3 WEEKS OLD

May 15, 2006... Today the babies are 3 weeks old. They are improving all the time. They are all doing great with their feedings. All 3 of them have contacted a cold, but are on antibiotics and seem to be responding well. All are in open cribs and having no problems maintaining their body temperatures. We can bring in our own clothes to dress them and they look so cute! They go through them so fast and each day we bring home at least 6 onesies and 4-6 outfits. We are already doing their laundry every day and they are not even home yet!

May 19, 2006... Bryce is the only one who still has a feeding tube. He is a few days behind the other two, and gets too tired while feeding so they usually have to finish his feedings through his tube. By this time next week, he should have it out. Bryce no longer has any sort of oxygen either and is doing remarkably well especially considering he has a cold and is pretty congested. Yesterday his weight was 5 lbs 7 oz!! (a total weight gain of 12 oz)
Paige is "nippling like a real champ" says the doctor. She is the littlest yet the most aggressive. LOOK OUT, LINDSAY!!!! She is still having her bradycardia episodes (heart rate drop), but they seem to think she has a little reflux issue because it only happens right after she eats. The doctors seems to think it is something she will outgrow. She needs to be free from these for 5 days before she can come home. It was looking like she would be the first to come home, but not now. The doctors and nurses keep reminding us this is normal and she is just "acting like a preemie". Yesterday her weight was 5 lbs 3 0z!! ( a total weight gain of 13 oz)
Connor is doing great! He has mastered his feedings (finally his lightbulb went off) and is basically waiting to come home. Hopefully only a couple of more days! We'll see what the doctor says today. Yesterday his weight was 6 lbs 3 oz!! (a total weight gain of 1 lb!)

2 WEEKS OLD

Everyone seems to be doing so well. We can't believe how far they have come in just 2 short weeks. Here are a couple of pictures the nurses took today. This is the first time we were able to hold all 3 of them at the same time. In the picture with Lacy, the babies are left to right...Connor, Paige, Bryce. WIth Kevin they are left to right...Paige, Bryce, Connor.
Today their weights were: Paige-4lbs 9oz. Bryce-4 lbs 101/2 oz. and Connor 5lbs. 9 oz.

Paige has not had any more apnea episodes so she will come off the caffeine this week. She will start her "nipple" feedings (either breast or bottle) and when she is doing well every feeding she will be on her way home.
Connor moved to his "big boy" bed (an open crib) this week because he is too big for his isolette. He will need to maintain his temperature and and do well with his "nipple" feedings to be on his way home. He finishes his antibiotics for his pneumonia this week.
Bryce is back on CPAP. They did a chest xray and found he has pneumonia as well. They have increased his feedings through his feeding tube and hopefully he will gain weight. His echocardiogram came back normal. We are so grateful!

May 4, 2006... Paige is coming off her caffeine today. We pray she will continue not to have any apnea or bradycardia episodes. She will start her "nipple" feedings today.
Connor is doing well. He will start get his IV out tomorrow! YEA!!!
Bryce is still on CPAP and his respriatory rate is very good! He will hopefully come off tomorrow.

May 7, 2006... Bryce had a rough day again today. They put a nasal cannula in his nose just to help him breathe a little better. The pneumonia took a lot out of him, and he will finish his antibiotics on Tuesday! Maybe by then, he will be okay to come off his oxygen.
Connor is starting his "nipple" feedings a well. He is a little slower than we like to see, but he should come around quickly.
Paige is a real go-getter. She is doing great with her feedings and if she keeps it up she may be home the first part of next week.

ONE WEEK OLD

May 1, 2006...The babies are 1 week old and already making much progress. This past week was a whirlwind of emotions...

April 26, 2006... We got to hold Paige when she was just 48 hours old and what a wonderful night that was. She is no longer on the CPAP...only her IV for nutrition and her heart monitor. She feels sooo tiny in our arms, and yet every part of her is so perfectly formed! She is beautiful! Bryce and Connor are still on the CPAP and working hard at their breathing.

April 27, 2006... We were awakened by the neonatologist at 4:30 am to be told Bryce had to be put on a ventilator. Poor little guy was working so hard even when given 100% oxygen. He tired out and stopped breathing, so they had no choice but to take this action. It sure was hard to see this precious little baby with so many wires and tubes. When he cried, he couldn't even make any noise...he would furrow his brow and open his mouth like he was crying only no noise could escape. Breaks our heart to even think about it, but we knew it was for the best. His chest definitely calmed down and you could see he was resting so much easier.
Connor is off his CPAP now and seems to be doing well. Paige is still just hanging out in her little isolette. The nurses crack up at her...they call her the "DIVA" of the nursery. She tells them what, how, and when she wants something!!!! And when they mess with her brothers, she screams until they are done. Apparently, she can "scream down the nursery". We have yet to hear her make such a fuss...is it possible at just 4 lbs???

