Smiles and sounds

Logie, Levi and Mati!

I KNOW, I KNOW... It has been forever since I have posted again! SO much has happened! I was just looking at my blog posting list and noticed that I have tried to post an update SEVEN times in the last 5 weeks! LOL Our household is DEFINATELY getting more and more busy the older the babies get! :)  Mommy is CONSTANTLY doing SOMETHING! In between bottles and changes, there is cooking, cleaning, organizing, getting new baby clothes out, putting small baby clothes away, doc appointments, shopping, birthdays.... WHEW! LOL I love my life and am LOVING watching all five of my babies GROW! Here is them a few days ago with their Daddy!

Captain America costume! 

Semi full of cars!!

Big brother Michael's 5th birthday was this past Thursday, December 1st. We had a small get together with family here at the house on Sunday for his party. I wanted to be at his party, but we aren't wanting to take the trio out anywhere until after RSV season, so we just threw him one here. Matt's Dad, Aunt, and Uncle came and he had lots of fun! :) He got a new race track, a semi truck filled with Hot Wheels, and lots of cars for it too! He is such a little heathin... but I love him soo much!! My little terrorizer!

The trio are almost 16 weeks old already!! (5 weeks adjusted) They are all getting so big!! Smiling and starting to try and make noises already! I have a GREAT video of Miss Matison Lee trying to get her voice out and say HI already! She is so darling!! She is over 13 lbs now!! My BIG ole girl! She has already outgrown ALL of the clothes she has been wearing since she came home. She is officially in 3 month clothes! :) O... and the BEST part about my baby girl is that she has been sleeping through the night for over a week now! I'm talking like 10-11 hours some nights. That makes mama pretty happy!!

:)

My fat girl!!! :D

My Levi smiles!! :)

Levi Mason is doing SO good! He has not had his NG tube in for weeks now! One night he decided to pull it out TWICE, during a feeding, in the middle of the night. I lost it. LOL He soaked through two different swings and outfits and I had to feed all the babies on the floor that night. I had enough. I pulled it out and LEFT it out. I felt like he would never get rid of it if he didn't ever feel hungry! He wasn't eating very well for the first few days, but then I think he FINALLY felt really HUNGRY and started rooting for his bottle and taking all of his formula at every feeding. :) He now weighs over 11lbs! :) He slept through the night last night for the first time too!! 9 hours!!! WHOO HOOO!

Daddy and Levi looking at the snow! :)

Little Logie bear! <3

My little Logie bear is doing pretty great also! He is getting so big too! My little man! I just can't believe how fast they are all growing! Logan weighs over 12 lbs now! His hernia surgery is this coming Friday at 6:30am. I cannot wait to get it done! He seems so uncomfortable sometimes. Then all my babies will be perfect! The last ROP exam showed all of the babies eyes had improved dramtically so they don't need to be seen again for 4 months. :) THANK GOD! I will try and have another update and more pictures soon! We have a photo shoot on Dec. 11th to get their pictures done FINALLY! We won the shoot in a cutest kid contest... YAY for cute babies!!! :D

My handsome man all dressed for brothers birthday party! :)

12 weeks old! :)

Logan and Daddy!

My beautiful chunky girl!

The Higglets and great grandma! 11 weeks old! :)

Wheels Keep Turning....

Happy Halloween from the Higglets!

First of all, I need to take a minute to personally say THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has contributed anything to our family the last few months. I don't know what we would have done without every single one of you. We have gotten so many meals, clothes, baby items, boxes of misc. items, appliances, monetary donations, ect... It's just amazing!! Also, the emotional support! Some of the kind messages and letters I have gotten from fellow multiple momma's have brightened my day on days when I was feeling pretty down. THANK YOU so much for that!! WE appreciate every single item, prayer, thought, and cent we recieve! It has helped our family more than anyone will ever know! I am so happy that we have everything we need to get through this rough time with our amazing little ones! :) <3


The last week has been GREAT! Very productive! The babies are thriving at home and I am LOVING every minute of being with them!! We have our own little routine down and it works great for us! We also bought a van this week. Thanks in part to everyone who donated to our cause, and to my student loan check, we bought a 2000 Ford Windstar that I found on Craigslist. It isnt new by any means, and it doesnt look the greatest, but it runs GREAT and only needs some minor repairs. Worth it, in my book, to not have to rely on anyone for rides to the important appointments we have coming up for the babies! :)

