The Williamson Family

WE LOVE SANTA!

2010-12-17T11:46:00.001-08:00

So the Triplets met Santa twice, I thought it would get better the second time....but as you can see it just got progressively worse. I am pretty sure they will be scarred for life...

Better luck next year?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Love,

Jennifer & Shelby

Visiting the Arboretum with the Pumpkins!

2010-10-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Campbell before he noticed the pumpkins....

Campbell after he noticed the pumpkins...he HATED them!!!

See, I told you, Campbell is in the middle...trying to get away from the pumpkins!

Princess Katherine in the Cinderella pumpkin house!

The whole family!

Climbing on Nana!

Christian on the other hand LOVED the pumpkins....

So we did what every Dallas family does in the fall, we went to the Arboretum! We dressed the babies up in cute fall colors and had a picnic. Then we went over to the pumpkin area where they literally had 1,000's of pumpkins! They even had pumpkin houses, it was so neat! It was just soooo hot, so that made us all a little cranky towared the end. Then we quickly discovered that Campbell was TERRIFIED of pumpkins! He would scream if one got near him! I am not sure what implanted this fear of round orange things in his head? I swear we have never thrown pumpkins at him or anything? We had to sneak pumpkins behind him or beside him when he was not looking to get a quick shot. It was kind of funny I must admit. Katherine and Christian however loved them! Christian was banging on a pumpkin for about 10 minutes cracking himself up. I think secretly he was taunting Campbell in his own little baby way.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Jennifer & Shelby

WE ARE 1 YEAR OLD!!!

2010-10-20T11:18:00.001-07:00

Well, we were one two months ago, but whatever! I am behind! UGH!

Left to Right: Christian, Katherine and Campbell

L to R: Campbell, Katherine and Christian
L to R: Campbell, Katherine and Christian
Katherine and Dad

Campbell and Katherine

EVERYONE!!!

We can't believe we have three 1 year old's! The first year FLEW by! It was way easier than we anticipated, we are so lucky to have 3 good babies. As of one year they were all crawling everywhere at the speed of light and Katherine and Campbell were pulling up. No walkers yet, but I know we will not be able to say that much longer! Christian is now pulling up and Katherine is taking 4-6 steps at a time, yikes! Their little personalities are coming out every day and they are into everything!!! Luckily we have them "caged in" the family room and kitchen so their path of destruction is fairly limited.

They are all very happy, the boys especially smile and laugh constantly. Katherine is much more serious and is quite a trouble maker. She is always pestering the boys by taking their toys, pushing them over, etc....ugh. She is the boss for sure!!! They babble a lot and say mama, dada and recently Katherine and Campbell started UH OH! I love it, they even use it in the right context. They can all clap and make the Touchdown signal! Guess who taught them that??? We are working on perfecting our peek-a-boo and blowing kisses. It is fun yet dangerous that they are mocking us.

I will post Halloween pics in a few days...trying to catch up on the blog!!!

Love,
Jennifer & Shelby

Almost 1 year!

2010-08-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Christian - 11 months

Katherine Standing up - 11 months!

Campbell, very busy! 11 months

How we roll at the pool, notice they are tied together! Hanging with buddy Kaitlyn!

I cannot believe we are at 11 months old! This (almost) year has FLOWN by! So much has gone on these past few months, here is a quick recap.

Campbell has gone from army crawling, to crawling to pulling up! He pulls up on everything. I think he is still 6-8 weeks away from walking as he can be chicken at times. He loves playing in tupperware (what is the deal with babies and tupperware?), he would fight any of his siblings for the remote and or cell phone and he absolutely cannot sleep without his lovey! He can feed himself and is the most skilled when it come to holding his own bottle and training on the sippy cup! Campbell now has 5 teeth, he has bit himself once that I know of. No blood drawn yet, but that day will come I am sure!

Katherine has also gone from army crawling, to crawling and pulling up. I expect her to take a few steps while holding onto something any day now! I have thought for sure she was about to do it several times now, but then she had second thoughts and just sat down. Katherine is obsessed with remote controls and cell phones as well. She also loves to grab Sammie's food and water when we are not quick enough to get it out of the way! She can feed herself and loves to dig the dropped foods out of the lip of her bib once her tray is clear. Hilarious! If you try and feed her something she will take it out of her hand and feed herself. K has 4 teeth and has bit her mama a couple times. I raised my voice at her and she stuck her lip out and dropped some serous crocodile tears, she's got it down! She makes the funnies faces by far...I will post some!

Christian went straight to crawling, no army crawling for him. He crawled awhile after the other two, but I think he wanted to do it right or not at all! I am not sure if he did not want to drag his tummy or what? He has not pulled up yet, but he has been up on his knees playing with his toys lately. That is what the other two did right before pulling up so I think he is not far behind. Christian has 5 teeth as well and they have all been good sports about teething! Lil C does NOT feed himself and I think he is doing it on purpose. Even if we hand his bottle to him he just drops him arms out to the side and screams until we hold it for him. I am letting this slide for now as he had a rough start to life.

The three of them are fun to watch. They follow each other around and Campbell and Katherine race down the hallway giggling when we leave the gate open. They all talk to each other when they wake up in the morning and after naps. This is nice as they keep each other entertained if we are not quite ready to get them up! The boys just had their first haircut a couple weeks ago, yes mama cried. They look like little boys now...not babies! :(

We also travelled with all 3 to Montana for my sister's wedding...we were gone over a week! They did very well on the flight and being in a stange environment, I could not have asked for 3 better babies!

Hope all is welll with everyone!

Love,
Jennifer & Shelby

We are Baptized now!

2010-06-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here are the babies with their Godparents, Annette and Jimmy!

