KIM????

Weekend Fun

We had a nice post yesterday and something happened to the computer and the post is now lost in cyberspace. Oh well. We had a great weekend. We went to the park and Uncle Joey met us there. We had soooo much fun on the swings and we even fed the ducks. But at one point daddy had to go get our choo choo wagon because other kids thought it was just another ride at the park. Silly them. You have to be a triplet like us to have something as special as a choo choo!
Then a lot of people came to visit us yesterday so we had a lot of fun then too.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Love,
Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Grown ups

Mommy and daddy are suppose to be grown ups right? Well why on earth was it so easy to convince them that we wanted to go to the park yesterday instead of to the store? We were on our way to do some much needed grocery shopping when we yelled out "we want to go to the park!!!!!" And to our surprise they understood us. So mommy called Uncle Joey (the best uncle in the world) and said "Stop what you're doing! Emergency detour to the park now! GO GO GO!" And so Uncle Joey left the gym after only being there for 10 minutes and we all got to the park at the same time. We fed the ducks, walked around the pond, waved and smiled to a whole bunch of people and we got to play on the swings and go down the slide! But we did run into a small problem. We had our choo choo wagon and when mommy left it 'unattended' other kids thought it was another ride at the park. Daddy had to go get it and make sure that no other kids got in for a ride cuz it's our choo choo. We only have a picture of mommy and Emily cuz we didn't bring the camera with us. Why would we? We were on our way to the store! Don't worry - we have food now. Uncle Joey stayed and watched us after we went to bed so that mommy and daddy could go shopping. Thank goodness because we were out of milk again!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Oh yeah - on the menu today was:

Breakfast: Pancakes ***** (that's 5 stars because we LOVED them!)

Lunch:

Stuff

Nap time in our house = play time. We pretend during the day to not like each other. We fight and pull each others hair and scream and so on. (see the youtube video for a view of this). But when it comes to nap time we just love to play and giggle. We play peek-a-boo and hold hands through our cribs, stand up and talk to each other. Anything but take a nap. Eventually we fall asleep but only after we're giggled out.

Night time is different. We're usually wiped out by 6:00 - 6:30 so when it's time for bed we just go to sleep. Our schedule is pretty good. We sleep 6:30 - 6:00 and then get up and have some milk. We eat some of mommy's breakfast before she leaves for work and then we eat our own breakfast around 8:30. We take a morning nap @ 9 and if we sleep for 2 hours then we don't have to take an afternoon nap. That seems to work out well for us. That way...we get lots of time to play for the rest of the day. Lunch is yummy these days. We like grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches. We love fruit...love it love it love it! We also like French Toast, scrambled eggs, bagels and cream cheese (actually...anything with cheese we'll gobble up). We love to share a bowl of cheerios with mommy. We're still having some trouble chewing since we don't have a lot of teeth but mommy and daddy don't mind. They say there's no rush - we have our whole lives to eat. We got through a ton of food. At least that's what mommy and daddy said this morning. They just went shopping on Monday night. But today when we wanted French toast they said "we're out of bread" and so we settled on scrambled eggs. Then we said we wanted some milk but we're out of that too...so it was formula this morning. Then we ran out of garbage bags. It's ok though wanna know why? Cuz mommy DIDN'T run out of coffee. We'd be in big trouble if that happened. And the best thing about running out stuff? We get to go shopping!!! Today we're going to buy diapers - size 4 for Hannah and Hailey, size 5 for Emily. Can you believe we're in those sizes already? We're going to buy bread and garbage bags and lots of other stuff we need. And maybe if we're good - mommy and daddy will buy us something too! Although....yesterday Uncle Joey took us to the store and we all got a new stuffed animal to ride around with us in our choo choo wagon. So we're not so sure mommy will let daddy spend any $ but we're gonna work on it. We love new toys. :-)

Oh yeah - yesterday when we having breakfast with mommy she kept telling us to use our words. She kept saying "more" and we just don't want her to know how smart we really are so we weren't saying it. But then Hailey said "ma" "ma" and this is different from "mama". She was saying "mas" in Spanish which means more! Go Hailey! Then when daddy came downstairs Emily looked up, pointed and said "Dada" with a huge smile. Mommy was really proud of us.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Found 'em

