December 29th- 4 weeks old





















I can't believe that 4 weeks have gone by. What a difference these 4 weeks have made. The boys are doing great and progressing well. They have been moved up to the 3rd floor NICU and now have a room to themselves. Isaac and Jeremiah are now co-bedding (sharing a mini crib). Samuel is still in his isolette but is moving right along as well. All 3 boys are starting to take their meals directly from a bottle.



ISAAC


Now Isaac is still my big boy and usually doesn't waste any energy by staying awake too long. He just loves to eat and then go back to sleep. Some nurses call him a dream baby because he's so easy to watch. He has gone from 4 lbs 1 oz to 6 lbs 2 oz.







JEREMIAH

Jeremiah is still my wiggle worm. He loves to be awake and he wastes lots of energy. Since he is now sharing a bed with Isaac I think he may be waking him up at times. I don't think Jeremiah will be sharing a bed with anyone once I get him home. Now Jeremiah has gone from 3 lbs 3 oz to 4 lbs 15 oz. He will be 5lbs in no time.


SAMUEL

Samuel is still my fighter. He was actually off his IV's before his big brothers. Now they have tried a few times to take him off oxygen and he will start off by doing ok then he begins to desat too often and they have to put him back on. He is currently on oxygen but at the lowest dosage. They hope to try to take him off again in the next few days. Samuel just needs a little extra help. He did go through a major surgery at 2 days old so he is doing very well considering everything he has been through. Now Samuel is very alert and loves for you to talk to him. He has big eyes and loves to look around with them. He looks like Lil Vic to me. Samuel has gone from 3lbs 2 oz to 4 lbs.

Now for Christmas one of the nurses, Stephanie, spoke to the doctor about sneaking in Lil Vic to meet his brothers. The doctor also doesn't like the new hospital policy and thought it was a great idea so the day after Christmas, December 26th, Lil Vic met his little brothers. It was such an awesome Christmas present.








































































December 15th- 2 weeks old


ISAAC










JEREMIAH












SAMUEL











Well our baby boys are now 2 weeks old. What a 2 weeks it's been. For anyone who has ever had a baby in the NICU I say bless your courage and strength. There are no words that can prepare you for the ups and downs and emotional rollercoaster that you will be put on. Well our ups have out weighed our downs however when it's your child a down is still a down. We do however feel very blessed that our boys are in such great hands and we know that this is just a time that they have to get through and they will be stronger for it.

Isaac
Well Isaac is doing wonderful. He had a minor set back last week where they had to stop his feeding for 1 day but he is back on track and eating 27 ml. He is now weighing 4 lbs 6 oz. Now one thing to know is that all babies lose weight in the beginning so they had to work their way back. Now compared to his brothers Isaac looks so big, even though he isn't. Dr. Newhide (his doctor in the NICU) says he's determined to get out of there. I think so too. He is a good baby, he eats and sleeps and is wasting no time to grow.

Jeremiah
Well Jeremiah has had a few set backs. He had some blood in his tummy and although this freaked me out the doctors and nurses seemed like this is just something that happens. So they had to stop Jeremiah's feeding for a couple days. He has just started his feedings again and since they are taking it slow not to irritate his stomach he is back down to 5 ml. Although he was up to 21 ml at one time, we have to start over again. Hopefully he wil be up there again soon. He is now weighing 3 lbs 8 oz. Now when I talk about the boys feedings this is of course through a NG tube. Non of them are able to bottle feed yet. I stress yet because they will get there.

Samuel
Now our lil guy Samuel has had some setbacks as well but has also had many strides. Samuel lost the most weight in the beginning since he had his operation and couldn't eat for much longer than his brothers. He dropped down to under 3 lbs and it was noticeable. He is now eating and doing very well. He is now eating more than Jeremiah at 12 ml. He is also now weighing 3 lbs 1 oz, just shy of his birth weight but looking much better everyday. Now yesterday was a little scary as I walked into the NICU and saw a nurse giving Samuel an ultrasound and looking at his heart. Also he was having a hard time with his breathing so they had to put him back on the nasal oxygen to help him. They were checking his heart (echo) but no official results yet. The tech didn't think she saw anything but did tell us we would have to wait for the official results from the doctor. So we are hopeful it's nothing and that he just needs a little more time for his lungs to develop. He also may have an infection in his eye since he was getting some gunk in it so they sent out for a culture and we will see what the result are today.

