Triplets 1st Month Birthday

So, today marked the babies' first month birthday and I think it's safe to say that we have the deepest gratitude to our family, friends, the doctors, nurses, God, and anyone else that had a hand in praying for and watching over our children.  They have been through so much already, each having their successes, and their challenges.

Mom and Owen on his 1 Month Birthday

Owen's over his staph infection and feisty as ever.  The nurses had to swaddle him up for the day because he pulled his food tube out twice in the early morning.  He wants to be the first on the bottle I guess.  He's got the fighting spirit.  I had my first opportunity to hold him yesterday:

Papa Charley holding Baby Owen

I'm not too well versed at holding babies.  Prior to my own I've only held one other baby, a co-workers and I didn't look to comfortable with it.  But I am so happy to have hit this milestone with Owen.  We had feared that the little guy might not even make it this far, to be honest.  He had a rough go from the first moment.  So, I soaked this in as much as possible.  I tried to sing for him a bit.  I've got a decent voice, front my own band, but I couldn't think of anything that was like a lullaby to sing to him.  I ended up singing "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots…not exactly appropriate:

Forward yesterday
Makes me wanna stay
What they said was real
Makes me wanna steal
Livin' under house
Guess I'm livin', I'm a mouse
All's I gots is time
Got no meaning, just a rhyme

Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause I like to steal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal, I like to steal

I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
Well, I'm half the man I used to be….etc.

Happy tune!

Anyway, he'll get over it….someday…after Grandpa C (my dad) or rich Uncle Mike (my bro) foot the $20,000 bill for psycho-therapy.

Owen is up to 2lbs 15oz and is eating like a crazy man.  They will put him on the bottle once he weens off the C-pap. 

Our favorite moment today was having the opportunity to each hold Bella.  She's still a tiny thing, at 2lbs 9oz, after holding Noah, she felt like a Nerf football.  But I damn near cried when I had my chance to hold her and I know Nikki felt the same. 

Mamacita and Babycita June 28

We had a MRSA scare with her this week.  MRSA is a rather resistant strain of Staph infection.  She tested positive on a sample taken from some discharge around her eye.  She is on antibiotics and since then has tested negative, so we aren't sure if the first one was a false-positive or a contamination issue with the sample.  Either way, they caught it early and are treating her.

Daddy's first pic holding Bella

She make burbling sounds and stuck her tongue out at me a fair bit, when I held her.  I decided to overlook these transgressions since it was her birthday, but by 2 months she better shape up and start calling me Sir (just kidding…I'll give her to 3 months).  She's also started sprinting a couple of hours a day without the breathing mask.  Can I tell you how proud I am that she's recovered so quickly and come so far from her Pulmonary Hemorrhage?  I think I just did.

Noah is doing terrific.  He sleeps a lot and eats a lot…reminds me of rich Uncle Mike, but I digress (need I mention, poops a lot?  Nay!).  He's up to 3lbs 7oz already, and he has been sprinting as many as six hours at a time with out the breathing mask, twice a day.  The doctors believe he has developed Retinopathy of Prematurity which is a disease of the eye that affects some preemies.  It is something that may work itself out, or it could lead to detached retina or even blindness.  I would imagine that he would get surgery if it ever got more advanced, but for now they are just watching it.

Lest you tire of looking at ugly Papa Charley, I give you, Grandma Sue and Noah:

Noah wrapping Grandma Sue around his finger

That pic was actually from a couple of days ago when Nikki took her mom up to see the kids during the day.  They still have the Swine flu ban where only the parents and the grandparents can visit the kids in the NICU.  This I feel badly about.  Many members of my extended family are coming to town this week and I would like nothing better than to bring them up.  Hopefully something changes in the next few days. 

Well, as you can see, the babies are doing well.  I try to have fun with things when I write about them, and I am so very grateful for every moment I get to spend with the children.  Make no mistake, we are very aware of the seriousness of their conditions but all you can do is hope, pray, and put on a good face. 

So, as if this entry wasn't long enough, I have been giving some thought as to how to use this blog, not just as a means to update family, friends, and other parents on the babies, but as a tool for putting together thoughts for my children.  I am a far better writer than verbal communicator.  I may utterly screw up those moments in the future when the opportunity comes to provide guidance and a lesson.  So I thought that I would try to get my best thoughts and advice on living mindfully to the kids and put it out here.  At some point I would, in theory, put it together in a book for them (if there are still things such as books eighteen years hence).  I am still tossing around a posting schedule for this sight.  The baby updates may only be once or twice a week, and then I think I may add the odd article in, weekly, on some mindful living subject matter.  I tell you this so that the group of regular readers here don't become shocked one day when they see an article on 50 Little Known Uses for Tube Socks or How to Sneak a Case of Beer into Your Dorm (credit to rich Uncle Mike), or some other important life lesson.  Anyways, it's after midnight here in Buffalo right now and I am exhausted.  As such, no proof-reading this post, it's going right out there.  Enjoy, and bless you all.

-Papa Charley