Friday, March 27, 2009


I cannot believe it has been so long since I wrote. I don't even know where the time has gone!! I have never been so tired in my life. The boys are doing really well. I can't believe how much they eat. Mason and Justin are up to 5 ounces every 4 hours and Noah is at 4 ounces every 4 hours. We try to keep them on the same schedule but that doesn't always happen. Mason is such an easy baby. Thank Goodness. He sleeps A LOT but is alert and content when he is awake. The zantac has done wonders for all of them and Mason has stopped throwing up for the most part. He has got to be well over 10 pounds at this point but I won't get him weighed until Tuesday. He is huge! I can't believe he is 3 times his birth weight. He looks a lot like Logan did as a baby so I wonder if they will end up looking like each other more than he does with the other 2. Justin and Noah are definitely more fussy. Seems the witching hour is from 5 to 10 at night. It is absolute chaos when Logan comes home and all the babies are awake. Justin gets really fussy around 8-10 at night. He cries and screeches and acts like he is starving. We always end up feeding him a little more even though he might have just eaten and then he seems fine so maybe he is gearing up to have a full belly before bed. He has red hair which is a McCoy trait and I think he looks a lot like my sister but no one else seems to think so. He has beautiful blue eyes (thanks to the Commacks) and an adorable dimple. His face is really filling out and he is about 9 and a half pounds. (I weighed him yesterday) . Noah is still a screecher. He is one of the loudest babies I have ever seen! He is over 8 pounds now but won't know his weight till Tuesday also. He still looks like a preemie but is really starting to fill out. He went to the urologist last week about the duplicate collecting system and he said he is perfectly fine and won't need any follow up unless he develops an unexplained fevers. Great news!! He has the biggest and brightest eyes and perfectly curled eyelashes. He gets fussy sometimes and has this loud screeching cry. It can be piercing especially when he is sleeping soundly and he all of a sudden yells out. He is also bothered by everything. If you switch positions while holding him he gets all annoyed. And he hates the hiccups.

But all in all they are wonderful babies and it is so awesome to have them.

Logan is doing well. He is having some issues sleeping that I am sure are related to all the chaos that has become our house. I feel so bad for him because I know how tired he is. He is such a great kid. He really is pretty good with the babies. He tries to give them fishies (the food) and I have to tell him they don't have teeth. He cheers his milk to their bottle and tells them to eat. He is adorable.

My parents went back to Florida this week and a friend of the family Leslie came ans has been with me all week. It has really been fun. She has raised 4 really great boys and I have learned a lot from talking and watching her. We have had a really good week and I will miss her when she goes back to Florida. My parents are back tomorrow and I can't wait for them to see how much the babies have grown. My sister as always has been a huge help and comes over in the evenings to help out. She cooked us dinner twice! What a huge help that is since I never feel like cooking! I have hired a very nice 14 year old girl to help out after school when Logan gets home and Bob and I decided we needed more night help so we got a night nanny with experience with multiples to come 3 nights a week. I know the sleep will make me a better mom.

All in all I feel so blessed to have all 5 of my boys. Bob is a really great father and he is so good with the babies. I know he is exhausted at work and I feel so bad for him so I am glad that with this help he will be able to sleep. Last weekend was the worst. By 6:30 on Sunday morning when Logan got up Bob and I could not keep our eyes open. I just thought there is no way I can begin my day right now. I had to call my sister and Mom to come over so we could sleep for 2 hours. When Logan is home all day it is just impossible to nap. Plus I don't want to. I miss him and want to hang out and play with him. So I am hopeful that all of this will make things a little less chaotic.

That's all for now. I am posting a picture of the boys taken this past week. Thank you all for your support!!!!


