Chris, Dan, Nate. Nate is getting fed his formula through a tube
Chris, Dan, Nate
Chris, Dan, Nate
Nate opening his eyes
I'm writing this post somewhat as an update to fill in some details from the past week. Monday morning I received a call from some new Christians friends we have met locally who have offered me a place to stay (about 15 minutes from the hospital) for the next 3-4 weeks until the boys are released from the hospital. What a blessing!
The paperwork for getting "banded" for NICU access was finally prepared by Monday afternoon, and signed by our birthmother early evening. We were called and told we could come after 8 pm to get banded that evening. We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 approximately in the evening, and no sooner had we stepped off the elevator on the 2nd floor, but a fire alarm went off and a nurse instructed us to go sit in the waiting room. So we waited about half an hour, actually smelled some odors and saw fire department personnel come through (there was a small fire!), and finally all was clear. In the interim a nurse occasionally came through offering any visitors who wanted to, to take the staircase out the building, but we thought that since our boys were there, we weren't going anywhere! Then we were told we would need the birthmother to escort us down to the NICU and identify us personally for banding. As tired and not well as she was feeling, she absolutely insisted on doing that for us that evening. So we got banded for Chris, and went to see him, and were just moving on to Dan when there was a minor emergency in the NICU, and all visitors had to leave for 45 minutes. By then it was 10:30 pm (1:30 am in Jeff's mind), so we decided to wait until morning to finish the process.
It did not take long to learn NICU regulations...washing from fingertip to elbows for three minutes when coming in, don't answer your cell phone unless you want to wash all over again, and use an alcohol sanitizer in between babies. So if I don't answer your phone call, it may mean I'm in the NICU.
By Wednesday, all the boys were off antibiotics and IV's. They are now getting all their nutrition as formula through a feeding tube. It will likely be another week before they attempt bottle feeding (preemies don't learn to suck/swallow/breathe until about 34 weeks). We have been able to do some diaper changes, and yesterday we "fed" them, by holding them and the syringe that releases the formula slowly into their feeding tube. Jeff learned not to try to adjust baby Dan's hat while holding the syringe. He tipped it and gave his gown and pants a nice meal of formula (baby Dan escaped unscathed!) As of yesterday Chris was taking 21 CC's of formula at a time, and Nate and Dan were getting 25 CC's at a time. (A teaspoon is about 5 CC's.) Generally, we only hold them once a day right now, since they all three have jaundice issues, and need to stay under the UV lights to help with that, as much as possible.
When we arrived up at the NICU yesterday, they had been moved over to the somewhat more mature side of the NICU, not that they are that mature, but that the NICU has a lot of very immature babies right now (sometimes it goes the other way). Also, it is beginning to sound like all three may be identical, the rarest form of triplets, since, according to one of the nurses, they were sharing one placenta, with three cords coming out of it.
Please continue to pray for the health of the babies, and for a smooth process of paperwork that will make us legal guardians over the next day or two.
I'm writing this post somewhat as an update to fill in some details from the past week. Monday morning I received a call from some new Christians friends we have met locally who have offered me a place to stay (about 15 minutes from the hospital) for the next 3-4 weeks until the boys are released from the hospital. What a blessing!
The paperwork for getting "banded" for NICU access was finally prepared by Monday afternoon, and signed by our birthmother early evening. We were called and told we could come after 8 pm to get banded that evening. We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 approximately in the evening, and no sooner had we stepped off the elevator on the 2nd floor, but a fire alarm went off and a nurse instructed us to go sit in the waiting room. So we waited about half an hour, actually smelled some odors and saw fire department personnel come through (there was a small fire!), and finally all was clear. In the interim a nurse occasionally came through offering any visitors who wanted to, to take the staircase out the building, but we thought that since our boys were there, we weren't going anywhere! Then we were told we would need the birthmother to escort us down to the NICU and identify us personally for banding. As tired and not well as she was feeling, she absolutely insisted on doing that for us that evening. So we got banded for Chris, and went to see him, and were just moving on to Dan when there was a minor emergency in the NICU, and all visitors had to leave for 45 minutes. By then it was 10:30 pm (1:30 am in Jeff's mind), so we decided to wait until morning to finish the process.
It did not take long to learn NICU regulations...washing from fingertip to elbows for three minutes when coming in, don't answer your cell phone unless you want to wash all over again, and use an alcohol sanitizer in between babies. So if I don't answer your phone call, it may mean I'm in the NICU.
By Wednesday, all the boys were off antibiotics and IV's. They are now getting all their nutrition as formula through a feeding tube. It will likely be another week before they attempt bottle feeding (preemies don't learn to suck/swallow/breathe until about 34 weeks). We have been able to do some diaper changes, and yesterday we "fed" them, by holding them and the syringe that releases the formula slowly into their feeding tube. Jeff learned not to try to adjust baby Dan's hat while holding the syringe. He tipped it and gave his gown and pants a nice meal of formula (baby Dan escaped unscathed!) As of yesterday Chris was taking 21 CC's of formula at a time, and Nate and Dan were getting 25 CC's at a time. (A teaspoon is about 5 CC's.) Generally, we only hold them once a day right now, since they all three have jaundice issues, and need to stay under the UV lights to help with that, as much as possible.
When we arrived up at the NICU yesterday, they had been moved over to the somewhat more mature side of the NICU, not that they are that mature, but that the NICU has a lot of very immature babies right now (sometimes it goes the other way). Also, it is beginning to sound like all three may be identical, the rarest form of triplets, since, according to one of the nurses, they were sharing one placenta, with three cords coming out of it.
Please continue to pray for the health of the babies, and for a smooth process of paperwork that will make us legal guardians over the next day or two.
5 comments:
This is so wonderful and exciting for your family - May God bless and give health to each of you ...
We look forward to the updates. Thanks so much for keeping everyone informed. We are continuing to pray. It sounds like prayers are being answered.
Allen & Elaine
Praise the Lord! What wonderful news! We are continuing to pray for you and those precious boys. Each time I pray for them for some reason Shadrach Meshach and Abednego come to mind. I wonder what God has in store for these fellows. God bless you!
Love and prayers,
Mrs. Gillis
We are praying for you guys!
I said it once and I will say it again... I am so jealous and so happy for ya'll.
Love,
Emma, Chris, and Tina Wozniak
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