Madeline coming home!

Following my c-section, I spent 4 days in the hospital recovering from the surgery. The incision on my lower abdomen was terribly sore, so getting out of bed was pretty difficult. Luckily, I had my  family and the nurses to help me get out of bed. I was so happy to have Madeline in my room with me. I would also go and visit Caleb and Mischa down the hall in the NICU as much as I could. Having Madeline in the room with me made transitioning to parenthood a little easier since I got to practice taking care of one baby before taking on all three at once. Caring for one baby seems like a piece of cake nowadays! ;) Here are a few pictures of Madeline from my hospital room.

Here she is looking just like her daddy

Seth and I were so fortunate to take Madeline home with us on the day that I was discharged from the hospital on December 8, 2011. Wow, after spending 8 weeks total in the hospital, it was amazing for me to be able to finally leave and go home. We were so fortunate to have Seth's mother staying with us. Although we were sad to leave Caleb and Mischa, we knew that they would be home as soon as the doctors felt they were able to eat enough to be discharged and that we could visit them at anytime.

Here's a picture of us leaving the hospital.

Me, Madeline and Seth at home for the first time...now what? :)

Madeline and G.G. (my mother-in-law, Irene)

As I mentioned earlier, fortunately we could visit Caleb and Mischa in the NICU as often as we wanted. It was a little difficult for Seth and I to visit them together since Madeline was no longer allowed in the NICU since she had been discharged home. So usually Seth and I would leave Madeline at home with G.G., or we would go separately to visit them. We both enjoyed holding, feeding and bonding with each of them as much as we could when we visited. We were so pleased to hear good news everyday if they gained weight or nippled all of their feeds. It always broke my heart leaving them at the hospital.

Caleb and Mischa in the NICU

Tomorrow I'll share the details of Caleb and Mischa coming home...that's when the fun really began!

December 4, 2011

This was the day of my much anticipated c-section. Everything went pretty smoothly that day. I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before, but I had Seth go to the gift shop at the hospital and buy me some life savers candies, so I snuck a couple of those in before the surgery. I remember being really nervous as I walked to the c-section room at 11:00 am and all the nurses that I had gotten to know so well over the past 7 weeks cheered me on. My favorite nurse, Sarah, was present at the c-section and that was wonderful having her there. Seth had to wait outside the surgery room as I was given my spinal for anesthesia. I remember sitting up on the table with my back exposed, feeling a small prick in my back, and then a sensation of warmness filling my body. Then I was laid down on the table and my stomach was cleaned and prepped for the c-section. At that point Seth was allowed to come in and stand by my head. It was so wonderful having him there to support and comfort me. A drape was placed above my chest so that I couldn't see what was happening. Luckily, the anesthesia had kicked in at that point and I felt no pain. I remember feeling a lot of pressure and pulling, so I knew something was going on, but fortunately nothing hurt. At 11:23 am we heard the first cry, and this was baby A, our sweet Madeline, born at 4 pounds and 12 ounces. It was so wonderful to hear her cry. I caught a quick glimpse of her as she was carried past my head to her isolette to be examined by the neonatologist and nurses. The second cry we heard was from baby B, our precious boy, Caleb, at 4 pounds 4 ounces. I couldn't see him but Seth was able to see him from his position and assured me that everything looked okay. And last but not least, at 11:25 am, our darling baby C, Mischa, was born weighing 3 pounds and 4 ounces...our little peanut! At first I did not hear any crying and that made me so nervous. Luckily, after a little bit of suctioning and oxygen, we heard her sweet cry. All throughout the pregnancy, baby C had always made us nervous. She was the one who the doctors monitored closely, so we knew that she was the smallest. I could never feel her kicking quite as much as her brother and sister, so we hoped that she was going to be okay. We learned after Mischa was born that her umbilical cord was slightly twisted, possibly contributing to her small size. Seth and I realized that all our prayers had been answered and our 3 healthy babies had finally arrived. I always tear up when I think about this special day. All the weeks of bed rest really paid off and we knew that we were so blessed! Here are a few pictures from that day.

Madeline Naomi Klein - born at 11:23 am, weight 4 lbs, 12 oz, length 17.25 inches

Caleb Kainalu Klein - born at 11:24 am, weight 4 lbs, 4 oz, length 16.5 inches

Mischa Irene Klein - born at 11:25 am, weight 3 lbs 4 oz, length 16 inches

 Here are a few videos Seth took from the delivery. Hope you enjoy! :)

This video was taken immediately after the babies were born.

This video shows the babies a little while after the delivery.

At Saint Mary's hospital where the babies were born, they have a tradition of having the fathers push a button in order to play a nursery rhyme that is heard throughout the hospital whenever a baby is born. Here is a video of Seth pushing the button 3 times!

After the c-section was complete, I had to stay in the recovery room for about one hour to be monitored. Seth was able to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and visit with our new babies. I was so thankful he was able to take a lot of pictures and even a few videos since I was not able to be there to see the babies. Once my recovery was over, I was wheeled down to the NICU in my bed to see the babies. I was allowed to hold Madeline because she was 100% stable. Here is a picture of me holding Madeline for the very first time with Seth.

