The boys had a doctor's appointment on Wed. I guess it was their 4 month appointment, but I'm honestly not sure what we call it. But everything went well...even their first vaccinations :-( They screamed like you would expect, but they have calmed down and so far are behaving as normal now that they are home. So far, so good....
Most of all, we were curious about how much they weighed. I think the last time we weighed them all together they were in the 8-9 lb range. Today...they were in the 11-12 lb range which is a gain of almost 20-25% in just over a month!! Pretty exciting. Most importantly, they are all gaining on the preemie percentile chart. If you recall...our first few appointments, they were not even making it onto the chart. Now, their weights are all in the 63-83% range. Those are still on the preemie chart, though, so most people still consider them small.
That's easy for them to say...we saw these guys at birth and they have more than doubled in size...and it is noticeable.
Caleb is our little heifer. He weighed 12lb 4oz...almost a full pound more than his "younger" brothers. But...he is the shortest...at 22.5 in. The funny thing about Caleb is that his head circumference was in the 94th percentile....you'd have to see it to believe it. The interesting thing is that during the pregnancy...all three of them measured larger than normal sized melons. Hopefully that is a good sign of healthy brains!!
Gideon weighed the least...he was 11lb 2oz. But...he was longer than Caleb at 23.1". If you put the two side by side you really get the feeling that Caleb is gonna be a football player or catcher...and Gideon is gonna be the runner. Gideon has long, slender legs. His head was more proportional to his body too. He still has adorably big eyes and we always love his smile!! His reflux is not as bad as it used to be...but he still has moments where he either spits up a lot or is just clearly uncomfortable. He actually had an ultrasound on his tummy a week or so ago...but all was normal so that was good.
Ezra weighed 11lb 5oz and was 23.4" long. He hasn't been eating as well as the other two so I wouldn't be surprised if Gideon overtakes him in weight one of these days. His lack of appetite earned him his own individual trip to the doctor, but they just think it is reflux or colic as well. The frustrating part about his situation is the variety of advice we seem to get from different docs or PAs. Some say, "Give him gripe water" other say "Don't give him grip water." Well heck...we can just go on google to get that kind of advice. Which we did...and since gripe water seems to work...we do it!! :-)
We've taken the opportunity to take the boys out in public more. We take them to church on Sundays which is fun. For some of the hassle of having triplets...watching people get so excited to see your little boys is a definite joy. Plus...the ladies there are so willing to help Autumn that in some ways...doing care time there is easier than at home!! :-)
They also go on daily (sometimes twice daily) walks when the weather is nice...and we even went out for ice cream the other day. Hopefully, if the weather is nice, Autumn and Granddaddy Greg will take the boys to National Harbor tomorrow. But unfortunately, the forecast is not too great so that might be a weekend trip or something.
Anyways, that is about it....God Bless!
Showing posts with label Pediatrician. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pediatrician. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Doctor's Visit....
Good Morning!
Well...after several cancellations due to the snow, we were finally able to get the boys back into the doctor on Saturday. Because of the snow and the fact we were dealing with triplets, Dewitt Army Hospital was willing to let us bring them in for routine care instead of the normal acute type care they only do on Saturdays. We thought that was pretty nice of them.
As a whole, the boys are all doing well. Of course that phrase "As a whole" sort of explains one of the issues you can run into with triplets...that is viewing them as a system of 3 babies instead of treating them each as individuals. I bring it up because the visit with the doctor (nurse practitioner actually) took a bit longer than I think it needed to because we kept switching our discussions around and she kept getting the boys confused. I think it starts when she (and every other person we talk to) asks, "How are THEY doing?" That is a perfectly normal question, but the reality of things is that one being healthy doesn't make the other healthy...and the same thing with being sick. It is just too easy to get into the mindset that if one feels a certain way...or reacts a specific way to formula, breast milk, etc...that they should ALL be doing the same thing. I think we are more aware of that as a false mindset now...but it is still a tough habit to get out of.
Anyways...Caleb weighed 6lb 8oz. He was also 20" long. His reflux is still there...and sometimes I think his is getting worse over time. He wasn't initially prescribed the medicine for his reflux, but we started giving it to him a day or so after Gideon & Ezra because he was starting to show the same symptoms. So the doc prescribed him some of his own now!! He still has a heart murmur so we'll be making appointments for him and the other two to get checked out by the pediatric cardiologist. That means another family trip back to Bethesda!!
