Winter hibernation...............................

This is a very exciting time for everyone and we know that there is much anticipation for people to come see the babies. However, under the advisement of our doctors and nurses, it is imperative we maintain a strict visitation policy over the winter months. Our babies were premature and are strong but were not as developed as a regular term baby would be. This is RSV season and this virus can make them very very sick.

We appreciate everyones offers of help and while we will need help, we are asking for the first week please allow us to find our groove as a family. Nicole and I will both be home with the babies for the next week and a half. After that she will be home with them and will probably ask people for help. I know this all seems overcautious. However, we have three little ones depending on us to protect them and we feel this will help protect them over the winter.

We hope that no one gets angry or upset with this decision, but we do want everyone to have a chance to meet the triplets and be a part of their lives.

The night before................................

The stage is set and they are coming home. Evan and Olivia will be coming home tomorrow. They were hoping they would all be on the same day, but Ethan is right on their heels and will probably be coming home the day after. We spent today getting prepared for their departure from the hospital. We had videos to watch about caring for your new baby and how to put your baby to sleep. I was reminded of my days in high school.



We are getting ready to take the bulk of our stuff home from Ronald McDonald right now. We will come back tonight and stay. This is our last night here. We are very excited to be at home with our kids. As Dorothy said, "There is no place like home." Tomorrow we will check out of here and off to the hospital.

Coming home............................................

There is a very strong chance that Evan and Olivia may be coming home together tomorrow. Olivia is most likely coming, but not sure about Evan. As long as everything remained the same over the night, they will both be coming home.

Ethan is starting to get the hang of what he needs to do to come home. He is taking his feedings by bottle much more often. We think that he has a little reflux issue going on and this is just taking him longer to get the hang of everything.

We could all be home by the end of this week or early next week. It is a very exciting time and also scary at the same moment. We will no longer have the nurses there for us. So please be thinking about us as we are going to start the next chapter in this book.

Olivia has the hiccups.......................................

The princess in our family has the hiccups.

Update...............

Evan and Olivia are really taking off with their feedings. Evan doesn't have anymore tubes now. he only has the necessary wires to monitor his stats. He will be coming home in the next week most likely. Olivia will probably not be far behind. These two little ones are eating a lot. They have switched to an ad lib feeding schedule. This means they can eat as much as they want when they want. Within reason of course. Ethan is still working on getting it all together. The eat, breath, and suck technique. He has not had as many De-stats. He is very happy, but not grasping everything he has to do all at the same time.

We are not sure how much longer we will actually be staying at Ronald McDonald. If the hospital doesn't allow Evan to come over and visit during the day after his discharge, we will probably be staying home and traveling back and forth. We have a lot of logistics to figure out.

The invitations have went out. Be checking your mailboxes for them. The party is set for December 5th, 2009 at 11:00 am. It will be held at our church in Dunkirk. Dunkirk Assembly of God 457 W. Patterson St. We look forward to seeing everyone at the shower.

Olivia

My dad left the flash on when he took my picture. It really surprised me.

Evan

My dad is constantly taking pictures.

Ethan

Hi everyone. I am in a really good mood today. All my grandparents came to see us today.

We are doing well..........................

We are all doing very well. Evan is taking to bottles very good. He still receives an occasional feeding through his tube, but for the most part he takes them by bottle. I would say he will definately be home by Thanksgiving. Olivia will be close. She is taking bottles, but not as much as Evan. Ethan is struggling with acid reflux and is having a tougher time. He has had some de-stats. Which means for some reason he forgets to breath and his levels drop. It happens more during the night. I think he just gets into a deeper sleep and some neurons in the brain forget to fire. My theory.

We are going to go home this weekend and get some of their stuff in order. With them possibly coming home in the next two weeks, we realized we have a lot of stuff to get done.

It looks like we are going to get the good nurse again tonight. Nicole has had a bad nurse or two over the last week. Very pushy and sort of bossy. I told her to remember they work for us. Not the other way around.

Our 1st family photo........................................

The awaited picture..................................

So we return from the NICU tonight and I asked Nicole, "where is the camera?" She says, "It is in the NICU." I told her I have a lot of people asking where the picture is. She apologizes to everyone and says you will just have to wait one more day. I did not feel like venturing back to the NICU for the camera tonight. Sorry!

Olivia's upgrade................

Olivia has bee upgraded to an open crib. Everyone is continuing to do well.

Will have that special picture later.

We are doing really good..................

Ethan and Evan will not be in their preemie clothes very long. Their legs are too long for the clothes. They are probably going to switch over to newborn in the next few days. They didn't get to wear hardly any of their preemie outfits. Who would of thought they would be so long.

