5 weeks old

Hello all! I currently have a rare moment where all three boys are currently napping during the day and I am going to try and complete this update in one sitting. It has been two weeks since I posted last and the boys are really growing fast!

During week 4, we were all blessed to have three additional sets of hands on site to take care of our family and home. Grandma Peggy, Ms. Donna and Harley were a welcome addition to the on site team and the boys were most appreciative to have some available to take care of their needs without having to wait in line!!! While the boys were happy, Mike and I were really happy as well. I was able to get a full "night" of sleep each morning. I felt recharged and able to take on the challenge of the next week when it was back to zone defense of mommy/daddy vs. boys. They boys are currently winning but we are all quickly learning how to survive and even thrive as a family. Our house also appreciated your visit as the front of the home received a little "curb appeal." Thanks to Grandma Peggy and Ms. Donna, the front of the house received it's facelift! It was a great week and we hope you all will hurry back to Florida.

During the week, we started to notice some white milky spots on Andrew's tongue. What started as a few spots on the tongue, quickly grew into a full on "yuck mouth." After researching on the internet, we discovered that he must have thrush. As soon as we discovered what he had, the same thing started appearing on Jared and Wesley. The boys are definitely learning to share starting with their first infection. When we called the pediatrician, I told them that all three had thrush and her reply was "all three?" followed by a chuckle while stating this is not the first illness that will pass among each other. We were told to apply Gentian Violet to their mouths three times daily. Well, during the first application, we learned of the "dangers" of Gentian Violet. I am sure experienced mothers out there know about this stuff but in case you do not, this stuff WILL STAIN!!! However, it does create some photo opportunities. Jared was our first victim so he got the most and taught us about Gentian Violet. We were much better when Wesley received his dose and he even looks proud and fabulous with his purple lips! It is as if he is saying, "how do I look?"

Since the crew from Texas returned home, Mike and I have been going it alone, Grandma free. We have benefited from the group at CGI (my work) providing us prepared meals that we just heat up. This has been really helpful in the evening so Mike can focus on baby activities like making bottles for the next day, relieving me to take a shower and spending time with each of his boys. I really appreciate him as a father as we have really taken a team approach to parenting this trio. Mike has become exceptionally good at one activity... putting the babies (and himself) to sleep. Over the past week, I have been able to capture moments of him spending time with each of his boys. While you may think these photos are all taken on the same night, they were taken on three different nights. They sure are cute!!!

On May 12th, the boys hit their one month birthday!! It is really hard to believe how fast time is passing. The boys had their one month doctor's appointment on Thursday, May 15th. At the doctor's visit, all three boys were given a clean bill of health. The boys were really great on this outing. They were calm in their car seats and were not fussy at the doctor or the remainder of the outing. In the photo, Andrew is at the top, then Jared and then Wesley is keeping his eye on Daddy as he takes the photo. During the outing, we went to the doctor's office, stopped at a Notary to get some paperwork notarized and then through a drive through to get lunch. They were great during the entire trip. When we stopped at the office for the notary, we brought all three boys inside and the office emptied out into the lobby to see them. In addition, they did not charge us for their services because of the triplets! Mike commented on how I like the attention we get in public. I, of course, enjoy showing off my boys!!

At the doctor's visit, the boys growth was measured. Here is how we are doing:

Andrew:

Weight - 7lb 1oz (3rd percentile)

Length - 20" (5th percentile)

Head Circumference - 33.9cm (less than 3rd percentile)

Jared:

Weight - 7lbs (3rd percentile)

Length - 20 1/4" (8th percentile)

Head Circumference - 35.4cm (15th percentile)

Wesley:

Weight - 6lbs 10oz (less than 3rd percentile)

Length - 20 3/4" (20th percentile)

Head Circumference - 34cm (less than 3rd percentile)

Andrew remains the heaviest of the bunch but Jared is quickly gaining on him. Jared must have not liked the nickname of "the baby" as he has really packed on the ounces since his last weight check. I think most of his weight has been gained in those cheeks! It's almost like those cheeks appeared overnight. Wesley, who was the heaviest at birth, has now become the smallest of the trio. Regardless of their weight, they are all doing well for their "adjusted age" of one week (age based on full term due date which was May 13th). Developmentally, they are on target. Jared is still having a little trouble lifting his head. At the doctor's I joked about this being harder due to the size of his head. The doctor said this probably is the cause of him having a little trouble. Don't worry Jared, you will grow into those cheeks!!!

Here are some other photos of the boys from the past two weeks (I have learned most blog readers just look at the pictures anyway):

Andrew poses for close-up photo. Below is a picture of Andrew following his bath. While his brothers are much calmer during their baths, Andrew still does not enjoy the bath. His screaming fit results in a very exhausted Andrew after the bath (is this really that bad?).

