Baby Wicker Update

I've seen my OB twice since my last post. We discussed, at great lengths, about what my cervix should look like and what it actually does last Friday. He asked that Chris and I both come to talk to him as Chris doesn't usually get to go to my appointments. He drew a diagram, for me, in order to explain everything without question outlining the different procedures. He included the pros and cons for both. We have our choices between a very invasive abdominal cerclage which he'd prefer to cut me vertically down my stomach in order to get the best view. Basically this surgery would involve wrapping and tightening a band around the bottom of my uterus. The other procedure is a Shirodkar cerclage where they will wrap and tighten a band around the top of cervix, the closest part to the uterus. It will involve some internal cutting, but it will be very minimal. Obviously, the Shirodkar isn't as invasive and will involve very little recovery time compared to the abdominal one. We took a week to pray about our two option and asked God to give us the knowledge in order to make the best decision for our family. Friday, I went back for Dr. Gregg and his partner, Dr. Brown, to examine me again to make sure the Shirodkar was still and option. Both of them are maternal/fetal specialists, they and Dr. Smythe (who followed me most of the triplet pregnancy) are the only ones in town. So, after this appointment and much prayer we decided on the Shirodkar. It's the least invasive and involved. This pregnancy has come just by the grace of God, and we want to continue to rely on Him fully to get a healthy baby here. In the very beginning of the pregnancy, as I was having problems, our first instinct was to go on my normal hormone therapy that I've been on with all my other pregnancies. However, we felt God's peace and Him telling us to be silent. We trusted in Him, are now at 9 weeks and the baby is doing well. We also know that God gives us the knowledge and technology for medical intervention. We are full aware that no matter what God is in FULL control. My OB told us that this is going to be tricky with so much damage to my cervix, but he thinks he can get the results we went with the Shirodkar. If, in the event, it can't be done they will immediately switch over to the abdominal cerclage. So, I'll be having a 1st trimester screening ultrasound after Labor Day to check for any abnormalities. My doctor likes to do this before the cerclage to ensure that there is no chance that the baby may be very sick and miscarry on it's own as with a cerclage that can be complicated. The ultrasound is very similar to that at the 20 week mark where they'll measure the back of the neck, check the heart, and etc. Then, the surgery is scheduled for Sept. 17th. Chris will be off until the following Monday which is when my OB expects me to be able to resume normal activity. I've been through a cerclage before, so I know that I will have to remain awake due to not being able to undergo anesthesia during pregnancy. The anesthesiologist will give me a spinal, and I should be able to go home the same day. Please pray that we will get good results with the scan in a few weeks. Pray that God will keep the baby and myself safe during and after the surgery, that Bradley and Austin will do fine,the day of the surgery without us, and that God will give Chris peace and strength during the surgery and my recovery to run the house by himself. We're confident in God's plan and know that whatever that may be will be awesome. Our God is great and awesome. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" Ephesians 2:8

What's going on

Mama's Sweet Boys

Austin is going to be as big as Bradley soon!

Thanks Aunt Bonnie for the precious outfit; it fits perfectly!

Sending you lots of kisses, Muah! You think Bradley likes chocolate?

Sitting so big!

Bradley loves this swing!

Austin loves the exersaucer! Don't worry Paula (Austin's physical therapist)- we limit him to about 10 mins a day, so he doesn't develop the preemie tip toes. :-)

And, introducing our newest addition . . .

See the baby? It's the litttle, white area in the middle of the picture.

Mesuring the heartrate . . . doing well at 150!

