Waketime is Learning Time!

A lot of you know that a big portion of my day is trying to keep the girls awake and keep them entertained - okay, that's just to keep them from screaming their heads off! I am not a hugely scheduled oriented person but with triplets you pretty much have to be. If one of them falls asleep in the swings or too early and then doesn't nap with the other 2 it makes for a miserable mom. Babies too :)

So, tonight to keep them entertained we sent them to "school" - the kind that their big brother and big sister teach :) Kaitlyn them taught them how to read and write and Caleb taught them other important things like how to use a lasor (like the one on his Buzz Lightyear) and how to stretch. Both so very cute.

Here are some pictures with the girls and their teachers - sorry about the stuff behind them I have been drowning myself in the last week in a huge clothes project. Yes, I take on entirely too much stuff but hopefully this will lead to better organization in the future.





And then, as Kaitlyn would say, the girls moved on to "Centers" - they each get to do a different learning activity. Can you see their brains working hard?






And, finally, we captured something very elusive from Alyssa - her smile! This was helped along by big sister. They just LOVE to look at their older siblings and that is great. Can't wait till they can all play together (and fight together - I know it's coming but let me enjoy the good things!)



P.S. Even though Rachel is wearing blue she is STILL A GIRL!! Sorry - we get asked this question a lot even when they're all in pink :)

14 Weeks... But Who's Counting?

Ha ha! I count every day I survive :) I can't believe the girls are 14 weeks already. Well, it doesn't feel like time has flown but compared to my days spent in the hospital time really has gone quickly and the girls are growing quickly. Now, if we could just get them to scream a little less...

But, I took Rachel to the doctor today (with a little help from Lisa Zellner - thanks!) just to get her weighed because of our massive feeding difficulties. The nurse practitioner adjusted her dose so hopefully that will help because I have no idea how to motivate an infant to eat!!

Anyway, my "little" girls now weigh:
Julianna: 12 lbs even (still our chunky monkey :) )
Rachel: 10.10 lbs (she does not feel 10 lbs heavy!!)
Alyssa: 11.7 lbs

I honestly think they are growing faster then Kaitlyn did and I think Julianna is in line to compete with Caleb who gained 10 lbs in 4 months. I wonder if she'll weigh 15 pounds on March 16th when they are scheduled to be checked again.

On another note, Alyssa giggled for the first time today! Kaitlyn and I were playing with her and showing her a toy giraffe and she just thought it was funny and began giggling a couple of times. So sweet. Of course, this was a brief moment and it was followed by a lot of screaming. We're still not sure how our girl that screams the most and the loudest (trust me, the loudest out of all 5 kids - not just the triplets - it's ear piercing) is the first one to giggle. Life is funny. And just a few weeks after I presented my concern to the doctor that she wasn't smiling much at all. It seems the formula change and/or the zantac are helping! Yea :)

And here are a few pictures of our nursery now that we finally have a third crib and have moved Rachel out of the bassinet. Alyssa is in the maple crib handed down from Kaitlyn and Caleb. Julianna is in the darker crib handed down from our neighbors (thanks) and Rachel gets the white one. Now everyone can tell them apart. The cribs I mean :) Aaahh...

Blessed By Three and So Many of You!

I can't believe it but we have survived the first 3 months of the girl's lives! And we have survived one month without my mom :( Not sure how either have happened. Well, I do know - the grace of God and a ton of help. First, my mom whose help I could not have recovered without. She babied me and nursed me back to health :) Thanks Mom!

And after she left so many have stepped in to come over and help feed and hold babies as well as bringing us meals - thank you to Joanna Whitaker for coordinating all the efforts and always pitching in herself (she has given me permission to post here pictures of her new baby when he/she arrives so stay tuned for that!). Thank you to Venzy Searcy, Lisa Zellner, Denise Cadle, Hope Prosser, Barb Clock, Mary Abel, Carrie Wronka, April Fultz, Janette Nash, Karen Cornett, Brenda Fortney, Sally and Clif Roth, Kristy and Corey Shepherd, JoRonda Northcutt, Lea Dawson, Carrie Meyer, Krista Estridge, Cecilia Cornell, Terri Dunseath, Christina Nielsen, Leah Plott and Hannah Zellner for helping with meals and the babies. Thank you to Mrs. G, Trish Parks and April Hunt for picking Kaitlyn up from school. Thank you also to everyone at Grace Church of Gainesville, Grace Baptist of North Tampa Bay and to everyone else who has kept us in your prayers throughout the pregnancy and through these last 3 months - we look forward to spending more time with you all in the coming months as well. (Forgive me if I have forgotten someone - if you have been here to help and your name is not listed please let me know ASAP!)