April 28, 2006... We were released from the hospital at 2:00 pm and it was such an emotional day. Even though we knew they were in excellent hands, it was so hard to go home without them. From here we went to Lacy's brothers wedding. Lacy was thrilled to be able to go because the whole week we didn't think we would make it. I think Brent was thrilled as well. While we were there, the doctor called to let us know that Connor had to be put back on the CPAP... he was having a more difficult time breathing after we left that afternoon. So they did a chest Xray which showed he had pneumonia. Of course, after the wedding, we went back to the hospital to be with them. He looked more comfortable, and the doctors assured us that after 7 days of antibiotics he would be doing great. Bryce is still on the ventilator, and doing a little better. Paige is doing basically the same. She and Connor both have had a couple of apnea episodes. Because of their prematurity, their little bodies sometimes just "forget to breathe". They are treating this with caffeine through their IV's ... and to think Lacy avoided caffeine her whole pregnancy...go figure!

April 30, 2006... only 6 days old and we can already see such an improvement.
Connor is off the CPAP again and in his isolette doing so much better.
Bryce has improved a lot and will probably be taken off the ventilator on Monday or Tuesday. He had to have a blood transfusion as well. Apparently, babies of this size only hold about 6 oz of blood in their entire body, and as much as they have had to prick him, they felt he was getting weaker by the day. It's amazing how much he improved after the transfusion. His body "pinked" up and he moved around a little bit more as if he was feeling stronger.
Paige is doing great...no apnea episodes today! All 3 are still under the billiruben lights for their jaundice.

May 1, 2006... Dr. Marnocha, the neonatologist taking care of them called this morning to give me their daily reports. I can't believe they are 1 week old already.
Paige's respiratory issues are gone! She has not had any apnea since Saturday and if she goes another day or 2 without any they will stop her caffeine. Her billiruben count is lower so she should be off the lights soon.
Bryce is "doing wonderfully". He will probably go off the ventilator either today or tomorrow. They were able to at least turn down his oxygen flow. He is scheduled for an echocardiogram (xray of his heart and lungs). They are looking at a certain valve that connects the heart to the lungs. The way we understand it is that when babies are in utero, this valve is open and they are unable to breathe. The moment they are born, this valve is supposed to close instantly. Bryce's did not! If it does not close on it's own, it could require surgery. They seem to think his is closing, but need to do the echo just to be sure.
Connor is still on his antibiotics for the pneumonia, but seems to improve daily. He will have another chest xray today just to be sure. He has not had any apnea since Friday, so he will go off the caffeine tomorrow.

Praise the Lord! The babies are FINALLY here!

Because all of this happened so quickly, we have been extremely behind keeping our blog up to date. But here goes...

Friday, April 21, 2006... Lacy went into the hospital to be evaluated because she was having contractions 5-6 minutes apart for 2-3 hours. She was taking oral terbutaline to stop the contractions, but her body did not respond, so the Dr. ordered her to come in for evaluation. We were given good news that she was not yet dialating, and the babies were not in any distress. However, the doctors wanted to do whatever possible to stop pre-term labor. Lacy was given Magnesium Sulfate through an IV to see if the contractions would stop. It required a weekend stay, and not a very fun one because the Mag. Sulfate can have some pretty harsh side effects. But we were grateful it seemed to work.

Sunday, April 23, 2006... Lacy seemed to be doing very well. She went all day on Sunday without any contractions and they released us around 1:00 pm. We picked up the kids and headed home. About 2 hours later, Lacy woke up to harsh contractions every 2-3 minutes and so we headed back to the hospital. They admitted us and once again started up the Mag. Sulfate to try to get everything stopped. It seemed to slow things down, but contractions were still coming every 10-15 minutes or so. Obviously, these babies (and her belly) were ready!

Monday, April 24, 2006... The doctor came to see us around 8:00 am to let us know we would be staying in the hospital unitl the babies were born. Lacy was extremely disappointed because that meant a 2 week hospital stay since the C-section wasn't scheduled until May 8th. Which also meant we would miss her brother Brent's wedding that coming Friday. But...God had other plans.
Lacy was taken for an ultrasound and biophysical profile later that morning to evaluate each one of the babies movements, etc. While there, they found Baby A (Paige) was presenting a potential problem. Her umbilical cord was pushing against the cervix, and if Lacy's water were to break or she were to dialate, the cord would have presented first causing an emergency C-section. The doctor reminded us God had us in the "right place at the right time". Obviously, they wanted to avoid this and scheduled a C-section for 4:00 p.m.
We were relieved to know these babies for whom we have prayed for so long were finally coming, and yet anxious about premature lungs and other scary things that come along with having preemies.

4:12 p.m... Paige Gabrielle was born weighing in at 4 lbs. 6 oz and 17 1/2 long.
4:13 p.m... Next came Bryce Evan weighing in at 4 lbs 11 oz and the longest 18 1/4 inches.
4:13 p.m... Only seconds behind him came Connor Jay, the biggest, weighing in at a whopping
5 lbs. 3 oz. and 18 inches long.

All 3 came out screaming, which was music to our ears! Of course, they were whisked away immediately to be checked by the NICU teams. (Each one had their own team of docotrs and nurses so you can imagine how crowded that room was!) Initially, all 3 were doing very well. We were able to get lots of pictures and video for Lacy since she couldn't see much of what was going on. That night, all 3 were hooked up to CPAP machines. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is a method of respriratory ventialtion used on patients with respiratory distress. This machine is designed to force oxygen into their lungs causing the pressure to keep
the lungs open. Along with this, they each had IV's and heart monitors in case of any apnea episodes. It was sad to see them hooked up to so many machines, but we knew and trusted it for their best.