(From Left to Right: Christian, Campbell and Katherine)

In this pic I think Annette and Jimmy are wondering what they got themselves into! HA HA!

Here we are with Shelby's mom and big sis Justice!

I swear they all love Justice, I think we were losing them at this point.

(Left to Right: Campbell, Christian, Katherine)

My parents with the Babes! This pic cracks me up, you can kind of feel the chaos coming through can't you?

(Left to Right: Christian, Katherine and Campbell)

A pic of the fabulous trio, we can all sit up now so pics are more fun!

(From left to right: Christian, Katherine and Campbell)

We are having fun, they turn 9 months on Thursday, I can't believe it!

Love,

Jennifer and Shelby

Recent Pics!

2010-06-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

Campbell Joseph

Katherine Emma

Christian Michael

The Trio!

We recently had a photo session at Lakeside Park. She is a new photographer so she was giving a really good rate to practice! These are a few of our favorites. The babies are 8 months old! I can't believe it!

Christian Michael

2010-05-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

CHRISTIAN MICHAEL!

FEED ME!!!!

I'm Turtley Awesome!

First time in the snow...I LOVE IT!

Reading...he is brilliant!

Focused on exersaucing!

My little sweet pea!

Having a ball in the lounge chair!

Jumping in the Jumparoo!

Hangin' with his monkey in the hospital!

Getting Ready for Valentines' Day!

Look at my cool hat!

Having a ball in the exersaucer!

Hanging out in the Bumpo

Sleepy Christian

FINALLY! It has been awhile, I know...needless to say it is crazy around here!

Baby C, Lil C, Christian...is about as precious as they come. He is the most laid back and even tempered of them all. He is a typical youngest child I think. As he has his moments, he is the most patient. Poor thing, because of his patience he is pretty much always the last to do anything...eat, bathe, get changed....

Christian has this smile that can make even the worst day all right again! His entire face smiles, even his eyes have a glimmer! You can pretty much make him smile just by looking at him, he is a pretty happy baby. When he giggles out load it pretty much melts your heart! Poor little thing has been through so much in his short little life, I think he is going to be the toughest by far. Even when we go to the doctor for their shots, he cries the least by far! It's like he is telling the other two..."you think this is bad, you have NO idea!!!!!"

Hope everyone is well, we can't believe how fast this little trio is growing!

Love,

Jennifer and Shelby

Campbell Joseph

2010-03-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Going on a Safari...ok, well maybe just a walk!

We caught Campbell sucking his thumb...so cute!

C in his Jumparoo, I just love the look on his face!

Standing like a big boy!

A typical Campbell smile

Another big grin from Big C.

I love this pic, he looks so sweet and peaceful!

Nappy time!

Snuggling with his lovey!

Uh oh, rolling downhill!

I've got control...watch out!

I just love it when he falls asleep in his jumparoo!

Watching Baby Einstein, obviously very amused!

Happy 2010, I just love my hat!

Trying out his high chair!

Yummy, green beans!

In his exersaucer, I just think his facial expression is hilarious. Are you about to sneeze buddy?

Trying out the bumpo, leaning a little to the right!

Trying to hold my own bottle!

Me and my blah blah

So my next focus will be Campbell!

Campbell is hilarious. He is constantly giving everyone these huge open mouth grins, you hardly even have to do anything to earn it! I think he is definitely the most dramatic one...he can go from smiling to screaming bloody murder in about .2 seconds. He does not wait calmly for a meal that is for sure. Sometimes you would swear we were starving him the way he carries on when waiting for a bottle! I started feeding them cereal and he screams every time I take the spoon out of this mouth....when I put a spoonful in he grins ear to ear. It is amazing how quickly and how often he can switch back and forth!

Campbell is a good sleeper too! We can now put him to bed awake and unswaddled! This is huge! Before we had to swaddle him tight and rock him to sleep. Now we lay him in the crib with his lovey and paci and he pretty much goes right to sleep. He may babble for a little bit, but within about 10 minutes he is laid out sound asleep until at least 8 am! It is so nice not to have to battle bedtime. If you have ever watched Super Nanny and see how bad the kids on there can be at bedtime, you can appreciate it when they go to bed like good little angels!

Campbell was the first born so I am interested to see if he acts like the oldest when he is older. Will he be the big brother that protects his little sis and bro? Who knows, it is going to be fun as their dynamics unfold.

They are definitely all checking each other out now. They stare at each other and smile and babble back and forth. So cute. Do they understand each other's baby babble? I swear they do, they make the same sounds and "words" so I think the secret language is already forming. :)

I think Campbell is going to be a good snuggler...he loves to be loved on, especially when he is tired. I have heard boys are much better at snuggling than girls...we will see!

Have a good weekend!
Love,

Jennifer & Shelby

Katherine Emma

2010-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Sleepy Katherine

Wrapped up like a burrito!

In her Christmas Hat!

Pretty Plaid Dress!

Pretty Pink Dress!

Precious!

Trying out the Jumparoo!

Wearing a skirt for the first time!

Trying out the Exersaucer, she looks so amused!

Pretty flower outfit!

Precious Angel

Can you tell I love putting her in cute outfits?

Checking out the Bumpo!

So I thought I would devote a blog to each baby, since I seem to have the most pictures of her I thought I would start with Katherine.

Katherine is our serious one. She is always looking around and studying everything around her. She definitely smiles and giggles, but it is much harder to get it out of her. I say that you really have to earn her smiles, but the boys give their's away for free! When she does laugh it melts your heart and her eyes squint up because her cheeks get in the way.

