Home Sweet Home

We made it home!
Here are a few photos...
We will post more as we figure out our routine here at the house.

Homeward Bound!!!

Well, we got a call from the hospital this morning that the girls are scheduled to come home this weekend!!! WOW! (about 1-2 weeks earlier than we expected) They are all feeding like champs. They haven't used their feeding tubes for over 24 hours. They did a bunch of tests as well that all came back normal--head ultrasounds, hearing tests, etc. They're healthy and ready to come home! The nurses told us from the beginning that it is very rare for triplets to come home together. Usually they send one home for a couple of days, then send the second and then the third. (Normally, they aren't all ready at the same time) The nurse this morning said that all of our girls must have collaborated and decided they wanted to come home together. Oh boy! The fun begins!

Maryn will have to come home on an apnea monitor. (very normal for preemies) She sometimes forgets to breathe when she is eating or overstimulated. The monitor lets us know we need to pick her up to stimulate her and remind her to breathe. Preemies grow out of this habit by 1 month after their due date at the latest. Just pray that all goes well at home with the monitor.

The girls have their car seat tests today and tomorrow, which they do need to pass in order to come home. They put each of the girls in their car seats for 1 hour to make sure they can tolerate sitting up for that long. If they can't, I think they send them home in a lay down car seat. Not quite sure on that one...I'll let you know after the test is complete.

It will be a busy couple of days for us getting ready for our little ones to come home! What a great way to celebrate the new year!

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,
The Jonswold's
Maryn 4 lbs 3 oz
Brynn 4 lbs 6 oz
Leah 3 lbs 14 oz

Friday Update

Happy Friday to everyone and Merry Christmas!
All of the girls are doing great! They're getting big and strong...we're almost to the 4 lb. mark! Yippee!
We are hoping to have them out of their isolettes by this weekend. They are all big enough to maintain their body temperature. They will move to big girl beds! (bassinets)
We've also started the nursing/bottling process. Which is good, cause they are not big feeding tube fans. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but they have to have the sleeves of their outfits taped up (or socks taped over their hands) because they continue to pull out their feeding tubes. They're just saying...."Hey mom, we're ready to eat like big girls. Let's get this ball rolling!"
Yesterday, I gave Maryn her first bath in a tub. She was a little stinker. As soon as I took her diaper off she decided she had to go number 2 and pooped all over me. Then, she just looked up and smiled. (The joys of being a mom!) I thought since we had little girls rather than little boys, I was off the hook with getting peed/pooped on. Guess not! :)
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! We have so much to be thankful for this year. God is so good! Merry Christmas!
Brynn:

Leah:

Maryn:

Brynn Bath:

The girls hospital suite:

3 Peas In A Pod

We got our first family pictures tonight! Leah is on the far left, Maryn is in the middle and Brynn is on the right. Maryn just finished dinner, so she was taking a snooze. What do you think? Could you tell them apart? :)

Brynn and Leah are up to their full feedings. Brynn is getting 32ml every 3 hours and Leah is getting 28ml every 3 hours. (Leah is a little bit smaller, so her full feeding isn't quite as large yet) Their milk is being fortified with extra calories, so we are hoping they will start to pick up the pounds!

Maryn will be up to her full feedings by tomorrow. She is currently getting 30ml every 3 hours, and it will go up to 32 ml at midnight.

All of the girls are off of their IV's. The little tubes in their noses are their feeding tubes. They have to take their feedings through tubes because they don't develop the suck/swallow/breathe reflex until they are 34-35 weeks. We're getting closer!

The doctor did tell us this weekend that he was able to hear Brynn's murmur again. Since it is not causing her any problems, we are not going to take any action on it right now. We are hoping it will close on it's own.

Prayer Requests: Please pray that the girls continue to tolerate their feedings and that Brynn's murmur would close without us having to intervene.

I can't believe the girls are almost 3 weeks old! We are getting so excited to bring them home. (Hopefully, by mid-January we will have a baby invaded house)

They are just so precious! We're thrilled parents! Thanks again for your prayers and support!

Time with Grandma and Grandpa!

Maryn, Brynn and Leah have gotten to enjoy some fun time with grandma and grandpa lately! Mom's been at home fighting a cold, so she hasn't been able to be at the hospital. (say a little prayer for quick healing) Grandma and Grandpa's are filling in spending time rocking the girls and singing them songs. The babies love spending special time with their grandparents!

All the girls are doing very well. They have restarted Maryn's feedings at about 2ml every 3 hours to "prime" her tummy. They will slowly continue to move up feedings from there. Brynn and Leah are handling their feedings well. Pray that the feedings continue to go smoothly.

Maryn is still having some apnea episodes, so please pray that those go away as well. The doctors said they are pretty normal up until about 33 weeks (we are at 32 weeks now), we just need them to stop before she is able to come home!

Thanks again for all of your emails, calls and prayers!!

Peter, Ali and M. L. B.

