICU was one I will never forget. I knew our babies were doing well, all things considered, but seeing your baby, or babies, in my case, in a little plastic crib with warmers, IVs, tubes, cords and monitors is very scary no matter what the doctors are telling you.
Our babies were on CPAP until Wednesday morning (October 3rd) at which point they were all breathing room air. They were still under the warmers and had feeding tubes and IVs. With preemies, you don't get the option to wait for your milk to come in before they start feeding. They start feeding them every 3 hours from birth. I was still in the ICU so I asked Mark to request (or demand) that they get donor milk before my milk came in. Thankfully, our neonatologist had no problem doing that for us and our babies were able to get donor milk. I am so grateful for mothers that donate their breast milk. I plan to pay it back tenfold when I'm done nursing these 3. Life in the NICU is stressful and I had "healthy" babies. It's a series of two steps forward and one step back a lot of days. For us, the goal was to get the babies off the warmers and eating on their own...either from bottle or breast. Once they could all do that, we'd get to go home! Some days it seemed as though we weren't making any progress and other days we were thinking we'll be out of here in no time! I won't recount every single detail of each day and probably couldn't remember it all if I tried. Basically it went like this...try to take them out from the warmers, their temps would drop, back in the warmers, try again in a few days. About a week after they were born they were ready to attempt bottles and/or breastfeeding and I was able to start nuzzling them, which is basically like "pre-breastfeeding". I could put them to the breast to see what they did. Of course, Annabelle latched on and started nursing. Little rockstar! The boys had what they call "wimpy white boy" syndrome and were not too interested. They really do call it that. It seemed like a long, long process to get them used to bottles and there were days I was sure we would never get them home because they just did not want to take bottles every 3 hours! On October 13th they all moved to the special care unit which is still with the NICU but is considered a step down unit for babies closer to going home. To move there, they had to be out from their warmers and able to maintain their body temps which they could all do at that point! Hooray! We still took their temps every 3 hours to be sure. Once in special care it was a matter of getting them off the feeding tubes. We desperately wanted all of them to come home together but knew that was a long shot. Our nurses and doctors told us that triplets rarely, if ever, get sent home together. I'd gotten out of the hospital on October 6th and was commuting to the NICU every day. It was like a full time job! I was ready to be home with them in our environment where we could do things our way. Plus, Barrett was not permitted to go to the NICU so he couldn't even meet them! We did Skype so that he could see them moving around and stuff. He thought the tape holding their feeding tubes in was hysterical. Finally on October 23rd we got the best news....all the babies were coming home with us that day. We had been told that Kellen may have to stay behind because he didn't want to eat all his bottles but he did it! I think he got word that the others might go home and he'd be alone so he stepped it up. :) So that's a quick recap of our 3 week NICU stay. I met so many wonderful moms while I was there and from now on NICU parents and babies will be on my prayer list because it is not an easy thing to go through and we were "lucky" ones because our babies just had to learn to eat and regulate their temps. God bless all those parents and babies.
Birth Day!
I had been having contractions for months but they weren't regular and I could usually get them to go away by resting and drinking even more water...which is hard to imagine when I was already drinking close to 2 gallons a day. On Sunday, September 30th, my contractions were pretty constant and regular for about 2 hours so I called my OB. She has her own practice but is part of a group so she wasn't on call. Another doctor called me back and I described what was going on and he told me to drink more water and take a nap. I did that and they seemed to subside. I already had my regular appointment scheduled for Monday, October 1 so I knew I would see my doctor that day. My appointment was at 11am but by the time I got in to see her it was about 12pm. I described my symptoms that were different than the prior week...more nausea at night, achy neck and joints, more contractions and just an overall blah feeling. My high risk doctor is always the one that would check my cervix on Tuesdays with a sonogram, however, Dr. O decided she needed to check me because my symptoms were "signs of labor". I was 1cm dilated and she told me she expected the babies to be here within 2 weeks! What?!?! I still had so much to get done and I was only 32 weeks, 4 days. I really wanted to make it to October 29th when I'd be 36 weeks, 4 days...a lofty goal with triplets I know. I called Mark and we started game planning. In the car on the way home I started having more contractions but didn't think much of it since I'd had them for months. They didn't subside and by the time I got home they were fairly regular....about 6-7 minutes apart. I put my feet, ate some lunch and tried to rest. They kept coming and were getting closer together...5 minutes apart and some were painful. I was tracking all of them and Mark was insisting that I call the doctor. I was like "no, I just went