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 ------

Additional Footage to C-Section Birth and Triplets

Back by popular demand, I finally found the energy to put myself back together and straighten out everything I had experienced in the past few weeks.  Below are some additional footage about our Cesarean (C-Section) delivery, which gave birth to 3 beautiful sons, Skylar, Cedric and Ethan.  I will try to be as brief as possible and not bore you with tooooooo much details.

On November 17th @ 7:00am, we arrived at Mount Sanai Hospital for our scheduled C-Section delivery to be performed @ 9:00am.  Let me back track for a little here.  Fion and I would never thought that we could have made the pregnancy this far with our triplets.  All these time I had been thinking about taking Fion to the Labor & Delivery (Triage) due to some sort of medical complications.  It felt absolutely surreal to be able to "walk in" with Fion to the registration office in that morning.  The anxiety toward what was about to happen mixed with the excitement to meet our sons made what appeared to be a chill morning (-7 degree Celsius) felt like NO-BIG-DEAL at all.

We finally completed the registration and took the elevator up to the 7th floor - Labor & Delivery.  A nurse at the reception was expecting our arrival and had immediately taken us to a birthing suite / waiting room and begun with the preoperative procedures.  As the clock slowly turned toward 9:am, our O.B. Dr. Murphy and her team walked in to congratulate us for making into this far for this pregnancy (Week 35 + 5 days) and made a final assessment on Fion's readiness to preform the operation in the final minutes.  To prepare for the C-Section delivery, Fion must not consume any solid food or non-clear fluids (milk, juice, coffee, etc.) after mid-night the evening before the surgery.  I didn't know the exact reason, but my research had told me that this had something to do to prevent pulmonary aspiration, a condition occurs when stomach contents enter lungs / block airflow, putting patient at risk for serious infections.  Failure to comply to this may result in cancellation of the C-Section Delivery.

Just as everything appeared to be moving toward the right direction, Dr. Murphy came in with a bad news - Neonatal Incentive Care Unit (NICU) was full, so our C-Section operation would need to postpone until NICU could make room for all our babies.  She further explained that this was just a precautionary measure that the hospital had considered, in case any of our preemie babies (borne prior to gestational week 37) needed the medical attention of NICU.  Recalled from earlier post that both Cedric (Baby A) and Ethan (Baby C) were estimated to weight 5 lbs +/-, so they had a fairly good chance to make it through without going through NICU.  However, the same might not be applied to Skylar as he was only estimated to weighted 4 lbs+/- and had a much greater need / risk for NICU and we wanted NICU to be ready.

So, the wait continued...  The nurse would come in every 2 hours or so and advise me not to go anywhere far as the operation could resume within the next hour or so.  She also reminded Fion not to consume anything as that could void the operation today according to the hospital protocol.  Needless to say that this was the worst nightmare for Fion as she had always been munching whatever that came across her senses.  To made matter worst, she hadn't been eaten anything since last mid-night, so this definitely was the longest starvation ever in her whole pregnancy!

Finally came the moment of truth at 3pm, the nurse came in and told us that they received the "go ahead" from NICU and the C-Section was resumed at 4pm!  OK...  Enough story telling from me...  Below are some additional pictures of the C-Section birth + babies footage.  I must say that there are so much more about the babies I would like to share with you all.  Please stay tuned for updates.  Thank you for all your prayers and supports.

One last look at the triplets bump in the waiting room!  It's hard to believe how the babies can fit inside it.

Suited up as I will be joining Fion for her C-Section Delivery! 

The very first view of Skylar [Color removed by photo editor to improve viewer experience]

The very first view of Cedric [Color removed by photo editor to improve viewer experience]

The very first view of Ethan [Color removed by photo editor to improve viewer experience] - Unfortunately, this is the best shot I got for Ethan.  I was too overwhelmed by what's going on at the operating room.

Our O.B. Dr. Murphy in action

The med team in action.  There were a total of 15 doctors and nurses in the operating room.  3 doctors and nurses per baby.  6 doctors and nurses for Fion.

Fion's first face-2-face meet and greet with Cedric =)

A close up shot at Cedric.  He was yawning and was probably in deep sleep prior to the operation.

