This week I’m featuring a little clothing company that is quite unique… which I LOVE!  Since being a mom of 3 and shopping for clothes for my girls, I have found that it’s hard to find unique clothing I like.  I have found adorable little dresses and rompers at Carter’s and Old Navy, only to find other moms posting pictures of their little girls in the same outfits.  It was the same thing when we were in the NICU and I’d see other triplet and preemie parents posting pictures of their babies in all the same outfits my girls were wearing.  So… I’ve been on the search for boutiques and brands that are more unique and Stellar Seven is one of them.  I could go on and on but I’ll let Catherine tell you about her company herself:

Stellar Seven has other designs and styles of infant and toddler tees but today I’m featuring the “Hola Mama” tees because I think they’re so cute!  When my girls are wearing them I can’t stop saying “Hola Mama!!!”…. and they of course think it’s hilarious.  Follow Stellar Seven on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and products.  They had a 15% off sale over weekend for Mother’s Day but Catherine has agreed to extend the sale for my readers.  Lucky you!  Hurry and snag your “Hola Mama” tee for 15% off today only using promo code: HOLAMAMA15

Tassel Garland by Studio Mucci

It’s Mother’s Day, which also happens to be the girls’ half birthday!  How fun for me!!!  

They were two months early so they should really only be 4 months old and developmentally, they’re expected to know and do the things a 4 month old would.  I’m proud to say they’re right on track.  We have an Occupational Therapist who comes to the house to check up on them every other week and she’s been very happy with how they’re doing.  They’re getting really good at tummy time.  Anaia is sitting up pretty good and even ready for her Bumbo seat.  Grace and Lily should be in the next couple weeks.  They are wanting to roll over but not quite doing it on their own yet… at least not on purpose haha.  They are playing with and reaching for toys as well as putting everything in their mouths.  They are drooling everywhere, chewing on their fingers (and other objects), and licking their gums a lot, which leads us to believe they are starting to teethe.  No teeth showing yet but all the signs are there.  I think the most exciting thing for Alvin and I at this age is that they are really noticing each other and interacting.  It melts my heart to see them look into each other’s eyes and smile big and laugh.  They also hold hands and grab for each other when they are placed together.  

They think Dad is the funniest thing they’ve ever seen!!!  It’s pretty adorable.  He beat boxes for them, sings and hums for them, takes them on what we call roller coaster rides (aka holds them in his hands and swings them from side to side or lifts them up and down).   They think it’s all hilarious.  Sometimes they just look at him and start smiling from ear to ear and laughing.  There are even times when he can’t feed them because they can’t stop smiling and laughing long enough to eat.  Any time I can’t get a baby calmed down, I just hand them to Dad and within seconds… silence as they lovingly stare into his eyes.  

I’m proud to say that I’m still able to feed them 100% breast milk, which was my goal – thanks to my amazing lactation consultant Faith McGinn.  Lily is the only one nursing and then I pump and bottle feed Anaia and Grace.  I’m still trying to get them on the breast too but they’re at least getting breast milk.  

We had to see the Neonatologist/Pediatrician from Children’s Hospital as long as the girls had feeding tubes but since they no longer had the feeding tubes, we were able to transition to our regular pediatrician at the beginning of April.  She said they looked great and was very happy with their growth… which was music to our ears!

All in all, we’re doing great!  We’re trucking along and getting through each day, one at a time.  I’m trying my hardest to soak in every minute, take a lot of pictures, and celebrate every little ounce gained, ml eaten, and milestone we’re passing.  I thank God every day for trusting me with these three little lives.   I still can’t believe they’re actually mine most days.  

THANK YOU to everyone who has donated diapers and other baby goods!  I STILL have not been able to make a dent in thank you cards to send out but please know how much you all mean to us and these precious girls.  Your kindness does not go un-noticed. 

For more updates and photos, please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.  Also, tune in on Mondays for “Mommy Hearts It Monday” where I feature things I love from must have baby products to children’s boutiques and clothing brands I adore.

Obaby is a must have app for Moms (and maybe some Dads too)!  The app for telling beautiful baby stories with handcrafted artwork on photos, has gone free for Mother’s Day. Normally priced at $4.99, this special Mother’s Day edition of Obaby includes 22 beautiful new illustrations for celebrating moms.