to the doctor, I just need to rest." Finally, he said "call the doctor now." I called and left a message. In the meantime, he started packing my stuff and we called our dear friend and neighbor, Priscilla, to see if B could hang out with them. We packed him an overnight bag just in case. I was thinking I'd probably get put on hospital bed rest so I'm telling Mark to grab my Bible study, my Kindle, my Sudoku book, you know...all these things to occupy my time. We hadn't heard back from the doctor yet but decided to head to her office which is at the hospital. We dropped B off and headed that way. Her nurse called back when we were on our way and said definitely come to her office rather than L&D. We walked into her office around 4 pm and immediately got called back. Dr. O walked into the patient room and immediately said "you look different." She checked me and I was 2cm dilated and she suspected I was leaking amniotic fluid. Sure enough, she checked a sample under the microscope and it was fluid. She said "you are having these babies tonight." PANIC. I started to cry because I was so worried about them and thinking it was too soon. They got a wheelchair and wheeled me to L&D. On the way, I'm texting like a teenager and updating facebook to let everyone know that the babies were on their way, asking them to pray and corralling the people that were coming to the hospital. I had already done all the paperwork for L&D when I stayed overnight several weeks prior with the stomach bug so check in was painless. I was set up in a room, hooked up to an IV, and they set monitors up for each baby while we waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive. A misunderstanding had me thinking that once the anesthesiologist got there it would still be another hour or two. Turns out, as soon as he came in it was pretty much go time. Thankfully I got to see my mom, Kate, Priscilla and my in laws before I had to go to the OR. I was freaking out to say the least and they all helped comfort me. They took me to the OR and did my epidural there at 7:30pm. I don't know if it was the epidural or just stress but I was a basketcase. So much of me wanted to jump off the OR table and just walk out of there. I'm sure it was a minor panic attack. My shoulders were aching and I was freezing. Finally Mark got there and helped calm me down. Keep in mind, I wasn't thrashing around or having to be subdued or anything like that, it was mostly all in my head other than the aches which Mark and the anesthesiologist both tried to massage out of my neck and shoulders. I think it was just so much tension.
There were so many people in the OR. Me and Mark of course. My doctor and another OB since I was having c-section. The 2 nurses helping them. The anesthesiologist and his assistant. Each baby had a team of 3-4 people set up and waiting. So probably around 18-20 people. Dr. O started around 8:05pm I think and at 8:11pm, October 1, Baby A was born, followed by Baby B at 8:12pm and Baby C at 8:13pm. For me, it seemed like an eternity between each baby and just waiting to hear those cries. We didn't know genders ahead of time so we were anxiously waiting to hear cries and know genders! Baby A was a boy, Baby B was a boy. Mark looked at me and said "all boys?" and I said "no way". I felt like if they were all the same gender I would have known. I knew with B at about 24 weeks that he was a boy. I never had a strong feeling about these three so I was pretty sure they were mixed gender. Baby C came out posing like a princess and was a girl! I couldn't see the boys but I could see her because her team was behind me to my left. The boys were in front of me to my left but the curtain blocked me from seeing them. I only got to see Baby C before they wheeled them off to the NICU. They intubated all of them but removed their tubes almost immediately in the NICU and put them on CPAP. Meanwhile I was getting sewn up in the OR and trying to wrap my brain around the fact that they were already here and praising God for our precious, breathing, healthy, children....it was a blur....
I may try to get a guest blogger to recount what was going on in the waiting room. Anyone volunteering for that??
There were so many people in the OR. Me and Mark of course. My doctor and another OB since I was having c-section. The 2 nurses helping them. The anesthesiologist and his assistant. Each baby had a team of 3-4 people set up and waiting. So probably around 18-20 people. Dr. O started around 8:05pm I think and at 8:11pm, October 1, Baby A was born, followed by Baby B at 8:12pm and Baby C at 8:13pm. For me, it seemed like an eternity between each baby and just waiting to hear those cries. We didn't know genders ahead of time so we were anxiously waiting to hear cries and know genders! Baby A was a boy, Baby B was a boy. Mark looked at me and said "all boys?" and I said "no way". I felt like if they were all the same gender I would have known. I knew with B at about 24 weeks that he was a boy. I never had a strong feeling about these three so I was pretty sure they were mixed gender. Baby C came out posing like a princess and was a girl! I couldn't see the boys but I could see her because her team was behind me to my left. The boys were in front of me to my left but the curtain blocked me from seeing them. I only got to see Baby C before they wheeled them off to the NICU. They intubated all of them but removed their tubes almost immediately in the NICU and put them on CPAP. Meanwhile I was getting sewn up in the OR and trying to wrap my brain around the fact that they were already here and praising God for our precious, breathing, healthy, children....it was a blur....