With preemie clothes being too small. We are asking people to not send any preemie or newborn clothes. With the way they are eating and growing there is just no way they will be in any of that for very long. If you want to get us something please do something seasonally appropriate and at a minimum of 0 to 3 months. We do appreciate everything everyone has sent us. I don't know what we would do without everyones generosity.

Thank you to The Right Thing, Nicole's company, they sent us a box of RTI bibs, hats, and outfits. We did not expect to receive this. It is very cute. We are going to let the trio be unpaid spokespeople for the company, afterall it is The Right Thing :)

We also received a generous supply of size 1 diapers from Procter and Gamble. They donated a bunch of items to the health center and we received a good supply. Another item that we are in good supply of.

Everyone is doing very well here. Nicole and I actually went to our house and accomplished a few tasks. We realized how much we need to get done before the kids come home.

Stay tuned will probably have a special photo tomorrow for everyone.

Evan was upgraded to an open bed.......

Evan was upgraded to an open air bed. We went to get a cover for a boppy pillow and when we returned he had a new bed. She said he peeed everywhere. So, they decided to change his bed.

Upgraded to an open bed..........

Ethan was upgraded to an open bed today. Both the boys are off the IVs. Olivia is allowed to be put on a portable monitor so that she can come visit in their room. She has another roommate. They are doing really really well. They all three got put to the nipple today. Not much action, mostly slept. But it is a start.

Olivia

Evan

Ethan

Olivia is off the IV................

Olivia is off of her IV. Next week they will try giving her a bottle and see how she does. The boys will probably be losing the IVs in the next few days and follow the same plan. They are growing up so fast. :)

It has been awhile....................

Olivia is off her nasal cannula and she will be off her IV today or tomorrow. Evan came off his cannula yesterday. They are hoping that the boys will come off their IVs in the next few days. Ethan and Evan are over their birth weights. Olivia is not far away and will probably pass it soon.

They think they will be home by Thanksgiving. Most likely they will come home one at a time. Actually, Olivia is doing so well they suspect that she will be the first to come home.

I have been commuting back and forth between Lima and Toledo. The drive is not too bad. A little boring.

Thank you Courtney for all the soda pop tops. I don't know how you collected so many so quickly. It is really good for the house.

They are planning on a baby shower on December 5th. Everyone please mark your calendars and be looking for your special invitation in the mail.

We appreciate all the gifts, thoughts, and prayers from everyone.

Please check back for more news.

One week birthday..............................

Today will be their one week birthday. It is hard to believe it has only been a week since they were born. It seems a lot longer ago. Everyone is doing well. Nicole and I received some much needed rest. I think the fall back helped with that. We were laughing because Nicole's 28th birthday is today and she has three kids now. It just seems funny to us.

We are getting ready to go up and see the babies. Have an update later.

The latest and greatest..................

Ethan is off of the vent and is only on nasal cannula. Hooray!!!!!!!! They are all doing very well. They are tolerating their feedings very good. Surprisingly Ethan is the best eater so far. Nicole's milk has came in and we are pumping like crazy. That is a full time job in itself.

We did get into the Ronald McDonald house. They provide you with a room and bathroom. Meals, laundry service, Internet, and all the amenities of home are provided free of charge. I encourage everyone to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio or in your local community. It takes nearly $500,o00 to operate the house yearly. They have taken a burden off of our shoulders. The house is located right next to the hospital and will transport back and forth between. It's a true blessing to have such a service available to parents for children in the hospital. Again, I encourage EVERYONE to donate to this charity. They also collect soda pull tabs, if you prefer save those tabs and send them to Ronald McDonald house.

When all the kids are off the tubes and IVs we are going to put a picture up of all of them together for everyone to see. Hopefully that will happen in the next week.

Olivia Lucille Camper

Evan Charles Camper

Ethan Paul Camper

The latest..............

Ethan is still on the vent. They are hoping to back him off of it sometime tomorrow. Evan and Olivia are continuing to do well. As promised I have pictures. Don't let all the tubes scare you, they are scarier than they really are. I hope you all enjoy the photos.

The latest..............

The babies are doing good. Ethan is still on vent but hopefully will come off today. Evan still continuing to breath room air. Olivia is on nasal cannula. Evan and Olivia are jaundiced and are under special lights. Ethan is slightly jaundiced but doesn't require any treatment at this time.

Nicole is being evaluated for a possible blood clot in her leg. They completed a doppler and we are waiting for the results.

I didn't make it home last night to post any pictures. I am going home tonight and will post some pictures.

The latest news about the babies...........

Olivia was extubated and is breathing with a nasal cannula. Evan is breathing on room air only. Ethan was struggling and had to be intubated. They are all receiving outstanding care in the NICU.

