Threes Company: How We See Our Babies

Hey everyone! I hope all is well and everyone had a good day. KT and I just got back from seeing the kiddos and all are doing well. Today was the first day that they were allowed to wear clothes. They look adorable!!! I'll add pics of that later. KT has the camera and is taking a nap so I dare not enter her domain for the time being. The kids had blood work done and all the screening tests came back normal for us. Yay. They are still eating about 1oz every three hours so the growing is going to begin. Larkin was 3lb 15oz, Maggie was 3lb 11oz and Kade was 3lb 8ozs.

Now to today's blog. When KT and I realized back in Feb that we were having triplets we began to discuss some of the joys and fears that we had for them. One of the main fears was that they would be born extremely premature and really have a fight on their hands to live. We realized that during that time we would have limited access to them as there would be a great chance they would be in the NICU for an extended period of time still developing. I had some understanding of what a pediatric NICU was like b/c I had Heart surgery at 14 in New York and spent a week in Columbia Medical Centers ICU. I did not, however, have any idea what the Neonatal ICU would be like. To be honest with you, I believed, like a lot of my friends did as well, that the babies would be in incubators for 24hrs a day and KT and I would only get to see them through a glass divider on the wall. I guess you could say I watched to much TV as a kid (and as an Adult for that matter) and believed what I had seen in movies and TV shows. The great thing for me is that I was dead wrong. Not only do KT and I and some family get to see them everyday up close but we can hold them (as discussed in Kangaroo Care Blog), feed them, change their diaper (give the the mask and gloves please) and even take their temperature. It really has been amazing! I will say that it does take some work to get in to the them though. The hospital is very serious about limiting access to that wing of the hospital. So serious in fact that they would not let a direct family member of mine in to see the kids even though the front desk folks knew this person was related to us. So, with that in mind, I took some pics of what we do and what the kids room looks like for everyone to see. I'll take you step by step through our daily journey below.

1. Gatekeeper - Be very careful with the gatekeeper. Her mood can vary wildly on any given day. She requires all who want to enter to present a photo ID (Even me the other day. And I have the Band on my arm) and sign her magical log book. Do not try to enter her world without signing her log book. It can be very devastating to your emotions. She has turned down two of my family members already and there are rumors amiss that she slammed her log book down on a persons hand so hard that it broke two flangy (Fingers to the lay peops out there) Do not try to mislead her for if you do she will banish you from NICU land.

2. Scrub Monster - If the gatekeeper deems you worth and lets you enter you must now confront the reviled scrub monster. This beast of a machine demands that all entrants must scrub hands, wrists, fingernails and elbows for 3 mins. It is equipped with a timing device that notifies the night night nurses if a entrant does not fulfill this requirement. 3 MINS!

3 Minutes People!

Good Form Big Papi

Even the pretty people have to face the scrub monster

3. Invisibility Cloak - If you conquer the scrub monster you must now add you cloak over your clothes. This way none of the little peops can catch any of your germs.

Abby and Alex, You've been Smocked!

Nice work Fordham Family. Dang u'ze guys r good lookin :)

4. Hallway of Shadows - Once you have completed all those tasks your prize awaits you a short walk down the hall. Make sure you travel this path lightly though. Night Night Nurses wait around every corner and are ready to toss you out of their fiefdom if you are to loud and cause duress on the other
visitors. You are almost to your destination by this point. Follow the hall to the very end and turn into the last room on the left and your prize awaits you. There you will find the Chamber of Newness and its three little inhabitants. Larkin, Kade and Maggie :)