Picture Day in the NICU

Picture Day in the NICU

Not too much to report on today, the babies continue to do well. They are really starting to take off bottle feeding and nursing so we are happy about that!! Tanner pretty much takes bottles all day long and Jasmine isn’t far behind. Little Ally makes a great effort and usually takes 3 or 4 of her feedings via a bottle and then gets tuckered out and has to tube feed the rest. She is a very clean eater though, doesn’t spit out much and is well coordinated.

We are hoping to have one of the babies home in a week or so. Probably sometime next week we will take Tanner home, Jasmine will most likely follow, and then Miss Ally. I tell you though, it will break my heart to have 2 of the 3 home and still have her in the hospital, but it will be best for her so I will have to remember that!!

Sunday night was a fun night in the NICU. Jeanne was the nurse and she decided it was picture night!! We took some super cute shots of all 3 of the babies lying on Mommy! They sure like each other and snuggled right up. Ally loves her brother; she kept moving closer & closer.

Great day in the NICU

Today was a great day at the NICU. We had a new nurse watching the triplets today and she was really nice – she really seemed to care about the kids and enjoyed her job. LRMC has quite a few great NICU nurses which makes me happy that my kids are well taken care of when I’m not able to be there.

So this morning Jordan (a friend of mine and one of our babysitters) came up for a visit. She couldn’t believe how small the babies really looked compared to pictures. Pictures make them look bigger than they are, but they are still pretty small little peanuts. However, all 3 babies are gaining weight just about every day so we are accomplishing our goal. This morning little Ally was 3lbs 12oz, Jasmine hit the 4lb mark!!!, and Tanner was 4lbs 12oz and they are all doing great. All 3 of the kids are now able to try a bottle twice a day. So far, they are doing pretty well. Babies don’t really know how to suck until about 34 weeks gestational age and they were 34 weeks on Tuesday so anything that they take via a bottle is a great accomplishment. This morning I had the pleasure of feeding Ally one of her first bottles. She did GREAT and took 10 ccs for me. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but in preemie land it’s pretty good. That is about ¼ of her feeding. When you start bottle feeding, you see what they take via the bottle and then give the rest of it to them in the feeding tube. I posted a picture below of little Ally and her big girl bottle.

This afternoon Grandma Sandy came up for a visit before she goes back to Wisconsin for a few weeks until the babies start coming home. She got to hold Ally & Jasmine for quite some time today. They really like Grandma and tried their best to stay awake for her. Jasmine did better than Ally though – little Ally was a bit sleepy this afternoon. While Grandma was holding Ally, Jasmine was WIDE AWAKE so I took advantage and tried to nurse her. Well she was a “CHAMPION,” she did just great! I was so proud of her and so was the nurse. She nursed on and off for about 30 minutes which is amazing for a preemie. The nurse actually cut her feeding in ½ because she did so well and was able to get a fairly decent amount of milk from me. It was a pretty special moment!

Not too much news to report on Mr. Tanner – he was a little sleeper today but Dad & I will give him some extra attention when we head up for our visit tonight.

That’s about it for now – here are a few pictures from our visit today.

Jordan & Ally

Snoozing Tanner

Sleepy Princess Jasmine

Ally & her bottle

Happy Allison

Holding all 3 BABIES :-)

Yesterday was a great day!!! First I got to hold my 2 girls together and then the nurse was awesome, unhooked Tanner from his monitors so he could join his sisters for some cuddle time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Mommy's little girls

Tanner & Grandma

Such a cute picture of Ally

And we have all 3!!!

Where is Mason going to fit ??

Fun updates :-)

Triplets Doing GREAT!! Just a quick update today as time seems to run shorter & shorter each day and I don’t even have my baby’s home yet!! We have been busy running back and forth to the hospital to cuddle our little ones, keeping the house semi-clean, trying to give Mason extra attention with all the changes, pumping lots of breast milk, and trying to sleep. Doesn’t sound too crazy, but the days are FLYING by.

Yesterday the triplets were one week old. I can’t believe one week has passed already since the incredible birthday. After 1 week the babies are still doing great! Just a few small road bumps along the way, but nothing to get too excited about. Just normal preemie things that happen, but overall they are progressing well. We do wish Ally would gain a little more weight, she’s only 1oz over her birth weight right now and she should be gaining a bit more, but we’ll give our little peanut some time, she was the smallest J Dr. Ruiz has put all 3 babies on a high calorie preemie formula mixed with my breast milk. So they have ½ formula, ½ breast milk and hopefully they will gain a bit more weight in the upcoming days.

I have done lots of neat things with the babies this week. Instead of just holding them in my arms I have been laying them on my chest and putting the blankets on top. Since they are preemies and don’t have Mommy or Daddy around all day long, we need to be sure each visit and every time we hold them that they can feel the closeness that they need. Putting them on our chest and keeping them close makes them very happy. Today the nurse had me kangaroo Ally & then Tanner. She had me wear a hospital gown and put the babies in just diapers and set them directly on my chest skin to skin. And I have to say they LOVED this. Both of them were sleeping so hard after they got comfortable. It was a really neat moment and helped them feel close to Mommy for awhile which is what preemies need.

