Still Gaining (3 months)

Once a month the triplets get a shot to help fight off RSV, called Synagis. It is similar to a flu shot in that it helps prevent RSV - it is not an immunization/vaccine shot. Today was their lucky day! Because I could never do it alone, my amazing friend Meagon helped me (thank you!). The nurse had to weigh each baby in order to get the right dosage. Their new weights are:

Ellery - 7 pounds 10 ounces
Gianna - 7 pounds 12 1/2 ounces
Easton - 7 pounds 1/2 ounce

I am just happy all three are over seven pounds. I had to take Ellery in last week because I suspected that she had thrush (basically a yeast infection in her mouth - I know it sounds gross, but it isn't unusual). She was there exactly a week ago and weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces - giving her a gain of eleven ounces in a week. She did have thrush, and today they confirmed that Easton and Gianna also have it. I wasn't surprised! Easton is slowly getting the hang of eating, and will catch up to his big (in more ways than one) sisters.

The week has gone well. I have had visitors most days. It is doable on my own - not nearly as easy, but doable! Thanks to everyone who has called/emailed to check in on me! Tomorrow is Friday - yeah!

What Would We Do Without Her?!?!

There is never a lack of laughs at our house – mainly due to Quin. I’m not quite sure where she came from, but boy does she keep us entertained! A few nights ago we were putting the babies’ pajamas on after baths and she wandered into her bedroom. In less then a minute she came strolling nonchalantly back in with this ensemble.

Jason and I couldn’t contain ourselves. Big girl Elmo (Melmo to her) undies perfectly centered on her head, and her red ladybug rainboots over her zip up yellow pajamas. I see a future in fashion for her (or complete ridicule over her fashion sense).

She was also in rare form yesterday. On two separate occasions she tried to get Jason’s attention by calling him ‘Jason’. What two year old calls their parent by his/her first name?!?! For dinner last night we had tomato soup and paninis. Her bowl has a suction bottom so that it stays in place. Well… she decided she wanted to drink her soup (like her cereal) and proceeded to pull up on the bowl. The suction held out for a few moments as the soup sloshed back and forth, but before I could reach her the suction came loose throwing tomato soup all down the front of Quin, as well as the hutch behind her. It was classic! Soup was dripping from her eye lashes and end of her nose. She used the back of her hand to wipe it away as she stared ahead, in shock. Lack of sleep has gotten to me because I couldn’t even pretend to be upset. I laughed so hard I cried! Bath night came a night earlier (and Quin hates baths, so it was a consequence in and of itself). She is only one. In my wildest dreams, I can’t imagine what we are in for when it is times three! :)

Thank You Mom!

I have been lucky enough to have had my mom helping me for the past four weeks – yes, four weeks. The four weeks included her spring break and then she was able to use some of her sick days. It has been a blessing to have her here. She would come just before the 9:30am feeding, and stayed until the 4:00pm feeding. Not only did she help me with the feedings, but with dishes, laundry, doctor appointments (one week we had seven appts!), shopping… It was wonderful! I was able to leave the house by myself, knowing that the babies were well taken of. I also did some meal prep and froze a few dinners, and organized a closet or two. It is amazing to me how fast the four weeks went!

Not only am I thankful for the help that she gave me, but it was so neat to see her bonding with the babies. The time that the five of us spent together is priceless and will live forever in my memories. Nothing can replace the bond between grandmother/mother/children. My sister is expecting a baby late this summer, and I can’t wait to watch the three of them together also!

I am on my own on Monday – which is both scary and exciting, all in the same breathe. I know I will be fine, but I am sure I will wish for her extra pair of loving hands many times throughout the day! Thank you mom!

Newborn and 2 Year Pictures

The first four pictures were added after the original post - scroll past them for the original.
The first four pictures were used for each babies picture on the right side of the blog. I love each one, so I didn't want to lose them when I updated the pictures.
Gianna
Ellery

Easton

Quin

Soon after the babies turned 9 weeks we had their newborn pictures taken. We also considered them Quin's second birthday pictures - nothing like killing four birds with one stone! :) Quin was not into having her picture taken, so we have just a few of the six of us. I was hoping to get a really good one with the four kids, but it didn't go as planned. Oh well - I think this will be the case with pictures for awhile.

