"Two-Old"

We celebrated Lincoln’s second birthday.  Because of the fragile nature the triplets are still in and the high risk for diseases like RSV, we didn’t have a large birthday party.  Thankfully, he is forgiving and was glad just to have a birthday cake and presents.  His birthday dinner was unknowingly brought in by wonderful relief society members and he really enjoyed his meal.  Kimber quickly devoured her dinner so she could get a head start on feeding the triplets in order for Lincoln to have just a few minutes of birthday time.  When asked how old he is, Lincoln replies “two-old” which of course means, “two-years-old.”  And of course, through the rest of the evening, Lincoln’s sweet and melodic singing voice said, “happy birthday you...happy birthday you...happy birthday you...”

30 fingers 30 toes

It has been almost a month since our last post and what many changes have occurred.  (Sorry to not have posted earlier)  Let’s rewind a bit.  They all progressed well in the NICU and we were able to hold them, feed them and just be with them more and more as time permitted.  It was difficult to have Jared go to work, Kimber stay home and watch Katelyn and Lincoln, but also to go down every day to deliever milk to the triplets and hold them.  We were logging at least 100 miles every day between going to work, running errands and simply going to the hospital, a 60 mile round trip by itself.  Our days were packed with things that needed to be done and we were just hoping to one day, take the triplets home.  On February 2nd, we were told to bring in a car seat for Preston in order for him to have the car seat challenge.  An infant needs to be placed in the car seat and remain there for 2 hours without dropping saturations, heart rate, or look extremely uncomfortable with the quality and rate of respirations in order for them to pass the car seat challenge.  We were glad that Preston was progressing to this stage.  On February 3rd, Preston was placed in the car seat only to fail a half an hour after being placed in the seat.  Although the failure was unfortunate, it was actually really good for the rest of the family to prepare for an infant to finally come home.  We knew that the triplets wouldn’t stay in the NICU forever and they would eventually come home, however, after 2 plus weeks in the NICU, you kinda loose a bit of that sight.  

Kimber and I closed on a house the day she was discharged from the hospital.  (January 24th)  We thought that we would just slowly move over to our new home, just a few blocks away from our apartment.  Over the next couple of months, we would eventually be in our new home.  However, with the thought of Preston coming home with the girls to soon follow, we thought, perhaps we wouldn’t have time to just slowly pack and move over.  How could we pack and take care of triplets as well as Katelyn and Lincoln?  We went from running to sprinting as we madly started to pack boxes and move items to our new home.  We relied heavily on family to help move over our possessions and we really appreciate the help.  On Tuesday, February 7th, we had the elder’s quorm and my brother Russell come over to help move the final essential items.  We slept our first night in our new house that evening!  

On February 8th, we prepared for Kinsley to come home!  Kimber and I completed our CPR class and we were set for our triplets to come home, either all at once or one at a time.  It was wonderful!  We picked up Kinsley in the late afternoon and had a nice rest of the day with her.  Kinsley still needed to be fed every 3 hours around the clock.  That night prepared us for the events that would soon follow.  Preston and Kira were expected to be discharged from the hospital February 9th.  

With Kinsley in the back of the car, we traveled to the hospital hopefully one final time to pick up Kira and Preston.  All three of them would be together again after having only one night of being separated.  Towards the evening of a long day, we had all five of our children together!  It was a wonderful, but tiring day.  However, the day simply didn’t end there, we needed to continue to feed the triplets every three hours, day and night.  We continued this behavior, every three hours, alternating shifts through the night, trying to meet the schedule the triplets had with the schedule we were accustomed to.  Kimber would do the midnight and three am, while Jared would do the six and nine am feeding.  through the day, Kimber and Jared would work together to continue to feed the triplets every three hours while entertaining Katelyn and Lincoln.  

On Valentines day, we took the triplets to the pediatrician for their first routine check up.  The song by Big and Rich entitled “Freak Parade” describes the feelings we had as we walked into the pediatrician’s office with three infant car seats!  It was quite a sight!  Each of the triplets had gained some weight and were over five pounds each.  But that was not the only good news, the pediatrician told us that we could be a bit more relaxed with their feeding schedule and not be such drill sergeants, making sure that they ate at least 40 mls per feeding every 3 hours, especially through the night.  He assured us that they were gaining weight and that they will have more of an appetite on their own.  We figured it would still be a good idea to keep them on a schedule and when one wakes up hungry, they will all be fed and changed.  

