Where is the time going?

Well, I guess it has been over a month and a half since I last posted and so much is happening. The girls are growing, growing, growing. Eating solid food, although I think that is such a funny name for the runny gruel we are feeding them. They are all such little individuals right now and love to talk and sometimes scream at us. Lia is our little roller, we have to be careful because she will roll off the blanket on to the hard floor. She would love to be able to crawl or scoot, but she doesn't realize that by lifting her arms and legs into lotus position isn't going to get her there anytime soon. Viv is scooting short distances to get toys and she is probably the best eater. Evy is our biggest talker, she can tell you a story that lasts an hour. They are all getting close to sitting up and love their excersaucers and all of their toys. They are the sweetest, cuddliest girls, but there is no doubt they are Graeme's and my children as they have no problem letting you know when they are not happy! Here are a bunch of new photos (ignore the spit-up stains on the furniture and the absolute chaos, I know we do (:

Four Months Already?

I can't believe it, the girls are four months old already and are close to catching up to what full-term four month olds are doing. They are babbling a ton and are interactive with us all the time, it is so amazing to see them turn from tiny little babies who just eat and sleep. The best is that they are laughing out loud. Graeme is the best at getting them to laugh, that must be a daddy thing. We had our four month checkup with the pediatrician and she has given the green light on solid foods. We haven't tried it yet, but will in the next few weeks. In the last week we had our first bout with illness, Lia had a little cold, it was so difficult to see her so uncomfortable. I just wish babies knew how to blow their little noses.

One more super exciting thing that happened recently was that my grandparents got to meet the girls. In fact, my grandmother, my mom, the girls and I all went on a walk together, four generations out and about, it was fantastic. Here is a picture of my grandparents, Doris and Gene Mann with the girls.


One other recent event is that I went back to work on Friday, May 1st. As much as I miss the girls during the day-which I do every minute-I really enjoy getting back into my legal practice. I really love my job, so going back is definitely the right thing for me. Of course, what makes it easier is that we have opted to hire a nanny. Our nanny's name is Bel and she has been doing a fantastic job, we are so happy to have her. All I can say at this time is that life is really good and we are enjoying every moment of our new family.

Things are moving along beautifully. All of the girls are talking and interacting with us and really are pretty easy babies. One week after Viv and two weeks after Lia, Evy turned over, which was really exciting for us. They can all pull themselves up on their forearms and look around. They even move their legs acting as if they want to start crawling. Of course we have not baby-proofed the house and therefore, I hope we have a couple of months before they are mobile.

We have been continuing to go on long walks which saves Mommy from going insane being in the house all day. This will soon come to an end though as I am going back to work on the first of May. We have a wondeful nanny starting at the end of April. Her name is Bel and she is wonderful with babies. Although I am looking forward to getting back to the lawyer game, I know it will really be hard to leave these little ones.

I have posted some pictures of last weekend with Mimi and Grandpa Don.

Oh my! I can't believe it has been a month since my last post. So much has happened in that time, the girls are of course a ton bigger and are now playing and cooing. Lia turned over a week ago last Saturday and Viv did this past Saturday. We are still waiting on Evy, but she is the biggest so it may take her a little longer. Just about two weeks ago they seemed to be focusing more and now they really look at us and their toys. The girls are still quite a handful at night and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to tweak their schedule to give us a little more sleep, most of the time it is unsuccessful. They are beautiful though and super healthy which is wonderful. We also went for our first stroller ride a couple of weeks ago, and although the girls are mostly asleep during the ride, I secretly think they love it. I just can't wait for the weather to get better so we can go every day.

Here are some recent photos:

It has been some time since I last posted. The past 5 weeks have gone by so quickily. Lia and Evy came home from the hospital after 28 days in the NICU and then Viv came home 10 days later. Since they have been home it has been amazing to see them grow. They came home at around five pounds and now Evy and Viv are over 8 pounds and Lia is a little under.

