High Risk Visit

February 27, 2013 was a big day! Finally we made it to our 2nd follow up visit with the high risk nursery clinic. The first time it was scheduled we had to cancel the morning of because one of the three kept us up all night with a fever/cold.... The 2nd time, it was the stomach flu... Again we canceled the morning of due to no sleep and lots and lots of throw up but last week... We made it!

The six of us were out of the house by 7:45 a.m.! That in itself is a major accomplishment! And...can I just say that the clinic is soo far! About an hour or so away from us...How, really, how did that I make that commute almost every single day for 3 1/2 months?!

So what is the high risk nursery follow up? Well let's face it, when a baby is born at 25 weeks gestation, there are no guarantees that everything is going to be okay. None whatsoever. When we brought the trio home, I knew in some ways our journey was just beginning.  Many things could have interfered with their growth and development, and still can.  The high risk clinic is made up of a team of specialists that assesses their progress.  And if necessary will track them for FIVE years.

Most importantly they have experience working with preemies and know that most likely a 25 weeker will not be caught up entirely by the age of two. They do not stop adjusting age until the kiddos are three.  And another cool thing, one of the doctors we saw that day was in our delivery room and the first to hold Sofia.  He saved Sofia's life. And today she is right on track. At 21 months she is exceeding some milestones for her adjusted age of 17 months.  She refused to do almost everything that was asked of her because she was too busy saying hi and interacting with everyone. Sofia's speech has really taken off this month. She is now saying 2 word phrases like bye milk, night mama, bye dada, more peas, and bye poo poo, and yes Dr. G sees potty training in our near future! She is almost running, and the only concern her physical therapist has is her inability to sometimes stop.

Preemies (and some full term babies) don't always follow the order of things, it's called sprinting. In her case, she walked before she learned to stand still in one place and now has a hard time stopping especially when she is moving too fast.  She works on this everyday and our therapist is predicting she will be released from PT when she turns two in May!

They boys are not too far behind and actually performed quite well.  They scribbled, said a couple of words, pointed to some body parts and were quite social.  There are a couple of minor gross motor concerns we need to keep our eyes on:
Carlos favors his left side and tilts his head to the left while Marcos prefers his right side.  Marcos has some stability issues but he has not been walking as long as his siblings.  He'll get it figured out.  This may allow the boys to get PT for an additional six months, we hope.

High risk is not too concerned with their speech delay.  Though the speech evaluation Marcos had in early February gave him the diagnosis as severely delayed.  The doctors are certain our trio will catch up, it will just take a long time.  For now Marcos will start getting more services (speech therapy) and his hearing loss is the main concern.   He is scheduled to get his 2nd set of tubes on March 19, immediately followed by yet another hearing test that same week.  Now if this doesn't work, we will start  looking at other options like a hearing aid.  As always we are praying and leaving it in God's hands.

For now all lungs are clear and we will continue daily pulmacort and albuterol on an as needed basis.  We hope to take a break again this summer but compared to all the drugs they had in the NICU, it's really no biggie.  They were very happy with their weight and especially their height!  They are still small (Carlos, 21 lb 4 oz, Marcos, 22 lb 1 oz and Sofia, 21 lb. 6 oz); but, as long as they each follow their own growth curve, and continue to stay healthy, I have to be ok with the fact that they may not be on the "regular" chart for awhile.

What else has happened this month?  The trio has said good bye to their bottles!! That's right!  The boys had no trouble, while Sofie kept her morning bottle for a couple more weeks but she hasn't had her morning bottle since last Friday! Finally this house is bottle free!!!!!!! My babies are full blown toddlers!

4 Lil Turkeys and a Developmental Update

A few days before Christmas and here are some Thanksgiving pictures....

 For the first time, we brought in the trio's table to the dining room! The kiddos were excited.  The trio were not big fans of the turkey, I think most of it got thrown on the ground (happy dogs) but they ate everything else and especially loved the stuffing.  Isabella, on the other hand continues to stick to what she knows.  This year though we convinced her to try some of the sweet potatoes...oh the joys of a very picky 6 year old!

