Coming right along...

Today's visit with the girls was awesome! Leigha, Kaitlyn, and Taylor got to meet Auntie Jenn, Amy, and Stacy today! I get tickled with peoples reaction to the girls size. Pictures are so deceiving sometimes!
Leigha and Kaitlyn were tuckered out and wouldn't wake up for us. Leigha was sleeping while holding her binkie (Pacifier)! She loves that thing!!!! Kaitlyn was asleep and SNORING! It was SO cute! Just like her daddy! LOL
Taylor, on the other hand, was all too happy to have mommy to herself! I changed her diaper, fed her and held her for over an hour! It was SO nice to be able to spend that time with her! She is up to 10ml of formula and doing really well. They also have lowered her oxygen level to see how she handles that. Changing her diaper gives me a bit of anxiety because they have all the IV's and lead wires connected to her and running all over the place and I don't want to pull them or hurt her. I am sure I will get better at it - but for right now - it makes me very nervous! First time mommy jitters I am sure!
Leigha is eating 5ml and Kaitlyn is eating 2ml. Their oxygen is still at the same level it was previously since they seem to have more drops in their heart rates and oxygen levels than Taylor has.
Tomorrow we are taking grandma B and grandpa Dutch to see the girls - watch for more updates!

Happy 1 Week Birthday Baby Girls!

Gosh! It is SO hard to believe that our girls have been here a week already! They are still doing wonderful!

I got to hold Kaitlyn for the first time yesterday and it was complete heaven! She was sucking on her thumb and making all these little smooching noises and raising her eyebrows at me. She was making me laugh! Then my sister came in and we were oooing and ahhhing over her and we accidentally over-stimulated her. She started crying (which was THE cutest sound! Although we'll see how long that sentiment lasts LOL) so I had to put her back in her issolette earlier than I wanted. Guess it's good to expose them early to the loudness that is our big fat Italian family!

I also got to change Leigha's diaper and check her temperature which she DOES NOT like at all! She is too funny - she cries and throws a fit when they check her temp, but she just lays there when they poke her foot to take blood. Silly little girl!

Taylor was already changed when we got there yesterday, so I could only touch her through the access holes and rub her back. She LOVES that! She'll arch her body so that you can get her entire back! LOL Just like mommy!

First pictures of the Triplets!

~Taylor with Daddy's Wedding band on her foot~


~Taylor catching up on her beauty sleep~


~Mommy holding Leigha~


~Mommy rubbing Kaitlyn's little head~


~Kaitlyn looking for Auntie Shelly~

Welcome to the world Taylor, Leigha and Kaitlyn!!!

Chris, Cassie and I are proud to announce the arrival of our triplets – Taylor, Leigha and Kaitlyn!!!!

They were born via emergency c-section on January 23, 2009 at 29 weeks.

Taylor Loren was born at 12:58 and weighed 2lbs 4oz. and was 14 ¼” long.

Leigha Raelyn was born at 1:00 and weighed 2lbs 6oz. and was 13 ¾” long.

Kaitlyn LeeAnn was born at 1:00 and weighed 2lbs 10oz. and was 14 ¾” long.

The day started out just as the last 2 months of days had begun. A typical day would go something like this:

• The nurses would wake me up at 6am to check my blood glucose level and I would usually fall back asleep for another couple hours.
• Between 8am and 9am, I would receive my medicine and order breakfast.
• My blood glucose level would be checked 2 hours after I ate to make sure my gestational diabetes was under control.
• Around 10am I would go onto the monitor for an hour that would monitor the heart rates of Kaitlyn and Leigha since they were concerned about them being in the same sac. Once they were monitored, I would be on the machine for another hour to monitor Taylor.
• Around noon I would order lunch and try to get cleaned up in the small amount of time that I had to myself.
• Around 2 my blood glucose would be re-checked.
• I would go back on the monitor around 4pm
• After monitoring I would eat dinner and 2 hours later, the nurses would re-check my blood glucose levels.
• I would have one last round of monitoring around 8pm or 9pm and then I would finally be left alone at this point.

I woke up on Friday and wasn’t feeling good but that had become pretty typical the last 2 weeks because Kaitlyn was staying really high and was under my ribs and making it difficult to breathe. This day, the nurses were having trouble keeping Kaitlyn on the monitor, so I was on it for an extended period of time. The nurse practitioner, Mary Beth, came in to check on me and I told her that I wasn’t feeling well. She wanted to check my cervix to make sure that it was still closed. As she was giving me the exam she goes ‘Holy Crap!’ (Note: it is NEVER a good thing when your nurse says that in front of you! LOL) I looked at her and asked what was wrong and she said “You’re dilated 5cm!” I said “Ok………” and she goes “Let’s have some babies today!!!” All I said was “Ok! I have to call Chris!!!”

It was about 12:10pm at this time and I had called Chris’s office and he didn’t answer. I had about 6 nurses in the room with me at this time putting in IV’s, prepping me for surgery, putting me into the gown, and all of the other stuff that comes along with going into surgery. After about 5 minutes without Chris calling me back, I called the 24 hour line in his office area and asked them to find Chris. He said he would find him as soon as he could and have Chris call me. I decided to call everyone else while I was waiting for Chris to call back. Everyone I tried to call wasn’t answering and then my mind went completely blank and I couldn’t remember my dad’s cell phone number or my mother in laws work number to save my life. My mom didn’t answer her home phone or her cell and my sister didn’t answer her home phone but I was finally able to reach her on her cell and I asked her if she was ready to be an aunt because we were going to have the babies today! She didn’t believe me at first because I had spoken to her that morning and everything was tame at that time! LOL

I asked her to try to find mom and dad and to call my mother in law. She was able to find everyone else while I waited to hear back from Chris. After another 5 minutes, my anxiety was racing out of control so I called James (the one person I KNEW who could find Chris at work LOL) and told him what was going on. He goes “Are you in the delivery room?!!” LOL I said no but that I was heading to the operating room and I needed him to find Chris as soon as possible. He headed out to find Chris and a couple minutes later Chris called me back. I told him what was going on and he left immediately to meet me at the hospital. All of this happened in about 15 minutes -I was wheeled out of my room at 12:25pm and Taylor was born at 12:58pm. That gives you an idea of how fast everything went. They were scared that I would give birth to Taylor on the bed since they were so small, so that’s why they moved so fast. Chris got to the hospital just they were wheeling the girls up to the NICU so he was able to see them right after they were born and also watch the nurses and doctors check out the girls.

All three girls were on ventilators for 12 hours before they were removed and placed on the CPAP machines to help with their breathing. 5 days later they were removed from the CPAP machines and only have oxygen through their noses. They are being fed intravenously but the nurses are slowly adding formula to their diets and all girls are up to 2ml right now and keeping it down. They amaze us every day at how well they are doing and how strong and smart they are. They are already reacting to our voices and have very distinct personalities. Taylor is our little clown and wants to show how well she can do on things and is never to be outdone by her sisters! Leigha is our little superstar and is always posing and being dramatic. Kaitlyn very much has a mind of her own and does what she wants to do when she wants to do it (as she did in mommy’s tummy too!)

So far I have been able to hold all three girls for a small amount of time and I have changed Leigha and Taylor’s diapers. They are SO small! The diapers are smaller than my hand!

I cannot believe how 100% in love we are with them and how immediately you feel protective and completely inadequate all at the same time. What a roller coaster of feelings for sure! We have been blessed with these beautiful little miracles and are so proud of them and humbled by them. They are amazing little girls at a week old and we can’t wait to see them grow and develop and become the best they can be.

Welcome to the world our angels! We love you and have wanted you for so long! You were loved before you were even conceived.