We found our bottles. They weren't missing at all. Actually - mom stole them and put them on Ebay! What is wrong with our mother? Those were OUR bottles. Oooooh...she better watch out. We're gonna find something she loves and sell it!
Love,
Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Hailey

Yesterday my Uncle Joey came to get just ME and we had a special day. Uncle Joey and Kristin took me to the mall where I had a fruit smoothie for the very 1st time. Then they took me to the park where we had a picnic and fed the ducks! It was so much fun! Don't tell Hannah or Emily though. It's a secret. Uncle Joey will take them for their own special day I'm sure...but yesterday was ALL ABOUT ME.

Love,

Hailey Rose

Kidney Disease is no fun

One day in about 5 years from now we're going to knock on your doors and ask if you want to buy girl scout cookies or something from a fund raiser that we'll be selling. Until then...we're knocking on your door to see if you'll head over to the Frenznick's blog http://frenznickfive.blogspot.com/ and help out. Our friend Avery Grace only has 1 kidney. That's not right because God gave us 2. Our Grandma Sanford donated a kidney a few years ago. Maybe one day we'll be able to do the same thing for our friend Avery. Until then - please help by making a donation. http://nkf.convio.net/site/TR/Walk/MichiganInc?px=1272902&pg=personal&fr_id=1790
Love,
Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Hello?

Hey...has anyone seen our bottles? They seem to have gone missing and we have searched high and low but with no luck at all. It's getting very frustrating because we have become attached to them you see. So if anyone has seen our bottles please let us know. We'd really like them back!

Yeah!!!!

Mommy got her laptop back!!! Yippie! That means we can put up some pictures. Today is Uncle Joey's birthday. He's going to spend the day hanging out with us. There's no better way to spend your birthday we think. Happy Birthday Uncle Joey! Also - Auntie Manda had surgery yesterday so we're sending lots of kisses down to VA to help her get better. Smooooooooooooooooooooch!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One last thing - every time someone asks mommy how we are her new response is "Perfect in every way and getting cuter every day!" What? Does anyone think we can really get any cuter?!?! Please.

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

New outlook

The laptop is finally being fixed. That means no pics until I get it back. Hopefully it won't be gone for too long and when I get it back - hopefully it's 'crashing' days are over. It may be time for a new one but that costs money and well - with triplets - $ is something of the past. No complaints about it though. Actually - the point of this post is all about a better outlook. See...lately I've been really draggin' butt. It gets harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. The days are longer and nights are shorter. The past few weeks have been full of sniffles and teething, crying and whining (not just from the girls) and lots of complaints. Mostly though - what has me down is the fact that I've realized that no matter how hard Pete and I try - we apparently can't do anything right. Just ask our family. They seem to be the ones that are kind enough to point this out to us on a daily basis. We don't cook enough for the girls. They don't get out enough or we're keeping them in too much. Why do they need to eat that? What's wrong with this? Why didn't you fix the drawer yet? Oh - they're going to get hurt on that. Why didn't you fold laundry? What are they girls going to wear today? That's too big, that's too small. Too many people come over. It's our fault they're sick of course. I should have made sure I put them back in their bubble before people came to their birthday parties. You know...the same parties where I had to demand that people put my children down until they washed up? I kept racking my brain trying to figure out how in the world I got into such a rut. It's not me. I'm a very optimistic person but lately I've been hard to live with. I realized that it's because there are too many people that think they know how to raise my kids better than Pete and I. And here's the funny thing...at night when they go to bed I look around and the only 2 people I see are...you guessed it...Pete and me! Imagine my shock. We don't claim to be perfect. How can we be? We're 1st time parents. We will make mistakes and hopefully we'll learn from them. So today I'm done. I'm done dealing with people who have an opinion. I'm not killing my kids. I know this because they wake up every morning and smile at me. That's right...they actually smile! Again...imagine my surprise? Smiling babies? It couldn't be. Not smiling at the very parents who just seem to be doing such a horrible job. I've decided that I'm going to just ignore people from now on. If you think you know better...go have your own kids and if you've already had your own kids - then go find someone else's kids to raise. But Pete and I have decided to keep the ones we have. We're going to bring them up OUR way. That means when it's happening in our house...it's happening OUR way. Yup. No more arguments or compromising. No more hiding the Tylenol because we're afraid someone is going to know that we gave them some Tylenol so they're not in so much pain from teething. And no more letting it get me down. Summer is here. I'm taking my babies to the beach, the mall and the science center (as horrible parents...we bought season passes so we can torture our kids with educational experiences). I'll be taking them for long walks in our choo choo wagon and giving them PB& J sandwiches at the park. I'm going to let them pet every puppy that comes across their path and I'm going to let them play in the mud. I'm going to take them to swimming pool...chlorine and all! I'm probably even going to let them eat a lollipop or two. And what I'm not going to do is let people dictate what our everyday life will be like. People say to me over and over again "enjoy them now...the time will pass quickly". And they're right. So enjoy them we will do! And I'm getting out of this rut and back into MY fun life. And I'm bringing my girls with me. So if you're reading this and you happen to come to my house and see something that's broken...fix it. Something needs cleaning? Clean it. Something you don't approve of? Ignore it. Pete and I are doing just fine. And short of packing up and moving out of state...something we consider often (little brother will be coming with us) - we'll just start ignoring the comments and move on with our daily living. One day at a time. Filled with fun and smiles, giggles and milestones!!!
Enjoy your day...because we're sure going to!
Michelle