The kiddos are sporting mommy made turkey shirts! I am not that crafty so very proud!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving.   In the ten years we have been married, it was our very first one with just our family.  Though we missed seeing the rest of our families, I will admit that it was very relaxed and quiet...well as quiet as our household can be.  And I loved how we didn't  have to rush anywhere.We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, homemade mac n cheese and pumpkin pie. 

The trio continue to meet more and more milestones... all three are walking! Yes six more little feet walking around and they are getting better and better each day.  I am so bad at keeping track of dates for this stuff.  I do know Sofia has been walking for awhile now, she was followed by Carlos and Marcos was barely beginning to take step on November 30, the day of their 18 month check up.  Our pediatrician, physical therapist, and staff from Early Intervention are quite pleased with their developmental progress. These past 2 weeks have been a bit tough, the kiddos haven't gone anywhere, they've been sick with a cold...lots of yucky noses and a little bit of coughing. I am so thankful they are receiving another year of Synagis.  Though definitely not fun at all, now that they are bigger and smarter.

We are still having issues with Marcos's ears, his ear drums to be more specific.  He has tubes in but for some reason they are not doing what they are supposed to do.  We are going back to the ENT and a speech evaluation is currently in the works.  Carlos and Sofia have both passed their last hearing test.

Isabella is becoming even more and more helpful. She can play with them more and even help carry one upstairs.  She can take them out of exersuacers and pack n plays...of course we find this out after its done.  She can entertain them so much and their faces light up when she walks into the playroom.  She loves that all of them walk now. She continues to be in the highest reading level in her class and I am making an effort to dedicate a bit more time to her writing.  My big girl did awesome during the Holiday singing performance and is super excited to be off from school for 16 days!

Thankfully all noses cleared up just in time for Christmas!  And we are ready as we are going to be, the tree has been up since December 1, our stockings are hung, Christmas cards are out and we have family in town!
The countdown is on....Happy Holidays

Crawling Sofie, swimming class and more!

Last Thursday, turned out to be a happy and joyous day.  Sofia is crawling!! Now I know all micro preemie mamas can share my excitement! Watching them meet these milestones is truly amazing!  Every day is a miracle but when your baby spends almost 100 days in the hospital, it's hard not to let those negative thoughts in...those scary what if's?
But she is crawling!!!! At 13 months and a few days! Not bad, not bad at all.  Her physical therapist will be so happy.
Here she is.  Keep in mind this is right before bed time, she is trying to get the baby wipes.

I know her brothers are right behind her.

And then...well, I don't even want to think about what our days will be like.

Such a great and blessed day.

It didn't start off so positive. As a matter of fact,  I almost gave myself an anxiety attack.  Big Sis had her scheduled swim class and I had no help lined up. I usually have someone stay with the babies so I can take her or have someone take her for me. Well, things didn't work out yesterday which meant 1) She would miss her class or 2) I take all of them.  Of course I went for number 2.  I seriously was panicking. The attention that we sometimes get in our big triplet stroller is a bit much. I pictured myself maneuvering the stroller, moving lawn chairs and tables and having to hold doors open by myself.  The more I thought about it the more I worried.  What if Big Sis had to go to the bathroom? Not really able to run her in and out with the trio.  I was certain the stroller would fit through the double doors but definitely not thru the bathroom door.  Then there was the issue of their 3:30 bottle.  Class is at 3:30 as well... Do I feed before we go? Or an hour later? Or do it on the go? Luckily I called one of Big Sister's babysitter's to come with us and she was available. RELIEF! Our outing was a success.  Only Carlos took the early bottle. Sofia threw it at me.  And Marcos had no interest.  Our babysitter, I., was so helpful, holding doors, moving chairs and tables and unloading babies.  I was even able to take some video of big sis learning to swim.  Isabella was able to go in the hot tub and the babies happily sat in their stroller. Marcos and Sofie took their bottle at 3:45, they are my schedule babies for sure! We could have done without the wind.  Marcos's eyes get very teary outside, and yesterday Carlos also had some tears.  They both seemed a bit uncomfortable. This reminds me...we had an eye appointment on Monday.  Everything went well.  Their eyes are looking good after having had laser surgery due to ROP.  All are farsighted, which is how babies should be at their age.  I shared with the doctor my concern about Marcos's eye always tearing outside.  He suggested I massage Marcos's tear ducts.  There is a possibility that they are clogged and if this does not resolve itself then it is another procedure for my little guy.  AAAAGGGGGHHHH! Not what I wanted to hear, especially when massaging the corner of his eye is not going so well.  He fights it each time.

