I know I'm a bad blogger!

Well, it’s been awhile since we last posted but since we had triplets 11 weeks ago I think we get a pass. The fact that we have time to write at all is a testament to how things are finally starting to “normalize”. (So future triplet parents there is hope!) Going to try and get everything caught up on our happenings but I’m sure we will leave out stuff and have to do follow ups.

Let’s start with stats
Bottles: from birth to 2 months they were on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule @ 4oz, so doing some quick math that’s 24 bottles a day and 96 oz of formula a day. Each can of formula makes 90 oz so we used a little more than a can a day. Now we are finally on a 4 hour feeding schedule and what a difference that makes! (Sleep/Free Time) They have upped to 5 oz now so that factors to 90 oz a day, which is weird but they are still gaining weight.

Diapers: I can’t believe it but we are in a size 2 diaper now, these kids were suppose to be preemies but you wouldn’t be able to tell based on their weights! Georgia recently moved from size 3 to size 4; give Sophia a few weeks and she and Georgia can share diapers.  We change the babies at the same time that they feed, unless there is a blow out, which is frequent so we go thought about 150-160 diapers a week just for the triplets. We are up to our eyeballs in poop!

The Nights

Here’s the rundown: Danielle is awakened by one or some of the babies, she beats me until I get up and begin changing all three diapers. She runs to the kitchen and makes bottles then hurries back to prop the bottles. I go back to bed and fall asleep, she beats me until I get up to help burp and put them back to bed. We do this exact process about 1-3 times a night.
The nights have started getting better, every once in a while when they are feeling generous they will go 5 hours. We shoot ourselves in the foot most nights because they will go to bed around 9-11 and if a feeding is coming up rather than sleep we will stay up and of course that’s the night they want to give us a little extra sleep. Which has led us to our QVC addiction, their chatter and back and forth provides us a good laugh  (I’m pretty sure I could sell the crap out of some QVC) but one night their “Today’s Special Value caught our eye and our viewing addiction turned into a financial one. Future triplet parents, our Keurig has saved our lives, and with easy pay anyone can afford it! At night the schedule goes out the window and we don’t wake them until one of the babies sounds the alarm. In an effort to be completely honest in this blog I have to admit that the first few weeks Danielle and I were verbally abusive to each other at night. The lack of sleep was intense and we were doing it all alone. It’s an embarrassing truth but it is what it is. If you were a fly on the wall you would have thought divorce (or murder) was imminent but alas the babes are sleeping “somewhat” through the night and so are we! We have been together for 12 years and been through much harder times than this so I’m glad to announce yet another hurdle surpassed!

Public Outings

Before we had our 1st outing I was excited about taking the girls out, after all I’m very proud of my 4 girls and love showing them off; that quickly changed about 4 minutes after our 1st time out with the triplets. We aren’t private people, we don’t mind answering questions and I can talk about my girls all day long. However there are those “crazies” with no manners that ruin it and make outings very stressful and overwhelming for us. There are people that come up to us look and ask, they don’t touch and don’t ask what I have deemed to be stupid questions that people ask when they are too shy to ask the real question they want the answer too; this is the good bunch. The other group will come up and touch, move blankets, take pictures, or want to chat when you can clearly see that we are having issues and need to move on. Another thing that just drives me crazy is when people are talking about within ear shot but not too you, I have my routine down, if you don’t ask me direct then when I walk by and you are talking about us don’t expect me to answer, I put on my “I’m looking really mad/constipated and will study whatever product may be on the shelf on the aisle we are on and act like I don’t see/hear them“. There are even people that will run over to where we are and “act” like they are looking for something that just so happens to be covered by the girls.

We have a twin Snap N Go stroller and a baby sling, I push the limo and wear the baby so the attention is on me since Danielle doesn’t like it on her, plus she is more likely to stop and let people touch, hold and kiss them, since she has a problem being direct and rude when needed (I don’t). I cringe when I hear what starts every encounter “Oh my god twins, how sweet! Oh wait you’re wearing one, TRIPLETS?!!!!! Then the questions/comments start:
All boys? - No all girls, notice the pink car seats, bows, and pink dresses
How do you do it? - How do I do what?
I bet your tired- What makes you say that?
Are they natural?- What they want to know is if they were test tube babies or spontaneous but don’t want to just ask; so I answer yes, they are real babies, although I want to answer no they are aliens.
Do triplets run in your family?  - Ugh does that even happen?
The worse of all is “Better you than me”  - Ummm having triplets isn’t a tragedy, we love our girls and yes we are glad its us and not you too! (But we don’t say that cause duh we have manners!)

