8 Days to Discharge

We are so thankful to God to report that everything seems to be falling into place for a discharge date of October 3rd! By the end of this week, a number of home nurses from our area should be trained on tracheostomies, ventilators and g-tubes. Community referrals are being sent out, appointments are being booked, last minute tests are being performed, and loose ends are getting tied up. Malachi also will go for surgery on Friday. More on that later. If everything falls into place, we could be HOME as a family all together under one roof in 8 days! PRAISE GOD!

Liam and Taylor:
The Great Triplet Tooth Race has started and finished in a matter of 11 days! Liam popped his first tooth on Wednesday September 13th. Malachi came in second place with a tooth on September 22nd, while Taylor came in a close third 2 days later. It's so fun to see all the similarities and differences in their development every day.
This past week Liam and Taylor had a Growth and Development appointment which was to assess their overall development because they were born at 25 weeks. The clinic follows them for a few years, since research shows that a lot of delays and issues can come up for micro preemies in the first few years of development. The appointment this past week went very well, and the doctor was very impressed. Both Liam and Taylor do not have cerebral palsy, which they were being monitored for, and are on track for their corrected age developmentally. We are so thankful for all this news!
We also had all the triplets weighed on the same day. Liam is the heaviest weighing just over 17 pounds, Malachi is in the middle at just over 17 pounds as well, and Taylor is a whole pound smaller than her brothers at just over 16 pounds. She is also generally in a size of clothing smaller than her brothers although very close to catching up.
When we look ahead to going home, our hearts nearly burst when we imagine all 3 of our babies playing together and interacting. We feel like crying for joy to think that we can be together as a family all the time! Jodi won't need to leave Liam and Taylor with babysitters every single weekday, or leave Malachi in the hospital every single day to go back to care for Liam and Taylor. We won't need to split up at night so that one of us is with Malachi and the other with Liam and Taylor. We can play on the floor with our babies. We can eat meals together. We can just RELAX as a FAMILY all together. What an amazing feeling it will be!

Malachi:
On Sunday September 17th we were overjoyed to receive a "day pass" to take Malachi with us to the Ronald McDonald House for 5 hours. It took almost 2 weeks of asking about 300 different doctors and administrators and managers, etc. before we got the approval (okay, 300 is an exaggeration... but you get the idea). By the time we got the green light we almost chickened out! Could we take care of him (and Liam and Taylor) all by ourselves for 5 hours? Could we manage his equipment? Could we manage an emergency? But we pushed through with the plan and took our little guy to our room at the Ronald McDonald House. It was hard to figure out how to set up all his equipment and where to put everything and plug it all in where the triplets wouldn't immediately reach for or put in their mouths... that will be a never ending problem for us! Once we were finally starting to feel comfortable, Malachi threw up all over himself (he does this more often) and needed trach care. While we were in the middle of trach care, Liam started crying for a bottle, and Taylor started spitting up in her jolly jumper... it was busy! But we loved it. We snuggled Malachi on the couch and took pictures of all 3 triplets together. It was wonderful!

A Dad and his boys cuddling on the couch

Another exciting recent development is that Malachi now has an uncuffed trach. A cuffed trach tube is one that has a bubble that can be filled with water to seal the airway and fill any spaces around the trach tube in the trachea. Now that the cuff is gone, there is some space around the trach tube that means some air can pass up from the lungs and through the vocal chords and out of Malachi's mouth or nose. And that means Malachi can make some small noises! On September 15th Jodi heard his voice for the first time since March 30th... yep, she cried. Nathan heard him the next day. It is most likely uncomfortable for Malachi to make noises and he hasn't quite figured out how he can do it. So we don't hear his voice every day but once in a while when he is very relaxed he will make little cooing noises. We hope so badly that he will continue making noises and even try make more sounds but time will tell.
In terms of discharge planning, Malachi has his swallow study planned for tomorrow! We are praying he will pass so that we can feed him solids orally at home, in addition to his g-tube for liquid (formula). If he fails, then we won't be able to feed Malachi anything in his mouth until his trach comes out for good, which is likely 2-3 years. In addition to his swallow study tomorrow, we will be taking Malachi for his first car ride! This is mostly a test for us as parents to see how we will fit all the babies and equipment safely in the van. A trained person also needs to be sitting beside Malachi in the car to suction or respond to him if need be. Malachi still has a chest x-ray this week as well. He recently received his trachea scope and everything looked well with very minimal collapse (tracheomalatia). However, a recent ultrasound determined that Malachi needs to have surgery on his hydroceles. The surgery is considered "minor" and is scheduled for this Friday. It should not delay discharge if all goes well. We admit we are extremely nervous about the surgery because the last time that Malachi had surgery we almost lost him.  Granted, that was a major surgery on his airway, and nothing at all like the corrective surgery coming up. But all the memories and emotions and flashbacks of that traumatic day are flooding back to us when we think about Malachi having surgery again and being put under again for a few hours. We hope and pray that all will go well and we also covet your prayers for our Malachi. 

With all the discharge planning and looking ahead to going home, we have been reflecting a little on the last year and all that has happened. We admit that it is hard not to be negative... hard not to think we have "missed out" on so much. We have not slept in our own home for months and months... we have not been able to have a vacation or go camping or go swimming... we have been at the hospital every single day... we have split ourselves up between our babies every day... we miss our family and friends... we miss just the every day normalcy of family life! It's hard not to wonder why all this had to happen. Why did God allow this all to happen? Why were the triplets were born so early? Why did Malachi have to have the trach? Why do we need to take Malachi home with all this medical equipment and stress? Why did we have to have such close calls with death multiple times? Why did we have to have so much stress and worry and intensity in our lives? Why do we have to now have a constant flow of people (home nurses, therapists, dieticians, etc.) in our home? And yet, we need to see the positives. There are so many blessings that have emerged from this past year. We need to reflect on how we have three gorgeous and happy babies. How God has miraculously spared their lives multiple times. How they are developing so well and gettting stronger and healthier every day. How our triplets have touched many lives and how we have created many relationships at the hospital. How soon we will be going home as a family. Such rich blessings. We see every day how little things that we may have taken for granted are that much more rich and beautiful to us. When we hear Malachi's voice we cry. When we see him eat peas we choke up. When we hold the triplets up and they try to stand on their little legs we marvel. When we see their individual personalities shine through we are amazed. And then we think, "God HAS been good to us." Yes, this has been by far the most difficult year of our lives. And the next year is going to be incredibly hard and stressful too. But we are so incredibly and deeply blessed to be taking our sweet triplets home in 8 days. 

"Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever; and his faithfulness to all generations." (Psalm 100:3-5)

A few family photos taken by a professional photographer from the hospital