Saturday

I know that I have quite a few people who have been asking about last Saturday. I will start with what I do remember of that day. John and I went to his cousin Lauren's house for a bbq. John's family and their friends were there and we were all having a good time. The only person there that I had met that was there (obviously other than John) was Lauren. John and Lauren were talking about memories that they had from growing up and about what other people in the family were up to. The last thing that I remember is that Lauren was getting John his Dad's, John's Uncle Marty's, phone number for him off of his phone. The next thing I remember is everyone being surrounded around me and John telling me to just stay with him and then Lauren saying that the ambulance is almost there. Once the paramedics got there they started asking me questions and when I would try to talk I could just mumble. I couldn't talk completely until I got to the hospital a half hour away and the last thing that I was able to ask is if I was going to be alright. I knew that there was something wrong with me but I still to this day have no memory of it.
I guess that what happened is that we were all sitting around talking. John and Lauren were talking about his Dad's move to Washington Dc and all of the things that he still hadn't gone and seen since he has been back there. I was talking with them and I remember everything up to when it happened. John all of a sudden heard the chair that I was sitting in shaking. It was pretty dark outside at that point but he looks over and asks if I am OK. I now know that I was having a seizure. John held on to me for the whole time and talked to me and told me to just stay with him. Lauren and Jarad's Mom had stopped by and her daughter had just had a baby. When she had the baby she had a seizure so she knew that I was having one.
Throughout the whole pregnancy my blood pressure was very good, I didn't even have one high reading and it was monitored every few hours during my whole month stay in the hospital, but my first reading in the ambulance was 170 something/ over something. It turns out that I got postpartum eclampsia. Most people get preeclampsia or eclampsia but the rare few get postpartum eclampsia. Basically I will be OK now that it has happened. Who knows if John will be though, he is pretty traumatized.

Update on Mason

Mason's xrays showed that the infection is in his bowels. Now they are able to give him an antibiotic that will help his specific issue. He will be on them for 10 days. Once he is done with them they will start feeding him milk again. They are also slowly weaning him off of the ventilator because he isn't really needing it. It is sad to see him in so much pain and not be able to do anything for him.

Infection

Today Mason took a big step back. The last few days he has had some issues where he was forgetting to breath and his oxygen levels desaturated. Today he was doing this a lot more and they found that he had a lot of residuals left in his tummy. The Dr's think that he is fighting an infection. Because a preemies neurological system is less developed they can forget to do things such as breathing while they are sick. Because he was forgetting to breath quite a bit early today they decided to put him on a ventilator. I really thought that since the babies are now 11 days old and none of them have needed any breathing assistance that we were going to avoid any of them needing a ventilator... guess I was wrong. Basically what we know right now is that Mason appears to be sick and that he has an infection. He had lab work done to determine what the infection is but that wont be back for a few days. Right now they are giving him a general antibiotic to kill the infection until they know what is actually wrong and they can tailor the medication to the specific issue. This has been a horrible day and I don't think that I have ever cried so much.

The other 2 are still looking good. Alyssa is doing better with her feedings and she hasn't been having any residuals like she was having even yesterday. Kyle is doing great with everything. His feedings have been increased to 28ml and he has been gaining weight.

Also, All babies are above their birth weight now. I was also told that Alyssa is currently the smallest baby in the whole Nicu.

Poop

Today Alyssa's belly started tolerating milk. She is only getting 1cc every 3 hours but it is a start. Her body is digesting the milk and she is pooping. I never thought that I would be so excited over poop but it is the first time that she went on her own.
Mason is getting 35cc of milk every 3 hours. He has some reflux but it seems to be pretty normal and they say that it will go away as his body becomes more developed.
Kyle is the only baby that is currently above his birth weight. He started out at 2lb 15.3 oz and now he is 3lb 3oz.

8 Days Old

Mason, Kyle, and Alyssa are all still doing very well. How feeding preemies works is that they start out receiving their nutrients as fluids though iv's. They are then given milk through their feeding tubes and as they get more and more milk they get less and less iv fluids. Once they are getting their full feeding through the tube they no longer receive any nutrients through their iv and the iv is removed. Then the feedings start to be given orally. Anything that is not given orally is then put into the tube. Once the full feeding is taken orally the tube is then removed. The reason this process has to happen is because when the babies are really little they burn more calories sucking than they get from the milk they are getting. Right now Alyssa is still getting her entire feedings in the form of iv fluids. Her belly isn't ready for milk yet and when she is given milk it doesn't digest. This is a pretty normal thing for a preemie to have a hard time with so no one seems too concerned. Basically once her belly is more developed she will be able to handle the feeds and they will start the process of building her up to full feeds and stopping the iv. Mason and Kyle are both doing great with their feedings. They are both receiving their entire feeding though the tube and have had their iv's removed. They should start to get some of their milk orally very soon.
Having 3 babies in the NICU is not an easy thing. It is so strange because they are our babies but we don't take care of them and we even have to ask before we can hold them. I hope that they all progress quickly and that we will all be able to go home soon. I know life will be different than it was before the babies came but I can't wait for our new normal to start and for this chapter of our lives to be behind us.

BABIES ARE HERE!

The babies were born on September 3, 2010. Mason Howard was born at 2:41pm, 3lbs 13oz, 16.4 inches (I was told that Mason was 16.4 in long but he was actually 16.5 in long), and had apgars of 8 and 9. Kyle Joseph was born at 2:42pm, 2lbs 15.3oz, 16.5 inches, and had apgars of 7 and 9. Alyssa Hope was born at 2:43pm, 1lb 6.8oz, 11.02 inches and had apgars of 7 and 8. Everyone is doing very well and doing everything on their own.

Happy Birthday Mason
Happy Birthday Kyle
Happy Birthday Alyssa

4 Weeks

Today I have been in the hospital for 4 weeks, which is insane. When I came down here I never thought that I would be pregnant at the end of that first weekend so I am very surprised that a month later I am still here and everything seems to be going really good. Tomorrow I will have another growth scan done on the babies and after we will meet with the dr and discuss a c-section date. If Alyssa apears to be smaller than last time I will have the babies tomorrow, September 3rd. If the ultrasound shows that she hasn't had any growth they will probably do a c-section on Monday September 6th. If she has shown growth the c-section will be scheduled for either Friday September 10th or Monday September 13th. I guess that it could also be any day between now and the scheduled time if there were to be an emergency or I were to go into labor. It is really getting close to the time when the babies will be here no matter which of day they are born on.
I am getting really excited to meet Kyle, Mason, and Alyssa.