Monday, April 27, 2009

I'm still here :)

Yep, still eating, breathing and somewhat sleeping. Things are going really well for all of us here at the Gardner house. The babies are starting to really show their true personalities and Mark has nicknamed all of them the hungry hippos. Cohen by this point is probably about 7lbs and Cecilia and Christian are over 6lbs so they are doing well. I have still been pumping to feed them but my milk supply is only about 8 ounces every 4 hours when they eat so one of them typically has to have a bottle of formula since they each eat around 4 oz. Unless I actually feed them myself my milk supply have most likely leveled off, but everyone says that I really can't be expected to supply milk for 3 babies. I would love to not pump and sleep a little bit more, but that small can of formula that costs a small fortune keeps me going...we'll see how long I can last.

Cohen is always bright eyed and even though he is the baby he is the biggest and most alert with what looks like a light brown hair. Cecilia is well, Cecilia. She has been showing her personality these last few days and seems to know what she wants when she wants it---NOW!!!! (if you get my drift). She, as hard as it is to believe looks like she is going to be a red head. We had them outside yesterday and it was really red but we continue to be surprised and keep examining it. She is definitely already daddy's little girl. Caleb says too that she is his girl and the boys are his buddies. Christian so far is the laid back one of the bunch. He seems to go with the flow the most and is definitely our little Caleb by his looks. He actually has a lot more hair than Caleb did and it is very blonde. Most of the time it works it way into a point on the top of his head.

The babies eat every 4 hours but since it takes about an hour and a half to feed all of them it seems to sneak up on me. Thank goodness for grandma's, they have been a HUGE help allowing me to get some extra z's in here and there. I have a lot of photos, but every time I try to get to the computer I seem to get sidetracked or run out of time before someone needs to eat. I promise I will post some soon!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Glamour shots

The babies hospital photos are online at http://www.our365.com/newbornportraits/ If you interested in checking them out you can search with our information you should find them (their birthday is 3/21/09 in case you forgot already). I really wanted the traditional hospital photo, but none of them would cooperate. They apparently think any time they are woken up it is time to eat.

Surviving!

Just wanted to let you know that we have survived the triplets so far. They had their first outing today to the doctors office and I even too them for a short walk since they were already in their seats and it was such a nice day. All of the fresh air helped them sleep...which they did all day today.....hmm....I wonder if they will sleep tonight :)

Their first encounter with the doctor went well and they seemed to feel comfortable there since they pooped and peed on him as well. We definitely need to reevaluate the amount of diapers and wipes we bring on outings. 6 diapers was almost not enough and all of our wipes were gone. Mark commented that we needed a tub in the car of both for the next time we needed to go out. The process seems to be, wake up, change poop/pee diaper...eat/move around...poop/pee..change diaper...put back to bed...squirm.....poop/pee...change diaper.

Caleb has been a big help and is still very excited to have his buddies and his girl home. He even helped give them baths last night and carried Christian back to him room to get dressed (supervised of course).

Happy Birthday PaPa/Bill

Happy birthday (yesterday) to PaPa/Bill. I'm sure he had a wonderful day cruising around in his new pimp ride.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sleep!!

All 4 of our babies are sleeping and I should be as well. Last night with Cecilia went well and I'm sure tonight will too. They eat every 4 hours so I am going to hit the hay for another hour or so before they get up again. I will try to update as often as possible, but I'm sure things may get hectic over the next few days, but I am so happy to not have to travel to and from St. John's on a daily basis. Today was a great day bringing our babies home. When I was leaving the hospital I ran into a mom that just had triplets 4 days ago at 27 weeks. In all of the excitement my brief encounter with her made me once again realize how lucky we are to have 3 healthy babies that are now home with us just 3 1/2 weeks after they were born with no real issues up until this point. Everyone's prayers really paid off-THANK YOU!!

Getting Ready

Monday morning we were told that Cecilia was coming home so that night I scrambled to finish up some things around the house to get ready for her. One thing moms of multiples look for is bottles with lots of pieces. Not that life is not going to be complicated enough at feeding times since all 3 of the babies eat slightly different amounts. I have of course never been a huge fan of these bottles just for the fact that they have multiple pieces so I knew for sure that they would somehow end up having to use them. Don't get me wrong, they are great, just a lot of parts to keep track of. The sacrifices I make for my kids.



BTW-I think I need a larger dishwasher! And this is just about one day's worth of bottles if I pre-make them. I have rubber bands to code who gets which one. Christian is blue, Cecilia is red/pink and Cohen is green. A crock pot simmering of water on low will serve as my bottle warmer.
Oh my!

I knew I was in trouble when they said that the bottles came with a cleaner. I thought it must have been missing in a couple of the boxes until I realized that the cleaner was this little thing at the bottom of the picture below.




Happy Birthday Caiden

Caiden turned 4 today and even though is actual party was the day the babies were born they celebrated at Monkey Joe's this evening and took Caleb. He told me he had a really good time and was exhausted when he got home.

Happy Easter!!!

Easter was great this year other than Mark and I felt like half of our family was missing....and they were. We did go by the hospital to see them and we had our first family photo taken. The Easter bunny and all of his little helpers were especially good to Caleb and the babies this year. It was really strange, but on Easter day I felt the best I had in a long time energy wise. Even though we missed the babies being with us we knew that it would probably be the last time that we would get to sit and relax at family functions and only have to keep an eye out for Caleb.











They're home!!

It has been a long journey and today our family will finally all sleep under the same roof!! (Well, some of us will sleep and the rest of us will be up but you get the drift :))
They're ready to roll in their triple decker stroller!!
Christian
Cecilia

Cohen






Monday, April 13, 2009

She's coming HOME!!!

She beat her brothers......Cecilia is coming home tomorrow!!!! They think the boys will be home either Wednesday or Thursday!!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Bummed

Well, Mark and I were hopeful that we would have some or all of the babies home by Easter, but today we found out that will not happen. We completed our discharge and CPR class, the kids have had their shots, hearing test and the boys were circumcised so all that is left to do is eat and their car seat challenge. Everyone continues to 'nipple' better with each day, but the boys have both developed stomach issues. Because of this they were switched to a special formula that they will have to be on through the weekend and then they will have to switch them back to breast milk and make sure they do not have any issues again. At first they thought it was just a little stress ulcer with Christian, but when Cohen had blood in his stool as well, they think there is more to it so they are being cautious. Both are acting fine and continue to eat well, but their is still obvious concern. So...no babies for Easter so I guess the bunny will just have to visit them at the hospital this year.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Weight check as of 4/5 - 36 weeks 1 day

Christian 4lbs, 9oz


Cecilia 4lbs, 8oz


Cohen 5lbs, 7oz

Eliminated!

Well, it is official that I will not be going back to work. They actually made the decision for me by eliminating my position so on May 15th my new official job will be a stay at home mommy. As much as I liked my job and work, I know that my new career will most likely be more challenging but much more rewarding.

Baby Update from Mark

No! We don't know when they are coming home! It all depends on the little ones progress. They will not give us an official time table. However they are progressing nicely. All of them are out of their isolettes, are feeding from the bottle on a more regular basis, and are gaining weight. Yesterday for example all three of them ate their whole bottle, even the Nipple, which was hard to do without teeth. Monsters!! They are as cute as can be. (biased opinion) As you can see below they like to snuggle with us. Both they and I sleep best that way.

Mark, Christian and Cecilia

Cohen, Cecilia and Christian (left to right)


Cohen, Cecilia and Christian (left to right)

Andi, Cohen, Cecilia and Christian (left to right)






Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Baby Pics

Caleb

Cohen

Cecilia

Christian