Update

The girls are both doing really well. Mallory is now 3 lb 2 oz and Kelby is 2 lb 6 oz. Kelby is still a little bit behind her sister since she had to be taken off of her feedings for a few days a while back. They are both eating well now and breathing well on CPAP. Mallory's air has been turned down a little (meaning she is starting to breathe better on her own) and the doctor told us yesterday that they will probably be turning Kelby's down in a few days, they probably could do it now, but they don't want to rush it. Mallory has been put on medication for the rapid heartbeat episodes she was having last week and she has not had any since then. The doctors are going to try to take her off of the medication this week and see how that goes. They think she may have just outgrown it and will not need the medication, we'll see. We have been able to hold them both quite a bit and they are growing so much everyday. Some of the nurses that haven't cared for them in a while come by to see them and can't believe the progress they've made in the last few weeks. They are getting bigger, their little legs and arms are even starting to get a little bit chubby if you can believe that. They're just starting to fill out and they're looking more like full term babies. They've still got a ways to go, but they're getting there.

Update

The girls have now had their first Christmas! They are both doing well. We got to hold them both on Christmas Day, so that was nice. We have had some ups and downs over the last few days, but nothing serious. Kelby is doing really well, she is going up on her feedings everyday since they stopped them last week. She is now up to 18 cc's every three hours. Last time they weighed her she was 2 lbs. She is doing really well on her CPAP.

Mallory is now up to 2 lb 11 oz. She has had a little bit of trouble over the last few days, but the doctors have assured us that it's nothing serious. We went in to the hospital a few nights ago and her heartrate (which should stay below 200 bpm) was up to 257 and at one point up to almost 300 bpm. Just every once in a while it will spike up for either a few seconds or at some times up to a minute or two. The doctor was there to talk to us and told us that it was not uncommon for this condition to show up in premature babies. She explained that it can correct itself within a few days and if not, they can control it with medicine. She said that if the condition does continue, it would most likely be corrected by the time she's six months old or so. Over the last few nights, she hadn't been doing it very often, only a few times through the night and yesterday she hadn't done it all day, but at around noon she started doing it again, so the doctors decided to go ahead and start her on the medication. Other than that, they're both doing well and they both look really healthy now that they're putting on more weight. We'll update you again soon.

Early Christmas!!!

We went to the hospital last night to see the girls. I started to leave the camera in the car, but decided to take it in case we had a Kodak moment. When we got back to their room their nurse Staci asked if we wanted to hold Mallory. Jeremy and I could not believe it. We were so excited. Staci couldn't believe we had not held them yet. It took some time to get Mallory ready and out of her bed. Finally I got to hold one of my baby girls. It was so awesome. I don't think either of us stopped smiling. She is so beautiful!! We had wires and tubes tapped to both of us. Mallory did great. Jeremy and I each held her for about 30minutes. Then Santa and Mrs. Claus came by and took pictures with them. The hospital is going to send us those.

Kelby was a bit jealous I think. She was getting blood and had to stay in bed. But her settings were so high the whole time- she kept setting of her alarms! We did a finger hold instead. Just as great. I'll hold you soon Miss Kelby, don't worry. :)

In case anyone is looking for us on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day we will be at the NICU holding the girls!!

Mallory and Kelby

The girls are both doing well. They are both still on CPAP and breathing well. Mallory is having to get a little more support breathing, but she is doing good. Mallory is now 2 lb 3 oz and Kelby is 1 lb 11 oz. Mallory had a spinal tap done on Friday to make sure the bacteria hadn't gotten into her spinal fluid and that test came back showing that everything was fine.
Kelby has been a little bit sick. Last Friday, they noticed she wasn't moving around as much as she had been, so they stopped her feedings and put an IV back in to give her IV nutrition. They think her stomach and intestines just need a little bit of a break. They are going to start feedings again in a few days. They think she has an infection of some kind, they're just not sure what it is yet, they are treating her with antibiotics and they think that will take care of it. They are also testing her for the same virus that Mallory has had, they think she may have the same thing. Overall, they are still both doing well. We have gotten to help out with a few things, we have helped change a few diapers and Jennifer got to lift Kelby up while they were changing her bedding a few days ago. We still haven't gotten to hold them. Hopefully soon, we're hoping by Christmas.

Another Day in NICU

The girls are both doing really well today. They got moved into their own little suite with a nice view over the weekend, which they should be in until they're released in a few months. Mallory had a virus called Serratia (pneumonia) show up in one of the tests on her lungs so they had to move them to isolation as a precaution. We talked to the doctor about it and she says that although she does have it, she is not showing any symptoms of it. They have her on a couple of different antibiotics and the doctors say that will take care of it. She's doing really well now. She's up to 2 lb 1 oz.
Kelby is also doing well, she's at 1 lb 10 oz. They are both on CPAP now. They changed them both over to continuous feedings because their little tummies were getting full and they were getting relaxed after their feedings and forgetting to breathe. They are both doing much better with that. They want to try to go back to the three hour feedings in a few weeks. The doctors seem to think that everything is going well. Just another day in the NICU. We'll try to keep you all posted on new developments.