Finally!

We're finally on the road to recovery! We're starting to feel better and for the befenfit of mom and dad...we slept through the last 2 nights. It's been a rough cold this time around so please don't mess with us when you come over and mommy throws you in the bathtub and scrubs you down before you pick us up. Just consider yourselves lucky that she hasn't purchased a decontamination chamber and set it up outside of our front door.
Love,
Hannah, Hailey & Emily

YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE ONLINE!!!

Check your driver's license - I found this on my friend's blog. I definitely removed mine. I suggest you all do the same. Now you can see anyone's drivers license on the internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Go to the web site, and check it out. It's unbelievable! Just enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked 'Please Remove.' This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. Please notify all your friends so they can protect themselves, too. Believe me they will thank you for it. www.license.shorturl.com/

Pictures

Still Sick!

We're still sick. Mommy and daddy are sick now too. It's ok - we're troopers and we'll get through it. We went for a walk yesterday - we had to get mommy and daddy out of the house. So we made them put us in the choo choo wagon and off we went! We headed to DQ - no ice cream for us though. So many people stopped to say hi to us! We love it. Uncle Joey came too - he had to, cuz he knows what's good for him.

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Hi!!!

We're here. Just partied out and snowed in! And Hannah has croup...again. We'll be posting more pics from our parties soon. We just need a day or two to get some sleep and get better. It looks like mommy took over our blog for a while...but we're taking it back. We told her to get her own blog - this one is ours!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Zack...if you're reading this - it's Hannah. And I've found an escape route! All you have to do is get sick. If you're sick - you won't get shots!!! Hailey and Emily didn't get sick and they had to get shots at the doctors office today but I didn't. Hannah