Weigh in (as of this morning):
Maryn-3 lbs 9 oz
Brynn-3 lbs 14 oz
Leah-3 lbs 4 oz

The Girls Have Moved

The girls were moved to the Special Care Nursery at Abbott last night at 10:30 pm.
They now have their own wing with in the nursery so we have a more peaceful and relaxing setting to sit in.
All 3 girls have started their feedings. The doctors decided to stop Maryn's feedings for a few days since she was not digesting all of it each time. They have said this is pretty normal and will start her on feedings again on Monday.
Leah's murmur seems to have closed completely.
Brynn's murmur is very faint and tough to hear, so it is close to being gone as well.
Now our little ladies just need to stay healthy, add weight and be able to keep their body temps up on their own.
Please continue to pray for the girls as they continue to grow. Pray that they are able to tolerate their feedings without any problems.

Here is an updated picture of little miss Maryn.


Peter, Ali and M. L. B.

Brynn and Leah Meet Again!

Here is a photo from this morning where Ali got to hold Brynn and Leah together for the first time. Leah had a very confused look on her face and just stared at Brynn. The tube that you can see in their noses is the feeding tube that is run to their stomachs.

Wednesday Afternoon Update

I just heard from Ali down at Children's and the doctors are not recommending surgery at this point.
It sounds like Leah's murmur was very tough to hear, so hopefully it is closing.
Brynn's murmur is still loud but the x-ray confirmed that it is closing, just slowly.
They are going to start feedings this afternoon for both of them.
Maryn has moved her feedings up to 4 ml every 3 hours so she is progressing along well.
They are talking about moving to the Special Care Nursery next week.
Thank you all for your e-mails and calls of support today, praise the Lord for closing those murmurs.

Peter, Ali and M. L. B.

Wednesday Update

Here is a quick update on each of the girls.

Maryn -

She is doing very well and has started her feedings of 2 ml every 3 hours. She is off of her oxygen and breathing room air without assistance. She had developed a pocket of air in her lungs but it looks like she is dealing with that on her own as it is getting smaller. She has closed her murmur completely. She is also off of her photo therapy as of now. The doctors are very happy with her status.

Brynn -

Brynn is still breathing room air on her own and doing well. She is off of photo therapy for now as well and gaining back the weight that she lost over the first few days. She has not been able to close her heart murmur so they are doing an x-ray this morning to decide if they will need to perform surgery this afternoon to close the hole or not.

Leah -

Leah is also breathing room air on her own and doing well. She has had a few episodes of forgetting to breathe, so they put her on the same meds as Maryn to assist her with remembering to breathe. Leah has also gained back the weight she lost in the first few days. She is also just like her sisters and off of photo therapy for now and doing well. She is also just like her sister Brynn and has not closed her heart murmur so they are going to do an x-ray on her this morning as well to decide if they will need to perform surgery.

The doctors have told us that all of this is very normal and in the grand scheme of things our girls are doing very well. Please pray that Leah and Brynn were able to close their murmurs over night and that surgery will not be necessary and they will be able to start their feedings like Maryn.

We will continue to update as we can, our Internet at home is not working right now so it has made updating the blog a little more difficult.

Here are a few more pictures as well.

Leah:

Brynn:

Maryn:

Update and Pictures

We spent most of yesterday down at Children's with the girls and they all looked great.

They are all breathing room air and off of oxygen.

All 3 of the girls have very sensitive skin, so they are getting some rashes from the tape that holds in the IV's and what have you. (That came from mom, she gets rashes from band aids, tape, etc as well.) The girls keep moving around and loosening up the IV's , so they have to find new locations for their lines every few days. Yesterday they put in Picc Lines for all 3 girls. These are just more permanent IV's so they won't have to prick the girls every other day trying to set an IV.

Maryn finally had her O2 removed and the heart murmur meds seemed to work for her so she should start feedings today. Brynn and Leah started a second round of murmur meds yesterday since the first round did not work for them. Please pray that this round works and we don't have to consider surgery. They aren't showing any other signs that the murmur is causing problems--it just isn't closing.

I have attached another photo of each girl below as well.

Please pray for Ali and I as we need to make decisions and watch our little angels go through this journey and as always their strength, health and growth.

Peter, Ali and M. L. B.

Brynn:


Leah:


Maryn:

December 1st Update

Well, today is Ali's homecoming day!

She will get to see her house and all of the changes that have happened while she has been on bed rest. When she went on bed rest it was 90 degrees outside and as she is heading home we are getting 10" of snow. Oh how time "flies!"

The girls are doing well, we were able to hold all of them yesterday for an hour or so each. The girls just steal your heart when they hold on tight--pretty strong for 3 lbs.

Each girl has a heart murmur that they have given them meds to help close. They will not be able to begin feedings until Wednesday now since the drugs are hard on their stomachs. So that means that they will be in the NICU until at least Wednesday. They need to start taking feedings before they will move them to the Special Care Nursery.

Please pray that the meds work and the murmur's close and stay closed and that they take to their feedings quickly so we can move them out of the NICU.

We will continue to update as things progress.

Thank you for all of the prayers, calls, flowers (the nurses are amazed with the flowers), visits, etc. They mean the world to us.

Thanks again.

Peter, Ali and M. L. B.