John is home! The babies are 7 weeks old!

John came home Monday, July 28th 2014 (That happens to be the birthday of Laura's brother Tony! John's look a lot like Uncle Tony did as an infant...WOW!)

This morning at 5am Mommy Laura took over for the boys early feedings, after Hannah covered 11pm to 5am (thanks momma H).  Here's the view of our living room...complete with the pediatric paperwork for John's first visit with his doctor this morning.  Get relaxed tea and coffee with a Mexican "little pig" hearty cookie are the fuel of the 2nd day home with John here with bro Charlie.  Of course love is the true fuel and motive. It is "our honor and our duty", as Hannah's family saying goes, to joyfully laugh, ooh and ah, and our way through each day!

Peggy is "by herself " at the NICU but that statement is actually a bit inaccurate. Her brothers are not with her there anymore but she is there with her team of incredible staff at Emory university hospital midtown who have come to cherish and love Peggy over he last seven weeks.  Plus, our F(f)riend Lewis, John's Quaker God father and special friend to all three, has dedicate himself to holding Peggy in the light, and for feeding and burping time which for Peggy helps incredibly with the reflux issues she faces and helps transform her into "Peaceful Peggy".  Lewis has special admittance and is able to visit when we are not there.  Friend Becca can also visit without us, and she has been able to visit the NICU and practice feeding and giving care to the babies for the last weeks.  We are paying Becca to help us at home a few days a week as a kind of "postpartum doula" for our first months together and our family leave time which has officially begun for both moms.

We are waiting for the shipment of a special wedge pillow for Peggy which will be necessary to help alleviate her reflux once home. The hospital bed cranks to a 30 degree angle but no such luxury at home.  Today we consult with the hospital special care nursery team to determine her coming home projected date. Hopeful she will make it home before their due date- August 3rd, 2014. 

Love from the cozy couch and our fabulous fam!

Laura, Hannah, Charlie, John and Peggy (hopefully pictured here in the next posting !?!!)

 

 John- our beloved baby B!

 John feeds while Charlie gets a few more zzzzz and until his tummy rumbles wake him up!

 Brothers!

 Let the 5 am feeding begin!

 Calming tea helps prepare Laura for a big day...as does a little coffee and pan dulce...

 Bedtime with Peggy and Laura at the NICU- with our favorite books including Laura's More More More Said the Baby standard board book fav and new favorite poem about a cow (who makes LOTS of milk just like mommy ;)

 

Home is where the heart...and where Charlie is now!

Charlie is home and had a great first 24 hours and an awesome visit with his pediatrician today!  It has been beautiful!  Last night was full of laughter, wows, wonder and comfort to be in our little blue abode with at least one of our babies.  Peggy and John may be home this weekend for now are at the NICU practicing eating and napping.  We are very hopeful that the whole fam be home in the near future and we know your thoughts go a long way.  Thanks to all friends and family who have had us in your thoughts and had ALL our backs over these months!

(Pictures in reverse order: The 1st pics are of Charlie arriving home and ending and the last pics are of the babies at the NICU with Charlie rooming in with Laura to practice time without nursing assistance and to simulate parental care outside the hospital.)

Love, 

Laura Hannah and Charlie on LaRose street.

Big babies!

Charlie and John in duck outfits

   The babies are getting bigger every day!  

Charlie- 6lbs, 4 oz

John- 6lbs, 1 oz

Peggy- 5lbs 11 oz

They're doing great with their feeds, so much so that John especially gets mad when he doesn't get his bottle or doesn't get it fast enough.  We jokingly call him Hungry Hungry John.

As they get closer to taking all 8 feeds from breast or bottle we're working on patience, since it can be exhausting for them.  This means that they have to take breaks from the bottle feeding, and we won't start the getting ready to prepare to go home process until they can take all 8 feeds without getting too tuckered out from them.  

Peggy is doing better with the reflux, although she definitely prefers to be held upright for awhile after she eats.  

Laura's doing an amazing job keeping them supplied with fresh milk everyday, even though it means constant pumping and eating.  Hannah thinks that Laura might be more hungry now than when she was pregnant with the babies!  The milk and extra calories in the fortifier seem to be doing the trick, though. The babies gain weight pretty much everyday.

John

They are on breast milk with fortifier, which makes it 24 calories per ounce.  Plain milk is 20 calories per ounce.  Once it's time to start thinking about planning to come home, they will get switched to 22 calorie fortifier because that's a formula that it will be easier for us to get and add to the pumped milk at home.  It's the best of all worlds- they get all the benefits of breast milk plus some extra caloriees!

                           Charlie

Peggy

Happy one month old triplets! Happy mommies!

"When will the triplets be out of the NICU and get to go home to the loving care of MacNorlin and our village...?"  

