Just an update

Okay so it's been forever since I've written...well actually I started an entry all about food and feeding (known to most as eating, however to us in our preemie-feeding-issue world, it's called feeding) and how this singular thing has overtaken my life...but I think I'll save that for later. So instead I thought I'd do a quick update on the babies.

Avery has been sitting independently, in the non-physical therapy world this means she sits by herself:) she has also begun to bear weight in her hands and reaches across midline while sitting. She has also been feeding tube free for 10 days!!!! Yea Avery! I am so proud of her. She had been so consistant with 4 of her 5 feeds per day that we decided to give her a weekend and see how she did, well she did great so we kept on going. She has had no problem gaining weight - she now weighs 15lbs 12oz!!!! She even has started this funny inch-worm crawl where she plants the top of her head into the floor, tucks her knees up under her, sticks her rear in the air and then pushes with her feet, which sometimes makes her go backwards. So cute, but a little counterproductive.

Lily is working on sitting independenty and can roll over really well from back to belly, although most times she is quite content to be on her back looking at toys that she just reaches around and finds. So, we have to put the toys just out of reach so she has some incentive to roll over to get them. She is so happy, always smiling and laughs the cutest little belly laugh you've ever heard. If I could ever figure out how to post a video I'll post one. She's still got here feeding tube, but is primarily used for one feeding per day. We tried her without her tube, but she just isn't ready yet...we'll give her a few more weeks. She has come a couple of times with me to Zoe's school to "pretend" to be Zoe while we were awaiting the teacher's non-medical credentialing. She does so well, it is so fun to see my little girl responding to the teacher, eager to do what Linda is trying to get her to do. It is just so cool!

Drum roll please..........Zoe IS coming home!!!! It might not be ON October 7th but it WILL be sometime that week. She is doing great! Except for the teething, she is bright-eyed, happy, smiling, laughing...just so cute. Her teacher did get her hospital priviledges so we'll get to see her in Zoe's room on Tuesday. Afterwards I'll get equipment training on all the equipment Zoe will come home with (oxygen, nebulizer, suction, pulse ox & apnea monitor) and then on Wednesday I'll get to spend a twelve hour shift "nesting" with Zoe. They have a room that is set up like a little suite and parents can spend 8 to 24 hours with their baby taking care of them without the help of the nurses, unless needed. I'm very excited to have this opportunity to actually take care of MY baby. We get to spend a whole day together, just us.

So I the next post will be her homecoming unless something really exciting happens in the meantime. Oh, and does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get Lily's hair to lay down????

Discharge on the horizon????

I'm afraid I'm jinxing it by putting it in writing...but Dr. Manar said Zoe may be ready to go home on October 7th. I type this with a very light touch as if I were holding my breath through my fingers. She's really been doing great, she smiles, she laughs (sometimes she laughs so hard she spits up), she goes visiting in the unit in her stroller, complete with shades and a sun hat, she's rolling side to side, she's taking three bottles a day, and she's been on 3/4 - 1 liter of O2 flow on her canula pretty consistently. So keep your prayers coming that she is strong enough to come home and that she will very, very soon!

Family Fun

Can you believe it? Richard and I were alone with our babies on Saturday! We usually have at least one or more relatives with us to help...but we had them all to ourselves today and we decided to have a family day. Usually Richard or I go to see Zoe by ourselves on the weekends so she can have our undivided attention, but today we thought a family outing would be nice. It was a pretty active afternoon and all three girls got totally worn out!!\

Rascal 1 and Rascal 2 - looking like they might be about to get into something. I didn't realize that 8 1/2 month old (5 months adjusted) babies would start exhibiting their personalities to such a full extent!

Zo-Zo was exhausted from the visit!

Here's mom, multi-tasking - A and L played in Z's bed while Z snuggled

Z got a haircut! Her baby hair has started to fall out and her new hair has started to come in. The poor girl looked like she had a mohawk and a mullet because her baby hair was soooo long but had become a bit scraggily!

Zo-Zo also got to try some fruit today for the first time! Daddy gave her pears which she liked. I swear, my baby who was on the ventilator for 14 weeks is going to be the best eater out of the three!! The one most likely to have oral aversions, likes to eat. If her lungs were stronger she'd eat more I'm sure...she just gets tired.

A novel concept - opening your mouth to eat!! A and L - take notes!

We had a great time and I just looked at Richard in my state of bliss, huge smile on my face and said "I am so happy right now" the only thing better would be if we had been at home! Soon enough :)

Thank You Stefanie!!!

I have to send a "giddy with delight" thank you to Stefanie - fellow triplet-mom-blogger - who has created the new look for our blog! Isn't it fabulous!! So perfect, I love it so much!!! You can visit her blog at http://triple-take.blogspot.com she is a very talented photographer and graphic artist, a great wrtier and most importantly an amazing mom.

