Party of Five

As I'm sure you all know, our babies arrived early & made this Christmas a VERY memorable one! So many things have happened over the past few weeks & is already starting to blend together, so while it is still fresh in my mind, I will try to summarize everything!



Friday (12.17): Made it through the fall semester - WHOO HOO!!!!! Time to relax & enjoy Christmas Break (& bed rest)!

Saturday (12.18): Happy 29 weeks babies!

Sunday (12.19): Celebrated brother-in-law & sister-in-law's baptism, then started to experience the most intense "indigestion" that lasted all afternoon, evening & throughout the night (finally got some relief around 4am).

Monday (12.20): Called Schmidt (OBGYN) to ask about bed rest & casually mentioned pain from the previous day. She insisted I come in a day early (weekly appts were on Tuesdays) "just in case" ..... turns out I was dilated 1cm - not necessarily cause for concern but Schmidt sent me to the hospital to get monitored. Discovered I was having contractions 2-5 min apart, lasting 50-60 seconds (didn't feel them) - again not out of the ordinary, but because I'm considered high risk, Schmidt wanted me to stay the night "just in case" (famous last words....). I was given meds to stop the contractions, the first of 2 steroid shots (to help develop the babies' lungs faster), & hooked to a bunch of monitors (4 to be exact - one for each baby & myself). A few hours later I was dilated 4cm with contractions every 7-10 min lasting 90-120 sec (still couldn't feel a thing). Schmidt wants me moved to the Medical Center "in case" the babies come - we'd need a NICU that could handle 29 week old babies & it would be better to transfer us all together. A few hours later after some confusion about whether to go by helicopter or ambulance, it was decided I'd be moved by Life Flight (turns out the "confusion" was actually a lot of standard & legal issues involved in the transfer - current policy states that no more than 6 people are to fly at a single time and my flight had 7 (pilot, 2 EMTs, 3 babies & myself). As a result, Life Flight & the FAA are looking at revising the policy for multiple births - I hope this isn't an indication of what life will be like with these little ones....).

Tuesday (12.21): At 12:30am I arrived at Children's Memorial Hermann in the Med Center and am given double doses of the magnesium sulfate to stop the contractions. A few hours later I was dilated 5 cm with contractions every 7-10 min. After some of the contractions however, A & B's heart rates dropped dangerously low so I was given extra oxygen for a few hours. It helped the heart rates improve & wasn't needed the rest of the day. Throughout the day I was kept on all the monitors to make sure the contractions weren't increasing (the doctor decided not to check for dilation because it could make my body respond & actually cause me to dilate even more - at 6cm they would have to deliver). The goal was for me to make it to 5pm so I could get the final steroid shot and thank goodness, I made it through the day without much "action"! At 4:30pm the second steroid shot was given (I made it!) and ideally it needs to be in my system for another 24 hours, but I wouldn't make it that long......

Wednesday: Around 1:30am I woke up to the nurse putting the oxygen on me (B's heart rates were dropping again) and the doctor checking to see how dilated I was (I was 6cm) because my contractions were getting stronger (I still couldn't feel them so I had to trust the machines). The doctors made the decision to go ahead with he c-section so after we called family to let them know what was happening, I was taken away, given the epidural (didn't feel any pain .. the hype was definitely the worse part!) & prepped for surgery. Kris was with me the entire time (armed with the camcorder to capture our little angels' first breath) & at 3:55am, Alyssa was the first to arrive (2lbs 8oz, 13.78in), quickly followed by Brandon (2lbs 10oz, 18in). Two minutes later (@ 3:57am), Cassandra entered the world (2lbs 8oz, 14.96in) - the doctors said she was comfy with all the extra room & didn't want to leave mommy's tummy! All 3 were put on monitors, posed for a few pictures, gave mommy kisses, then were taken up to the 7th floor NICU.

From this point on in the NICU they made lots of daily improvements, and because Kris & I are really the only ones who care about all the medical details, I'll spare you! :) They constantly impressed their doctors/nurses with how fast they made progress & were gradually weaned off the machines! For the most part, they were able to breathe almost independently & began to gain weight! They had a little jaundice in the beginning & after some photo therapy, it went away. On their 3rd week "birthday" they were "promoted" to the 8th floor!! The 7th floor is where the more severe cases are, so once there were 3 openings (we're a packaged deal!), the doctors felt comfortable moving them up because they were doing so well .. talk about an answer to prayer!!! It was a pretty emotional day for me though because we had absolutely fallen in love with our doctors & nurses on the 7th floor and didn't want to leave them, but of course we were thrilled to be moving in the right direction & would hopefully be going home soon!!

As far as my recovery goes, I couldn't ask for anything better!!! I was walking around a few days later and really wasn't in any pain! I did have a minor setback a few days after I was discharged but thankfully I caught it in time! Without totally grossing you out (& be glad I'm not attaching the pictures I have...), I'll just say that my incision started to drain some fluids. I moved my follow-up appt up a few days just to find out that fluid had pooled in a pocket under my skin (which is to be expected since my poor tummy was stretched out pretty far to hold all 3 babies) & the only way to get rid of it is to reopen my incision, letting it heal from the inside out. Yes, you read that correctly, I had an open wound about 4in long & 1in deep & had to pack it with gauze two times a day for a week. It looked much worse than it was, but definitely was more of an inconvenience than anything. After a week, 3 stitches were put in place & hopefully will be removed at the end of another week. I definitely am so grateful that I caught this before it turned into an infection b/c it could have been MUCH worse - I wouldn't have been able to see the babies or give them my milk. God is definitey watching out for us!

We thank you all for your prayers - they have definitely been felt!!! The babies can now wear clothes & actually look more like "real babies" (granted they're still as small as dolls, but have changed so much in the first few weeks of life)! Pictures to come soon .. they just need to be organized :) it's on the "to do" list! Hopefully I will be better at updating, but so many things are happening that it's hard to keep up! :) Wish me luck!