That is the question of our lives at the moment, and the question we get asked all the time.  The babies are doing very well and at the moment their goal is to learn to take all eight of their feedings by bottle or breast.  When they accomplish that they will begin to be prepared by the nurses, doctors and by us for the transition home.

"But exactly when will it be clear that they can come home and will that be one at a time or all three at once?!?!"

We wondered too!  It could be that they come home individually or all three at one moment...only time and faith will tell.  But we likely will be given a few day to 1 week notice when that moment comes! You will be kept "posted"- pun intended...

 For now- Let's celebrate that these babies are getting incredible care and that they are ONE MONTH OLD.  Their due date will ever be August 3rd, so developmentally they will always have that two month lag, or head start depending on how you look at it, to interpret and ponder how they are becoming themselves in the world.  For the moment- They are growing BIG and napping WELL and becoming more baby like unique in their own ways.

Here is our question for you then!  Can you tell them apart in this blog yet and can you observe their personalities individual like we can?

Weights on their 1 month birthday- June 6th to July 6th 2014

Charlie- 5 lb 12oz
John-5lb 8oz
Peggy-5lb 3oz

Peggy 

Charlie and John

 Peggy smiles

Charlie smiles

John smiles

 Hannah and Peggy

We all smile for triplets!

Family time...Making the most of our NICU time.

All in an evening...This Saturday we took advantage of being on the town and we went out to dinner for a momma date.  The hospital is just on the fringe of the popular midtown section of the city and a block from the famous "fabulous" Fox.  We chose an awesome open air cafe as the twilight weather was sublime for a bustling 4th of July weekend summer night.  It was great to be out and about-especially to have time just the two of us together...talking the whole time about our incredible babies and being parents!

Then back to the NICU.  A typical visit at the NICU now looks like this...with the highlight being their Saturday night bath time and getting to try out a fresh changes of clothes as they are moving from preemie to newborn size. 

 

Bathing our big girl Peggy!

Hannah holding Peggy and Charlie in a blanket from Sandy Spring Friends' House (the Quaker retirement community next to Sandy Spring Friends School where Hannah went to boarding school and home to Laura's Spiritual Director and Friend Betty Kay Brody).

In the first couple pictures below from one week ago our Peggy was 3 weeks old.  The second picture with our favorite bib purchased by Momma Hannah is from a week ago as well.  Can you tell the new growth and her checks filling? Peggy has finally gotten over her birth weight this week!  Contrasted with the first two pictures, in the 3rd picture she is almost a month old... can you observe the change?  Her parents, nurses and visiting friends can tell!  We are all feeling very thankful that Peggy's experience of acid reflux is lessening due a few patterns that help, like air venting her feeding tube between feedings to let the tummy gas out, and lots of holding time in which Peggy gets to be upright for a time and have love poured into her. 

Peggy almost a month old and filling her checks and her dreams with food!

 

Here is a video of all three of them napping very well- the best thing for their growth.  All of three of the babies get the hiccups at least once every feeding cycling (just like they did when growing inside?). They are becoming more versed at trying a a couple daily bottle or breast feedings.  Doing this eight times a day and within 30 minutes will be what they need to do before they can come home- so learning to feed more by mouth (instead of the tube in their nose) has become their new major life experience other than napping.  Even just when they are talked to or held by us or visitors like Godfather Lewis, it is easy to feel them feasting on the love we're pouring on!

More pictures of the babies in their next size up newborn clothing...practically all from Nana Jana of course!  Thanks Nana- We love being cozy and warm!!!

In the next pictures, John and Charlie are bedding down...TOGETHER!  Last week there were a LOT of babies in the NICU.  This meant there was a need for more NICU cribs, and thus Charlie and John are getting now to be together in one nice open air crib.  It has bars so their have plenty of oxygen flow around them to be enough which is important for newborns.  We love getting to look at them look at each other when they wake and even connect by touch at times when they fidget.  Look closely at the picture below...John gives love to his brother who is napping hard.

 Charlie watches is brother nap and looks at his mommas with a little half grin.  Or is it that Charlie's look says "Time for my feeding mommas?"

What night would be complete without bilingual Spanish-English story time?  Oh, have we posted about the great library at the NICU?  In the lobby, where we scrub in each time we enter using fancy brush sponges and nail cleaning tools, there is a cart of books provided by March of Dimes.  There are tons of great board books and many are in bilingual or in Spanish!  Thanking this organization! Join us for a fundraiser march next year...a new friends and family tradition...? Link:  March of Dimes  

Laura has already placed at least one order to collect our favorites from our NICU book time at our favorite feminist and family friendly bookstore!  Link: Charis Books & More and Charis Circle 

We love watching each other grow as well as the babies.  We notice each other becoming more and more comfortable and confident in the daily tasks of infant care.  Though we are in the hospital while we learn this doesn't change how powerful and joyful it makes us to watch each other go through the motions of motherhood as a new family.