Party of Five

No I'm not referring to the 90's T.V. show... I'm talking about our new family. Brian and I welcomed Ava Leigh, Emma Claire and Bryce Cooper into our world on June 18, 2012. It was a rather quick decision when it really came down to it and this is how it happened...

On Friday, June 15, I went in for a regular checkup and everything was fine with the babies... I was the one causing all the problems...again! I was starting to swell like crazy and retain all kinds of fluid so the doctor decided to run a protein test to see if my kidneys were functioning properly. In order to test kidney function, what do you have to do you ask? Oh you just have to pee in a bucket and keep it in your fridge for 24 hours (with a lid on it of course!!) to number one see how much your peeing and number two, see how much protein is in your pee. Normally, you're not supposed to spill protein into your urine, but if your kidneys aren't functioning or if they are overworked, your protein levels will go up indicating fluid retention and swelling which are signs of a condition called preeclampsia. In addition to the fluid retention and swelling, your blood pressure can get dangerously high which can put you at risk for all kinds of complications. So back to the story... We did the urine collection, drove it down to the hospital on Sunday, and got a call Sunday evening telling me to come in for observation because I was more than likely having a c-section the next morning due to an extremely high amount of protein in my urine, indicating preeclampsia. My blood pressure wasn't very high, but that was mainly because I was still on a blood pressure medicine to keep my contractions under control.

Next thing I know, we're eating our last meal at home before our babies were here. The doctors told me to eat dinner and then to make my way down to the hospital and to pack a bag cause we'd be staying for a couple of days. I honestly can't even tell you what I ate... All I know was that I kinda started freaking out as none of it seemed real! After we ate and got all packed up, Brian and I, along with Brian's mom drove to the hospital and got the whole process rolling. I had to be hooked up to 4 monitors for the entire night which meant I didn't sleep much... Although I don't know if I could have anyway due to all the nervousness and excitement. In addition to the monitors, I was also hooked up to a blood pressure cuff which inflated every 15 minutes to check my blood pressure as well as an IV which was giving me fluids as well as magnesium sulfate... A drug used to give the babies neural protection as well as to protect me from seizures from the preeclampsia. Generally the magnesium sulfate can make you feel pretty nasty but I got lucky and didn't feel bad at all.

In the morning, things stated to get busy early... I was signing all kinds if consents for the c-section as well as for the anesthesia in addition to trying to get some last few minutes/hours of rest before my life changed forever.. Before I knew it, the nurses were getting me ready to go to the operating room and I was getting nervous!! Fortunately, Brian's mom and my mom were able to make it just in time so they could see me one last time in all my triplet pregnancy swollen glory. Now when they finally wheeled me back to the OR and had me sit up (which I could hardly do I was getting so big) I got a glimpse of my preeclampsia legs... Over night I swelled up so big and retained so much fluid that I didn't even recognize myself. I seriously couldn't bend my ankles or my knees due to the amount of fluid I was retaining!! Lucky for me it was supposed to get worse before it got better which of course it did! To give you an idea of how swollen I actually was, when they tried to do my spinal tap, the anesthesiologist had to stick me twice because they literally couldn't feel my spine through all the fluid retention... It was like having a water balloon wrapped entirely around every inch of my body. Soon enough, everything was numb and there were 3 ObGyns in the room getting ready to do the c-section. From the time of the initial incision, it only took about 5-10 minutes before the first baby was out. Bryce (3lb 7oz) came first at 11:08, followed by Ava (3lb 12oz) at 11:09, and then Emma (3lb 2oz) came out at 11:11. All three were healthy and received great numbers on their Apgar scores. Since they were small, all three were taken to the NICU where Bryce and Emma were put on a ventilator for about 2 hours to get a substance called surfactant put in their lungs to help them breath a little easier. After that, all we're put on CPAP for a few days, which led to room air via nasal cannulas, and finally by the end of the first week, all tubes were taken off their face except for their feeding tubes. Preemie babies don't develop the ability to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time until about 34-35 weeks so feeding tubes had to do until bottles could be introduced.

After the surgery was over, I was wheeled back to my old room that I spent my entire bed rest in and proceeded to start throwing up from all the pain pills, more magnesium sulfate, and anesthesia. Needless to say, I don't remember much of that day except seeing my babies for the first time when they brought Ava and Emma to my room in their incubators... Bryce had to stay upstairs in the NICU due to wimpy white boy syndrome... statistically white males do worse than any other baby when it comes to remembering how to breathe and figuring out how to eat. Basically, Bryce was doing great right when he came out and then he decided he was tired so he would revert to his old ways, like when he was in utero, and just quit breathing and allow me to take over only this time, I wasn't there to take over so he had the ventilator.