“We made Obaby to celebrate little lives, and these special Mother’s Day illustrations celebrate all the moms who make those little lives happen,” said Aaron Marshall, the app’s co-creator and designer.  

“Moms make beautiful baby stories.  We love them.  We’ve decided to thank them this year by giving them our app for free,” Marshall continued.  “We also included artwork for everyone else to thank the moms in their lives.”

The new Mother’s Day overlays are sponsored by Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets, and designed by artist Kelsey Cronkhite.

Each download of Obaby includes 300+ custom-made illustrations in addition to the limited time Mother’s Day artwork, with another 350+ illustrations available via in-app purchases (including a one-time “unlock all” option for $9.99).  All of Obaby’s other illustrations may be viewed at the app’s website, ObabyApp.com.

To help others join in the Mother’s Day gift-giving, the folks at Obaby have also dropped the price of Obaby+ from $14.99 to $9.99.  Obaby+ is just like Obaby except there’s no artwork to unlock, because all 650+ illustrations, plus all future additions, are already included.  Obaby+ may be gifted from the App Store by pressing the share button then the gift button.  

This Mother’s Day edition of Obaby, sponsored by Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets, includes:

• A limited time price drop (beginning May 8) for Obaby from $4.99 to free.
• A limited time price drop (beginning May 8) for Obaby+ from $14.99 to $9.99.
• 22 beautiful new illustrations for celebrating moms.

For more on Obaby, please see the app’s press kit and the Obaby website and Instagram account.  Contact Aaron Marshall directly at aaron@overllc.com or 1+ (503) 505-6823.  The folks who made Obaby also made Over, the app for adding text and artwork to photos.

I know I just started this whole “Mommy Hearts It Monday” thing where I feature something I love as a Mommy every week.  Well, this Monday, I want to do something a little different in light of Mother’s Day coming up.  Above is me with my Mom.  While I am and should be excited for my first mother’s day with babies to hold in my arms, I also have a very heavy heart.  Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the women, for whom this time of year must be difficult.  Women who have miscarried or lost unborn children, women who have lost babies that were born but spent too little time here on earth, women who struggle with infertility, and women who have lost their mothers.

Let me do a quick flash back to last Mother’s Day.  We had just found out I was pregnant again on April 29th.  I say again because in December 2012, at 12 weeks gestation, we found out our first baby no longer had a heartbeat.  I had spent most of my adult life doing everything I could not to get pregnant.  I was building my professional career as was Alvin, we were saving to buy a house, we were saving to have enough money to have kids and raise a family, we just weren’t “ready” yet.  I never allowed myself to get too set on having kids of my own because I always thought in the back of my mind, what if I CAN’T have kids.  I don’t want to get my hopes up or my heart set on it because if it’s not part of God’s plan for me, I don’t want to be upset about it.  Well, around August of 2012 we had just bought a house.  Not just any house but a house in which we could actually see ourselves staying long term and raising a family in.  If you know Alvin and I, you know that’s a big deal with how many times we’ve moved in the past 10 years.  As soon as we closed on our house and started moving in, we decided to start trying.  We still weren’t sure we were totally ready but it was never going to happen if we didn’t start trying at some point…. or at least stop trying to keep it from happening.  AND… we didn’t NEED to be ready right then anyway, after getting pregnant we’d have 9 months to prepare right?

Alvin’s sister, who had miscarried her first pregnancy several years prior (and had since been advised not to conceive for health reasons), had just started trying again.  How perfect would it be if we both got pregnant and our babies would be so close with their cousins?!  It would be both of our first kids so it would be so fun to go through the pregnancy together.  We talked about all the fun stuff we would do together if we were both to get pregnant.   As much as I was still trying not to get my heart set on it and not to get too excited about the idea of a baby and my own little family, I had completely gotten my heart set on it.  My sister-in-law was educating me on how to track my cycle, how to use ovulation test strips to determine exactly what time of the month I was ovulating, which pregnancy tests to buy, etc., etc..  A couple months went by with negative test results.  By the 3rd month I had the TTC (trying to conceive) thing down.  I had seen an OB and I checked out fine. She gave me her own advice for what time of the month to try.  I took all of the knowledge I had acquired on the subject, and we gave it a good shot.   It worked!  And like the naive, never been pregnant before, giddy excited Mommy to be I was, I believed I was going to have a happy healthy baby that June.  Now I knew things could go wrong and not to announce anything or get too excited until that first ultrasound, but I was so excited!  I remember trying to think of a fun way to tell Alvin but couldn’t contain my excitement.  It was about 4:00 in the morning when I took the test because I couldn’t sleep and had already decided I was going to take a test that morning, so I sat quietly, pretty much staring at Alvin as he slept, until he awoke on his own.  I probably would have just done something to wake him but he had a professional MMA fight scheduled about a week later and needed his rest so I waited.  The minute he woke up I was in his face saying “GUESS WHAT!!!!?”

