32 Weeks Gestation

The triplets are 32 weeks gestation today or almost 7 weeks old. 32 weeks is the average gestational age that triplets are born at, so this is around the time when we were actually expecting our triplets to be born. Obviously, God had other plans for our little ones.

Since our last blog, we have been unable to visit or even see our triplets in the NICU. This is because on Wednesday morning, Jodi came down with the flu and is still fighting it. Nathan was staying out of the NICU as well to be safe, and he recently came down with the flu as well. Once we are symptom-free, we will still have to wait a full 48 hours to be able to go into the NICU. It is so difficult to not be able to see our little miracles. Every day that passes makes us more anxious and frustrated and upset... especially since Nathan has some time off of work for the holidays. We miss our babies so badly! However, we know that it would be very serious if one of our triplets were to get the flu, and so we take comfort knowing that we are still being "good parents" by staying away. We have been calling the NICU often to get updates on our babies and some nurses have been sending us pictures as well.

Liam:
In our last blog about a week ago, Liam was just getting over an infection and the doctors were watching him so that once he was well enough he could go for heart surgery. Liam was kept on an antibiotic to fight a potential yeast infection since his tests for an infection had all come back negative. He had been doing much better except for some mucous in his stools. A sample was sent off for testing a few days ago and a few tests still need to come back. However, the test for the flu came back negative, for which we are very thankful.
Since Liam had this one symptom, the doctors were holding off with talk of surgery until they knew he was not sick. Just this morning, however, Liam's standard blood work came back with infection markers yet again. Once again, all of the tests are being sent off to try to determine the type of infection he has. The nurses have been speculating that this infection is not new but something that he has been fighting for awhile. This is because Liam has been on weeks and weeks of antibiotics and just keeps getting sick. We hope and pray that the source can be determined and our little man can be fully healed and well enough for surgery. When Liam gets sick, he needs more breathing support and the impact of the open duct (PDA) is very evident. Today, the nurses noticed that his lungs are very wet (one of the effects of the open PDA), and that Liam is retaining a lot of water. They have given him lasix to help him get rid of some of the excess fluid. The boys have been on lasix more than once in the past already, so this is not very new. Liam also received yet another blood transfusion this morning.
Today was also the day that our triplets were signed up for eye exams. When babies are born very early as ours were, the risk of eye complications is high. The exams today gave the eye doctors a baseline from which they will continue to monitor every week or so for the next few months. We are told that eye disease usually manifests around the weeks 34-36 and especially in babies who have been on higher amounts of oxygen support. This means our boys are at higher risk than Taylor, who has been on much lower breathing support than her brothers.

Taylor:
Last Wednesday, the healthcare team tried to extubate our little girl and get her back on CPAP. This was unsuccessful since Taylor did not tolerate it well and still needed the extra support. She also had some swelling in her throat and vocal chords from the tube. The team put her tube back in and gave her a few days to rest and recover. On Friday, they tried again since Taylor's breathing settings and oxygen requirements were very low (which is a good thing). This time, they gave her steroids to help with the settings. Taylor tolerated this very well and remains on CPAP again. As of today, she is doing very well. She is not having any bradychardias or spells where she forgets to breathe. Most of the time, she is able to breathe room air at 21% oxygen, without needing extra oxygen. This doesn't mean that the CPAP machine is not supporting her, since she is still receiving pressures and volumes to help inflate her lungs and given a set number of breaths. Last week, Taylor's echocardiogram showed that her PDA has closed significantly. While the PDA was not impacting Taylor a lot, it still needed to be closed eventually and so we are very happy with this bit of news!
As for her sickness, Taylor seems to be over whatever type of infection or sickness that she had. She is still not at 3 pounds, but is slowly but surely continuing to grow.

Malachi:
Last week, Malachi had vomited a few times and been tested for an infection. Since then, he has been doing well and has not had any more vomiting or symptoms. Today, he came off of his general antibiotics and so had his IV taken out. Because he was a bit sick, he had been taken off of his food but this has been slowly increased again. Malachi is not having full feeds still, however, because his sodium levels have been too low. Thus, he has been kept on a lower amount of breast milk so that his sodium levels can catch up (with the help of supplements).
In terms of breathing support, Malachi has remained at roughly the same amounts of support, which is relatively high. He needs to keep growing and getting stronger, which he has been doing quite well at. Yesterday, the nurse weighed him to be 1500 grams, which is well over 3 pounds! Another great bit of news came from Malachi's echocardiogram last week which showed that his PDA has also closed significantly. This takes heart surgery off the table for Malachi. This is very good news, yet the PDA does have the potential to open again for Taylor or Malachi in the future if they were to get a significant infection or sickness.

Although we have been mostly sick during the holiday season, we have been witnessing some of the generosity of the people at McMaster Hospital and at the Ronald McDonald House. There have been so many people donating so much to make the holidays enjoyable for sick children and their families. Between the food, well-wishes, events, and presents, we have been feeling quite blessed. We are also so thankful for the NICU team who has been very understanding and helpful to us while we are unable to be with our babies. We desperately hope and pray that now that we have had colds and the flu that we will be healthy and sick-free for a long time in order to care for our little miracles!