Caught Logan smiling in the waiting room... :)

Speaking of important appointments, we finally made it to our follow-up ROP exam yesterday. The babies eyes still aren't complete, so we have to go back again in 3 weeks. It really sucks to hear my babies SCREAM like they did during that exam though! Breaks my heart to hear them cry... They never cry!! BUT, on the plus side, I did get a few cute pictures and A LOT of nice compliments on my beautiful babies, from a far, while waiting in the FARTHEST corner of the waiting room!!! ;) LOL I'm very glad no one tried to get too close.... I seriously feel like a lioness ready to pounce on someone when I take them out of the house.... I am SO worried about them staying heatlthy!! NO MORE hospital stays for us, with the exception of our routine surgery fro Logan.

Mati and her LITTLE brother Logan! :)

Logan is still my little little babes! He is STILL hovering at around 6 - 6 1/2 lbs. He is doing good with his bottles, but I think he is using too many calories just trying to get it all down. They told me not to let him try to eat for more than a half an hour. He usually gets done RIGHT at the 30 minute mark. He pulled his NG tube out the other night and then took all his bottles for 3 feedings and beyond so I left it out. Still, I just put one back in today and have tubed 2 of his feedings. I think he may just need a break every now and then to rest. He is still so little and eating takes so much out of my little guy!! :) I will fatten him up yet!!! LOL I'm doing a GREAT job with my other two munchkins!

She was trying to block the eye drops the lady had to put in her eyes!

Chunky baby = Matison Lee!! LOL She is SOOO GOOD. She wakes up to eat and goes back to sleep with no problems at night! EVERY TIME. She is drinking 3 oz at a time for EVERY bottle now. She out weighs Logan by over a lb and is 2 inches longer than him! lol It's so cute to see how much bigger than her brother she is! I love her bright eyes and girly sounds. She is VERY alert when she is awake. I cannot wait until they are all smiling and playing with one another!! I love my baby girl!! <3 

First 20 cc's....

After burping....

Levi is still my LAZIEST baby! He seriously has NO interest in a bottle beyond about 20 cc's!! I have tried everything and anything to get this kid to open his mouth and take a bottle for me, he just plain refuses. LOL He gags, spits up, closes his lips AIR TIGHT and turns his head the other way!! I ALWAYS try to feed him last so I can spend a minute trying to coax him into drinking his bubba. NOT HAPPENING 90% of the time. My last resort is going to be trying a different bottle. My grandmother is actually at the store now getting a bottle with a clear, harder, nipple for him to increase his palatte support. I'm thinking that MAY help. IDK what else to do? Besides that! He is SO chunky now due to his lazyness. LOL He sleeps and eats. Period. He's is my little fat man!! :D I LOVE CHUNKY BABIES!! 

Head back, lips tight!

HaHa... Momma gave up!!

~ Loving Life With My Trio ~

Monkey Butts! ~

Well, life has actually gotten a lot easier now that I have all the babies home with me! I feel like I should be a lot more tired than I am! I am surprisingly calm and have everything very together! The babies are AMAZINGLY easy at this point. They are waking up every 3-4 hours like clock work. They don't really cry of fuss at all! Only noises that come from them are their normal and CONSTANT baby grunts! :) Matt and I have been switching off shifts at night so we can both get a good couple hour stretch of sleep in per night. It is working out quite well so far! I feel great most of the time! I wash bottles and dishes, and do laundry in between feeds and diaper changes. Tonight was bath night for all of the babies... I love seeing and smelling them so nice and clean! :)

Our first road trip altogether!

