Halloween Costumes

What a difference a year makes!!! This is Aiden last Halloween...

Ella...totally different kid! Walking, talking...no oxygen. Awesome!

And finally Jack (aka Jaq)...

On that note...does anyone have any costume ideas for this year? I like to do a "theme" (my years are limited). We've discussed Charlie Brown, Linus & Lucy; The Wonder Pets...but I'm not sold on these ideas.

Any suggestions are welcome!



Life as a mother of triplets...

Where to start?  Life is busy...busier than I could have ever expected.  But that's not really what this post is about.  It's about how different life becomes after having multiples.  It's about not being able to go anywhere without being stared at or asked "Did you do infertility treatment?" or "Wow...glad it's you & not me."  Where do people get the nerve to do these things?  Do they want me to stop my whole day to tell them our story?  Do they want to hear how hard I fought for these precious lives and how blessed I feel to have them all in my life.  I'm just another mother...out...trying to survive this crazy journey.

Enough venting...on to more positive things. After reading about how our journey started, I thought I'd give you an update on where Jack, Aiden & Ella are today. They are thriving!!! Sure, they are slightly behind other children their age. Yes, they go to the doctor more often. But, wow, what miracles!

Ella has been walking for months now and she is starting to talk more and more each day. She can say ella, bird, mama/mommy, dada, gigi (my mom) and probably a few others that I'm not listing. She is the dominant one in our house and is constantly causing trouble with her brothers. She has started walking backwards and will attempt to jump if you ask her (although it just looks like she is dancing). She has over 8 teeth and is currently working on her molars. Not fun!

Jack will move place to place by army crawling...although he recently discovered that he can scoot (?) on his butt. He is constantly pulling himself up to standing on everything...the gate, the sofa, a chair, me. He has started to lift his entire right leg up on the sofa to try and crawl up to me. He is not as verbal as the other two but he can definitely talk...when he isn't with the other two. Jack is the happiest child I have ever met. My heart lights up every time I see him smile. I was told that it was possible he might not ever walk or talk due to his extensive brain bleed but this child has already surpassed everyones expectations. Is he walking? Not yet...but he has the drive and will try so hard to take steps forward when you hold his hands. We are currently waiting for his SureStep braces to come in to help stabalize his ankles. They are tiny little plastic braces that come up just past the ankle bone. Hardly noticeable. While I once wondered what this child's future looked like...I can now see that nothing is going to hold him back . He amazes me.

Aiden also likes to army crawl to get around (and away from his siblings). He isn't pulling himself to standing yet but I'm certain that will happen in a few short weeks. He loves to pull up on me but hasn't attempted anything else. Aiden is such a tender soul. He is our thinker & our lover. But he can put up a major attitude at times too. He definitely has his own opinions. Like Jack, Aiden is getting SureStep ankle braces to help stabalize him so we can start focusing on walking. No doubt that he will get there...he is just taking his time. Aiden loves to talk but mostly says mama, dada, papa, baba. He is always working on new sounds.  Aiden also has a smile that can light up an entire room!

I know I've left off many things but can you tell that I am so proud of my children? Is this what I expected my life to be like? No. But I wouldn't change a single thing. My children are the best gift from God and I'm so blessed & happy to have them in my life.

The first day of the rest of our lives...

It was supposed to be a very special moment. My life with Chris was about to change. Unfortunately, when you have a baby/babies at 26 weeks, it's far from a special moment. You are wondering if they will survive the first night & what kinds of disabilities they might face in the future.

Jack Avery was born first at 4:25am. He weighed 1lb 14oz and was not much longer than a ruler. Aiden Garnett was born second, also at 4:25am and he weighed 2lbs 1oz. Ella Elisabeth was born at 4:26am and weighed 1lb 15oz.