Life with the triplets:

• We go through at least 24 diapers per day, not including Lincoln’s diaper changes.
• Kimber pumps at least a liter per 24 hours.  A singleton pregnancy would require 400 mls per day and she is pumping at least 1000 mls.
• It takes just over an hour to feed the triplets, burp them, and get them changed and wrapped back up into bed. That gives us roughly 2 hours in between to do other home stuff.  
• There is at least one to two loads of laundry per day just with the laundry the triplets are generating.  Let alone the many shirts that we have gone through while “burping” the babies and having an explosive, unexpected guerrilla warfare vomit.  

Held them Video!!!

We were able to hold them all yesterday!!! (no not all at once)  We haven't been able to hold them all for a while.  You never know if you will get to hold one of them, let alone all of them!!!  I hope this video works.

NICU

The babies are doing well! They are each making slow progress.

Preston

He is a champ.  Starting out on the ventilator and lights and the whole works.  He was the one I waited longest to hold.  When I first saw him in the NICU on the table so small and helpless it broke my heart.  He was sedated and his chest was bouncing due to the high oscilation of the ventilator.  They gave him medications for his lung develpoment.  He also had an arterial line and a PIK line that travels up his vein right to the large vein above the heart.  I could hardly touch him or hold his hand.  It was hard to stand there feeling so helpless.  Everyday he would get a chest X ray to see how his lungs were progressing, and everyday they would turn the ventilator down little by little.  Slowly his sedation was lessoned and he began breathing on his own.  A day or two after they took him off the ventilator (he was still on oxygen through a nasal cannula), they took out his arterial line and I got to change his diaper.  He took this opportunity to poop and pee all over his bed and his mom.  Then I got to hold him.  He is so sweet and snuggled with me for about 30 min.  During this time the staff also prepared to move him into the second NICU room.  They have 3 levels.  All the babies started in level 3, and as they get better they will be transfered to the lower levels.  Once in level 2 he was placed into an isolet.  It is a plastic box.  He is still on oxygen, but just a low flow.  They also started feeding him a couple mls every 6 hours to help stimulate his bowels and guts to start digesting.  Now that he is in the isolet, he can come out and be held twice a day.  They like to do this right around feeding and medications so that he can rest most of the day.

cute boy

big eyes

with mommy

He is doing so well and enjoys being held and swaddled.  He is such a sweet heart.

Kira

Even though she was the smallest at birth (and still is the smallest), she has been refered to by the staff as "The Rock Star" Kira never went on a vent.  She was on oxygen for several days, but was quickly moved to level 2 NICU, where she has her own isolet.  She started eating out of a bottle and they have quickly increased her feeding amount. Last night she was drinking 21 mls every 3 hours.  She needs to be eating 33 mls every 3 hours in order to come off the IV nutrition and fats they are giving her.  She has been breathing room air now for a while.  Yesterday they even took her off the lights.  She also can come out twice a day for holding.  We have been able to feed her several times and it is so fun.  She is so little that I worry about her getting too cold when I holding her for a long time.  I hope she can gain weight, otherwise she is doing great.

on the lights

so many tubes

eating

smiles

 I love to hold her and kiss her little head.

Kinsley

Kinsley just came off the ventilator.  She is still on oxygen through the nasal cannula.  Kinsley makes me the most frustrated.  She came out breathing really well, and I was able to hold her first, and see her in the operating room.  A couple days later they decided her lungs were not getting better. and they placed her on the vent with medication to help her lungs.  Then even after she came off the vent, I don't see a lot of improvement.  She is still on the lights, and just chills there without moving.  I cant see any improvements.  But last night I talked to the nurse and the nurse said Kinsley is improving! They will probably take out her Arterial line today, and then we will be able to hold her again.  Her lungs are looking so clear, and they have started turning down her oxygen pretty fast and she is still doing fine.  She has started eating 2 mls every 12 hours, just for stimulation.
When I mentioned that she didn't appear to be changing, the nurse said Kinsley was just very mellow.  That she was progressing and would soon be able to transfer to level 2 with her brother and sister.

