We had another big day today

It has been a really busy weekend. We had a party for my step son last night with his mom's famly and our family. Which went great and he had a wonderful time and thought it was so cool to have so many people at the party for him. He will be 7 on tuesday. Then today we had a surprise party for my mom. She turned 50 on April 21st and to throw her off we had the party a week late. My aunt also turned 50 on the 21st since they are twins and all. We did have a great time but I am really tired. This is my second big party that i have thrown or helped with since the middle of march. Plus had a big walk in between the walks and of course working and taking care of my kids. We got to see some of our NICU friends which is always great. I think the kids enjoyed. i made chocolate suckers and we gave them to the 6 2 years old and they all sat in chairs in a line and ate them. It was so cute. So our next big get together with the 11 kids from the nicu we are going to try the sucker thing again. Maddie and Preston kept sharing their sucker with eachother. They are so cute and make mommy so proud. Preston also got to dance alot today with the help of Aunt Jessica and he had a blast. He loved it and mommy could of cried seeing him danching like he was. It is always a good thing to see when your child has disabilites like him. But he is the best natured little guy I know and he just loves to do whatever he can. And thanks to Aunt Jessica he got to dance and he loved it. I will try and post some pictures and hopefully i can figure out a video that i got of him and Maddie.


Maddie and aunt Jess




Preston dancing



Some of our NICU friends



My mom

Two year checkup

Well we had our two year well care visit today. A month late but better late then never. The kids didn't like it to much and I am not worn out and my nerves are shot but you got to do what you got to do. It didn't go as well as I planned. I was thinking no shots or anything today. I was wrong first both kids got their fingers poked to test for Lead posining something medical card requires. Then Preston got a shot to help protect him from different strands of mentigitis. Since he has an implant he has a higher risk of getting it. So now he has to have this shot done every five years. Preston is doing pretty good he is up to 23.6 pounds and 33 3/4 inches long. They believe that he is going to be almost 6 foot which my husband is. They just say he is going to be tall and skinny. He is in like the 60th percent tile on the growth chart for his age for his height which is good. But he is in like the 10 percent tile for his weight got to get him fattend up but the doctor is not worried about him. Madison on the other hand is going to stay tiny. The doctor isn't that worried about her but we are going to be keeping a closer eye on her. She has always been on tiny side. But she was staying right around 20 pounds but she has lost 2 pounds. She is now 18.4 pounds and is 32 inches tall. She is growing just slowly. But as many of you know she is non stop from the time she gets up until she goes to bed and sometimes at night i don't think she lays still. So now I have to get her to fatten up some more. We are hopeing with the use of pedasure that she will gain. If not we are going to have her get some testing done to make sure everything is ok. Which we think is she has no symptoms of malnutrition or no signs of her not absorbing what she is eating. So say some prayers that she gains some weight.

More March of Dimes Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our walk. We really did have a blast and it is for such a great cause. So the next time you see a March of Dimes bucket put your spare change in it. Every thing makes a difference.

Here is a picture of my team




Me speaking to the crowd at the walk



The stars with my kids names on them Hayden's is silver which also had a ballon on it to represent that he is an angel

March of Dimes Walk

Wow what a great day today was. We had our local March of dimes walk. It went great I had about 20 people show up for my team which is even better. It is really great to see so many people come together for my kids and raise money for such a great reason. Our team this year raised at least 1600.00 dollars I still have some money coming in so will have the offical account soon hopefully. March of dimes helps do reserch on prematurity babies. They help find causes on why some people have premature babies. My main reason of course of having my triplets born so early was because they were triplets. No it dosen't mean I should of had them so early and alot of people go alot longer then I did. One day we are hopeing to give every baby a healthy nine months.
This week in Central Ohio
238 babies were born
33 babies were born preterm
23 babies were born low birthweight
2 babies did not survive to celebrate their first birthday


In 2005 there were 19,321 preterm birhds in Ohio- some babies are born so small they they have to fight for each breath, and some are born so soon that the best medical care cannot save them.

To me these are some pretty scary facts and I have been on both sides. When I first got admitted to the hospital with preterm labor the told me over and over again if the babies were born before 24 weeks I would have to watch my babies die. Then they were born at 24 weeks and 6 days and then I had to watch these tiny babies fight for every breath for weeks. Thank you to my team for such a wonderful day and outcome. I will post a few pictures now and hopefully will have more to come.