Baby Update

Well, another day in NICU. The girls are still doing good. All of the doctors and nurses have told us that this will be a roller coaster ride, and it has definitely been that. Mallory was put back on the conventional ventilator yesterday and has been doing well since. They did a culture on her lungs when they put her back on the ventilator and that test showed that there was some bacteria growing in her lungs. They have put her on antibiotics and that should take care of it. The doctor said that that is probably what caused the problems that led to them putting her back on the ventilator, so once they get that cleared up, she should be able to go back on CPAP. Her latest blood test didn't show any signs of the infection, so that is good. Kelby is still going strong on CPAP, she has had some apnea (she forgets to breathe every now and then) but we have been assured that this is normal with babies born this premature. Kelby was scheduled to have another head ultrasound this morning. We haven't heard yet what the results of that were. We are praying that this one doesn't show any more bleeding and that there won't be any lasting effects. Other than that, both girls are still doing extremely well. Also, please pray for us this weekend as we fly to Lubbock for Evan's graveside service. We pray that God gives us peace in knowing that Evan is resting peacefully in a much better place and that we will all be reunited with her one day.

Update

The girls are both doing really well. They both came off of the ventilators yesterday morning, and have both been doing well breathing on CPAP. Both have been going up and down on the oxygen settings, but everything is going well so far.

Our girls are both doing really well. They are both now eating about 13 cc's every 3 hours and they are tolerating their feedings well. They have blood tests every day and last Friday they found that Mallory has a slight infection that they are treating with antibiotics. The doctors had to do another spinal tap on her on Friday to make sure that the infection did not get into her spinal fluid and to also check for Meningitis. The results of that test came back on Saturday and everything looked good. Kelby had to go back on the ventilator on Friday. Her lungs were just getting tired and she needed a little bit of a break. She is doing really well on the ventilator now. So, both girls are now on a conventional ventilator and doing well, they make slight changes to the settings several times throughout the day, but everything looks good. They may try to take them off the ventilators in a few days. They weighed the girls again last night, Mallory is now 1 lb 11 oz and Kelby is 1 lb 8 oz. They have started adding protein and other additives to their milk to help them start putting on a little more weight. Thank you all again for all of your thoughts and prayers. We will try to keep everyone up to date on their progress.

Here are a few e-mails we have sent out over the last few weeks. We haven't had a chance to update the blog until now.

11-23-07

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We just got home from another night at the hospital. Our sweet baby girls are both doing really well. Kelby came off of the ventilator yesterday morning and they put her on a C-PAP (don't know if that's exactly how to write that, but that's how they say it) which helps keep her lungs expanded, but she's doing all of the breathing on her own. Mallory had to stay on her ventilator for a while longer, but was switched over to the C-PAP this morning and so far they are both doing really well breathing on their own. They did another brain scan on both babies this morning, we haven't gotten the results back yet, but we are praying that the results are good. As we mentioned before, Kelby's had shown some bleeding before, but Mallory's has always been clear.

They have been feeding them 1 cc every 6 hours and tonight they upped that to 1cc every 3 hours. Kelby has had some stools in her diapers, sorry to talk about that, but that means that her intestines are working as they should, which is definitely a good thing. Mallory hasn't had as much in her diapers yet, but the doctors are still saying everything is fine there.We got to help take Mallory's temperature tonight and help change her diaper. Last night we got to help with her sponge bath. She opened her eyes and was looking up at us during her bath. Kelby's eyes are opening, but we haven't seen hers yet.

Kelby had lost an ounce yesterday when they weighed her, she was down to 1 lb 4 ounces, but when they weighed her tonight when we were down there she weighed 1 lb 8 ounces. Mallory was up an ounce yesterday, she's now at 1 lb 9 ounces.

11-20-07

The day started out difficult, with the two surgeries and the memorial service. We went up to the hospital at 6:30 this morning to see Mallory and Kelby before their surgeries. Both surgeries went extremely well and the doctors believe that the problems they were having will now begin to improve. We got to see the girls for a few minutes after the surgeries before we headed to the church for the memorial and they were both doing great, so it made it a lot easier to get through the memorial service for Evan.

We went back up to the hospital for a while this afternoon and again earlier tonight. Both trips to the hospital were really good visits. The girls are both doing great after their surgeries so far. We were told this morning that the surgery would be somewhat hard on them and their condition would probably get a little worse before improving, but it would improve. So far, both of our baby girls are doing great. The nurse told us earlier tonight that Kelby's lungs are doing extremely well and the doctor wants to take her off of the ventilator, but wants to wait a while because of the surgery this morning. Her nurse also told us that she looks extremely well for a baby born at 24 weeks. The surgery should help with the bleeding on her brain, or at least it will ensure that it doesn't get worse. We are still praying that this condition will be resolved and there won't be any lasting effects.