Of course, I must also mention that Kaitlyn and Caleb have been a great help too - they are doing very well in their roll as big sister and big brother. P.S. - Caleb is potty training so give him some encouragement when you see him - he is trying to decide if he wants to be a big boy or a little boy and is feeling very conflicted about it. And, yes, I am crazy for trying to potty train a 3 year old while caring for triplet newborns but what could I do? I was a bit out of commission last year.

For those of you who are counting, yes they were 3 months yesterday but I'm a little late on my post. It gets crazy around here!!

Here's a few photos of our smiling babies - well, 2 of them are smiling - we are convinced that Alyssa is very serious. However, you will easily notice that Rachel is not wearing the same dress as the other girls and that was because she was being quite fussy so I'm sure we'll get Alyssa's smile on camera soon!



Julianna

Rachel

Alyssa

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Our day was spent at home (due to the weather) with our 3 beauties, Kaitlyn (also a beauty) and Caleb (well, not a beauty but he is handsome!). We spent this day of love clothing, feeding, bathing and caring for our handful.

Wait, did I say feeding? I meant fighting! We attempt to feed these girls every few hours but someone forgot to tell them that they need to eat to live. We were feeding them every 3 hours or attempting to feed them but mostly we spent our time fighting them to take just a few ounces. Now we are feeding them every 3 1/2 to 4 hours and I'd like to say it's going better but so far not much change. We'll give it some time and hopefully we'll get this figured out! On a good note they have been sleeping from 10 PM to 7 AM most nights - of course tonight will probably be difference since we've changed their schedule today and who knows if they ate enough?!

On a different note, I'd like to wish my parents a very Happy 37th Anniversary! Yes, the lovebirds got married on Valentine's Day. Aaaahhhh...

My Rock Band

Okay, for those of you who don't believe my babies cry I have proof!! Here are my rock stars :) The girls were given onesies that read: "Shining Star", "Pop Star" and "Super Star". I'm still not sure who they are from as there was no card but they came home from school with Kaitlyn and I think they're adorable :)

I only wish they were singing!



And it looks like Rachel is winning...



My Super Star! (Behind her head is a Valentine's card from big brother, Caleb)



My Shining Star!



My Pop Star!

Something To Come Home To...

For most people and usually for me we want to come home to our families. I want to come home most when it's quiet and the girls aren't screaming. Yea, that's never. But, on Monday when I had enough help to go to the grocery store I had a wonderful delivery on my doorstep...



Oh yea, you know it's a sad life when the sight of diapers just makes your day!! A special thanks to John and his family to sending us more diapers. I do have to laugh - as I look at the diaper count I realize that we will go through one box every 10 days. A single baby would go through 4 boxes in approximately 4 months. What a difference!!

The girls seem to be doing pretty well. Alyssa is acting happier lately and is even smiling more so the formula must be helping. Of course, you know it's a great feeding when Alyssa and Julianna down their bottles in just minutes and promptly begin screaming while mom is alone and trying to feed Rachel. After driving me completely crazy I put the two screamers down for a nap, came down to feed Rachel and promptly got vomited on. Oh yea, these are the days...

We're Doing Great!

We had a quick doctor's visit for Alyssa today. She is healthy but she has had some trouble eating - screaming while eating and very shortly after. While this is greatly annoyinng to mom and dad this is a sign that she is in pain and suffering from reflux. So, the doctor has switched her formula to an easier to digest one with less lactose and increased her Zantac dose. Hopefully this will make everyone more comfortable!

Anyway, while I was there I had everyone weighed and they are doing great and growing so big! I'm surprised at how quickly these girls are growing :)

Julianna 10.7 lbs
Rachel 9.2 lbs (still our peanut)
Alyssa 10 lbs even

They are still sleeping well at night though Rachel seems to get hungrier earlier than all the rest so we are often up at 4 AM for a feeding. Oh well, some day we'll get some more sleep!