Levi and Logan had their first Pediatrician appointents on Thursday. My first time out with all three. :) My cousin had to  borrow her friends car to get us there! Hers was too small! LOL It went well, all except for the fact that Logan's weight was less than impressive. He decided to start slacking on bottle feeds the last few days and it took a tole on his little body. Levi and Logan were neck and neck in the weight department when Logan left the hospital Monday. Now, Levi out weighs Logan by 8oz! Levi is 6lbs 12oz as of Thursday! Logan has only maintained his weight since coming home, he hasn't gained anything at all. He is still weighing in at 6lbs 4 oz. Our Pediatrician and the docs from U of M wanted his feeding tube put back in so he could start getting his full feeds in every feeding again. Since I already knew how to place one because of Levi having to come home on one, I just went ahead and put Logan's tube in myself, apposed to taking him back to the hospital to have it done. It's working out well... I can already tell he is full for longer and gaining weight again. :)

Loves of my life! Logan, Matison, and Levi :)

Matison is still her chunky little rockstar self! She is eating almost 3oz at a time for her feedings and weighs a whopping 7lbs 6oz!! :) She is such a little princess already. My little fati Mati! She loves to be in her swing and on her belly... She hates to be flat on her back.
I love how she already sounds so much more feminine, even with her grunts! Having a daughter is wonderful after having all these lil boys! LOL

Grandpa with the triplets the first night they were all home! :)

So, this week on Wednesday we have our follow-up ROP exams at the Kellog Eye Center. Hoping that they all show improvement from their last exams! I still get a little nervous whenever they have any sort of exams or tests... I always wait for bad news for some reason! I'm scared for my little ones... I think it's just the left over nervousness from the NICU! :( Hopefully all of my anxieties will eventually subside a bit! I think panic attacks at routine check-ups would not be good in a few months... LOL! ;)

Nine Weeks and THREE Babies

Logan and Levi snuggling before Logan came home

My beautiful trio are nine weeks old today! :) Logan is HOME as of Monday after a 61 day stay in the NICU, and Levi is coming home today after 63 days! I am the happiest Mom in the world right now. I cannot wait to have them all here later on today!! No more worrying about rides to the hospital and no more wires and leads all over my little ones! Yay for all my stong little cordless babies!!

The last 2 days have been an emotional ROLLAR COASTER! The last I posted, Logan was set to possibly come home, as long as he was taking all of his bottles by mouth. Well, there was a slight scare that could have derailed that plan, and it wasn't his feedings. Apparently, the doctors on the 5th floor found the swelling in Logan's groin to be more than just normal, left over edema from when he was sick. They did an ultrasound of his scrotum and found that he has a double inguinal hernia, one on both sides of his groin. He also has what they call a hydrocele. Hydrocele happens is when the tube that the testies decend through, does not close like it is supposed to, so fluid from the abdomin fills up the scrotum and causes it to become very swollen. Both the hernias and the hydrocele needs to be fixed surgically. They DID allow Logan to come home on Monday, but we have to follow up with the Pediatric Surgeon next week for a surgical consult and to schedule his surgery. The only bright side to this is that he will also get his circumcision while he is under, so that spares him THAT pain I guess. :(  It is a fairly simple and very routine surgery and he won't be as uncomfortable as he is after everything is fixed. I am still upset that he has to have ANY type of surgery. I was hoping we would escape surgeries altogether, but we will get through it and he will be as good as new. He's my strong little man! :)

Logan and Mati finally home together!

Levi, like I mentioned, is coming home today! He is getting a lot better at his feedings (about 85%) but has to come home with an NG tube because of that last 15%. I learned to place one on Monday while I was in the hospital waiting for Logan to be discharged! Although I was petrified at first, I want and need my little guy home with me, so I had to get it together and just do it! It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I got it in without any trouble and was so happy about it! That meant I was finally going to bring my little man home! Can't wait to see him!

So glad ALL my babies will be here with us after today. The NICU was the scariest place in the world to be, at times, these last 9 weeks. It was also the greatest place in the world to be when my baby was sick and needed such extensive care. I am so greatful to all the doctors and nurses who took care of my babies so well and got them to where they are today. Happy, healthy, perfect little angel babies! :) We are SO blessed to have our three little doodle bugs!! :) I will post more pictures tonight once Levi is home with us! <3

Steady Strides

Matison and her beautiful smile!

I love posts like this! Filled with GOOD news.We are making some very good progress!! The boys are doing great and having Matison home is wonderful. However, I am still having a lot of issues with getting us to where we need to go! I have only seen the boys twice since Miss Mati came home!! I miss them sooo much! It drives me crazy that I cannot be there with them. :( Matison missed her ROP follow up exam on Wednesday because my ride fell through. I have a appointment with the WIC office tomorrow to get her formula, and I cannot find a ride to that either. I hate knowing there are important things that I need to be doing and can't. Please keep up the donations and sharing our story! We appreciate it very much and are still hoping that we can raise enough to get some kind of transportation for us! :) Now, back to the GOOD news!!

