Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween to everyone!!! The triplets did not get dressed up and go trick or treating, but we still had a good day. I had pick up some special onesies. They also got special Halloween bears from both Nana and Great Aunt Nan. We took these pictures hope you enjoy them.
Love, Jen
The triplets sporting their 'costumes' - not extremely thrilled about the picture.
Alex

Liz
Zach
Alex with the Halloween bear from Nana
Liz with Halloween bear from Nana
Zach with Halloween bear from Nana

Alex with Halloween bear from Great Aunt Nan. They make spooky noises!!
Liz with Halloween bear from Great Aunt Nan
Zach with Halloween bear from Great Aunt Nan
Ok we are fed up with the picture taking mom....PLEASE stop!!!

It is that time of year......PLEASE READ!

It is that time of year again. I am not talking about the holidays but RSV season. Some of you may remember a post we did prior to the kids coming home about RSV. This post is regarding RSV and how it will affect our family. We encourage you to read through this and ask us any questions you may have about it or our plans for the season.

WHAT IS RSV?
Respiratory syncytial virus or RSV is a common, seasonal and easily spread virus. RSV can live up to 6 hours on clothing, toys, bedding, and other surfaces. RSV season starts in the beginning of November and ends at the end of April. RSV to a baby born full term (36 weeks or more) without heart or lung issues or adults is just a cold but for a baby born premature (35 weeks or less) or a baby with a heart or lung issue it is MUCH more. Usually a child will end up getting RSV by the time they are two years old. The reason it is so serious to preemies is because they have immature lungs - their lungs are still developing. Although they look like good health babies on the outside, their insides are still trying to catch up. We encourage you to check out this website for more info http://www.synagisinfo.com/ .

ISN'T THERE A SHOT FOR THIS?
There is a shot called Synagis. The Synagis shot is given monthly thru the season. Unfortunately the shot is EXTREMELY expensive, so the kids must qualify to receive it or insurance will not pay for them. This shot does not make the kids immune from RSV. The purpose of this shot is to help fight RSV if they should get it.

WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR US?
We have decided to take some precautions during the season , but do not plan on secluding ourselves completely. While we were in the hospital the Neonatologist and nurses highly recommended not taking the kids out during the season except for doctor visits, to limit visitors, to have very good handwashing procedures as well as using Purell, to have visitors take off shoes as well as coats, to change clothes if you have been out of the house shopping or such, to not have any sick or have been sick within the last 10 days visitors, not be around smoking or clothing that has the smoke smell on it and to limit interaction with other kids in school and/or daycare. So we can be extremely cautious or moderately cautious; we are choosing to be moderately cautious. Our pediatrician recommends this as well. We will expect visitors to wash their hands when they arrive as well as use Purell during their visit, coats and shoes to be taken off and left in the breezeway, we will ask you not to visit if you or your children are feeling like you or they are getting sick, are sick or have been sick within the last 7 days, visitors that smoke will be asked to wear a clean shirt when holding or to not smoke prior to getting here and while you are here, and we will be limiting our outings to only necessary things.

WHAT ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS/BIRTHDAY/OUTINGS?
As far as outings and get togethers, we will not be doing anything on a large scale. What does this mean? Thanksgiving, Christmas and their birthday will be spent with immediate family only. Although we do not want them to miss their 1st Christmas and 1st birthday, it was a very tough decision on what we should do & how much risk should we put them in. Visitors will be limited when making trips back to Montfort (Jeremy's hometown). A good example of this will be next weekend's trip back - visitors will include Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Aunt & Uncle and cousins. Please do not be offended if you are not invited over to see the kids, we want to 'show off' our kids and to see people, but it is too risky for the kids.

WHY DO THIS NOW WHEN YOU DID NOT DURING THE SUMMER?
Easiest answer is that it was not RSV season. Yes it is still possible to get RSV during the summer but a lot less likely. We still followed some of these things but we were a lot more lenient. We still made decisions based on what was best for the kids.

FINALLY......
Just like the flu, RSV is very serious for our children and we do not take it lightly. As our childrens' advocates, we must do what is best for them, even if it sucks for us. This is a harsh reality of being parents of preemies. Although they may look 'normal' on the outside, their inside are still dealing with being born 10 weeks early.

We are not intending to offend anyone or keep anyone from seeing our children; we are just trying to protect them the best we can with what we have control over. We know that people want to see them so we will try our best to keep the blog updated better during the season so you can follow their progress. We hope you do let us know if you have any questions or concerns. There are also a variety of websites and other sources of information on RSV. If anyone is interested in them, let us know and we can email them.