Mallory is also doing extremely well today after the surgery. They haven't done any more chest x-rays yet but the doctors are very optimistic that the surgery will improve the condition in her lungs. They did a spinal tap yesterday and haven't gotten complete results but so far they have ruled out any signs of the infection. Mallory hit another milestone last night- both girls' eyes were still fused shut when they were born - and overnight, Mallory's little eyes opened up. We went to see her tonight and we got to see her eyes open for just a few seconds.

Thank you all again for everything. What started out as a really difficult day has turned out to be pretty good. It's amazing what God can do.

We played the following song at the memorial service for our precious Evan Reese. We love you baby girl and we miss you everyday.


Glory Baby by Watermark

Glory baby, you slipped away
as fast as we could say baby…baby…
You were growing, what happened dear?
You disappeared on us baby…baby…
Heaven will hold you before we do
Heaven will keep you safe until we’re home with you…
Until we’re home with you…
And we’ll miss you everyday
We’ll miss you in every way
But we know there’s a day when we will hold you
We will hold you
You’ll kiss our tears away
When we’re home to stay
Can’t wait for the day when we will see you
We will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘till mom and dad can hold you…
You’ll just have heaven before we do
You’ll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little babies, it’s hard to understand it
‘cause we’re hurting
We are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we’re stronger people through the growing
And in knowing- That all things work together for our good
And God works His purposes just like He said He would…
Just like He said He would…

And we’ll miss you everyday
We’ll miss you in every way
But we know there’s a day when we will hold you
We will hold you
You’ll kiss our tears away
When we’re home to stay
Can’t wait for the day when we will see you
We will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘till mom and dad can hold you…
You’ll just have heaven before we do
You’ll just have heaven before we do

I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies
and what they must sound like
But I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home
And it’s all you’ll ever know…all you’ll ever know…



11-19-07

I just wanted to send an update on the babies and let everyone know what's going on with Mallory and Kelby . The doctors and nurses told us back on Friday that with the babies being delivered as early as they were, there would probably be good days and bad. Well, today has been one of the not so good days. We have had a couple of setbacks with both of the babies.

Mallory has had some problems with her lungs and the doctors aren't exactly sure why. They think she may have some of the infection in her lungs, so they're giving both babies a full round of antibiotics. They did X-rays yesterday and today and they show some excess fluid in her lungs. They say it could be fluid or a number of other things. But they said her x-rays today look a little bit worse than they did yesterday.

Kelby doesn't have as many problems with her lungs. She's breathing a little better on her own, with a little help from a ventilator. They performed brain scans on both babies this weekend and they both looked good, they didn't show any signs of bleeding. Mallory's still looks good, but they found some bleeding on Kelby's latest scan. They're telling us that it could improve with time, and with their brains as underdeveloped as they are, that her brain will learn to overcompensate for any issues she is having.

We visited them for a while this afternoon and were overwhelmed with all of this information. We received a call from the doctor when we arrived home later that they had run a few more tests - one of the main things they check for on babies this small is a valve above their heart that is open in utero, but is normally closed by the time of birth. With it open, it can cause too much blood to be pumped into the lungs, this may be the problem with Mallory's lungs. They found that this valve is open in both Mallory and Kelby. So, they're going to go in at 7:30 am in the morning and do surgery on both of the babies to close this valve. They say it is a minimally invasive procedure, where they will go in through a small incision in their side and clamp the valve. Obviously any surgery at this point will put some strain on the babies.

Sorry to overload all of you with the info. We just want to keep everyone up to date on everything. As always thank you for your prayers. We know that God will handle everything and only give us as much as we can handle.

11-18-07

Jeremy and I wanted to give you an update. We had the girls on Friday morning at 3:37am. Mallory Kate weighed 1 lb 8 oz, Kelby Grace weighed 1lb 5oz and Evan Reese weighed 1lb 1oz. Mallory and Kelby are in NICU at St. David's (south). They are both doing great. I got to see them finally today. The nurses and doctor's have nothing but good things to report on their progress.

Evan had a lot of complications, mainly under developed lungs and was with us until about 8:30am Friday. The doctor's tried everything. She was a fighter and tried very hard. We are having a memorial service for her Tuesday at the church, probably around 11:00. We are going to finallize plans tomorrow and we will let everyone know.

I was able to come home from hospital today. The slight infection that I had was due to carrying triplets. It started with a fever Thursday evening that brought on contractions. Once I had the girls my fever broke and has stayed normal since. The infection did not effect the babies.

Thank all of you for your constant prayers and support.

Welcome!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

Jeremy and I decided to start a blog spot so everyone could keep track of the triplets. I will post sonogram pictures as well as details about everyone soon. Please continue to check back periodically.

Thanks!
Jennifer