Seth wearing the blue scrubs he was given prior to my c-section. He wore these scrubs the entire day and refused to take them off. I guess he felt like a doctor!

This is Seth's mom, Irene, and my mom, Sue, standing over Caleb and Mischa's isolettes as the nurses took care of our babies.

Poor little Mischa had jaundice and had to be under phototherapy lights. Here is a picture of her wearing her stylish sunglasses!

A few hours after the delivery, Madeline was discharged from the NICU and allowed to come to my hospital room on the postpartum unit. I just remember being really sleepy and groggy from the delivery and Seth telling me that Madeline was going to be staying with me. I thought I was dreaming because all along I had mentally prepared myself for the possibility of all 3 babies spending an unknown amount of time in the NICU. I was so happy to have Madeline there with me. I was sad that Caleb and Mischa had to stay in the NICU but Seth and I both knew it was best for them and that they were receiving great care from the doctors and nurses. Both Caleb and Mischa required feeding tubes which were placed in their noses. Here are a couple of pictures of them with their feeding tubes.

Caleb in the NICU



Mischa in the NICU

Stay tuned...I will be posting pictures of Madeline coming home from the hospital in the next post. Thanks for stopping by! :)

The adventures of bed rest :)

As most of you already know, I was placed on bed rest starting at my 20th week of pregnancy. Prior to that, I had been working as a nurse practitioner at Renown Regional Medical Center here in Reno. Although my official due date was January 1, 2012, due to the high risks associated with a multiple gestation pregnancy, my obstetricians recommended that I be placed on home bed rest at week 20. So, the adventures of laying in bed, reading books, watching TV, eating as much as I wanted, and for those of you who know me most...cleaning began! Although I was supposed to be sitting or laying down for most of the day, I couldn't help but do my usual activities such as vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, and mopping! Some things never change regardless of doctor's orders! Here are a few belly shots along the way.

15 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks (at Lake Tahoe)

Don't laugh too hard but this is my idea of grocery shopping while on bedrest!

At 28 weeks, I was placed on hospitalized bed rest to help ensure that my babies stayed inside for as long as possible. Fortunately, I was never placed on strict bed rest so I could still go for short walks on the Labor & Delivery Unit, go for wheelchair rides outside the hospital (thanks to Seth who always had to push me), and I could visit the nursery or chat with other moms who were also on bed rest like me. Overall, it was a good experience and I look back on those days fondly...especially since I could sleep as much as I wanted! But really, I couldn't have endured such a long hospitalization without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you to everyone for cheering me on and keeping me entertained, and for all the phone calls, texts and visits...I couldn't have done it without you all! A big thank you to my sweet husband for enduring the 8 LONG weeks with me! :) Here are belly shots from my hospital stay.

30 weeks (looking down at my belly)

32 weeks (start of 8 months)

33 weeks (on the contraction monitor)

34 weeks

36 weeks (night before C-section)

Here is a sweet video that Seth made while I was at the hospital to also help document our journey.

 

Here is a video of one of the two wonderful baby showers that my family had for me. This video shows the baby shower I had while on bedrest in the hospital. Despite the joyous occasion, this day ended up being really stressful. Prior to the baby shower, Dr. Oki, one of my obstetricians, had done an ultrasound earlier that morning. For some reason, baby C (Mischa) was not very reactive and he didn't see her moving that much on the screen. He thought about actually doing a c-section that very day, but in the end, decided to wait because he finally did see her moving. How stressful! I was 31 weeks and 6 days at this point. Well, here's the video of the baby shower and me strapped to all the machines to monitor the babies. Thanks to my step-mom Lynn and my aunt Sharon for throwing me the baby shower and thanks to everyone for coming! Hope you enjoy the video...

Much to our joy, I was able to make it past 35 weeks, so my doctors decided to schedule a C-section on the day I turned 36 weeks, December 4, 2011...a day that I will never forget. Check out the next post to learn details from that day and to see pictures and videos.

Finding out we were having TRIPLETS!

To catch everyone up on our adventure, Seth and I found out were we expecting triplets in May of 2011. Seth was in Hawaii visiting Isaac at the time, and I had him on speaker phone as the nurse practitioner performed my first ultrasound and informed us we were expecting 3 babies! Needless to say, both of us were quite surprised. After the initial shock wore off, we were so ecstatic to be finally expecting...and 3 all at once! Here are a few ultrasounds pictures from my pregnancy.

1...2...3!!! This was our very first ultrasound picture.

9 week ultrasound picture

 

baby A

baby B

baby C

4-D picture of all 3

Welcome to our blog!

Hi Family and Friends!
This is a blog that Seth and I created to share pictures of our family with everyone. We will be posting pictures and videos as often as we can, so check back frequently. We want to share with you the journey of raising our beautiful triplet babies and our teenage son (boy, do we have our hands full). Hope you enjoy!
Love, Seth & Susan