You can read the full story here but basically we went on to see a heartbeat at our 7 week ultrasound, get really excited about there actually being a little baby in there, announce to friends and family at 10 weeks, find out my sister-in-law was also pregnant and expecting 3 weeks before us, and then find out our little baby no longer had a heartbeat at 12 weeks.  It was devastating.  For 2+ months we had started to prepare ourselves.  We wondered what our baby would look like, act like, what kind of parents we’d be and how we’d handle this situation and that.  All of a sudden, we weren’t sure what the future held.  We were back to not knowing if we would ever be parents.  We realized we would never meet our little baby we had already grown to love… at least not on this earth.

I decided in all of my sadness and heartbreak, and guilt, that I was going to use this experience for good.  God had given me something to be able to connect with and hopefully support other women who had gone through this or would go through this.  So…I blogged about my experience.  I couldn’t believe the amount of love and support that started pouring in as friends, family and strangers started to read my story.  I heard story after story of other women who had had miscarriages and gone on to have perfectly healthy children after that.  I heard stories of women who had this happen one, two, three, even ten times!!!!  Unimaginable!  There were some women who I talk to and didn’t even know it had happened to them.  There were actually two friends, who both miscarried that same week.  If you’ve had a miscarriage, or lost a child, you know all of the uncertainty that brings.  You know how much it reminds you of just how fragile life can be, and what a miracle every life is, no matter how small.

Back to last Mother’s Day.  We had found out I was pregnant again.  We hoped and prayed that we would go on to have a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.  We got up and went to church.  It was awkward.  Some people said ‘Happy Mother’s Day’, since technically I had had a life inside me and had an angel baby.  Some people weren’t sure what to say.  I knew I was pregnant but couldn’t say anything and it was so hard since I could tell some people felt sad for me.  I wanted to tell them not to worry and that God had blessed us with another pregnancy, but I couldn’t yet.  It was just too early still.  Although it was early and we hadn’t had an ultrasound yet, we had decided Mother’s Day was the perfect day to tell our mothers the good news because, after all, we would want our family praying for us and this baby and being there to support us no matter what came of this pregnancy.  We went to lunch with my mother-in-law and presented her with a picture frame that had THREE (3) cutouts.  One had a photo of her grandson and granddaughter, one had a photo of her other grandson, and in the middle was a piece of scrapbooking paper with the letters stamped out that read “Baby Robinson coming january twenty fourteen”.   We then went to meet my parents and presented my mom with a card that read, “It is such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother that’s why the world calls her GRANDMOTHER. In January 2014 you’re going to be a grandma!”.  Along with the card we presented her with THREE (3) red roses.  Keep in mind we did not yet know that there were in fact three little lives growing inside of me.  We went on to get our first ultrasound about 3 weeks later and that was when we found out just how much we had been blessed.  We were having triplets!  You can see the video of our first ultrasound in my blog post where we announced we were pregnant and having triplets here.

This Mother’s Day I want to challenge you to find someone in your life who might be having a hard time with Mother’s Day upon us and bless them.  That could mean spending time with them, maybe bringing them a coffee or special treat, it could mean a lot of different things.  It doesn’t have to cost a lot or take a lot of time to be special and make their day.  

Just to make it extra easy, I’m providing THREE (3) free 8×10 printables to download.  Please feel free to download, and gift to someone in whatever way you wish.  You could make the image into the front of a card, or frame it so they can hang in on their wall for daily inspiration and encouragement.  Have fun and please share your stories of what Mother’s Day means to you or how you were able to bless someone in the comments here or in the comments of this post on Facebook.   I can’t wait to read your stories!

