3 Pounds

As of last night, all three of our girls are now over 3 pounds!!! Well, Livy is exactly 3 lbs (and that was following a big poo) and Makenna and Lauren are around 3lbs 5 oz. Updates are as follows:

Makenna - Feedings were up to 23ml every 3 hours last night. We aren't yet sure what her "max" is for now, but we are certain she will soon reach it. The doctors set a maximum amount of food for her to consume for her weight. Once she hits her max, they level out until she gains more weight, at which point he feedings will increase. For now, I need to pump at least 8oz/day for Makenna. The goal is to get her off of the nasal canula in the next couple of days. She had gone solo a week or so ago, but had a bit of trouble, so they put her back on the lowest setting. Hopefully she will be able to stay off this time. As for her weight gain, we can see a huge difference in her chubby little face. She has really piled on the fat and looks like a puffy little baby. She's still under contact precautions due to the staph, so we're hesitant to hold her right now. We just don't want to take her out and possibly transfer something to the other girls. Instead, I will use the gloves and robe when I want to touch her. Last night, after her bath, I cupped her head with one hand and let her hold my other hand (well, my finger, really) at the same time. Her eyes had been wide open and she was on full alert, but when I held her she was comforted enough to try to drift off to sleep. I'm looking forward to being able to comfortably hold her again without fear of passing something on to Livy and Lauren.

Olivia - The doctor said that her immunological tests are actually coming back normal right now. So even though that IGG test measured low, I guess it wasn't significant. They are a little shocked that her immune system is testing so well since they expected that to be a problem with her. However, some research has shown that results from such early testing should not solely be relied upon, and that testing must be performed later to ensure a proper diagnosis. So before coming home, they will repeat all of these tests. As for food, Livy is on continuous feeds of 8ml every hour. So she, too, is receiving about 8oz of milk/day. Her max is 24ml for now, so she won't increase until her weight picks up. She is breathing well on her own, still, and everyone comments that she is doing the best of the three. Strange, considering her heart condition. We have a theory that she just absolutely hates all of the tubes and wires, so she just functions better without them. Last night Livy had her first spa bath. One of her nurses filled her bucket up with water and instead of a sponge bath, he placed her inside the bucket and let her have a full bath. She was sooooooo relaxed by the time it was all over. Then I got to kangaroo with her while her nurse made up her bed. She fell asleep within about 30 seconds! So all is well in Livy's world.

Lauren - She is finally back on feeds!!! I think she was up to about 2ml last night. So we'll see how she tolerates everything over the next couple of weeks. A couple of nights ago when we came in we noticed that she looked really puffy in the face. Her nurse also noticed that her legs looked very puffy. Also, she had gained 100 grams in a day, which is very unusual. Her respiratory rate had been extremely high for about 4 days prior and combined with everything else, her doctor was worried that she may have some fluid in her lungs which is causing everything to go out of whack. So he placed her on lasix for two days to see if it clears everything up. They also want to try to get her off the nasal canula in the next couple of days so that she can breathe on her own. Not much exciting news on Lauren, though we did get more videos the other night. See them below.

Overall, everything is going well. Those other triplets haven't yet arrived, so I think the mom must be holding out. Once they do, our girls are in line to get moved down to the less critical "other side" of the NICU. Here are some videos:

Lauren


Lauren


Makenna