Day 6 - Holding two of our triplets for the first time

Julia is making great progress. She moved to an isolette on Thursday morning!

The nurse unhooked several monitors and tubes and I had a chance to change her diaper, remove her eye protection, swaddle her in two blankets and hold her. She's still jaundiced, but the nurse said it was fine for her to be out of her isolette for 20-30 minutes, so we jumped at the opportunity. Both my husband and I held her. It was the first time we could see our precious daughter's features.

Her eyes were open and she was alert, studying my face as much as I was studying hers. When she heard her dad's voice, her eyes fluttered to focus and when their eyes locked, she settled in.

All three of our girls have a heart murmur. Ada and Emma's will be monitored, and the hope is that it will resolve on its own. Julia's is much more pronounced. The neonatologist wanted to rule out that nothing else was amiss, and ordered an u/s scan of her heart.

She had us very worried yesterday. The first line of defence is to treat her with medication, administered three times. If this doesn't work, she can receive two additional rounds of meds, and only if that doesn't resolve the issue, will she need to undergo surgery. Since this is a common concern in preemies, and often resolves by itself, we're hopeful that surgical intervention won't be needed.

We headed over to Ada and had a wonderful opportunity to hold her too. The nurse had already swaddled her and she looked like a little worm in her cocoon. So tiny. She tried to open her eyes, but lost the battle to sleep and was so peaceful in my arms, and the arms of my Dh. She has many of her dad's facial features and watching the two of them together made my heart melt.

Emma's nurse was away when we stopped in to check on her, and I had to head back to my hospital room and pump before being discharged. My Dh came back with the most wondrous update: Emma will be moved to an isolette this afternoon and her ventilator will be removed! She's finally catching up to her sisters and we couldn't be happier. She is breathing room air through the nasal cannula.