On the vent

On the Lights

 I love that girl and cant wait until I can hold and snuggle her.

I am so excited to have these little babies doing so well.  They are such a blessing and I can't wait to have them all home with us.

Katelyn, Lincoln, and Mommy at discharge

Im home with the kids.  I am healing well, and feel so much better than I have in weeks.  I pump milk for the babies every 3 hours.  I pump on alternating sides for 10 min intervals for 60 min.  Basically the lactation nurse said a normal single baby will eat 10 min on each side to get enough milk for a full meal.  That means that each baby has to eat 10 min on each side to get a full meal.  And because my body needs to rest in between, I need to feed for 10 min and rest for 10 min 3 times on each side.  I hope this kind of makes sense.  But I have to pump for an hour every three hours.  And so I get 2 hours of rest.  This regiment is really paying off as my milk production is increasing and I think as long as the babies are in the hospital at least I will be able to have enough milk for all of them.  This is great news because it makes me feel like I can do something for my babies to take care of them when they are not able to be home.

Daddy holding Kira

Jared is the most amazing dad.  He works endlessly trying to balance the older kids, the babies, the housework, work, school, and taking care of me.  He will get a few weeks off of work, but we decided not to take those weeks until the babies all three can come home.  That way we can settle in and see just how much there is to do.  Also it will give us the opportunity to help and support each other as much as we can.

Katelyn is so cute.  She asks about the babies and how they are doing.  She wonders why they cant come home and be with our family.  She sees pictures of them and asks which one it is.  The best was when she found out what we had named them.  She told me she didnt like those names.  That she really wanted to "name the girls Jessie, and the boy was supposed to be the little Buzz Lightyear" I told her she could still call the boy The Little Buzz Lightyear, but his name would be Preston, she said "that isn't going to work."  She cracks me up and never stops amazing me with her comprehension skills.

Lincoln is an amazing 1 year old.  He is so kind and gentle with me.  He tries hard to snuggle with me without climbing on me.  Sometimes this is more successful then other times....  He is talking more and more.  He no longer refers to my tummy as "baby."  I just cant get enough of this guy.

Im so lucky to have such a wonderful family.  I am so lucky to have 5 kids.  I am so excited to have Katelyn and Lincoln meet their new brother and sisters.  People tell me how hard it is going to be and how busy I am going to be.  Nobody seems to realize how blessed I am to have this opportunity, and to have such a wonderful little family.

Birthday!

Friday, January 20, 2012, our triplets were born by scheduled C section.

On Thursday we went to the doctor for a follow up, and I was dilated to a 5.  The doctor said with the progression we should deliver.  We asked if we could have one more day to talk with our kids and get my bag from the house.  He said it should be fine because I really want having many hard contractions.

At 6 am Friday morning we arrived at the hospital for monitoring and preparation for surgery.  Everything went smoothly and they started the c section at 730.  Our babies were born.

7:58 Baby  A (Boy) 4 pounds 7 ounces
7:59 Baby B (Girl) 4 pounds
8:00 Baby C (Girl) 4 pounds 10 ounces

Baby C was breathing well enough that they wrapped her and brought her to see me before taking her to the NICU, where all the babies ended up.

They immediately intubated A because he had really immature lungs.  This is normal for boys to develop more slowly inside.  Both girls were on nasal cannula for breathing assistance.  I couldn't go see them for several hours until the feeling in my legs returned, and I was able to stand without getting too dizzy.  It was frustrating having not even seen my babies at all.  I felt very removed from the process.  Finally I was able to go for a visit, and I was ecstatic! I was able to hold both girls one at a time.  It was amazing!!!  They are all so little.

Today is Saturday, and when we went to the NICU to see our babies, a few things had changed.  Baby B (our smallest) is doing the best.  She is still on the nasal cannula, but she is in the NICU level 2.  All the babies start in NICU level 3.  I was able to hold her again today for a while.  She is so little, but such a strong fighter.  Baby A has not changed much.  They still have him on the ventilator, but his level of assistance is dropping little by little.  Today and last night they were having a little trouble stabilizing his blood sugars.  Baby C, our biggest, had to be intubated this morning.  She was just struggling so hard and they decided to give her a break and give her some surfactant for her lungs.  She should be doing better within the next couple days.