Katherine started out VERY high maintenance and demanding. I was really worried. At about 2 1/2 to 3 mos old she really mellowed out and has been much more laid back and content. I definitely think her demeanor is going to be more like Shelby. It is going to be fun to see!

I just wish she had hair! What I would do to be able to put a little bow in her hair. I definitely love dressing her up, but refuse to glue a bow to her head! I know I could put the ones in that wrap around her head, but I just envision her brain getting squeezed!

When we found out I was pregnant with two boys and a girl, doctors and nurses always said she would be the first to do everything! Well, they were right! She was the first one to start eating on her own, she came home first, she was the first one to hold her head up...she is also our "equipment tester" as Dad calls her. I am sure she will take the lead on crawling, walking, potty training, riding a two wheeler, etc...it will be interesting to see if there is some competition there.

Katherine has also been our best sleeper! We can put her down wide awake and she will just look at and talk to her bumpers until she falls asleep. She is usually the first to wake up in the morning though, but she just talks and wiggles around until we get her. If she wakes up too early and starts fussing, we will put her in our bed and turn on the Today show. She is happy as can be watching that as we get ready for work and wait until her 8 am feeding time! It is funny to watch her enjoying Matt and Meredith's news reports!

As I love all 3, it is definitely fun having a girl as a mom. I am excited to do mother/daughter things with her and hope we don't clash too bad when she becomes a teenager! :)

I will post about each of the boys soon....have a good weekend!

Love, Jennifer and Shelby

Growing Triplets!

2010-01-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

Katherine holding her Blah-Blah from the Hayden's!

Campbell and Katherine reading "Cat and the Hat", they were taking turns reading aloud, they are brilliant!

Campbell after bouncing himself to sleep in the Jumparoo!

This is when we celebrated Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve on 12/31/09. Since Christian was in the hospital from 12/22-12/29 we just postponed our Christmas celebration so we could all be together.

In this photo it is like Christian is laughing at Campbell and Katherine's ridiculous hats!

Flash forward....Now Christian is bummed that he too has a ridiculous hat on now.

Campbell prior to falling asleep, he loves the jumparoo!

Christian and Campbell playing together nicely!

Triplet Stroller, HA HA!! What a sight!

Christian in his Bumpo!!!

We just wanted to update everyone on the triplets! Everyone is doing good, including Christian. He is getting bigger all the time, but not quite at the rate Katherine and Campbell did! I think his poor little tummy shrunk while in the hospital so he cannot eat quite as much at one time.

Campbell is probably around 14 lbs now and seems to be close to busting out some teeth! :( I am so sad, I just love that gummy little grin of his. He is a very happy baby and only cries if he is hungry or tired. Only problem is he cries like he has never been fed before, once that bottle goes in his mouth it is instance silence though! If he is crying because he is tired he just needs to be "roped in" to help go to sleep. Either rocking him or bouncing him helps. He has this little jumper that he loves and often bounces himself to sleep sitting up....hilarious!

Katherine is around 13 lbs now and is a much more serious baby than the other two. She is definitely a "studier." She is constantly looking around at all things going on around her, sheis a busy bee. She has rolled over a couple times and has even grabbed at some things. She is a happy baby as well, you just really have to earn a smile from here....but it is precious! She is just too busy for any fooling around. The hardest thing with Katherine is she loves to move! The swing is perfect for her if we can't hold her right then or take them on a walk.

Christian is smaller at around 10 lbs and much like his identical twin Campbell, he has this huge gummy grin that will melt your heart. He is a little bit more demanding for attention right now, but I think his heart issues has him a step or two behind the other two. I think he will be a little more content with time. Both boys are almost bald now, I am anxious to see what color their hair turns out to be and what color their eyes are! Right now it is looking like blue for the boys and brown for Katherine.

All three seem to be noticing each other more, they have even had some babbling conversations with each other and some staring contests. It is fun so see them interact! It will be so fun when they are playing together. All are happy on full tummies and when they first wake up. Waking them up at 8 am is my absolute favorite, it is like they are so excited to see me! They also all love taking walks! We have so many stroller combos we are like a stoller dealership! We definitely get lots of stares with the triple stoller!

As far as sleeping they are doing great. Katherine and Campbell sleep from 8-8 with 2-3 naps a day. Christian just still takes an 11 pm feeding right now, but is slowly weening off that so I expect him to be on the other schedule soon with the bigger two.

I just went back to work 2 weeks ago and am working 9-3. It seems to be working great so far. We have a nanny, Priscilla, four days a week and my mom keeps them one day. After working it is so great to come home to clean bottles and their laundry done. It is also nice not having to get them up and ready to take them anywhere. I swear it would be noon before I got to work if that was the case!!! Sammie is also thrilled with the situation, he loves that he spends very little time in his kennel now!

To be honest having triplets has not been bad, I had prepared myself for FAR worse! We have been blessed with three good babies and a Kick A** night nanny. Without her I swear I would be singing a different tune. She has really helped get us on a disciplined eating and sleeping schedule as well as teaching me the tricks to set up an ideal sleeping environment. All of her guidance is what has them sleeping through the night, which they have been doing for over a month now! Even before that they were sleeping from 11-8 for several weeks! Who can complain about that?

Well, I hope that is a good update for now.

Love,

Jennifer and Shelby

Christian's Story

2009-12-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

First we just want to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, meals, messages, etc....it has really meant a lot to us and really helped us through this time. I just thought I would post more details about his experience for those who were curious as we have only been able to get out bits and pieces due to how quickly this has all unfolded.