Some more pictures of our 5 babies :)

Rachel:


Alyssa:


Julianna:


Julianna, Rachel and Alyssa:



And their studious big sister and big brother:

Sleeping Beauties...

Sleeping Beauties...




Bathing Beauties...



Alyssa



Rachel



Julianna

Now we're ready for our date. Play date that is. Today was our first outing and we went to the mall to meet some new friends. They are triplet boys just 3 days older than us and their names are Tommy, Jack and Christian.

Triplet Gear

Okay, we just thought this was funny - we need so much stuff for these girls it's just unbelieveable. We go through at least 18 bottles a day. We go through at least 18 diapers a day and that's if no one messes in their diaper after they've been changed before a feeding - yea right! So, the number is more like 24. We also go through somewhere around 15 burp cloths because of all the spit up. These girls are not so lady-like at times!!

A big thank-you to Grace church for my baby shower yesterday. I need all that gear! I now believe I have enough diapers in sizes 1 and 2 until the girls grow out of them but we are still collecting size 3 and above. The diaper need won't end for another few years.

We were also handed down our 3rd Ocean Wonders swing yesterday and the girls are just loving them. I think it's great to see all of them swinging in a row :)

Just a note - in the Bumbo seats they are from L to R: Julianna, Rachel and Alyssa. While they are self-feeding in the bouncy seats they are from L to R: Rachel, Alyssa and Julianna - because I know lots of you are still learning to tell them apart.

Goodbye Pictures

Not goodbye to pictures but some pictures of my parents while they were here. We've survived our first weekend alone - just barely :) The girls are doing great at night and almost always sleeping through the night - of course, writing this means they will do horribly tonight! My biggest chore is what to do with 3 screaming, needy babies and their big brother most of the day. When Kaitlyn comes home from school she and Caleb play very well together.

So, here are a few recent family pictures. Second most surprising thing after having triplets - getting them all to sit quietly at this age while we take a pictures. Be amazed at these pictures - they take forever to get right!!

Julianna's Update

We went back to the doctor today for hopefully the last time for 2 months to make sure that Julianna is doing okay. Fortunately, she was able to get her shots today (probably not fortunate for her though) and not only has she gained back the 5 ounces that she lost she put back on 2 more :) So, she now weights 9.3 lbs. For thsoe of you at Grace Church you may remember that this is what CJ weighed at birth! The girls are not yet on the curve as far as height and weight percentages go but we're almost touching it. I think that's pretty good for triplets.

As for me, my parents headed home on Wednesday and I have been on my own in one sense but have had good help this week and I am greatly appreciative. Of course, all the volunteers are allowed to leave whereas my mom had no where else to go while she was here :) The 24/7 help was wonderful! I will post a number of pictures over the weekend of my parents with the babies. Grandpa did a lot of carrying and calming screaming babies. If I hadn't gotten a smile tonight from Alyssa, I'd swear she only smiled for him!

Grandma worked very hard, constantly willing to take care of the house, me and all 5 kids. What a blessing and we are sooo grateful for the time we had with her and just pray that she will be able to return soon to help. In the mean time, thank you to all those have come over to help feed and hold babies. Someday they'll be happy to sit still and play but right now they'd rather be held and for some reason I didn't grow a third arm while pregnant with 3 babies. I think that should happen :)

2 Month Check-Up

We have survived 2 months! I have no idea how. Well, I do - the grace of God as well as my mom's help. What a blessing. My parents head back to Florida tomorrow so if you have wanted to come over to hold and feed a baby now is the time. We are now in need of a great deal of help!

The girls went to the doctor today and their weights are as follows:

Julianna 8.12 lbs (she has lost 5 ounces since last week because she hasn't been eating well and has been throwing up quite a bit)
Rachel 7.13 lbs (still our peanut)
Alyssa 8.12 lbs (yep, she and Julianna now weigh the exact same)

The amazing thing is that Alyssa weighed 4.12 lbs at birth so in the past 2 months she has put on 4 pounds. That is incredible to me. How fast they go and how frustrating setbacks are. Please pray that the girls all return to health. No one had any lung congestion today nor a fever so it appears they are all healthy at the moment. So, if only we could get Julianna to eat and grow things would be better.