Baby Stats -

Here are their 2 month stats,

Harper - The Oldest (Harpsicle)

Harper is….high maintenance, she is the oldest triplet so she is the boss, and we usually follow her lead. She was the 1st to roll over, doesn't like to sit still, she’d rather be bouncing or sitting up and looking around. She has great head and neck control. She likes to look back and forth really fast which we find ADORABLE! She has the most beautiful complexion and no cradle cap at all! Her skin just glows and her cheeks are rosy. Her hair is blonde and her eyes are blue.
2 month - 10 lb 12 oz 22.5 inches

Sophia - The Smiley Chunk (Sop or So-fee-na)

Sophia is always smiling and so happy, until she needs a pork chop (I mean bottle) and then her scream is straight from her gut! She was the last to roll over, partly due to weight issues, but loves to just be talked too, or she loves watching her best friend- the ceiling fan. She hates being on her tummy, again maybe a weight issue? Sophia is the only one with my blood type and her family names are from my family in Hawaii so it would figure that she would be the chunky baby. AND she smiles all night in her sleep. She has cradle cap but not too bad. Her hair is dark brown and she has blue eyes. (Georgia’s best friend)
2 month- 11 lbs 6 oz 22.75 inches

Emma - The sweetheart (Emi Claire)

The youngest and the sweetest of them all, I think she can tell that she is the baby of the group. She is my soul triplet and she has the saddest cry you have ever heard! She too doesn't like tummy time and she quickly rolls over to get back on her back and look around with her big blue eyes. Danielle thinks she looks like a turtle because of how she moves her head, although when hungry she will strike like a viper! Although the smallest she did all her growing in length and is the longest. She has the worst cradle cap of the three but still not too bad. She has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.
2 month 9 lbs 12 oz 23 inches

These girls have really tested our endurance and pushed us farther than we ever thought we could go. We are blessed and so happy they are ours forever. Our marriage is stronger now because of the struggle to have our family and I wouldn't change anything. As a matter of fact we are so happy and in love with our kids that it isn't hard for us to picture having more. Maybe not for a few years but it’s definitely not off the table.

PS- Keurig if you're feeling generous we love our Vue!

Soon

Sorry hands have been full but I will be updating the blog this week!

How we survive the night

I feel like we are on Lost, but instead of punching numbers into a computer every 108 minutes we are doing our own event and sequence of tasks to avoid destruction. We call what happens every 3 hours an event, which includes feeding, burping, diapering, changing, wrapping, and putting them back to sleep. Since it's more than just a feeding we call it an event. We each have our parts to play and in our sleepless daze have even named some of the positions.

Bottle Maker, wakes up and makes the bottles, caps them, and marks them for the babies. When it comes time to feed, we rotate just like we do with the positions, one person will feed 2 babies, burp 2, and then process one, the other will feed and burp one and process 2. This usually has us finishing in about 20 minutes most events. The bottle maker gets to sleep soundly because the other person that didn't make the bottles are "on call". The "on call" person handles any issues between feedings (lost passy, arms free of wrapping, or just a need to do a quick rock and drop).

This is our grand plan and it works, we have our high maintenance child (Harper) that thinks she needs to eat 30 minutes early, but she has to wait. Everyone eats together if they want it or not so everyone stays on target. Sophia eats like a champ and sucks it down, and Emma thinks that she should get to take an hour to eat.

2 week check up-
Harper 6.65 18in
Sophia 7.3 19in
Emma 6.11 19in

Birth Part 2

After we had pictures of Danielle, Emma, and I done, I was told to get up and go to the nursery with the babies. I carried Emma from the OR to the nursery, Dr. Lipscomb walking with me telling me that this is how it’s suppose to be (walking the baby to the nursery). I walked into the nursery all eyes on me as I walk with the last of the Vereze triplets and I place her into the warmer. There was so much activity swirling around in that room. I just stood there and watched, not knowing where to look since there was more than just one to pay attention too. Each of the doctors were busy working, nurses were writing down orders and stats, respiratory was standing by each baby, and alarms were flashing and going off. It’s very overwhelming for one baby to go though that, but multiply that by three and it’s almost unbearable, and there is nothing you can do but stand back and trust the team that you have put together. It was scary to even touch them, they are so small and a room full of people are watching you and you don’t want to make a mistake. I took a deep breath and went from baby to baby checking in, getting reports, asking questions, giving them a quick pat on the back, taking a quick picture for the family and moving on to the next one. In the nursery I was told that Harper had a true knot in her cord, Sophia was in distress and her placenta was starting to come apart, and Emma was perfect. I was told by all the doctors that if it wasn't set up for them to be delivered today, they would have came anyways. The babies were all doing so well, Sophia needed some oxygen, all the babies were on monitors and IV fluids, but doing fantastic.

