Our First Week

Team Darnell has survived our first week as a family. It has definitely been a week filled with great joy and excitement.

During the last post, we left off with all three boys in the NICU. There stay in the NICU was short lived. After one night, all three were moved down to our room. The room that we were in was too small for the Eskimo trio so we were moved the biggest room on the floor. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of many years of special treatment!

The picture above is all three boys lined up in our room. Our family received all kinds of attention at the hospital for being so healthy. There was a nurse that had worked at that hospital for 22 years and in all of her experience, there had never been a set of triplets that had made it to the floor with the mother. All of the other sets remained in the NICU and were discharged from there. We are so proud of our boys and their accomplishments already!

We remained in the hospital for two more nights with the boys in our room and we were all discharged together on Tuesday. The boys were quite healthy but our discharge was almost delayed due to my condition. Dr. Dixon informed me that I had lost a significant amount of blood during the surgery and for the first couple of days, my blood level was still on the decline. On Tuesday morning, the blood tests had showed my blood levels had leveled off but I was still functioning on "half a tank." I really wanted to get us all out of the hospital and I was feeling well. I told Dr. Dixon I was feeling well and I promised to take it easy at home. With that, he agreed to let us go home. So we all rolled out of the hospital and into the big bad world at about 4pm on April 15th, 2008.

The boys were perfect on the ride home but the fourth baby (this is what I became for the next few days) did not handle the ride home. We were only minutes from the hospital and I got quite sick. When we arrived home, I proceeded to bed for a few hours but my condition did not improve. On Wednesday, I moved to the recliner in the living room where I remained for the next 48 hours. I was experiencing the most extreme head ache I had ever experienced and any movement was near impossible. I was not able to do much with the boys but thanks to Team Darnell, consisting of Grandma Sally, Uncle Lance and of course Super Dad, the boys were settling in well to their new home. The team would do all the heavy lifting and would bring me a baby to hold. This was about all I could do.

On Thursday, I went into see the doctor and my blood pressure was 150/100. This was higher than it ever was during my pregnancy and let's not forget that I was hospitalized for my blood pressure. I was sent home with blood pressure medication and medication for migraines. I started feeling better once medicated and by Friday, I was able to get up and move around. This was good because the first trip to the pediatrician was Friday morning.

We woke up on Friday and the Team loaded up to get the boys to the doctor. We arrived at the doctor's office the full Team of four adults and three babies. We were a site to behold as Daddy carried a baby, Grandma Sally carried a baby and Uncle Lance carried a baby while I led the parade into the office.

The boys were weighed and checked out. All were given a clean bill of health. However, Andrew showed some signs of Jaundice and we were asked to return with him on Saturday to test him again. The test was to determine if the signs were increasing or on the decline. On Saturday, his tests showed his score was on the decline and there were no concerns. He was weighed at this visit and he was the first baby to get back up over 5lbs! Way to go Andrew!!

I had to return to Dr. Dixon on Friday to check my blood pressure, which was 140/90 at this visit, and to check how I was healing from the surgery. Could I perform as well as the boys at their visit.... of course not! When checking my incision, the doctor discovered an area of my skin above the incision that had apparently split due to the rapid stretching from the swelling I experienced at the end of the pregnancy. This area had a strange appearance and Dr. Dixon's reaction when first observing this was.... "What is that?" This is not a very comforting feeling for your doctor to look at you and say... "What is that?" I was prescribed two different antibiotics and Mike was taught to dress my new wound. I am becoming harder to care for than the babies at this point. There was a little bit of good news at this appointment as my blood level was now up to "three quarters of a tank."

It is exciting to have the boys home and start to see their little personalities start to develop. Andrew, the oldest of the crew, is also quickly becoming the responsible and protective older brother. The first night in the hospital, I had his crib near the bed so I could easily reach at least one of the babies. He was fussy all night. The next morning, we moved his crib next to his brothers and he has been content ever since. He is the best eater of the bunch. When it is time to eat, he gulps (literally gulps - we will work on manners later) down his bottle. There was also an episode when he was in the crib with his arm resting over Jared. Grandma Sally took his arm and put it back under his blanket and he quickly pulled it back out to put it over his little brother.

Jared, the second born but by far the smallest of the bunch, has been endearingly nicknamed "The Baby" due to his tiny size. He does not have much interest in eating and would prefer to sleep all day and all night. Due to the struggles to get the baby to eat, he has received more attention and cuddling from mom. As such, the baby has become the first that really wants to be held all the time. When he cries in the crib, the moment he is picked up, he is just fine. He was born weighing 4lb 13oz and at the Friday pediatrician appointment his weight was 4lb 8oz. He is the same length as is brothers but almost a half pound less in weight.

Wesley, the youngest, is our little Mike. While all three boys are blessed to look just like their father, he has also started to develop Daddy like mannerisms. We have been swaddling the babies to put them down to sleep. Wesley was the first to fight the swaddling. He desperately wanted his arms mobile and outside of the blanket. He would work to pull his arms out and it was only at this point that he was happy. I have attached a photo of how Wesley has determined he is most comfortable while sleeping. In case you were wondering where this behavior comes from, I have also included a photo of Daddy sleeping.















The week has been full of crying, cuddling, feeding, bottle making, diaper changing, laundry and most of all loving boys that are three beautiful gifts! Here are some other memorable moments from the week....

Murray has quickly fallen in love with his baby brothers and has turned into quite the Nanny. He frequently checks on his babies and makes sure anyone holding his babies knows exactly what to do. Chewie has been a little more difficult. He is quite jealous and likes to pretend the babies do not exist. Here is Murray's first chance to meet his brothers...

Our days are filled with 24 bottle feedings and approximately 30 diaper changes. Here is a shot of our bottles....

Uncle Lance visited for a few days and offered great assistance. By the time he left, he was a pro at feeding, burping and diaper changing. It's not possible to visit without jumping right in! Here is Uncle Lance with the trio....




Andrew & Jared cuddle...

Wesley after eating just a little too much...

But most of all, the first week we all hoped for the moments where the new recruits of Team Darnell were all sleeping peacefully giving us a few moments of catch some ZZZZZs.

Sorry for the delay in posting since our departure from the hospital but hopefully everyone understands we have been a little busy. However, we have enjoyed every minute we have been able to spend with these boys!

Hope everyone is doing well and thank you to all of you that have called, sent e-mails and sent best wishes over the past 10 days. And... a special thank you to everyone that has been there to help us.

Take care,

Kellie