Download 1 Cor 13:7-8 LOVE

Download Jeremiah 29:11

Download Thank You

This week’s Mommy Hearts It Monday is featuring a little shop called Iviebaby.  They make the cutest modern, gender neutral crib bedding I have found and Elizabeth Ivie (creator and owner) is a dream to work with!  Elizabeth has quite the eye for colors and pattern and her work is impeccable.  Here are a few words from Elizabeth herself about how Iviebaby came about:

And now, some very exciting news in the world of Iviebaby… Saturday they graduated from Etsy to their very own .com!!  www.iviebaby.com in case you were wondering  Everything in the shop is ready to ship.  There’s also a blog, curated registry, information on custom orders, and much more!  Be sure to follow Iviebaby on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to see when they feature new fabrics and restock items that were previously sold out.  I love all of their fabrics but have a confession… I currently have a thing for gold.  No, really.  Like gold head bands and hair bows, gold baby moccasins, and especially gold polka dots.  Iviebaby happens to have crib sheets, changing pad covers, and boppy covers in the most fabulous metallic gold polka dots and I just had to have them for my girls.

The large tissue paper flowers on the nursery wall and peach fabric flowers were made by my amazing sister in law for my baby shower.  I love that I can reuse them now in the nursery.  I keep telling her she needs to open a shop and sell them.  I made the gold headbands (which might be for sale soon)

Please share about their shop with your family/friends/followers (feel free to use any image here or from their shop or instagram).  For those of you who share, they put a little thank you in their shop!  Go to shop menu ->printables for a free download of their black and white teepee print seen here.  The perfect piece for any nursery.

THANK YOU FOR COMING!

See you next Monday

- Teryn

Starting today, every Monday I will be featuring some of my favorite things as a Mommy of 3… from can’t live without baby products to children’s clothing companies I adore.  Being a photographer and small business owner, I LOVE being able to support other small businesses and especially ones who have a great product, great customer service, and genuine people and families who find a way into my heart.  Tink & Key is one of those.  As soon as I stumbled across their shirts on Etsy, I was smitten.  Since corresponding back and forth with Stephanie Harding, the owner and creator of Tink & Key, I adore her little business even more.  Here’s a few words about her business from Stephanie herself:

Tink & Key looks forward to sharing some encouraging words through their collection.  Each shirt has a significant meaning to Stephanie and her family, so through their shirts they would like to share how they have found hope during the storms or have been lifted up through familiar verses and songs.

Children are a gift from God and always seem to put a smile on people’s faces.  Their hope is that while they’re out running errands with their kids or playing at the park that they can shine the light of God’s love to others, by simple sayings from their shirts.

Tink & Key prides themselves in providing the best customer service and the best product by using American Apparel Clothing (sweat shop free) and water based inks (kid friendly).  Using water based dyes on the shirts allows it to soak into the cotton, so it will never flake off in the wash or even your child’s mouth.

This is most definitely  a company I want to stand behind and I hope and pray that I can encourage others through my babes as well!

I love these Miracle Baby tees because I consider my 3 girls miracle babies.  If you’re new here, I miscarried my first pregnancy at 12 weeks.  I was perfectly healthy.  We saw a heartbeat at 7 weeks and at 12 weeks there was none.  It was devastating but we trusted that God had a plan.  Several months later, I became pregnant again and about a month after that we found out we were having triplets!!!  God had blessed us beyond what we ever could have imagined.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. -Ephesians 3:20

The story behind the Miracle Baby tee:

Every baby is a miracle and a gift from God. When you think of the developmental process in utero, the struggles that some parents go through just to conceive a child, and how they grow and develop, its nothing but a Miracle.

Stephanie has her own Miracle Baby story.  Her second child, Trent, had open heart surgery at 6 weeks of age. He was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot at 5 weeks of age. This should have been diagnosed at birth but it was missed, and if the Pediatrician did not notice his purplish tint to him at the 5 week check up, he would have ended up passing away in his sleep due to insufficient oxygen. The Miracle is that it was caught and that her baby boy was saved. He is doing great now and will have periodic surgeries over his lifetime, but by the Grace of God he is here with us today.