Love,

Jeremy, Jen and the trips

Added feature to our blog

As I have said in a previous post I have added a 'wish list/items needed list'. We have been asked many times what are we in need of or wish we had, so you can now see those items on the right side of the page.
Thanks, Jen

Round #3 of pics....40+pics

Here they are....round 3 of pictures. Finally....it took two days of working on getting them -downloading them onto the computer, then downloaded on here and labeling them not to mention countless interruptions from the sick ones. Most of these were taken the 'old fashion' way - with film!!! Jeremy says I wore out our digital camera so we spent most of September without one. But that did not stop me!!! ;) There were 171 photos from September, thank goodness for digital cameras!!! :) Call me nuts(I know I am), but I don't want to miss anything! Hope you enjoy them. I will get round #4 on as soon as I can. The kids are starting to feel better so we can maybe get back to our schedule (I would sure like that!).

Love, Jen

9/3/07 Labor Day - 1st time out in the back yard



9/4/07 In the backyard with Auntie Jean and cousin Alexis

9/5/07 Liz is exhausted after PT (physical therapy)
9/6/07 A showdown between Alex and Baylee. I think Alex won.
9/7/07 A view from above a triplet meeting
Aren't they cute little feet!!!
9/8/07 See we can all hold our own bottles.

9/10/07 Three heads better than one?!?!?
9/11/07 Daddy, Zachary and Lucky chillin'
9/11/07 Zach, Liz and Alex after morning nap.
9/12/07 Trips enjoying morning playtime in one of few matching outfits.
9/12/07 Liz trying to fit 2 toys in her mouth.

9/12/07 Daddy, Liz and Zach after feeding before bed.
9/13/07 Liz knocked out watching Baby Einstein.
9/13/07 Bumbo time
9/14/07 We barely all fit on this chair. 9/15/07 The boys at Grandma and Grandpa's

Liz at Grandma and Grandpa's

9/16/07 Mommy and the trips before bed.

9/16/07 Zach LOVES his feet!!
9/19/07 Liz and Lucky
9/19/07 Zach showing Liz his feet (he's very proud).
9/20/07 The trips enjoying playtime on the floor.

9/23/07 Liz with Nana
9/23/07 Alex with Papa
9/24/07 Alex holding both his bib and his bottle - he is a very talented child!!!
9/24/07 The boys getting cleaned up. Zach LOVES the duckies!!!
9/27/07 Daddy and Zach
9/27/07 Mommy and Alex's self portrait.
Mommy and Liz's self portrait

Mommy and Zach's self portrait

Trips playing with their LEGOS

Look at these handsome boys.

9/27/07 Daddy taking the boys to bed...nighty, night.
9/28/07 The trips doing their favorite thing...exersaucers.

Alexander

Elizabeth
Zachary

9/28/07 Alex making fish lips
9/29/07 We have found nipples for thicker liquids so we can now use our big bottles. And they can hold them too.
That's all for September. Check back for October pictures.

Quick update

Here is a quick update on how the trips are doing. We have quite the hectic past few days.

As some of you may know, we went back to St. Joseph (where the kids were in the NICU) for their first check-up. They are part of a program called Stepping Stones. They need to go for check-up at 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months corrected age. At this visit they were checked over by a physical therapist, a nurse and a neonatologist. Zach and Liz did great for the visit but since Alex has a little bit of stranger anxiety, he had a harder time with all the people. But all in all it was not bad. I did not write down their lengths but will get a copy of the report, but I believe they are all about 27" or more. I don't think anyone was 28". I do remember their weights: Alex weighed 16#14oz; Liz weighed 15#0.6oz; Zach weighed 16#9oz. So Alex is back in the lead. We have some physical therapy to work on with all of them but nothing serious at this point. At the next visit we will be seen again but physical therapist, nurse, speech therapist and neonatologist.

While we were at the hospital we visited the NICU. All the kids' primaries nurses were working. When we got to the NICU it was feeding time for the kids so we fed them and then visited with the nurses. We took a few pictures. Unfortunately Alex fell asleep so Judy was unable to hold him. Right now the NICU has two more sets of triplets there as well as a soon-to-be mother of triplets on bed rest (we got to meet her while we were there). We also visited my nurse Nancy. It was nice to see everyone again, especially since they are a big part of our lives. All the nurses were impressed by the kids.

Jeremy took the whole day off, so I was able to run some errands while he watched the kids. I picked up highchairs for them. Hopefully this will make feeding solids a little easier. I also stop by the local kids resale shop and got some toys for them. It was nice to get out.

