2 Weeks Old

Guess Who

Wow...I haven't posted in awhile, as I'm sure you can guess we are quite busy at this household! I will mainly post some pics to get caught up quickly. I took these pictures to see how similar the babies are. Can you guess who each one is?

Correct Answers from top to bottom: Lillian, Addison, Griffin

Sidenote: These were taken the beginning of July. At this time, Addy and Griffin looked very similar, but since then, it seems that Addy and Lilly look almost identical.

Happy 4th of July!

How did we celebrate Independence Day this year? Well, babies woke up, they ate, the messed their diapers and got changed, took a nap, and then repeated the process 7 more times that day :) Needless to say, we did not go anywhere :( We had asked the doctor how soon we could really "go places," and she recommended not taking the babies in any kind of crowded place for a couple of months, especially since we have people coming in and out of the house to visit the babies. We were fortunate enough to be able to see some of the surrounding town's fireworks from our house, so Al and I made the long trip to our front porch with the babies and watched them from there. I do have to say that I am starting to get cabin fever pretty bad. I don't think I would have so soon, except that I have not really been doing too much outside since about April, when I stopped working. I am really looking forward to being able to take the babies out a little more than now. Al and I are thinking about making a one-night visit to my parents, who live about an hour and half away this weekend. Hopefully that works, so I can at least get out of my house for a little while!

Here are my cute firecrackers in adorable outfits from Katy and Justin:

Not sure if all babies are like this, but all three seem to have their hands by their face all the time!

Sisterly love:

Yes, Lilly still has her hospital band on because I am really paranoid that we will mix the girls up! I feel like I definitely know them apart, but since others still get them confused, it makes me question it...and I want something that is for sure. It would be much easier if one of them had a birthmark or something distinguishing, but I have not found anything permanent like that. They seem to continuously change each day, and are starting to look more and more alike with each passing day! I guess I may have to get the polish out and paint a toe on each girl...

Babies' First Doctor Appointment

After talking with many others, we have decided to take the babies to Perrysburg Pediatrics. Everyone had such great things to say about them. We were originally going to take them to Dr. Carmen, but after having Dr. Kennedy see them every day while in the hospital, we have decided to continue seeing her, and we just leave her. Their first appointment was on Friday, which was also the first time leaving the house. I had packed the diaper bag prior to the excursion and we planned our feeding times around the visit. It actually went much better than anticipated and we were at the doctor's ON TIME!!! (insert cheering here!)

The babies had all of their measurements taken and Dr Kennedy checked them over. All of the babies are doing very well, and their PKU's all came back normal. The only concern there was was that the babies were not quite up to birth weight yet. While this is something we need to watch, I do not think it is unusual since they were only 9 days old, and are eating only breast milk. We do have an appointment scheduled for July 13th, which is just a weight check to make sure they are gaining weight. The following are the babies' measurements:

Lilly:
Birth Weight - 5 lbs. 12 oz.
9 days old - 5 lbs. 3 oz.
Length - 19 1/4 "
Head Circumference - 12 1/2"

Addy:
Birth Weight - 4 lbs. 13 oz.
9 days old - 4 lbs. 9 oz.
Length - 17 1/2 "
Head Circumference - 12 1/8"

Griffin:
Birth Weight - 4 lbs. 14 oz.
9 days old - 4 lbs. 13 oz.
Length - 18 1/2 "
Head Circumference - 12 1/4"

Overall, the babies' were not even on the charts for the percentile in which they fall, since they are so young. This is not a problem, we just need to watch how they grow.

Happy 3rd Anniversary To Us!

Last Wednesday, June 30th, exactly one week after the babies were born, Al and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift than three babies on our third anniversary! Because we knew the c-section was scheduled for the 23rd, we went out to eat the night before, last Tuesday. We truly enjoyed the meal, knowing that it was the last time it would just be the two of us in our family.

