Way to go Reese!

They took Reese off of her oxygen today around 11. She is doing great. The nurse bottle fed her at 3. She said she did desat towards the end of the feeding, but she came back up on her own.

Well we have been busy the last few days. The boys are spitting up a lot so I have been doing laundry constantly.. I think they probably have reflux like Racheal did. Monday Racheal developed a rash all over her. Randall thinks it is either an allergic reaction or viral. It gets better when she takes Benadryl. Reese continues to eat great. She is still on 50 ml and gets a bottle every other feeding.

Thanks to everyone who has been bringing us food & taking Racheal so I can get a nap!!! We really appreciate all of you.

2 months old tomorrow!!

Sorry it has been a few days since we posted. Life is crazy these days. Can you believe the babies will be 2 months old tomorrow? The boys are doing great. They are now taking 4 oz and sleeping 4 hrs. Reese is also doing great. She is now taking 50 ml's and was increased yesterday to a bottle every other feeding. Randall finally convinced them last night to put her on a seperate oxygen sat monitor. Her numbers are much better now. If we could have gotten them to do that for Ryan, he probably would have come home a week earlier. Reese is still on oxygen 1 liter 23%. Hopefully this next week she will get turned down to .5 liters.
We will be going back home tomorrow.

Reese is eating better!

Yesterday at Reese's bottle feeding she took her entire bottle in 20 minutes & did not require more oxygen. Last night she again took the whole thing. She did desat once, but it was self resolved and did not require more oxygen. Way to go big girl!!!

The boys had their pediatrician appointment today. Ryan weighs 6 lb 8 oz & Rylie weighs 6 lbs 5 oz. Rylie has gained 1 lb since we saw Dr Shah last week. We don't have to go back for 4 weeks. By then they should be 8 lbs & will be able to get their first vaccines & be able to change formula. The dr saw Reese this morning & said she didn't think she needed the suck & swallow test. They also increased her to 46 ml's. We have to keep reminding ourselves that Reese was a month old when she had her surgery so she is a month behind the boys.

Ryan finally gets to go home!

We are back home tonight. Ryan finally gets to spend the night at home. They are doing great. We take both of them to the pediatrician tomorrow.Reese weighs 5 lb 1.4 oz. Speech therapy saw her again today and suggested a suck swallow test be done at Cook's. We have to wait until tomorrow to see if the dr agrees with this.

Please pray for our finances. We are getting medical bills daily. Rylie's hospital only was $123,000. We are still waiting to find out if they will qualify for medicaid or not. Also Randall is not working much so we can go to Ft Worth on the weekends.

We survived night 2 with 2 babies. It was much better than the first. We went to Walmart & bought fast flow nipples. It only took us 20 minutes to have them changed, fed & back to bed. The night before with the slow flow nipples it took 1 1/2 hrs. That won't work with 3 babies!!! I guess Rylie is trying to catch up to his brothers weight. We have been going up on the amount of formula he takes about every other day. He is now up to 2 1/2 ounces. Ryan is taking 2 ounces. The boys grunt a lot. Now they have been grunting back & forth to each other. It is so cute. They even do it in their sleep. Shelley saw Reese yesterday and gave her a bottle. She did a fair job. She was more interested in sleeping.

Ryan is free!!!

Ryan was released from the hospital about 6:00 last night. Randall's sister & her husband came to pick up Racheal for the weekend so went out to eat to celebrate. We are pretty tired from getting up to feed 2 babies. But it is worth it. Shelley is on her way to the hospital to see Reese.

Speech therapy saw Reese yesterday and they suggested trying her on a slow flow nipple. They will try this at her 11 am feeding today. She was tube fed all night and they got her oxygen down to 21% which is room air.

We are going back to Ft Worth tomorrow to get Ryan.

Thanks to everyone that has been bringing food. We really appreciate it.

The nurse talked to the dr and he said Ryan could probably come home Friday. Reese is eating better, but they are having to turn her oxygen up pretty high. So the dr said to cut back on her feeds to to bottles a day to let her get stronger and hopefully in a couple of days they can go back up on her feeds and she won't need her oxygen turned up. He also wants speech therapy to come give her a bottle and see what they think.

I survived my first night by myself. Just a little tired.

Ryan passed!