Daddy helping Preston walk across the finish line. Preston wanted to walk so bad and he got his chance thaks to daddy helping.




Maddie walking part of the trail and helping push the stroller. She walked at least half a mile to a mile on and off

Getting more up to date

OK so I am going to try to get this the blog that brings us up to date with what is going on in our life's. The past several months I think I am still in a fog from losing Hayden. It doesn't seem possible at that he has been gone 11 months. Of course it doesn't seem possible either that my babies are 2. I have learned to try and deal with the things as they come. Of course that is easier said then done. Preston has been diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy in his legs. He also has weak trunk control. He also has severe to profound hearing loss in both ears. Or I should say he did. On April 7th of 2008 he had a cochlear implant put in. When the implant is turned on he should be able to hear at about what we hear at which is about 20 to 30 decimals. This implant is basically another ear for him. His cochleas did not develop right when i was pregnant with the trio. Hayden also suffered hearing loss not sure how severe or what type since he passed away before we could get testing done. Out of the three kids i have had both of my boys were hard of hearing so their is a good chance if we have more they could have the same issues. I always thought the boy's hearing loss was because they were born so early but that doesn't look like the case anymore. Madison can hear fine her hearing is good she just doesn't listen. Preston is army crawling all over the place right now but that is about it. He can't crawl yet or walk, or sit for long periods of time. But I know over time he will be able to. He has really came along way and is very smart. If it wasn't for his cp and his hearing loss he would be right about age 2 in learning. I am very proud of him he shows us something new everyday and is a very happy child. He has the sweetest smile that can just melt your heart. Some big blue eyes I better start warning little girls now cause he is going to break alot of hearts when he is older. I think even with his issues he is going to be a ladies man. Maddie is pretty much caught up with other 2 year olds. Her speech is a little behind and she has some balancing issues but nothing major. She might also have mild cp but we are not sure yet. She is rotten to the core. She is into everything but she can be the sweetest thing ever. She likes to baby Preston and be his other mommy. If he starts crying she goes gets him a lovey or something to help him calm down. She used to even at a very young age she would she us trying to calm one of the boys by rubbing their back or something and she would do the same thing. She amazes us everyday with the stuff she does or even the stuff she trys to say. She is a wild one and if she is tired she is even worse. Here are some pictures of the kids.

May 15, 2007

Everything was going good at the start of 2007. Their first birthday came and everything was great. Then Hayden got put in the hospital a couple nights cause we thought he was having seizures. It turned out not to be as far as we know. We did a follow up appt. a couple weeks later with the neurologist and she told us she didn't have a crystal ball about his future. She told us to take in one day at a time. Which we have learned. On May 15 our world changed forever. The morning went fine did the same routine as always the kids had therapy in home. Everything was going good all the kids seemed fine. After therapy left I fed the kids their bottles and then they all went down for a nap. They always go to nap at the same time it gives me a chance to unwind. I checked on them several times that day like usual. They all took a really nap that day or so I thought. Preston woke up right when my husband got home and I went to get him out of his crib. His crib is the farthest from the door. As I was walking out of the triplets room I noticed Hayden laying funny in his crib. He had to sleep on his stomach because he was the most comfortable that way. I already noticed that he had turned around in his crib but he did that sometimes. As I was walking out of the room I noticed Hayden's face was down in the mattress. Sometimes he did do that when he was stretching. So I shook his shoulder that way he would move his head. Well when I did that nothing happened. I wasn't to worried about thought he was in a deep sleep. So I shook him a little harder and still nothing. I also noticed that he was cold but the fan was on in their room and he was in a onesize so didn't think much of it. After he didn't move the second time I layed Preston down in Hayden's crib and flipped Hayden over. It was the worst thing ever. MY child was gone. He had passed away during his sleep. I did not know that at the time. I screamed for my husband to call 911 and ran out of their room with Hayden and laid him on the floor were my husband started doing CPR. The ambulance is right down the street from us and when they got here they just scooped him up and took off. They would not let me go with them so our neighbor took us to the hospital while my landlords watched my other two kids. We get to the hospital and they wouldn't let us back at first. At this time I still did not realize he was gone I guess I was hopeing that I caught it in time and that he was going to be ok. The doctor talked to us about Hayden's past history and I gave it to them real fast and told them i wanted to be with my son. They finally let us go be with him and they were still working on him. They were doing CPR on him still so I just rubbed his foot and kept talking to him telling him everything was going to be fine that he has been through so much he could get through this also. Well then I saw the doctor wave his hand telling the nurse to stop CPR. I screamed at them no don't stop he is my baby and they are like we can do this all night and it wouldn't change anything. I am like I don't care that is my son don't stop. They wouldn't listen and then wrapped my baby boy in a blanket and handed him to me. Just like that my life was shattered. He was 14 months old when he passed away and our life's are not the same. Hayden was a amazing little boy. Even knows he had a rough time doing stuff he would still try. He had a temper on him and kept us all in line. His nicknames were boo boo, and tank. He got the name tank from his daddy cause he could put away the food, he got the nick name boo boo from me and I am the only one that calls him that. I called him that because I use to tease him and tell him mommy was just trying for a little girl and got two boys also. So Preston is boo and Hayden is boo boo since he was the youngest. The autopsy came back undetermined natural causes. i am not sure how a 14 month old child dies of natural causes but who knows. His doctors and I think that he either had a one time seizure, or he had a muscle spasm in his throat and it closed off. Which by the time I found him it would of be opened back up since he was gone. He was laid to rest on May 19, 2007. We had probably a 100 people at the burial and the night before we probably had over 200 people come to his calling hours. It was great seeing so many people care about him and our family. He is missed everyday we go visit him everyday and that is one of the hardest things ever. I hate cemetery's but to visit Hayden in a way that is where i have to go. plus I have to make sure his marker is clean and that everything else is ok. Here are a few pictures of my angel.

