My name is Annette and my husband's name is Hector. We are raising triplets!!! They're names are Delilah Marie, Hector Manuel Jr., and Melody Grace!!! Our triplets were born at 24 weeks 1 day and we are very blessed to say that we have all three of them at home with us! We've had a very long and bumpy road, but God has brought us through! Miracles do happen! Thank you for reading!


Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Friday, February 11, 2011

Crazy days and little Hector's trip to Jacksonville

It's been a crazy couple of days and I finally have a chance to sit and write. All last week we had dr. appointments and we were so busy. This week was also really busy and I'm so glad it's over! Doctor appointments went well last week! Delilah was checked by the ophthalmologist and he said she looked great! Yay! Their pediatrician appointment also went well and their doctor was really happy with their weights! They're finally in the charts!

This past Monday was so awesome! I was invited to be a guest speaker in a Child Development class by my former college professor. She wanted to talk about Multiples Awareness and about our story. I was able to also take the babies with me and it made it even more exciting! It was great being back campus and I actually really miss being in school!

Yesterday was a big day. As most of you know my son has profound hearing loss. After failing his hearing test in the NICU, we've been following up with audiologists, ENTs, and a Cochlear implant specialist. He wears hearing aids but they don't show much improvement. The cochlear implant specialist requested a more in depth hearing test in Jacksonville (which is where his clinic is located). Hector was already diagnosed with auditory neuropathy, but his specialist wanted him to have the testing done to confirm the previous diagnosis. Well we drove to Jacksonville for his test and everything went well. He had to be under general anesthesia for the test and there were no complications. The audiologist explained to us the diagnosis and it correlated with the previous diagnosis of Auditory Neuropathy.

Auditory Neuropathy: Auditory neuropathy is a condition in which the cochlea appears to function normally, but there is a problem with the nerves so that sound can not be normally processed and the auditory brainstem response (ABR) is missing or abnormal. A child with auditory neuropathy may appear to hear one day and not hear the next. This can frustrate parents and make a definite diagnosis more difficult.


Now that we have this diagnosis confirmed, Hector is eligible for a Cochlear implant evaluation. They called me today and scheduled his evaluation for March 18th! After his evaluation is done it takes 8-12 weeks for our insurance provider to approve the surgery. God-willing this will not take too long and we can get his surgery done by this summer. That's our goal. Please keep this situation in your prayers...

The babies are doing great. They seem to be more active and they interact and play with each other a lot. It's exciting seeing them play with each other and "talk" to each other... it's so cute! My husband and I created a play area for the babies with a little house with slide, toys, and a gated area. I LOVE IT!!! Here's some pictures of them in their new play area. :-) <3






Next week won't be as busy as these past weeks.... Although Valentine's Day is coming up! :-) The babies have a neurology appointment on Wednesday and then my hubby has a neurology appointment as well on Thursday. He has been complaining of major headaches after his accident... :-/

Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll continue to keep you all updated. :-)

Monday, January 31, 2011

Busy week and 2 milestones!

Well this week will definitely be the busiest week of the year thus far. We have doctor appointments every day this week except for Friday. Tomorrow we actually have 2 appointments that are just 2 hours apart... Hopefully they won't conflict with each other....

Well the weekend went well and Delilah's eye surgery recovery has been outstanding! Her eyes look great and thank God there have been no complications. *Cross fingers* it will stay that way. :-) Tomorrow we have a Post-surgery appointment for her and then right after that we have a pediatrician appointment for their 15 month shots (no fun!)... The pediatrician had mentioned to me that after this appointment she will be changing Hector's and Melody's formula to regular whole milk and pediasure. I'm actually quite excited about this new feeding milestone.... Hopefully they'll have no problems adjusting to it. Delilah has been on a partially digested formula for over a year and although she hates the taste, she's learned to get over it and eats it. Well we've been giving her some pediasure to see how she tolerates it and she LOVES IT! I called her gastroentologist on Friday and asked her if we can switch her to full pediasure... SHE SAID YES! We're really excited about that and Delilah is even more than we are!

I have 2 big things to announce that happened since my last post... Thing #1: Hector is pulling up to stand in the playpen all by himself!!! YAY!!! So now all three babies can pull up to stand on their own holding on to the sides of their playpens/cribs. :-)
Thing #2: Melody took 2-3 steps all by herself today!!! It was so exciting!! I definitely need to be ready with the video camera this week in case she decides to take more steps! :-) I can't believe I'm gonna have a walker soon!

No pictures with this post, but I promise that with my next post I'll put some recent ones. :-) HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!!!

Friday, January 28, 2011

It's been 2 months since my last post... Here's our update! :-)

Ok So I know I'm a TERRIBLE blogger! It's been 2 months since my last post and lots of new things have been going on. Ok, so where do I start?

We had a wonderful Christmas! The babies got so many gifts and actually had lots of fun opening the presents. It was funny to see them play more with the wrapping paper than the actual gifts! Here's a photo of them playing and opening gifts:





On December 29th my husband got into a terrible car accident. He was impacted by another vehicle in the front right side of his pick-up truck and lots control of the vehicle. His truck then flipped a couple of times and he went unconscious. They had to cut the roof of his truck and take him out from the top. He was hospitalized and very, very hurt. It was a very scary moment for me because I really thought I had lost him. He had a huge laceration in the head from the side of his right eye to the back of his head. It was a deep cut but thankfully he had no brain damage. It's been almost a month and he's still recovering. He's still in a lot of pain and has been complaining about migraines and body aches. :-/ It's been very difficult for me because in the first weeks I had to not only take care of the babies and the house, but also my hubby. Thank God for family because without their help I don't know what I would have done. :-/ Here's a picture of how his truck looked after the accident:


So on to the babies... They have been doing wonderful!! In just 2 months since my last post they are doing so much more! All three of them are now crawling and sitting upright. Melody is already taking some steps too! Melody and Delilah are eating Stage 3 baby food and are eating some other solids like puffs and cookies. It's so exciting! Delilah started pulling up to stand on her own holding on to the sides of the crib and play pen. Hector is almost there too... and Melody has been doing it for a while now. :-)

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my last blog (since I didn't read it before I started writing this post) but the ophthalmologist decided Delilah should have eye surgery to correct her strabismus (crossed eyes). We were actually really excited about that because we really wanted her to be able to focus a little better. Well yesterday she had her eye surgery and it was a success!! Surgery started at 9:45am and we were already discharged at about 2:00pm. She recovered very fast and we can already notice the great results! The doctor said her eyes will be red and a bit bloody for the next couple of days. We also have to watch her that she doesn't rub her eyes (although she fights us to do it). :-/ I'm just happy we're done with this part of our lives and we're moving on... Here's a photo of her "before and after surgery":





Next stop is little Hector! Now we have to work on getting him to hear and talk!!! We have an appointment for an ABR under general anesthesia in Jacksonville on the 10th of next month. He already started seeing the speech pathologist since he needs at least 2 months of it before we're even considered for the cochlear implant. We're almost there and I'm so excited that we're getting closer and closer... Please keep this situation in your prayers... We really want God's will to be done and we need direction to see if this is what he really needs.

I will keep you all posted about little Hector's hearing loss and our near future plans with the implant. I will leave you with some of our professional Christmas photos since I wasn't able to update my blog until now. :-)


Hector Jr. <3