Days 5 and 6

On Sunday morning, Jodi was discharged from the hospital and Nathan and Jodi were able to move into the Ronald McDonald House. We are extremely thankful for this opportunity which makes commuting and meals so much easier. At the same time, it was immensely difficult to leave our precious little babies at the hospital and it made for another emotionally draining day.

All three triplets have had ups and downs the past few days.

Liam:
On Sunday, the healthcare team in the NICU decided to try put Liam back on to the CPAP machine since he was breathing so well with his intubation. This means Liam has to do more work breathing on his own. It has been much harder for our little guy to breathe and there have been a number of adjustments and changes to try help him out. However, as of Monday evening, he is still on the CPAP being monitored closely. The breathing tube that was pulled out (which the other two triplets still have) goes down the throat, between the vocal chords, and to the top of the lungs, the babies are unable to make noise. On Sunday evening we first heard Liam's tiny voice when he started to cry (which made us cry too). Like his siblings, Liam has gone up to 2 milliliters of breast milk every 2 hours through his feeding tube. Liam has also gone off and on phototherapy for jaundice these past few days. Because he has been struggling with his new CPAP machine, we have still been unable to hold our baby boy.

Taylor:
Nathan was able to hold Taylor for the first time on Sunday afternoon which was an incredible moment. Both Nathan and Jodi have been able to help with Taylor's (tiny!) diaper changes as well. Taylor has been having breathing issues where she gets too tired and forgets to breathe. For this reason, doctors have decided not to "upgrade" to the CPAP machine yet and she remains intubated like Malachi. On Monday afternoon, the nurses felt confident that Jodi could hold Taylor again. However, she had a fairly serious episode during the skin to skin where she stopped breathing and needed a team of healthcare professionals to intervene. Needless to say it was a very intense time. It was determined that some secretions in her lungs had caused a blockage when she was moved from a horizontal to more vertical position. Thankfully she was stabilized and is again doing well. Like her brother Liam, Taylor has needed a blood transfusion for low hemoglobin levels. Another obstacle Taylor faced this Sunday was another skin reaction causing a burn mark on her arm where the PICC line was inserted. The PICC line was removed and antibiotics started in case of infection. A temporary IV is now in her hand and another in the top of her head. All the poke marks, IVs, burn marks, and lines on her tiny body are so sad to see. Happily, Taylor has started to gain a few grams (as you probably know, babies always lose weight after birth).

Malachi:
While our youngest triplet has been mostly stable these past days, he has had some difficulties persist. The chest tube to empty the air between his lungs and ribs remains in although it has been clamped closed. This will be monitored with more x-rays in the next day to try remove as soon as possible. He still requires a lot more oxygen and breathing support than his siblings. On Monday afternoon, a PICC line was finally put in to replace the temporary IVs. It hadn't been done yet because Malachi had not been stable enough for the doctors to feel comfortable to do this. All three triplets have had three doses of medication to treat the PDA which causes a heart murmur. The nurses on Monday afternoon heard murmers still in Liam and Taylor (which could still resolve) but not in Malachi (although it could still be there).

We continue to covet your prayers especially as we start to come to terms with the long-term plans and implications. At this point, the doctors have told us that we can expect our babies to be in the hospital until at least their original due date which is February 20th, 2017. We praise the LORD that He continues to preserve life and allows our babies to be doing relatively well for their gestational age, which is 26  weeks. May He answer our fervent prayers! Thanks also to everyone for their support and prayers.

The Triplets are Born

This blog is intended to keep our family, friends, and church family updated on our little triplets, as it is very difficult to keep everyone update regularly. As you can imagine, many changes and updates happen daily and even hourly with each baby, so will try to stay as concise in our updates.

On November 9, 2016 our triplets were born at 25 weeks and 2 days. We were aware of the higher risks of preterm labour with triplets throughout the pregnancy. Jodi was also put on hospital bedrest on October 31 due to a shortened cervix. However, their arrival was still very much a surprise but our Heavenly Father in His perfect wisdom determined it was time. At 8:00 am, Jodi started feeling some pains. By 10:00 am it was determined that she was in labour and Nathan arrived at the hospital quickly from work. At 11:00 am the doctors decided it was time to do a c-secttion.