I may try to get a guest blogger to recount what was going on in the waiting room. Anyone volunteering for that??
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
What's it like to find out you are carrying triplets?
Where to begin...where to begin....we found out in March 2012 that we were pregnant. We were trying to get pregnant so it wasn't a complete shock but I honestly did not "feel" pregnant. I knew almost immediately when I got pregnant with Barrett because I felt pregnant. I wasn't even going to take the test but decided I should just in case I was. I was surprised when I saw a + sign. I immediately woke Mark up and showed him. We have been through this before and because I wasn't "feeling" pregnant I was pretty concerned that it wasn't going to be a viable pregnancy. I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2005 and it makes getting pregnant and staying pregnant pretty difficult for us. Nonetheless I called the doctor and scheduled a sonogram for 7 weeks which is when there would be evidence of a viable pregnancy and I began my earnest prayers of let there be a heartbeat, let this be a viable pregnancy if it is Your will God. Those 3 weeks were long and stress filled. I opted out of the half marathon because my runs had been pretty difficult which was weird but still not a sure sign to me although Mark said at one point before we knew we were pregnant "I bet you're pregnant". I wasn't feeling 100% anyway. My sonogram appointment was scheduled for Good Friday. Mark was flying back in town that morning and meeting me at the doctor. I dropped Barrett off with my in laws and headed to the office. I was a nervous wreck. Teary eyed, praying for good news, praying for strength to handle it if it wasn't good news, etc. I was so relieved to see Mark. His presence and strength calms me. Into the office we go and I'm panicking and praying waiting for Doc to come in. He starts the exam and immediately says "there are two heartbeats, you are pregnant with twins!" WHAT?! Twins?! Are you serious? We high-fived, made jokes about being thankful we have a minivan, etc. We heard their heartbeats, he printed pictures, did measurements, etc. As the doctor was checking for cysts (from my PCOS) he said "oh, no" and I saw Mark's hand go to his mouth as he said "is that another one?" The doctor said "there is a third heartbeat." Wait, what?! I'm sorry can you repeat that. We were elated but in all honesty a fear set in that was unlike anything I'd ever felt. It wasn't a fear of caring for three more children or having four children. It was a fear of "can my body handle this? Will the babies be okay? Are they going to be born prematurely? Etc." I knew some of the risks that went with a multiples pregnancy. Plus, I developed a mild heart condition after having Barrett so I was immediately concerned that my heart would not be able to handle a triplet pregnancy. I was terrified, elated, excited, shocked, anxious and pretty much every other emotion you can think of all at the same time. It gave a new meaning to overwhelmed. After we heard three little heartbeats and the doctor left the room, Mark and I prayed. We were so thankful to our gracious God for these 3 little blessings and we knew these babies were His children and that He was in control. I was the vessel He chose to carry them and wow, what a privilege. After our prayer time, we went to eat at Freebirds. Carrying 3 babies makes you hungry! I spent Easter weekend with so many emotions and not to mention triple hormones! After that weekend and talking to the awesome nurse practitioner from my cardiologist's office (who happens to be my mom!) I felt better and knew that I would be in the best hands during this pregnancy. The best part of the weekend was telling Barrett, our families and our closest friends. We prefer to wait until after the first trimester to announce pregnancies but we knew that we needed the love and support of our friends and families during this time. We swore everyone to secrecy. :) When we told Barrett he looked at my tummy incredulously (I wasn't showing at all yet) and he said "Three babies???" to which we replied "yes, three babies!". He said "we hit the jackpot!". Yes, yes we did.
