Hard to believe a month has passed by since I gave birth to the triplets. Peyton and Parker are 30 days old! Looking back, we never thought this day would come. After Abby passed away due to an infection, I remember asking my doctor if she thought there was any chance of the other two surviving. She shook her head no. None of us that they would survive. It was a terrible feeling giving birth and assuming that I would have no children to bring home. Boy what a difference a month makes. Because I was so sick, I had no idea that Peyton and Parker survived the first night, then the next night. Babies that age have a less than a 30% chance of survival. Well, we already know they are miracles and we like to think they have their sister Abby helping them through each day. As I mentioned before, we believe she saved their lives. But Abby really also saved mine. If Abby didn’t come out when she did, my fate could have been grave. Here are some adorable pictures taken by the NICU nurses (Mindy and Missy).
Peyton at one month
Parker at one month
The footprints of our triplets the day they were born.
The nurses really are amazing. I’ll save my gushing for another post in the coming weeks, but I have to say they make our experience so much better. Not only do they care about the babies they are looking after, but they truly care about the well being of Ryan and I. We’ve gotten to know many of them over the weeks and I’m sure they will feel like family by the time we head home. The nurses call Peyton either Diva or Princess, depending on how she is behaving. Check out Peyton’s “Princess Tiara” compliments of Nurse Shelly. Even on their days off, they are thinking of our children and finding cute little accessories–SO sweet!
And because we can’t leave Parker out, Nurse Carolyn decided he should celebrate his one month with a bow tie. It’s not even two inches in length, yet it takes up his body! Some of the nurses think he looks like Mr. Skry. What do you think? I can’t tell because they were whisked away right after birth, so I’ve never seen them without tubes and wires covering their faces.
As for me, the month has been a roller coaster. Not just emotionally, but physically. By the time I delivered, I was beyond the size of a full term single pregnancy. What a difference a few weeks makes. I still am carrying around a little extra belly, but those triplets took up most of my stomach.
I had Ryan take this picture of me in the same outfit as my last belly pic. The picture was taken at 22 weeks, about a week before I delivered. And the other side is me at one month post partum. It’s tough to look at this picture without crying. I was so uncomfortable at the end of my pregnancy, but I would take that in a heartbeat over not being pregnant. I see so many pregnant women when I visit the hospital and I have to admit that I get jealous. I should be 27 weeks along today and I would give anything to still be waddling from bed rest to the bathroom. I miss the pregnancy glow. Now I look in the mirror and on the tough days I see exhaustion and puffy eyes from grieving. I long for those moments in the day where I would feel my babies moving. I miss the daily ultrasounds where we could see Abby kicking her brother or Parker shoving Peyton. We had gotten to the point where my ultrasounds looked like a “bucket of bones”.. you couldn’t tell which arm or leg belonged to which child. I miss those moments where eating a piece of chocolate would turn into a domino effect. Parker would start moving, followed by Abby and then Peyton. My belly looked like it was doing the wave. I had several weeks of movement, I just hope that memory doesn’t fade away. Every ultrasound I could see Abby moving around like nothing was wrong, her heart beating perfectly. It’s something I hope I will remember forever, since we only got 2 hours with her here before she became an angel.
Ryan holding Abby, 15 hours after I went into labor. She was smaller than her identical sister at 1 lb 3oz… So tiny in Ryan’s arms.
I’ve had a lot of people asking me when we’ll get to take them home. A lot of people assume it is just a matter of weeks. While many nicu babies head home quickly after birth, ours will be there for the long run. We’re thrilled P & P have made it a month, but we know that anything can happened. I’m finally getting to the point where I truly believe we’ll be bringing two children home from the hospital, but we are staying cautiously optimistic. They are still extremely young and face an uphill battle of possible medical complications. If they survive, they could easily be spending another 4-5 months in the hospital. Mr. Skry and I just hope we get to take them home in time for the holidays. They are still under 2 pounds a piece and pictures don’t do their size justice.
Here’s a look at the diapers they wear compared to my phone and a normal newborn diaper. The one in the middle is still too big for them. Nurses will fold over the diaper to make it fit.
Here is Peyton’s hand around Ryan’s finger. Yes, that’s a bare chest– it was special daddy daughter time or as nurses call it “kangaroo care”.
Here’s my finger with Parker’s hand. He’s still lagging behind his sister, barely a pound and a half. But he seems to be getting stronger by the day. After last week’s surgery, we’re hoping both of our babies will have a quiet and uneventful week. Every time the phone rings, I panic. I wonder if it’s the nicu calling with bad news. We could use a week of healthy growth and no complications! Thanks for all of the well wishes. I love sharing our pictures with you and love reading everyone’s comments.
This story was first published on my blog Skry’s the Limit at www.wandtv.com on July 23, 2013.