Thursday, September 27, 2007

Week 6

As I'm sure most of you know....Alex and Emerson are home. They came home on Friday. Unfortunately, Max was unable to join his brothers due to a Bradycardia spell. We feel extremely lucky that Alex and Emerson were able to come home only 5 weeks after their birth...still 3 weeks before when their expected due date of October 13th. Max will be joining his brothers at home shortly. All be it very hard for us to be without Max we realize the best thing for him is to stay at the hospital and continue to mature and gain strength. We would never want to bring him home before he was ready and have something happen to him. We continue to visit Max daily. He is so bright eyed and beautiful. He is noticeably bigger than his brothers and it's shocking how much he looks like David.

As you can imagine both David and myself are a little overwhelmed and sleep deprived. The boys are great sleepers but seem to be a little afraid of the dark. As soon as the lights go out both Alex and Emerson want to sleep on the Mommy and Daddy and not in their bassinets. Max is still doing amazing in the NICU. All the nurses have been so wonderful. They know he is there alone and seem to give him a little more love then usual...Thanks Guys!!!! I am convinced that Max just likes the individual care and wanted to stay a little longer!!!! A huge thanks to some special nurses that where so amazing with our boys: Lisa, Allison, Chris, Pam, Mary, Mary, Stephanie(don't blame yourself) and everyone else. The whole NICU staff...we have been so blessed to have you all in our lives. I will actually be sad to leave you all.

Everyone has asked about Austin and how he is adjusting to his brothers...well...After the first day he asked "Why are they here?" and "Can they go back to the hospital now?". He is actually handling it very well. He knows to wash his hands when he comes in the house and is now able to touch the babies a little more because he has learned to be gentle.

All our boys are continuing to grow and get strong. Max is a whopping 6lbs 11oz. Alexander is 6lbs and Emerson is 5lbs 12oz. We are going to the doctors for the first time on Friday and will know every ones updated weights and lengths.

We are still being very careful about visitors, RSV season is right around the corner. Please continue to be patient. We are just concerned about the health of our babies. I'm sure everyone understands.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Week 5

Emersons first bath
Maxims first bath
Alexanders first bath
Austin at Chuck E Cheese (Our last hurra before the brothers come home)
Proud Grandpa with Emerson
Max looking just like his Daddy
Emerson sleeping like an angel
Alex, having a conversation with Mommy

Week 5

5lbs and approaching 6lbs quickly!!!!! That's right all boys are now over 5lbs. Emerson is 5lbs 8.5oz, Max is 5lbs 13.5oz and Alex is 5lbs 8.5oz. They are all off their canulas and oxygen and are breathing on their own. It's amazing to see their faces for the first time with no tape or tubes. We now know that Max is Davids "mini me", all he needs is eye glasses and a goatee! Alex looks just like my baby pictures and Emerson is a nice mix of us both! All three are eating so well and gaining like crazy! I personally think it's the breast feeding. All the babies are drinking mainly breast milk that I pump at different times of the day and bring to the hospital. All three are nursing twice a day. Emerson needs to be supplemented with a bottle(of breast milk) and the same with Max but Alexander eats like a champ and prefers to breast fed over anything. It's my favorite time a day. There is nothing like the one on one time I get when nursing my babies.



All three babies had their first bath on Friday night! (Thank you Nurse Lisa!)Emerson was wide awake and loving it. Max looked very serious and Alex slept for the most part. All seemed pretty unfazed by the whole thing. They all smelled great...for about five minutes. What can you do...boys will be boys.



The boys have been cleared to be circumcised. Hopefully that will happen on Monday. This means they are healthy enough to have the procedure without any fear of complication. Most baby boys have it done within the first 24 hours, but our boys where not stable enough until now. We are actually glad that they will be having it done while they are in the hospital. This way they will have a chance to heal before coming home.



They will be having some final tests before they come home. They first have to be eating properly and consistently. They need to be spell free, no bradycardia or apnea. They need their circumcision and they need to pass the car seat challenge. No this is not a contest between newborns to see whose car seat is best! The car seat challenge just means that the boys will need to sit(strapped in), in their car seat for one hour. Hopefully they will not have any spells. They need to maintain their breathing and heart rate. We hope to do this sometime this week and hopefully there will be no major issues.



Austin is doing well. He enjoyed his first full week of school. He is wanting to stay home a little more and is missing his mom and dad so bad. It breaks our heart every time he has to leave with someone. But we now know there is an end in sight.



