6 Degrees of Separation

We're surprised how many of the staff we have a degree or two of seperation.
We either worked with their spouse, go to the same church, have a few people in common.

This one by far takes the cake!
Pictured below is Nurse Margaret with Alison and the girls (holding Abigail).

Margaret took care of the girls one day last week.
I kept telling her she looked very familiar.
Well, we figured out we both attend the same church - but she hadn't been there in awhile and was suprised that I would have recognized her.

Then yesterday as I returned to NICU from lunch, Margaret excitedly approaches me and says she knows now why she looks soooo familiar.

Margaret worked at St. Peters Hospital in New Brunswick NJ the year Alison was born.
She said she probably took care of me when I was in the Nursery!
Too Funny - could you imagine! Talk about a small world!

Zoey and Katrina Join 5# Club!

And the weights are in!
Zoey: 5.1
Abigail: 5.3
Katrina: 5.0.2
Katrina snuggled w/mom once she heard the good news!
Zoey ate and went back to sleep -
Her daddy looks a lot like this when he sleeps!

Passing Tests with Flying Colors!

Yesterday we had our car seat test.
The girls had to sit for an hour in their car seats to make sure they didn't stop breathing...
They all passed with flying colors.

Zoey and Abigail went first

Then baby Kat.

Zoey slept right through.

Abigail thought it was boring.

Katrina was exhausted.

She had had her echo cardio gram earlier in the day -

The other tests they've had over the last week to prepare for discharge:

Developmental evaluation

Eye Test

Hearing Test

We passed them all! Yippie - we're getting close!

Prayers for ZAK

Zoey, Abigail and Katrina need some individualized prayers.
As we near their time to come home, a few things have surfaced...

Darling Zoey's red blood cell count is low.
She is getting 3 shots this week, Mon., Wed., and Fri., to help boost her production.

Why does this happen?
They have bloodwork every Monday. Their bodies are so little, it takes a lot to catch up.
So Zoey's prayer is that the shots work and she can build up enough to come home next week.


Dear sweet Abigail...
She is such an agressive eater!
When we went "AD LIB" this week with her feeds, she has become impatient.
So much so that she has had 2 little "bradies" and "appies"
She tries to take too much in and either starts to choke or stops breathing trying to swallow all she's taken in.

So her prayer is to learn a little patience and maturity while feeding.
She has to go 7 days w/out a "brady" or "appy" before she'll be allowed to come home.


Precious Katrina....
Our expressive child... Dr. Pete thought he had heard a swishing earlier in the week while listening to her heart... but then couldn't find it again.
Well he heard it again yesterday - this time he called nurse Heather over to confirm... sure enough there was a swish indicating a possible heart murmur.

To be safe, they're going to do an echo cardiogram on her later this a.m.
Dr. Pete doesn't believe it's anything serious - but we want to make sure before she heads home.

So Miss Katrina's prayers are for her precious heart as well as the technicians doing the scan and the doctors that read the scan.

Thank you to all of you who read and pray for our babies.
It won't be long before they're all home - thanks be to God!

Abigail Leads The Way To The 5# Club!

Abigail is still getting "cooked" between her sisters and leads the way to 5#
Zoey is fast behind her at 4.15
Katrina won't be outdone - she's racing to pass Zoey at 4.14.8

We'll see what happens - Katrina may just pass up Zoey and Abigail the rate she's going.

The girls are ALL on what is called "AD LIB" Demand.
Basically, they eat every 4 hours now - as much as they want - with minimums.

The minimums are 55cc's.
Zoey we work to get 55 in
Abigail inhales 60 each time.
Katrina - inhales 60 and at night when mom is around - still wants more.
So 2 nights ago she literally attacked me when I was holding her.
She took another 10-15 cc's at the breast.

Last night - well, she inhaled another 12 cc's after her 60 she took at 9 p.m.!
You go girl! oink oink oink!

Here's MY Daddy!

Abigail wants to make sure everyone knows who her Daddy is...

Zoey must have tried to speak up - Abigail says "shhhhhh!"
Zoey has her fist at the ready!


