Ellie gets new bed!

Last night, Ellie was able to ditch the incubator and get in a big girl crib. Her temperature has been holding since they turned her heater off - so out she comes.

Evan and Charlotte got to come over and visit with her for a couple minutes.

All three are starting to get use to bottle feeding. Evan and Charlotte can get a bottle every other feeding if they are awake, alert, and act like they want it - and they both want it pretty much every time. Ellie gets a bottle once per shift. She is now finishing the bottle but it takes her some time. Their weight gain has slowed a little this week. Keeping themselves warm and laboring to take bottles burn more calories so this was expected. Once they don't have to work as hard to do the small thing they will start gaining more rapidly. Charlotte and Evan weigh about the same 3lb 13.8oz - Ellie weighs 3lb 10.7oz. We came back tonight to get some extra time - fav nurse Jenn was on. Jennifer is really enjoying getting to put the outfits on. She asked me to pick out outfits tonight and I immediately went to get just a t-shirt and a diaper. I was quickly informed by my wife and nurse Jenn that I had made the wrong choice. They then picked out the outfits. Sorry to be a party pooper - but it takes too much time putting on and taking of sleepers and onesies but the ladies love it. Here are some shot to get you all caught up on the babies.

Ellie sporting a yellow sleeper with pink zebra (I think it is donkey!)

Evan showing of a blue sleeper gown with sailor bears - he has matching hat but it was left in crib.

Charlotte with a pink and white pant shirt combo accented with little hearts

Here's Charlotte with no oxygen and no feeding tube - they were moving it from mouth to nose.

Reality Check!

I guess knowing that I have three babies and realizing that I have three babies is two different things. Today I had the reality check! I was holding Ellie and giving her a bottle and only 5 feet from me were my beautiful wife and my other two babies. Charlotte and Evan had just finished their bottles and were getting rocked to sleep. Finally, we were a family! As reality was setting in, I had visions of what my life will be like in the near future. A lot of diapers, a lot of bottles, a lot of naps, a lot of baths, a lot of laundry, a lot of laughs, a lot of tears, a lot of prayer, and a whole big pile of love.

Evan has moved in with Charlotte. This morning he left his bachelor pad and incubator to re-unite with his younger sister. It has been 6 weeks since they were together and we got no complaints. I asked the nurse if we would be charge for 3 rooms or 2 now that they were sharing - she laughed and said what do you think!

Ellie's incubator has been cut off - this means she is maintaining her own body temperature and does not need the machine to warm her. Once she gets a little bigger she will be set free from her box. We are not sure if they will put all three together in the open crib - but one of our primary nurses is coming up with a plan to get them all together. Ellie finished her first full bottle today! I fed her for a few minutes and was not getting a whole lot of results - so I turned her over to the nurse and she was able to get her in a better position and make her less relaxed than I was - so she finished.

Ellie passed out after finishing her 1st whole bottle!

You will notice something missing in the pictures of Charlotte. Like Evan, she is now without any oxygen assistance. She was able to ditch the tube today and has been doing just great. Jennifer and I both think she looks a little different - but we are sure they did not switch babies - her poop was the same.

Charlotte with no oxygen!

Mom with two babies - lot of love to go around!

Here's the sleeping arrangements - I wonder how long it will be till they are fighting?

Sleep tight sweet babies - we will see you tomorrow!

Playing Dress UP.

On last nights check-in call, Nurse Jennifer told us that she is going to try Charlotte out in a new bed. We have seen them change from incubator to incubator - that's no big deal. She had to repeat herself when she said that the new bed was an open crib. Charlotte had exceeded the 1600 grams (almost 31/2 lb) required to be able to make the big change. She also had to prove that she was able to keep herself warm with out the assistance of the incubator - and she could with no issues. So big girl crib it is - here's a shot of Charlotte showing off her new crib.