Fion's first face-2-face meet and greet with Ethan =)

A close up shot at Ethan.  He was cool like a cucumber and didn't get bothered by all the sounds and actions around him.

I was handful with Cedric (left) and Ethan (Right).  Noted the mask I wear, it's to prevent me from passing on any infectious virus to Fion (precautionary procedure). 

Fion + Ethan + Cedric + Matt.  The first photo for the 4 of us.  Noted the yellow door behind me?  It's where Skylar had taken to.  He was immediately transferred to the operating room next door for some much needed medical procedures.

Skylar all wired up inside his incubator.  His condition was considered very well and didn't even require any respiration assistance. 

Skylar grabbing onto my finger and didn't want to let go...  In fact, It was a very firm grip and I knew right away that he would be returning to us very soon!

Fion came out of the operating room with Ethan on her chest and Cedric between her legs.  The operation was over.

Ethan (Right) and Cedric (Left) slept in the same baby carrier with mom at the recovery room.  This marked the end of the pregnancy and the true beginning of my family of 5!

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

Update: Our Very First Family Pic

First thing first, I apologize for the delay in updating this Blog.  Well, sometimes, the truly great things in life is worth waiting for...  We have finally got our very first family pic done today.

Matt & Fion + Plus 3 (Skylar, Ethan, Cedric) - left to right

A close up to our three little sleepy princes...

That's it for now...  Despite my new baby schedule, I am still working through my photo gallery as there are over one thousand pictures taken at various stages of this triplets birth story.  I will be posting additional footage in the near future as soon as I have a chance to work through them.

Thanks for reading...

Matt.

Week 36 - Cesarean Birth

"FINALLY, THEY ARE HERE!!!"

First thing first, my sincerely apologize for failed to provide update to everyone who care soooooooooooooooo much about our three little beanies...  I was so tied up with my 3 newborns as they all seem to face different premature developmental challenges...  I was being dragged into one meeting after another, from respiration nurses, nutritionists, pediatricians, NICU's staffs, postpartum caring nurses, OBs, and many other who I had completely no idea what they do...  Sorry for my stupidity and lack of knowledge in medical terms.  I am just a bean counter, after all  :)

OK, let's jump straight into some updates to my precious beanies...

Oldest son (Baby A) - Skylar Nicholas Ho
Weighted: 3.8lbs - Formerly Baby B in my previous post.  He is the smallest of all, but had proven to be an ultra-competitive champion and beat his other 2 brothers to born first.  He is in NICU, but in stable condition considering his size and age.  Our NICU doctors + nurses raise no major concerns and he is expected to make a full recovery in the near future.

Admitted straight into NICU at birth due to underweight - My handsome son looks just like me and a winner!

A close up shot - sleeping on his tummy to aid breathings and the fist of God???

2nd son (Baby B) - Cedric Zachary Ho (Formerly Baby A - Identical to Skylar)
Weighted: 5.1 lbs - identical twin to Skylar.  Cedric finished as a runner-up by a fraction of second!  He had done well and spent the first night with Fion and I in the recovery room.

Cedric the runner up!

A sweet close up!  Cedric loves to yawns...  He also proves to be a good sleeper!

3rd son (Baby C) - Ethan Anthony Ho (Formerly Baby C - No change)
Weighted: 5.4 lbs - Our little giant.  Despite his size, Ethan did not seem to be doing as well as Cedric.  He is suffering with a little bit of difficulty in temp control, water in airway, and low blood sugar.  To be fair, due to their immaturity, all 3 beanies appeared to be suffered in different degrees of low blood sugar.

Ethan the finisher.  He is patience and has a pretty face looks just like Fion.  I can already foresee that he will be the prefect mommy-boy for Fion.

A sweet close up!  Just like his mom, Ethan seems to love his handheld device, which in many case I have no idea what it does.

Below are some of the very first family pics we have taken...

Fion in a hand full with Cedric (B - left) and Ethan (C - right)

Matt at NICU with Skylar (A)

Fion + Matt + Ethan (C - left) + Cedric (B - right)

Once again, I apologize for the delay in updating this Blog.  I know everyone can see how busy I was in the last 48 hours and I hope you enjoy the pics above.  