Monday, March 16, 2009

The boys are home!!They were discharged on Friday. Both turned the corner pretty quickly but still, 2 weeks in the hospital was a long time! The nurses and dr's at Virtuaa were wonderful. They took such good care of the boys, loved them and held them knowing that we had to be home with the other 2. I went with my dad to pick them up. Logan was very exc ited to have his brothers home. He is so cute. I was very nervous the first night. My sister Allison stayed until like 2:30 in the mroning and helped Bob. I was able to sleep for a bit and got up around 4 to help with the morning feeding and be up for Logan. My mom came over at 5:30 in the mroning and my dad shortly after. What would we do without them?? The weekend is a blur. Allison stayed Sat. night also and all day Sunday. My dad left to return to Florida Sunday for 2 weeks. Logan misses him so much. He calls him uppa and my mom amma. Too cute. When he gets up in the morning he asks for them. He hasn't quite gotten Allison down but knows as soon as I ask him about her who I mean. The boys have been doing well. Justin and Noah are both on zantac. They still reflux and we go through A LOT of burp cloths, bibs and clothes. Laundry never ends. But we seem to have quickly gotten back into the swing of it and although we are alwasy tired we are so glad they are all home. Bob's brother and sister in law came over Sunday while I took Logan to a birthday party at my friend kim's. It was nicwe to spend the afternoon with him and to see Kim and her family and friends. Many of whom I have not seen in quite a while. Her daughter Kyra was Christened 2 days before I ha the babies and I was not able to make it even though I am the Godmother. my sister stood in for me but I am still sad I missed it.
Today we followed up at the pediatrician. My mom and I went this morning and as I am sure it will alwasy be, it was a production. The dr's office is great. They take us right back so we do not have to sit in the waiting area with bunch of kids. Even though they got RSV their immune systems are still weak and so they can't be around other kids for another month. Then flu seson will be over and they will have their second set of shots under their belt. I am counting the days till spring. Mason weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces, Justin is 7 pounds 15 ounces and Noah is 7 pounds 4 ounces. All still growing and doing really well considering the setback in the hospital.
Noah is still really noisy ALL the time. He grunts and groans more thanany child I have ever seen. My mom stayed over last night and pulled an all nighter with me. She could not sleep a wink because he kept groaning. I told her she needs to ignore him. Hopefully she will bring ear plugs wednesday night! She stayed all day today and we cleaned the house. She will sleep well tonight. So lucky to have her!!!
I have been going to bed around 8 or 9 and sleeping until about 1 or 2 and then Bob goes to bed and I do the rest of the night.
I have to go now becasue Justin is crying and needs a bottle and Mason will be up soon. I don't have a ton of time to write but am committed to continue this blog as long as possible. Thanks again to everyone who has helped and prayed for us. We appreciate so much each and every one of you.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Noah and Justin have been in the hospital for 8 days now. Noah has improved dramatically. He is down to room air with only ½ liter of flow. He has been moved out of the ICU and sounds so much better. The cough is minimal now and his lungs are clearer. He is still a bit tachypnic and so they will keep him until that is under control. They put both him and Justin on zantac to try and help their reflux. They were on neosure in the hospital instead of the sensitive formula at home and they really had a hard time with it. It was awful, you could actually see how uncomfortable and painful it was for them both to eat. Noah did have a feeding tube for 2 days. He pulled the IV out of his neck himself and so they decided not to put it back in thank God. He is feisty! Justin is kind of hanging not getting worse but not quite better. He still sounds like crap, congested and coughing. He is eating like a pig though. He too is tachypnic and tachacardic at times still on half liter of oxygen at 30 percent. The dr. thinks they will be home at the end of the week or the weekend. I can’t wait to get them home again. I miss them so much! I do not, however want to have them home too early and end up back there. They have both lost a little weight which is a bummer.
Mason is still home with us. I am constantly watching him and making sure he is ok. I don’t sleep. I feel so scared all the time. He is a little congested and I feel like he is breathing fast. The night nurse is coming tonight. Even though we only have Mason it will give me a night to sleep. I know I wouldn’t sleep if he was with anyone else. Hopefully she can tell me whether he is “tugging” when he is breathing. I have to say, I thought I would be so scared when I first brought them home but I really wasn’t. I felt really good. And now I am afraid all the time.
Logan is feeling better thank goodness. He is so much fun. He is talking up a storm and so incredibly happy all the time. Well, except for the occasional whining session.
My sister was here over the weekend which was nice. She was able to see all the boys and it was good to have my whole family around me. I feel like I have been out of touch for the past 2 weeks. I am so consumed by what is going on I have barely talked to anyone. Thank you to everyone for the emails and support. I am sorry I have been out of it.