Jared, aka. "the baby," still holds onto his nickname of the baby. We also call him "baby J." While he has shaken the designation of the smallest of the trio, he is still the baby of the bunch. He is very quiet compared to his brothers. You can always count on Baby J to patiently wait his turn to eat or to go to sleep with ease. When preparing for the doctors appointment, I was reviewing how much each baby is eating, how often, how many wet and soiled diapers. Well, it was interesting to see that Baby J has eaten the least of the trio but gained the most weight. Below you see him in his car seat... again, where did those cheeks come from?

In these pictures, you see Wesley sitting in his bouncer with his mittens on. He has been scratching himself a lot recently so he now gets to wear mittens while hanging out. I love this photo because it looks like he is covering his ears in an attempt to block out the cries of one of his brothers. Then, he is pictured in his car seat, ready to roll! He was hanging onto the straps as if he was getting ready to ride a roller coaster. His face has great expressions and it looks like he is really trying to say something. Watch out world once he is actually able to talk!

Well, my goal was to complete this update in one sitting, I failed. After many breaks, I was finally able to complete an update for everyone. I need to finish quickly though as the boys are set to wake soon for their first night feeding. Last night was a big night for us.... it was their first night in the nursery. Prior to tonight, the boys have been living in a crib below the TV in the family room. We are now trying to introduce a nighttime routine that will hopefully lead us to a full night of sleep in the future. So far (one night) it appears to be better than family room life. Last night, they went 4 hours between each feeding! This is a big improvement over the every 3 hours as it was in the family room. Hopefully this pattern will continue.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Take care,

Kellie

3 Weeks Old

It is so hard to believe that the boys are 3 weeks old today! It seems like yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting their arrival while confined to my hospital room. Time really does fly when you are having fun and boy oh boy oh boy are we having fun!

Over the past two weeks, the boys and I have been getting healthier and stronger as we all recover. During our second week, the boys made two visits to the pediatrician for weight checks. At the first check on April 21st, Andrew weighed 5lb 1.2oz, Jared weighed 4lb 8.8oz and Wesley weighed 4lb and 15oz. Jared had only gained .8oz since the first check 3 days prior but he gained weight so we were still doing ok and he retained his title as "the baby."

On April 25th, the boys were 13 days old and we returned for another weight check. The target weight for 2 weeks is to return to their birth weight. At this visit, Andrew weighed 5lb 4.6oz and Jared weighed 4lb and 13.8oz. Both of these boys had surpassed the target of returning to their birth weight. Wesley weighed 5lb 3.6oz at this visit which was 1.4 oz less than his birth weight. The nurse was confident that based on his weight gain during the week that if he were to be weighed on Saturday, he would also be at his birth weight. As we had met our targets for weight gain, we were released from additional weight checks and did not need to return to the pediatrician until their one month appointment on May 15th. We are so proud of our big boys' accomplishments!!!

As the boys had returned to their weight at delivery, I thought it would be fun to have Mike hold all three babies to gain an appreciation for what I was carrying at the point of delivery. While he was a wonderful caretaker throughout the entire pregnancy, I still wanted him to hold all three babies to feel what I had physically experienced (pictured to the left). Let's just imagine Mike pregnant for a moment...

While we are talking about weight gain, I just want to take a moment to mention my weight loss. As of the date the boys reached their birth weight and I had reached my pre-pregnancy weight. I gained a total of 69 lbs during my pregnancy and as of April 25th (13 days post delivery), I had lost 71 lbs... yipee! During week 3, the weight loss had slowed considerably and I only lost 2 additional pounds. I hope to keep loosing to reach a much healthier weight. Taking care of these boys is turning out to be a great weight loss program!

I also had two visits with Dr. Dixon to continue to monitor my blood pressure and that darn "spot" that had become infected above the incision area. At my first follow up visit regarding the "spot," Dr. Dixon's assessment was that it was getting better but prescribed yet another antibiotic to fight the bacteria. At my visit this week, Dr. Dixon was pleased with the "spot's" healing and we were released from weekly visits and my next appointment is the regular 6 week post-partum visit on May 23rd. My blood pressure was 132/86 and Dr. Dixon is confident that at my 6 week appointment, I will be completely back to normal... how very exciting!

Over the past two weeks, we have had a lot of great moments with the boys. The boys were able to meet their Great Grandmother Pooka and Aunt Joan. Pooka and Aunt Joan were able to spend time with all three boys. The boys were all very comfortable with Pooka and were soothed to sleep the moment they were in her arms. Pooka, where are you when the boys are awake and fussy during the middle of the night??? We need to bottle a little of that Pooka magic. The picture to the left is Pooka with Wesley. The picture to the right is Aunt Joan feeding Jared. We all really enjoyed your visit.