Logan with NO NG tube!

The boys were just moved out of the NICU and on to the main children's floor today. Logan's blood counts have ALL been gradually improving! They are re-checking them tomorrow for possibly the LAST time! That's right! Logan MIGHT be home by tomorrow or Tuesday! He has had his NG tube out since early yesterday morning and is now PO ad lib. Which means he can eat when and how much he wants to eat. (PO - by mouth, ad lib - at ones pleasure) He is doing great with it! I just talked to his new nurse on the floor, and she said he just took 60 cc's for her! That is 2 ounces! I am one proud and greatful Momma! I never would have thought, if you had told me 6 weeks ago, that Logan would actually be home before Levi! As of today his weight is 6lbs! I am SO impressed with his progress. My littlest baby was my hardest fighter. I am glad that we decided to wait on the bone marrow biopsy. My little ham just needed some time to catch up. I love him SO much. I am greatful eveyday that he is here and healthy!! :)

Levi being his cute, lazy self. LOL

Levi is doing great too! His only issue is his feedings. He is up to taking about 55% PO. His sucking is very uncoordinated still, but he is getting there slowly but surely! He has now PASSED his brother in the weight department again! Only by 1 ounce, but still! LOL ~ He is now 6lbs 1oz! They switched him back to 24 calorie formula from 26 calorie a few days ago because his progress has been so good! Just waiting for him to start taking more of his feedings by mouth and he will be on his way too!

Having Matison home is getting easier by the day. She is already into her own little routine. She is sleeping three hours, straight through, after feedings now. I have to wake her up sometimes, but most of the time she is right on cue. She is an awesome baby! Hopefully I can keep her routine down once the boys come home... I know what you are thinking... FAT CHANCE! LOL BUT I am going to TRY and keep things as routine as I possibly can, with triplets. ;) Mati's only issue has been her bowel movements! Since she has been home, she has only gone with help from a suppository. I will be calling the Pediatrician in the morning. She weighed 6lbs 9oz today, which is up from 6lbs 5oz that the visiting nurse got on Weds. I am GUESSING the visiting nurses scale and my Peds scale were a little different, seeing as though she weighted 6lbs 10oz Tuesday at her appointment. Either way, she is doing great! Her big brothers LOVE her! They want to hold her and help me all the time. I am so proud of my boys for being so great since she came home. :)

Matthew feeding his baby sister!

Michael holding Mati

Home Sweet Home



I was trying to burp her... LOL

Having Matison home is amazing!! She is so awesome! I find myself just staring at her most of the time! She has been doing well with her bottles and is waking up every 3 hours right on schedule. We have decided to put her in her crib to sleep tonight though, do to all her grunts and groans! LOL They are enough to drive u crazy after the 5th or 6th hour of it!! ;) Her first appt. with the Pediatrician is tomorrow. Hopefully she is still gaining a good amount of weight!

The only thing NOT so good thing about Matison being home, is that I haven't been able to get up to the hospital to see the boys since she came home. I miss them terribly. I called to check in on them this morning and they are both fine, but I just HATE that I haven't kissed or touched them in 2 days! Not being around all my babies makes for an awfully sad mommy! :( I never imagined that this journey would be as tough for me as it has been.

So HAPPY! Finally some GOOD NEWS!

Miss Matison Lee Higgins, after a 53 day stay in the NICU, is FINALLY coming home tomorrow!!!! :-) I am beyond happy!!! Her feeding tube has been out since yeesterday and she has taken everything from her bottles for the last 24 hours!! She is having her carseat test today and we are OUTTA HERE! lol!!