While Christian was in the NICU he was having trouble breathing and was diagnosed with a PDA (www.childrens.com/HealthLibrary/HealthLibContent.cfm?pageid=P02395). Basically a hole in his heart needed while in utero but expected to close approximately 72 hours after birth. This caused him to have trouble breathing due to fluid that built up on his lungs, a high heart rate and occasional food intolerance. They treated his symptoms with hopes that it would close on it's own as he grew like his sister's did, but at his last Dr. appointment in mid-December it had not. A procedure to close it was then scheduled for Jan 6th. The plan was to close it with a plug like instrument (Amplatzer) via catheter which is non surgical and a next day check out! I noticed on 12/21 that he was wheezing and he had thrown up two feedings that day. I called his doctor and by the end of the day she had the procedure moved to Wednesday 12/23 at 1 pm. She decided to check him in at Children's Medical Center on Tuesday though to start him on fluids and assure he was not dehydrated for his procedure. At this point we were told he was in heart failure, the last thing any parent wants to hear of course.

Flash forward to Wednesday about 3:30 pm. The doctor came out to let us know everything went perfect! The doctor we chose is considered the best of the best so we knew he was in good hands. Christian then went to recovery and we were able to see our little monkey. He at first seemed to be doing fine aside from a little raspy voice. Shortly after arriving in recovery he developed a fever of 101 and something just wasn't right so they ordered a chest x-ray and gave him tylenol. His fever went away very quickly and everything settled down so well that they even called to cancel the x-ray but it was too late so they went ahead with it. The cardiologist went to view the x-ray and discovered the device had come loose! It was sitting in his right ventrical (I think) and they had to go back in and remove it. Fortunately this was performed within about an hour and the retrieval was successful. He finally got back to his room about midnight, 11 hours after leaving for some rest for his 8 am surgery! Keep in mind our poor little munchkin has now not eaten for over 24 hours! (his last meal was at 8:30 pm on Tuesday) Thankfully he was so tired he rested peacefully all night.

The surgery on 12/24 was just going to be more invasive so that is why we went for the other procedure initially. This one involves about a two-three inch incision on his left side, they go in between two ribs and move his lung to the side then clip off this duct and then put him back together! Again, being at Children's we knew we had the best, but needless to say we were all so worried. He was just a little 8 lb baby put under anesthesia three times in under 24 hours! All went well during surgery and about 2 hours after we were able to see him in ICU. We immediately noticed he was still on a respirator which was supposed to be removed within an hour of the procedure. We were told that he would not start breathing on his own. They did a chest x-ray and there was quite a bit of fluid on his lungs and his right lung would not fully inflate. The doctors increased his lasix at that time and decided to have a respiratory therapist work with him every 3 hours. I can't tell you how heart breaking it was to see our little boy on the respirator. They kept him sedated quite a bit, but at times he would cry (of course no sound coming out) and fight it and there was nothing we could do. On top of all of that, it was Christmas Eve!

Over the next 48+ hours the respiratory therapist worked with him to get the fluid off of his lungs and inflate that right lung. The doctors told me he had been in worse heart failure than originally thought. I shudder to think of what would have happened if we had waited until Jan. 6th. FINALLY on Saturday the 26th they weened him off the respirator. I just thought for sure I would hear a huge scream when it came out, but there was silence...his voice was completely gone! Over the next couple of hours they watched him very close and he was still on CPAP which they continued to ween him off over the next couple of days. (the little oxygen thing that blows air in his nose). The next step was eating. They let him try about 3:30 pm and he did great! He was a little out of practice at first, but he quickly got the coordination down. (no thanks to the feeding therapist, but that is a blog posting of it's own). After that he ate like a horse every 2-3 hours...far more than he ever had! I was thrilled! They kept him under observation for until Monday then moved him to a "regular" room. He continued to eat like a champ and breath great and we FINALLY got to check out on Tuesday...one week after checking in.

Today is January 1st and he continues to thrive and we are so thankful. He is still working to get his voice back and his incision is still healing but he is breathing and eating sooo much better! Today we celebrated our first Christmas with them and we were all so thankful he is "fixed"! He is a big smiler and I swear he is trying to tell us how much better he feels. It was so hard to see him struggle to breath before...now he is so much more peaceful and comfortable!

I will finally draw this to a close, but I have to say our Children's experience overall was mediocre at best. I hate to say this but I expected so much more....again, a whole other blog on it's own.

Well, thank you all again, we are so extremely happy to have our baby boy home and healthy!

Happy Holidays!

Love,

Jennifer and Shelby

Just some pics...

2009-12-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

I mean that is all you really want, right?

Campbell and the mohawk Aunt Sarah gave him
Katherine Just chillin!

Christian playing with his Gator!

Campbell with the remote

Katherine sleeping

Christian, Happy Baby!

Two month photos with their bears!

2009-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

So I have been harassed about not updating my blog...sorry! Here are some reasons why!

Daily Checklist:
21 bottles feeding AND cleaning
77+ oz of formula
21-24 diapers
6-9 outfits
9-12 bibs
9-12 burp cloths
3-6 blankets
1-2 loads of laundry
4-6 hours of sleep for mama

But endless amounts of cuteness!!! It makes it all worth it.

Everyone is doing great. They are starting to be more alert and seem to be recognizing their mama! My sister came in for Thanksgiving and ate up all of their sweetness! She was a big help with feeding and holding them, it was lots of fun. They had a great first Thanksgiving and look forward to participating in all of the fun eating next year!

My mom heads back to work on Monday after 4 weeks off. :( She was a HUGE help and I will miss her dearly!

Oh the pics go Katherine, Christian and Campbell from top to bottom!