Daddy loves them just as they are!

More Time With Big Brother

Didn't take long for Josh to feel comfortable around his sisters!
Here he holds Katrina.
Grace relaxes here with Zoey...

Our first photo together... mom with all her babies!

Josh is so proud to be big enough to hold all three at one time...

All passed out...

A Day At The Spa

Each one of our children LOVE taking tubbies. So much so - Zoey waves at the camera to say "hey! you're next!"

Completely relaxed - she's almost done!

Now we can EAT - Yeah!

Abigails turn - I think I'll nap through this - ahhhh

What the heck says Katrina!

Why no photos of me in the tubby??

It's simple - Katrina is the most relaxed of all . . .

... so much so that she pooped not once, but twice in her tubby - THEN on the blanket we sat her upon when we changed the water out!

So here she is after the event, all cleaned up, chilled out and saying o.k. where's the milk?

Katrina is also the most expressive w/her hands - she already makes us laugh when she seems to sign "mom"

Big Brother Finally Arrives!!

Josh and girlfriend Grace got in late Friday (2/20) and we headed straight up to the hospital so he could see his sisters.

He scooped up Zoey and settled in to enjoy the moment.

Josh still holds Zoey, Ryan has Abigail and I'm holding Katrina - as she takes in her Midnight feeding.

Look at the smile on big brother - I think he is enjoying his new role.

He often commented how small the girls are.

Even Grace to in on the action. She was a bit timid at first - not having handled many babies. Her she holds Abigail - quickly realizing - this is pretty cool and they don't break!

Where's my Pacifier??

Look closely - you'll see Abigail is sucking on Katrina's head!
Only a sister could get away with this!

We've heard from the nurses they've caught each other sucking on chins and noses too!
Crazy kids! They certainly don't mind sharing the love!

Zoey's Big Stretch

Barely awake, it's time for Zoey to have a feeding. We have been working on getting this tube removed from her nose... she has to be able to take all her feedings by a bottle before it can be removed. However... the nurse stated that if Zoey were to pull it out - she wouldn't replace it. We'd see how she did with the bottle.
You can see she's starting to wake up and say "where's the food??"
She is yawning and stretching - so big!

Just after these shots were taken... guess what Zoey did...
Yup - she personally saw to it that the tube was removed.

Would you believe she has done beautifully taking her bottle.

Guess she knew it was time!

She reminds me of her big brother Josh. One day I told Joshua that he was a big boy and shouldn't have a pacifier any longer - it was just before his 3rd birthday. He promptly got up, walked over to the trash can, and threw out his paci - never asked for it again. Good thing she has a big brother to show her the way!

3 Peas in a Pod

The girls are growing so fast. The nurse was surprised I was willing to handle all three while she changed their bedding out. Another nurse passing by said – did you get a photo? I told her where my camera was at so she could snap this photo.

Abby and Zoey (who is in the middle) cuddle. Nurse Heather and I had just given both of them tubbies and a bottle. Both girls took all their bottle, though Zoey really was challenged to finish hers. Katrina was quite squirmy…. She wanted her tubby and bottle. Katrina has had no trouble taking a bottle down – she was clearly ready to eat when the photo was taken.

Zoey Asserts Her Independence

Monday morning I arrived in the NICU to find the Nurses still laughing about the time-out that Zoey received overnight. Apparantly she was feeling cramped in the crib with her sisters and started fussing, squirming and messing with Abigail. After several attempts to pacify her, the overnight nurse decided it was time to remove her from her position and place her in the portable bassinet next to the crib.

It must have had a lasting effect, for we haven’t had any more challenges since her time out.

Baby Kat Shows Off

Katrina Dee was born the smallest and the youngest. To proove just how tough she is, she has gained 2-3 oz a day and is quickly catching up to her sisters. The 2/19/09 weights of the girls are now:
Zoey = 4.9
Abigail = 4.11
Katrina = 4.8
Not only is Katrina catching up in weight, she decided to show off on Tuesday by being the first to take a bottle and finish it! Her sisters tried, but still needed time to figure the whole nipple thing out. It’s now Wednesday and she has taken all of her feedings since last night with a bottle. If all goes well she will have her NG tube pulled overnight and continue feeding by bottle. No more force feeds or gravity feeds! Yippie. Tonight (Wednesday 2/18) Abigail also took 2 bottles without too much effort. She too will loose her tube overnight if she continues to take the bottle completely.

