Lots of excitement in our NICU suite yetserday. When we arrived, Nurse Marie said, “Everyone’s doing really well. This one (pointing to Henry) gave us a little bit of trouble with the milk during his last feeding…” and of course Will and I start to imagine the worst. Spit up? Reflux? Vomit? Nope. Turns out he pulled out his feeding tube WHILE the feed was running. Translation: milk everywhere (except for in his belly).

Have we cultivated another mischief maker here? Has Sophie met her match? Has Henry just been waiting patiently all this time to do something sneaky when we all least expect it? Whatever the case may be, I was a little tickled that Henry had pulled that trick. As for the actual act of feeding? He still doesn’t like that tube in his mouth, but he’s breathing like a champ! And Marie said he was the winner in pacifier practice for today.

Henry’s oxygen meter — that’s room air!

Henry’s monitor — the middle number shows his percent saturation. Doesn’t get any better than that!

Henry himself, all bright-eyed and busy tailed!

Looking right at Dad after his “bedtime” story about Harry Potter.

We’re Getting Pretty Good at this Parenting Thing

You think diaper changing is a pain? Try doing it on a preemie. No, wait, try three preemies. While they are in their isolettes.

Changing Jack’s diaper

Over the past week or so, I’ve been getting a lot of practice getting them ready for kangaroo care. That involves turning them over if they’re sleeping on their tummies (which, they often are, of course!), taking their temperature, changing their diapers, and adjusting their tubes. Here I am changing Jack’s diaper. He did pee on my despite my best efforts. I’ll cut him some slack though. It’s a right of passage for any baby boy. Thanks to Nurse Marie’s guidance, I’ve also gotten the hang of taking the triplets in and out of their isolettes unassisted, so we can settle into kangaroo care on our own.

Today Marie taught Will how to change Henry’s diaper and how to take him in and out of the isolette. That’s a big deal! So while I cuddled Jack (he’s doing that half-smile thing again!)….

Will handled Henry, and I’m just sorry I couldn’t get to my camera to document it!

Meanwhile, Sophie was wide awake, setting off her alarms all over the place, eager for attention. We made sure she and I had a cuddle (after I put Jack back all by myself and retrieved Sophie single-handedly). Then it was time for her photos shoot.

“Okay, enough, Dad!”

“Honestly, it’s exhausting being this cute.”