Love,
Jennifer and Shelby

One month Photos

2009-11-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

So I am determined to take a picture each month by their bears that were given to us to show how much they grow. I did take these on 10/24 but am just now posting them! Just looking at these I can't believe how much they have grown already! On Wednesday they weighed the following: Katerine, 8 lbs 11 oz; Campbell, 8 lbs 8 oz; Christian, 7 lbs 3 oz. Can you believe Katherine out weighs her brothers?

Christian is doing very well. The cardiologist actually took his feeding tube out and told me I was over feeding him! She said let the boy eat when he wants and don't force him to take more. YAY! I was just following the orders of the neonatologist, but we were actually hurting him. He did not gain any weight in 6 days so that is why we ended up at the cardiologist. She said his body was having to work so hard to digest his food that he was burning more calories than he took in! Poor kiddo. She also altered his meds to help him from breathing so hard, we go back Tuesday for a follow up. If he still does not gain weight we might have to do surgery to close his PDA. I am hoping this is not the case. Will keep you posted.

Other than that we are just hanging out and making it through each day! They are good babies I have to say. I actually get more sleep now than I did when I was pregnant! Funny! My mom started a 4 week leave of absence this week so I am so excited about that. She helps me get things done and it gives me freedom to go to the gym, run errands, etc.

Hope everyone is well!

Love,

Jen & Shelby

TOGETHER AGAIN!

2009-11-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

As of this Monday, November 2nd, the Trio was reunited! Christian was the last to come home and we are all thrilled! He still has some "stuff" to deal with, but he will be fine. He has a heart murmur, which they call a PDA...I am not a medical person so don't ask me what that stands for...something long and complicated. This causes fluid to build up on his lungs, which makes his breathing rapid which makes him wear out fast and unable to take all of his meals on the bottle. He came home on a feeding tube so half of his feedings are given through it when he is tired. He is on medication to help drain the fluid and we have noticed a big improvement in his ability to bottle feed, but not enough for him to grow. We follow up with the cardiologist in two weeks and will go from there. A possible surgery is in his future, but we are hoping the murmur closes on it's own. So pray for him!

Today was my due date, crazy! They are all getting so big, I could not imagine if they were still in my tummy....I would have been big enough to cover two zip codes! HA HA! I am just so happy they are all home and doing great. They are all good babies over all so I can't complain. It is crazy and tiring when they are all hungry at the same time, but we deal with it!!!

Hope everyone is doing great!

Love,
Jen and Shelby

Campbell is home!!!

2009-10-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to have 2 of 3 home! Campbell came home on 10/22 and he has been so good. (The pic above is from the hospital, need to download my new pics!) Two is really not much harder than one since I can feed them both at the same time. Adding the 3rd is going to be a challenge, although we cannot wait to get Christian home!!! Maybe I can figure out how to grow an extra set of hands before then. I really am so lucky, Campbell and Katherine are such good babies. They just eat and go right to sleep, Campbell has been in his own bed since night #1! When I put them down they just grunt back and forth for a bit, like "I am over here!" It is cute. Even when they are awake they are just content with looking around. Sammie has been good. When they do cry to eat he is so anxious to see what the problem is and give them kisses.

Christian is still at the NICU, he is progressing, but slowly. They just have to constantly remind me that he should not even be born yet! They have said the Christian is actually "normal', they other 2 are just ahead of the game. They have started putting a "thickener" in his milk to see if that helps. They said sometimes the milk goes down too quick and it is scary to them so this will help slow it down. We will see!

Love,
Jennifer and Shelby

I know, I am so bad at this...

2009-10-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

(I just love these little Duckie outfits, had to post this pic!)

I haven't posted in forever, 2 weeks to be exact. So sorry! Life is so crazy! Here is a quick run down of what has been going on...in no particular order.
1. Aunt Sarah came in from Montana to visit, we hung out at the hospital all day with the Trio! It was love at first sight, but who can't love these little babes?
2. Katherine came home on 10/15!!! Let the sleepless nights begin!
3. I learned Katherine does not like being by herself, I knew that co-bedding would come back to bite me.
4. Justice, the trio's half sister, came in and met Katherine! Since you have to be 18 to go into the NICU she was not able to meet the boys...but hopefully soon!
5. Sammie LOVES Katherine. He lays next to her, sniffs her and gives her kisses when he can sneak by me.
6. Katherine had her first trip to the pediatrician on 10/19. She isn't supposed to be born yet and she is already in the 5th percentile! I had some BIG babies!
7. Campbell will likely be home Wednesday or Thursday!
8. Not sure about Christian, he is still struggling a bit. They found some fluid on his lungs, I hope once they get rid of that he will progress quickly to join everyone else. It is going to absolutely kill me to have him at the hospital all by himself! :( Pray for him!!!
9. Katherine was home to help celebrate my Dad's birthday, that was special. Having babies helps you to save money on gifts, all you have to do is let them hold your baby and all is forgiven!!!
10. I had my 2 week follow up appointment and got my driver's license back...woo hoo! I also lost 48 lbs in 2 weeks, even better!!!
11. I got so much cool stuff for all my showers, but never took the time to learn how they "operate"! I had to use the hospital bottles for the first 48 hours Katherine was home since I never learned to use my Dr Brown bottles! I also had to call Shelby so he could explain to me over the phone how to get the car seat off the base. Learn this BEFORE your baby comes!!!
12. I have the greatest family and friends. Everyone has been so helpful by bringing dinners, checking on us and helping us while we have kids in two locations! Can't wait to have everyone under one roof!!!

Well, that is the past 2 weeks in a nutshell!!