Friday, March 6, 2009

It has been 5 days since Noah was admitted. I am hopeful that yesterday was his worst day. He has been on oxygen at 3 liters, 40% and unable to be weened off. He is just having such a hard time and my heart is breaking for him. His lung collapsed yesterday which sounds worse than it is. Sort of. Basically there is a clump of mucus in his lung that he cannot cough up for obvious reasons and as a result his lung is unable to inflate with air. They are doing chest PT every hour and had to stop feeding him because he just couldn't breathe and suck at the same time. They had to put an IV in but could not find a vein so the Dr. ended up placing the line in his neck. When I saw him yesterday I just lost it. I couldn't stop crying and just telling him how sorry I am. I am so sorry that I couldn't keep him in me longer so he would have more time to develop and that he has had to do all this growing on his own. I am sorry that he has to go through all this crap again when he finally was done with the monitors and sticks and pokes and prods. He is such a fighter. The worst part is there is nothing I can do. They will likely put a feeding tube in because he is clearly hungry and miserable. I went to see them this morning and his lung had resolved but the other then collapsed. He is so pale.
Justin is hanging in there. His case is not as bad but I am not sure he has hit his worst day yet. He had to go on oxygen this morning because he was having blue spells while he was eating. He is only on half a liter and hopefully will be off it in a day or so. He is still eating. The dr. said his case is much less severe as Noah's and hopefully he will fly through with this being as bad as it gets.
Mason is still home with us. He is doing well (as I knock wood). He is a little congested but basically doing well. He is eating and seems to be breathing fine. I watch him like a hawk waiting for him to get sick. Since he was able to get his second shot I am hopeful that he will pull through this with an incredibly mild case if not get through without getting the virus. But that is probably wishful thinking.
Logan has been home all week sick. He has a nasty cough still but has been improving. He is completely discombobulated. Since the paramedics were here Sunday to today his whole routine is totally disrupted and he just doesn't know what to make of all of this. He stopped eating for a couple days. probably his way of acting out. I am trying to spend time with him so he doesn't feel left out but I am torn between him, Mason and the hospital. I cannot cross contaminate him and Mason so I have to have different clothes on when touching both of them. My parents are in scrubs everyday and they usually take care of Mason since I am constantly covered in Logan germs. (not that Logan is a germ, that sounds bad but you get the idea). While i go to the hospital my parents have stayed with Mason and Logan and each take a kid rotating since Logan can be exhausting. He really is such a great kid though. So loving. He wants so much to play with Mason and I feel so bad yelling for him to stay away. He does get to kiss his feet though since Mason can't stick those in his mouth yet. Logan went to school today for a half day just to get him out of the house and to play with other kids. He is definitely bored at home and was glad to have the diversion. I missed him though and so he is home now napping. Which is really what I should be doing:-)
As I said, my parents have been amazing. We are so blessed to have them here to help. My sister Allison as well. They are so supportive and have been a God Sent. Our neighbors and friends also. Everyone has been so helpful bringing us food and helping with anything we need. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. I know I say that all the time but it really is true. I am thankful everyday for the people in my life and for the beautiful children I am blessed with even if this has been the longest winter of my life. Only 4 more weeks of flu season. I cannot wait to take these babies out in the fresh air and show them off!!