Ryan passed his car seat test today. He also weighs 6 lbs now! Looks like maybe Thursday or Friday he will be coming home. Reese weighs 4 lbs 12.3 oz. She eating better everyday.
Rylie is doing great at home also. Tonight is Shelley's first night by herself with Rylie & Racheal.

Happy Birthday Racheal!!!!!

Yesterday was Racheal's 4th birthday. Happy Birthday!!! She had a great party. Her big surprise was that Cinderella came to her party. Racheal was totally surprised.

Rylie is doing great. He is such a good baby. We are a little sleep deprived, but doing ok. We traveled back to Ft Worth after the party yesterday so we could see Reese & Ryan.

Reese was taken off of her caffeine today & they increased her feedings to 40 ml. Today Reese weighed 4 pounds 8.5 ounces.

Ryan is also doing great. In our opinion he is ready to come home. The dr said the nurses are still reporting that he is having desat's when he eats. Shelley fed him twice today & his sat's never dropped below 97%. Today Ryan weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces. He also moved out of preemie diapers into newborn size. Hopefully sometime this week he will be coming home.

We have to go back home tomorrow. Racheal and Rylie both have pediatrician appointments tomorrow.

Rylie is at home!!!!

We got to room in with the boys last night. The picture below is the sign outside the door indicating were we were. The rooming in was something of a scramble. Shelley got a telephone call about 1:00 PM telling her that we could room in that night; Randall was still at the Breckenridge Hospital, where he was working in the ER the night that the tornado came through town; he drove home as fast as possible. Then, we frantically put our clothes in bags, and called people to take care of Racheal.


The room contained a full sized bed, and we spent the night in that bed, and took care of the boys all night long. Between diaper changes, feedings, and listening to them make noises all night, we did not get much sleep.The next picture is of Rylie. He is in his crib, and he is in the room with us.
The next two pictures are of Ryan. He is also in the room with us.

After Ryan's first feeding, Randall took a rest on the bed, and Ryan took a rest on Randall.

When we got in the van with Rylie, we left the hospital before anybody could change their minds, and decide that we had to take him back to NICU. We went to the Ronald McDonald House Parking lot and gave him his next scheduled feeding. The next picture below is Randall giving him a bottle.
The next two pictures are of Rylie in his car seat. He did very well on the ride home.

As soon as we got home, it was time for his next feeding. The picture below is his first feeding at home.
Racheal is very excited. She enjoys loving on Rylie and giving him kisses.

Racheal's birthday party is tomorrow. Rylie will be at the party. We will have hand sanitizer gel available for people, so that they can hold him. Please, if you are ill, or think that you may be ill, do not expose Rylie to your illness.

We are on our way to room-in with both boys tonight. Rylie will come home tomorrow. Ryan has to stay a few more days so hopefully this weekend he can come home.

Great news!!

Shelley talked to the nurse this morning and Rylie had his pulse ox (measures his oxygen saturation) discontinued. The nurse practitioner had written orders to room-in Saturday night, but finally approval had to come from his dr. The went down on Reese's oxygen. She is down to 1 liter now & the went up on her feedings from 35 ml to 38 ml. Ryan did great during the night without his oxygen. So maybe in another week he might be ready to come home.

Shelley had her 6 week check-up yesterday. The dr said she looked funny without a big belly on her. He said she was doing great. She is almost back down to pre-triplet weight!

All together again!

Last night Reese was moved into the room with her brothers!! Shelley, Racheal & Meema went to see the babies today. Reese is now getting a bottle 3 x a day. She weighs 4 lbs 4.3 oz. Rylie is doing better & not dropping his heart rate. Rylie also made it past 5 lbs today. He now weighs 5 lb 1.2 oz. Ryan had his feeding tube removed Monday & is now getting a bottle at every feeding. He now weighs 5 lb 7.4 oz. He also had his oxygen removed today. Saturday is Racheal's 4th birthday so we will go see the babies after the party.

Rylie has his picture made at the hospital. Here is the link to look at it:
http://our365.com/newbornportraits/babydetail.aspx?birthid=92b6ae4d-9c9c-4ffb-8661-f8ae0588da76&babyid=48328c61-9149-4762-ad22-a9d73140aed3

We are back home now. This morning Shelley fed Reese and she did much better with her bottle. She weighs 4 lb 2.4 oz. Rylie is continues to have desats occasionally when he is eating. It seems to be when he is sleepy. They did not think his weight was right and the nurse was going to weigh him again. Ryan weighs 5 lbs 3.5 oz. He is doing much better & has not been desating. The nurse said the dr might turn down the flow on his oxygen tomorrow. He is already down to 0.4 liters. We think he is ready to be taken off of it. Shelley goes to Ft Worth Wednesday for her 6 week check up & will go by to see the babies.