About 30 minutes after they were born and they were doing good, I left to update the family. When I saw them I just broke down, I couldn't hold it in we just had three babies and they were all perfect. After showing off pictures I went back to the nursery and soon after they opened the windows and the viewing area was open for the public. After the doctors were finished working on the babies I was allowed to bring in a grandparent so we brought in my mom and then Danielle’s. I think they fell in love instantly. It’s pretty hard not too since they are so cute. About an hour after birth Dr. Cutler and Dr. Alexander walked in heads held high, and all smiles, Danielle had done a great job during surgery and they were able to save her uterus. After that report it was like there was a collective sigh of relief from the hospital. I was then led out of the nursery to ring the bell three times (TMC has a button you push when a baby is born, it plays music throughout the hospital) we were officially the talk of the hospital. (I really wish I would have gotten a picture of video of Captain Cutler's A Team swagger walking in).

Emma 

Harper

Harper

Sophia

Your passport to the nursery

I left to check in on Danielle, who was finally awake in recovery and doing well, in high spirits and ready to see the babies. I showed her all the pictures I could and then went back to face time and show them off to their momma. Shortly after we were transported back to her room, our home away from home 318. On the way we went by the nursery viewing area, kicking out, what was the start of the constant crowd of people looking at awe of our babies and what we were able to accomplish. After Danielle was settled back in, the hospital’s PR person came to ask me some questions about the triplets, take some pictures, and see if it was ok if they do a press release and me do an interview with the media. I was really in shock, I didn't think that this would be something they would put on the news. Danielle refused to be on camera, so she left it to me.

It was so strange walking around the hospital and everyone knowing and saying  “there is that triplet dad” from the cafeteria, people waiting in the lobby, and other people working at the hospital. It all was surreal  and again strange that so many people would care. Around 1am the next day we were able to get Danielle up out of bed and into a wheel chair to see the triplets for the 1st time. You could see the joy and love on Danielle’s face with a slight hint of greed. I say greed because I know she was thinking in her head “OMG these are all MINE!”. If you know Danielle then you know of her great love of all things baby. She was in heaven. Her dream of four daughters at last accomplished.

I know I left some things out, but it was an overwhelming day with so many things going on at once it is hard to remember everything. I know that every doctor I spoke with and nurse had one thing they kept saying to me “this wasn't suppose to happen”. They were in shock and so happy that everything went off without a hitch. They couldn't believe that they were doing so well. It was a miracle!

This never would have happened without the nurses and doctors at Texoma Medical Center. I can’t sing their praises enough. They supported us, encouraged us, pushed us, and cared for us like family. We really felt like these people were invested personally into the care and well being of our children. We couldn't be happier  and more impressed with the care we received and so happy with our choice to have our triplets there. Four days later Danielle was discharged, babies had to stay, and it really felt like we were leaving family. All of our doctors, were fantastic and really went along with the hospital and nurses above and beyond, we are forever indebted to this group of people.

More to come from life from the nursery, and homecoming.

http://heralddemocrat.com/sections/news/local/blog-birth-denison-couple-welcomes-three-babies.html

Harper Ann Vereze

Emma Claire Vereze

Sophia Jane Vereze

Georgia looking at her sisters

Danielle's Drive By

Danielle's 1st View of the Babies

Harper and Emma (1st time we got to hold them (3 days later)

Harper and Emma (1st time we got to hold them (3 days later)

Complete Family (holding Sophia for the 1st time, a week later)