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Apparently we just can’t stay away from the hospital. It al started Thursday night. Logan had been starting to cough a bit with a runny nose. We had an eye dr. appt for the boys Friday morning. We dropped Logan off at school and headed o the appointment. I felt so bad leaving him there. I knew he didn’t feel good but I couldn’t take him with us. About halfway to the appt I called my sister Allison and asked if she could pick him up and watch him for the day. My parent flew in Thursday so the 3 of them picked him up and kept him at Allison’s for the day. I felt better knowing he was with family. He started to get a fever and slept on my mother’s lap for a few hours. He came home and was definitely warm. Friday night was horrible. Logan was up all night crying with a fever and a horrible cough. My sister stayed overnight to help because bob was in bed sick with a stomach virus. Saturday Logan was a bit better. At least his fever had broke. Fortunately my parents and sister were able to help us because we were both so tired. Saturday night was tough as well. Logan was up a lot and Bob was on triplet duty so neither of us slept much. Sunday morning we were feeding the babies and all of a sudden Noah turned blue. Bob was holding him and patted his back. I jumped up and started yelling his name moving him around. He was breathing but his color was not coming back. We kept talking to him and trying to get him to come back. He spit up a lot and burped which helped a little. I dialed the pediatrician and while I was on hold he had 2 more episodes turning blue and going a little limp. When I finally got through after 10 minutes on hold the nurse told me to call 911 and have them evaluate him. They came quickly and after looking at him determined he needed to get to the hospital. He wasn’t acting like himself. He wasn’t waking up and was generally lethargic. I rode in the ambulance with him. His color did start to come back on the ride but he still wasn’t waking up. We got to the ER and they started to evaluate him, had him on a monitor, drew blood etc. The dr. felt it was likely reflux related. As I was sitting there he did it again, started to turn blue and needed a lot of stimulation to come back. They decided to test for RSV even though he wasn’t presenting with RSV symptoms. Shockingly, he was positive. For those who don’t know, RSV is a respiratory virus that to adults is simply a cold but to infants it can cause a lot of breathing problems. Tons of snot and generally total anxiety for parents. They decided to admit him, repeat the sleep study to see if the brady’s were in fact related to feeding and evaluate him. Once we got him up to the room and settled bob and I decided to go home and get ourselves together. Shower, eat and then I would come back to the hospital and sleep over. My parents would stay overnight and help Bob out since Logan still wasn’t feeling well. About 30 minutes after we were home the dr. called to say that Noah had a couple more episodes of turning blue, dropping heartrate and oxygen level and they were going to move him to the PICU (pediatric ICU). I headed back to the hospital to stay with him. Around 10:30 I realized I had forgotten my coumadin. Since that is definitely a problem I had to drive home to get it, through the snowstorm. We decided Noah was in good hands and I had better just stay home. I spoke to his nurse and she told me she would stay in the room either him since he was her only patient.
I spent the entire night staring at Justin and Mason to see if they were going to start showing symptoms. Justin was definitely starting to get congested and I knew he was getting RSV. It is very contagious. I cannot thank my parents and sister enpough for all they have done over the past few days. Not sure what Bob and I would have done without their help. We decided to take him into the ER Monday morning and since we were taking him we would have Mason tested as well. Sure enough, Justin was positive and the dr. said it won’t be long before Mason is too even though he was negative at that point. He planned to send us home since Justin seemed to be doing ok but wanted to watch him for a little bit. He gave him an albuterol treatment and his heartrate jumped to 220. Very high. And it wasn’t coming down. Plus he was breathing faster. The dr. came back in and decided to admit him just to be cautious. Noah’s dr. was kind enough to take Justin onto his service so they are now in the same room. We have Mason at home and are trying to keep him from getting sick. It is strange not to have the babies. Logan is still sick. He was up at 3:30Am this morning and would not go back to bed. His cough is so bad and it just breaks my heart. Bob and I are eon our own tonight. Bob has to go back o work tomorrow so he will feed Mason at 11 and I will do the overnight shift. Mason goes to the pediatrician in the morning for his RSV shot and my parents will watch Logan who I refuse to send to daycare. It is so germ infested there and I wish I could just keep him home till spring. As I write this I am listening to Mason starting to get congested. I am really not sure how much more I ca n handle. I doubt I will sleep much tonight because I will wake up every so often checking his breathing. I am hopeful that Logan sleeps through the night or Bob is going to be very tired at work.
Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers. I have to get to bed now so I can get up around 1 for the night shift.