Reflecting - The babies birthday!

The time was set for 1 pm sharp. We had a lot of paperwork to sign - general surgery stuff x 3. Here's a shot of Jennifer about 2 hours before showing off her belly for the last time.
You might be thinking that she is not that big, but keep in mind she just started her 3rd trimester. I can't even picture her any bigger. Our nerves were under check. It was a little difficult waiting but I did my best to keep her in good spirits. Here's Jennifer getting ready for transport. The OR was just a few steps away from her room.

I had to get ready as well. They did their best to find me some clothes but had to piece together this outfit.
All suited up ready for action!!! They wrote on my shirt each babies name and a place to put the weight. I guess that trick works for dad's of one or two but with three it was way to hectic. They took us down to the OR and I had to wait outside while they did some prep on Jennifer. I remember it being the longest 15 min of my life. All the nerves that I had held back were hitting me right in the face. Just get this going already. By the time they let me back, they had already opened up Jennifer. These were her two operating doctors. Dr. Saujani - the OB (she had never delivered triplets) & Dr. Allaire - Jennifer's perinatolgist.

They are smiling - you just can't tell with their masks on!

Here's a shot of the crew waiting on the babies. The OR was filled with over 20 people. They had all the needed tools to get the babies stabilized as fast as possible. The process was very quick but from where I was sitting (hidden behind the curtain, holding my wife's hand, and telling her everything would be alright) it was taking for ever. 1:07 pm - We hear a baby cry. Little Ellie has taken her first breath. They quickly show her too us and she is off to get stabilized. That cry was amazing! I did not know what to expect - I mean - we did not even know if they would be able to sustain life - and now I can her my baby girl cry. 1:08 pm - Another cry. Evan has made his entry and he pee'd all over the place. We got a quick glance. 1:09 pm - Another cry. Here comes Charlotte. Another quick glance and they went to work on her. This is a shot of the three baby teams working hard to stabilize the babies so they could transport them to the NICU.

I stayed with Jennifer while the doctors were working on her and on the babies. We got some report but not much. We did know that they had shifted their concern from Evan who was doing surprisingly good to Ellie. Jennifer sent me out of the room with the babies while she stayed behind to get her surgery completed. I went down the elevator with Charlotte. Evan was already down and Ellie was right behind us. I could not get into the rooms because there was just way too much going on. It was really weird - all the noise - people talking medical stuff - not being able to get into the rooms. The nurse told me it might be awhile and she suggested I come back in about a hour. I went up to recovery and Jennifer is still out cold. The hospital room was filled with Jennifer's family so I went by gave them an update and then headed out for some fresh air (actually I went to Zaxby's - the waitress even noticed by three arm bands). Back from a quick bite and Jennifer is waking up. She had to be on magnesium and pain meds for her preeclampsia so she did not get to go see the babies until 11 am the next day. Jennifer remembers bits and pieces of the rest of that day. The medicine made her a little loopy. She sent me down several times to check on the babies - some times 2x in a 3o min window. But I did as I was told and checked on them or called down often.

I think you can go back to my early post to follow the rest of our story.

Don't worry I will have some 1st b-day pictures up soon!!!!!

Happy Birthday Matthew

I just wanted to wish my husband a happy birthday! He is a great husband and a wonderful daddy. He is my very own Valentine!!! We love you.

Birthday Party Extravaganza - Getting Ready

For the last few MONTHS, Jennifer has been planning the babies birthday party. It is tomorrow! The theme is cookies and milk with Elmo and Cookie Monster. Jennifer has gotten all the decor ready to go. We both have been baking cookies all day! All of our guest should be in for a great treat. Only one problem.

Baby sick - no.

Balloons all popped - no.

The milk is spoiled - no.

The cookies are not edible - no.

How's this for a party pooper - we got 2 1/2 inches of snow. Jennifer loves snow and wants it to snow all the time - just not now! What to do, What to do? I think we have gotten past the disappointment of weather interfering with the party. Party is on whether we have guests or not. Jennifer, Ellie, Evan, Charlotte and I will all be there. My brother said it would take more than a lousy couple inches to keep him away - he's up for an adventure.

