Update on Grant (and the rest of the family, too)

After Grant's NG tube misplacement early on Wednesday morning, the doctors wanted to give Grant a few days to recover.  This meant placing him in an incubator so that he wouldn't have to work to maintain his own body temperature and placing him on IV fluids and taking him off his bottle feedings so that he wouldn't have to expend energy to eat (side note -- the doctors explained to us that taking a bottle for a preemie the age of the triplets is equivalent to us running a sprint -- it really wears them out).  So, Grant was in his isolette and off feedings all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Thursday afternoon he was started on TPN, which is an IV nutrition.  Early Friday morning, he was placed under bili lights since his bilirubin (blood levels indicating his levels of jaundice) had increased.  The bili lights make it look like he's in a mini tanning bed, which most of us would enjoy, but Grant didn't care for the sunglasses he had to wear.   Later Friday morning they decided to replace his NG tube (they checked the placement this time with an x-ray before putting anything down it) and restarted his tube feedings.  After a day of only tube feedings, Grant was able to restart his bottles this afternoon.  I was there to feed him his first bottle on Saturday morning and he downed 14 ml of 2o ml quickly.  The boy was HUNGRY!  The next feeding 3 hours later, he ate the entire 20 ml in about 5 minutes.  He definitely missed his bottles.  :o)  His bilirubin levels improved and he was able to shed the bili lights this morning as well.  He's now a happy camper and I'm certain he will soon catch up with his brother and sister in the eating department.  We're so thankful for his health and strength and I can't express how happy I am that this ordeal has now passed.  

Mason and Mayleah continue to thrive and as of this afternoon are up to 40 ml and 36 ml at each feeding, respectively.  They don't always take all their feedings by bottle, but this will come in time.  They just have to build up to the endurance it takes to eat that much.  All three of them get cuter by the minute and I can't wait to get them home to snuggle them, get them all back together, and introduce them to Owen.

Owen is happy to have his mommy home again.  He's increasing his 2-year-old behavior and sometimes has a hard time listening and has increased the frequency of his whining, but for the most part he has dealt with all these changes very well.  While he hasn't yet met his brothers and sisters (we think it will be better for him to see them after they're wire and tube free), I showed him the videos of the babies that I posted the other day and he thought his siblings were pretty cute.  He especially liked Mayleah's orange paci so, of course, Mayleah had to send one home for him.  He's used it (yes, he's 2 and still uses a paci -- it's a battle that we're not going to fight at this time especially with 3 babies coming home using pacis) at each nap and nighttime since.  His brothers gave him each a new car from the movie 'Cars' -- he's brought both of them to bed with him for every night and nap since, too. Owen is the sweetest 2 year old I know (of course, I'm not biased at all) and brought tears to my eyes this morning when he said, "Mommy, I love you sooo much!" 

Update on me -- I'm recovering from the pregnancy and c-section fairly well, but I am (admittedly) the most impatient person alive.  I didn't have any swelling in my feet or legs during the pregnancy, but that quickly changed after the surgery.  The swelling is slowly going away, but I'm very tired of the humongous feet and am back to wearing the Crocs that I wore the last 3 months of my pregnancy with Owen.  I'm slowly backing off on the pain meds from the surgery but still have to take it easy and get worn out quickly (hence my ability to write this long post -- I took an evening off from visiting the babies so I could stay off my feet a bit and get a little more sleep).   On a more positive note, I'm now making almost as much milk as the babies are eating.  Hopefully I'll continue to produce more as they increase their feedings.  

Aaron, Nana and Papa are doing well also.  Aaron is continuing to work during the week so that he can take time off after the babies are home.  He and I make evening trips to the hospital to feed and snuggle the babies after Owen has gone to bed.  We both still have a hard time believing that we're now parents of 4 children -- that hit me hard the other day when someone asked me what my children's names were and I said all 4 of them at the same time.   Nana is continuing to be the best mom and Nana in the world.  She shuffles me to and from the hospital during the day and when she's not with me at the hospital, she's usually cleaning, doing laundry, or taking care of Owen (or all 3 at once).  Papa is a great support, too.  He's keeping up with the work at the lake house, visiting the babies at the hospital occasionally during the day, helping out at home with laundry and the dogs, and he's become Owen's chauffeur and picks him up every day from daycare.  The shuffle to and from the hospital makes for hectic and busy days, but for now we have things covered between the 4 of us.  We've greatly appreciated the help with meals that we've received and we'll be needing more help with meals and household chores when the babies come home.  Thank you for everyone who has signed up to be a volunteer -- if you haven't yet signed up and are interested in helping, click on the link in the column to the right.  

This was a loooooonng post -- look for a shorter one with more pictures in the next couple of days.