Five months old already!!!

Yesterday was the babies' five month birthday! It's funny because they're so big and doing so much more, but they're still so small. Our friends Maria and Craig came over yesterday with their toddler and almost two month old baby. And their little guy already weighs more than our babies (granted he was over 9lbs at birth)!  But he feels so different because he's still a squishy newborn.  All the babies have pretty good head and trunk control and are really grabbing toys and bringing them to their mouths, often with two hands. Everyone is smiling and laughing. The best bet for getting a laugh is movement and singing.

Ellie continues to be a chatty little lady though she prefers to talk to herself more than to us. She's quick to give big gummy smiles and her big eyes just light up when she sees us.  Ellie is rolling to her side from her back and pushes up really high on her tummy. 

Oh my!  I'm really 5 months old?!

Isaiah is still the big guy around here though his sisters have been catching up. He's quite the wiggle worm now rolling to his side and grabbing his knees. He wants his feet but hasn't quite figured that out yet. He kicks his legs a lot when he is excited and it kind of looks like he is doing an Irish jig.  Isaiah doesn't "talk" as much as the girls but he's a mover and shaker.

Avery found her voice in the last week or so and for now it's the voice of an old woman who's been camped out in a bar! :) She has this adorably gravelly little voice and she's been "talking" up a storm.  Sometimes, when she's really happy she makes noise while inhaling, which makes it sound a bit like she's choking but it's very intentional.  Avery is the most interested in her siblings and loves to watch them play. Avery's still driving me crazy with her inconsistent rolling despite LOTS of practice but she's a rockstar in the bumbo. And as you can see she was being quite the little ham during the photo shoot.

Here's an assortment of group shots where I think you can see how close they all are in size now.

Double Trouble

We had our 4 month well baby visit Tuesday and both of the girls have doubled their birthweight! Isaiah isn't quite there yet but he's still trucking up his growth curve so no worries.  Here are their stats from Tuesday at 4 months and 2 days:

Isaiah

10lbs 8oz

24 inches long
41.5cm head circumference

Avery

10lbs 2oz

23 inches long
39cm head

Ellie

10lbs 4oz

23.5 inches long
39.5cm head

Dr. Brink is very pleased with their growth and development so far. She said asked if we had concerns and we mentioned how Avery has had bouts of extreme fussiness without an obvious cause and Dr. Brink said it might be reflux so recommended that we start her on the Zantac too.  So hopefully that will help our poor hysterical baby feel better.  Still no luck on the Synagis, but Dr. Brink seemed hopeful we'd get it by the end if the week or so and then we could come in for a nurse visit.

The shots they did get (DTaP, HIB, & Pneumococcal I think) were pretty brutal as usual.  Ellie had the hardest time this round.  It was great to have Marty along for the visit so it was one on one.  The past couple of days have been rough too.  They've all be running low grade fevers, especially the girls, and have all been fussier than usual.  It's been tough to put anyone down to play on the floor without them getting crabby.  And last night was an awful night of sleep, with Avery having a meltdown from about 11:30-1 and Isaiah from 4:30-6.  Ugh.  Here's hoping they sleep better tonight and take decent naps today!

Auntie Jess took their one month pics and put them next to their four month pics so we could really see their growth over the past few months.  Kind of crazy to see the how much smaller the frog looks in comparison now!

Happy 3 month birthday babies!!!

Our babies are getting bigger!  Hard to believe they're three months old already.  Of course, they're only about 7 weeks adjusted, but they're doing very well developmentally I think.  Let's see, what's new this month??  Oh, well Ellie rolled over from her belly for the first time just this week.  And she's a big fan of this new skill and rolled over three times in her crib today when she didn't feel like napping!  Isaiah is rolling over more consistently too, though Ellie might be passing him up with rolling frequency.  Avery doesn't seem to give a rip about rolling.  She pushes up nicely on her elbows, but hasn't shown much interest in rolling, though she did shift her weight a bit today.  Avery is still our biggest smiler, though Ellie gives her a run for her money sometimes.  Isaiah's smiles are more random still and harder to elicit, but are usually these little coy smiles when they come.  They have all started cooing more, which is super cute.  We hear a lot of "ga" and "goo" sounds now along with the vowel only sounds.  Isaiah makes a lot of adorable squealing noises too.  I'll try to capture some of videos of our little chatty babies and some tummy time videos to post soon!  For now, here are the three month photos.  They are all bigger than the froggy now!  As always the group shots are the hardest, especially now that they are moving more!  I had this big plan to capture a shot of them all pushing up on their elbows when on their tummies, but they weren't the least bit cooperative with that idea!  They either just laid there relaxing or they were trying to roll over on top of each other!  So no luck with that shot....