We're all doing well. Chris is busy, busy at work as usual. A doctor's day never seems as though it's done. I'm doing well, sick but good. I've been pregnant enough that I know that being sick, even if all day, is a good sign for me at least. I can handle it; the end product will be so well worth it. If this new baby brings me just a little of the joy that my 2 boys bring everyday my heart my burst! I had some issues, so I went to the doctor this morning for an ultrasound. There was a healthy baby in there with a strong heartbeat of 150! I'm about 7.5 weeks along, so I found out I was pregnant very early. The baby is due March 29th, what a popular month in our family! Chris and I are going tomorrow morning to talk to my OB (high risk, Dr. Gregg) about what cerclage will be best for me and the baby. There has been a lot of damage done to my cervix with my pregnancies in the past, so something must be done in hopes of preventing another very early baby. Bradley is doing well and has recovered wonderfully from his surgery. He starts preschool the week after Labor Day. He says he doesn't want to go, and that he is staying home with Mama and Austin. :-) He'll just go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12, so we know he'll be just fine! We've also signed him up to play soccer with the Lexington County League. The first games will be September 20th and run into November. He is especially excited about it as he has talked about it since he was old enough to say ball! Austin is doing great. He is sitting beside me, right now, protesting at the top of his lungs that I'm not paying him as much attention as he'd like. He seems as though he just want to be a "big kid". He sequels, while standing with our assistance, as he watches Bradley play with other children. He laughs at the smallest things now, especially his big brother. Austin's EI (early interventionist) came yesterday, and she said he is doing great. She said he is right on target for his adjusted age and somethings he is even ahead. For example, he plays this game with us where he nuzzles up to our neck and makes grunting noises and we do it back and forth over and over- that is a 6 month milestone. Austin is only 5 months adjusted as of today. Austin is off his apnea monitor at night now as of last Friday. His pulmonologist was pleased with his progress, and we'll go back this fall for his monthly RSV vaccine (Synagis) . It doesn't prevent RSV, instead it's supposed to help him fight the virus. Since Austin was so premature and small he is at high risk for developing severe RSV with his lung issues. Hopefully he would be able to better fight this disease since he is much bigger than last winter. Austin is over 15lbs, and about 27 inches long! He is getting so big! Every nurse or doctor that comes in contact with Austin is absolutely amazed that he is a 24-weeker!

God is good. There have been some amazing miracles in our life over the last year. We know it's God working in our lives, and we hope that others will see His love through us. We've been leaning on God's word and all of His wonderful promises to us. There have been some Bible versus lately that have really spoken to me, so I'm going to finish this post with them! Enjoy!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ ” (Philippians 4:6-7)

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)

"He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken" (Psalm 62:2,)

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak (Isaiah 40:29, NIV)

Finally . . .

Finally everyone is fixed, and life can slow down! Sort of except . . . get ready for it, you may want to sit down . . . We're expecting again! Wow! What a shock to us. It's a miracle! This is our 5th pregnancy, and this is the 1st time we haven't had any fertility treatments. I'm only about 5-6 weeks, so we haven't been able to confirm by ultrasound that all is good. However, my HCG level (hormone present in pregnancy) is great and so is my progesterone. The doctor is comfortable that everything will be fine, but we just have to pray and have faith that it will be. We decide to fully rely on God in hopes of more children, so he brought us this far and we're going to continue to trust in His will. It's such a miracle, we just can't say that enough. We want to give all of the glory to God for this AMAZING blessing. Please pray for Baby Wicker; he/she is due mid to late March. Another March baby for the family! (Bradley's birthday, Austin's due date- so his adjusted age dates back to March, and Lisa's birthday all fall in March- not to mention both of Lisa's parents, the boy's Aunt Beth and Aunt Melissa too!) So, now that is finally out! Bradley and Austin are recovering nicely. Bradley is doing great except for when he goes to the bathroom and his ointment has to be applied. It has been amazing the difference in him since his surgery and no accidents! Yay! Bradley did so well at the hospital. He climbed in a little wagon and off he went with the nurse- no tears at all! It was such a blessing. Mama on the other hand had a few tears, but I think it was mostly because I saw just how old he is getting! He didn't even look back, but they did rush out to get me after he woke up from anesthesia. He was crying for his Mama; so sweet! Once I got back back to him he was fine. Praise the Lord for allowing everything to go well for Bradley. Austin is doing well too. His arm is healing nicely along with his private area too. :-) There is a lot of swelling down there, but we think that is expected. Austin's pain seems better and the clear bandage is starting to come off his arm. He is finally getting back on schedule and seeming happier everyday. Another amazing miracle in our life. God is so good! I go to my high risk OB on Monday for my first prenatal, all the bloodwork and exam. Then, Austin's EI is coming on Wednesday. His physical therapist may be coming too, and he should have a followup with his surgeon in the next week. Thank you all for your prayers!