Rachel and Alyssa got their shots today - a total of 8 for the two - talk about tears. Julianna will be getting hers on Friday when she goes in for a weight check to make sure that she is going in the positive direction for weight and no longer the negative.

Please, please pray for me as my 24 hour help leaves and I will be often alone with all 5 kids. Even when Kirk is home things will still be crazy so all your thoughts and prayers are welcome. Thank you!

Update on Rachel and Some Pictures

Before


After

Before

After

Rachel did regain her 3 lost ounces today and is back up to 7.5 lbs - this is good news for our peanut! Now we just have to work on keeping those feedings in her tiny body. She is still on all her meds and we are trying to feed her upright because the other suggestion the doctor gave us was to feed her smaller meals more often. Yea, right - how will that work with the 3 of them??

But for those of you who are wishing for triplets we must share the joys of screaming and spitting up. The other night Alyssa spit up all over Julianna's face - that was fun. Last night all 3 of them spit up in succession. It's truly rare for the girls to make it all the way through the night in the same sleepers. Speaking of nights the girls are generally eating around 10 and sleeping till about 3:30 on the best of nights. The worst of nights and there have been plenty we're up at 1:30 and then 5:30 - we really don't like those nights! As for the screaming - Alyssa does it about all evening long and tonight we even got to hear them all at once. It's great fun. If you don't like the sound of a baby screaming plese come over and hold one!

Just a note from Kaitlyn - she has posted on her door:
"Baby's R Fun - I hav 3"

And Caleb is still doing well with his sisters though he does LOVE to have attention from anyone who will give it to him. Hopefully the girls will become more interactive soon and he will enjoy entertaining them.

Here are the before and after pictures I promised.

A Little Drama and a Big Change

Rachel has decided that Alyssa cannot have all the attention and has once again become difficult. She already has reflux but the past few days it has been much worse and has been more like vomiting. So, yesterday we took Alyssa for her post-hospital check-up and we took Rachel to find out if she has RSV. Alyssa is doing great and other then a bit of minor congestion she is over the RSV and very healthy. Julianna also is the picture of health even though she has a slight cough. The doctor heard nothing in her chest.

But... when she listened to Rachel, Rachel sounded junky so at our 3 PM appt. we were sent to the lab with an nasal swab to test for RSV as well as a blood draw order and also one for a chest X-ray. At the lab the blood clotted so we wasted our time there. The chest X-ray did show a bit of junk in her chest but nothing serious - whatever that means.

So, because the blood clotted and something was wrong with the nasal swab I spent today redoing everything except the X-ray. It turns out she does not have RSV and does not need to be in the hospital - thank God!

However, I need to bring her back to the doctor for a weight check tomorrow because all this vomiting has actually caused her lose 3 ounces from last week and that is a very bad thing. The other girls have gained quite well and they weight:

Julianna 9.1 lbs
Rachel 7.2 lbs (down from her 7.5 lbs last week)
Alyssa 8.3 lbs (a gain of almost a pound from last week which is great!)

That was our drama. For a bit of a change - I look different :) After 2 years I have finally gotten my braces off! I do have a retainer in which for all of you who have had braces know is awful to get used to. But, I have also been warned that if I don't wear it I will ruin all the work that has been done on my teeth and I really don't want to do that! And speaking of teeth, Kaitlyn lost one of her top front teeth this week. I think by Valentine's Day all of my girls will just be gums :)

I will post some before and after photos tomorrow for some fun as well as an update on Rachel and whether or not she has gained weight. Thank you for your prayers nad continued support - my parents head back to Florida next week and we will need lots of extra help then!

And We're Home Again...

These last three days have been very long and overwhelming. Alyssa was diagnosed with RSV on Tuesday and admitted to the hospital immediately from the doctor's office. We were sent over to the hospital to find our way to pediatrics for her to be taken care of. Fighting our way through the crowds - yes, we are a spectacle wherever we go with the stroller and even with a sick baby people are fascinated and must stop to look and ask a dozen questions (at least, so far, most people have been very kind) - we made it back to the room where Alyssa was to be treated.

