Days 5 and 6

On Sunday morning, Jodi was discharged from the hospital and Nathan and Jodi were able to move into the Ronald McDonald House. We are extremely thankful for this opportunity which makes commuting and meals so much easier. At the same time, it was immensely difficult to leave our precious little babies at the hospital and it made for another emotionally draining day.

All three triplets have had ups and downs the past few days.

Liam:
On Sunday, the healthcare team in the NICU decided to try put Liam back on to the CPAP machine since he was breathing so well with his intubation. This means Liam has to do more work breathing on his own. It has been much harder for our little guy to breathe and there have been a number of adjustments and changes to try help him out. However, as of Monday evening, he is still on the CPAP being monitored closely. The breathing tube that was pulled out (which the other two triplets still have) goes down the throat, between the vocal chords, and to the top of the lungs, the babies are unable to make noise. On Sunday evening we first heard Liam's tiny voice when he started to cry (which made us cry too). Like his siblings, Liam has gone up to 2 milliliters of breast milk every 2 hours through his feeding tube. Liam has also gone off and on phototherapy for jaundice these past few days. Because he has been struggling with his new CPAP machine, we have still been unable to hold our baby boy.

Taylor:
Nathan was able to hold Taylor for the first time on Sunday afternoon which was an incredible moment. Both Nathan and Jodi have been able to help with Taylor's (tiny!) diaper changes as well. Taylor has been having breathing issues where she gets too tired and forgets to breathe. For this reason, doctors have decided not to "upgrade" to the CPAP machine yet and she remains intubated like Malachi. On Monday afternoon, the nurses felt confident that Jodi could hold Taylor again. However, she had a fairly serious episode during the skin to skin where she stopped breathing and needed a team of healthcare professionals to intervene. Needless to say it was a very intense time. It was determined that some secretions in her lungs had caused a blockage when she was moved from a horizontal to more vertical position. Thankfully she was stabilized and is again doing well. Like her brother Liam, Taylor has needed a blood transfusion for low hemoglobin levels. Another obstacle Taylor faced this Sunday was another skin reaction causing a burn mark on her arm where the PICC line was inserted. The PICC line was removed and antibiotics started in case of infection. A temporary IV is now in her hand and another in the top of her head. All the poke marks, IVs, burn marks, and lines on her tiny body are so sad to see. Happily, Taylor has started to gain a few grams (as you probably know, babies always lose weight after birth).

Malachi:
While our youngest triplet has been mostly stable these past days, he has had some difficulties persist. The chest tube to empty the air between his lungs and ribs remains in although it has been clamped closed. This will be monitored with more x-rays in the next day to try remove as soon as possible. He still requires a lot more oxygen and breathing support than his siblings. On Monday afternoon, a PICC line was finally put in to replace the temporary IVs. It hadn't been done yet because Malachi had not been stable enough for the doctors to feel comfortable to do this. All three triplets have had three doses of medication to treat the PDA which causes a heart murmur. The nurses on Monday afternoon heard murmers still in Liam and Taylor (which could still resolve) but not in Malachi (although it could still be there).

We continue to covet your prayers especially as we start to come to terms with the long-term plans and implications. At this point, the doctors have told us that we can expect our babies to be in the hospital until at least their original due date which is February 20th, 2017. We praise the LORD that He continues to preserve life and allows our babies to be doing relatively well for their gestational age, which is 26  weeks. May He answer our fervent prayers! Thanks also to everyone for their support and prayers.