We have reached a big milestone. Our boys are oficially past their due date which means the medical community no longer sees them as "negative” in age. Today we are 12 weeks old or 2 days adjusted. All of the boys are showing us that they are really here now. Oscar took off rolling over late last week, and Mylo is grabbing on to things, and Victor is sitting here breathing room air as we speak! We are all making strides in the right direction which is a huge relief.
This has by far been the longest stretch of our journey (aka the most tears from mama). It's really hard leaving them in either direction and I always feel like I'm in the wrong place, but I have to trust my instincts and keep some words of advice from a former NICU multiple mom in mind, "go where the need is greatest." This changes day by day and hour by hour, but it helps me know that I'm doing what is best. I've decided that where we are now with two home and one here at Children's is like Mile 20 in the marathons I've run. You've gone too far to give up but the wall you have hit seems insurmountable. I know from my training that I need to get to mile 23, that's where you get that final wind that makes the finish fun (and possible). I've never run a race I didn't finish and this one will not be any different, except the reward will be a whole lot greater than a finisher medal and a long sleeve t-shirt!
So it's looking like blogging may only be a monthly occurrence in my new life as the mother of triplets, but I'll try to keep everyone posted a little more frequently as time goes on. As I type, Oscar is nodding off in his bouncer after a morning bath at HOME! So that would be our biggest news. We have one baby home! Hopefully our brothers are close behind. I have a lot of photos and videos to sort through, but for now here is our family Christmas photos in the ICC:
Victor is coming along, but as we've said before his road is simply going to be a bit longer than the others. After weeks of not being able to kick the oxygen habit, he has officially been diagnosed as Chronic Lung Disorder or more officially Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. This means that it will simply take him longer to get off oxygen as his lungs have more developing to do and some scarring likely from the intubation during his surgery and we have to move forward with that as a part of his life for now. That means that we are beginning to work on feedings by mouth with Occupational Therapy despite his breathing challenges and if everything else looks good and his oxygen needs have come to a baseline we could come home with oxygen. This is very scary for Marty and I, but as I look at the children around the hospital who are heading out to their cars hooked up to IV's and monitors of all sorts, I remind myself that we are really very lucky if this is all we come home with. Even with all this Victor is really looking amazing to us these days. Along with the Chronic Lung often comes water retention and swelling so Victor often looked really puffy and uncomfortable in his own skin, but with the diagnosis came treatment for the water retention and he's filling out in a chubby baby way, not a uncomfortable puffy way which is very exciting to see! Victor remains our attentive little guy who spends more of his time awake and just taking it all in. He loves music and listening to his family talk. He is also our super snuggle bunny and when you cuddle him in close his oxygen needs and heart rate go down and he relaxes right in. I have visions of life with all of them at home: Victor permanently attached to me or Marty in a sling or pack while we play with the other boys. He just likes to be held close.
Oscar, like I said, is HOME! Oscar came home on December 22nd after 61 days in the hospital and became the best Christmas present ever. We are thoroughly enjoying having him here and can't wait for his brothers to join him. The world here is certainly more stimulating than the hospital and Oscar is taking it all in. When he's awake he spends lots of time just looking around and is very content to hang out in his bouncer or on a boppy by me telling us stories. He's getting pretty good at outings since there are plenty of follow up appointments that come along with being a preemie and we go in often to see our brothers. With these though we know that he is growing and right on track for his age. He has an appropriate level of disdain for diaper changes and certainly lets us know he'd rather be doing just about anything else, but all in all Oscar is very content and is letting Marty and I sleep occasionally. We should see very little delay with our little Oscar and really our only remaining issue is a mini war on diaper rash which I appear to have won with my nipple cream--hey, whatever works right?!
Mylo is ready to come home.....almost. He passed his car seat test the same day as Oscar, but was still working on feedings. Mylo is just hanging out and has a very good "don't bug me mom" groan whenever we try to wake up to eat or changing diapers or whatever. Mylo is our sleeper and wanting to sleep all the time is getting in the way of eating enough to grow without the help of his feeding tube. As of yesterday, he is on his second round of ad lib feedings where he gets to decide when and how much he eats for a day or two and if he grows, he goes home, if he doesn't he goes back to tube feedings and we try again in a few days. This time seems to be going better and we are hopeful that we will have Mylo home by the weekend. We're pretty sure that Mylo knows how sad mommy will be when the day comes where we have to leave Victor alone in the hospital and he is being a holdout to keep the peace in the family.
Mommy and Daddy are doing well through all of this. Marty is stretched very thin between work and the hospital and now, with a baby at home, that only gets more difficult. He's a great sport helping out with midnight feedings though so I can get a little sleep, too. We are both very ready to have our family in one place as the running around is getting very old, but we are very thankful to my mom who has come to stay so that we can get back and forth without packing Oscar up every time. I'm enjoying hearing my mom interact with Oscar as she is quite the baby whisperer and her way with him is magical.