They are also just this week, starting to focus on our faces and they continue to strengthen their necks and keeping their heads up. Of course, the sleepless nights and 3 hour feeding schedules are difficult to swallow, but that is what makes memories and besides, I think the whole thing will be a blur in less than a year. In fact, the girls are each such good babies, it is just when you have three of them taking turns being up at night, we just don't get that much sleep. Luckily our parents have been so helpful taking early morning feedings and there is an amazing group of women organized as "Team Triplet" who come over during the day and give me some relief and help feed these girls. I simply don't know what we would do without all of this help.

Pictures from the girls first week

Lia at delivery

Viv at delivery

Sorry Evy - No delivery picture of you. You were the first out and Dad was too in awe of what was happening to get a picture of you.

Evy - A few hours old.

Evy - One week old

Viv - One day old

Viv - One week old

Lia - One day old

Lia - One week old

At The Hospital

December 3, 2008
Well, I haven’t posted in some time because on Saturday November 29, 2008 I was put in the hospital. for the first week, I had no WiFi, then when I got it, I was blocked from signing in to the blog, so I am back posting.
I was put in the hospital for preterm labor. Luckily everything was brought under control with Procardia, wonder drug that it is. However, because I was at such a critical time when I was put in, about 27 weeks, Dr. West decided to keep me in for the duration. This way I can be monitored every day for contractions and the babies heartbeats are monitored once a day as well. As of today, December 3, 2008, the babies have been passing the non stress tests no problem even though officially they don’t need to pass until 30 weeks, so I am really happy they are “advanced” and I hope that helps them out when they get here, because most likely it will be in the next four weeks.
Last week at 27.1 weeks baby A weighed 2 lb, B 2lb 2oz and C 2lb 5oz, at the previous scan, at 25 weeks they were 1lb 10 for Baby A and B &C were at 1lb 11oz. I am really hoping that at my next growth scan at 29 weeks they are all 2lb 8oz plus. Granted these measurements can be off, but at least they are showing consistent growth and Dr. J is happy with that.
My time here has been relatively easy on the surface, I mean I don’t have to do anything all day but watch TV, read or just hang out with the visitors I have had. However, I must say the constant discomfort and feeling of frustration from being on lock down, certainly gets to me from time to time. However, I know this is the best place for us right now and I am really happy that everyday these girls will be bigger and healthier when they are born.
Of course, I am in the hospital just for the holidays which isn’t exactly where you want to be at this time of year, but so far it hasn’t been too bad. Thanksgiving was really nice, all of our family came in throughout the weekend and I got to eat a ton of wonderful Thanksgiving food. My room is even decorated with flowers and a little Christmas tree thanks to my family.

January 17, 2009

The above post was the only thing I wrote at the hospital. I just got too darn uncomfortable. Just to recap the last weeks at the hospital. They were not fun, but they enabled me to grow these kiddos a little longer. About a week and a half before Christmas I started getting signs of pre-eclampsia/toxemia, swelling, protein in the urine, all sorts of fun stuff. So, they watched me closely and we hoped we would get a little further, although the Doctor seemed to think that we would deliver shortly. Luckily we made it to 32 weeks exactly before my kidneys, decided enough was enough and had my little girls on December 29, 2008. Evangelina Noelle, 3lb 9oz was born at 2:51 p.m., Vivienne Claire, 3 lb 8 oz at 2:52 p.m. and Juliana Lynn 3 lb 11 oz at 2:52 p.m. It was a madhouse in the operating room and I really didn't get to see too much of my babies before they were whisked into the NICU. Graeme was able to see more and even took some photos.

It is so amazing having these little girls, they are so incredible and how quickly Graeme and I have completely fallen in love with them. They are still in the NICU, but doing very well. They have had very few complications because of their prematurity. They are all being fed by gavage through tubes through their noses and into their stomachs, but are learning how to breast and bottle feed. Also, little Viv was having a little trouble breathing so she is on a nasal canula which pushes room air into her lungs getting her to breathe a little deeper, she is also now on some caffeine, which helps her breathe deeper as well. I guess we have at least one budding Starbuck's junky. I am really hoping they come home in the next couple of weeks; however, the NICU is very conservative and does not want to push them, which I think is wonderful, I just can't wait to get them home. I visit them every day and I hate to leave them, but I know I need to get my rest now because when they get home it is going to be mass chaos!