Sammy's surgery & Spell watch

Sammy's surgery went well yesterday.  Nurse Donna put him in a transport bed around noon and we headed over to Hasbro Children's hospital.   It was cool to see that all of the hospitals in the 2 blocks are connected via underground tunnels.  Reminds me of the Magic Kingdom tunnels for those of you ex-Disney folks.

The Dr. brought him into the ER just after 1 pm, and the wait began.  It was an agonizing 2.5 hours.  At 3:45 he came in and met with us.  He said his hernia was much bigger than he thought it was going to be, but that the repair went well. They transported him back to his room in the NICU and we waited for him to wake up.  By 6 pm he was coming to and very unhappy with the vent tube.  We had to soothe him for an hour to make sure he was awake enough to breathe without it.  At 7:15 the tube came out, and the team gave him a cannula to help ease with the transition.  By midnight he ate a full feed and the cannula was removed.  Amazing how resilient babies are.  We couldn't have asked for a better outcome of the day.  Another big hurdle behind us.

Elsie Mae decided she would like a little longer here with her brothers.  She had a spell this morning that dropped her heart rate and her oxygen levels.  This will restart her spell watch clock to Day 1.  She needs to be spell free for 5 days.  So earliest she can come home now is Wednesday.  I was a little sad, but I don't want the anxiety of thinking they could stop breathing at any time if they are home.  I would rather wait until they show us they are completely ready.

We took some pics of the babies in their Christmas outfits the other day...so I added those to the bottom of the post. 

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers you sent our way yesterday, Miguel and I are so grateful for all of your support.

 

On his way to the OR

Waiting to go in

Just after surgery with his vent tube

Down to a nasal cannula

Good morning everyone! I'm doing good today!

From the left:  Sammy, Danny, Elsie

The dream team of nurses :)

With Vavo and Vavoa

From the back:  Sammy, Danny, and Elsie

Elsie Mae

Sammy and Danny

Sammy

T minus 48 hours!

It's been two days but there is so much new to report I had to do another blog post!

First, let's start with all three babies had their feeding tubes removed! HUGE MILESTONE!  Now this means they cannot be lazy, they have to make sure they eat enough food to continue to gain weight. To assist in this matter, we are 'topping off' each baby with a little formula after they nurse.  It was so hard for me when we introduced formula this week, because the babies have had breast milk exclusively for the last three and a half months. I am still making just enough to keep up with their feeds, but it is unrealistic to think that I am going to be able to nurse three babies AND still pump once they are home. From talking to a few other triplet moms, they say pumping is the first thing to go out the window when babies come home, and I want to have a plan in play that will work for both me and the babies.

As I've said before, there are a few requirements before babies can come home. First is maintaining body temperature and all three babies do that.  Second is breathing on their own with no oxygen requirements or spells. Third is taking all feeds by mouth, which all three babies now do.  So the only thing holding us back right now are the occasional spells the babies have when eating, sleeping, or spitting up.

Twice this week during rounds, the doctors have reported that Elsie has had no spells in a 24 hour period. On the days that she has had a spell, it has been during feeding when she gets a little too much milk and chokes, or after a feeding when her reflux makes her spit up. Either way she manages to self recover without intervention. So I'm happy to report that she has been put on the discharge dashboard, and if she has no spells in the next 48 hours will come home with us Saturday evening!!!

In other great news, they feel Sammy is almost there as well. However, Sammy has a hernia operation tomorrow afternoon and so they will not start his spell watch until the beginning of next week.  Sending our baby to surgery is scary because they intubate him and put him under general anesthesia.  Our hope is he will be able to be re-extubated immediately after surgery and not go backwards and require oxygen.

Danny has been in room oxygen for 4 days so I hope tomorrow is the day he loses his cannula. 

Here are some pics.

Elsie

Danny

Sammy

Elsie's game face

Can you hear me now?

Yesterday was day 100 in the NICU. wow.

The babies had their hearing exams today....all 3 passed!  We will repeat them at 6 months old.

So Sammy has figured it out.  Starting 2 days ago, he came off his cannula and has been breathing room air.  He has also taken all his feeds by mouth.  Nursing full feeds for me during the day, and taking all his feeds at night by bottle.  This is awesome.  They are talking about pulling the feeding tube tomorrow, and then he will go on a 5 day spell watch.  I think he will struggle on the 5 day spell watch because he holds his breath a little bit when he's trying to poop.  This dips his oxygen and heart rate down for a few seconds, qualifying as a spell.  I'm seriously considering slipping a little extra pear juice in his bottle to avoid this. :)  Also, I will get more pics of him cannula free soon and post.

Elsie is still in room air.  She can work on feeding a bit more.  Seems she is a little particular, preferring to nurse over taking a bottle.  I hate to disappoint you girlie, but in case you didn't notice, you aren't the only to mouth to feed around here lol.  Hoping her hunger overrides her preferences and she gets on the bottle train.

Danny is still on his cannula but sitting in room air with no oxygen supplement.  So hoping he loses the cannula altogether this week.  As for feeding, the boy wakes up 15 minutes before care time, and is instantly famished.  It goes open eyes, open mouth.  And he is the most vocal, making it abundantly clear he is ready to eat.  After he feeds, he rallies, and stays awake sucking his binkie for up to 2 hours.  He is so persistent.  And determined.  Boy on a mission.

The babies' room is coming together, hoping to have it done by the end of the week, just in time to start bringing babies home!

Here are some pics:
  

Sammy

after his eye exam :(

Danny

Danny on the left, Sammy on the right

Elsie

Game On

Happy New Year everyone!

Sammy had his follow up eye appointment this morning and the doctor said (and I quote) "his eyes look great".  This means the Avastin injections did their job to make the angry, engorged vessels regress.  We still don't know what the overall outcome of his eyesight will be, but at least now he has a clean slate so the good vessels can grow and improve eye sight. The more good vessel growth, the better his vision will be.

In other awesome news, Elsie had her first 'no spell' day. In rounds they report how many spells (heart rates drop, oxygen dsat below 90% or both) each baby has had in the last 24 hours.  When the doctor reported zero there was a lot of smiling and Woo hoo - ing from the team,  Miguel and I included :)  She is getting closer to coming home,  her next big hurdle is feeding.  Although she is nursing and taking a bottle, she still gets tired and requires the remainder of some feeds be pumped through the tube in her nose.  She currently takes about 60% by mouth,  40% by tube, which has more than doubled in a week.  So once she takes almost all by mouth they will put her on a spell watch. After 5 days of no spells she goes home! My guess is two weeks. 

Here are some pics:

Elsie sneaking a smile

Sleeping on Mommy

Sleeping all sprawled out

Sammy the gangsta

love the jeans! 

 Sammy cuddling with Grammie

Sammy sleeping

Danny

Here is a video of Danny. He has already nursed for 40 minutes, taken a bottle with more milk and is being burped by Daddy.  He appears so famished in this video that I nursed him again for 30 more minutes after we took this. This kid is going to eat us out of house and home!  Also, Miguel would like me to point out that he is not choking Danny, that this method is how we were taught to protect their airway as they burp to avoid reflux :)