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!

Ups and Downs in the NICU

This past week has been such a struggle for me. So many things needed to be done at home... I'm still trying to recover from a major surgery, be a mom to my older boys, and be a mom in the NICU to my babies. It started REALLY taking a tole on me. I am very sore and completely exhausted. There is really no point in trying to sleep more than a few hours... I feel TOO guilty... I miss my babies when Im home and I miss my boys and nothing gets done when I'm at the hospital! I have tried to not spend TOO much time sitting in the NICU watching and waiting for monitors to beep and waiting for no news or bad news... Good news is always welcome! Unfortunatley, there hasn't been too much of that for Logan the last few days! :(

 I got a phone call Saturday morning at 6am from the hospital and I immmediately knew something was wrong. Logan had a few very low de-sats that required stimulation and oxygen for him to recover... They put his nasal canula back on him after that. His belly is very big again, even though he was pooping and otherwise tolerating his feedings.... so they had to stop his feedings and put a hose in his mouth down to his belly to try and suction some of the air out. They have been doing belly xrays every 12 hours to check h\the progress... No air outside the bowels or intestines... very good sign. So far his last film looked a bit better. Also, his white blood cell count was high... indicating some kind of infection. They had to do a lumbar puncture and bloodwork to try and figure out what it was. LP came back negative intitally. Cultures take a few days so we wont know until tomorrow for sure what it is... but they think it's his picc line! The picc line is the only nutrition source he has right now since he can't be fed! His bloodwork also showed low hematocrit levels and low platelets... So yesterday they put a peripheral IV in his arm and had to give him a blood transfusion. I was so sad yesterday. All they did was mess with my baby! I left during the transfusion.. I just couldnt be there... but went back later with the hubby. He was exhausted but doing better when we left last night... and he looked better this morning! Hopefully everything is working and he will be feeling better and getting his feedings again soon!

Levi sleeping on Daddy~

Meanwhile, Matison and Levi are doing great! Matison is up to 1 oz per feeding and her picc line came out on Thursday! She is showing everyone how it's done! She now weighs 3 lbs 5 oz! LOL Levi is also getting up there! He weighs 3 lbs now and his picc line is coming out tomorrow! He will be at an oz per feeding tomorrow too! I am very happy they are doing SO well!!! I just wish my happiness for them wasn't overshadowed by Logans setbacks... :( I feel so bad for him... He is the littlest one and has to fight so hard!

                                                   

Babies are all doing GREAT!

I know it's been a minute again since I have posted, but it has been a crazy time since the birth of the babies! They are all doing great at this point! Had a few infection scares, some low blood sugars, and Levi's PDA vessel in his heart came open, causing a murmur. Levi and Logan had to have Lumbar Punctures last week to check for infections because their bloodwork came back a little funny. That was scary! As of now, NO infections to be spoken of, Levi's PDA closed on it's own after 3 rounds of Indomethison, and ALL babies are now breathing room air on their own as of now!! YAY for healthy babies! Blood sugars have regulated on their own also. My lil ones are doing amazing for being almost 29 weekers!! We love them ALL soo much! I am one happy Momma!!

Matison is the strongest and biggest for sure. She has had ZERO scares and is getting the most formula at her feedings as of now. They MAY even let me start trying to bottle feed her as early as next week! She was actually SUCKING on a binki yesterday, which is supposed to be something they dont do until they hit 32 weeks or so! :) Here are a few pics of her...

Levi is also doing great! Besides his PDA that opened up causing them to stop his feedings, he hasnt had any problems at all either. The normal Brady's every now and then, but he's gaining weight FASTER than his sister and brother for sure... he is already up 7 oz from his lowest weight! :) He's my big boy!

Logan is the tiniest one and he's had the most difficulty staying on his feedings regularly. He is doing much better now. He was spitting up green stuff after his feedings so they had to keep holding them until they figured out what was going on. Turns out he probably has reflux so they are just watching him closely and doing belly x-rays to make sure his tummy and bowels are ok. I guess preemies can have bad problems from their bowels and intestines getting infected. Lets hope thats is not the case! 

He is so little even compared to his brother and sister... they both out weigh him by over 10 oz! He's my little Logan! He is practicing sucking his binki too!! :)

The babies arrived @ 28 weeks and 5 days!

Im sorry it has taken so long for an update but they are here! The last 4 days have been absolutely crazy! What I thought was a false alarm on the 17th of August turned out to be labor!! Started having pressure in my butt at around 7 am that morning... No contractions that I could feel... JUST pressure and a BIT of swelling in my face and hands. Had my mom take me to L&D to be checked out just to be safe. She just dropped me off and I went in alone! LOL When I got there and was first checked, cervix was long and closed. They hooked me up to the monitors and found that I was having contractions every 2-3 mins! Checked my cervix again an hour later... Still closed but softer and shorter. They decided to give me the steriod shots for the babies lungs, a muscle relaxer, and admit me for 48 hours for observation since my cervix was still closed. I called the hubby and had him come to the hospital since he was already in Ann Arbor working.
I got moved to my room and got comfy. By this time I had only been at the hospital for 2 hours. Then the resident Doc came in to check me one more time.... She didn't understand how my contractions were so regular and werent subsiding, but I had no dilation... She went in with her fingers and her face dropped!! She IMMEDIATELY told the nurses to get ready because baby A's foot could be felt inside of me!! WELL, after that it is all a blurr!!! C-section was coming and the babies were on their way! They were here an hour later!! At 7:00 pm Babies A & B entered the world and C came a minute later at 7:01pm on August 17, 2011!
                                 

A-Matison Lee Higgins - 2lbs 12 oz 15.5 inches

B-Levi Mason Higgins - 2lbs 7oz 14.5 inches

                                    

C-Logan Jacob Higgins - 2lbs 2 oz 14 inches

~26 weeks~

Well, we made it another week! Appt. went great on Weds. All babies are growing right on schedule and Im up to 162 lbs. Cervix is still 3.8 cm with no change when pressure is applied. Babies weights are BABY A- 2 lbs BABY B- 1 lb 11 oz BABY C- 1 lb 11 oz. Next milestone is 28 weeks! Hoping these next 2 weeks fly by! I am still getting pretty good sleep at night, with the help of my Benadryl, and I feel pretty good most days. The babies have been getting more active by the day. Baby C is my most calm these days, with baby B not far behind. Baby A is my mover! She is the biggest and most active by far! Her and Baby C are both breech... While Baby B is head down. I'm getting VERY VERY anxious!!! O.... and VERY very BIG! ;)

25.1 weeks!

No big changes this week. Still feeling pretty good! Have my next growth ultrasound on Weds. Can't wait to see them wiggling around again and see how big they have gotten! :)

~Daddy holding the babies~