Telling our families was fun. Mark's mom had just bought a new car so that she could fit all of her grand kids. There were 4 at the time. We were sitting down for Easter meal and Mark casually says "so Mom I heard you got a new car to fit all the grand kids. Um, you may need a bigger one because we have 3 more coming." The best look was on Mark's brother, Andy's, face. His jaw dropped and his eyes were huge. I really wish we'd been able to videotape every one's reaction! My family was equally excited when we pulled out the sonogram pictures before heading outside for the egg hunt. They were so happy for us and most everyone was in tears!
I am a nervous wreck as a pregnant person so just imagine me pregnant with 3. Some of you don't have to imagine, because you dealt with my crazy during the pregnancy. Movies and shows making pregnancy seem so easy and fun! It is definitely fun being pregnant but it is not easy, at least for me. I am constantly worried something is wrong, I fret over "kick counts" and every symptom that I'm having or not having. I read on the Internet way too much while pregnant.... Now multiply all that times 3. I was a high risk pregnancy because it was multiples plus my heart thing. I was seeing my cardiologist every 6 weeks and then every month, my OB every 2 weeks and my high risk doctor every 2 weeks. I felt like I was always at the doctor but I was always so relieved and thankful to hear those three little heart beats. I had a pretty uneventful pregnancy other than growing an enormous tummy, aches and pains, heartburn and a stomach virus that landed me in the hospital overnight for two IV bags of fluid.
Being pregnant with triplets is a weird thing. The comments we got were....er....interesting to say the least. Before I list some of them, the most frequent question we get is "did you do IVF?" or "how many did you have implanted?" "was that natural?" I didn't really mind if it was a close friend but for a complete stranger to ask me felt odd. It has never occurred to me to ask someone pregnant with a singleton baby how they got pregnant. But since I'm sure you are curious as well, the answer is no, we did not do IVF and thus we had no embryos implanted. I have to take medication due to my PCOS to even have a chance of getting pregnant but it was the same thing we did with Barrett and obviously had one baby that time! We were floored when we found out we were pregnant with triplets. That being said, we were pretty much on our last try of trying to get pregnant and the next step would have been IVF but we felt that wasn't for us and so we were registered for an adoption conference in College Station scheduled for the weekend after we found out. Luckily they gave us a refund! Back to the point, here are some of the comments we got that stuck out in my mind. Keep in mind, most people said things like "good luck" "what a blessing", etc.
1. The greeter lady at Costco gave me a hug and said "did you do fertility to get pregnant with that litter? Because my neighbor's daughter's friend did that, blah, blah." Um, ok.
2. We went to the wedding of our dear friends Nelson and Lauren in Amarillo and the wedding DJ, on a break, said "you look like you are about to pop" so I told him I was expecting three and he said "well I don't know if God loves you or hates you" to which I replied "He loves me, thank you". I mean seriously?? What a wretched thing to say.
3. A friend of a friend asked me if we had named them. I said no because we don't know their genders and aren't finding out to which she replied "yeah that's probably good because something could happen to one of them and you don't want to be too attached. you know since it's a high risk pregnancy and all." As if naming the babies was going to make me any more attached. Wow is all I could say to that but it did leave me in tears. Triple hormones remember??
I'm sure there were a few more that I don't remember but these stick out the most. Most people were excited for us and very supportive. A friendly reminder to think before you speak.
Here we go again...
In typical Malhiot (er...Stephanie) fashion, I have not updated the blog in forever. It's one of those things that I think about often but never sit down to do because I'm always worried about saying the right thing, the wrong thing, etc. So I've decided that I will blog when I want to (read: have time) and it will be for us rather than for everyone else as a way to document our lives. It will just be what it is and I'll try to stop worrying about all the little details! I hope other people enjoy it along the way. Since my scrapbooking and journaling time is virtually nonexistent this is probably my only outlet to capture my feelings and thoughts through this crazy, blessed life! So here I go again on trying to blog....so where are we right now? A lot has happened since last year, to say the least.
A quick recap of the last 18 months (since the last blog post):
- Barrett turned 4 and then 5. He started preschool in the Fall of 2011. I'll admit I teared up the first day I watched him walk up to the school with his little backpack on. He loves preschool and is such a great kid. He is witty and funny and is the most imaginative child I have ever been around. He is so creative when playing and he always wants to mimic whatever has gone on in real life. For example, Mark recently made smores in the firepit out back so now Barrett plays smores in the house and uses his Melissa & Doug cupcake candles as the fire and uses a hangar as the "hook" to remove the lid of the firepit cover. His firepit cover is a diaper box turned upside down. He has also recently discovered Star Wars and we have let him watch the first two movies (the original first two). He has a toy Millenium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewy and somehow all the animals from his Noah's Ark are also part of it and the Elmo magnet is Princess Leia. I tell him everyday that I'm the luckiest mom in the world because I get to be his mom and I totally feel that way. He is such a blessing and so much fun to be around!
