Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Tonight we went to Christmas Eve service with Jess's parents in Gillette.

Also, to update weights from the other day's checkup (Wednesday, December 16th).

Alex: 10lbs 7ozs 22 inches
Grant: 11lbs 1oz 22 3/4 inches
Ethan: 8llbs 2ozs 20 inches

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope you're spending the holidays with loved ones!

My BIGGEST pet peeve!! (seriously people, DONT DO THIS)

Every time I go out in public with the boys I get the question,
"So, are they natural?" or "Did you have help?" (getting pregnant), or some other various degrees of people prying into my bedroom trying to find out if I am like the OCTO-MOM.

Seriously, if you see someone with multiples, just assume they are natural. If the person wants you to know that they used fertility treatments, they will let you know. You DO NOT have to ask.

So, lately, my response to those questions have been "yes, they are natural." All babies are NATURAL!! That is all I have to say. Yes, I may have had to have a bit of help, but who cares. We have three blessings from God. Who cares if we had help or not!??!

WHAT IS AN ARTIFICIAL TRIPLET ANYWAY???

Btw, I want this shirt (http://www.cafepress.com/pyjammy.399027340) Go take a look at it, and read the back of it.

Past Couple of weeks in pictures

There really has not been much going on here since Thanksgiving. No one has really done anything spectacular. Ethan is still on his O2 and probably will be until the beginning of the year. Oh well. It is better for him to be on it, then to need it and us not have it.

So, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving and on to this week.
Aunt Donna and her great-nephews!


Grandma Peggy and Ethan


Jet is starting to be a bit more protective of the boys. He likes to cuddle with them (as much as we would let him.)


Alex and Grant were watching the bubbles on the bouncy seat. They are very entertaining... for about 5 minutes.


Ethan


Ethan, Grant, and Alex were chilling on mommy and daddy's bed, watching the ceiling fan. This gave mommy some time to get ready for the day. Yeah for actually being able to brush my teeth before 1:00 pm!


James was cuddling with all the boys on our bed. Note the dog is also cuddling with them too. We had all 5 of us, plus the dog, on the bed one day. It was fun.


Grant was cuddling with my big bear, Big Jim. It is a good place to prop the boys up when I need a free hand for a quick moment! They like to look at him.


We got these cute little sleepers from Aunt Heidi, Aunt Cat, Uncle Jon, Uncle Wayne, Cousins Jackson and Caroline. Aren't we adorable???






Mommy and Daddy had to join in on the fun too, except the boys didn't think it was fun anymore!


And, today was a special day for the boys. They turned 4 months old today!! Can you believe they are that old now? I can't. They are only supposed to be almost 2 months old. But, they are getting there. Here is their pictures with their teddy bear. They have grown!! For comparison pictures click here.

Pictures and videos from Thanksgiving weekend

Our system to get the boys to take a nap. Boppys are wonderful inventions. They make the boys feel like they are being held when they sleep, yet they aren't in our arms!
Can you guess the heads? Who is on the left, and who is on the right? **answers at the bottom of the post**

Alex was cuddling with James and he got this great picture.

Of course then Alex needed to be carried around for a while so I put on the pack and carried him. He was so cuddly. They all are.

Ethan and Grant chatting it up.

Grant was playing with Aunt Mimi and showing off. He can now imitate. Watch... He is such a showoff :)




** Grant is on the left and Ethan on the right**

My parents now have 7 grandkids under 18 months...

Congratulations to my sister Elizabeth and my brother-in-law Dan on the birth of their new little boy, Lucas Henry. Born today at 1:02 pm weighing 8lbs 4oz. Congrats to the Nebelsick clan on their new blessing. We Fischer 5 hope to get to meet him soon!! :)

Grant Can Roll Over!!!

Tummy time today for Grant turned to rolling time. He did not want to be on his belly what-so-ever. So, he rolled over! I think tummy time will be no longer for Grant. It will always be rolling over time! :)


We all went to the doctor again today for a weight check. The boys did really well. They all gained.

Alex - 8lbs 9oz
Grant - 9lbs 6oz
Ethan - 6lbs 7oz

Ethan failed to get off the oxygen, but hopefully next week we can get it off of him. We should be able to, but the doctor wanted us to make sure he was ready before we took him off. I think another week will suffice.

In other news, I hope to have news about a new baby in the family soon. My sister is due any day now with their 4th! They don't know what it is, so right now they are calling him/her Baby Suprise Nebelsick. Prayers for my sister that she has a easy delivery when the time comes!

Some of the first at home pictures and a video

Grant and Ethan Ethan on tummy time Grandpa was being silly with Grant. It entertained them both for a while. Jet decided to cuddle up close to Ethan on his boppy. He is getting used to the three screaming boys, but gets stressed when they are on the floor in "his" territory. He doesn't do anything to them, he just paces and pants if they start crying. Grandpa holding Ethan Alex in the swing. He loves the movement. Yesterday my dad and I were watching and playing with the boys, and this is what Alex was doing with his paci. They all make this noise when they don't know whether to suck on the paci, talk and complain, or if they are tired. It is quite the noise.

