Delilah at 10 days old...

Everything was going fairly well the first week of my triplets' lives. No major occurrences except for the common and expected micro-preemie stuff. They desaturated and had bradys... stuff like that.

At 9 days old, Delilah was having a lot of desaturation in her oxygen and was bradying. I remember like if it was yesterday how that night started. I just knew she wasn't herself and something was going on. Dr. Perez was on call that night and he ordered a chest x-ray to see how her lungs were. Apparently the x-ray looked fine, but I just had a feeling that something was going on. Dr. Perez blamed her actions to her prematurity and left it at that. A few days before a nurse had called me because her belly was a bit swollen and she was having some residuals. They were apparently not too concerned because her belly was not hard and her feeding residuals could be because she was still very small. Rewinding for a minute... my babies were being treated for heart murmurs cause by an open ductus in the heart called a PDA. They were given IB profin as a non-invasive treatment for those murmurs. Apparently, there is a study that treating premature babies with IB profin causes a condition called NEC in babies.

What is NEC? A gastrointestinal disease that mostly affects premature infants, NEC involves infection and inflammation that causes destruction of the bowel (intestine) or part of the bowel. Although it affects only one in 2,000 to 4,000 births, or between 1% and 5% of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions, NEC is the most common and serious gastrointestinal disorder among hospitalized preterm infants.NEC typically occurs within the first 2 weeks of life, usually after milk feeding has begun (at first, feedings are usually given through a tube that goes directly to the baby's stomach). About 10% of babies weighing less than 1,500 grams (3 lbs., 5 oz.) experience NEC. These premature infants have immature bowels, which are sensitive to changes in blood flow and prone to infection. They may have difficulty with blood and oxygen circulation and digestion, which increases their chances of developing NEC.

Well, now that you have a bit of information about NEC, I will continue her story. The morning of Delilah's 10th day, another Dr. saw her x-ray. Apparently in her chest x-ray there was a part of her belly in the picture. Well the part of her belly showed that she had perforated in her intestines. Immediately she was sent to surgery. The surgeons told me that my daughter would not make it passed the surgery. Well back to the IB profin.... She was 24 hours post her last IB profin dose. Dr. Alexander (their secondary doctor) told me that if it was up to him, he would not give her the IB profin and then explained to me about the study of iB profin associated with NEC. He told me that it usually happened 24-48 hours after the last dose. Well guess what? This all happened 24 hours after her last dose. Coincidence or not... it still today plays with my mind.

Anyway, after almost losing my mind and begging God to not take my baby girl, the surgery is done and the surgeon comes to talk to us. He had good news! Delilah was okay and he barely had to take any of her intestines out. He told me that she would have to make it passed the next 24-48 hours and she should be okay. Well at the 48 hour mark, Delilah was not doing well. She was retaining fluids and not urinating. Her kidneys began to shut down and her blood flow started to decrease. She was placed on the high frequency ventilator again and she was very ill. The doctor called me and told me to come be with her because she was probably not going to make it. When I arrived, the doctors were doing their rounds... I remember they came into the room and told me how sorry they were and that they did everything they could. I did not believe those words in my heart.. I just knew my daughter was going to make it!!! After blood pressure medications being max out, high frequency giving her 900 breaths per minute, and receiving plasma and blood transfusions.... and lots and lots of prayer and faith... Delilah responded... and 24 hours later she was off the high frequency and they had to give her more fluids because she had urinated so much that she was a bit dehydrated.

My daughter is my super hero! :) I love her so much!! Truly a strong baby girl defying the odds!

My 24 weeker Triplets and the first 72 hours in the NICU

My husband arrived just as they were taking the babies to the NICU. He was able to walk with the nurses as they admitted our babies. I only got to see one of my babies before they took them out. They were just too fragile to waste time.

Babies' weights and lengths:

Delilah Marie (Baby B in the womb, Baby A in birth order)- 1lb 7oz 11 3/4in long

Hector Manuel (Baby C in the womb, Baby B in birth order)- 1lb 10oz 12 1/2in long

Melody Grace (Baby A in womb, Baby C in birth order)- 1lb 6oz 12in long

Melody Grace
Delilah Marie
Hector Manuel

Yes, my babies were tiny... but they were sure mighty! :)

All of my babies had to be intubated right after birth and a ventilator was breathing for them. They were all of course in incubators. The doctor explained to me that the first 24 hours are the most critical and they had a 40% chance to live. All three babies were doing fairly well considering their gestational age and how small they were. They made it pass their 48 hours and were doing okay. I was recovering from my c-section but I wanted to spend every minute I could with them. Their skin was red and they were so tiny!

