38 Weeks Gestation

Tomorrow the triplets are 38 weeks gestation and on Thursday they will be 3 months old! They have had a fairly quiet week. We are thankful it wasn't a busy week because we have both had colds this week and have been unable to go in to see our babies. Nathan got a cold last Sunday and is just starting to get over it... hopefully he can see them again sometime this week. Jodi got her cold on Monday and is finally totally better. Generally, if one parent is sick, the other should not touch or hold the babies either. This makes us both desperate for the other to get better too. It is so hard and frustrating and sad to not be able to see or touch or hold our babies!   

Liam:

Our Liam graduated to a crib this weekend! This is because of a number of criteria were met. He weighs enough, has had his RSV vaccination (RSV is basically a cold), and can maintain his temperature well enough. He looks so big in his crib, athough the cribs in the NICU are smaller than normal cribs. It is easier to interact with babies in cribs, so we are excited about this new step. Liam now weighs 2645 grams, which is over 5 pounds! 

Liam's respiratory needs have stayed the same this week and he was not able to come down on any of his CPAP settings. However, his jaundice levels have come down this week. They are still much too high but moving in the right direction with the help of medication. The test results have all come back negative for diseases or serious issues, so at this point we are assuming it is from prematurity and "normal" issues for premature babies. We will need to wait to see if his jaundice levels will return to normal. 

Taylor:

Our baby girl also moved to a crib this past week! She weighs in at over 5 pounds as well- 2550 grams.

Taylor's CPAP settings have also remained the same this week. The healthcare team did wean her settings down once, but she needed to go back up on her settings when her respiratory rate average went up. The team will likely try again in the next week to challenge her. We are trying very hard to remain patient because Taylor's settings are fairly close to coming off her CPAP. This could mean going on low flow or high flow (a tube under her nose), or no respiratory support at all! However, we know that it could still be weeks to get to this point. Patience is not only a virtue but also an absolute necessity in the NICU..!

Malachi:

Our youngest sweetheart is falling a bit behind his siblings in terms of weight. He is 2230 grams, which is not yet 5 pounds. He often loses weight, rather than consistently gaining. The dietician has been continuing to monitor this. Malachi is not quite eligible for a crib yet. This is because his respiratory needs are so high, that his tubes cannot be disconnected momentarily (which needs to be done in order to take him out of a crib). However, he does meet the other criteria and the incubator is often too hot for him. 

Malachi's respiratory supports remain high and were unable to come down at all this week either. However, we are happy that he has not gone backwards or needed more support. We are continuing to correspond with the company representative for the machines that the hospital was trialling. At this point, Malachi remains on the same respiratory support, and the plan is to keep him on it. This means that the hospital needs to buy the special feeding tubes that have electrodes on them to measure Malachi's diaphragm activity.

 

We are thankful for the nurses who have been understanding while we have been sick. We have been asking them to snuggle our babies so that they can still have that human interaction in our absence. The nurses have been more than happy to do so, and often have time to snuggle them for an hour or more during the night shift. We even have been emailed and texted photos of our little sweethearts! A small silver lining this week has also been that we could have some time to get some errands done, since we weren't able to be in the NICU. We even set up cribs in our baby room! 

The emotions continue... yet we are comforted also through our pastor with the words of Colossians 3 verse 15: "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful..."