This is the day I see RED

Pete and I are in a pretty good routine. We've gotten things to a manageable schedule and it seems to be working well for us. Every night I bring home the bottles that the girls have used during the day to wash them. I also bring home their blankets and onsies to be washed. One particular evening after getting home I am pulling out their bottles to be washed. There are about 20 of them. They are all labeled with my name, medical ID #, the girls names (all 3 of them!) and the # of the bottle itself. You see - every time I pump I filled bottles. And I would label these bottles and # them, starting with bottle #1 and so on. Therefore each bottle had a different number. I noticed there was a bottle in our bag that didn't belong to us. I called the NICU and asked the nurse to check the girls charts to see if any of them had been given this bottle and the conversation goes:
Nurse: "Oh - don't worry about it. I'm sure it fell in there by mistake. Just throw it away."
Me: "Ok, but I'd like you to check all of their charts just in case."
Nurse: "I'm sure it's nothing. But if it makes you feel better I'll check and call you back if anything is wrong."
My phone didn't ring that evening so it was just a mistake. Scary to think that one of my babies almost got someone else's breast milk though. The next day I show up to the NICU just like every other day. After saying hello, feeding, changing and so on I decided to check the girls charts. I wanted to see for myself that none of them had been given this other woman's breast milk. I check Emily's 1st. Nope. Only milk she had been given was mine. Hailey's next. She had only been given my milk as well. And she gained weight! And she hasn't been out of her isolette in a while so I can hold her. I'm so excited!!! I am so excited that I forget to check Hannah's chart until later in the afternoon. I open her chart and right there in black and white is the # of the bottle that didn't belong to me. I see RED. I hit the roof. Those of you that know me...know that once I've gone beyond the point of being pissed off it's very hard to reign me back in. I'm standing next to Hannah's isolette and lose it completely. "You have got to be kidding me!!!!" This draws some attention. So much so that every nurse and doctor in the NICU look up. The nurse taking care of the girls that day runs over to me. "Michelle, is everything ok? What's wrong?" "What's wrong?!?! I'll tell you what the fk is wrong! MY DAUGHTER WAS FED ANOTHER WOMAN'S BREAST MILK! That's WHAT'S WRONG!" My heart is racing and I'm shaking. 50 million things are running through my head. I work in the health care field. I know that getting breast milk is just about the equivalent as being given someone else's blood. Except - it hasn't been tested of course! I quickly realize that my reaction has not only gotten every nurse and doctor in the NICU on their toes but it has started to make the babies cry. I leave the NICU practically dragging the nurse behind me. I wanted answers and I was going to get them even if I had to beat the hell out of someone to get them. These are my children. I've never been so angry in my life. How could they let this happen? Two nurses have to sign off on EVERY feeding. That means there are at least two idiots not paying attention and I'm going to find out who they are and have their asses handed to me on a silver platter by the end of the day. Even a year later - this anger is still so strong. I have a very low tolerance for stupidity and this was a mistake that never should have happened. I'm in the hallway with this nurse by my side. I tell her to get a doctor...I didn't care what doctor - as long as it was a doctor that was going to be able to handle what was spewing out of my mouth. I called Pete to tell him what was going on. Needless to say he's as pissed off as I am. The doctor and nurse come back and of course the immediate answer is "I need to find out what happened and I'll get back to you. I need to find out what the protocol is for this kind of situation." What? There's a protocol? You mean to tell me that this has actually happened before?!?! I'm in awe at this point. And a switch has been flipped. I am no longer the "nice mom of triplets!" I'm now the "mom of triplets, stay out of her way". This was actually the comment that I overheard walking into the NICU one day. Yes. Stay the fk out of my way. I actually considered transferring the girls to another NICU but this wasn't realistic. The move itself would have been detrimental to their health. By the days end I had been told "If it makes you feel better we have wet mothers that donate their breast milk all the time." To which I replied "That's nice. After I put a pint of donated blood into your child - I'll THEN have it tested for any diseases." I had been told that I was over reacting. Really? I'M over reacting? Because MY baby who isn't yet 3lbs was just given another woman's breast milk and I'M THE ONE over reacting? What the hell would you do?
The end result is this. The other mother was contacted and asked to have a blood test. She agreed. She didn't have to agree so for this I'm thankful. The doctors assure me that as soon as the results are back I'll be notified. They can't tell me what nurses are responsible. Haha...I can't imagine why they WON'T tell me. But in the end - it's probably better that way. They tell me that the nurses will be reprimanded. I don't care anymore. Just get the test results, get my babies to the point where we can leave and get me the hell out of here.
Three days after this event the girls were all transferred out of the NICU and into the regular nursery. They were eating and breathing without assistance. They just needed to maintain their own body temperature and gain some weight and we'd be able to take them home. This can't happen soon enough for us.
The days are going by and we haven't heard back on the results of the test yet. There is one nurse in the NICU that is 'assertive' and likes to pull her weight as the nurse manager. She was very involved in the whole incident and knew what was going on because of the fact that she is the nurse manager. Pete finally had it. He walked right up to her one day and said "I want the results and you are going to get them for me today." I was very proud of my husband at this moment. And it was this very moment that I knew he was going to be able to handle being the father of triplets. He is not one to like any kind of confrontation. He is easy going and backs down at the earliest signs of conflict. For him to have done this it took something that I didn't know he had in him. He had his answer that day. The tests came back and were negative. Hannah would have to be tested again in 6 months and then again at 1 year. These tests were all negative. Thank God again. I did write a letter to the hospital patient relations. Unfortunately - there was no follow up to this. It's not something I care to pursue. I made my point. I did learn something from all of this. It's not something new...but it was reinforced. If you want something done right, do it yourself. And although I couldn't be at the hospital 24/7 - I made sure that I did everything I could while I was there. If it wasn't me then it was my mother or mother-in-law. At least I knew they wouldn't make a careless mistake like the NICU staff.
Think about it for a minute. Can you even imagine? What would you have done?
Michelle