I ended up staying with Alyssa for all 3 nights she was there. The first night she essentially decided not to sleep till somewhere around 4 in the morning so we got about 3 hours. That was miserable! For 3 days she was on oxygen and had fluids through her IV. She continued to sound horrible when the doctor or nurse listened to her lungs but she was eating well and doing fine for the most part - she was just very hard to hold with all those wires!

Last night she was fussy again and not going to sleep so the nurses were kind to me and let me sleep in another room undisturbed. I got 7 hours in a row - that hasn't happened for somewhere around 6 months! It was great and I can't wait to do it again :) I have to admit the hospital was miserable and after coming home last night for a brief time to shower I dreaded the return trip. Any desires I had to go back on hospital bed rest and "relax" are long gone. I officially hate hospital stays (again).

While I was sleeping the nurses cared for Alyssa and took her off oxygen so at 2:30 this morning she once again began breathing room air and doing well. Prior to this either her oxygen levels would drop or her heart rate would sky rocket to over 200 beats a minute!! Poor thing was working so hard to breathe. Of course, she hated the oxygen and that could have been part of her discomfort. At one point she ripped it out of her nose while feeding.

Praise God the doctor came in this morning and said she sounded good and then when she returned in the afternoon said we were able to go home. As soon as Kirk arrived to get me, we were out the door without a look back. Now we are all home again and back to feeding 3 (all of us agree that feeding 2 at a time is much, much easier). My mom was once again a huge help caring for Caleb, Julianna and Rachel while I stayed at the hospital and Kirk worked from home. She even was my relief last night so I could come home for a bit (our room had no shower - yuck!).

Julianna is still doing great while Rachel seems to have a bit of a cold but she is not breathing poorly so unless something changes we should not be returning to the hospital until Caleb breaks a bone or something... Just kidding!

Back at the Hospital

It seems that the Nelsons just can't stay out of the hospital! We've all been home and doing fine for six weeks but Alyssa decided she needed to go back in :) Kidding. Over the weekend she just seemed to get sicker and sicker and was having a lot of trouble breathing and eating. We could just see her chest sucking in as she tried to breathe - it was pretty bad. Last night she also started vomiting after meals so today we took her to the doctor and they quickly admitted her to Prince William Hospital.

After some mucous test and a chest X-ray it was confirmed that Alyssa has RSV - a very contagious and dangerous (in this age baby) virus of the respiratory system. There is no cure or drug to help so she will be monitored in the hospital for a few days until she is breathing better. Right now she is on Oxygen and has an IV in her arm - after 4 attempts they finally got an IV in without blowing her vein - I think she got a little nervous when they were examinging the veins in her head for a port - mom got nervous at that point too.

Right now our biggest prayer is that the other 2 girls do not catch it or they will be in the hospital as well.

On a good note, all the girls got weighed today and they are:

Julianna 8.11 lbs - wow, she has grown in just 2 weeks she's put on well over a lb!
Rachel 7.5 lbs
Alyssa 7.8 lbs (looks like Rachel is catching up)

Happy New Year 2007!

As 2006 comes to a close I am struck by how much our lives have changed in the past year. I'm sure one of my New Year's resolutions at the beginning of the year was to get pregnant and have another baby. I had no idea at the time how much that would come true. If I did, would I have gone through with it? Of course I would even though right now I'm wishing I could rewind the year a little bit as I still feel completely unprepared to care for 3 small babies! I know the Lord will not give me more than I can handle and for some reason He has chosen for me to care for these 3 beautiful girls but some days I wonder what He was thinking!

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year. Our prayer for all of you is the same as for us that the Lord will bless you and watch over you.

Happy 2007 :)

Merry Christmas from the Nelsons

Merry Christmas to all of you (a day late I know but I was sick yesterday). The girls had a wonderful first Christmas even though they slept through it :) Their big sister and brother made out quite well and had a great day!

I had my six-week check-up today and things look good. I have been officially discharged as an OB patient. I guess my wonderful pregnancy is over... Kidding, although as hard as it was to be pregnant with the girls it was easier than having them out! Seriously, the doctor was once again impressed at how far I was able to go in the pregnancy. I attribute it only to the grace of God.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Kaitlyn, Caleb and the girls in their Christmas best! (You'll get one of them as Christmas cards someday - whenever I finally get around to it...) Sorry about the crying girls in the family picture but it's hard to keep them all happy at once.