We had Chad, of Chad Bosma Photography, take our pictures. He has taken our pictures the last two years for our Christmas cards also. He does a great job!!! The best thing is the price - he charges $200 for the session, which includes a photo CD signed over to you at the end. He doesn't mess around with ordering pictures, which I love. He took close to 1000 pictures of us, and the disc had close to 300 digitally enhanced pictures that I can use any way that I want. All of the new pics on the blog were taken by him. Below are just a few of the pictures that he took. If you want to check him out, his website is www.chadbosma.com

Ellery says, "get me out of here"!

Nothing like a little bribery :)

Lovin' the Sun

The weather this past Saturday was gorgeous!!! Quin lives to be outside, and was in heaven. She spent every available minute outside. We went on two walks, Quin helped Jason organize the garage and fix a sprinkler head. I think she found every toy in the shed too. We decided to put the babies in a pack-n-play on the patio while we ate dinner. They loved looking up at the sky and stared at the leaves on the trees. They did so well, we were able to hang out in the backyard and play with Quin. Every few minutes she would go back and check on them – letting us know with a scream that they were okay.
Let the sun shine!!!!
Easton, Gianna, Ellery

Earlier in the day I caught Easton giving Gianna a little hug! I am sure I will have to pull this picture out in a few years to remind them that they really do love each other :)

New Weights & Heights

Today we made a trip to the pediatrician for our two week weight and height recheck. All three of the babies are growing well! Easton is now lagging behind, weighing much less than the girls. According to the doctor he is still meeting expectations, and the doctor isn’t worried – must be that whimpy white boy thing again :) He continues to have to work much harder during feedings, which burns more calories. Hopefully as his feeding difficulties mature, his weight will bump right up. It still amazes me that all three have doubled their birth weight. All three are doing so well that the doctor doesn’t need to see them until their four month check-up. That is six weeks from now! Here are their current height and weight.

Ellery – 19 inches long (increase of 3/4 inch), 6 pounds 8.5 ounces (up 1 pound 5.5 oz)
Gianna – 18 ½ inches long (same), 6 pounds 9.5 ounces (up 1 pound 2.5 oz)
Easton – 18 ¼ inches long (same), 6 pounds 3 ounces (up 14.5 oz)

Look Mom, No Cords

Ding, dong, the monitor is dead!!! Or, at least, no longer hooked up to Gianna.

Last Friday we found out that Gianna has progressed enough with her apnea, that she no longer needs her tether - I mean her monitor! If I could have reached through the phone to give the nurse a kiss, I would have. As much I was thankful that only one of the triplets came home on a monitor, and it was a nice safety feature - I couldn't be happier to get rid of it! It was difficult because any time I wanted to move Gianna, I couldn't just pick her up and move her. I had to make sure all of the leads were connected well and then carry the actual monitor with her where ever we were going. I can't wait to drop it off.

We also had another eye appointment today. The triplets have had their eyes checked every two weeks since their birth. The doctor has been looking for eye diseases, especially Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). ROP occurs in babies born too early. When babies are born early the normal growth of the retina (the back of the eye) and the blood vessels may stop, and blood vessels that are not normal may start to grow. The doctor is looking for normal growth each visit. The visits themselves are long, and somewhat troubling. They have to have their eyes dilated - including at least four drops in each eye over a 45 minute, or so, time period. The doctor then takes a special magnifying glass to look at their retina. It is somewhat painful to watch and the babies hate it! I am so happy to say that today was their last visit!!! All three have reached maturity in their eyes, and are no longer at risk for ROP. We do need to go to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist in six months to have their eyes tested for any vision difficulties.

Another prayer is answered! Amazing!

Easter

We spent Saturday celebrating Easter with my family, so we just hung out at home on Sunday. Unfortunately, the babies are still unable to go to crowded places because of the germ factor so we were unable to go to church. It made for a strange day, but we enjoyed spending time with just the six of us.

Quin is still a little young for decorating eggs, but we thought it would be fun to try. Jason and I try to spend quality time with just the three of us, so that she doesn't feel like we have completely deserted her! I think she had fun, although I don't think she understood why we were decorating eggs and then looking for them (not that I really do either).

