I going to try to cram a ton into this blog post. Part I - then and now comparisons. Part II - this week's updates. Part III - a picture review of our year.
Here are the babies hand and foot comparisons. We weren't able to take the babies' hand and foot prints for the first 10 days because their skin wasn't developed enough and it was so fragile and transparent. Here are some pics I took today showing the difference. The first picture is Sammy's hand print in relation to a quarter. A QUARTER.
Sammy
Danny
Elsie
Here are some diaper comparisons. It also should be noted that for over 6 weeks these micro preemie diapers were too big and we had to fold them over to fit.
Here it is on Elsie a few hours after birth.
You can see her leg has a huge gap in the opening.
Here it is on Elsie on Day 5. lt is folded in half on the top.
My last comparison are the light goggles. To help break down the babies' bilirubin they would don these foam goggles and do light therapy. The next pictures are Elsie wearing them on day 3, day 5, and on day 360.
Ok, now some updates from this week.
Yay for Sammy for finally pushing himself up to a sit. Until now he would sit if you put him there, but if left to his own devices would never leave his belly on the floor. The boy knows what he likes. He's still not showing any desire to stand (unless in the exersaucer or bouncy), but I really feel it is just because he is too laid back. He could do it if he wanted to, but he is perfectly content playing on the floor. He also loves the dogs. And wires. Those are his two favorite things. If he sees either of those, he speed crawls over on a mission. I unplug everything because he unplugs things and then sticks them in his mouth. Good times. At least he is a lot more gentle with the dogs. He likes to barely touch them with his hand and smile at them. Early intervention is amazed at how much he likes to figure things out. My little engineer.
Danny is moving forward with no fear. Stands up on everything, holds on with only 1 hand, let's go and falls down. Rinse and repeat. For 12 hours a day. Nothing will stop him. He loves exploring. He loves eating, and gets grumpy when he has to wait his turn for the next spoonful. He also loves to hide and poop. He crawls into the dining room and gets in the corner beside the cabinet and gets real quiet and poops. It's like my old dog Mocha crawling into the bushes so she won't be seen. This morning he came down with a fever, and has been a cuddly little teddy bear all day. Absolutely no fussing which is amazing because I had envisioned him to be 10X the normal Danny when sick, and that has done a total reversal.
Elsie is also standing and pulling herself up. She started trying the walk behind toys, and is really getting the idea of alternating her legs to walk. Watch out world. She is also perfecting her smirk. She likes to show it when she gets in trouble. Like when she is pulling Sammy's hair and I tell her to stop, and she turns and smirks as she slowly lets go.
She is gonna give us a run for her money. On a good note, she is getting a lot more comfortable letting the others touch her. Until this past week, if they got within 6 inches of her personal space a loud, piercing, whiny scream was released. It was like they were poking at her with fire torches. Seriously. Now that they are moving a lot more, I think they realize they have the control to get close and move away on their own. Of course moving away may mean putting both feet on her brothers' head and pushing herself in the opposite direction. Or crawling over them to go somewhere else. She's a brut!
Here are some pics and 2 videos from this week. Group, Sammy, Danny, Elsie, videos.
Oh Elsie, I love you so much.
And by love I mean I'm going to crawl over your head.
3 babies and 2 doggies. Daddy's got his hands full.
Oh Sammy you are trying to get by?
Why don't I just lean back and use you as a chair then.
Our walks are getting cooler
Look, we play nice together
snack time!
Sammy
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Danny
He loves the bath
my smiley boy
So I started introducing the sippy cup. some days it goes like this...
other days it goes like this...
mini wookie
love this shirt
my sick boy
he never sleeps on the floor :(
Elsie
Let me out!
this is her trouble face
she caves in and drinks from the sippy cup
playing with Sammy in his fort
yogurt face
just pushing my new toy
here is Danny clapping and the babies playing
Bath time
OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
June 6th. Just 6 weeks and 5 days into our pregnancy we found out we had triplets.
My 8 week belly
July 2 at 11 weeks
My 13 week belly.
15 weeks
18 weeks. Not even half way! Woah
Minivan time
23 weeks
23 weeks
My last pregnancy photo taken 4 days before the babies were born.
September 27th at 11:20 pm I broke my water. By midnight Miguel and I were at Women and Infants Hospital. I was admitted and went almost 20 hours with not one contraction. Then in less than 2 hours of accelerated labor, our babies were taken via emergency c-section. Here are some pics Miguel snapped before they were rushed out of the OR.
Samuel Joah born at 9:30pm weighing 770 grams
Daniel Michael born at 9:31 pm weighing 780 grams
Elsie Mae born at 9:32 pm weighing 700 grams.
OCTOBER
Danny
Elsie
Sammy
NOVEMBER
Sammy
Danny
Elsie
First time holding the boys together
DECEMBER
Elsie
Danny
Sammy
First time holding all 3 of my munchkins. 12 weeks old.
Our first family photo
JANUARY
Sammy
Elsie
Danny
FEBRUARY - WE'RE HOME!
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
And here we are back in September, just days away from their first birthday. We are so blessed and we count those blessings every day. We will never take for granted our 24 week miracles. Thank you for sharing our journey, and we look forward to many more blog posts as the triplets grow.
We were featured in an article for Women and Infants hospital, and the nurse manager (and I can't tell you how many times I gave this woman grief) gave this quote...
Beth Taub, NICU nurse manager, says, “Those babies did so well because their mother would not have it any other way. She basically willed them to survive. She hardly left their side. She worked day and night with the medical team to care for those babies.”
That is by far the best compliment I've ever been given. And I hope to continue to live up to this quote for the rest of their lives.
Happy 1st birthday babies!