But for now here are some pics!

The trio watching sissy swim

 Marcos...have been trying to get a pic of his teeth all week!

 Teething x 3 deserves its own post!

 Carlitos's tooth

Physical Therapy

Here is Sofia during her Physical Therapy session a couple of weeks ago....followed by Marcos.
Carlitos went first and was already napping when I finally filmed these. Hopefully I will get him next time.

10 month update

On March 17, the babies turned 10 months (adjusted age: 6 months, 2 weeks and 4 days to be exact!! I was cuddling a baby that morning at around the time they were born (4am) just thinking about the day they were born...

Weight Check
Carlos-13 lbs. 9 oz
Marcos-14 lbs. 14 oz
Sofia-14 lbs. 4 oz

All three are smiling and laughing and are quite ticklish.  All three are thriving and all of their doctors are so happy with their progress.  We had our first developmental follow up appointment on February 25 with our NICU and it went great.  I was a bit nervous but was happy to hear all their positive comments.
I realized that they can do more than I give them credit for.  I guess that comes with the multiples territory. My forgetfulness and/or lack of individualized attention and time.
All three are reaching for things, tracking big and small objects, holding toys, starting to transfer from one hand to the other....All three can roll from their tummy to their back, and with a lot of encouragement they can roll from their back to their tummy.  It doesn't happen too often but I know that they can do it. They are still figuring out what to do with their arms and tolerating tummy time more and more each day.  Sofia is able to move her arms and legs while on her tummy.  She is very curious and wants to touch everything.  Everything is so exciting to watch.  They can be entertained for a few minutes with different toys and they are starting to sit on their own for a few seconds at a time. We have lots cooing and some babbling, they definitely let us know when they don't like something.  They are getting better at solids each day.  Sofia is definitely more alert than the boys and wants to grab everything in sight.  They are receiving physical therapy once a week and our PT is very optimistic about their development and progress.  She is happy with their muscle tone and movement so far.  As of today, she has no major concerns and is very helpful in explaining that micro preemies often have their own timeline and how they often do not follow developmental milestones in order.

Unfortunately, we have been dealing with lots of sickness since the beginning of the year and Sofia's hospitalization for RSV.  This includes lots of wheezing and coughing disturbing everyone's sleep.  We had gotten to the point where ALL three were sleeping through the night but now that awful cough seems to wake one, two sometimes all three at around 2 or 3 am.  Mommy and Daddy have been trying to juggle everything plus quite a few doctors' appointments, breathing treatments, and inhalers with little sleep.  Marcos also has a bad case of thrush that lasted way too long and Nystatin (medicine prescribed) did nothing.  Just this week we were prescribed Fluconazole and I am praying this gets rid of it for good.  Poor guy screamed each time his cheek was swabbed. Never did I know I would become such an expert in administering medicine.
Ending on a positive note...Grandma and Grandpa got the trio the triplet table and on they tried it out on their 10 month birthday!

We are so proud of Isabella for being such a great big sis.  She has become such a good helper and our official diaper stocker and often does her chore without being reminded!