Quin loves sparkles and glitter, so I bought an egg decorating kit that was supposed to make our eggs 'sparkle'. When I bought the kit I didn't realize that it included paint, instead of your typical dye. It had paint, with glitter mixed right in. In the end, it worked out for the best. I am sure she would have wanted to help dip the eggs and we would have ended up with a tie-dyed counter! She was in heaven. When she concentrates really hard, she sticks her tongue out. I love it :)

She had a ton of fun finding the hidden eggs, and was actually very good at it. The Easter Bunny will have to give her more of a challenge next year.

Here is Ms. Grumpy Pants! She was just a little upset that there weren't more eggs to find. It was all better when she realized that she could peel the eggs herself and eat the inside.
I also thought it would be adorable to get a picture of the four kids with some Easter headgear. Didn't quite work the way I had envisioned. This is the best pic of the three babes - tells you a lot right there. Quin has an adorable flower headband, but she wouldn't keep it on long enough for me to get a picture of her wearing it, let alone lay next to the babies with it on. Oh well... we will try again next year :) I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.

Happy Due Date

Today, April 9 was the original due date for the triplets. I can’t believe that they are ten weeks old already! They are progressing so well. I could sit and watch them for hours. They are starting to act more like newborns. Each of them is awake for longer amounts of time, taking time to study their hands, windows, walls, the closest face… They are also starting to get fussy at night – gotta love that whole witching hour thing :{ Yesterday I got out Quin’s tummy time mat. They were mesmerized by the arches and bright colors. Each day with these three miracles is truly a blessing!!!
Gianna is near the bottom of the picture, Ellery is in the middle and Easton is closest to the top of the picture.

Also, many of you have asked about feedings :) So far I have been able to pump enough milk to keep up with all three of them. This has saved us a ton of money! I also have a deep freezer full of frozen milk that I accumulated at the beginning when they weren’t eating much. The babies are starting to inch towards the point of drinking more than I can produce, so every few days I have to thaw a couple of bottles from the freezer. They are eating about two and a half ounces during each feeding. I absolutely hate pumping, but overall I have been so happy that I could provide this nutrition for them! When they were in the hospital I felt like it was the only ‘motherly’ thing that I could do for them. Eventually they will be on a formula that is specifically for preemies.

They now eat seven times a day (opposed to eight). We can go about three and half hours between feedings. I am hoping to stretch them to six feedings every four hours, but I need to make sure they are all ready to do that. Easton is such a pokey eater and still doesn’t drink all of his milk sometimes. Once he gets on board, we will make the change.

The other night the babies were rarin’ to eat, but Jason was busy (helping me load pictures). In order to speed the feeding process along, I decided to feed all three of them at once – it really can be done! Jason just laughed when he came over to help! I am going to be bummed if I don’t have ripped arms in the next few months from carrying and holding all three of these babies.

Cousins

This past weekend Jason's family came to visit us. Quin loved having her cousins (and Grandma, aunts and uncles) here. It was fun to see all six of the Sizemore kids together. Poor Easton, out numbered by those girls yet again!

Dr. Appointments

Yesterday we had a weight recheck for the triplets. They are all doing very well! We will go back in another two weeks to measure growth again.

Ellery – 18 ¼ inches long, 5 pounds 3 ounces
Gianna – 18 ½ inches long, 5 pounds 7 ounces
Easton – 18 ¼ inches long, 5 pounds 4.5 ounces

While there, the doctor noticed that Easton had a heart murmur. He is still having some difficulty eating – he is a pokey eater due mainly to a poor seal around the bottle nipple. This, coupled with the murmur gave her some reason to be concerned. She was able to get us in today to see a pediatric heart specialist at DeVos. They did an EKG and an ultrasound on his heart. We are thankful to report that he has an ‘innocent’ heart murmur. The cardiologist explained that it is the type of murmur that is not guilty of anything, hence being innocent. If you are to have a murmur, the innocent one is the kind to have. More likely than not the doctor thinks he will outgrow the murmur. Even if he does not, it should be nothing to be concerned about – thank goodness!!!