Portions of this shirt will be donated to the American Heart Association

*Available in sizes. 3-6mon/6-12mon/12-18mon/18-24mon/2/4/6

If you love Tink & Key as much as I do and would like to encourage others by purchasing shirts for your babes, you’re in luck!!! They are being featured right now over at www.brickyardbuffalo.com for $12.99 each

Now…. if you thought I have amazingly photogenic babies, or how did I ever get good pictures of 3 babies when it’s hard enough to get one of a single baby…. I took about 100 pictures and picked out the best 3!!!  Here are a couple of my favorite behind the scenes shots.  In this case, I just might like these two better than the ones above.  I think Anaia (pink) and Lily (yellow) are already taking after their dad and working on their MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) skills HAHA!  Lily is doing a screaming, superman punch and Anaia invented her own move here with her double whammy sister punch.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!  P.S. my husband surprised me with Easter outfits for the girls’ first Easter… he did good!!  And to think he was worried he wouldn’t know what to do with three girls  He picked out the egg cakes too.  What an awesome Daddy!

My upcoming Mommy Hearts It Monday post is featuring a Miracle Baby Tee and I think most of you know the story of my three miracle babies but this is one of another miracle baby in my family.  My nephew.

That was him when he was born last April.  He was a tiny 2lbs 5oz.  The pictures below were from one of the last photo shoots I did in 2013 while pregnant with triplets.  He was a couple months old but had only been home from the hospital about a month.  He just turned ONE this past week.  Wow how time flies!!

My sister-in-law, was told not to get pregnant after having a miscarriage and consequently having her platelets drop to a dangerously low level.  Platelets are what cause your blood to clot. Hers were almost nonexistent.  She was instructed to be very careful and stay away from things like knives in the kitchen because if she was to get cut, they would not be able to stop the bleeding.  The doctors said it could be life threatening to both her and a baby if she were to conceive.  For 3 years she went through treatments to try to raise her platelets with no success. She desperately wanted a baby and went to numerous eastern and western medical doctors.  Nothing was working other than very temporary.  After a trip to Israel, her and her husband decided to take a leap of faith and try to conceive against medical advice.  9 months passed and she still had not become pregnant and was still having issues with her platelets.  One day, even though she was sure another month had passed of trying and not getting pregnant, she took a pregnancy test.  Negative… just like she thought.  She prayed to God and trusted that he was going to give her a baby in 2013.  2 days later, on a whim, she was at the store and walked by the the pregnancy test isle.  She was saddened.  Against her better judgement, she decided to buy one.   When she got to where she was going, she was all alone and took the test.  Pregnant!

The trials didn’t end there though.  During the pregnancy, she continued to do treatments for her platelets.  As the pregnancy progressed and the treatments were not  having much affect, they decided to stop them.  Then one day, around 14 weeks along, she started bleeding… A LOT.  Her husband rushed her to the hospital.  She had a sub chorionic hemorage.  It’s actually pretty common but with her low platelets, the bleeding was not stopping.  Thank God the baby was okay and they were able to stop the bleeding.

At 32 weeks and 6 days, she woke up around 4am having what she thought were braxton hicks contractions.  She started timing them in her head and realized they were in a pattern but still thought it was just her body preparing and nothing to worry about.  About 15 minutes later, she got up to pee.  There was some blood.  She woke her husband and they drove to the hospital.  After running tests and checking her out, they realized her water had broken. The next day my nephew arrived at 33 weeks gestation via an emergency c-section.  My sister-in-law did not have any bleeding any worse than the typical c-section.  My nephew was quite the fighter and spent only a month in the NICU

You can see some more recent photos of their family taken by my friend Michelle Hebert Photography here

Stay tuned this Spring for some photos of my identical triplet girls wearing these adorable baby moccasins from Freshly Picked.  I just got them in the mail and they are even cuter and softer than I had imagined.  They weigh practically nothing.  I didn’t believe there were 3 pairs in the envelope.  Only wish they made them in my size!

I have gotten pretty behind on updating my blog and I apologize to those of you who have been following us and wondering how we’re all doing.  Since the day I was hospitalized on October 9th, 2013, I had a hard time even finding the words to update friends and family because I was trying to wrap my own head around what was happening each day, hour, and minute.

We want to start by saying thank you for the outpouring of support we have received from everyone.  So many people have done so much for us, and every bit of help we have received truly is appreciated.  We are experiencing the biggest challenge of our lives, and we’re blessed to be surrounded by so many family members, friends, and even strangers who have shown us so much love and support.

