6 Months Old!

Wow, it is hard to believe that the triplets are already 6 months old! As parents, we feel as though the past 6 months have gone very slowly and yet very quickly at the same time. It feels like yesterday that they were born but it also feels like a lifetime ago. We cannot describe the immense gratitude we feel that we have our 3 miracles with us today. As triplets born at 25 weeks gestation, they have defied many statistical odds. We have seen the fragility of life, especially in the first few weeks and months. We have watched each of our triplets need to be resuscitated by a team of NICU staff. We have felt mind numbing fear, shed countless tears, and continue to have chronic anxiety. We have stood by while two of our triplets went through significant surgery. We’ve felt emotionally drained and mentally exhausted. We have learned lots of medical information and learned to advocate for our triplets. We feel changed… our perspectives and outlook on life, our relationships, our faith…

We have been stretched so that we thought we were breaking but also given strength from above for each day. The LORD God has carried us when we thought we couldn’t take another day. He has given us a wonderful healthcare system and an amazing NICU staff whom we have grown to cherish. He has given us incredible support through the church family/ communion of saints, friends, and family. We continue to thank and praise Him for the beautiful gifts He has given us, and we trust in Him for each new day.

Liam Josiah:

On Tuesday May 2, our sweet boy came home after 175 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit! It was earlier than everyone expected, and we recognize this too as an incredible gift. There are a number of issues that still need to be addressed but this can be monitored by specialists and pediatricians. One of these issues is Liam’s brain fluid and brain size. For several months, the healthcare team was concerned that the cerebral spinal fluid around Liam’s brain was increasing too rapidly. Thankfully, the team has concluded that this is a not a significant issue. However, the head ultrasounds have demonstrated that there is a considerable amount of space between his brain and his skull. This will be monitored through regular ultrasound appointments.

The drops in heartrates that Liam is still experiencing while he is sleeping (bradychardias) have been deemed insignificant as well. Liam is having less and less of these and they always self-resolve in a very short period of time.

Our little man is healing well from hernia surgery and will also have follow up appointments for this. Finally, his eyes still need to be closely monitored through ophthalmologists to check for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). All preemies are monitored for this disease. It seems that Taylor and Malachi are mostly “in the clear” but Liam’s eyes are still a cause for concern. We know that all of our triplets are still at a higher risk for needing glasses in the future, and that is also monitored through regular appointments. Eye doctors, hearing specialists, growth and development specialists, pediatricians, surgery follow ups, ENT specialists, the complex care team, occupational therapists, physiotherapy… there are a lot of appointments in our future!

This past week with Liam home at the Ronald McDonald House has been amazing but naturally much busier. He is an easygoing and happy baby. However, when he gets hungry (which is every 3 hours almost on the dot thanks to the strict NICU scheduling), he is very vocal and cries loudly. He is so loud that he often makes Taylor cry! It makes us laugh how loudly he can cry, especially compared to Taylor’s soft cry. We are thrilled to have our firstborn home and it still feels surreal. And now… we wait for our Malachi!

Just passed the car seat test!

In front of the doors we have walked through countless times

Washing bottles with Mommy 

Little hunk

Taylor Joy:

Our little lady is happy to have her big brother home! She mostly doesn’t notice him except for when she startles from his loud cries… but we are working on letting them get used to each other with lots of snuggles! Seeing them side by side at home makes our hearts so happy, and we can’t wait for our third triplet to join them.

Proud Daddy

Malachi John:

In our last update, Malachi was just getting over his pneumonia and finishing up his oral antibiotics. A few days later, Malachi was acting unwell and unhappy, needing more oxygen, and needing to go up on his breathing support settings. On Wednesday May 3, bloodwork was done yet again and showed that Malachi had yet another infection. After a few days in isolation as we waited for test results, it was determined that Malachi had pneumonia once again. Our hearts sank… it seems like our little man just can’t catch a break ever since the tracheostomy surgery! A skilled nurse was able to find a vein for an IV to go in Malachi’s head and he was able to have 5 days of IV antibiotics before needing to be switched to oral antibiotics. In the meantime, his breathing support settings just keep going up. There were 3 separate instances this past week where Malachi needed to be resuscitated with a resuscitator bag. He is so dependent on his breathing support that if anything goes wrong with his trach tube, he decompensates very quickly. His oxygen saturations drop very quickly, his heart rate drops, and his colour turns grey and then blue very quickly. It is very scary and tense and doesn't get easier witnessing it each time. We hope and pray that he has less and less of these episodes as he becomes more stable on the trach.

Our little man also needs a lot of suctioning through his trach tube because of all the secretions and mucous that comes up from the pneumonia. Even when Malachi isn’t sick, he still needs to be suctioned every few hours or so. This is because he is unable to cough or clear his throat properly with the trach, as most people do. We have been starting to practice trach care as we start learning things. Suctioning is one of the things we can practice. The area around Malachi’s trach also needs to be cleaned in a very specific way twice a day, which we have been starting to do with the respiratory therapists. The trach tube also needs to be changed every week (every two weeks in the future) which is a very intense and scary thing to do with Malachi being dependant on the trach tube and breathing machine to breathe. These are just a few of the things we have been learning in our classes.

The fact that Malachi keeps getting pneumonia is also frustrating in light of the fact that Malachi needs to come down on to more stable settings before he can go home. As it stands, our training will run for roughly 4 months: 2 months for trach training and then 2 months for ventilation training (the breathing support machine). This will likely bring us to August. After the training is completed and we are comfortable caring for Malachi, Malachi needs to be stable enough to come home. Our little man continues to need prayers!

Sick little man