The whole family comes together

This first picture is of Reese. As you can see she has been moved to an open crib. She is still getting bottle feedings twice a day. Shelley got to give her a bottle this morning. She sucks well, but she lets a great deal of the milk run out of her mouth and down her chin. She improves as she gets almost done, but by then there is little milk left. She now weighs just a bit more than 4 pounds.Randall got to hold both Rylie and Ryan today.
Rylie is in Randall's right arm, and Ryan is in Randall's left arm.
We got the nurse to take a picture so that Shelley could be included.


Thank you to Uncle Steve and Aunt Karen for letting Racheal stay with them this weekend. Steve and Karen brought Racheal back to the hospital today, so that she could see the babies again. Several of the nurses worked to get us together so that we could take some family pictures. Special thanks to Nurse Rachel, Nurse Carrie, and Nurse Debbie.

In these next three pictures, Racheal is sitting in Randall's lap; Racheal is holding Rylie; Ryan is in Randall's left arm; and Reese is in the middle.


Thanks again to Nurse Carrie for taking control of the camera so that Shelley could get into the picture. This next picture is our first family portrait.
Next we wanted some pictures with just the babies, so we put them under a warmer and laid them on a blanket.
Reese fussed most of the time that we were doing this.
Ryan slept through everthing.
Next we got some pictures of Racheal with the triplets.



Ryan and Rylie continue to improve.

Rylie still has not had a bowel movement, and every time he strains to try have a bowel movement, he drops his oxygen saturation. The dropping of his oxygen saturation prevents him from being able to go home at this time.

Ryan now weighs more than 5 pounds. He takes the bottle well. He still has drops in his blood oxygen saturation when he gets fed; but this is slowly improving.

We go back to Comanche tomorrow.

April 5, 2008

Randall got to give Reese a bath today. Shelley got to give Reese a bottle today.

This first picture is Reese just before she was to get her bath.This next picture is Randall removing the EKG leads.
Reese has had her top half of her body washed; now it is time to remove the diaper and wash the bottom half.
After her bath, it is time to dry off.
After her bath, Randall got to hold her for a while.
This is Rylie in one of the outfits that Shelley brought up to the hospital.
Shelley got to nurse Ryan and Rylie at the same time. They seem to have done quite well with nursing. Afterwards, she held them both on a pillow.

These next three pictures are out of order. The last picture should be first and the first picture should be last. The boys were placed apart from each other; but then they would squirm around and that moved them closer to each other.


These next four pictures show the same thing. They start out separated, but they wiggle until they are up against each other.




Randall got a turn holding both of the boys.
Ryan and Rylie continue to do well. Ryan still has some episodes where he drops his blood oxygen saturation when he is being fed, but this seems to be slowly improving.

Rylie had quite a few episodes of low heart rate and low blood oxygen saturation today. Shelley and I think that is was because he was straining trying to have a bowel movement. He has not had a bowel movement since Thursday.

Racheal finally gets to see the babies

Racheal finally gets to see the babies. She was very excited.

Rylie continues to do well. He is getting bottle feeds all the time, and is no longer getting any tube feedings. Rylie weighs 4 pounds and 10.3 ounces.

The next two pictures are of Aunt Karen giving Rylie his bottle, and Racheal is watching.

This is Rylie with a bib that Shelley put on him.
Ryan is improving. He is taking all of his bottle when he is bottle fed. He took a whole bottle this morning and did not have any fall in his blood oxygen saturation. Shelley got to nurse Ryan today, and then gave him a bottle, as well.

This next picture is Randall taking Ryan's temperature, as Racheal watches.
In this next picture, Randall is holding Ryan, and Racheal is sitting in Randall's lap.
In the next picture, Racheal is stroking the top of Ryan's head.
This is Ryan in his crib.

This is Ryan with a bib that Shelley has put on him.
Reese continues to improve. She now weighs 3 pounds and 13.9 ounces.

The next picture is Shelley and Racheal checking in on Reese.
In these last few pictures, Racheal is sitting in Randall's lap, and Racheal is holding Reese (with Randall's assistance).