When we found out we were having triplets, we chose to be seen by a MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) doctor at a University Hospital.  The good part about being at an educational hospital is that they are using cutting edge technology and are sometimes willing to try new things.  The down side is that things are constantly changing, and there are too many cooks in the kitchen (if you know what I mean).  I was admitted at 26 weeks and 6 days gestation due to some abnormalities in cord flow for one of our babies.  All precautions were taken in case we needed to deliver our babies at that time.  The attending doctor then said he would be happy if we made it to 29 weeks.  Well… we made it to 31 weeks and 4 days!!!  Those 5 weeks were a constant roller coaster of decisions and emotions.  One day we were told that I was very sick and they would need to deliver the babies soon.  The next day, a different doctor, would tell me how great I looked and that we could probably still go a couple more weeks unless something drastic happened.  Well 31 weeks and 4 days is a great gestation for triplets (especially identical where they’re all sharing one placenta) but they were still 9 weeks early.  They were tiny and fragile little beings.  Don’t get me wrong, these girls were strong little fighters from the beginning, but far from full term babies.

We ended up delivering because I had severe high blood pressure and my body was starting to fail me and these babies.  I had a rough recovery because of the weeks of bed rest and losing so much muscle mass, the 30+ lbs of water weight I had gained because of the preeclampsia, the extra hormones from carrying 3 babies, and my pregnancy induced high blood pressure.  Poor Alvin was running back and forth between the NICU and my recovery room.  He was doing everything in his power to take care of his wife and new baby girls without resting or eating… and staying strong for his family.  He did fantastic and I couldn’t have asked any more of him!

This is where our journey as a new family and the struggle of our lifetime began.   We spent all 77 days and 76 nights in the NICU with our babies.  We were there for every diaper change, temperature check, and feeding.  From day one, doctors and nurses kept telling us how great the girls were doing, how good their weights were, how they were the healthiest triplets they’d ever seen, how I did such a good job during the pregnancy to have such healthy babies, etc., etc.  They typically tell parents of preemies to plan on being discharged around their 40 week due date (January 9th, 2014).  Some babies go home earlier and some later.  Well we were optimistic and determined to believe our babies were going home early… by Christmas to be exact.  And then, hurdle after hurdle seemed to be put in front of us and that goal.  In the first few days of life, Grace and Lily were Jaundice and being treated with photo therapy lights.  As soon as their bilirubin levels came down and they were 1 week old, Grace was diagnosed with NEC (a life threatening disease in pre-term infants).  By the “Grace” of God they caught it very early and after 10 days of bowel rest, TPN (IV) feedings, and isolation, she was happy and healthy.  The girls were being given caffeine for the management of apnea events.  Then they all became anemic and were given epogen shots and iron supplements.  They were being force fed large volumes of milk through a tube to their bellies to try to get their weight gain to what it would have been in utero in those last critical weeks and months.  They were vomiting at the end of almost every feeding because their little tummies were too small to handle the volume of food they were given.  The volumes of food were constantly being raised as they grew so they never got a chance to get hungry or have a desire to eat.  Human milk fortifier was added to my breast milk and I was told that my milk was not enough for my pre-term babies (which I never really believed and really struggled with).  I struggled to produce enough milk at times because of all the stress we were under, the lack of privacy to pump every 2-3 hours, and reoccuring clogged milk ducts.  The girls started getting oral aversions which, apparently, is pretty common with NICU babies.  They are constantly having tape ripped of their little faces, tubes and suctions placed in their noses and mouths, bottles and nipples held in their mouth against their will, pacifiers placed in and held in their mouths while they fight to push them out, and they have a lot of negative associations with their faces and mouths so they get to a point where they want nothing in their mouth… not even to eat.  They were being tube fed large amounts every few hours so there was no need for them to eat on their own.  They would actually cry and gag when anything was placed in their little mouths.  Then Lily got the flu.  And not just any flu, we’re talking H1N1.  Healthy grown adults were getting H1N1 and dying and here we are with a vulnerable little premature infant with lung disease who is diagnosed with it.  All 3 girls were put on Tamiflu and Lily remained strong and got better.  Christmas came and went.  New Year’s came and went.  Their due date came and went.  We had now spent Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s in the hospital.  We were being told over and over to be advocates for our babies and stand up for what we believe is best for them but it felt like nobody would listen to us.  The nurses who did listen and agree, and feel for us, seemed to have no pull with the team of doctors and decision makers.  We were stressed beyond what we ever could have imagined and so badly needed to get our babies home.  The longer we were there the worse they seemed to be getting with their eating.  I felt like I was missing out on this important part of their lives because each day was filled with tasks rather than being a parent.  Day after day and night after night we sat and watched our babies sleep in their isolettes and felt so helpless and out of control and like we were failing them as parents.