Gideon weighed in at 6lb 14oz and is 20 1/4'' long. He is the biggest all around...although Caleb seems to eat the best. His reflux is still an issue. He is the most likely to really spit his stuff up pretty good. Just a note...if you are ever feeding Gideon...don't wear anything you want to keep clean!! :-) The nurse noticed he had a heart murmur too. That was a change from our previous visit when the docs could only hear the murmurs in Caleb and Ezra.
As for Ezra, he weighed 6lb 12oz. He was also 20" long. Like his older brothers, the reflux continues to bother him and he will be getting an evaluation for his heart murmur too.
The nurse and the doctors we'd talked to previously about the heart murmurs said it isn't uncommon for heart murmurs at such a young age and they should grow out of them. They are also all pretty feint so none of them are super concerned. The appointments with the cardiologist are just to rule out any more serious issues.
In other baby news...we've started introducing their "lovies" to them. These are those little blankets with stuffed animal heads that rattle on them. Our friends Mark and Dawn kids loved them when they were little so we've been excited about introducing them. We wanted to wait until now though to keep the variety of stimuli they are exposed to down to a minimum. But seeing as how they are one week from when they were due...we decided to show them their lovies gradually. Right now...they are minimally interested. Their greatest interest is when they are hungry...and like anything else that goes near their mouths...they try to suck on them!! But a few times after feedings...I've seen Caleb and Gideon react to their lovies and follow them around. It will certainly be fun to watch them grow in their reactions and even see them learn to hold them.
That's about it for now. Thanks for the continued prayers.
God Bless,
Jeff
Well...after several cancellations due to the snow, we were finally able to get the boys back into the doctor on Saturday. Because of the snow and the fact we were dealing with triplets, Dewitt Army Hospital was willing to let us bring them in for routine care instead of the normal acute type care they only do on Saturdays. We thought that was pretty nice of them.
As a whole, the boys are all doing well. Of course that phrase "As a whole" sort of explains one of the issues you can run into with triplets...that is viewing them as a system of 3 babies instead of treating them each as individuals. I bring it up because the visit with the doctor (nurse practitioner actually) took a bit longer than I think it needed to because we kept switching our discussions around and she kept getting the boys confused. I think it starts when she (and every other person we talk to) asks, "How are THEY doing?" That is a perfectly normal question, but the reality of things is that one being healthy doesn't make the other healthy...and the same thing with being sick. It is just too easy to get into the mindset that if one feels a certain way...or reacts a specific way to formula, breast milk, etc...that they should ALL be doing the same thing. I think we are more aware of that as a false mindset now...but it is still a tough habit to get out of.
Anyways...Caleb weighed 6lb 8oz. He was also 20" long. His reflux is still there...and sometimes I think his is getting worse over time. He wasn't initially prescribed the medicine for his reflux, but we started giving it to him a day or so after Gideon & Ezra because he was starting to show the same symptoms. So the doc prescribed him some of his own now!! He still has a heart murmur so we'll be making appointments for him and the other two to get checked out by the pediatric cardiologist. That means another family trip back to Bethesda!!
Gideon weighed in at 6lb 14oz and is 20 1/4'' long. He is the biggest all around...although Caleb seems to eat the best. His reflux is still an issue. He is the most likely to really spit his stuff up pretty good. Just a note...if you are ever feeding Gideon...don't wear anything you want to keep clean!! :-) The nurse noticed he had a heart murmur too. That was a change from our previous visit when the docs could only hear the murmurs in Caleb and Ezra.
As for Ezra, he weighed 6lb 12oz. He was also 20" long. Like his older brothers, the reflux continues to bother him and he will be getting an evaluation for his heart murmur too.
The nurse and the doctors we'd talked to previously about the heart murmurs said it isn't uncommon for heart murmurs at such a young age and they should grow out of them. They are also all pretty feint so none of them are super concerned. The appointments with the cardiologist are just to rule out any more serious issues.