Nicole is recovering from the C-section but the bedrest has taken its toll on her body. I think her recovery may take a little longer than anticipated.

Otherwise we are continuing our stay in the hospital. Nicole will be here until at least Wednesday possibly even Thursday. The babies will be here for an undetermined amount of time.

The room number here at the hospital is room 376. The NICU is totally restricted to visitors. Only parents and grandparents with parent supervision. What a role reversal. We are going to try to get set-up with the Ronald McDonald House, which is across the street once Nicole is discharged.

We hope that she will have a speedy recovery and our babies will get to come home soon.

the middle names.................

So I am getting questioned about the middle names, so here they are:

Ethan Paul
Evan Charles
Olivia Lucille

They each received their own personal first name and the middle names are from Nicole and I's grandparents. We wanted to intergrate some family history in the names.

Update............

Everyone is doing fantastic. Nicole is absolutely exhausted. Ethan did not need a vent,he is doing better with the breathing. Olivia will receive more meds for the lungs and possibly will get off the vent later today. Evan is just hanging out over there. I just left from over there and the nurse said Evan was very long but when she seen me she understood.

Everyone here has been fantastic. The Dr's, nurses, and staff have been spectacular.

Will try to get some pics loaded as soon as I can. I am updating from the blackberry.

The arrival.............

The babies were born October 25th, 2009. Ethan was born at 11:50 PM, weighing 4lb 4oz. Evan was born at 11;51 PM, weighing 4lb, 2oz. Olivia was born at 11;52 PM, weighing 3lb 5 oz.

Olivia is on a vent but is doing very well. Evan is on c-pap along with Ethan. Ethan may be going on vent, but won't know until they continue tests.

It has been a long day and I am going to try to get some rest.

Day 6...............

This is day 6 in the hospital. They decided to hold off on the CAT scan, but they are giving the maximum dose of heparin. This will help prevent any clots from forming. Dr. Hnat was in today and said anytime she is ready to start contracting they are ready to deliver. They are doing another rescue dose of the steroids. We were told they don't really know how much rescue doses help at this point but they don't hurt anything either. Nicole has been getting all kinds of injections today. She is now allowed to get up and walk around. She asked if she could go to the mall, but he said no. He offered the gift shop. She is going to walk down there in a little while. Will have another update later.

Day five...........

This is day five of the hospital stay. They completed biophysical profiling this morning. All the babies received all of their points. Nicole has been having some shortness of breath, they are suppose to do a CAT scan to check for blood clots. We have not heard anymore about it.

Update............

This is day four in the hospital. No babies yet. They would like to get her to 34 weeks. The staff here at the hospital have been very good. The Dr's want Nicole's visitors kept to a minimum and when they do come of a short duration.

The latest news about us.................

The latest news about us is Nicole has been admitted to the hospital. She went in Tuesday because she woke up in the early morning with bad back pain. We monitored and she had had five contractions. We waited some time and monitored again with three contractions. The back pain not really leaving up at all. Once the Dr. office opened we called and they suggested monitoring for another hour to see what that showed. We did, and she had ten contractions. They instructed us to go directly to Toledo and get evaluated. She has been evaluated and the contractions have seemed to slow way down. We don't know if she will be there until the end or if she may get to come home. Hopefully we will find out tomorrow. Tomorrow also happens to be week 32. Yet another milestone in our journey.

I would have liked to update you all sooner, but the computer I was using at the hospital wouldn't allow me to log into the blog to put any updates. So there may be a delay in information. I came home tonight because I am going to work tomorrow. Will try to have more information updated when I can.

Endo appt................

Nicole received a good report from the endocrinologist today. I think Dr. Schroeder really likes Nikki. She said he was really cracking her up today. Tomorrow she has an appointment with the Findlay OB. She is monitoring right now. She monitors for contractions twice a day for an hour a piece.

Only three days until 32 weeks. Who would of thought that we would make it this far?

Will give update tomorrow. Good Night!

Contraction monitor............

The contraction monitor died today. We are not sure what happened to it, but it died. I guess the triplets wore the machine out. The gal just dropped off a new one. We are continuing the regimen as prescribed. Nicole is growing more tired day by day. it is really hard for her to move around too much at this point.

We received a nice package from Nicole's Uncle John and Aunt Jean in Minnesota. There were a lot of nice items for the babies. Thank you very much for the gifts. The blankets will keep the babies very warm.

Nicole goes to the endocrinologist tomorrow. Blood sugars have been running very good.

I will try to keep you all updated.

Update...............

