Monday, July 20, 2009

Annaleigh Needs...

After four x-rays, an enema, a round of suppositories, and two weeks of antibiotics, the conclusion that the doctors have come to is this: Annaleigh “needs a big fart.” Yup. That’s it. A fart. And the tall, middle-aged female British doctor who gave us that news said it with a complete straight face. We both burst out laughing, ‘cause we’re just that mature. (Okay, I burst out laughing; Brooke was more chuckling or giggling.)

Poor Annaleigh had an x-ray yesterday, another at 8 this morning, another at 1 this afternoon, and a fourth at 8 this evening. The doctors compared them and saw no change. We were hoping for a positive change, but at least things aren’t worse. She also had a surgical consult today but the surgeon seemed unconcerned, noting that her belly is “soft” and she doesn’t seem to be in any sort of discomfort. The concern is that her GI tract isn’t functioning as normal. Another x-ray is planned for tomorrow morning and the hope is that there will be some progress. If not, there are some options for how to proceed, but hopefully this will take care of itself soon enough. In the meantime, our poor little monkey can’t eat anything and is getting all her calories and nutrition via iv.

As if the barrage of x-rays wasn’t enough, Annaleigh also had her brain ultrasound today. They were looking to see if the blood clot they saw a couple weeks back has broken up. Fortunately, the results were “optimal,” according to Dr. Hiatt. The clot is starting to liquefy and there is no swelling in the parts where swelling would be a problem.

Charlie and Lily both had ultrasounds today too, but the results won’t be in until tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Hiatt told us that there is only a 3% chance that this round of ultrasounds will find anything that the first round missed, so we’re not too concerned.

Lily remains the same as she’s been for the last four or five days: stable but moody. She has episodes pretty regularly but usually manages to correct herself without any help. The good news on her is that she keeps packing on the pounds (not literally, unfortunately). She’s increased her weight to 876 grams, up from 770 just three days ago. If she continues to increase her size at this rate, she’ll catch up to Charlie in no time.

Charlie is doing well, with only a small hitch today. The doctors decided to give him some extra calories in his breast milk. They just mix in a powder to the milk (I wonder if it’s the same supplements that body builders take?) and he gets about 24 extra calories per feeding. After the first feeding with the supplement, he had a bunch of spit up, which isn’t normal for him. So they reduced his feeding for a couple meals and stopped the supplements. His latest feeding (9 pm) was back to his normal 13 ml without the supplement, and they’re hoping to increase him to 15 ml tomorrow if all goes well. They’ll try the supplement again too, though it’s not imperative that he gets it.

We’ve noticed some definite personality quirks with all three babies, and we get so much joy out of watching them develop. Annaleigh still prefers to be left untouched, making faces when we try to hold her hand or touch her back. Charlie is so docile and calm all the time that absolutely nothing bothers him at all. Today we saw his night nurse change his iv; you’d think that poking a needle into his arm would cause him some discomfort and get some kind of reaction, but our little man didn’t budge. He laid there prone and slept as content as could be. And then there’s Lily. Oh, how Lily made us laugh tonight. Whenever she’s handled a lot (bath time, weighing, changing positions, suctioning, etc) she gets “shell shocked.” She’ll lay there with her eyes as wide as can be and her arms raised up and not move for minutes on end. She looks like a statue! Tonight, her nurse was suctioning her throat and mouth, and Lil kept thrusting her tiny hands in front of her mouth and trying to push the nurse’s hand away. And when the nurse finished, she lay still with on hand stretched out next to her head and one hand on her hat and her eyes staring straight ahead like a deer in headlights. Oh, how we laughed!

Lastly, we wanted to put a call out to any newer parents of multiples out there who may be reading this. We found a list of companies who donate products (diapers, formula, etc) to parents of multiples and we put my mother in charge of writing to them. If any of you have had any luck getting free stuff from companies please let us know. We’re going to need all the giveaways we can get! Thanks for any and all suggestions!

14 comments:

Jen & Jeff said...

Hey Brooke! I have been trying to keep up with how the babies are doing. I am so glad they seem to be doing great this week! I didn't want to bombard you while you are so busy with the babies, but if you could use any preemie clothes, let me know. Most of mine are very boyish obviously.. but I do have some that are neutral that the girls might be able to get by on! I'd be happy to send them on to you and your beautiful miracles!

either email me at jenniferrjohnson50@hotmail.com or add me on Facebook and get me there if you would like them.

Hang in there.. life with triplets just gets better and better!!

Jen - EverAfterInMI

J said...

I'm so glad the babies are doing well. You are in my prayers every day!

Ashley said...

Im a little computer slow....so if you all will email me...Im a triplet momma too...and I have a complete list of the companys tht give freebies...my email is ashleydeeannw@hotmail.com

Make sure grandma sends in copies of the birth certificates to all the companies...some want it, some dont, its just easier to send them to all :)

Marcie said...

I love how Lily looks like she's doing Zumba in this picture. It is crazy wild that their personalities are shining through already. They seem to be doing so well which is just wonderful. I think there was a sort of letter going around that you could use when write for the multiples gifts. It is like a cover letter of sorts. You could probably find it on thebumo. If you don't have time,email me at leggs802@hotmail.com and I will see if I can round it up. -Marcie

Amber said...

I'm so glad that everyone is doing well, I make sure I check in everyday. I will look back in our blog and see if I listed the companies. I will let you know.

Colleen said...

I love today's pictures! I can really see how the babies are developing into their own little people, both personality-wise as you said, but also appearance-wise.

Anonymous said...

Great to hear everyone is doing nicely! I love looking at the pictures and seeing them grow and get healthy! Way to go babies!

I have no suggestions for companies as I'm not a mother, let alone a mother to triplets :)

God Bless you all!

#1SAHM said...

glad that your little munchkins are doing better today (overall)...I'll keep my FX for Annaleigh to fart LOL. : )

OMG Triplets said...

Yay babies!!! We took advantage of the free things companies would send us. I would be more than happy to send you the letter I used and the addresses (and what each of them sent us). You just need to make a bunch of copies of their birth certificates for the mailings. My email address is kliesen24@yahoo.com let me know!!!

Come on Annaleigh - give us a big FART!!!

Stephanie said...

Love the picture of Lily! So cute and funny!

mrsolsenk12 said...

I love the new pics and I am so glad that Annaleigh just needs to fart and it is nothing more serious. They are growing so much and changing with each picture you put up there.

Unknown said...

I check in on your blog twice a day and you all continue to amaze me. If I can share any of my hand me downs (Boy clothes) that I kept new with tags I will. I also have some platex drop in bottles or Evenflow bottles too. Some new and some not.

sapphire1398@gmail.com

Stephanie - sapphire1398 (from the Bump)

Sarah - The Home Cook said...

I'm sorry but I also laughed at "Annaleigh needs a good fart." Poor thing! I hope she can take care of that soon.

I love today's baby pics...Charlie is looking great. You can tell he's eating like a champ. And I love Lily's pose - how funny that the babies have such completely different personalities.

Stacie said...

You could contact your hospital's NICU social worker about offers from the hospital's distributors. I definitely know that Emfamil gives out a case per multiple. I just called the company and spoke to the area's rep. (actually the nurses gave me her card)