NICU news and an update from the home front

If all continues to go according to plan, Julia and Emma will be coming home together on Thursday! We are beyond excited to have them all home with us. They will be moving to open cribs tomorrow, and I will be spending the day with them at the NICU. (Dad will stay home with Ada.)

Ada's first ped visit went well today. She now weighs 2 kg (up from 1.875 on Saturday) and is 17.25 inches long. She is nowhere on the full term singleton growth chart (just a lonely little dot way beneath the lowest curve), but the pediatrician is not concerned given she arrived 7 weeks early.

Ada and Emma are both breech babies and we will need to schedule an ultrasound to check whether their hip joints developed properly. If it didn't, they will need to wear a harness. Other than that, we are fortunate to have three healthy preemies so far.

We love having Ada home with us, caring for her, cuddling her. We're starting to see a glimpse of us as a family. She has the sweetest, funniest facial expressions that regularly crack us up. We talk to her, snuggle her, give her updates about her sisters - and every so often I have to pinch myself that our dream came true. Here I am: a mother, holding one of MY babies, one of OUR babies. And the realization is omnipresent: ugly, imperfect embryos really do make beautiful babies (as my RE consoled me on the day of our second transfer, when I thought all hope was lost.)

The surgeries, IVF cycles, pregnancy and postpartum period have all been extremely stressful. Even though I'm sleep deprived now - and will continue to be for many months - a heavy weight has lifted. The uncertainty of infertility and the risks of a triplet pregnancy have evaporated, leaving just the "normal" fears of any new mom of multiples.

It's still pretty unreal that Julia and Emma will be home in two days. We can't wait to start our crazy new life, with all three of our miracle babies home with us.