NICU Graduation and Babies Homecomings!!!

Before we start, I want to write a little bit about Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because not everyone knows what it is.  By definition (Wiki), all babies born before gestational week 37 are called pre-term birth and pre-term babies are considered premature.  The care unit for premature babies is NICU. The time spent in NICU is positively correlated to the degree of the baby's prematurity.  So, the sooner you give birth to your baby, the longer your baby will (likely) stay in NICU.

There are three different levels of NICU in Canada, level 1, level 2, and level 3, with 3 being the highest level of care.  They are equipped differently to deal with different degree of prematurity or medical complications. Mount Sinai is one of the largest NICU that provide level 3 care in GTA. We are so blessed to live in Toronto, where we have direct access to some of the world leading hospitals such as Toronto General, Princesses Margaret, Sick Kids and Mount Sinai.

Back to our story.  Fion gave birth to our triplets boys at week 35 + 5 days, so the boys were considered premature at birth. Each boy appeared to sustain different level of premature challenges. Among them, Cedric was doing the best and only suffered in a few minor issues.  However, Skylar and Ethan had both spent some time at NICU for different reasons. I am not going to touch on the specific challenges the boys faced here as I know that I will return to this in my future postings.

To give you an idea about what NICU looks like, below are some of the pictures I took at Mount Sinai's NICU.

This is my 1st first-person perspective of NICU.  Skylar was sleeping comfortably inside it!

The incubator is surrounded with many state-of-the-art equipment to help monitor the Skylar's conditions and progress.

Fion's 1st visit to Skylar at NICU (48+ hours after birth).  Skylar was transferred to NICU right after birth, so this is the official moment of Fion's first face-2-face meet and greet with Skylar!

Skylar feeling very secured under his mother's hand.  A very touchy moment T_T!!!

Considered less premature in compared to Skylar.  Ethan required less life supporting / monitoring equipment.  He was later returned to us after he spent 48 hours in NICU.

Ethan in his deep sleep under the total care offered by the NICU team.

Finally...  The boys are graduated from NICU and home!!!

The 3 beanies cuddling at bassinet (Left to Right - Skylar, Ethan, Cedric) - Photographing challenge: all eyes needed to be opened

The 3 beanies resting at nursing pillows (Left to Right - Ethan, Skylar, Cedric) - Photographing challenge: all needed to be facing and smiling to the camera

The 3 beanies sleeping on couch (Left to Right - Cedric, Skylar, Ethan) - Photographing challenge: sleeping quietly together

Next: Update on the individual boy to follow...  Thank you for reading

------ To be continued ------