The downside of the visit was that they were here to visit with the boys and to give Grandma Sally a ride home. So, at the conclusion of their visit, it was Mama and Papa Darnell on their own with the trio and Papa had already returned to work. From Wednesday to Saturday, we had an opportunity to experience life as a family without any additional hands on deck. Let's just say we survived but we were very happy to hear that Grandma Sally was ready and willing to return on Saturday evening and Uncle Lance was eager (or at least willing) to drive her back to Tallahassee.

As all three boys have lost their umbilical cords, we have started to regularly bathe the boys. This activity is so much fun that I had to mention it. I attempted the first bath in the baby bath tub when I was caring for the boys alone. It was a good thing that there was not another adult in the house or he may have been compelled to call 911 as he could have assumed the boys were being tortured based on the cries that were coming from the kitchen. I have now nicknamed the bath, the "torture bath" time. One would swear the boys are being tortured based on their reaction to bath time. During their first bath, I had one baby in the bath and the other two were still in their crib. Once the baby in the bath started to scream, the boys in the crib started to scream as if they were screaming for me to stop causing so much pain to their brother. The good news is that after bath time, all boys are relaxed, smell like angels and appear at peace... or it is exhaustion from the intense reaction to the bath. The other good point is that with each bath, they are getting a little calmer. I hope that they will eventually learn to enjoy bath time. If anyone out there has suggestions on how to improve the bathing experience for the boys, I am open to suggestions.

Chewie is finally starting to warm up to the boys... or at least he is acknowledging that they exist. He is still not excited about the boys when they are crying. There have been a couple of times when a baby has been crying in the swing or the bouncer and Chewie has started to bark at the baby. I am not sure if he is trying to alert me to the crying (as if I did not hear it on my own) or he is trying to tell the baby to be quiet. Either way, the additional barking does not help the calm the situation.

The boys have started to be more and more alert each day. When the boys are alert, we have started "tummy time" with them. Wesley forgot to read the memo that told him he was a premie baby and should be a little behind in development. He is very active on his tummy. He is able to move his head from left to right and back with ease. He is also starting to hold his head up and to my surprise, he rolled from his stomach to his back. He first did this two days ago and I thought it was a fluke. Today, during "tummy time" he did it twice. Andrew is also active during "tummy time" and is able to move his head from side to side and has brief moments of lifting his head. Jared is once again, more interested in sleep than any activity. We are not sure he knows what he is supposed to do because when we lay him on his tummy, he wants to go to sleep. I am really proud of anything they are able to do at this point because we should all remember that they are still about a week away from their original due date.

One action all three of the boys have mastered is the art of the spin. Using their feet and legs, the boys are able to spin their bodies in full circles. This activity along with the boys' desire to be close to each other has resulted in a new phenomenon occurring in their crib. The boys have started to use each other as leg rests.

Pictured to the left is Wesley with his legs propped up on Jared. The funniest part about this is that they were both sleeping soundly when we found them like this. Wesley was comfortable and Jared was undisturbed by his brother. We have noticed that Wesley is our big "cuddler" and we always find him moved over into Jared's crib space. The boys were originally assigned spots in their crib with Andrew on the left, Jared in the middle and Wesley on the right. This was done to help everyone keep track of who is who. However, once we continued to find Wesley and Jared cuddled up, we decided to move Andrew to the middle so he could get some brotherly love. Let's not forget that Andrew was the baby in utero that was on the bottom of the other two and was somewhat isolated. With Andrew in the middle, Jared decided to repay the foot rest favor and we found Jared with his feet resting on Andrew. Once again, both boys were sleeping soundly when this picture was taken.

Then today, the sweetness and innocence of the leg resting turned ugly. Andrew was still sleeping in the middle with Jared on his left. I was feeding Wesley while Andrew and Jared were in the crib. I am not sure who started it but the scene in the crib took a turn for the worse. First, I saw feet out from underneath their blankets. Then, I heard the sounds of frustration from both boys. I continued to feed Wesley until the sounds of frustration turned into all out cries. I then got up and discovered Andrew kicking Jared in the head and Jared kicking Andrew in the body. In the picture, Andrew is on the right and started out sleeping straight up and down. He had turned a full 90 degrees to get his feet up to Jared's head. Mark the date of May 3rd as the date I had to break up the first Team Darnell fight! I am sure this will not be the last time I move the boys to their own respective corners to "cool down." Don't worry, the boys have kissed and made up.

