28 Weeks and 2 Days Gestation

Today the triplets are 28 weeks and 2 days gestation, or 22 days old. In general, they had a busy Monday, quiet and stable Tuesday, and busy Wednesday.

Liam:
Our oldest little triplet is still the heaviest of the three. Both Liam and Malachi are over 2 lbs and continuing to gain weight. Taylor is not yet 2 lbs and needs to gain another 60 grams to get there. Sunday night and Monday, Liam had a rougher go. His oxygen saturation levels (how well his oxygen is being taken into his blood) kept swinging up and down. As he is just recovering from his infections, the nurses believed that a lot of it had to with Liam feeling unwell. Liam started to do better over the last few days and looks like he is feeling better as well. Liam's feeds are back up to 12 mm which is a full feed for him! He still has a PICC line because he is still on antibiotics for his infections.
On Tuesday, Liam had a head ultrasound which showed that the bleeding has not gotten worse. We are thankful for this! Next week he will have another head ultrasound to monitor it.
The healthcare professionals can also hear the PDA in Liam's heart and an echocardiogram done Tuesday shows he will need a third dosage to treat it.
On Wednesday morning, the plan was to extubate our little boy but the plan changed when Liam showed that he could not handle it yet. The respiratory therapists will wait 48 hours and reassess. This is somewhat disappointing as Liam was doing so well on the CPAP before.
On Wednesday afternoon, Liam needed a blood transfusion as his hemoglobin levels were dropping and he looks quite pale.

Taylor:
Our little girl has had a few ups and downs the last few days. Because she looked pale and lethargic, the doctors had done blood tests for an infection over the weekend and started antibiotics. However, the results did not show an infection. It's possible the antibiotics caught the infection early or Taylor was sick from something else. On Monday, the doctors did a blood transfusion to raise her hemoglobin and Taylor looked more pink and is was more active. She remains on CPAP but has been having a lot of bradys where her heart rate drops and her oxygen saturation levels also drop. Some bradys she can come out of herself, but others require the nurse to stimulate her so she will recover. The healthcare team has been changing her settings on her CPAP machine and changing Taylor's position and trying different things to prevent the bradys.
On Wednesday morning, the healthcare team determined that Taylor was again looking sick. As of Wednesday afternoon, the concerns include: 1) a possible infection for which they have taken blood tests and sent them off, 2) kidney problems because she is not urinating enough and for which they have done an ultrasound and await results, and 3) possible PDA issues again for which she received an echo in the early afternoon. None of these issues are certain but are being monitored to try figure it out. Taylor received another blood transfusion Wednesday afternoon to raise her hemoglobin again. She is also now on general antibiotics to start treating the possible infection. Thankfully, Taylor is finally back to full feeds which means all the triplets are getting the amount of breast milk that matches their sizes. This is great considering all the benefits that come from getting their mom's milk.

Malachi:
Our youngest triplet had concerns of possible pneumonia but it was determined that it was a bladder infection instead. It is likely that the infection was making him feel unwell overall and therefore impacting his breathing and lungs as well. He is on specific antibiotics (just like his siblings) to treat the infection. A lumbar puncture was also done on Tuesday afternoon to check if there was an infection in his cerebral spinal fluid. We don't have results for that yet.
Malachi also received an echo Wednesday as his PDA is audible like his siblings. Again we will receive results likely tomorrow.
In terms of his lungs, Malachi is still intubated like Liam and on higher settings and oxygen than his brother. Hopefully treating the infection and possibly the PDA can help this little guy improve and get onto CPAP so that his lungs can  improve.

We again want to express that we are so thankful for the encouraging emails, texts, cards, messages, etc. Thank you for your prayers! We are starting to get to know more parents and nurses in the NICU and at Ronald McDonald and some of the stories are encouraging, while others really scare us. Yet we are also able to see differences because while many parents put their trust and hope in their doctors, nurses, and healthcare teams, we take comfort in knowing the Greater Power. Our God is in control, also over the healthcare professionals.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness..." Lamentations 3:22-23.