Nicole had an appointment with Dr. Perkins Friday. It was for a check-up. She is still mildly pre-eclamptic. The two main criteria for pre-e is increased BP and wacky labs. BP is looking good and labs are all within normal range. They will be completing blood work bi-weekly and have 24 hour urinalysis weekly.

We are only five days away from 32 weeks. According to the Dr's if everything is OK we will be going past 32 weeks. We never thought we would make it this far, but we have. Way back in the beginning we expected to have babies very early. Thanks to all the prayers and good thoughts that didn't occur. God is truly an awesome God. It is through him that we have made it through this ordeal.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as our pregnancy journey is not yet complete. We appreciate all the people that have left comments and sent us cards and such in the mail.

Post Dr. appt...............

Nicole went to the Dr.today. Blood pressure elevated, we are still looking at preeclampsia as the diagnosis. She had more blood work today and it will be monitored very closely. If it begins to progress anymore the only treatment for preeclampsia is delivery. I have a strange feeling that it is going to be next week. I don't know why, but it is the feeling I am having. I had thought we would have two boys and one girl and that was true. So you never know.

The biophysical profiling was a challenge today, they didn't want to wake up and they are getting very crowded for space. However, they passed. We return to see Dr. on Friday, but will probably find out about blood work tomorrow.

Nicole had an experience today, she dropped her phone on the floor and it went under the bed. She somehow managed to get on the floor and get the phone. She said she laid on the floor for awhile before she actually got up.

10 days................

Today is only ten days from 32 weeks. Nicole grows more uncomfortable day by day. The stomach has some fierce stretch marks on it. Pretty gruesome! She is really starting to struggle. She'll make it though, she's tough.

Tomorrow she has two appointments, one to meet with Dr. Schutz and the other for biophysical profiling.

I moved the office out of Olivia's room tonight. Time Warner wanted to charge me nearly $70.00 all together to move the road runner from her room to the living room. I moved it for the cost of the wire, at first I didn't think I could but it worked out. And think of the money I saved. This is beginning to sound like a commercial for car insurance.

I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. There is pretty much no food in this house. Nicole wanted grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, but no cheese. She is having hamburger helper now.

Will have another update tomorrow, but it will probably be late before I get to it. I have biochem tomorrow night. Talk to you all soon.

Update...............

It has been awhile since I have last posted. This past week has had its ups and downs. We had an appointment with Dr. Sunderji on October 7th. He thought Nikki was developing preeclampsia due to her increased blood pressure and slightly swollen face. He directly admitted her to Blanchard Valley. She spent a day and a half there. Preeclampsia is not being ruled out completely, we could just be in the early stages. She now has to meet with Dr. Schutz twice a week. They are continuing to do the biophysical profiling weekly.

The babies are doing well. Ethan is 3 lbs 5 0z, Evan 3 lbs 4 oz, and little Olivia is 2 lbs 9 oz. She is still small but is hanging in there.

We are continuing to get things in order for the babies. Christina is continuing to wash and put clothes away. We continue to receive blessings from our family and friends. Our friends Dan and April sent us a wonderful package for the babies. Thank you very much.

Another thanks to Vernon and Doris from our church , who sent home lunch for us today. It was very tasty. I can't tell you how much this helps me out. It takes one worry away from me. I am sure it is a struggle for all of you to decide, "What's for dinner?". I know it is for us.

I will continue to update you all with what is happening with us. I know I fell behind this week. I try to put something up daily.

Belly picture...............

Nikki's belly looks much bigger in person than it does in this photo. I am sure anyone that has seen her in the last couple of weeks would agree. We go to Toledo tomorrow to meet with the specialist. Hopefully she will get lucky again and get to come home.

Finally a photo.................

A quick update before I am off to work, the appointment went well yesterday. All three of the babies received all their points on the profiling. Oh, and here is a picture of the belly. Enjoy, it will probably be the only one you get!

18 days to 32 weeks......

Dr. Sunderji told us that he seen no reason we would not make it to 32 weeks. It will be 32 weeks in 18 days. I thought I wanted this to go past 32 weeks, but I am not sure about that anymore. Nikki's ear infection is back in the right ear. I think I am ready for the babies to be here and for her to have her body return to normal. This entire process has been an experience and I have helped Nikki with tasks that most guys wouldn't even think of. I guess all those years working in the nursing home are paying off. Who would of thought? Tomorrow more biophysical profiling and a follow up appointment with Dr. Freshwater for the ears. Will have another posting tomorrow to let everyone know the status.

29 weeks........

Yesterday marked 29 weeks for us. In 20 days it will be 32 weeks, which is our target goal. Our sister-in-law (Christina) came and organized some clothes for us tonight. She washed, folded, and put away the items. We still have a lot of work to do, but every bit of time someone volunteers really helps us out.