Thank you Stefanie!!! I hope our trips will meet one day :)

Advocating for Zoe

About a week ago I had a very unsettling and upsetting experience at the hospital. The day started out just fine, it was Tuesday so it was our day for our teacher to come to visit Zoe at the hospital. Lily was requiring a lot of extra attention due to an upset stomach so I brought Avery with me. When we got to her bedside Zoe was sitting in her stroller with about 4 nurses surrounding her and she was just smiling and smiling. She is such a social little girl.

Our session started and wasn't going great. I think Zoe was a little overstimulated by all the attention she was getting so she started to get a little fussy. I was holding her and the teacher, audiologist and nurse were all with me. Just then the nurse manager came into the room and asked the teacher to step out. About five minutes later she came back and said to me "We have a problem, you can't have people from outside agencies coming into the hospital to work with Zoe. Your teacher needs to leave now. This is for Zoe's safety." I was absolutely dumbfounded and I became rather hysterical and she began to tell me that we could not have this educator come in to work with me and Zoe. She said that the hospital could provide these services and i said no, they can't because we are pursuing an auditory-oral education for Zoe and the hospital does not provide this at all. I got so mad and so angry that yet again someone else was telling me what I could and could not do for my child. My entire body shook at least an hour afterwards. I just could not see how this would cause any harm whatsoever to Zoe and it later came out that someone had complained and said that Zoe de-sated into the 40s during the session - this was not in fact true as I was there the entire time as were a couple of nurses and Zoe NEVER de-sated like that.

Later that day the nurse manager came back once Richard arrived and we had both calmed down. She said she would arrange a meeting so this could be discussed. Her intention was to prove to us the hospital could provide all necessary services for Zoe. What became evident in this second discussion is that the hospital is completely ignorant about Georgia PINES and The Atlanta Speech School and just look at them as outside specialists that you use once you go home. Well, Zoe and we, her family, benefit tremendously from these support and education services. I spoke at length with Zoe's doc who was solidly on our side which was very nice.

We arrived at the hospital on Tuesday morning bright and early and met with the neonatologist, nurse manager, audiologist, OTPT, audiology dept head, patient relations, and her primary nurses. It started with the nurse mgr asking OTPT and audiology to tell us what they provide for Zoe - which we of course already knew. Dr. Manar then said "Ok, so what can we do to get the outside agencies into the hospital so they can work with mom and dad?" I loved that she just said okay, enough dancing around, let's cut to the chase and get on with it. It ended with them agreeing that these people could come in provided that they got non-medical credentialing, one of us is always at the bedside with them, and a nurse is always with us to make sure Zoe doesn't overdo it. One thing that was really great to hear during the meeting was when one of her nurses spoke about how well Richard and I know Zoe and how well we handle her episodes and know just what to do so she doesn't get into trouble. I had often felt like the nurses didn't think I knew what to do for Zoe, but that really helped my confidence.

The interesting part came after the meeting when I was back in Zoe's room and two different people who attended the meeting came by to make sure that I knew that the complaint had not come from them. Interesting....so it obviously came from someone who didn't even work with Zoe! The main thing I'm pleased with is that we were able to make this right for Zoe so she doesn't have to wait to take advantage of this education. I am so excited to really get started in earnest. I have also felt so blessed to have the speech school and GA Pines as the people who work with these organizations have such an incredible level of commitment to us and our daughter that they will jump through the hospital's policy hoops in order to make this happen for Zoe. They are always so supportive and available. I feel so secure in knowing that we have such incredible support to help our daughter have the best future possible!

These girls are soooo fun!!!

Zoe is getting so big and strong, she likes to sit up in her Bumbo seat, take stroller rides around the NICU, her nurse today even brought her on her breakfast break! She was full on belly laughing the other day, her smile stretched from ear to ear, both dimples were showing and her belly was shaking - what a vision!!

In their birthorder - Avery is 1 of 3, Lily is 2 of 3, and Zoe is 3 of 3

Avery helped Dr. Manar do rounds on Monday

Avery's sneakier side came out as she stole toy after toy of Lily's!

Game Day

Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit for the holiday weekend. We had lots of fun!

We practiced our tackling on Game day. (Notice that Avery has Zoe's g-tube in her mouth! eww!!!)

All we can say is "Goooooooooooooooooo Dawgs! Sic 'em woof woof woof woof!!!!

Daddy's birthday party

For Daddy's birthday we had a luau - it was lots of fun. Mom got us some cool new shades just for the occasion.

We had lots of fun a the party, we danced to hula music and everything! The only thing missing was Zoe. We missed her a lot.