42 Weeks Gestation

Another busy week has come and gone for our little munchkins. It has felt like a really long week for us!

Liam Josiah:

Our oldest darling is still having random low blood sugars. We are currently awaiting test results from the metabolic team. This past week, the doctors also called the endocrine back again to reassess Liam, even though they had already done so. The endocrine team ordered a special test for Monday (tomorrow) that will assess Liam's adrenal gland and stress responses. The team thinks it possible that Liam cannot produce a certain stress hormone called cortisol. If this is the case, Liam would have a condition that would need to be treated all his life. By Wednesday we should have the results. Liam is now finished the antibiotics for the UTI (urinary tract infection) and his IV came out of his head on Saturday. We had thought that maybe the blood sugar issues would resolve once the infection was gone, yet this hasn't been the case.

With all these investigations ongoing, we still hope and pray that Liam's blood sugars are off simply because he was a micro preemie. 

While we are disheartened that Liam's low blood sugars are ongoing, we are excited that Liam was able to come down on his CPAP settings again on Sunday (today). This is the third time that the respiratory team is trying him on this setting, since he could not tolerate it the first two times. This time, he seems to be doing well! If Liam can do well on this setting, then the next step will be off of CPAP and onto High Flow (the tube under the nose that Taylor was previously on). We hope that within the next week, Liam could take this next step, but time will tell. 

Our biggest triplet is now 8 whole pounds! He has been getting quite a lot of breast milk lately (still with extra calories and sugar) in order to try keep his blood sugars stable. Liam also has a really loud cry. Often when we are walking into the NICU we can hear him from far away down the hallway. He loves his soother and loves to be taken out for cuddles. Lately he has also been having more periods where he is awake, during which he likes to be held in a sitting position while listening intently to us talking to him. 

Taylor Joy:

We were overjoyed when Taylor came off her High Flow on Tuesday and has since remained off of any breathing support! Our baby girl can breathe all by herself! We are so proud. In the days following she was allowed to start non-nutritive breastfeeding. Essentially, this is practice breastfeeding without getting any milk. It is very important that we take this all very slowly because there is a very high risk that Taylor could get milk in her lungs. She needs to learn how to suck, swallow, and breathe at the same time. Another issue is that she will need to build up endurance and not use up all her energy to feed, since she has never had to orally feed before. Her feed has always been given through a tube that goes through her nose and into her stomach. The healthcare team has warned us many times that it could take weeks for our little micro preemies to learn how to orally feed. It will take many small steps and lots of patience to get there. 

On Saturday late afternoon, the weekend doctor approached us and told us that there was a chance Taylor would be transferred to another hospital, as the hospital is currently very full. Sure enough, late Saturday evening Taylor was transferred to a new hospital. We were naturally very upset about the situation... how would we be able to divide our time between the boys and Taylor? How could we stretch ourselves even thinner, when we already feel that some days we are at breaking point? And how would Jodi be able to learn breastfeeding with Taylor while still being there for the boys? So many new stressors, yet we know that we will need to make this work. We hope and pray that our baby girl will learn how to orally feed soon so that we can take her home! 

Today, Taylor had her first attempt at breastfeeding for 10 minutes and did very well. It was an emotional and beautiful moment that we waited nearly four months for. We stand in awe of God’s design for human life! Taylor is also continuing to grow well. Another good development is that she is starting to wake up every three hours and show that she is hungry. This is very good, because she is showing interest in feeding. She also likes to watch us while we hold her and talk to her, and sometimes gives us a smile! 

Malachi John:

Our littlest sweetheart has had some changes to his breathing support settings this past week. He had to go up on some settings early this week when his C02 levels in his blood came up too high. However, otherwise he was doing really well on his settings. On Sunday, however, the respiratory team tried Malachi on CPAP (which has a steady amount of pressure coming into his lungs to keep them inflated, rather than having extra pressure with each breath he takes). Malachi did not do well because he started to work harder to breathe, had higher C02 levels in his blood, and needed more oxygen. Thus, he was tried on another two different types of breathing support before staying on a setting that gives him a baseline air pressure blowing into his nose as well as a set amount of breaths (extra pressure). We are still waiting to see how he will do in the next few hours. If he does not tolerate this type of breathing support, then he will be switched back to the special hospital trial support that he came off of this morning. The hospital will also need to purchase more parts to let him continue on it. In the meantime, we continue to try make Malachi as comfortable as possible on his high pressures and periodic nasal prongs. This means lots of snuggles and skin to skin care!  

(Not recommended to ever wrap your baby like this at home... he is attached to a lot of monitors to make sure that he is breathing well. This is often how the nurses need to keep his soother in so that the breathing support pressure stays in his airways and lungs without leaking out of his mouth.)

We continue to covet your prayers and support, especially as we transition to having the triplets in two different hospitals. It's not just that we need to make sure that our babies are getting their cuddles. It is making sure that we are involved in their care and know their needs. It's making sure that we are involved in the decision making for their health so that we can advocate for them if need be. It is being their voice when we need to be, because we know their history and their needs and their likes and dislikes the best. It's making sure we understand our babies intricately so that we can notice if anything is wrong with them, whether that be infection, sickness, or breathing support needs. It's also making sure that we understand the technology and health plans for each of our triplets. It means meeting with doctors, nurse practitioners, lactation consultants, occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, and respiratory therapists to make sure we are all on the same page and up to date with their health plans. And it means trying to soak up the precious moments we get with each of our sweet babies...

It's been an exhausting road so far, but we wouldn't trade our sweet little triplets for the world!