Big guy

 

Even Avery is longer than the frog now!

 

 

And a collection of group shots

 

"woah!" Not really sure what surprised them all so much!

The best of the "action shots" though many of the pics
were blurry from all the movin' & groovin'

Insurance issues & growing munchkins

I spent an hour on the phone yesterday trying to sort out some problems we've been having with insurance to get the babies their RSV vaccine, called Synagis. RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) affects the lungs and for you or me would just present like a cold. But for preemies who were born with immature lungs it can be much worse, causing pneumonia and bronchitis.  Because our babies were born before 35 weeks and were less than three months old at the start of RSV season, they should be receiving the vaccine, but getting it has been a royal pain in the arse!!  They got their first dose at their six week check up because the doctor just pulled it from her stash, hoping that by the time they needed their second dose (this week) we'd have it from insurance. Well that didn't happen so now we have to make another appointment just to go in for vaccines.

Our Synagis troubles started with our Aetna insurance, name changes, and a PSU process issue.  First they were having trouble with the switch from Baby Girl B to Avery, etc so it didn't look like the kiddos were covered. Then we had a problem because PSU hadn't submitted the babies enrollment forms to Aetna, so again it seemed like the babies had no insurance.  We finally got that sorted out, after Michelle made a bunch of phone calls, but then there was the matter of the copay.  The pediatrician warned us that we could have a pretty hefty copayment (think she mentioned ~ $500) so she told us we needed to apply for medical assistance for the babies so we wouldn't have to pay that. (Because the babies were premature they qualify for MA regardless of income status.) So we did that and got their cards in the mail and it is a good thing because our copay was $1300 PER KIDDO!!! Only problem was that the Aetna specialty pharmacy wasn't a preferred pharmacy for the MA plan the kiddos were automatically enrolled in!  So once they enrollment in MA was complete, everything got sent to another pharmacy. Well that pharmacy submitted the paperwork and was told that the Synagis wouldn't be covered by MA (for some reason that makes no sense...something about it being a medical not a pharmacy benefit?!?).  We got a confusing voicemail from Dr. Brink's nurse telling us to call this patient copay assistance group.  I did that today and it said you could apply online so I started that process only to find that social security number was a required question and we don't have theirs yet!  So I called back to apply over the phone and got to spend a fun 40+ minutes on the phone completing three applications! The good news is they were approved so we won't have to pay the $1300 copay!  (This time at least. I'm guessing next month's vaccine will involve another big process like this! Oh yeah I didn't mention that the RSV vaccine is a monthly thing throughout the winter!) 

So anyway, we're hopeful that this month's dose will make it to the pediatrician's office next week and we'll get the next round of vaccines either Friday or Monday.  The annoying thing is that things will change again next month because the kiddos' MA plan will be different as of January first. When you first sign up, They auto-enroll you in one of their HMO style plans, and then allow you to choose the plan you want at the start of the new year. Fingers crossed that we made a good choice and the approval process is simpler next time!!!

Speaking of pediatrician visits, the kiddos all got weighed on Tuesday and all are trekking right up their little preemie growth curves. They haven't shot up to get into the "real baby" growth curves (as Dr. Brink calls the normal/regular ones).  They're still below the 5th percentile on those charts as you can see from our app. 

Here are their weights as of Tuesday, one day before turning 11 weeks:

Isaiah: 8lbs 12oz

Ellie: 8lbs 3oz

Avery: 7lbs 15oz

By now I'm confident that we have three eight pound babies! That would explain why they're outgrowing a lot of the newborn clothes, but the 0-3 month clothes are still pretty big on them!! At the same time, it's kind of fun to be moving on to a new batch of clothes! 

