Three for Thursday – One Down, Two to Go Edition

Bella's Last Pic Before Leaving Hospital

 

Each Thursday, for the near future, I give updates on how our baby triplets are doing in the hospital.  They were born May 28th at 27 weeks gestational age.  Bella Marie born 1lb 14oz, Owen Charles born 1lb 14oz, and Noah Anthony born 2lb 4oz.

So, the wife and I have been working at our new gig, this parenting thing.  It didn't take long for Bella to put us on a schedule.  At the hospital things were quite regimented for her.  She was either on a three hour eating schedule or a four hour eating schedule. 

Now, we can't seem to predict her at all, and the Pediatrician said to just feed her whenever and however much she wants. 

She'll sleep just fine for an hour or two and then just wake up screaming bloody murder till you feed her, even while your feeding her, until she's satiated.  Unfortunately, she gets herself so worked up that it takes a good hour plus to feed her.  The wife and I are quite tired, and this is just baby number one.

Noah Update

Poor little guy.  Noah is having a hellacious week and we can't be by his side.  I let my wife go up today while I watched Bella (and suffered through her bloody curdling screens) and spend a little time with him.  She reports that he looks terrible, his belly is very distended, so the stopped feeding him.  He caught Staph for the third time from his periphery line, and he has a Uterine Tract Infection for the fifth time. 

His blood pressure is extremely high, so the did a renal scan on him today to see if they could find any clots in his kidneys.  He's just never been right since his Pyloric Stenosis surgery was botched a month ago.  It is very hard to know that he is suffering a great deal right now and there is no end in sight.  We have no idea when he might come home.  He still needs hernia surgery and I am petrified to see how he comes out of another surgery.

Owen's Update

Owen's had a good few days.  We took a class on Tuesday to learn how to use the portable heart and lung monitor that he will have to come home on.  He hasn't been able to go more than a few days without his heart rate crashing into dangerous ranges.  They don't really know the cause of it and he could be on the monitor anywhere from a week to a year. 

I really hope it's not long.  Simple things like "Tummy time" become quite difficult when he's on a heart rate monitor.  I've struggled with this decision, as to whether we should fight the doctors on their recommendation to put him on a monitor.  But it comes down to, if I'm wrong, the consequences are fatal.  I just want the little guy to have a normal childhood.  I am confident that some day he will.

We thought that he might be coming home tomorrow.  I've now honestly lost count of the number of dates we've been given as to when he would be discharged.  We've now been given a Sunday date.  I believe it when he's home in a crib next to his sister.