2 Surgeries in 1 week!

Last Friday after 5pm (conveniently after the doctor's office closed for the weekend) Austin's Hemangioma on his arm started to hemorrhage. (yes I use the word hemorrhage as that is what the ER said) We aren't sure if we caught the corner of it as Chris was burping him, and it's on the back of his left arm or if it just started on it's own. Nonetheless, a hemangioma is a collection of blood vessels that is usually found on infants commonly on their faces. Thank goodness his is on his arm. It's supposed to necrose or scab over and start to recede around a child's first birthday. They don't commonly bleed or cause trouble. However, Austin's was very big taking up most of his upper arm and close to the surface. So, we rushed to Richland ER with Chris applying pressure to it while holding Austin in the backseat. When we got there they treated us as a trauma as Austin had lost a good bit of blood and called in the surgeon. There were a lot of blessings with the way everything happened; God is so good! First of all, it could have started during the night and he could have bled out. The surgeon did tell us that children have died from ones like Austin's. Thankfully, Chris was with me and Bradley was taking his nap at my parent's house as we had just left a doctor's appointment. Another thing was that the surgeon on call had performed Austin's hernia surgery in January, so he was familiar with Austin, his medical history, and us. Then, a girl I grew up with was in the surgery and she was the one giving us updates throughout it. She was in Brayden's surgery in the NICU and was also familiar with Austin and our story. So, that is always very comforting to know someone. Austin was admitted Friday night and had surgery early Saturday morning to remove it. He did have more bleeding than they would have liked and his hemoglobin is low but it's already coming back up. He also experienced some difficulty with fast, heavy breathing after coming off the vent and had to stay in the PICU Saturday night. They circumcised him during the surgery too to avoid another sedation and time on the vent later this year. What another awesome blessing as sedation and being intubated can be scary with Austin's lung disease. So, Austin came home Sunday after a crazy weekend. He has done well this week. We're still treating his pain, and he is still a little pale from the blood loss. All of the nurses were so amazed at how well he is doing considering he is a 24-week triplet; he'll have that title for the rest of his life. All in all, he was a trooper in usual Austin fashion. He will probably have quite a scar on his arm, but it's just his arm and anther testimony for him to share! Tomorrow morning Bradley is having surgery. He has developed Meatal Stenosis, which is a band that develops and narrows at the tip of the penis. He also has some adhesions around his circumcision area that they will remove. It's just a quick outpatient surgery, but I'm sure he is going to freak out when they take him from us. He hasn't had surgery since he was a baby. Bradley had hernia repair surgery at 5 weeks old and then tubes at 10 months. So, at least we know he handles surgery well, but he is much older now and will definitely realize something is going on. Bradley has always been quite clingy with us as he is saying he doesn't want to even go to school this fall. I've been trying to "talk it up" for him. I'm praying that there will be an awesome nurse that will be specially trained to walk him right back without any issues. His surgery is at 9:15, and then he'll have a few days of recovery over the weekend at home. I was told it would take a couple of weeks for him to fully recover. I got him some special prizes for after his surgery, just some tractors and work cars complete with cones and other neat things that Bradley loves. I've kind of spoiled him this week too allowing some special treats here and there. I just can't help myself. Bradley is the healthy one that isn't supposed to have any problems. He has always been our one consistent child that doesn't have issues. I'm praying for peace and comfort as we go to sleep tonight and take him tomorrow morning. God is good, and His will is awesome- we just have to trust!

What's up . . .

Loving Brothers

Woodside Wonders

We're in trouble when they get older- they're all so close in age!

Laughing together

Piggies! Cuddling on the couch Can you tell I like to be naked?!?!

Getting so strong with tummy time!

Bradley and Mama on July 4th

Bradley is on the left on his first July 4th and Austin is on the right on his first 4th in the same outfit. What you couldn't tell was that Bradley almost had to be cut out of the outfit! Their head is shapped very differently, but they have a lot of the same features

It has been awhile since I've posted anything. Chris has been working a good bit, leaving me to hold the "fort" down. We've been busy with the backyard; finally got the sod down and some mulch back there. We had 25 cubic yards of mulch delivered, dumped in our driveway, and we had to get it all to the backyard. The pile was bigger than our van! Then, the sod was delivered and thanks to a great guy, Matt, it was all put planted in one day. It looks awesome. We had a cookout on our street on July 4th. It was fun as usual; lots of yummy food and great company.

Bradley is having surgery on the 23rd. He has developed a band around the tip of his "tee tee" that is causing problems and some adhesions that developed around his circumcision site. It's a minor surgery that will be done as outpatient. He will have a few days of recovery and then have to be careful for a couple of weeks while he heals. Chris will be home with us through the weekend to help out. Praise the Lord! We haven't told Bradley about his surgery. I think he is going to freak when they take him from us, but I know he'll be fine. So, I'm praying they'll have some cool way to distract him. Bradley is still doing great with Austin and loves him so much. Austin loves Bradley too, and I often see them smiling and laughing at each other. Which by the way, Austin is laughing out with this big chuckle now. It's wonderful to hear. Back to Bradley. He helped us load the mulch with his little wheelbarrow and shovel and take it to the backyard; we were pretty impressed with his strength and endurance. He has always been a strong kid though, obviously physically and mentally.

