Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Time Flies...


Another month has passed and the babies are doing great. Monday was the babies four month-day, so Mary made sure they were all dressed nicely for their pictures. The month saw the babies make some big steps, they all are grabbing things more so they look like they hide behind bibs and burp clothes which is very cute. They are also sleeping well and holding rattles and Helena is getting almost as smiley as Seamus. Katie must be the serious one because she's the oldest and is responsible for the other two. Every month when the 29th rolls around I can't wait to see what they will be doing by the next month. The pictures were all taken on their month day, the first one is Helena an I, the second is Mary playing with Seamus and the last one is Katie sitting in two chairs.




Friday, September 26, 2008

Big Babies



This week has been a long one. I'm happy that it's over! The babies were still sick at the beginning of the week and actually went to the doctor on Monday. Pat took the day off of work and grandpa went with them. We were told that yep, they have colds, surprise, surprise! The good news out of all of this though is that we found out our insurance will cover the RSV vaccine, which is awesome! The vaccine is a series of 6 shots, one per month that they give to preemies to help protect them during flu season. Since they were born with under-developed lungs they are at higher risk for getting RSV. It costs $1100 per shot per baby so we are very lucky! They got weighed in at the doctor as well and Seamus is 13 lbs 5oz, Katie is 12 lbs 12oz, and Helena is 11 lbs exactly. They haven't quite caught up to where they should be yet but they're getting there! The other good news from this week is that Seamus has been cut down to going to therapy only one time per week. We also do not have to stretch him at home anymore! Now if we could just get him into a helmet he'd be just about done with therapy completely. Katie's been doing really well at her sessions and has continued her progress at home. She's probably the best at tummy time now because she spends the most time doing it. I've included a picture of the 3 of them showing off how well they can hold themselves up (L-R Seamus, Helena, Katie) and hanging out in Katie's crib before their baths (L-R Katie, Helena, Seamus).

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!

My 31st birthday was Thursday and the babies celebrated by getting colds. It's a wonderful birthday gift to give their mother. I love the opportunity to suck snot out of their noses and watch them gag themselves while trying to eat! Honestly though, we've been lucky so far. This is their first cold and as far as colds go, this one is pretty tame. Stuffy noses and a little bit of coughing is as bad as it's gotten so far. They have been sleeping quite a bit too. With both Pat and I working in schools we were bound to bring something home to them. Grandpa survived another week of working. He even tried to teach the babies to sing along to "Happy Birthday." I guess he really had Seamus going with the singing along. He loves talking to us and will answer you back whenever you talk to him. If you don't pay attention to him he'll start to yell until you do. I guess Helena was crying the other day while Grandpa was here and Seamus was just yelling away over her crying. We think he might have been telling her to be quiet! Both he and Katie are already very protective of their little sister. It's funny to watch them try to hold her hand. She quiets right down whenever they touch her! The first picture shows Helena holding onto Seamus. The second is of us celebrating my birthday!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Quack, Quack

Seamus and Katie had their appointments with the neurosurgeon on Monday. Grandpa went with us to the doctor since Pat had to work. The babies were very good even though they had to get up early so we could be there on time. The doctor took a look at Katie's head for about 10 seconds and told us that he thought using positioning techniques like placing rolled up blankets under her head would work and if not to come back when she was 5 months. No measuring, nothing. He was more concerned about the shape of Seamus's head and sent us down to Children's Hospital to get a skull x-ray. He wanted to make sure that the sutures in the back of his head had not fused already. Well, it took until this afternoon and about a billion unanswered phone messages for us to finally hear back from the doctor with the results. Seamus's head is fine, he thinks his head shape may just be due to his prematurity. Uh huh, right.
Needless to say we were more than a little disappointed with the results that we got from this doctor. We had heard such good things about him, which makes it even more frustrating. How exactly are you supposed to make a 3 month old not wiggle off of a rolled up blanket when she's sleeping? And if they are going to need helmets why are we waiting another 2 months when they could be close to being out of them by then?
We had physical therapy on Tuesday and talked to our PT Kevin about how upset we were. He being the Greatest guy in the world asked if we would mind if he set us up with a cranio-facial specialist. He knows one down at Childrens that has worked on a bunch of his patients. He remeasured Seamus's head and helped Katie's PT Heather remeasure her head to be sure there was still a big enough discrepancy between the sides of their heads to warrant a helmet. (Anything over 1cm difference and a helmet should be considered, both are well over 1.5cm.) We are going to see this new doctor next month and actually all 3 babies will be evaluated just to be on the safe side. It was the earliest we could get in, but since it's down at Childrens we shouldn't have to wait too long for helmet measuring and fitting after that. The other thing is they have to be able to hold their heads up completely before wearing a helmet and they're not quite there yet. Any day now and we will be!
Physical therapy is going well. Katie is making a ton of progress and has actually started to babble and coo a lot more now as well as picking her head up a ton during tummy time. Her neck control is getting really good! Seamus is a PT all-star! He's getting very close to being cut down to going only once a week. He's also our biggest talker. Sometimes it takes forever to feed him because all he wants to do is talk to you and smile instead of eat. Helena is doing real well also. She's finally on the same formula as the other 2 and is actually eating better now that we've switched her over. She's the most inquisitive of the 3 and by far the lightest sleeper. Her biggest problem is she gets herself over-tired because she's afraid that if she goes to sleep, she might miss something! Grandpas just loves it when that happens. She's such a pleasant child for him on days like that! He's only met us at the door once or twice this week saying that he's going to quit. I keep explaining to him that there is a no-quit clause in his contract so he can't! Seriously though, this week went really well. I'm just happy it's over!
Enjoy the pictures. In order- Katie, Seamus with a boo-boo nose and Helena!


Saturday, September 6, 2008

One week down




Pat and I actually survived the first week of school! Not sure how, but it happened. Grandpa survived too! I think he was just as happy about the weekend being here as we were. Maybe more! For those of you who may not know, my dad is babysitting for the triplets while we are at work. Thank God! I don't know what we would do without him. On Monday though, I get to take my first day off of the new school year. Katie and Seamus have an appointment at 8:30 to go see a neurosurgeon. Their pediatrician wants them to be seen by him first before they get measured for their helmets. I guess there's a slim chance that their head shape issues could be due to their skull plates fusing. Highly unlikely, but better safe than sorry. After they see the surgeon we should get their prescriptions for the helmets and then be able to make their appointment for measuring. From what I understand, it's a few week process so we are very anxious to get it all started. The sooner they are in the helmets the less time they will have to spend in them. I guess the older they get, the longer babies usually have to wear them. We're hoping for as little time as possible.
Physical therapy is going well. Our PT thinks that Seamus may be able to cut down to once a week soon. Katie still has some work to do though. Of all of the babies, she has the least amount of head control so we've been working with her quite a bit. She had the unfortunate honor of being on the bottom when they were still in the belly babies and she's still showing some of the effects of having to hold up her brother and sister for almost 8 months! She did get to be born first though so I guess it's not all bad. Here are some pictures from the last week. Seamus is being a Red Wings super fan and wearing his daddy's hat. Katie-L and Helena-R are hanging out together! The third picture is of me today holding all 3 babies L-R Seamus, Katie, and Helena.