Throughout the pregnancy, I knew that Al would be a great dad, but I did not realize how great he would be. He has completely blown me away with his help, love, and affection toward our three beautiful children. He has gotten up with me at every night feeding and has changed probably three times the diapers I have. When I think about the changes I have seen in him, it brings tears of happiness and joy to my eyes and just reaffirms the commitment we made to each other three years ago. While I know everyone says the kids come in between many marriages, and I know we are very new parents, I feel that it has brought us even closer together. I know that I could not do this without him. I look forward to spending our lives together, enjoying and cherishing our family together. I love you always and forever Al!!

Bath Time

Ok, so not that exciting since it is just a sponge bath, but still cute, fun, and memorable! This is probably the only time when each baby has a matching washcloth and towel :) And just for the record, the first bath was given days ago and they have had a couple since then, it is just the first chance I have had to post it on here! Also, I realize I still have quite a tummy on me, but give me a little break :) I was reminded that I still look pregnant when I was leaving the hospital and a guy asked me if I was about done cooking. I replied that I just delivered three babies, how many more should I have? His response, "Triplets! Well, I guess you are just going to have to work that off then!" Seriously!! I've just been through the most extreme changes my body will ever experience and that is the comment I get. Unbelievable!!

After the bath, they were dressed and laying on the changing pad, when I caught the two girls checking each other out. I am pretty sure the dialouge is something like, "So you were the one that was always kicking me when we were in mommy's tummy!"

One Week Old!

Wow! The first week flew by! Here are the babies 1 week old pictures! I know...they are the cutest :)

Lillian Jean

Addison Marie

Griffin Michael

Feeding

Well, this has been the largest struggle of them all! I am a firm believer in breast-feeding, but this experience is definitely challenging me. There is so much value in breast-feeding that I do not want to lose out on, but trying to keep up with three babies is taking a toll on me. In the hospital, I really struggled with a few of the nurses being on the un-supportive side, and ended up doing a lot of pumping. While this did increase my supply, it did not really help me learn to feed with each baby enough. Fortunately, I have met a great lactation consultant who came to my house and helped me the other afternoon. My goal is to get the babies to breast at least twice a day for right now. I have successful done this with Lilly and with Griffin, but have not even tried Addy. After learning many things from the nurse, I can tell that Addy is not quite ready yet. She is very stubborn and tends to chew on the nipple of her bottles...not something I am willing to risk right now yet. We are trying to do many things to improve this with her, such as using a slow-flow nipple to help her work harder for her food, and using digital therapy with pacifier and finger. Being preemies, sucking is something that is a little more challenging for them to learn as opposed to a full-term baby.

Currently, by pumping, I am producing enough milk for the babies, and hope that continues, although I know that may not be possible. The three hour feeding schedule of 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00 definitely takes patience, but we are making it work. It is a little frustrating that when people come over, I do not really want others feeding the babies bottles because Al and I are working so hard with them to make sure they are doing it correctly so I can soon put them to breast. I apologize in advance and do not want to offend anyone, but this is something that is really important for the babies. In my opinion, it is my job as their mother to provide the best nutrition for them. While saying that, if anyone wants to come over and change diapers, be my guest :)

Coming Home

Amazingly enough, we were very blessed that our babies were "take-home" babies. All four of us were released from the hospital on Sunday, only a four-day visit (we could have left on Sat., but chose to stay the extra day). The babies all looked adorable leaving the hospital, but we quickly found out that the car seats we have do not work the best for the size of baby we have right now. The babies did pass their car seat tests, but in our new mini-van, the back bench seems to tilt down at a large angle, making the car seats tip. This in turn seems to make the babies' heads fall forward enough of an angle that I am uncomfortable with, so I ended up turning around for almost the whole ride, making sure the two girls in the back were ok. Al is trying to fix the problem before the first doctor's appointment on Friday.

Family Visits

Unfortunately, my body does not react the best to the percocet they gave me for the pain, so I was quite drowsy while at the hospital. Due to this, I don't think I even took a single picture, so I am hoping some others did and can share :(

Here is Grandma Judy visiting Griffin, but I don't seem to have a picture of Grandpa Wes.