Austin also had an appointment with the urologist for his circumcision to be schedule. They weren't able to do it in the hospital, because he was so premature. That will be done later this fall perhaps arond his first birthday to give his lungs more time to grow stronger. Austin is doing well. He had a well visit back at the end of June and had his 3rd round of shots. That appointment was equivalent to his 6 month well-visit, so I had to answer the developmental quesitons for a 6 month old. He actually did pretty well. His EI and the pediatrician both believe that his verbal skills are beyond a 6 month old which is amazing because he is just now as of yesterday 4 months adjusted. He has come overcome so much and come such a long way considering what he has been through. He is currently about 14.5 pounds! He was 24 inches long at his well visit. We started back on dairy based formula and so far so good for almost 2 weeks now. We're planning on trying breastmilk in a few weeks. We also are going to start him on solids in the next few weeks just for practice on eating. I think we're going to try bananas first. I'm going to start in the mornings, because he won't take a bottle anyway until after 10am or so. He wakes up, but he doesn't eat more than an ounce or so.

I guess that is it for now. It has been amazing to see all the miracles that God has given us, more to follow on that later!

Family Pictures

Last week Chris took a couple of vacation days since he didn't have any scheduled for the entire summer. His first day off, Thursday, we went to get family pictures at Portrait Innovations. The boys cried ALOT; Austin was tired and overstimulated and Bradley was freaked by the photographer. However, we still managed to get some good pictures! Above is our family portrait; I love it! It is a little hard looking at it knowing Brayden and Lexi are missing (can't you imagine our family with 2 more precious blessings?!!), but we're very thankful for our 2 boys here on Earth. Below is a precious pictures of my 2 oldest boys! I can't believe how old they both are getting. Austin isn't a newborn anymore, and Bradley is such a big boy! Friday Austin had an appointment with the cardiologist to have an ECHO. It came back looking OK. He still has a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a type of opening in the heart between the right and left atrium, however they are going to follow it and hope it closes on it's own. He'll go back in the fall for another ECHO. This is related to his prematurity; he had another opening at birth too but they were able to close it with medicine. So, we'll take this as it's not too big of a deal at this point. Then, Saturday Bradley got a BIG BOY bed! I can't believe my oldest baby boy is getting so big. He was perfectly content staying in his crib, but alas he had started to break the spindles out of the crib! ha ha He is one strong, big boy. :-) Chris also started tilling the backyard in preparation for our sod. We have red clay, and it's like cement. So, he did that to help break up the soil and then will go back and rake it. I also started cooking for Father's Day. We had both fathers over Sunday for lunch (Chris's sister and my brother and their families). Needless to say I cooked a lot, but it was well worth it. We had homemade BBQ pork, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, string beans, freshly baked bread, and homegrown Wicker tomatoes. An awesome southern meal that was completed with homemade peach cobbler and ice cream. (one of Chris' patients brought him a whole bushel of SC peaches; they were so good). All the Dads seemed to thoroughly enjoy their meal; it's been a long time since I cooked like that. It was a busy long weekend, but it was fun. We but the boys to bed the other night, grabbed the baby monitors, and stayed outside until midnight drawing out the backyard beds. It's going to look great we think! We had our irrigation system installed this week, next is the sod and mulch. Chris is hoping to get a load of mulch delivered for us to put out this weekend. I keep reminding him that we do have a 3 month old (who requires a lot of attention and not too much sleep) and 3 year old. How crazy are we to be doing this right now? It will be worth it; we just have to run out there and get things done when the boys are sleeping or tag team staying inside with Austin. Bradley likes to get right in the middle of yard work; Chris and I have always loved being outside. Bradley enjoyed being outside with Chris while he was tilling which I couldn't. Bradley is all boy though, in fact he was covered in dirt head-to-toe and had to be carried straight to the bath. Anyway, that is about it. We go to the doctor Thursday, so I'll post that later. Night night!

Brothers!

Our big 3 year old!

Our big 3 month old (well that is his adjusted age)

Our Sumo wrestler!

Look at that smile!

He really didn't want to smile big for any pictures!

Cheese!

We love these little boys so much!

His Mama loves the spiked hair; it does that on it's own

Bradley still loves to "rock, rock."

Austin was fast asleep by the time we took the last pictures.

He looks like such an angel. I imagine his little brother and sister looking like this sleeping safely with our Lord in Heaven.

Just having fun!

Wow, there is no doubt that they're brothers!

Bradley using the Bumbo Seat. Bradley's legs were too big as a baby to use it!

I smile all the time!

Look at that sweet face!

Bradley sick with his double

ear infection asking if he could PLEASE

watch one more show!

They already love each other so much!

Good way to end this post - Austin's thoughts on his Bumbo Seat!