Finally when the girls were 11 weeks old (2 weeks adjusted), they agree to discharge us with all 3 girls going home with NG feeding tubes.  They don’t normally let one baby go home on a feeding tube unless it’s eating the majority of it’s meals by bottle or breast and they anticipate it will be eating everything on it’s own within a few weeks.  We had 3 babies that were eating about 5-10% of their meals by bottle or breast and were continuing to get worse.  Part of their concern with feeding tubes at home is that if the baby were to get ahold of the tube and pull it out while food is being pumped through it, there is a very serious risk of aspiration (fluid going into the baby’s lungs).  We were told that we need to sit and watch the babies during all tube feedings (day and night) in case they try to pull it out.  We were confident that getting them home and having more consistency with feedings and making meal times a pleasant experience would get them to where they need to be and get the tubes out.  We were given 2 months.  If at the end of the two months, the girls hadn’t shown enough improvement, we’d have to get G tubes which are surgically placed and more permanent tubes into their stomachs.

We have been home almost 4 weeks.  We’ve had in home therapy to see how the girls or progressing and help with feeding and development.  We’ve had in home nursing to check up on the feeding tubes and monitor their weights.  Now all 3 girls are currently feeding tube free as long as they can continue to eat enough and gain weight.  They currently look like healthy “normal” babies but are not.  They are still preemies and still need special care.  They’re only eating 1-2 ounces at a time and should be getting about 24-26 ounces a day so that means a very tight schedule of feeding every 1-2 hours and finding time in there to pump enough milk to feed them, sleep and eat.  And then there is the risk of germs, viruses and infections.  These are reasons why we are isolating the babies for a minimum of this cold/flu/RSV season and next year’s season.  If you are not aware of RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, you are among the majority.  Most people have not heard of RSV, even though nearly every child has had the virus by age two.  For full-term babies, RSV typically is not any worse than a common cold, but for preemies, the virus can be quite different.  Babies born earlier than 36 weeks are at the highest risk for serious complications like pneumonia, bronchioitis, and other sometimes fatal complications.  Our babies were born premature, are multiples, and had low birth weights; these are among the highest risk factors for contracting RSV and developing serious complications.  This website offers a great visual comparison of a preemie’s lungs compared to the lungs of a full-term baby: http://www.preemiecare.org/lungs.html

Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult.  Thus, we must be vigilant about keeping our children safe during RSV season and beyond.  The virus is spread through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object.  The virus can live as long as six hours on hands and up to twelve hours on objects, and it spreads very easily, especially from child to child.  Studies have also shown that infants pose an even higher risk of spreading RSV to others.  There is an incubation period between when you contract a bug and when you start having symptoms where you can feel fine but still spread the virus.  You can also still spread a virus days after feeling sick when you feel like you’re all better.

You may ask, “Can’t they fight it off and build up their immune system? Children need to get sick, right?”  The simple answer is NO.  Since our babies were pre-term, they did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection.  If they contract RSV, they could be hospitalized and develop serious complications.

Our goal is to make it through this and the next RSV season without the babies contracting RSV or any other serious illness.  Their lungs are still very fragile until they are 2-years-old.

Please understand that this is not meant to offend anyone, just simply to provide an explanation.  We hope you understand, and we appreciate your help keeping our babies safe.

Please also read Isolation, From Your Preemie’s Point of View

God Bless!

The Family of much loved Preemies

P.S. These are likely our only babies.  When you try to become pregnant and imagine what it will be like to start a family, you never imagine multiples, high risk, bed rest, preemies, NICU time, not being able to go out and show off your babies.  Being a photographer, good photographs to document my babies lives are VERY important to me.  I have not been able to take nearly the amount of photos I would like since the girls were born because I’ve been so exhausted and focused on getting them healthy and as close to “normal” babies as possible.  My friend and talented newborn photographer in Tulsa Oklahoma, www.tgnewborns.com, volunteered to drive herself to Colorado with all of her equipment and props and take pictures of my not so newborn babies.  She got them to sleep and pose just like newborns and for once… I felt like a normal, new, first time mom Thank you for that Trisha!!!   Also thank you for wearing a mask, sanitizing all of your equipment, and bathing in disinfectant!

Stay tuned for the rest of the images from TG Photography in my next post