More from the NICU

It's day 3. I've been pumping around the clock and not getting anything. Hailey isn't eating and she's losing weight. She's lost 6oz and now only weighs 2lbs. She's not as lively as Hannah and Emily. She doesn't like to be touched or bothered. I haven't been able to hold her yet. I just know that if I can hold her and show her how loved she is that she'll be just fine. People underestimate the power of touch. I spend a lot of my day in the NICU changing diapers, feeding and changing bed linens. I have 3 babies here and I'll be taking care of them myself for their entire stay. I learn quickly how to take off and put back on their leads. I learn about the care around the umbilical IV and I learn how to change the smallest diapers in the world. We actually have to fold over the preemie diapers because they're too big. I learn how to weigh them on the scale and feed them through the tubes. And Pete & I spend as many hours as possible doing Kangaroo care with Emily and Hannah.
Late in the night on day 3 I get 1/2 cc of milk. It's not much - much it's all that's needed - I just know it. I put this tiny little bit in a syringe and bring it right to the NICU. "It's for Hailey" I say. And they give it to her right away. The next morning I'm thrilled to find out she digested it. I get more and more milk as the days go on and for a few days it's only for Hailey. She seems to be digesting the breast milk just fine as opposed to the formula. Once I start producing enough for all 3 of them - they will only get breast milk during the day and supplemented formula for 2 feedings during the night. It's day 5 and I'm being discharged from the hospital. I'm actually ok with this because I know my babies are right where they need to be for the time being. Although Pete and I leave to go home but we only get as far as Target to buy them some preemie hats before turning around to come right back. I miss them already.
We work out a good routine. Pete and I come in to the hospital together in the morning. I stay all day with the babies while he goes to work. He comes down at lunch and visits and then after work we stay a few more hours so he can visit some more before going home for the night. I find a room where I can lay down and sleep for a while if I need a break or when I need to pump. Most of the time I'm in the NICU holding, talking, changing, feeding, bathing and thinking. My mom and Pete's mom are there often which is great because it gives me a break.
One thing I learn very quickly is to avoid eye contact with other parents. They have sick babies here in the NICU. Pete and I do not. Our babies are healthy and we're just waiting for them to grow. For some reason this is hard for other people to take in. A mom said to me "how is it possible that you had 3 babies 2 months premature and there is nothing wrong with them?!?!" She was angry. I was left with nothing to say except "I'm sorry your baby is sick - I will pray for her." I never asked "how are you today?" or "how's he/she doing today?". Quite frankly - I don't care. All I care about are my 3 babies and taking care of them. I walked into the NICU one afternoon to see an entire team of doctors 'working' on a baby. My mom said "I wonder what's going on..." and my reply was simple "I don't. I don't care. I'm just thankful it's not mine." And at that moment in my life that was true. As heartless as it sounds - that's what was running through my head. I'm sure I said a prayer for that baby - although I don't remember. I just remember being so thankful that MY babies were healthy. My goal was to get my babies to the point where we could all be home as a family and never look back at that place ever again. Some people keep in touch with their doctors and nurses that were involved in their babies deliveries. Not me. I'll say "Thank you" on my way out the door. It's too hard to live that over and over again. Even writing this blog has become a chore because this is a place I never wanted to revisit - not even in writing.