The Last Day of Pregnancy

OK.  Here comes the final day of this pregnancy.  To sum it all, Fion has gained a total of 60+ pounds, composed of an estimated 15+ pounds of babies combined (Baby A 5.4 lbs + Baby B 4.1 lbs + Baby C 5.1 lbs) - based on the latest measurements from our ultrasound scan last week.  Apart from this, I have no further statistics to update, but comparative photos between week 35 and 36.

Week 35 triplets bump - belly looked somewhat contained and quite rounded.

Week 36 triplets bump - FULL TERM!  Belly is pushed further out and dropped below the waist line.

To this end, I must say that Fion and I have been very blessed throughout this very special pregnancy. There wasn't any real scary moment from what I can remember.  Of course, we have taken many precautionary steps, such as "take everything easy", short-term sick leave from work after week 22 and voluntary modified bed rest, to avoid any activity that will potentially trigger preterm labor. Somehow, what we have done so far seem to help and lead to this final day of pregnancy (nearly week 36)!  The key here is to relax and celebrate small acheivement and move slowly from one milestone to the next week by week.  To celebrate this final milestone and the very last day of our couple living, we decided to go for Fion's favorite food - Hot Pot.

Fion patiently waiting for her hot pot to heat up while feeling extremely satisfied.  

To my surprise, Fion doesn't look pregnant in this picture at all!  Don't you all agree???  Gez...  It's hard to believe that I am going to be a father of 3 by tomorrow morning...  Anyway, despite the fact that tomorrow will be a busy but eventful day, I will certainly find time to provide you all with more updates.  Please stay tuned and come back tomorrow for the latest!

Week 35 Update: Final week count down!!!

Finally, here comes the final update to our last prenatal ultrasound appointment.  This update also signifies the final week count down to our cesarean delivery scheduled on Nov 17th. We have finished all pre-scheduled prenatal appointments since we admitted at Mount Sinai Hospital on July 18th.   Fion and I never thought that we would make it this far, perhaps week 30-32 tops!  Anyway, below is the latest update from our last appointment.

Beanie #1 (Baby A):
Position: cephalic (head down - right)
Average size: 34.4 weeks
Est. weight: 2,460 gm / 5.4 lbs (45 percentile) - continue to hold the baby GIANT award.

Beanie #2 (Baby B):
Position: cephalic (head down - left)
Average size: 32.4 weeks
Est. weight: 1,860 gm / 4.1 lbs (7 percentile) - growth continuing to slow, but still gained some much needed weight and lift himself pass the 4 lbs milestone!

Beanie #3 (Baby C):
Position: oblique (head sloping down and body slope toward left)
Average size: 33.8 weeks
Est. weight: 2,320 gm / 5.1 lbs (35 percentile) - no need to compete for nutrients (fraternal), Baby C continue to strive fairly well alongside with Baby A and he is only marginally 1 week behind Baby A at this gestational age.

Overall:
Our OB Dr. Murphy and her team raised no concern over any of the babies at this point.  To speak the truth, this is quite reassuring and I have just begun to enjoy this pregnancy knowing that our babies will do just fine with a much less chance of life-long health problems or developmental complications.

The below pic marks the end our prenatal ultrasound appointment.

Fion beaming with lives in one of the ultrasound rooms.  We spent hours with this great sneak-peek machine, which allowed us to monitor the growth of our babies week after week.

Week 34: Two more weeks to go!!!

People always say that baby weight will increase exponentially once entering 3rd trimester. The babies can gain up to 1/2 pound a week from this point onward.  Could you tell the difference between week 32 and week 34 from the below pictures?

Baby bump @ week 32

Baby bump @ week 34

Yes, you got it!  The bump definitely looks rounder and fuller (upper abdomen).  The belly also feels a lot firmer to touch and lots of baby movements that can be felt from all over the belly!  The baby punches can also be quite strong at times and can be spooky and caught you off guard. =P  The side effects of all these wonderful nature wonders?  Shortness of breath, heartburn, swelling, and fatigue just to name a few.  The good?  It's only 11 more days to go!  So, please stay tuned and come back often for update!