I can remember the first night like it was yesterday. A nurse came into our room to wake up Chris. The boys were in stable but critical condition but Ella was having a hard time responding. They had maxed out her ventilator settings and she was still struggling. They asked Chris if he should wake me up so I could come down and finally see my babies (translation: see Ella in case she didn't make it through the night). I remember the first time "scrubbing in" at the NICU and being wheeled over to their isolettes. They were so small. Like baby birds that had fallen from the tree way too soon. No one could open their eyes yet and you could pretty much see through their skin. Why was this happening to my children? What did our family do to deserve all of this?

Throughout the next several days, it seemed like our world was collapsing. This family we always wanted to have was slipping away from us. All three babies required PDA ligation surgery along with several blood transfusions the first couple of weeks. Then it happened. We were hit with the news that Jack had a grade 3 brain bleed. What did this mean? How would this change his life? About a week later, more bad news...Jack now had a grade 3 and grade 4 brain bleed....AND...Aiden had a grade 4 bleed on one side. I cried harder than I ever had that evening. These two baby birds were not only still fighting for their life but their life would be forever changed if they survived. Children with grade 4 brain bleeds are at high risk for cerebral palsy, mental retardation and several other disabilities. But what would it mean for Jack & Aiden?

By the end of June, Jack had developed hydrocephalous and the doctors recommended a VP shunt to help drain the excess fluid that was building up in his head. The idea made me nauseas. But we needed to do what was best and we moved forward with the surgery. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Not only did Jack need one shunt but he needed TWO. The neurosurgeon explained how rare this was...practically no one has two shunts. But Jack's head was not getting better. In fact, his whole left side of his brain was starting to push into the right side. They transported him to MCV and the 2nd surgery was done. I now had two children in Henrico Doctors and one at MCV.

The days turned into weeks; the weeks into months. Jacks head continued to heal and Aiden & Ella continued to grow stronger. After 184 days, Jack was discharged from the hospital and a whole new journey began. Aiden came home 10 days later and Ella finally completed our family on September 17, 2009.

But it was just the beginning...

"I've found another one..."

Many of you have probably heard this story but it's where things all began...

Chris & I found out we were expecting on the weekend of my brother's wedding in October 2008. We had waited forever for this moment and it was finally here! We were so excited to celebrate this special moment in the Outer Banks with our family. Only a few weeks later, after a trip to the ER and thinking we lost the pregnancy, we found out we were expecting not just one baby...but TWO!!! We were over the moon...twins! But it didn't stop there. I followed up with my OBGYN 10 days after the ER trip. This is where our life took a dramatic turn. He told us "I've found another one." Immediately I thought "Another what? We already know we are having twins." But he meant another baby on top of the twins...WHAT? Triplets? It's amazing how excitement turns into anxiety & fear. I remember trying to tell our parents that there was another baby. They did not believe us. My husband is a practical joker and so everyone thought it was a prank. Nope...three babies. Three babies, three lives, were growing rapidly inside my stomach.

Triplet pregnancies are very risky but I had to make it that much more complicated. I had my right ovary removed when I was about 10 weeks pregnant after it became torsed & dead. Then to make it even more interesting, our boys (identical twins) started to develop twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Not good! I went on bedrest at home and on February 15, 2010 I went to L&D at Henrico Doctors because something wasn't right. After many tests, they sent me upstairs to stay overnight...and my water broke on baby "A". We were devestated. I was only 23 weeks pregnant and the perinatologist was not hopeful of the pregnancy making it much further. We were faced with the idea of giving birth to baby "A" at 23 weeks and try to maintain the other two babies. At 23 weeks, this baby would not likely survive and if he did, there would be severe disabilities. I'm not sure how my body decided to shut down but I spent three weeks on hospital bedrest without losing any of the babies but one Sunday night my body had had enough. I was in labor. Measuring over full-term with one child, I was maxed out. Our OBGYN had discovered at 4am that baby "A"s umbilical cord was prolapsed. It was time for them to be born...ready or not. By 4:26am, all three babies were delivered by emergency c-section while I was under general anethesia.

How could this be the best but worst day in our entire lives? We had three babies...but no one knew what would happen next and if any or all would survive.