In other health news, Isaiah and Ellie continue to struggle a bit with reflux and are taking Zantac to help with that. We weren't sure if the Zantac was helping so the doctor said we could stop. But stopping for a day was enough to let us know that it is helping! Avery got her first cold last week and passed it on to Ellie.  But overall they've been pretty healthy so far and we're thankful for that!

Tummy time

                

Showing off her head control

           

Two month old triplets

Here are the two month photos, a couple days late.  I'm glad we decided to put the frog in the pics because that's where I notice the biggest difference.  Today's photo shoot was pretty painless and fast compared to the last one!  Isaiah was a little edgy, but he managed.  Let's see, what are our babies doing now that they weren't a month ago?!  Well Avery is smiling pretty regularly which is super cute.  Isaiah gives away some smiles too, but not quite as many.  He continues to make the biggest variety of faces though.  Ellie's hair is getting longer but is still adorablly spiky, especially in the back.  All of them are getting better head control when we hold them in sitting.  Again, Avery is leading the pack in head control sitting but Isaiah is lifting his head the highest during tummy time.  It seems like we're seeing the beginnings of intentional batting at toys if they are hung nice and low.  The favorite toy is a rattle-y elephant in the activity gym. 

All of them are eating better.  I'm pretty sure, if she could, Ellie would stay there most of the day. =)  We introduced bottles this week and Ellie is doing the best with the bottle.  Isaiah isn't a big fan at all!  They are also crying more and are starting to make a few new noises.  I wouldn't say they are robust coo-ers yet, but they're working on it. Oh and we're seeing a trend away from pooping after every feeding.  With that comes bigger and messier poops!   We're also getting a lot more direct eye contact; Ellie can really stare ya down when she wants to!   

Okay, that's all I can think of right now so here are the pics....

bigger than the froggy now

the rugby ball actually makes Isaiah's big noggin look small!

caught Avery mid smile--she's giving away
quite a few smiles these days

Our littlest peanut is growing too

Ellie has gotten noticeably heavier than Avery

Ellie's face has also rounded out

It continues to be tough to get a group shot.  I like the way
they have their arms linked

group perspective shot.  I liked Avery & Ellie's facial expressions
in this one, but Isaiah looks like a goof in this one (sorry bud)

A one month group shot for comparison.  The biggest difference
to me is how big the frog looks.  And Ellie compared to Avery...
Ellie's really shot up in comparison

You want something to cry about?!

Yesterday was the babies 6 week check up and weight check.  It was also their first round of shots. :(   Wednesday night was a rough one so everyone (moms included) was a little cranky yesterday. On top of the baseline crankiness we got to add poor timing because the appointment was scheduled at a feeding time.  So just the usual strip down for weight and doctor check was met with a lot more crying and fussing than usual. At one point, while we waited for the doctor, we had to do a baby shuffle because I had both girls and Avery was super fussy and couldn't keep her pacifier in. So, using the examining table as a loading zone (it's not easy to transfer babies when you're holding two!) we traded so Michelle could keep Avery's pacifier in with her free hand. Knowing they we're going to get shots, at one point Michelle told Avery "just wait, pretty soon you're really gonna have something to cry about!"  I repeated that "something to cry about" phrase a couple times to various crying babies during that appointment!

Their check up went very well and Dr. Brink is very pleased with how they are doing.  All continue to gain weight which is great. After the last visit, when Ellie's weight gain had fallen off the curve a bit, we were worried about her so we paid her some extra attention at feedings, making sure she got a lot of hind milk (the fattier cream-like milk) and went back to giving her supplements if she had a bad feed.  All that extra focus paid off because Ellie was the biggest gainer, going from 5 lbs. 6 oz. all the way to 6 lbs. 10 oz!!  Avery has regained the littlest peanut status of the family, weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz. and Isaiah, of course, is still the biggest at 7 lbs. 3 oz. It makes sense now that Isaiah's starting to outgrow some of the newborn clothes.

