Noah And The Trio: Birth Story

I published my last journal around 9:30pm on July 30th and I was 26w1d pregnant. I was reluctant to take an Ambien to help me sleep that night because I had a strange feeling something was going to happen even though I didn't have very many contractions the entire day. I told my nurse whom I've never had that I should be and easy patient for her. I fell asleep and woke up at 11:30pm with some menstrual-like cramping. I fell back asleep and was awoken by the same feeling at 12:30am. I tried to sleep but finally called the nurse at about 1:15am to let her know that the rhythmic cramping was not going away and I was bleeding too. She had a resident come in and check my cervix just in case. She revealed that I was 4-5cm dilated and said she was going to call Dr. Maciulla and told me to call my husband. Dr. Maciulla warned me that when I do go into labor that it might be a "Chinese Fire Drill," so I told Tim that it was time and to get there right away and he got his mom to watch Noah. In the meantime I put on some Christian music and just prayed that God would take care of my babies. Tim got there so fast it seemed like. He then called my cousin who is an OB at another hospital because we arranged for her to be a part of the birth. By the time my cousin got there I got checked again and I was still 4-5cm dilated but the pain was starting to get really bad. The contractions were coming every one minute it felt like. The monitor was not reading them well because they were so low. Tim said I sang through the contractions so nobody thought I was serious. It was more like a dead cat singing, lol. During this time it was decided with my cousin's expertise that a C-Section would be the best and safest for the babies. I then started to feel Aria descend and I felt like I needed to push. The resident checked me one more time and said "Yeah. She's complete. I'm going to call Dr. Maciulla." They decided not to give me an epidural for the pain because by the time it would go into effect it would be time for a spinal anyway. The next thing I knew, I was signing paperwork in between the heavy contractions for the C-Section and tubal litigation (yes, I am the only infertile woman who's requested that!) Every time I had a contraction from this point on I had to squeeze Aria in and it was the hardest thing to do and very painful. My cousin just kept saying "Don't bare down." I was finally wheeled off to the OR and was begging for the spinal but we had to wait until Dr. Maciulla got there. It felt like it took him forever. I know he bikes to the hospital from his home and I was asking if he was taking his bike. Finally he got there and they had to put the catheter in me before the spinal because that's how close I was to delivering Aria. There was no time to wait for the spinal to take effect. I had a contraction through the insertion of the catheter and my cousin told me that this is probably the last contraction I will feel in my entire life. I had one more but then the spinal went into effect and the drape was put up and the Dr. was asking me if I can feel it when he pressed on me. I couldn't feel when the knife was on me so it was time to begin the surgery. I felt touching but it was not painful at all. At 5:42am, Dr. Maciulla pulled out Cadence Rose first, my breech baby. He said "Here is B, do we have a time?" And she was whisked away. At 5:43am came Aria Marie, my baby A that was in the birth canal who apparently somehow moved up and flipped breeched after Cadence was pulled out. Tim leaned over and saw Aria. I asked my cousin how do they look and she said "They look like 26 weekers." Then, I felt some tugging up high and at 5:45am, Jude Joseph was pulled out vertex and was whisked away. Dr. Maciulla then took Tim to follow the babies to the NICU and the Resident OBs tied my tubes and sewed me up. My cousin made the entire experience so much better. She kept telling me how good I was doing. I was wheeled off to recovery and was desperate to see my babies and Tim took pictures of all three and sent them to me. I fell in love instantly! I was trying to feel better so I can be put in a wheel chair to see them but the spinal was taking forever to wear off. It made me incredibly itchy at first and then I felt incredibly nauseous. When I was sent to my post partum room I threw up and they gave me something for it and it instantly made me crash. When I woke up, I pumped and then saw the babies for the first time at about 3pm. I was so shocked to see how small they were because in the pictures they looked much bigger. They looked like little teeny tiny babies but all were stable and I fell in love even more. All three were on ventilators which is a long tube that goes in their mouth to their lungs and it helps them breathe. Some family came that evening and we saw the babies again. I wanted to be with them 24/7 but I needed to heal from the C-Section. I started pumping right away and hope to not have to use donor milk. I got discharged on Saturday the August 2nd so it was very nice to be home again and with Noah and Tim. I miss the babies when I am home though. I visit them twice a day and do kangaroo care when I am there. I love my babies! I wish I could have held on to them longer of course, but I am lucky that they are doing as well as they are. I was starting to get greedy with holding them in after my water broke but am lucky I held them in that extra 13 days. Dr. Maciulla, my really prolife doctor who visits his NICU babies, told me today that the babies won't remember any of it but I will remember all of it and then he gave me a heart-felt hug. This is going to be the hardest thing but I am putting my trust in the Lord that He will watch over my sweet babies. Thank you Lord for my beautiful triplets!! Thank you for the amazing doctors and nurses who truly care about the well-being of our babies. Thank you to all my family and friends who have sent messages, called, helped with Noah, made us meals, and sent us gifts. We love you all!

Psalm 95:2-3

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

Here is a little summary of the last 10 days:

Cadence (Baby A now)

- Birth weight: 1lb13oz

- The doctor's tried to remove the ventilator and put her on CPAP when she was a day old and unfortunately she did not take it very well so they had to put it back in. She got it removed today!

-She stays somewhere between 21-30% oxygen.

- She had an ultrasound on Wednesday and she has no evidence of any brain bleeds (Thank God).

- She is tolerating 3ml of my breastmilk every 3 hours.

- I held her for the first time on Monday and have held her twice since.

- She had a blood transfusion yesterday to prepare her for intubation (taking out the ventilator).

- She goes back and forth on the lights to treat jaundice.

- She has a large PDA in her heart (hole) and it was treated with a three-day course of ibuprofin. We find out tomorrow during her heart echo if it worked.

- She is back up to her birth weight.

- She poops and pees pretty normally.

Aria (Baby B now)

-Birth weight 1lb10oz

- Ventilator was removed when she was a day old but she had to get reinubated a week later. During that week, she was on a cpap mask because she is so tiny (it looked so uncomfortable!)

- I have held her once.

- She is now tolerating 4ml of breast milk every 3 hours.

-She stays somewhere between 21-30% oxygen.

- She goes back and forth on the jaundice lights.

- She has no evidence of any brain bleeds (thank God!)

- Her heart echo came back that she has a small hole in her heart. Doctors are going to decide if she needs to be treated with ibuprofin.

- She now weighs a little more than her birth weight.

- She poops and pees pretty normally.