27 September 1999
It's Been Busy...
I keep telling myself, "I really need to update the website.
Everyone is going to think that the McClures have fallen off the
edge of the earth." But then when I had a little quiet time to
start thinking about what neat things I could put up on the website
I would start to nap. When I woke up it was either time to feed
babies or go to work. My apologies but I'm sure you understand.
I went back to re-read what the last update had in the way of information
and realize now how much you folks have missed. And probably
how
much I've forgotten. <gulp>
Before I go further... YES there are new pictures in the Picture Gallery.
Let's start with Rachel and me going to the NICU family learning center
where we spent 7 luxurious days under the watchful eyes of the hospital
staff. We had gotten both of the girls in the room with us (Sept.
8) and
were expecting Ian to join us some point later.
We'll have two babies on heart monitors since both Ian and Rebecca
have had slight heart rate drops. The rules say that before anyone
can
go home, the parents have to be Infant CPR certified. Mom and
Dad
are scheduled for a Red Cross class on Thursday Sept. 9th. After
waiting for 30 minutes, no one shows up. Something will have
to be
worked out in order for the babies to go home.
Sept. 12th (Sunday)
he did join us and we had all three babies to attend to for the first
time
which was both exciting and more than a little busy. Luckily
we had
nurses there who would take over a feeding or watch the babies while
we went out for a bite to eat. It's a shame we couldn't bring
them home
with us.
Rachel's car is sold in anticipation of the new Honda Odyssey which
is
due to show up any day now. The first person to respond to the
ad
bought the car. Go figure.
13 Sept. (Monday)
The doctor evaluates all of the babies with the intent of sending
everyone home in the next few days. Katherine is on the fast
track since
she's feeding well and generally doing everything they way they like
to see
it happen. Until... this Monday morning Katherine has a temperature
drop
and the doctor says he hears an "unusal noise" in her bowels.
They do a
test to find blood in the stool and it comes back positive. The
doctor
decides to watch it for the day and make the call later on if she continues
to have strange symptoms. The doctor comes back in the afternoon
and
wakes Katherine's parents from a nap to say, "I think we had better
throw in the towel on Katherine." Of course, we had just woken
up and
having heard something so final about one of our children made the
adrenaline
rush and the blood pressure pound.
...the doctor continued, "I still don't have anything to point to but
what I'm
afraid of is that she'll get sick and I'd rather prevent it than cure
it." Oh.
Our daughter's not terminal. Okay. She would have to go
back to NICU,
she would have to stop eating, go back on IV fluids and start getting
a round
of anti-biotics. Worrisome, but they still didn't have a cause,
just a bunch of
symptoms that had them scratching their heads.
The Red Cross comes through with a one-on-one CPR class which isn't
very thorough but is enough to get the babies home.
Rebecca was formally discharged from the hospital. We could keep
her in
the room with us, but she was our responsibility and no nurse or doctor
could examine her without being re-admitted. Bureacracy.
14 Sept. (Tuesday)
Katherine is howling regularly at the nurses in the NICU that
someone has forgotten to feed her. "Can't someone find me a bottle."
The consensus of the nurses is that she looks better already and her
temperature is back to normal. The doctor being the conservative
type
he is decides to wait another day and see how things go.
Ian is formally discharged from the hospital and it's time for everyone
in
the room to go. Hurricane Floyd has chased five babies out of
the NICU
in Charleston and they need the space. We don't officially have
anyone in
the room with us that is a patient so out we go. And actually,
while leaving
a baby behind was hard... getting home was really nice.
We had to borrow a van and driver from next door since Rachel's car
was now sold and taking babies home in a Ford pickup just didn't seem
like a good welcome home. The van filled up with car seats and
the truck
filled up with junk that we had brought in a piece at a time since
the babies
were born.
It's interesting to take two babies out of the hospital as your being
discharged.
The number of people who peer into the car seats as you walk through
the
halls and exclaim, "Oh twins!" is frankly amazing. We took nothing
less
than sheer joy in showing off our cute babies and then gently correcting
the hapless observer. "Uh, no actually it's triplets. We
have one more
waiting for us upstairs." The expression changes from one of
familiarity to
one of disbelief. "Triplets? You're kidding!"
15 Sept. (Wednesday)
Like the cavalry coming over the hill in the old John Wayne movies,
Mark's parents
arrive to begin their shift as grandparents who don't sleep at night.
A quick
schedule is worked out about who feed whom when and with what and the
cycle of changing, feeding, sleeping begins in earnest.
Mark returns to work after taking Monday and Tuesday off (but not
really meaning to do so.) His collegues wonder why he has bothered
to
show up now since he looks and acts like he's feeling a hangover from
a
week-long drunk.
Today also begins the visits by the Home Health nurse to check on the
growth and jaundice of Ian. Rebecca just gets a general once-over
and
then a weighing. She'll begin coming every other day (during
the week)
to check up on everyone until they are officially out of the premature
category.
16 Sept. (Thursday)
Mark had called 17 dealers in 3 states looking for the Honda mini-van
that
would carry the babies to their appointments. The man with the
right price
and timetable (they are really hard to find) was in Columbia, SC and
generously offered to drive the van to us in Greenville. I don't
know if it
was my father visiting him in person to tell him about the triplets
or fear
that we might be a few weeks getting down to pick it up that got him
behind
the wheel. Whichever reason... it arrived on Thursday afternoon
and Rachel
got to drive her new van around and talk with the neighbors while Mark
wrote
a really big check that made his hand ache. It's a nice van.
