One month Photos

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!

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!!!

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...

(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!

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!

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!

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