Unfortunately the kids are STILL trying to fight off their colds. By Thursday night we started a whirlwind of events. Zach had an extremely high fever (103.9). After speaking with the pediatrician office we made an appointment to be seen Friday. Unfortunately we could not find a sitter to watch the other two, so Jeremy took another day off. Turns out he has an ear infection. We got some meds and home we went. Then Friday night Alex and Liz had a fever. Saturday while I was at work Jeremy called the pediatrician and was told to see if we could get the fevers to break and if not to take them to Urgent Care on Sunday. Sunday morning they still had fevers and so off to Urgent Care. Liz also has an ear infection, but Alex is fine. Then last night, Liz spike a fever at 104.4 and became very lethagic so I paged the pediatrician on call. Fortunately after eating she perked up a little. So we have been dealing with some EXTREMELY crabby kids. They cry unconsolably for hours on end, can't breath because they are congested, don't eat great because of the ears and congestion, schedule that is all messed up and parents that have not been getting hardly any sleep. So their little immune systems are getting a work out. So if we have not returned calls or emails or have been short with anyone - this is why. The three of them are putting us to the test every minute of the day. We are working our way thru it, I think.

Well I am going to end here as I would like to try to get something done prior to them waking from their nap. The house is a bit turned upside down, so I am trying to put it back upright. I will try to get the next group of pics on here sometime this week, so stay tuned. :)

Love, Jen

Judy and Alex

Joanne and Liz

Gwen and Zach

Round #2 (20+ pictures!!!)

Here are the pictures from August that were taken since the last post or were on rolls of film. So you may seen some of them already. Enjoy!! More to come.....
Love, Jen
8/4/07 Zach with Grandpa at Sherri and Jamie's wedding
8/5/07 Trips in playpen in camper the weekend of the wedding
8/5/07 Gary with Liz, Nan with Zach, Deb with Alex (relatives from CA)
8/5/07 Daddy with his boys

8/5/07 Alex getting sleepy

8/5/07 Zach sound asleep

8/6/07 Liz grabbing daddy's nose

8/6/07 The boys

8/7/07 Our first (and only) lady

8/7/07 The boys with their puppies

8/8/07 The boys holding hands


8/8/07 Liz after physical therapy
8/9/07 Alex in exersaucer

8/9/07 Liz in exersaucer

8/9/07 Zach in exersaucer

8/14/07 Alex being adorable

8/16/07 Alex in Bumbo

8/16/07 Liz and Zach planning something

8/18/07 Mommy with cousin Alexis, Liz and Zach

8/18/07 Trip prior to debut at Daddy's work party

8/20/07 Triplet meeting

8/26/07 Grandpa playing with Zach

8/28/07 Liz chillin'

Finally......1st round of pics

Ok here are the first round of pictures. Again I do apologize for it taking so long......just couldn't stop eating my bon bons and watch soaps to work on it (yea, right!).

These are pictures I took at home for them turning 6 months old. I started taking them by myself and ended up with camera problems, so my mom came over with two cameras and we just kept snaping pictures. There are probably close to 100 pictures total. Jeremy and I then sorted thru them to find the best ones. We don't think they turned out too bad, especially with us not being professionals and all! Hope you enjoy them.

The next round of pictures will be from August, then a round of September pictures and finally a round of October so far. We have got a new camera so I am taking a lot again.

Thank you for being patient!!!

Love, Jen

Another update

Hello everyone - I know you are all waiting for the pictures, which I will hopefully get to later today. But first a quick update.

Liz has been seen by a physical therapist since she was discharged from the NICU. Well as of last week Thursday she has been officially discharged. Yippy!!!! Liz was examined by a local physical therapist a few months ago to see if she qualified for the Birth to 3 program, which she did not qualify. But that therapist is willing to see her on a monthly basis to make she she continues to progress. Liz just took a class with this therapist and we met a mom with twins. She is also going to be a stay at home mom, so we exchanged emails.

Many of you may already know, but the kids ended up with their first illness a few weeks ago. We were luck that is was just some congestion, runny noses and occassional coughing. We knew that they were going to get sick, but still dreaded it. Alex got it first and then it moved to the other two and then to me, of course. They did ok but sleeping at night was most difficult. I was up quite often trying to get them back to sleep. But we made it through it. Unfortunately we were healthy for a very short period and it started all over again. They are currently sick. Same thing but a little worse. Liz also has a cough that I am watching. We had an awful night on Thursday. They went down good but once they started having trouble breathing they all woke up. We tried various methods to get them back to sleep. Unfortunately, Alex and I ended up sleeping in the rocker downstairs. He had himself quite upset, but he was sooooo tired. But it has gotten better since that night. Again I am sick, which makes it tough to care for them and care for myself, but you do what you gotta do.

This weekend was my first time away from the kids. Jeremy and I went to the annual beer fest in Madison that we have gone to for the past few years. Grandma and Grandpa got to babysit the kids. I must say it was fine for me. Jeremy has already had to deal with being away from them for more than 24 hours, so he did fine with it. It was very nice to get away. Since it was beautiful outside we took the bike. It was a great ride!! We had a great time relaxing. I only called twice to see how they were doing. I think I did great being away. As bad as it sounds, it was nice to get some time away. We were away from them for about 27 hours. My longest time away prior to this was 5 hours. They did great at my parents; did not wake them too much. I was happy to see them when we got back. We got some great big smiles!!! :)

Well I think that is it for updates. Trying to stay on top of this. Next week they go for their 6 month (adjusted age) check-up at the NICU, so we are looking forward to seeing the nurses that cared for them. So I will try to get an update out after that. The pictures will be put on next.