Quick update

All the boys are home and finally ajusting well. We have actually gotten a bit of sleep. My dad is here helping for a week, so that has been a HUGE blessing. I have actually gotten a couple of "full" nights of sleep. (Full meaning 6 or more hours.) I wish I could sleep like 12 hours straight, but other things prevent me from doing that.

The boys were all weighed this past Monday -
Alex - 8lbs 1oz
Grant - 9lbs 2oz
Ethan - 6lbs 1oz

No more 5lb babies!!! YEAH! Now, hopefully we can keep them up on their feedings and hopefully start increasing their amounts they take per feed. Right now, Alex and Grant are taking about 3-4oz per feed and Ethan will take anywhere between 1 1/2oz-3oz. He is all over the board.

Ethan and I are going out together Friday to go to the eye doctor. He still has not been cleared from being premmie. Hopefully this will be his last appointment with them for a couple of months. We are then going to stop by my office and have him meet a co-worker of mine. I am excited to show him off. It will be fun for just the two of us to go together too. I will have to take the other two sometime too.

Well, I will post another, lengthier, wordier, and picture full post soon. Ta ta for now.

No more NICU!!!!

Yesterday Ethan's doctor asked if I was coming in today. I told her yes. She wanted to make a plan for Ethan's departure from the NICU. She envisioned sometime this weekend, like Saturday or Sunday.

I knew that I needed to go into the NICU early because I had Alex and Grant's first pedi appointment at 1:00. So, I headed off to the NICU. When I stepped into our room, Ethan's nurse looked at me and said "Did they call you?" I said "NOooooo... what's going on?" My head was just spinning as to what happened over night. I was thinking the worst.

"Ethan's going home today!" the nurse said.

Those were the sweetest words I have ever heard! I just about jumped out of my skin. I had to run out of the NICU to the waiting room to call James. I then had to tell them that we had to be out of there no later than noon so I could get home and get the other boys to their appointment. I think it was the quickest discharge that those nurses had ever done.

I was so ready for it. He does have to be on oxygen at home though. He still hasn't quite developed those lungs correctly. So, we have a big oxygen tank sitting in our living room, and two little ones we can tote around with us to church, the doctors office, or anywhere else we want to go.

So, we have all 3 boys home now. I am so happy.

Ethan and I got home and I had to get the other two off to the pedi, so Grandpa Fischer stayed with Ethan while Grandma went with us to the dr. Good thing. They did not like being stripped down to go on the scale. Happily it wasn't for naught. They both gained weight since the hospital!! Alex now weighs 7lbs 14oz and Grant weighs 8lbs 12oz. The doctor said they looked really good and to keep doing what we are doing.

She wants to try and get us back onto breastmilk, since right now they are on just formula. She told us at some point in the next week to try Alex or Grant on breastmilk mixed with rice cereal to make it thicker. Then we'll be able to tell if it is just the thickness of the food, or if there is something in my milk that the boys can't tolerate. Hopefully it is just the thickness. That can be solved. Plus it would save us TONS of money not having to buy formula.

Other than that, we had an overall good transition home. The first night will be interesting with all three, but we'll get there. Please let me know if and when you would like to come help. We need to start setting up a schedule. Either leave a note, or send me an email, or even call. We will need people here throughout the days and nights.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers throughout this last 13+ weeks. We all needed it. We still have some hurdles to cross, but the worst, and the hospital, are over. Praise GOD!!!

Finally!!!!!!

GREAT NEWS!!!

Alex and Grant are coming home on 11-11-09!!!!!! TOMORROW!!!!
They are eating well and growing so there is nothing more for the NICU to do!!

Ethan will be a little farther behind. He has to have surgery tomorrow, but as long as he comes through that well, he should be coming home around the weekend or beginning of next week. Please pray that he goes through the surgery easily and heals quickly.

This past week and a half have been quite the roller-coaster ride. Monday of last week they took the feeding tubes out of all three of the boys. That was quite the emotional thing for me. I was scared they were going to starve but I trusted they would figure it out. It took a while longer than we expected and a couple of formula changes, but they are eating really well now. They finally "got it" this past weekend and really progessed fast.

They are now on Enfamil AR formula with a couple of added calories. Every ounce is 24 calories. It seems to be staying down a lot better. They are not having the projectile spit-ups that are painful for them. It is good. They aren't on any breastmilk, but hopefully we'll figure out how to get them back onto that soon. They will eventually grow out of the reflux, it might just take a while.

We took their carseats in for them to do their carseat test, and they all passed with flying colors! They all look so cute in their seats. My aunt and uncle in NM sent us some blankets embroidered with their names on them. They will be the boys' primary carseat blankets. They are cute!!

Grant


Ethan


Alex


Ethan is our TALKER. He loves to talk. We found out he even talks in his sleep. Oh, life is going to be fun with him. Check this video out of him in his carseat.