At 3 days old, Delilah was having some lung issues, one of her lungs deflated and she had to get a chest tube. It was very hard seeing my tiny baby girl with a chest tube along with a high frequency ventilator, also called the oscillator. She was on it for 2 days and back then I had no idea the gravity of the situation. Delilah was fighting for her life while she was given 500 breaths per minute by what I now call "the monster" (the high frequency). Her tiny body would vibrate due to the intensity of this machine and my mind still did not want to accept what was going on. Thankfully, 2 days later she was off "the monster" and the doctor took out her chest tube. She was doing a lot better.

Re-starting my Blog (End of my pregnancy and my delivery)

Hi everyone! Okay, so I am re-starting my blog after 5 months of not updating it... yes 5 months!! So much has happened that I will probably leave a lot of details out, but please feel free to ask anything you'd like. In my last blog, I left off at almost 20 weeks pregnant with my triplets.

Well, at my 20 week high risk appointment, my cervix had shortened to 2.7cm and I was officially put on bed rest. My preterm labor continued and my cervix continued to shorten to 2cm and then eventually to .7cm at 22 weeks. At this point, my high risk doctor told me that I would most likely deliver my triplets any minute now and that he was very sorry. He admitted me cause I practically begged him to... I didn't want to loose hope. At 22 weeks gestation I was admitted to Winnie Palmer Hospital. My doctor had told me that I would have to get to 24 weeks gestation in order for the NICU to take my babies and for me to get the steroid shots. During my stay at Winnie Palmer I had ultrasound scans every day to check for my babies' heartbeats and a high risk doctor would come see me. I was anxious to get to 24 weeks, but I was aware that 24 weeks just gave my triplets a 40-50% chance of life. I had so much faith and prayed that my babies would make it out just fine whenever they decided to come out. At 23 weeks 5 days I began having heavy duty contractions. Two high risk residents came to check my cervix and apparently it was not dilated and still closed. My high risk doctor happened to be out of town in a conference for the weekend and he had the residents come take a look at me while he was gone. The next two days I was in unbearable pain and taking more pills than I ever imagined taking in a lifetime. At 24 weeks midnight, I was given my first steroid shot. I was so excited cause I knew that this would help my babies have a better chance at living. Steroid shots are supposed to mature the babies' lungs. In order for the steroid shots to work to their max, you have to have 2 steroid shots usually 24 hours apart and wait 24 hours after the last shot in order for it to work to its full potential. I was in so much pain and labor was really no fun at all. The bad part in this whole situation is that while I was having heavy duty contractions, the monitor was not picking them up... so the nurses weren't very concerned. At 24 weeks and 1 day, almost 10 hours after my 2nd shot, I gave up and could not handle the pain. I begged a nurse to please call a resident to come check my cervix because I just knew I was in labor. A resident came in about half hour later to check my cervix. At this point I could not bare the pain. Right before the resident checked me, I felt like I had to push!!! When she checked me, I was 7cm dilated!!!! She could feel my amniotic sac bulging out and Baby A's head. I was in shock and very scared. I knew what their chances of living were and I wanted it all to be just a bad dream. The nurses rushed me to labor and delivery where another resident decided to check me. He was in disbelief that I went from a closed cervix to 7cm dilated in 48 hours. When he checked me, I was definitely 7cm dilated and he broke my water accidentally. As they tried to put the spinal anesthesia on, I had to be laying on my side because they did not want Baby A to come out. They tried the spinal 8 times before they got it in the right spot. The anesthesiologist told me that if the eight time didn't work they would have to put general anesthesia for c-section. Finally it worked! At all this, my husband was working and he didn't make it on time to be there with me. Thankfully my mother had come to visit me and was there for all the commotion as well as my grandmother. There were countless nurses and doctors in the operating room... it was very scary. They took out Baby B first, then Baby C, and finally Baby A. They took Baby A out last because she was in my birth canal and they wanted to take out the easiest ones before they reached down into my birth canal to take her out. They rushed my babies to the NICU and that's where our REAL journey begins...