At 12:56 pm, Liam Josiah was born weighing 1 lb 15 oz. At 12:57 pm Taylor Joy was born weighing 1 lb 10 oz. At 12:59 pm, Malachi John was born weighing 1 lb 14 oz.

Each baby was immediately whisked away by a team of doctors and health care professionals. They were all intubated and put on breathing support, and put on special IVs through their umbilical cords. Many monitors and probes were attached to their tiny bodies to monitor different things like heart rates, temperatures, oxygen levels, etc. They were then taken to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) once they were stable. Thank the LORD that each of them were able to be stabilized by the late afternoon, though many challenges are faced by these little ones each day.

We will try to give a summary of each baby from their birth on Wednesday afternoon until the time of writing on Saturday evening.

Liam:
Our biggest baby boy has the easiest time breathing out of the triplets, yet still requires much support for his underdeveloped lungs. The doctors tried to take out his breathing tube and put him on a different support called CPAP, but Liam needed to be intubated again when his little body couldn't handle the lesser support. He has been given two doses of surfactant, which help his lungs to breathe. His skin reacted to some sanitization around his umbilical cord shortly after birth, and as a result he still has a fairly large burn but that is starting to heal nicely. On Thursday, a head ultrasound of the brain showed a small amount of bleeding in the brain which the doctors will continue to monitor. However, they are fairly optimistic it can resolve on its own. On Friday, the IV in his umbilical cord was replaced with a more permanent IV called a PICC line. On Saturday, Liam was given medication for his heart for something called a PDA which results in a heart murmer. Liam has also been treated with phototherapy for jaundice, which is very common for babies. The doctors have started Liam on 1 milliliter of breast milk - through a feeding tube, yet he does not always take well to it with his tiny stomach which was not developed for food yet.

Taylor:
Our baby girl is the smallest of the triplets yet has proven to be quite feisty. Her journey has been quite similar to Liam's journey including  two doses of surfactant, a small burn on her skin as well, a small amount of bleeding in her brain, a new PICC line to replace the umbilical IVs, medication for a PDA as well, and treatment for jaundice. On Wednesday, the doctors had to take out one of the umbilical IVs when her foot started to turn colour due to lack of oxygen. The extra handling that all of this took made for a rough first night for our baby but she pulled through. Taylor has also been having drops in her heart rate for which the doctors and nurses have been changing her breathing support settings to try resolve the issue. On Saturday afternoon, Taylor was stable enough that Jodi was able to hold our baby for the first time and she responded well with improved oxygen levels. Taylor has also been started on 1 millileter of breast milk every few hours.

Malachi:
Our smaller baby boy has had a difficult time with his tiny lungs. The doctors have often had to turn up his oxygen support levels moreso than the other two babies which have made for some rough patches. On Thursday, it was determined that Malachi had air between his lungs and rib cage. The doctors put in a tiny needle in the side of his chest cavity to drain the air. The air remained a problem on Friday as well. It is the hope that the hole or multiple holes in his lung can heal quickly and the chest tube removed, as it is invasive and painful. On Friday, Malachi's left lung partially collapsed. Thankfully, the lung has been improving as of Saturday night, although it is still not up to full inflation. Malachi is not yet ready for a PICC line although it is the hope in the future. Malachi also needs to be treated for PDA yet as of Saturday evening, the doctors weren't confident he was stable enough for the medication. We are also thankful that Malachi has not shown any bleeding in the brain, though doctors will continue to monitor this as well.

Through all these ups and downs, we trust in our Heavenly Father to watch over and be with our tiny little blessings. As parents, we feel so helpless yet we know that our God is in control of these precious lives. We are so thankful for the many prayers that have gone up and continue to go up for our babies. We covet your prayers! Many people have sent us Psalm 139 as encouragement: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them" (verses 13-16).

Many of you have been asking about visiting. As of yet, we have not been having many visitors due to the overwhelming emotions and exhaustion we have been facing and business of meetings with various medical professionals. As things settle down we are happy to have visitors for Nathan and Jodi. However, we will not be allowing everyone into the NICU to visit our babies. There are many sick little babies in the NICU and there are many rules to control for germs. Our babies too are very fragile and cannot be exposed to many different people. We hope you can understand.