Hayden being held by daddy in the NICU



Hayden dreaming about how to break out of the NICU



Hayden on his first birthday
















Hayden after his first cupcake

More of our story

I am trying to get everyone up to date but not sure if it is possible. Like I said the kids are 2 years old. When the trio got home we were pretty busy. It was crazy around the house but how I miss those days. The first year went by pretty quick. The kids were in therpey once a week in the house and then Hayden started therpey 2 days a week out of the home. The appts kept us really busy. Maddie started doing everything she was suppose to around the time she was suppose to. The doctors all told us in the NICU that she was going to have all these problems. Guess what she dosen't. Preston also had therpey one day a week out of the home. The first year was really a blur. I should of wrote things down but didn't. We were always doing something between diapers, bottles, baths and just spending time with our kids. It was amazing to watch them do new things. Since the boys had such a rough time with doing stuff it was awesome to see them be able to do something in therpey and they would be so proud of them selfs. I am not sure what else to write. This is harder then I thought it would be.

NICU Days

This kind of hard to write when it has been over two years. To put you guys all up to date on the kids and stuff would take me forever. So this post is going to sum up the NICU for the most part. We were in the NICU along time. I wish I would of started this blogging back in the day. Their are so many imporant times in their stay in the NICU that would be great to share but it would take me forever. All three babies at the end of March had to have surgery to close their PDA. PDA is a vessel between the lung and heart it is suppose to close after the babies are born but since the babies were born so early it didn't close. Which is common in preemies. It also didn't close with meds. So at the end of march they all had surgery. After that they did pretty good and was just basically growing. You know even knows I hated to watch my trio suffer and struggle to live and struggle now with issues. It was kind of cool to watch them develop on the outside like they would of inside my stomach. I would of done everything to keep them in longer to make the kids lifes eaiser. Maddie was on the vent for 7 weeks and the boys were on the vent for 8 weeks. Then they all went to c-pap can't remember how long they were on them. I know Maddie was the last one off and I believe Hayden was the first one off. They were so cute they looked like little space dudes or something. I waited so long to hear my babies cry and it was amazing to hear them cry the first time. It took us awhile to get use to them crying. I remember the first time Maddie cryed we could hear her outside the isolate but I thought it was a baby in another room. I was so used to my babies not being able to cry I didn't know it was her. I was sitting by Hayden and the nurse is like your daughter is crying. I just started crying with her. When you watch your children for weeks on vents and you are not able to do anything but maybe change diapers, that dpended on what nurse you have. It was great when all the kids went on nasula cannual. They were off all their iv's and stuff. All they had on were the monitors and the oxygen. It was the best feeling in the world to be able to go in the NICU and get my babies out of their isolates when I wanted to. I didn't have to ask for permisson to hold my kids. i didn't have to wait for the nurses to get them out for me. I could do finally after weeks in the NICU I got to feel like a real mommy. We were in the NICU 14 and 15 weeks. Madison came home first even knows they told me she would be last since she was tiny. The boys came home about ten days after her or so. The day after she came home both boys had to have ROP surgery done on their eyes. Which is laser surgery on the Retinas. Alot of preemies their eyes don't develop like they should the vessels in their eyes don't and that can cause major problems including blindness. So that kept the boys in longer. Hayden was also having some major eating issues it was hard for him to eat from the bottle. His suck was real weak and it would take him a long time to eat. I got him to eat as many bottles as he needed to to be able to come home. On June 21, 2006. Two days before my due date which is great. We expected them to be in the hospital alot longer. They all came home on apena monitors and oxygen. That was hard we were always trying to untangle all the tubes and wires. When we went somewhere it would take awhile to get them all loaded up we had to switch their oxygen tanks from one to another and everything else. We had alot of appts at first. It was worth it in so many ways. We were finally home with all three babies. We got to know them with out the nurses watching us and we got to feel like parents for the first time. We had a lot of help at first from family. With getting to appts. and stuff my husband worked during the day so my mom and one of her friends would go with us to all of our appts. It was pretty much one adult per child most of the time. All the kids ended up coming off of the oxygen and monitors at some time. I can't remember when. Maddie got her bowel reconnected in july of 2006 and thank goodness that is the last time she has been in the hospital. I was going to post a slideshow of the kids in the NICU but couldn't do it. I am not sure how to post a slideshow I can do a video but not slideshow. As soon as I figure this all out I can maybe do it.