Love,
Jen and Shelby

10.4.09 Update on the Trips!

2009-10-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hello! Sorry I have not posted more often. I have been spending as much time at the NICU as I can and I am typically wiped out when I get home! As I recover more I think this will change. I do feel better each day, but being on bed rest for 9 weeks did not help either. I am so weak and have NO endurance! I was running 12-15 miles a week when I got pregnant, now I am thrilled when I walk all the way to the NICU and NOT have to take a wheel chair! It's the small victories.

As far as the babies go, they are doing better each day. All 3 are now above their birth weights, the largest one (Campbell) is still just under 5.5 lbs. They look so big to me, but then I see a "normal" new born and they look tiny again! All 3 are being given 2 of the 8 feedings by bottle. They eat as much as they can then they put the rest in the feeding tube if needed. As with their mama, they are just building up their strength and endurance to take all 8 feedings from the bottle! They were actually moved up to the 7th floor this week. The NICU got full and they were in the best shape of all the babies so they got promoted! I am thrilled with every step they make as I am anxious to get them home. I know I should be enjoying this time and resting up, but I can't explain how it pains me to leave them behind each day I leave the NICU. I know they are watched around the clock, but it is not by me and I can't stand that.

They really are starting to develop little personalities. They are more alert close to their feeding time. I think Campbell is going to be the "tough guy" and Katherine seems to be really laid back and content with life. Christian is definitely going to be the "baby" of the family. He certainly acts like the youngest! Today we got a good laugh because Katherine was so hungry she was trying to suck on everything that came near her. This included Christian's blanket, his fingers, her sleeve and her blanket....Christian tried to suck on her head later so he paid her back. Campbell got his thumb in his mouth briefly, I guess we will see if he gets that coordination down.

Well, that is about all to report at this time! Nothing too exciting, except they get cuter each and every day!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Love,

Jennifer and Shelby

The Trio Update!

2009-09-30T07:21:00.001-07:00

The babies are all doing great. They are still in the NICU, but have come a long way since their birth almost a week ago! They all have their feeding tubes in their noses now. This gives them more freedom to suck on their pacifiers. This is the main thing keeping them from coming home. The doctors and nurses are working to train their strength and coordination to eat from a bottle. Yesterday Katherine got to try the bottle. She did great! She got 7 cc's down, she is an overachiever for her first feeding! Typically preemies get 1-2 on their first go and tend to choke on it, she did not! I told her to tell her brothers how yummy it was so we can get them to try soon!

Campbell and Christian are now co-bedding. They look so content! Before they each had to have their own bed so they could sit under warmers since they are still learning to regulate their own body temps. Katherine should be joining them soon. She has had a little tougher time, but we put socks on her yesterday so maybe this will help. Her little toes are always cold!

I have been home since Monday. It was so hard to leave the kiddos behind, but I know they are in good hands. I realized once I got home that I still have a lot of recovery to do, I am in no shape to take care of a baby much less 3 right now!!! I am trying to get to the NICU daily for several hours. I have just been warned by all the nurses and doctors to be sure and not wear myself out! It is just so hard to stay away from them.

We will post another update later in the week!

Thanks for all of your support, prayers, phone calls, texts, etc....!

Love,
Jennifer and Shelby

THE TRIO IS HERE!

2009-09-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

What a crazy couple days. We actually ended up checking into the hospital Wednesday night because we thought my water broke (well, somone's water anyway)! It turned out to be a false alarm, but they let me stay since I had to be back 8 hours later anyway. I think they also felt bad making me move again, I was VERY miserable at this point and was contracting regularly.

The next morning, September 24th, 2009 at our scheduled 9:30 am C-section our 3 little angels entered this world...very quickly I might say!

Baby "A" was born at 9:59 am.
This is Campbell Joseph, 5 lbs 7 oz, 18 inches

Baby "B" was born at 10:00 am.
This is Katherine Emma, 5 lbs 4 oz, 18 inches

Baby "C" was born at 10:00 am
This is Christian Michael, 4 lbs 9 oz, 16.5 inches

They were cleaned up very quickly, said hi to mom and dad then were whisked away to the NICU...without any immediate concerns I might add. After I was "put back together" and spent an hour in recovery they wheeled me into the NICU to check on them. They all needed some extent of breathing assistance at first, but were all taken off as of Friday! As of now they are all ONLY on feeding tubes while they are developing the strength and coordination to suckle. I spent the whole first day in and out of consciousness so I relied on Dad, Nana Jo and Papa to keep an eye on them and give me updates. I did not see them again until Friday afternoon, but came in at the right time...I was the first to be there when they were ready to be held! I just could not believe how big they were! I mean I really had 15 lbs and 4 oz of baby in my belly? Crazy!

I am still in more pain than I ever thought, but am making progress. We continue to check in on them as much as possible, but we are even limited on when we can see and hold them while in the NICU. They expect them to be home in about 2 weeks, but they are progressing even faster than they imagined! I can't really tell who they look like yet, hoping to figure that out soon.

I will update again soon and promise to post pics! I am having trouble with downloading pics right now...sorry!!! Internet is a little slow here. If you have Facebook, there are pics on there! Oh, here is a link my Dad sent, hope you can see this!
http://beta.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=302790419210%3A471022641

Love,
Jennifer and Shelby

The latest news and my Top 10 list!

2009-09-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

So today we set a C-section date! This Thursday....YAY! Our little Trio will be born on 9/24. We are both very excited, especially me. My body is saying, IT'S TIME! It is literally falling apart. In fact, I am wondering how I am going to make it to Thursday. This Thursday will be 34 weeks and the babies are all doing great. They will all weigh around 5 lbs (that's 15 lbs of baby folks!) and we cannot wait to meet them! Today the tech told us it looks like the girl (Katherine) has lots of hair! YAY! Bows, bows and more bows! We will definitely get everyone updates and photos as soon as we can. And yes, I promise to take a photo of my GI-NORMOUS belly right before going to the hospital.