Zoey however is still learning to work the sucking, swallowing and breathing challenge. She will keep her tube for at least another day. Once she can stay awake and take several rounds of bottles, her tube will also be removed.

All 3 girls continue to have “Bradies”. Basically – it’s the slang term for “ooops! I forgot to breath!” You and I don’t think much about it… we eat, drink and breathe without much effort. It truly does take “thought” to breathe while eating. It’s a maturity thing – and they are doing really well. They all know how to self correct themselves and haven’t needed intervention – “but” everytime they have a “brady” their time in the NICU starts at “0” and have to go another 7 days without incident before being considered for release.

Everyday is new and exciting – and they’re growing like weeds. As much as we’d like to have them home right now – we know they are where they need to be until they’re mature enough to come home.

We appreciate your continued prayers as the girls are cared for in NICU. It won’t be too much longer before they’re home and welcome your visits.

Katrina grabs onto daddies fingers with both hands after being fed... aaaah what a great life!

Bookends

Holding Katrina we agreed there was room for sister Zoey.


Baby Kat moves over to welcome Zoey into Mommy's arms.
These two haven't been held together.
They're known as the bookends to Abigail.
Because they cook Abby in the middle - she's growing in leaps and bounds!



Zoey shows she knows there is a Rock around mommy's neck.
A little too young yet to have a ring of her own!
Katrina isn't impressed - she's happy to cuddle w/Mom and sister.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Nurses gave each of the girls a beanie bear.
Zoey and Katrina are awake enough to say cheese.
Abigail is getting cooked in the middle and didn't wake for the big show.

Daddy Juggles Two!

Ryan wasn't too sure about how to do this... but quickly learned how to manage.



Knock Knock!
Katrina was checking to make sure Abigail was awake enough to know Daddy was holding both of them.

Nana's Not Allergic to this Kat!

February 13, 2009

Nana came to visit and got to hold Katrina for the first time.

Zoey reacts - OM Gosh!

Tubby Time!

February 12, 2009

What is that smell??
It's me? No way! I'm the smallest - this simply isn't possible!

Katrina was the first one to loose her “stump” (ie: umbilical cord end) Rather then have the typical sponge bath, she was able to have her first full tubby!

We had to put a towel up under her butt to keep her from sliding down too far!

All the girls have a security anklet on. The anklet can be removed in order to get completely wet. Apparantly nurse Terry forgot that we only had 5 minutes before the alarm goes off and security flies through the door. So… we live and learn – and security gets lots of exercise – this may have been the first time we set the alarm off – but it won’t be the last. We set it off again later in the week. The nurse had followed protocol to turn the alarm off so she could put a larger band on Abigail. However, even though we were done within the 5 minute window – apparantly they didn’t turn off the right anklet, for once again security came flying through the door looking for the baby abductors : )

Graduation Day!

February 10, 2009
Zoey Abigail and Katrina are finally together again.

Abigail gives a "thumbs up" to Katrina's arrival.

Katrina finally got to join her sisters in the crib. It’s nice to finally see them all together. No more IV lines to deal with! Yippie! We still have their monitors that check their heart rates, blood pressure, pulse and breathing as well as their NG tubes for feeding. These are all necessary evils right now.

Because the girls have a hard time taking in so much milk at one time, the Doctors have put them on a force feed over 120 minutes. They eat every 3 hours – so they really only have a short break in between feedings. Originally we fed them through gravity, but as the volume increased, they had a hard time keeping the milk down. The doctors continued to increase the time until they stopped having spit ups. The time will slowly be backed down as their stomachs stretch out and they learn to digest faster. In the meantime, they have a calorie booster put into the breast milk to help with putting weight onto the girls.

They seem so big to us - until we get a perspective of Katrina holding Daddy's pinky.