This is Grandma Carolyn visiting one of the girls, but again, no picture of Grandpa Gary (these grandparents are all going to have to figure out how they want to be referred by!!)

This picture is priceless! This is my Grandma Duling holding all three babies. She was proud as a peacock, and rightly so. At the young age of 91 1/2, these great-grandbabies of hers make numbers 37, 38, and 39!! She loved every minute of holding the babies, at it was neat seeing her rock one of my babies, and hearing her sing the same songs she sang to us.The next picture is of my Aunt Ruthie holding a baby, with her three kids, Jacob, Cody, and Nicole all watching and learning the right way to hold such a small precious package.

Thank you to all that visited, and those waiting to visit. Hopefully some others have a few more pictures to share (especially aunts and uncles!)

Happy Birthday Babies!

At the last doctor's appointment I had, Dr. Kanios threw me for a huge surprise. After receiving the measurements and development of the babies from MFM and talking to the specialist, Dr. Hnat, they decided to move the scheduled C-section up from June 29 to June 23. I was very excited about this, but because it was not scheduled to happen until 3 in the afternoon, we decided not to tell everyone since we did not want visitors other than our parents there that first night since I knew it would be an exhausting day for our new family. Here's a picture of me leaving for the hospital, not knowing when or how many of us would be coming home: We got to the hospital and got checked in, surprisingly both of us pretty calm. They had to due quite a lot of prep stuff, give me two IV fluid bags, some blood work, and more questions/paperwork. We did find out that we were very fortunate that I delivered Wed. because my platelet level was 103,000. Apparently, if it is below 100,000, they would have to have me under a general anesthetic for the surgery, which it probably would have been that low had we waited until Friday.

Once the surgery was started, it went VERY quickly. I was most nervous about getting the spinal for some reason, but it was really nothing at all. By the time I got done saying two Hail Marys, my body was already starting to tickle. Not being able to move your body is such a scary feeling, but I was quickly distracted by all of the people in the delivery room. Al made the comment that the delivery room was kind of like "Scrubs." There were a lot of people, but everyone was very nice and joking around with our sarcastic humor, although Dr. Kanios did refuse to remove a couple extra inches of skin from my tummy, per my request :( In the delivery room, I believe there was a team of three people for each baby, two doctors for me, two anethesiologist for me (I think one was a resident), at least two nurses for me, a neonatalogist, some other residents, and I'm sure I missed some others. We had quite the crew! There was a sheet up so Al and I could not see exactly what they were doing, but we were asked if we wanted to see the babies born with a mirror. I wasn't sure about this, but after talking with the doctors, thought it would be amazing to see. When the babies were ready to be pulled out, they positioned a mirror that Al and I could look into and watch the babies actually be born. It was such an overwhelming and emotional experience! I am so glad we decided to watch...it was priceless! In multiple births, the doctors try to pull the babies out in order, baby A, B, then C; however, Dr. Kanios made the comment that she thought pulled out the wrong bottom, and sure enough, they were born A, C, then B (order then being Lillian, Addison, then Griffin). The babies were then quickly rushed by their teams and all we heard in the delivery room was the LOUD cries of three beautiful babies. Such a beautiful sound that we had been waiting for for many months.

Lillian Jean - Devired from the flower, Lily. Symbol of innocence, purity and beauty. Her middle name is my mother's middle name. 5 lbs. 12 oz. - 19 inches longAddison Marie - Meaning, son of Adam. We really liked this name and I think from the show,
"Private Practice," always reminds me of an independent, brilliant, almost defiant woman. From inside the womb, to outside, Addy has lived up to her name perfectly! 4 lbs. 13 oz. - 18 in. long

Griffin Michael -Derived from "Griffith," meaning prince. This has definitely fit him as he is as handsome as a prince and seems so mature and alert already. 4 lbs. 14 oz. - 18 inches long. This picture is of him in the NICU, where he spent 2 days, because he had a little fluid in his lungs and he was spitting up his food.

The VERY proud dad and new family:

I don't think there is anything comparable to the overwhelming experience of the miracle of life. The birth of our babies was a day Al and I will never forget.