Other memorable moments and cute photos:

Andrew in his bouncer. During the first week, the boys were unsure of their bouncers. Since then, they have learned to enjoy time in their bouncers. There is one small issue with the bouncers. The issue is that the vibration mode lasts for 10 minutes and then shuts off. Well, the boys really like this and it is difficult to keep hitting the button every ten minutes when caring for two additional babies.

This is Jared after finishing a bottle. Ahhh, so content!!!

Wesley taking a breather during "tummy time."

The past two weeks have been wonderful!! We have really appreciated the help provided by Grandma Sally. Today, the team from Junction, Texas arrived to meet the boys and lend a helping hand. The team consists of Grandma Peggy, her friend Donna and Donna's daughter Harley. The boys are so happy to have the group here (as are Mike and I) as they are all getting held a lot which has not been the case when there is only one set of arms to hold them.

While in the hospital, the boys had their pictures taken. If you would like to see them, you can view them online at http://www.tmh.org/. Once on the site, select the link to the Web Nursery. It will then ask for the birth date for the babies, April 12, 2008. There will be two listings for Kellie D. The password to access is Team Darnell. The first listing contains pictures for Wesley and Jared. It will first display Wesley (taking an oath). To view Jared, change the name in the dropdown at the top of the page labled "viewing." The second listing of my name contains the pictures for Andrew.

This should bring everyone up to speed on what is occurring within the Darnell household. I hope everyone else is doing well.

Take care,

Kellie

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

Day 1 - Happy Birthday Team Darnell!!!

Good evening everyone! I want to thank Heather for sending out the e-mail announcement to everyone. As she indicated, at 1 am I woke up and had the sensation that I needed to go to the bathroom. Prior to getting out of the bed, I realized I REALLY needed to get to the bathroom. The symptoms were more of a slow leak than a gush so Nurse Kim was not sure if it was urine or amniotic fluid. She completed some tests and I was encouraged to wait an hour and see what happens. After that hour, let's just say we were able to determine that it was amniotic fluid and Dr. O'Bryan, the on duty doc, decided not to play with fire and it was time to deliver.

WOW! It was fast from that point forward. I was first moved to a Labor and Delivery room to be prepped for surgery. We decided to take one more picture of the baby mountain that had amassed on my body. In this photo, you can see the baby mountain plus some of the swelling that had accumulated in my face and arm.



Once prepped for surgery, I was moved to the operating room where in less than one hour, the room was filled with a beautiful "song" sung by Team Darnell.

At this point, all three boys were doing very well. As they were finishing up with me, the boys were taken to my recovery room for their assessments. Once arriving, in the recovery room, Wesley (Baby C - on the left) was grunting and needed to be taken to the NICU for additional oxygen. Andrew (Baby A - on the right) and Jared (Baby B - in the middle) were doing well and remained in the recovery room until they were moved to the well-baby nursery. They remained there throughout the day and were observed during all routine activities.

I attempted to breastfeed both boys without success so far so I fed them both bottles. They were then taken from my room back to the nursery so I could rest. When I woke up later that day, the nurse came in to tell me that Jared was a little cool and they were struggling to warm him up. We then proceeded to spend some time as mommy and son with him laying skin to skin on my chest. I was just in awe at this point of this little life that grew inside of me, along with his brothers. Here is Jared trying to warm up:


We were unsuccessful in getting him to warm up and around 7pm, the doctor decided that Jared needed to go to the NICU. Not only was he not maintaining his temperature, he was having difficulty keeping his food down. When they told me they were going to move Jared to the NICU, they proceeded to tell me that it would be best to also move Andrew to the NICU along with his brothers for observation. So, all three boys are now down in the NICU.

Prior to the big move, we were able to spend some quality time with Andrew and Jared. Here is Grandma Sally and Andrew:

And the proud Papa with Andrew:

Maria Leon also visited to spend some quality time with the babies. Here is a moment she shared with Andrew and Grandma Sally:

I am doing pretty well. I have been removed from the IV fluids and my catheter as been removed. I have still not gotten out of bed but plan to do this very soon. Other than being tired, I seem to be recovering well so far. The nurse was just in and she is going to give me some pain medication now so when I actually get up to go to the bathroom, it should not hurt. That sounds like a great plan to me!

Now for the million dollar question, was I able to get my nails done..... no. Andrew's decision to break out of his confined space impacted the rest of us. Oh well, I am glad they were all born so big and healthy. We do not anticipate they will spend much time in the NICU.

I want to thank everyone that has supported us in any capacity throughout this pregnancy. It has been enjoyable keeping everyone up to date with what is going on with our pregnancy through this blog. We will continue to keep everyone posted on the joy of raising triplets from the Team Darnell perspective!!

Happy Birthday Team Darnell!!!

Take care,

Kellie