Katherine is back to eating again. Not as much as before but they
want to
make sure she is going to be able to deal with digestion properly.
This is a
good sign to be sure.
Not wanting to rely on the "quick and dirty" CPR course we had received
and needing more than just the parents to be certified, another class
was
scheduled. The ladies of the family went to a two hour class
(which turned
into a four hour class) in the evening. Both grandmothers, the
mother and
the mother's sister were all now CPR trained and certified in case
the little
ones on heart monitors decided to do something crazy.
17 Sept. (Friday)
The call comes from the hospital that Katherine is ready to go home.
The
want to keep her until the afternoon but we're welcome to come and
get
her anytime after 3:00pm. With the new van and a short string
of profanities
as the car seat is strapped in securely, we're ready to go and get
her. We
pick her up and start wishing everyone goodbye. It's somewhat
like moving
from an old neighborhood. You feel like you know everyone and
until a few
days go by, everyone knows you. Some hugs and well-wishes are
exchanged
and the hospital is now history.
20 Sept. (Monday)
The babies first doctor's appointment is scheduled for today at 10:30am.
While it's nice to be out of the hospital, we know we still have preemies
that
are going to need a close eye for a while. We loaded all of the
babies into
the van for the first time and headed for the doctor's office.
Since they had
just ate at 9:00am, they were content to nap in the sunshine and vibrations
of the van. When we made it to th doctor's office, the same stare
of disbelief
and pointing began but this time we had all three so it was obvious.
Rachel
being the color-coordinated mother had dressed everyone in a sex-appropriate
color and the "oohs and aahs began." The staff at the doctor's
office knew
exactly who were were when we walked through the door never having
so much as talked to us on the phone before. I wonder how they
did that?
The best news the doctor gave us was instructions to begin to get the
babies
to sleep through the night. Feed them at midnight and let them
wake you up.
The longest they've gone is four and a half hours, but it sure beats
three when
your dying for some shut eye. Who knows, maybe they'll sleep
through in a
month or so.
We also get an order for iron in two of the eight feedings a day.
Now there
are three different medicines (vitamins) that we have to contend with
each
and every day. Caffeine for Ian, Polyvisol (vitamins) for all
and iron for all.
When you put all of that stuff in the milk, it sure makes it an interesting
color.
22 Sept. (Wednesday)
The Home Health nurse drops by for her regular visit and reports that
all of
the babies are doing well. The weights are:
Ian
4 lbs 4.5 ounces
Katherine 4 lbs 11
ounces
Rebecca 4 lbs
14.5 ounces
24 Sept. (Friday)
The Home Health nurse drops by for her regular visit and reports that
all of
the babies are doing well. The weights are:
Ian
4 lbs 8 ounces
Katherine 4 lbs 14
ounces
Rebecca 5 lbs
1 ounce
We have our first 5 pound baby!
25 Sept. (Saturday)
We have now worn out the McClure grandparents and sent them home to
recouperate. Their tireless efforts to care for us and the children
are much
appreciated but they have doctor's appointments of their own and bridge
to be played. The second shift arrived in the afternoon and the
cycle continues
without interruption.
Today is the day. The doctor said that getting these babies out
in the fresh
air and sunshine is good thing. It's time for the triplet stroller
to be geared
up and rolled out. The GrandParents McClure managed to dye the
covers
of this somewhat used stroller (we're the fourth owners) and it looks
pretty
good. We loaded the babies up around 4:30pm and went for a walk
around
our community pond. The babies slept right through it for the
most part, but
they did enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. Most likely for the
first time in
their lives.
Sept. 27 (Monday)
The Home Health nurse drops by for her regular visit and reports that
all of
the babies are doing well. The weights are:
Ian
4 lbs 10.5 ounces
Katherine 5 lbs 2.5
ounces
Rebecca 5 lbs
6 ounces
Addendum
I will spare you further details about the great diaper explosion but
it's a
great topic to talk to Rachel about AFTER you've had lunch. The
updates
might not be as exciting from here on out but I will continue to add
pictures,
sounds and news as it becomes possible.
I (Mark) will be taking two weeks off of work to be a full-time daddy
for
a little while. We hope to wean ourselves from the dependence
on
grandparents (but it is nice to have them) during this period and maybe
get on a regular schedule. Who knows? It could happen.
One other bit of information... we feed babies on the cardinal hours
of the
day. 12, 3, 6, 9, 12... etc. If you want to call, try to
make sure it isn't during
one of those hours. We always seem to have the phone ring when
our hands
are full of baby. Don't get us wrong, we want to talk to people
but we just
can't stop coaxing a tiny baby to stop eating so we can run to the
phone.
If you get the machine, the house is in a sleep cycle or a feeding
cycle.
Leave a message. We'll get back to you just like the message
says.
I am currently hunting the highly elusive double-hiccup sound which
occurs when two or more babies get the hiccups simulataneously.
Unfortunately, it seems nearly miraculous that I can cure these hiccups
by merely turning on a tape recorder. It happens fairly often
so I can
only assume that I'll be able to share it with you before too long.
Rachel is nearly back to her pre-pregnancy weight and her energy
level is nearly back to pre-pregnancy levels. Nothing slows her
down,
not even three babies at once.
That's all from triplet-central. Time to feed 'em again.