I am doing great.  I'm healing just fine and have almost gone wireless! I expect to be here in the hospital for a few more days.

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath for names.  Well, our goal today was to settle on a name for each of our special blessings.

Baby A Preston Sterling Talbot
Baby B Kira Ann Talbot
Baby C Kinsley Ann Talbot

Preston

Kira

Kinsley

34 Weeks

Here I am at 34 weeks.

Went to the Doctor yesterday and was surprised to find out that I am dilated to a 4.  That is borderline active labor.  I was also having some contractions yesterday, that was a little concerning to the doctor.  I have to go back to the doctor in just a couple days to check on me again.  But as long as I don't get up the contractions lessen.  So the doc sent me home with instructions to come back when I am in actual labor. The doctor also moved up my scheduled C section date to Feb 1.  If I go into labor before then the doctor is no longer concerned with how the babies are doing, and confident that we will be able to deliver with minimal risk to the four of us.

So bottom line we are down to 2 weeks or less!  I'm excited and a little nervous to meet these three little miracles.  I feel like the first time mother who just isn't sure she can do this, only it is times three!

Lets keep some positive vibes coming this way! I'm really hoping to make it to February 1.

32 weeks, in the home stretch!

Here we are.  Lincoln got so excited when he saw we were taking pictures, that we had to take a photo with him.  Plus it kind of shows how he can hide right in front of me!

So I thought I would explain the myriad of doctors that I see on a regular basis.  I originally was seeing my OB who works at Lakeview hospital.  When we found out we were having triplets, we also found out we could not deliver at Lakeview hospital, so we had to switch OB's to a high risk OB. Also our OB office did not have a sonogram machine that would be adequate for triplets.  At 19 weeks they sent me to a specialist,  also known as a perinatologist (I think).  At these appointments I get an ultrasound by a technician, where they usually measure the babies, make sure everything looks good and make sure I am not showing signs of preterm labor.  Then the perinatologist comes in and talks to me and makes all the decisions about my care.  But they can prescribe medications, or deliver the babies.  They then tell the OB how to do his job.  So far we have been to see the perinatologist every 2 weeks, and have only seen the same one a couple of times.  We switched to our high risk OB at 30 weeks, and have seen him twice.  Aside from waiting forever in his office, he takes my weight, prescribes me medications, orders blood draws and everything else the perinatologist has told him to do.  He will do the delivery at St. Marks Hospital.  We see him every 2 weeks. Then we also do what is called NST (non stress test). In these appointments I lie on a bed while they put a monitor on each baby to monitor heart rate.  The idea is to get a continuous heart rate on all the babies for at least 20 minutes.  They also have to do this basically at the same time to make sure they are not monitoring the same baby each time.  This has been incredibly hard so far.  These appointments take forever, and usually end in at least one of the babies not having the sufficient monitoring because the kids like to wiggle and move and kick each other and the monitors right off my belly! We do NST every week.  So we have 2 doctor appointments every week. We try to schedule them at the same time so that we don't have to drive the 45 minutes more than once a week.

Anyway,  we just had our new OB doc appointment.  His name is Dr Watts and we really like him.  He said we were doing great, and at 32 weeks we have passed the worst with the babies and premature birth.  He would like for us to make it another 2 weeks.  After 34 weeks he would deliver us without worry.  If we don't naturally go into labor before 37 weeks (a week longer than my original goal) he will deliver the babies anyway.  So he set up a preliminary C section date for the second week of February.

Next week we go to the perinatologist and hopefully they measure the babies.  Last week all the babies measured between 3 and a half and 4 pounds.  Im so proud of my little ones and how they are growing.

On other exciting news, Jared finally got a set schedule for work so it is being much easier to set up help for when he is not here.  He does so much for our family and is taking care of meals (cooking and planning).  He does all the grocery shopping, taking care of the kids, and the house.  He is amazing even finding time for his school work.  Then he still works full time.  Im so lucky to be going through this process with him.