The next day, I was able to get wheeled upstairs and could see my babies! All three were doing fabulously and were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. We could hold them but each baby could only come out once a day and the only way they were allowed out was if we held them for 2 full hours skin to skin (aka kangaroo care). Apparently, skin to skin contact is very beneficial for all babies but especially for preemies. Brian and I did this everyday (for about a week and a half) until the babies had gained enough weight to be put in open cribs where they could maintain their own body temperature. One night, I think the reality that we had three babies kinda really set in when we were kangarooing and each of us had a baby and Brian looked at me and said "the crazy thing is that there's still one more over there!". We both laughed about it cause there's really no other way to handle it.

So here we are today gearing up to take the babies home!  The babies are now 3 weeks, 6 days old or 35 weeks 3 days gestational age and are all off of all their feeding tubes and are exclusively taking bottles to eat.  Bobbie (Brian's mom) and I took in their car seats so they could all take their car seat test... they had to be able to sit in a car seat for an hour and a half with out having any major events (oxygen desaturations or drops in respiration rate or heart rate).  We are supposed to be taking them home any day now (all 3 of them!!!) which is completely crazy!  All three will be going home on monitors since all three of them are on caffeine.  Caffeine is used to help make the babies remember to breathe...they are still small (all close to 5lbs though!) and still have periods where they literally forget to breathe, especially when they are eating.  I'm convinced that most adults would forget to breathe too if they didn't get their morning fix of coffee:)  The monitors are kind of a pain in the butt but they also can help with peace of mind so we don't go running in there every two seconds to make sure all three are breathing.  All in all, we are very thankful and grateful for the wonderful care we have received at MUSC.  All the doctors and nurses have been fabulous and have been very informative as to what to expect with preemies as well as with multiples!

Here's some fun tidbits...

• I gained about 85 pounds total
• I've lost about 60 pounds already...most of that was babies, amniotic fluid, placentas and all that water I retained at the very end.
• I spent 5 days in the hospital after the c-section
• I have been up and walking around for 3 weeks now.
• I still look pregnant...haha!  It will go away eventually...
• The babies are all on breastmilk only...go ahead and call me a cow.
• You can barely see my incision scar at all!
• Some of my nurses don't recognize me since they only remember me as a big, pregnant, swollen, chipmunk resembling girl.
• I drove a car for the first time since the beginning of April last night!  I feel like a normal person again!
• I am still wearing maternity clothes...unfortunately a lot of mine are for the cooler months and I don't want to buy a lot of new clothes just yet so I'm just going to be limited for a while.  Who am I kidding?  I'm not going to get out of the house for a little bit anyway!

Finally, we are so overwhelmed with all of the wonderful gifts, cards, thoughts and prayers that we have been receiving!  Everyone has been so thoughtful through this entire process and we know that without your love and support we wouldn't be where we are today with three healthy, beautiful babies! We thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of our hearts!  It wasn't necessarily the most fun pregnancy in the world, but y'all made it bearable:)  Thanks for all your kind messages of encouragement and support!  Our babies thank you even more:)  And finally...here are some pictures.

The night I went in...last picture at home!

My double chin...oh an my pregnant belly!  Haha!  I had to try to sleep like that!

So we entertained ourselves for a while since I couldn't sleep by writing our little ones notes:)

Right before the surgery...

All my bracelets!  

First time I got to see the babies...This is Bryce's hand

Bryan Kangarooing with Emma

Emma

Brian holding Bryce, me holding Ava

Emma in her incubator catching some rays:)

Cute signs our nurse made for each baby.

Bryce

Ava

Holding Bryce

Ava

Ava

Emma

Emma

Cute little hand...I don't know whose this is though.  I do know that those chest hairs belong to Brian though!

Bryce sporting his knitted hat from my great aunt.

Bryce

Ava

Ava

Bryce with tape residue stuck to his face:(  By the way, the little animals in each incubator helped us remember who was who especially at the very beginning.

Bryce

Bryce

Emma

Emma

Emma

Emma

Feeding Emma a bottle for the first time.

Bryce happy because he's being held by Grandpa!

Emma all bundled up in her new open air crib.

Mimi holding Emma for the first time.

 Happy Ava:)

 Emma all swaddled up in Brian's famous burrito wrap.

 Bryce in his car seat for his car seat test.

 Emma in her car seat for her car seat test.

Ava with her snail:)

 Grandpa looking at baby Bryce.

4th of July feeding Bryce a bottle...it looks like I'm holding him awkwardly but in this is the proper way to feed preemies so they can pace themselves better.

Gran-Dee holding baby Emma

Emma without any tubes:)

 Bryce without any tubes and just chillin' out!

Ava going to town on her paci without any tubes!