In other baby news...we've started introducing their "lovies" to them. These are those little blankets with stuffed animal heads that rattle on them. Our friends Mark and Dawn kids loved them when they were little so we've been excited about introducing them. We wanted to wait until now though to keep the variety of stimuli they are exposed to down to a minimum. But seeing as how they are one week from when they were due...we decided to show them their lovies gradually. Right now...they are minimally interested. Their greatest interest is when they are hungry...and like anything else that goes near their mouths...they try to suck on them!! But a few times after feedings...I've seen Caleb and Gideon react to their lovies and follow them around. It will certainly be fun to watch them grow in their reactions and even see them learn to hold them.
That's about it for now. Thanks for the continued prayers.
God Bless,
Jeff
Saturday, January 30, 2010
4 Weeks Old!!
Hey Everyone:
Well...it has been a very busy week with multiple sleep cycles for all of us. Perhaps the only ones who seem to be in any sort of rhythm up to this point are the boys...and that is just fine with us!!
We've been helped this week by Granddaddy Greg (Autumns Dad) who came in from Oklahoma on Tuesday night. He got right into the care/feeding routine and within a day or so was doing some of them all by himself.
Here's a picture of him with one of the guys. I think it is Ezra...but quite honestly...the memory isn't so good good with the amount of sleep we've been getting :-)
Well...it has been a very busy week with multiple sleep cycles for all of us. Perhaps the only ones who seem to be in any sort of rhythm up to this point are the boys...and that is just fine with us!!
We've been helped this week by Granddaddy Greg (Autumns Dad) who came in from Oklahoma on Tuesday night. He got right into the care/feeding routine and within a day or so was doing some of them all by himself.
Here's a picture of him with one of the guys. I think it is Ezra...but quite honestly...the memory isn't so good good with the amount of sleep we've been getting :-)
On Friday the boys turned 4 weeks old. They are officially no longer called "Neonates" which is used to designate babies who are 0 days to 4 weeks old. It just so happens, this also corresponded to their first follow up visit to the Pediatrician. As I mentioned on Facebook yesterday...these are not just appointments with triplets...they are entire Events that you plan out in detail the night before.
Getting ready for our trip meant we had to start adjusting their feeding times so we wouldn't be traveling or sitting in the dr's office on empty tummies, we gave them baths, prepared the diaper bag for any possibility (of which we used many of them), got the car ready, stroller ready (as a back up to carrying the car seats), car seats ready, outfits picked out, timelines coordinated, bottles prepared...I think that paints the picture. I figure that is probably the same thing every family gets ready for when taking their babies out...with three...it's just all those things multiplied.
As a whole, the trip went really well. We fed them early enough so we could feed them, put them in the car seats and be ready to go shortly after. Here's a picture of them all ready to go:
Caleb, Gideon, Ezra
The pedatrician's office was great. We only waited about 5 minutes before heading back for vital signs...and although we had a wait a bit longer in the actual care room...they let us stay there afterwards to feed them before getting back on the road.
The boys are all doing well. Their weights were:
Caleb = 5lb 11oz
Gideon: 5lb 14 oz
Ezra: 5lb 13.5 oz
I haven't compared them to their discharge weights yet, but they were all making plenty of progress each day and the doc was happy.
They each have little things to pray about though. Caleb & Ezra both had minor heart murmurs. They were slight enough that they were willing to let us go Friday evening (we were there from about 1:45p to 5p) and if they notice them again this Friday they will run EKGs. Because the murmurs were so soft and because this is pretty common and usually turns out to be nothing...we aren't too stressed about it. But we do ask for prayer that it would just be one of those "routine" things that takes care of itself.
Gideon continues to have bad reflex. It makes it harder for him to eat and when he is done he is really uncomfortable. We have started to feed him first so when he is done, we put him in his bouncer to keep him upright for another hour or so. It seems to work pretty well and his spit-ups have dropped in frequency and intensity.
Lastly...Teddy continues to amaze us. We had a friend drop by right before we were leaving and Teddy always stayed between John and the boys. This wasn't at the same time...but here is a picture I took of another "Guard Dog" moment.
For those of you who have met Teddy...you'd be amazed how much he has changed in just days. Pretty much the exact opposite of what he was like before the boys came along!
We hope you have a great weekend!
God Bless,
J & A
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