After their check up with the doctor, it was time for the nurse to come back and give the dreaded shots. They each got three shots yesterday; Synagis, which is an RSV vaccine that they qualify for because they're preemies, a T-Dap, and a pneumonia and meningitis vaccine.   The whole shots experience was pretty rough on all five of us! We have never seen these babies cry the way they cried when they got the shots. Even with all the procedures in the NICU, they never cried like that. But that may have been just because they were so little and just didn't have that big of a cry then.  I don't know.  They all turned beet red and let out quite the wail complete with real tears.  I was able to 'boobify' (ie pacify with the breast) each of them right after which settled them right down, but still it's no fun to see your babies cry like that.

Oh, one other exciting thing happened at the doctor visit yesterday besides the great weight gain!  While Dr. Brink was checking out Avery I had Isaiah and Ellie on the examining table and they were both getting a little fussy, so I rolled them over on their tummies just to mix it up a little bit. Well Isaiah pushed right up on his elbows apparently trying to show off and then tried to roll over. On his first attempt to got to his side and then rolled back over to his tummy, but the second time  he got it! So Isaiah's first time rolling belly to back happened at the doctors office. Talk about proud mommies! 

Here are a couple of recent cute pics:

posers

 two thirds pics

(oooh boy does she hate it when her thumb jumps out of her mouth!)

Four weeks old!!!

Wow! It is really hard to believe our little bambinos are four weeks old today!  How time flies when you're not getting any sleep!  Seriously though, it really does seem crazy that we've already been home for three weeks.  We had another pediatrician visit yesterday and I am happy to report that the babies are all growing and have all surpassed their birthweight!  As usual Isaiah is leading the charge weighing in at 6lbs 5.9oz!  The way they measure length is an inexact science at best, but they marked him at 19.25 inches yesterday.  And as you can tell from all the pictures, he has a big noggin, measuring 35.5cm around.  Avery wins the award for the biggest gainer weighing in at a whopping 12oz over birthweight (5lbs 8oz) passing up Miss Ellie who weighed in at 5lbs 7oz.  The girls both measured 19 inches long and with a head size of 33.5cm.  Dr. Brink seemed please with their progress and said they all looked great.  We will continue to focus on getting more calories into Ellie and try to get her as much hind milk as possible, but we do not have to do any more supplements, which is great.  We've been gradually eliminating the supplements over the past week and everyone seems to be doing fine.  That makes our feeding process just a little less labor intensive, and therefore less time intensive too.  We are happy with their progress, but to put their size in perspective, even Isaiah is below the 5th percentile and the girls are more like the 1st percentile for their age, so we have a lot of growing to do!  Multiple visitors have commented that they look much smaller in person than they do in the pictures!

I have a bunch of little ideas for blog posts germinating in my brain, but haven't been able to flesh any of them out into something coherent.  It could be the sleep deprivation catching up with me!  Last night was actually one of our best nights recently with Michelle and I getting two straight hours of sleep a couple of times I think.  It is funny though how getting that much sleep in some ways makes the night seem harder. I think it is because we actually get into a deep sleep cycle and then have a hard time coming back up to the surface of wakefulness, whereas in nights where we don't get more than half an hour of uninterrupted sleep we never really sleep so we aren't as out of it (though we do tend to be crabbier I think!). 

Overall I think all of our little munchkins are doing really well.  I mean, really, think how advanced they are.  They shouldn't  even be born yet and here they are having to breathe, eat, poop, pee, and move against gravity!  That is a lot to manage!  It's funny actually, because each week on Tuesday or Wednesday, Michelle and I each get an email from babycenter.com telling us what that week of pregnancy is like and how the baby is developing in utero.  Seriously though, it seems like they are more alert each week and are getting more endurance for eating, which will hopefully help them keep growing big and strong.  We can tell they've gotten bigger because most of the preemie clothes are too small now, though most of the newborn things still seem a little big.

Good news...we got the final pics from the photographer! If you want to see them all you can go to this website  http://www.enjoyphotos.com, and fill in the following information: 

Username: Therrien Triplets

Password: 7401

We are very happy with how they turned out!  The hard part now is figuring out which ones to buy and print!

Here are a few pics from the past few days

                   Isaiah making silly faces

       Avery bright eyed and NOT ready for sleeping

               Ellie rockin' the froggy hat!

Hangin' on the bed in various stages of the eating/changing process

Mommy desperately trying to settle/hold off three babies at once until we were ready for the next feeding