I have been thinking about all the things I have missed doing over the last 34 weeks and especially the last 9 weeks while on bed rest. I decided to make the TOP 10 REASONS I CAN'T WAIT TO BE UN-PREGNANT!

10. I can't wait to be able to walk normal!
9. I am so looking forward to running/working out again.
8. Bending over! Any pregnant lady knows how hard this is!
7. NOT having to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes.
6. Not having to shower with my old lady shower seat.
5. Getting kicked! As this can be neat at times, the bigger they get the more it hurts. AND they LOVE to PARTY every night from about 1-3 am!
4. Margarita's!
3. Sleeping while actually lying down.
2. Sleeping in my own bed...I have been on the couch for MONTHS!
1. Getting my waistline back...eventually!

I am so just happy that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We will be in touch!

Love,
Jennifer and Shelby

We have Three 4 Up WOGS!

2009-09-09T10:16:00.001-07:00

So it is just a family joke since we are in the chicken business. A WOG is a whole chicken (without giblets) and they are classified by weight. My dad keeps saying I am having Three 4 up WOGS and I am welcome to take some home from the plant to practice diapering and such. :) NO THANKS!

Anyway, on Wednesday I went to my high risk doctor and everything looked great. The babies all weighed over 4 lbs and looked good. I seem to be hanging in there too, although I told him I though 9/9/09 would be a pretty cool birth date. He looked at me like I had two heads and said, "but that is TODAY???" I guess that is a NO? He really wants me to get to 34 weeks and then he is going to be pretty much over me. At this point even if I went into labor they would not try and stop it. He just said with two more weeks it could really help with any breathing or feeding issues. OK, I guess I am in! I am really trying to hang in there, but "it is just hard and I do not like doing things that are hard!" (That is a direct quote from my sister!) I now start seeing my high risk doctor every week to make sure no one goes into distress, if so, they will do an immediate C-section. Now that they are getting big they don't want them to run out of room!

I go back to my regular doctor on Monday, I will post any updates then. As for now, I am SOOOO happy it is Football season! Lots more to watch on the weekend. Although, I have the ONLY husband in the world that does not like sports. Doesn't he realize that other guys would kill for a girl like me? So, GO CATS and GEAUX TIGERS!

DON'T FORGET.....FLU SHOTS PEOPLE!!!! :)

Love,
Jen and Shelby

....and released!!!

2009-09-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

I get to go home! They checked me all out today and everything is stable even with a slight improvement with my cervix. Good stuff! I am 31 weeks tomorrow which is huge....they are happy with the growth of the babies and how I am holding up...considering it is 3 babies and all. We will all breath a sigh of relief at 32 weeks and at 34 if I cry hard enough they may take them out. I will just have to see just how miserable I am. I know the longer the better, but this is tough! I did get two rounds of steroids to help with the lungs in case they surprise us all and change our time line plans. The steroids should last a couple weeks so that makes us all feel better. They will measure them again on Wednesday so I will have a better idea of their estimated weight. So good reports all around! I have to say my stay here at Medical City was great!!! The staff here is great and the food isn't so bad. If any of you out there end up in my shoes, not such a bad gig. I just wish Sammie could come with me and they would have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming!!!

Thanks so much for all the e-mails, prayers, calls and visits. Will update after my appointment Wednesday or earlier if anything unexpected happens. HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Love,
Jen and Shelby

It was inevitable...

2009-09-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of me right before I have to be admitted into the hospital on Monday. I AM GINORMOUS!!! I am here for sure until Wednesday and on Wednesday they will determine my fate from there. My cervix just got too thin, anything below a 20 is considered the "red zone" and I measured at an 18 today. I guess the boluder I have been carrying around got a little too heavy! They also did an FFN test and I tested positive. FFN is some test that shows if some protein is present in your body that often shows up about 2 weeks prior to your body going into labor. I know I am full of scientific details, but what can I say? I sell chicken!!! :) I doesn't guarantee I will go into labor, it just helps determine the next course of action. I was given a steroid shot today and will get another one tomorrow. This will help develop the baby's lungs if they were to insist on coming here pretty soon!!! I am 30 weeks and 5 days today so we are doing pretty good considering the size of the litter! Obviously, the longer they hang with me the better!

I am doing OK, I had a feeling this was coming so I was mentally prepared. I just feel bad for my little Sammie, he was loving bed rest!!! All the nurses have been really nice though and I am loving room service!!!!

Will keep everyone updated, but it is just a sit and wait now. OH, I should add to make sure and get your flu shot!!! My pediatrician is insisting that I only allow visitors who have had their flu shot once the babies are here since they will be preemies!

Love,

Jen and Shelby

Crazy day, but all is well

2009-08-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

Lots going on today! I was having little contractions all weekend so I called my doctor today. He figured they were Braxton Hicks, but did not want to chance it so he had me come in. They checked me all out and I passed all my tests! YAY! My cervix has shorted a little bit more, I am tinkering on the edge of "hospitalization", but happy to be home still. I am 3 days from 30 weeks so I am about to hit a HUGE milestone! I cannot wait to be in the "30's", I feel like I have been in the "20's" for a year! I just had this terrible feeling that my luck had run out and I would be sleeping at Medical City tonight, but we are all hanging in there! They also looked at the babies for awhile, so that was fun. They were very active and all looked great.

I am also battling the insurance company on the pump my high risk doctor perscribed at my last visit. They will not approve it for home use! I asked them which was cheaper, home pump or 3 babies in the NICU because I go into labor too early? They are fools. Anyway, my doctor gave me an oral med to take in the meantime so I am at least on something. I can't say I am sad about the pump due to my fear of needles, but I still want to do what is best for the TRIO!