3 Days Post Triplets

What you collect staying in the hospital for 2 weeks

Sophia

Birth Story Part 1

I have been replaying the birth story over and over in my head so I don’t forget it and now when I try to start writing this I’m drawing a blank! Well let’s start the night before, Georgia went to my mom’s house to spend the night, everyone was given 6:30 show up time and we tried to go to sleep. The nurses aids were given a do not disturb order until 5am when they would move us over to labor and delivery. So there we lie Danielle and I in the room trying to sleep but way to nervous, not saying anything, just both pretending to sleep and checking Facebook for entertainment. At 5 or 5:30 there was a knock on the door and a team of happy nurses came in asked if she was ready to go, and she was gone. My task was to get ready, dressed, and my thoughts together and go over to 324 and wait with Danielle. I just sat there, shaking, trying to pull it all together so I could be there for Danielle. It took me 30 minutes before I was able to move. I got ready and went off to labor and delivery to see Danielle already hooked up and doing one last non-stress test on the babies, 3 IV started and a room full of people. Everyone that was going to be in the OR or nursery came by to introduce themselves and tell us that it was all going to be ok and how excited and ready everyone was. Georgia came with my mom to visit Danielle before she went back, she gave her a kiss and then she was off. Georgia has really had a very hard time with all of this and really hates being at the hospital, so mom and Georgia went to wait in the waiting room with the rest of the family, Danielle’s mom wanted to wait in the room and greet Danielle when she came out of surgery. Dr. Lipscomb popped in to ask how we were doing and check on us before we went back, also letting us know that they were ready and excited. Anesthesia was coming in and out getting her ready to go, one of Danielle’s blood tests showed her blood count was low so before surgery even started she would need a least one bag of blood. Dr. Cutler came in and stayed for awhile talking to us and trying to put us at ease. This surgery wasn’t going to be easy and we were told there was a 75% chance that Danielle would have to have a  hysterectomy, just another concern on mind. I got dressed in my snug paper scrubs (I’m talking very snug, it looked like I was painted blue) took a few last minute pictures and then they came to take Danielle. I kissed her goodbye and started the what I thought was the longest wait of my life. There was a huge knot in my throat the whole time, I just stared at the ground and prayed that everything would be ok. Danielle’s mom and granny were talking to me trying to make me take my mind off of things but I couldn’t hear anything but the sound of my heart pumping. A few minutes later the nursing director came and told me it was time, so I walked back to the OR my face got hot it seemed like I was floating down to the room, as I turned the corner I see 5-7 people standing outside the OR, I walk in and the room is packed with people. They were already started when I walked in, seeing some familiar nurses and doctors, I took my chair. In the movies it seems like it’s just a few minutes before babies are out, but it took about 15-20 minutes before the babies came. (My times may be off I really had no concept of time that day). Danielle was very nervous and scared, but she did a fantastic job staying calm and focusing on other things.

Next parts are a little graphic-

I could hear some chatter from the OB’s, and as I look up I see blood splatter on Dr. Alexander’s face, and an instant I was screaming in my head “nope, stop what you are doing, we are just going to wait and do this later in Dallas” but I was frozen and trying not to let Danielle see the expression on my face. Half of it may have been hid by my mask but this women knows my expressions with or without so I had to calm down and get back to my happy place. I took a video and according to the chatter, at 8:01am the “uterus was open” and 8:02 “A is out”, I stopped breathing scared that I wouldn’t be able to hear her scream, a few seconds later she was screaming and I was crying. He didn’t hold up the babies for us to see them the doctors and nurses grabbed her and started working on her right away. Normally this would be when the dad would leave to be with babies and when you can breathe easy, but we weren’t close to being done. Officially B was out at 8:02 as well, I think it was closer to the 8:03 mark but the official time was 8:02. Sophia wasn’t crying , however the doctors didn’t seem to be concerned they were calmly working on her and giving her a little oxygen and cleaning her up. 8:03 “3rd one is out” and she was screaming so finally I was able to breathe. Though this the nurses were giving us updates about how small they were, how cute, bald, and that they were doing good. Now came the important part for the OB getting Danielle’s uterus to go back to normal. They started working very quickly and the mood changed, they had me get up to see Emma and as I was getting up to walk over to where the warmer was I looked over and saw something I wasn’t suppose to. Seeing Danielle open on the table was more than I could handle and I just started to walk back when they put small, beautiful, and sweet Emma in my arms. My sprits lifted instantly as I was able to take her over to Danielle for her 1st kiss and picture. After that I was taken out of the OR and walked with Emma in my arms to the nursery. As babies were being born, bracelets were being added to my arm and put on Danielle. “Triplet A Female 0802” “Triplet B Female 0802” and “Triplet C Female 0803”.

Part 2 will be posted later!  

Last Small Family Picture

Dr. Lipscomb coming to check in

TIGHT

Danielle going back

Waiting

C-Section

Few Seconds Old

Emma and I 

1st Kiss with Emma

Emma, Mom, and Dad

Quick Update

Just a quick note on what's going on since I'm still working on writing the birth story (very long)! Danielle was sent home Monday, babies they are thinking will stay until the 37 week mark. Sophia was on oxygen for about 12 hours and both Harper and Emma have been on room air the whole time. All IVs are out and Harper and Emma are in cribs and Sophia is about a day behind. Feeding tubes were put in today because sometimes they get too tried eating to the point that they need to. They have had to use it once and the rest of the feedings have been without.

Sorry if there are typos writing this on my phone isn't very easy! Birth story will be more detailed.

Josh and Danielle