Day 11: Where did Day 10 go?

It'll come as no surprise to those who already have children, but I can't stop myself from saying "Wow, kids are a lot of work!"

I know... "Duh!"

Two at once may not be fully twice the work, but there's no volume discount. Emily isn't even here yet!

Emily update: She's still in the NICU. She had a "desat" (her oxygen level dropped below the happy number) the other night during a feeding and the neonatologist wanted to keep her a bit longer just to be sure she's stable and to give me and Amy some time to learn how to pace her feeding. We have to stop her from pulling too much on the bottle, lest she "forget to breathe". I tried it for the first time today, and I was surprised at the GRIP she had on that nipple in her mouth! If she has no further incidents, she could be ready to come home on Thursday. Another option is to send her home with a monitor which we'd prefer not to do, especially since it won't be used during feeding, only while she's sleeping. To be a parent is to worry. Triplets, 4 weeks premature and one has potential breathing problems... It's getting to be an awfully big stack. Our firstborn looks good, she's gaining weight, and there's a chance she might crack the 5 lb mark by Thursday! (4lb, 14oz today) It was so hard for Amy and me to leave her there when we had our hearts set on taking her home, but if the experts say they want to keep an eye on her, it's very hard to disagree with them. We've done so well and come so far. Hang in there Emily! We're coming for you!

Noah and Sydney update: They do so much! Wriggle, twist, flail their little arms and legs, shake their heads back and forth, and that's just when we try to feed them! Noah is becoming less terrified of diaper changes, so I hope that means his pain is subsiding some. A good portion of the time I would've used to post last night was probably spent staring down at a child in my arms. Sleeping, feeding or just holding them and looking at the expressions they make up at me. I could do it for hours... Not sure what their weights are, but I can tell you they *are* gaining weight. They are filling out and looking healthier by the day. Noah's very red skin tone is fading down to a more normal shade. Sydney's very narrow face is rounding out and she is resembling her sister more and more. We may yet have trouble telling them apart!

Yesterday Amy's mother and sister came down to stay a few days and help. Added to my mother up from Texas for an extended stay, the workload is at least manageable. This is when the importance of family shows through. Amy and I going through this alone would've been all but impossible! Thankfully, we don't have to worry about that. We have family. We are family. Emily, Noah and Sydney will know how important family has been in getting them into this world and caring for them when they needed it most. Amy and I will make sure they know. We can never thank our family members enough for their help. And the family members too far away to help in person, you are not left out of this. We were supported long before the beans arrived by gestures of support, care packages, caring phone calls and too many other things to count. Amy's family helped us move into this nice new house. We couldn't have done any of this without family.

It's almost time for me to wrap this up. I ran a little long, but I needed to make up for yesterday. I'll work on getting the latest pics posted as soon as I can, we have some shots of Noah and Sydney coming home, adjusting to their new surroundings and a couple from today of Emily in a nice change of clothes after her feeding.

-John