Take care.
Love, Jen

Long Overdue Update

This post is long over due. I started this post about two weeks ago and did not get very far. To complete this post is my goal for today. Considering I started it at 10:10am and have only made it this far and it is now 1:30pm, I think I may be in trouble. Kids are a little fussy today. Anyways, there are a lot of things I would like to put in this so I will try to keep it organized and try to remember all the stuff.

The biggest thing that has happened since our last update was the triplets 6 month check up. Unfortunately we did not get in to the pediatrician until they were 7 months old. I learned a very important lesson….make the next appointment before you leave the pediatrician’s office. It is a little difficult to get three appointments in a row especially during August – right before school starts. Here are some main points from the appointment. Alexander weighs 15#8oz. and 27 1/2” long. He has a tight muscle in his neck that is causing a head tilt. We will do some exercises with him to help loosen the muscle. Elizabeth weighs 14# 2oz. and is 26 1/4” long. She still has the poorest muscle tone of the three. She is still being seen by a physical therapist every other week. She is progressing which is good. Zachary weighs 15# 10oz and is 27 1/4" long. Yes our smallest is now the biggest. He has not stopped once he decided to ‘turn the corner’ in the NICU. His feet are straight now, which was a concern at the last appointment. We worked with him to help correct the problem. We will need to continue to work with him because his ankles are tight. All got their shots and did pretty well. The doctor was quite impressed by their progress/growth. We told her our schedule and she was very impressed by that as well. She said we will reap the benefits of giving them structure.

Flu season is approaching, so we will be getting the flu shots for the trips as well as ourselves. This also means that RSV season will be starting. After talking with the pediatrician, the trips may not qualify for the Synagis shots. This shot helps them fight RSV if they were to get it. There are guidelines that the trips would have to fall into to get insurance to cover it. Due to the cost, it is something that we would only do if insurance does cover it. It is $1500 per kid per month starting November thru April, which is $27,000.

Other things that the triplets have done since the last post: trip to Costco, spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa’s, and reaching milestones.
A Costco opened in Grafton, about 30 minutes from here, opened at the end of August. I fell in love with it immediately. They carry our formula as well as diapers that are only 14 cents per diaper. So Jeremy and I took the trips with us after their doctor appointment. They did amazing!!! No nap and we had no crying. Jeremy pushed the double stroller and I had Alex in a carrier on me. We did get many looks. I think a few women left the store with broken necks. We got a lot of comments most were good. We only had two really bad comments: 1) Does dad help? (Are you kidding me??? He’s the one pushing the stroller) and 2) I feel sorry for you (my reply to her – no need to feel sorry, we are extremely blessed). The same lady said both comments. We had some interesting comments: I’ve never seen triplets in real life, only on TV; are they all the same (personalities); they are all very calm – are they always like that; do they all eat at the same time – how do you do that. Turned out to be a very good outing. We did manage to get out of there in a reasonable time.
The trips were scheduled to spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa’s for a trial run. Jeremy had gone out of town and I was going to have a relaxing night alone. Unfortunately things did not turn out that way (a very long story), I ended up at my parents as well. But my mom was able to see what the routine was like and they got use to being there.
The kids have been reaching some milestones. All smile, laugh and giggle. Zach has found his feet and he LOVES them!!!! All can sit with support as well as stand. All can roll from tummy to back. Liz and Zach are able to roll from back to tummy. Everybody loves to talk in both soft and loud voices. They love their exersaucers and play with toys well – grasping, reaching, switching hands and banging them on things. We are extremely happy with their progress. We work with them everyday to help them develop these skills.

I will post pictures on another post that I would like to get out right away but I am not promising anything. We had issues with our digital camera and have finally got a new one. We were going thru film pretty fast. So there will be pictures posted.

Jeremy and I are doing well. We have a great routine that gives us some "us" time. Jeremy had a weekend away which he got to take the bike. He also brewed some beer last weekend. He has been pretty busy at work so he is staying out of trouble.

We will be either posting or adding another feature on the side. We have been asked a lot of what we still need. So we will make a wish list so you can all see. Everything we have received or do receive are very much appreciated.

I am going to end here. The kids are waking from their nap as it is 2:45pm. Please keep an eye out for the pictures. Again I am sorry it has taken so long to get this on here. For all of the daily blog checkers, I will try to do better in the future.

Love,
Jen