Last night, James and I stayed at the hospital with the boys. We did a stay-in with them. We got our own little room and the boys were moved in there with us. We got to take care of them all on our own. I am so tired from that. I tried to let James sleep as much as possible, but I had to get him up a few times. We theoretically could do all of this on our own when the boys get home, but I would prefer to be able to enjoy my boys and not be tired all the time.

So, if you feel the notion, we would love to have you come and help us with them. Just give me a call before you head this ways so we know you are on your way!! I can't wait for everyone to meet my babies! FINALLY!!!

Broncos Boys!!

My cutie-patootie little broncos!!! :) We had some fun today taking pictures with all of them.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween to you from the Fischer 5!


Weights tonight
Alex - 7lbs 6oz
Grant - 8lbs 4oz
Ethan - 5lbs 8oz

No Pyloric Stenosis

So, Alex and Grant had upper GI tests today and it was conccluded that niether of them have pyloric stenosis. Alex does have a pylorus that spasms, but he should grow out of that.

So, now on to something else to figure out why they won't eat consistantly. Possibly Monday we will start something I am calling "controlled hunger." They will let Alex and Grant be babies and allow them to determine when they want to eat!

HA... who would have thought that they might just want to eat when they are hungry, and not be force fed!! **note the sarcasm!! They won't let them starve. If they won't demand to eat after so many hours they will make sure they wake them up to feed them. So, we'll see.

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers.

Pyloric Stenosis (PS)

About 5 days ago all 3 of the boys started having feeding problems. It's very common for them to spit up a couple of ml's during a feeding. Suddenly they started projectile vomiting 15-20 ml's. After 3 days with no improvement Dr. R decided to order ultrasounds on each one of their stomachs. After reviewing the ultrasound he decided to do additional testing including an upper GI screening with the radiologist in an attempt to confirm or deny what is called Pyloric Stenosis.

Pyloric Stenosis (PS) is where the muscle between your stomach and intestines isn't developed properly. This restricts or prevents food from passing into the intestines and instead forces it back up the way it came in.

Before the upper GI screening Dr. R also showed the ultrasound results to the surgeon and the radiologist. Together they determined that Grant and Alex had problems and that it was better to perform the surgery and not waist time and the boy's energy with the upper GI screening. After discussing this with Jess and I, we decided to take their advice and move forward with surgery today for the two. At 12:45 this afternoon Grant went into lapriscopic surgery while the nurses preped Alex to follow right after.

About an hour later Grant came back upstairs and the surgeon came to us with a puzzling look on her face. She informed us that when she got in there everything looked perfectly normal and fluids were passing freely as they should. To confirm she brought in another surgeon (who performed Ethan's NEC surgery) to take a look. Both decided that everything looked normal. She also called the radiologist to confirm what they saw in the ultrasound. With these findings they immediately cancelled Alex's surgery.

Alex will get the upper GI screen tomorrow and if they can confirm or not any issues with the pyloris muscle. If he does, then it probably will be into surgery for him (but we won't be sure if that will be Friday or next Monday).

One good thing did come from this. Grant's belly-button was herniated and looking quite odd (major outtie!!). Since she was accessing his stomach through his belly-button she fixed it when done with the surgery. He now has a very nice looking innie. I guess you could say he got his first plastic surgery. :)

So, back to the upper GI screening tomorrow, for both Alex and Grant, to find out if they can see what's happening. They will be looking to see if there is something else going on with Grant other than PS.

Your continuous prayers are greatly appreciated. We'll update as soon as we know something more. Right now everyone continues to look at the boys completely perplexed.

Here a a few pictures that we have taken over the past couple of days.
Video of Grant playing peek-a-boo with mommy!

Alex and Ethan, do you see the twins in them? Ethan still has high billiruben levels so he is a bit more yellow than Alex. He is also still almost 1.5lbs smaller than Alex.

Grant was wearing a new outfit that we got from our friends the Holland's and Faubions! They are such cute outfits.

New weights and lengths

My cousin Barb, in California, crosstiched these blankets for the boys (on the back of their cribs). They are wonderful.






As of last night, 10/25, the boys' stats were:

Alex: 7lbs, 19 inches
Grant: 8lbs 3oz, 20 inches
Ethan: 5lbs 5oz, 17 inches

They are doing pretty well. They are still not quite ready to take everything by bottle. We think Ethan will be soon, but he still wears out after 2 straight feedings by bottle. We are going slow just to make sure he still gains weight and doesn't get too exhausted. Grant and Alex are doing every other feed by bottle. They are kind of doing well with that but they are still not consistant with taking the amounts they need to take. Hopefully they get it soon.

Please keep up the prayers for them and for James and I. Prayers for patience are always good! :) Thank you.

Pictures and videos of my babies

A couple of pictures and videos of my babies!!
Ethan was just entertained as could be in his bouncy seat.






Alex fell asleep funny in his seat. It looked so uncomfortable, but he was sound asleep so we didn't disturb him.



Grant was trying to eat from a bottle. He is getting there on this, but isn't showing the signs that he wants the bottle. Who knows when he will "get it" and start demanding it. We'll see. When he does though, he can come home. Please pray that he "gets" it soon.


Oh... here is my other sleeping baby. :)