Logan's bloodwork is stable as of now. His platelet count actually improved a bit!! I decided to wait on the bone marrow biopsy and have them recheck a CBC on Monday. My lil man has been a slow starter but always pulls through... So I wanna give him that chance!! :) He is doing awesome with his bottles when he does take them by mouth. He is up to full feeds (48 cc's) and he just took the whole bottle for me at his 9am feed! Hopefully he will snap out of this funk he is in and be the next
one home!! ;)

First bottle at FULL feeds! I took it all!! :)

Levi & Logan! GO BLUE! :)

Levi is doing good still also! Still my lazy baby! :) I brought a bouncer in for him today... He seems to like it! He is just so lazy when it comes to his bottles!! Lol! 10 cc's has been his MAX! After that he totally refuses to let it in his mouth!! If you try to force it in there, he will stick his tounge out and gag himself!!? LOL Such a little stinker!! Love him so much though! :)

LOVE this picture! THANKS KRISTIN!! <3

Please keep up the donations and blog sharing! I am extatic about haing my little one home, but pertified about not being able to get her to much needed appointments or to the hospital to see Logan and Levi! :( This is definitely going to be rough. Thank you all for all of your support! We finally have 1 out of 3! :D Yay! I will add some VERY cute pics when I get home from the NICU today!!

Mati, Levi, Logan ~

Downtrending is The Newest Bad Word on My List

I'm going to start with the good news so I can get through that, before I get to the bad news and begin to cry. 

Logan's first pair of pants!

Logan is FINALLY pooping again!! :-D I have never been so happy for baby poop!! LOL He FINALLY got his picc line out last night too! I got to give him his first tub bath today... I think he liked it... You can be the judge! I also got to put him in his first FULL outfit, complete with PANTS! He is such a lil fighter... He grunts and groans all the time, even in his sleep! LOL I love him SO much... and I hate to think about anything being wrong with him.








Matison Lee is still being her same old ROCKSTAR self! She is weighing in at 6lbs 1oz! My little CHUNK-A-MUNK!! She is still lingering at taking about 80% of her feedings by mouth. I wish her chunky butt would HURRY and start taking it ALL so she can come home!! :)


Levi is doing very good too! He is doing good with his feedings as long as he is upright and/or in his boppy pillow! :) He is gaining weight at a good pace now. He's up to 4lbs 14oz. I am going to take a bouncer to the hospital for him, the next time I am there.His feedings, however, are almost ALL through his NG tube. He is my lazy baby! He knows he doesnt have to do anything. LOL He takes about 5-10 cc's at a time. Then he just looks at you with a disgusted look on his face and quits. LOL

I was able to be at the hospital today and it was bath day for all three babies. Amy, my favorite nurse, and I had a baby bath production line going on! ;) I also did their laundry on the 5th floor, put them all in cute outfits, and had another baby photo shoot in Logans isolette! :) I love looking at them all TOGETHER and all dressed!! Daddy got there just in time! :)

Daddy and his babies! <3

Now for the bad news. Today during rounds, The doctors were talking about Logan's CBC's that they have been doing. He is seemingly fully recovered from his NEC scare, yet his blood and platelet counts are still countinuing to downtrend like they have been doing. He has already had 4 blood transfusions. The Hematologist that consulted on Logan, seems to think he needs a bone marrow biopsy. They think he may have bone marrow suppression. They are checking another CBC in the morning before any decisions are made. I am absolutely petrified. I haven't googled ANYTHING about it, surprisingly. I know all I will be reading about is luekemia and cancer!! I just want him to be ok and come home!!! I just want them ALL home. I cannot handle this much longer. I can't even be there with them some days! Im going crazy having to sit at home.

Logan, Levi, Matison <3

Please keep the donations coming! I keep having to ask myself what I am going to do when Matison comes home. I am going to NEED another vehicle to get us to the hospital to see the other two. ESPECIALLY Logan! :( I pray EVERY night that everything will work itself out. I hope God is still listening. I have asked for an awful lot lately. <3 Here is just a quick video of the babies... Logan grunts like that ALL the time!!.... and Matison SLEEPS like a rock all the time too. <3 them so much!

Such a long road, and not over yet.

Wow! I can't believe it has been this long since I have posted! Things have been incredibly stressful for the family these last few weeks. Between all of Logan's health issues and me needing to be with him and the other two babies in the hospital, and my older boys at home having a hard time, Matt and I are so stressed. Trying to be everywhere I need to be, with one car, while he is working, is almost impossible at this point. Matt has missed so much work between the health scares and appointments with doctors and specialists, as well as the dreaded Michigan weather, that we cannot even BEGIN to save for another vehicle big enough for us to fit in. Not to mention, one not filled with paint and chemicals!! We are barely making it at this point and have no financial fallbacks at all. We have started a donation fund for our family to go straight toward our new vehicle. If you are willing and able to help out our struggling family situation, we would all be extremely greatful! Link is just to the right! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! :)

 All babies are still in the NICU. Matison and Levi are just feeding and growing at this point.... Logan is still on the fence of doing well.