Last night Dad & I were visiting and we were there for BATH TIME J The nurse had us give Ally her bath. She told us what we needed to do, unhooked her from her monitors, and let us bathe her by ourselves and didn’t even stand over us. It was nice to have the privacy. However, Ally was like most newborns, and was not a big fan of her bath and she let us know. I didn’t think such a small little baby had such a loud cry! We moved fast and got the bath done quick and as soon as Mommy picked her up all was fine J Dad then was on diaper duty, put a new diaper on her, cleaned her cord spot on her belly button, and then held her for awhile before tucking her into bed for the night.

For now that’s about it for now. Grandma Miller is heading back on Saturday and I’m sure she will miss her new little grandchildren. She has been getting in lots of holding time as well. Today the nurse and I made a card for her to take back to Wisconsin. It was adorable. Nurse Kathy put the baby’s footprints on the card so Grandma & Grandpa can remember how small the feet were for years to come.

Next week Grandma Gorka will be with us and I’m sure she will get lots of holding time in as well J The triplets love Grandmas!!!

Just Pictures Today

Mommy & Jasmine

Tanner
Ally and Daddy's Hand

Baby Jasmine

Tanner Sleeping

Baby Updates

Quick updates on day 6. The babies are doing great!! We had a few little bumps along the road the past few days, especially with our little Jasmine. She was having quite a few apneas and apneas with brady's. This is where they stop breathing for just a moment and you need to stimulate them to make them breath again. It doesn't last very long and it's normal for some preemies to have apneas. Oftentimes it is because the brain isn't developed enough and the babies can forget to breath for just a moment or two. But the good news is, she's been great the past few days. Also - the babies have all had issues at time with residuals. Residuals is when they don't digest all the food in their belly's and they need to get it suctioned out before the next feeding. This is also normal though and not a huge concern. They have been increasing feeds and are doing very well now and are also doing great on the breast milk I have been pumping. Suprisingly I have been able to keep up with the triplets and have been bringing plenty of milk up for them - some is already being frozen. I am very happy about that because the breast milk is so good for them being so little and so much easier to digest.

Well that's about it for now - we are all doing good and I'm healing up well from the C-Section. I feel much better today than I have the past days. I will be back to normal in no time.

Thanks for everyone's support and please keep praying that everything continues to go well for us.

The Gorkas
Dave, Stacey, Mason, Allison, Jasmine & Tanner (WOW that is the first time I wrote that!!)

Pictures of our Precious Angels (6 days old)

Mommy & Jasmine

Tanner

Mommy & Ally

Jasmine

Tanner Snoozing

Triplets Birthday! Sept 8th, 2009

Triplets Birthday 9-8-09

Well – if you haven’t heard already the triplets are here!! They were born on Sept 8th and 8:28 AM, 8:29 AM, and 8:30 AM. The first born was Allison Marie and was 3lbs 6oz and 16 ¼ inches long. The second born was Jasmine Paige and was 3lbs 11oz and she was 16 ½ inches long. The third born was Tanner Preston and he was 4 lbs 4oz and 18 ½ inches long. The babies were all doing just great when they were born.

We did give the hospital a run for the money though because labor came on VERY VERY FAST. I woke up at 6:45 AM and started having some contractions. I told Dave to hang tight and stay home for work for a bit in case they got worse. And – in no time they definitely did!!! By 7:15 AM I was in the shower and in a LOT of pain. I tried to move quickly and had Dave finish packing the bags (thank GOD we had the majority of them packed!) and we barely made it to the van and out the driveway. We did not have any time to drop Mason off at Melissa’s house I just told Dave get me to the ER NOW!!! I felt like I had to push very badly. He went about 65 MPH down Hwy 98 and I swear we hit every red light. The quick trip felt like the movies. We arrived at the ER, bypassed the security guard, and someone came out to assist us. We told them what was going on and they put me in a wheel chair and brought me up to labor and delivery within minutes because I was having triplets and literally if they didn’t move the triplets were going to be born in the ER. They took me right to the operating room, got me on the table, people everywhere at that point and checked me. All I really remember from that point was the lady who checked me saying she’s “COMPLETE with 32 week triplets” I was completely dilated in a course of an hour! It was pretty crazy. They then proceeded to put me to sleep very quickly as I was in so much pain and they had to get them babies out ASAP so my uterus wouldn’t rupture. During all of this poor Dave had to park the car and brought Mason inside and up to labor & delivery. They wouldn’t let Dave into the OR because it was such an emergency so again he missed the delivery – he didn’t see Mason born either because he was also an emergency C-Section. He brought Mason to day care quick and met me in recovery after all was said and done.

It was a very crazy morning to say the least, but we were just soooo happy the babies were born healthy. Jasmine & Tanner required oxygen for about a day after they were born but were quickly moved to room air after they did so well. Allison even though she was the smallest – came out and didn’t need any oxygen – she did great!!

Well that’s about it for now I will post another post shortly with more updates and pictures.