Reflecting - Day 3-8 in the hospital

On day three, we finally got some answers. We had an ok night that was filled with a little less interruptions, but still in the hospital. That morning her perinatologist (special high risk baby doctor) came by to check on the babies. They did a full work up and looked closely at each baby. They seemed to be doing great, but they were concerned with Jennifer's condition. Her BP was not getting any better and they found a stronger trace of protein in her pee test. These two combined caused the diagnosis of preelampsia. I am not a doctor, don't play one on TV, and did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express so I will not even try to explain all the details of this diagnosis, but here are the basics. It's not good. Her body was not reacting well to being pregnant. If she only had one baby, it could be tolerated longer but since her pregnancy was high risk it was a serious issue. Then the difficult news. Best case scenario is we would stay in the hospital and monitor her condition for as long as she could or at least until the babies had more time to develop. They set a target of getting to 30-34 weeks. Worst case scenario is her case goes from mild to severe and they have to go in and get the babies out. The only cure for preeclampsia is not being pregnant. Of course we new the issues with 13 week premature babies and Jennifer having worked at Children's Health Care of Atlanta knew exactly the issues we could face. We can stay in the hospital for 6-8 weeks, right? The beds were extremely uncomfortable, food although readily available was still hospital food (that's her comment - I liked it), our other babies (Phoenix and Zona) were stuck at home with out us, I had to figure out how to manage work and a sick wife, and so on. We were both mentally prepared to camp out for a few weeks.

I set her up as comfortable as possible. She had her home pillow, friends had brought magazines and books, she had some flowers, and of course her laptop (NEGAMC has wifi). Through the week I worked a little from the hospital and a little from the office. I was limited because I could get called at anytime to come in for delivery. Not much changed through the week. Her BP did not get too bad but it was not getting any better. The doctors made rounds but had little information except for the perinatologist - he was great. They came about every other day to check out the babies and they had not seen anything alarming yet. It was really neat to see them that often. They were pretty high tech. I think it was a comforting for Jennifer to see the ultrasounds (since that's what she did for a living for 9 years).

Jenn playing on the computer

Now we are up to Saturday the 14th - Valentines Day or better than that MY Birthday! Her BP had risen and the latest pee test showed more protein. This was not good - her condition was getting worse and in a short period of time. The perinatolgist came in to check her and they estimated that the girls would weigh about 2lb 2oz and that Evan might be a little smaller. They were also concerned with the cord flow to Evan so they made the decision to plan go ahead and deliver the babies. They set the delivery for 1pm Sunday afternoon!!!

Celebrating my birthday Feb. 14th 2009

Reflecting - Day two in the Hospital

This is a continuation of yesterdays posting...

It was a long night. Jennifer woke up about every 3 hrs and was having to collect her pee. If you have ever been pregnant or dealt with a pregnant wife, you know how many times they have to pee. This meant every time she got up - I got up. This was no problem since it was Sunday. I was able to get someone to cover my Sunday School Class at church (I teach a young adults class), so my schedule was clear. Jennifer did not have anything on her schedule either, so we had a day of relaxation in the hospital - if there is such a thing. One positive to note, is that the food at NEGA medical center is pretty good. At least I liked it. Jennifer was able to get the offered meal or just about anything she wanted. This was a welcomed change from the empty fridge and cupboard at the house or at least her ever changing pregnant mind. She really never had an appetite so the joys of pregnant eating were a miss. We finally got a visit from the doctor and he said that we should be going home in a day or two - yeah. They were just going to run some test to see why the BP had risen. The coolest thing was they hooked up heart monitors every morning and every night. Here's a picture of Jennifer all hooked up to the monitors.

It took several minutes and sometimes hours for the nurses to get just 5 minutes of heart tones. It was an adventure but we toughed it out in hopes of going home soon.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - everything changes!