My lil diva baby! No more pics MOM!

Matison is VERY close to coming home. She is taking about 80% of her feedings through a bottle and is getting BIG! She now weighs 5 lbs 10 oz! Her only issue has been her hearing screenings. She has failed both of the ones adminstered in the NICU. They want me to go for an outpatient hearing test in 4 weeks. This has me a bit worried.... but I am trying to stay positive!

Levi's first tub bath! :)

Sweet baby in his boppy!

Levi has some bad reflux issues at times in the past weeks and has actually become my SMALLEST baby! He weighed 4lbs 9 oz yesterday. Can't gain weight when you can't keep anything down!! He is now propped up in a boppy pillow, or held upright during and after feedings.He is also getting 26 calorie formula, and doing much better in the weight gain department!


Logan is doing fairly well, as far as we know, right now. He is STILL on his TPN fluid so his weight has been GREAT! He now weighs 5 lbs 4 oz! In my last post I was telling you about his belly problems. Well, that has lasted even up until now. Logan had what the doctors called a "NEC scare". NEC stands for Necrotizing Entercolitis, and is an infection in the intestines and/or bowels in which the part infected begins to die. In the most severe cases of NEC, the disease can be fatal. Here is a link with the basics on NEC - http://preemies.about.com/od/preemiehealthproblems/f/nec.htm

Logan swollen

Mati and Logan

Logan's case did not progress into being "officially diagnosed" because he did not have a perforation. They did, however, treat him as though he had it. It was scary for a few days. He got SO swollen and his belly got SO big! I was petrified his bowel would perforate and no one would notice in time... I never wanted to leave him. So hard to leave at night!! He had his first blood transfusion that first night. They stopped his feedings for 14 days and gave him 3 different antibiotics for the duration also. They also did an upper and lower GI studies and found NO obstructions. THANK GOD. But he does have very slow motility. During those 14 days, seeing him be so hungry at times, was hard for me! Although, not as hard as when they started his feedings again. That was almost a weeks ago. He still hasn't had a bowel movement! I'm petrified that his belly will blow up again... But so far he's tolerating his them. They increased him to 24 cc's today!!! Hoping he can go to the bathroom soon and get his bowels going again! Also, even though he is showing no other signs of having an infection anymore, all of Logan's blood levels are off. His hematacrit level is on the verge of being low enough for his 5th blood transfusion in 4 weeks! Poor baby. His platelets and WBC counts are also down. So because of all the down trending in his bloodwork, the doctors now are having a Hematologist (blood specialist) consult on him and see if they need to check his spleen. Uuuhhhgggg. My poor little Logan. :( Hoping for the best for his lil belly and his hoping his CBC's come back OK tomorrow!

Go BLUE! :)

Our older boys started school a few days after my last post. Matthew is LOVING 3rd grade and is really exceeding my expectations so far. He loves to help... and I love him for it!! Michael, on the other hand, has been TERRIBLE with everything going on in his life! I understand that this is a lot for him to deal with. I am gone almost everyday until 6-7 at night when Matt can pick me up, he has 3 more siblings, and he is now in school with 150 other kids! His mind must be SCRAMBBLED! I know mine is! LOL! Matt and I have already met with the teacher and principle TWICE about him. He even disappeared after breakfast one morning on his 4th day of school and was found in the parking lot!! I almost lost my mind! Here I am sitting in the NICU with my 3-4 lb babies and the principle calls me and tells me they lost my son for 5 minutes. I almost had a breakdown that day. Things are getting a bit better now... I'm hoping he STAYS on the right track! I have tried to be home by the time he gets home from school the last few days... but that is SO hard without a vehicle of my own!



Hoping somehow that my prayers will be answered in every regaurd very soon! I appreciate all the help that my family and I have recieved from all the other mothers of multiples from the groups I have joined!! They have literally been a Godsend for us. Meals, support, and just a kind word goes a LONG way these days! Means so much. I'll have another update soon! :)

First time holing them ALL at once! Sept. 17, 2011!