As far as the ultimate question...when are they coming home? We are not sure we are hoping that within the next two weeks. But at this point it would only be speculation. Hopefully we will know more by the end of the week. If everyone does well on their tests and they are spell free for several consecutive days, they will be home sooner than later. But, as of now...we just don't know! We will keep everyone posted. As we've said so many times before...because our babies are "preemies" they are extremely immune sepressed. So when they do come home we will be limiting the number of guests they will have. At least for the first few months. We need evryone to be patient and eventually everyone will get to see them. Until then we will continue to update this blog and post pictures.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Week 4

How could you not be in love with these angels?
Maxim Charles
Emerson James
Alexander Julius
Just like in the womb Alex is always on top!
My Beautiful Boys! Alex, Max & Emerson
Mommy & her Boys!
Alex & Max...How he missed his brother!
Hapy Feet!



We have had a fantastic week. All three babies are now in open cribs. Which is extremely exciting for us and them. This means all babies are maintaining their own body heat and no longer need the incubators. The babies had the first photo session on Saturday. They finally got to spend some time together! The first time in three weeks since their birth. They loved being together. They posed and cried. They slept and pulled on each others wires. It was wonderful. I finally got to see how much they do and do not look like each other. Just so you know Emerson is the peanut. He has brown hair that is very faint on top. He has the cutest little lips and has the brightest eyes. Max is the Blondie. He looks exactly like David. He has the perfect round head and a full face. Alex is the darkest, his hair is so dark it looks black he has huge eyes and looks just like his Mommas baby pictures. All babies are taking mamas milk for most of their feeds. They are supplemented with formula only when needed.
Maxim is off is cannula and breathing on his own. He is still having some bradycardia spells(lowered heart rate) but he continues to come out of it on his own. He is eating and growing and his weight is now 5lbs 5oz.
Emerson is still on oxygen. He still has the feeding tube in and is taking every other feed by bottle or breast But he is eating well and keeps all his feeds down. He is growing like a weed and now is 4lbs 14 3/4oz.
Alexander is the Mamas boy of the group. He loves to hang out on his Mommy for hours. He is the most stable of all the boys and right now seems to be breastfeeding the best. He had to be put back on a little oxygen today because he was breathing rapidly. Hopefully he will correct himself in a day or two. If so I think he will be the first to come home. Although I think we are still a few weeks away from that happening. He is now 4lbs 15 1/2oz.
Big brother Austin is doing well. He starts school tomorrow and is getting to know his new baby brothers with some short visits. Both him and Momma are praying for the day we can get back into a routine. Good thing for Opa, Oma, Aunt Kathy and Grandma! Thanks guys you've been fantastic.
Again, I would just like to remind everyone that the boys although 3+ weeks old are still 5 weeks away from being full term. So technically they should still be growing in the womb. We have no idea when they will get home. We hope within the next 5 weeks but just can't speculate right now because everyday poses a new challenge.
Also, we would like to clear up something that seems to be causing a bit of confusion for people. Our children were conceived naturally ....NO IVF (In Vitro Fertilization)was used. They are genetically ours. There was nothing artificial about their conception. We did use fertility drugs through the help of a local fertility specialist. I just wanted to clear up this issue for every ones sake.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Maxim
Daddy, Big Bro Austin and Alexander
Emerson
Alexander

Monday, September 3, 2007

Week 3

This week has been filled with great news. The boys are all growing like weeds. Emerson is now over 17" long and weighs 4lbs 2 3/4oz. Maxim is over 17" long and weighs in at a hefty 4lbs 9oz. Alexander is also over 17" long and weighs 4lbs 4 3/4oz. All boys are off the warmers. They are being weened into room temperature beds. They should be out of their isolates(incubators) in a few days. Today the boys got their feeding tubes moved from their mouths to their noses. This means they were able to be bottle and breast fed starting today. Alexander did well with the breast feeding but Emerson did incredible. He latched on and kept hold for several minutes. David was able to bottle feed Max and he did very well. He took in more than 15mls of milk. We are so proud of our little miracle babies.

Big brother Austin is doing fine. He got to hold Alexander for the first time on Saturday. It's going to take some time before he realizes what being a big brother means. But we are sure he will do fine. He is getting ready for school and Mommy can't wait for him to get back into a routine.

We will try and update the blog as much as we can in the coming weeks and we will post as many pictures as we can. We are exhausted and sleep deprived and doing the best we can.

We would like to thank all of the well wishers. You have all been so wonderful. To all of you that have been feeding us....You guys rock! And to all the Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles...Thank you so much for taking care of Austin. We couldn't do any of this without you guys. We love you!