The Trio

Like I said before the trio were born on March 9th 2006. At 16 weeks early. After they were born they took them to the room next to us were the doctors and nurses from akron Childrens were waiting on them to get them stable so they could be transfered to Akron Childrens. I don't remember much about that day due to it was such a blur and I am sure the pain meds didn't help that matter. I remember them wheeling them into the recovery room 1 baby at a time before they took them over to childrens. I remember them just being covered with wires, they were so tiny and sick looking. They were beautiful to me but very scary also. They had wires and tube down their throat it was very hard to see your babies going through that. They got me to my room and while I rested my husband, parents and mother in law went over to Childrens to see the babies and bring me back pictures. They came back and told me all about them and I was at ease with what was going on. i was pretty excited also to be a mommy for the first time. We went to bed that night and I got up around 3 in the morning to pump and i called the hospital to check on my babies. It wasn't a very good report. The doctor told us that Preston had been on a hundred percent oxygen and they have given him all the meds they could at the time. He told me we should come over since they didn't know if he was going to make it. It is like 3 o'clock in the morning and the nurse and my husband and mom are trying to get me ready to get me to the hospital which is about a block or two away. So they get me ready drug me up with more pain meds since I had a c-section and got me to the hospital. When we got to the NICU I didn't not know what to expect at all. I was thrown into a world of chaos. It was crazy the monitors beeping like crazy, tubes everywhere, machines, iv's everywhere. Remember looking at my children and they didn't look like babies they looked like pincushions or something. When we got to the NICU preston was doing better he stats were coming down and Hayden was starting to act up. I don't remember how long we stayed at the hospital but I am sure it was awhile. I remember i kept trying to fall asleep in the wheelchair and then i would ask the nurses something and not remember what they told me because i would being falling back to sleep. The babies like I said were very sick when they were born. Their eyes were still fused shut when they were born for about two weeks. Their skin was very red and dry looking so they kept putting this gel stuff on them to keep them from drying out. I couldn't rub my babies to comfort them cause their nerves were not developed. It would hurt them and then their stats would go all over the place. I could touch them but not for long and as long as it was a firm touch not a rub. It was a very scary time for us. When the trio were about five days old they did head u/s on all of them and Maddie's came back bad. She had a level 2 and level 4 brain bleed. They told us she would have severe cerebral palsy and mental retardation. Two days later I called over early in the morning to check on the kids after I pumped and got told that Maddie was very sick. She was on death's door. They couldn't get a blood pressure on her, her oxygen levels were going up and her belly was black and swollen. I got up and got dressed and got over to the NICU. At this time my mom and I were staying at the Ronald Mcdonald House. I got over to the NICU and went straight to my daughters bed. It was a very scary sight. She was gray looking cold to the touch and not moving much. We called family in thinking the worst. All of our family lives an hour or more away from the hospital. My husband got there and went straight to maddie's bed and put his hand on her foot and she gave him a good kick. He said then that she isn't done fighting and that we are not giving up on her. They took us back into a private room and told us that we should take her off the vent and let her pass. Main reason cause of her brain bleeds, they told me putting her through surgery didn't make sense since she would be worth much anyway. We decided that was not the option and we wanted them to do surgery. They preped the NICU for the surgery they did surgery right in the NICU at her bed. She had a bowel rupture and went into septic shock. The surgeron came out a couple of hours later and told us that everything look good right now and that it was a hole in her bowel. They gave her an ostomy which is they brought her large intestine out through her belly and that is what she pooped out of. That night my husband and I stayed with her at the hospital and they came and got us around 2 in the morning and told us we should hold her. They did not think she was going to make it through the night. All the blood products they gave her was coming right back out. She bleed like this for over 24 hours when the nurse practioner finally had enough and took the bandage off of her stoma and found a hole in it which was causing all the bleeding. They called the surgeon who put something on it and then she stopped bleeding and swelled up like a big purple grape. Her belly was still purpler so when she swelled up she looked funny. Here are a few pictures of the kids at birth and when Maddie had her surgery.