-I have always enjoyed running (could be called jogging in my case) and ran a half marathon in 2010. Mark and I decided to run one in March 2012 so we cranked out quite a few miles in 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Mark ran the half in March 2012, but I did not.....more on that in another post. I love running though and can't wait to get back to it although it will probably have to be after I'm done breastfeeding these babies!
-Mark took a new job in July of 2012. His old job required too much travel and with our babies due in Fall of 2012 we knew that travel would have to cut back...both personal and work travel! He loves his new job and is fortunate enough to home office and travels a very small amount. I am dreading the first overnight trip though which is in March...for four nights!
-I continued teaching and doing contract work until the Fall of 2012. I had the pleasure of doing some contract work for Kidd Kraddick's Foundation, Kidd's Kid,s and also for Meggitt Addison where my good friend Lauri works. She had a sweet baby girl in May 2012 so I filled in for her while she was on maternity leave. I love accounting and really love working so it was nice to have both of these jobs. I also love teaching so I was happy to keep doing that! My students are always a joy and I came away from each semester with good stories for sure.
-I completed a 3 year Bible study at church called The Amazing Collection. Man, was it amazing...get it? It is a Bible study for women that covers one book of the Bible each week from Genesis to Revelations. It was an excellent study even though at times it felt rushed because one week is simply not enough time to get through most of the books!
-We found out on Good Friday 2012 that we were expecting triplets. That warrants it's own blog post coming soon.
-Many other things happened during that 18 month span but like I said "quick recap".
A quick recap of the last 18 months (since the last blog post):
- Barrett turned 4 and then 5. He started preschool in the Fall of 2011. I'll admit I teared up the first day I watched him walk up to the school with his little backpack on. He loves preschool and is such a great kid. He is witty and funny and is the most imaginative child I have ever been around. He is so creative when playing and he always wants to mimic whatever has gone on in real life. For example, Mark recently made smores in the firepit out back so now Barrett plays smores in the house and uses his Melissa & Doug cupcake candles as the fire and uses a hangar as the "hook" to remove the lid of the firepit cover. His firepit cover is a diaper box turned upside down. He has also recently discovered Star Wars and we have let him watch the first two movies (the original first two). He has a toy Millenium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewy and somehow all the animals from his Noah's Ark are also part of it and the Elmo magnet is Princess Leia. I tell him everyday that I'm the luckiest mom in the world because I get to be his mom and I totally feel that way. He is such a blessing and so much fun to be around!
-I have always enjoyed running (could be called jogging in my case) and ran a half marathon in 2010. Mark and I decided to run one in March 2012 so we cranked out quite a few miles in 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Mark ran the half in March 2012, but I did not.....more on that in another post. I love running though and can't wait to get back to it although it will probably have to be after I'm done breastfeeding these babies!
-Mark took a new job in July of 2012. His old job required too much travel and with our babies due in Fall of 2012 we knew that travel would have to cut back...both personal and work travel! He loves his new job and is fortunate enough to home office and travels a very small amount. I am dreading the first overnight trip though which is in March...for four nights!
-I continued teaching and doing contract work until the Fall of 2012. I had the pleasure of doing some contract work for Kidd Kraddick's Foundation, Kidd's Kid,s and also for Meggitt Addison where my good friend Lauri works. She had a sweet baby girl in May 2012 so I filled in for her while she was on maternity leave. I love accounting and really love working so it was nice to have both of these jobs. I also love teaching so I was happy to keep doing that! My students are always a joy and I came away from each semester with good stories for sure.
-I completed a 3 year Bible study at church called The Amazing Collection. Man, was it amazing...get it? It is a Bible study for women that covers one book of the Bible each week from Genesis to Revelations. It was an excellent study even though at times it felt rushed because one week is simply not enough time to get through most of the books!
-We found out on Good Friday 2012 that we were expecting triplets. That warrants it's own blog post coming soon.
-Many other things happened during that 18 month span but like I said "quick recap".
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