That is it for now, I go back next Monday and will be keeping my bum on the couch until then!

Baby Doctor Day

2009-08-19T12:20:00.001-07:00

Well, today I went to the doctor, it is always a treat getting out of the house! Anyway, everything is fine and staying stable, each baby is weighing about 3 lbs and growing right on track! If I have 9 lbs of baby, why have I gained 40??? UGH! The doctor did decide to have a pump put into my stomach so I can receive some medicine that will keep me from having contractions. I have not felt any, but it is more of a precaution. Some medical group is going to come in and "install" it. EWWWW. As this may not sound like a huge deal, for those of you that know how squeamish I am, knows this is a VERY big deal! Just his description of it made me a bit light headed. I know it is just a tiny needle, but still, IT IS A NEEDLE! I can't stand shots, getting blood drawn, heck I can't even HEAR about people's injuries without getting light headed. How am I supposed to carry this thing around when it is connected to my tummy. YUCK! Oh well, I guess anything to keep these babies in longer. This will be the one of MANY sacrifices that I am going to make over their lifetime! Tomorrow I am 29 weeks so I am getting closer. I will be so happy to get to 30 weeks, I feel like I have been in the 20's for a year!

Update and Bed Rest Buddy!

2009-08-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

I am already behind on my blog and I don't even have the trio yet! Not a good sign! Anyway, I went to the doctor today, I have actually been twice since my last post! I am staying "stable" I guess. Things are still the same so bed rest still seems to be a successful treatment in my case. I have to admit my feet are starting to swell, oh no! I am really bummed about that, hoping it will magically go away. I am still a bit stir crazy, but got permission to go to the lake this upcoming weekend to get a change of scenery! YAY! Last weekend I also went to the pool twice to help get some relief from all this weight! The only thing that sucks is that when you get out of the pool, it feels TWICE as heavy, UGH! Thanks to everyone who has come by to visit and brought lunch or dinner! It is always great to have visitors, I feel more connected to the outside world!

I also have to give a shout out to my bed rest buddy, SAMMIE! He is the best bed rest companion and he takes it VERY seriously as you can see from the photo. He has been doing some serious resting to help motivate me to stay on track I guess? He is a great snuggler and it would be super lonely without him! Only problem seems to be he is now back to hating his crate. When we went to the doctor today he went crazy, before I went on bed rest he would actually walk into the crate on his own. UH OH!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Stir Crazy!

2009-08-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

So I am getting a little stir crazy! I just try to remind myself that this is still better than being at the hospital! This week several people dropped by to visit, so that has been helpful. They have all been armed with goodies of some sort...Mexican food, cookies, ice cream or books and magazines! I am very thankful for the company, it definitely helps pass the time and helps keep me from going crazy! Of course my bed rest is timed with Shelby's busiest time at work! He gets home as soon as he can, but he has had to work all weekend and late every night. :( Mr. Sammie has been a great bed rest buddy though, he is taking this VERY seriously.

This week we took the plunge and got our "kid car"! No, we did not get a minivan, I am just not ready to take that plunge...we got a GMC Acadia! We love it! I decided our coolness factor is already going to take a big hit with these kiddos, taking the ultimate parent plunge into minivan land was too much for me! :) I am quite sure it is in our future at some point though!

Not much to report on the babies right now. They are moving like crazy, I can tell you that much! I go back to the doctor on Wednesday, so I will have an update then.

This week my goal is to add pics to my blog, I need to make it a little less boring???
Have a good week!

High Risk Doctor Day

2009-07-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

Today I had a doctor appointment and everything looked great! I am holding up, thank goodness, I guess bed rest is working! They measured the babies and estimated their weights:

Baby A - Campbell Joseph is about 2 lbs 8 oz
Baby B - Christian Michael is about 2 lbs 2 oz
Baby C - Katherine Emma is about 2 lbs 3 oz

I hope I remembered these right, I don't want to be a horrible mom already?

Knowing I am still stable after a week on bed rest makes me feel much better. I am glad all the sitting around has been worth it. I would have been devastated if I got worse after all of this miserable laying around! Yes, laying around is misery! Laying on the couch because you want to vs. because you have to is two totally different things!!!

26 weeks and counting!!!

I gave in!

2009-07-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

So here we go, I started a blog. I swore I would never do this, but there is so much to share these days and it is hard to keep up! Thank goodness for Facebook and e-mail, those have helped me spread the word with any updates up to this point.

I guess I should start by saying the main reason we are starting this is because we are having triplets! I am sure this is old news to everyone, but you never know. We are expecting 2 boys and a girl on November 5th. I have to laugh as I type November 5th because there is NO freaking way I will last that long. Today is July 29th, 2009...one day shy of 26 weeks and I am one week into bed rest. The weight of these kiddos have opened my cervix more than my doctors are comfortable with so sitting all day every day is my newest prescription. Bed rest is in no way shape or form fun, but truly it was getting hard to move around. Part of me is glad I am forced to sit, just walking to get a drink of water practically calls for a nap these days! I am measuring about 8 weeks ahead of myself, so if that tells you anything...I am huge! We are really excited to meet this litter of ours, but know the longer they stay in the better! I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep them there!

I have a doctor appointment Thursday morning, so I will update everyone on the progress. I now have to go to the doctor weekly to make sure everyone is doing good. As of now I seem to be the only one suffering...well, probably Shelby too since he has to do EVERYTHING now, and I am not what most would term as "low maintenance"......at least all the babies look good and are growing on target! I just hope to stay home and out of the hospital!!!

Pray for us!