Preston at birth 1lb 9oz

Hayden at Birth 1lb 10oz

Madison at Birth 1lb 4oz

Madison four days after her bowel rupture

First Blog

Wow I got a blog page. I have been wanting one for awhile. This will be a great way to share what is going on in my life with everyone else. Also a great way for me to share my thoughts. I am not sure if I care who reads this it is more for me then anything. We have been through alot the last two years and at times since I have been writing on myspace and stuff it has helped. I am not good at talking to others about my feelings but to type them out makes it alot eaiser on me.
For those of you that don't know us I guess I will go back in time. My husband and I got married on April 13 2002. My husband has a son from another relationship who is 7. After a couple of years of trying to have a child of our own we got pregnant but lost the baby do to it being in my tube. After a few months we got pregnant again with some help from Clomid. I was just shy of six weeks and found out by ultra sound that we were having three babies instead of one. It was a shock to us and a very scary time also. We had already lost one child and were scared to death that we would lose another baby. We knew the risk of having triplets but we decided to go with one day at a time and go from there. As the pregnancy continued we were getting more and more use to the idea of having three babies. Not everyone gets to have triplets so I guess we were chosen for this task and we were going to do what we can to be the best parents for these children. At 21w and 5days I woke up with alot of back pain. I was staying with my parents at the time and my mom took me to our local hospital. They checked me and i was in labor. I was about 1 cm dialated. So they loaded me up and sent me to Akron General Hospital. I stayed there for the next 20 some days or so. At 22 weeks the put in a emergency cerclage in. That is a stitch they put in my cervix to help keep the babies in longer. In most places around the United States. If you have a child before 24 weeks they do not do anything. I laid in bed on complete bedrest until I hit 24 weeks. I was then able to get up to go to the potty for about four days. i woke up on the morning of March 6 2006 not feeling right they checked me and I was dialated around the stitch and my baby A was breech. His bag of water was also bulging through the stitch. They put me in a position were my head was lower then my legs for gravity to help keep the babies in. i laid like that for about four days and then the doctor decided it was time to take the babies. I was 24 w and 6 days. We knew this was way to early and that our children would have a fight for their lifes. If we didn't deliver then baby A's water could break and he would come out since he was so small and if we were not ready for them he would die. I was about 7cm dialated around the stitch so the doctor decided it would be the best to take all of the babies then. On March 9th 2006, at 3:06, 3:07 and 3:08 pm we had three beautiful babies. It was the best day of our lifes but also one of the scariest. We did not know what to expect with them being born so early. Preston was 1lb 9oz, 12 3/4 inches long, Madison was 1lb 4oz, 12 1/4 inches long, and Hayden was 1lb 10oz, and 12 1/4 inches long. I will write more later. I have to get some stuff done around the house.