Holy Crap! We Have Triplets!

So, today was the day. Who knew I'd be able to do a virtual play by play from the blackberry as we went. Lord knows my typing and photo skills left a lot to be desired but here we are almost 10 hours later and I'll take a shot at posting some of the photos not taken with the blackberry. Who knows, I may even be able to type better on a real keyboard.



Here Angela and I are prepped and ready to meet the babies. At that moment the Docs have already started the procedure, thank heavens for pain medication and that curtain.



That's Baby C or as we now call him Ryan Campbell. He was 5 lbs, 5 oz.



This is the gentleman we called Baby B, my mom called him the Moose. Michael Christopher weighed in at 5 lbs 10 oz.



Here is Angela getting to meet Baby A, James Allen. Angela got the raw end of this deal in more ways than one. After the procedure, the babies got whisked away and she had to stay in the OR for a bit. I left to make sure the boys were ok. After several trips between the babies, our families and Angela, it was cleared for me to bring the grandparents in. Meanwhile Angela was still in recovery waiting to touch her babies for the first time. About 2 hours after they were born, they brought Angela into the NICU in her hospital bed and wheeled her around to see all 3 boys. James was the only one she was able to hold at this time.



I wish I could tell you who is in these two pictures but they kept telling me to go around the OR and take pictures in such a frantic pace I had/have no idea who I was taking pictures of. Hopefully in a couple days I'll be able to ID everyone.



It took me quite awhile to figure out how the NICU worked this evening by no fault of the NICU. I must have had 5 different people explain to me how it works but I think exhaustion/exhileration/confusion/any other ion you can think of made it impossible to understand it. But by the 11 PM "touch time" I think I understood it completely. Angela's mom and I were alone and we got to spend a good amount of time with each boy as we got to talk to the nurses and get an up to date evaluation on each boy.

Michael has had to work the hardest since the get go, everything has been hard for him so they have put him on the CPAP to assist with breathing and a feeding tube. He is basically wearing a soft helmet looking device but it appears things will be ok.

James was a victim of low blood sugar so between the 11 pm and 2 am "touch times" they placed him in an isolette. They think he may be in there for a week or so. The nurses say both these things are to be expected with babies born at 34 weeks.



Angela was unable to get the sleep I wanted her to get and felt good enough to come with me for the 2 AM touch times. She got to hold and feed Baby Ryan which is what you see above. It was just what the doctor ordered because we have only been back from that feeding for about 10 minutes and she is snoring up a storm right now.

Ryan is doing such a good job that they are trying him without the warmer right now. He has no feeding tube or assistance with breathing. If he keeps his body temperature the nurse says he may be in an open crib when I return for the 5 AM "touch time". She cautioned us that setbacks are pretty common and to be expected but said if he keeps like he is going, he may come home with Angela on Saturday. Oh my how nice would that be?



The NICU nurse was kind enough to take this photo of Angela, Ryan and I. We can't wait to be able to hold James and Michael long enough for a similar photo and then a group shot.

It's hard to put into words what today was like but I'll tell you what, the nurses here at Baylor Grapevine have been incredible. There simply is nothing I can say or do to repay how great they have been. They have been watching out for Angela and the boys since we got here and today it just ramped up even more.

I also can't thank enough all of you who sent us messages throughout the day encouraging us and sending prayers our way. I didn't expect to be able to post to this site as much as I was able to but it was pretty cool to be standing in the NICU by myself, 5 minutes after the boys were born flabbergasted, send a quick photo to the site and within seconds get several responses saying how great everyone looked.

Truly awesome.