Evan is not far way from the weight limit. He was only 10 grams short. He might make it to an open crib soon. He will get to enjoy open air space and from what the nurse has planned he will get to share a crib with Charlotte. The big crib is already moved into Charlotte's room. They just started adjusting Ellie's incubator down so it will be a week or so before she is set free.
One major change with getting to open cribs or getting the incubator turned down , is they have to wear clothes. And here I was thinking they would stay in diapers and blankets the whole time in the NICU. So finally we get to put some of the clothes we got as gifts to use. We even got a surprise in our room today. We got a gift bag full of preemie clothes. At first we thought it was some that were put in Ellie's room by mistake - but I got the bag out and there was a note to us from the Streetmans (they had triplets a month or so earlier than we did and they are all home now) Thanks for the clothes we will get some miles out of them.

Clothing the babies is (I guess) something a mother enjoys. So Jennifer was all excited about getting to dress up her baby girls. Here's a couple shots of the ladies all dressed up for the 1st time.

Ellie's 1st PJ's

Charlotte's 1st PJ's

Evan wanted no part of the dress up! He was just was trying to get some sleep on what might be his last night alone - at least for a few weeks. Look out Charlotte - here I come!

A clean baby is a happy baby.

Nurse Jennifer was back on shift and you know what that means - baby bathing! Jennifer had a ball tonight washing the trips. I just captured the memories while she worked away. LOTS OF PICTURES - YOU BETTER PACE YOURSELF - THESE MIGHT HAVE TO LAST YOU A COUPLE DAYS!!

EVAN WAS FIRST

WASH TIME - HE HATED IT - THE WHOLE TIME

QUICK SHOT WITH MOM

TIME FOR A DIAPER AND A SHIRT

THROW ON A HAT AND WE ARE ALL DONE - READY FOR SOME DINNER AND A NAP

CHARLOTTE WAS NEXT - SHE, LIKE EVAN, DID NOT LIKE THE CLEANING

SHE DID NOT EVEN STOP CRYING TO TAKE A SHOT WITH MOM

ALL NICE AND CLEAN - SO LETS GET SOME CLOTHES ON

MOM HAS TO GIVE THAT CARROT HEAD A BRUSH

CHARLOTTE IS ALL HAPPY READY FOR BED - AND DINNER OF COURSE

LAST BUT NOT LEAST - LITTLE MISS ELLIE - SHE DID NOT FIGHT THE BATH LIKE HER YOUNGER SIBLINGS - I THINK SHE LIKED BEING NAKED!

LOOK AT THAT HAIR!!!

RELAXED AND READY FOR LOVE

DIAPER AND A HAT AND ALMOST READY FOR BED

QUICK SMILE AND OFF TO NIGHT - NIGHT

JUST CHILLIN' NOW - WHERE'S MY DINNER?

Ellie hits the bottle!

As stated last night, I was planning to hold Ellie today - it had been a couple days so I was willing going to forgo feeding Evan just for some Ellie time. I got Ellie time and a bonus. Jennifer called me just before I got the Hospital and said she had a surprise for me - of course I thought of the last surprise I got - POOPIE DIAPER! Not this time - I was informed that the doctor had written orders for Ellie to get a bottle and Jenn was going to wait for me to get there to give it to her. Not only was she getting a bottle today but they reduced her flow on her oxygen. She still requires some O2 quality (small % above room air -which is what we breath) but less flow - this is good news. She was stuck on a higher flow for about 2 weeks - so it was time to see her get reduced. Sounds like a lot of changes all at once - right. That's what I thought as well, so we will see how she handles change.

Feeding Time!

She seemed interested at first. She was all smiles! But she did not stay interested for long. She got down 1/4 of her feed and then was completely pooped out. I held her for about 30 minutes longer and told her she will get another chance tomorrow - no need to rush things. Here's a couple picts:

Evan got his two bottles today - but both times he only got about half way and then was too tired to finish. Here's a shot as Jennifer was trying to wake him up to finish his dinner.

Charlotte is not have any problems finishing her dinner. She took it down and acted as if she wanted more. Jennifer has to stop and let her catch her breath several times because she eats so fast - she is definitely my little girl - as you can tell I have never met a meal I could not finish. She had her flow reduced today as well. If she does good over the next couple days, then she might come off her O2 assistance. Then she will get two bottles a day. Here's an after shot of her passed out after the feed.