I also had my 2 weeks check-up yesterday, all looks great physically with me and then the doctor I guess was checking for postpartum depression asked if I was depressed. LOL! Are you kidding me? I told her I don't have postpartum depression but I am depressed at times because I have 3 babies in the NICU that I have to leave daily. She looked at me and said yea that's understandable. I don't think there is any medication for that.

Now all 3 babies are more alert and starting to have their eyes open more often. They are all changing so much too. Now Isaac and Jeremiah don't look alike to me but I'm not sure if that's because Isaac is much bigger. Isaac's hair also looks darker. We will have to wait and see when they get bigger. Now Samuel looks like himself and starting to fill out too.

Now just a quick update on Lil Vic. He is doing good. He says he still feels like an only child. He also had a bit of jealousy the other day but we sat down and spoke to him and he is ok. I think it's just hard for him to have a connection with the babies since he's not allowed to see them. The rules at the hospital are making it very difficult for him to bond with his brothers. I know once they come home he will feel a connection and love them with all his heart.












December 6th- 5 days old



























Not only is this day Victor's 33rd birthday but it's the day that our Lil Samuel was taken off the ventilator. Now all 3 boys are breathing on their own. Samuel also has endured a surgery at 2 days old and is our lil fighter. He had some intestine and bowel issues that has him now with a colostomy bag. It is temporary and with 2 more surgeries all by the time he's around 6 months old the doctors say he will be fine. We have faith that he will be fine and he has some wonderful surgeons looking after him. Our Samuel has fought this whole pregnancy and we know he will prevail again.

Now Isaac and Jeremiah seem to be competing on who can eat more and even though Isaac started off much bigger than Jeremiah, Jeremiah is giving him a run for his money. Although we knew they were identical twins, they did look different in the beginning. Now with each day that goes by these two are looking more and more alike. This should be fun!

The Babies Are Here! -December 1st 32 weeks 3 days

4:16 PM by Serena-Mom of 4 boys 0 comments
Samuel Anthony


Jeremiah James

Isaac Nathaniel

The day has arrived! Our triplets are coming! At this time I am thinking that Victor can be in the room taking pictures of the babies as the doctor's perform the c-section. Nope, wrong again. Nothing about this pregnancy should surprise me at this point. Since my platelets are so low they don't want to risk numbing my bottom half only and possibly hitting a vein, which they say is usually not an issue, however with me it could be very bad. So they decide to put me completely under and Vic has to wait by the door for the babies. They also have another IV hooked up for platelets that they are putting into my blood as the operation is going on. Well of course I don't remember a thing other than them strapping down my legs and then my arms, like a cross. All I could think about is, this looks like Jesus on the cross, oh no, am I not waking back up from this, is someone trying to tell me something. All I could do was pray the Our Father and think put me out already... Of course looking back I have to laugh at myself. What a sight I must have made.

Well our boys have arrived and in order A, B, and C!!!
Isaac Nathaniel Maldonado was born at 5:19 pm
4 lbs 1 oz and 16 inches

Jeremiah James Maldonado was born at 5:20 pm
3 lbs 3 oz and 16 inches

Samuel Anthony Maldonado was born at 5:21 pm
3 lbs 2 oz and 16.5 inches

Nov 27th- Nov 30th (31weeks 6 days- 32 weeks 2 days)

3:33 PM by Serena-Mom of 4 boys 0 comments

So I went to my Friday November 27th doctor visit like any other visit. I was going in for my NST-non stress test then on my way home, or so I thought. They hooked me up and began monitoring the babies and all was well. The fluids also looked good and I was just about to get out of there when they took my blood pressure. Yikes it was 156/106. Not so good! They took it 3 times and had me rest between each time and it didn't change much. So they called the doctor who immediately ordered me to go upstairs to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. I was monitored for several hours and was then told I was not going home that day. The next day was Saturday and instead of being released the doctor informed me that she wanted me to be monitored until at least Monday. It appeared that the platelets in my blood were low. Which is not good if you need to go into surgery any time soon, ex: c-section. My blood pressure was also still high, edema (sudden swelling), and elevated protein in my urine, seeing spots, and headaches. You name it and I was getting it, PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension), preeclampsia/toxemia, and the start of HELLP Syndrome. I'm not sure if they offically diagnosed me with everything but each one was mentioned. It wasn't looking good but I didn't realize it quite yet since they just kept saying they were just monitoring me. They said they would check all the results from my various tests and let me know Tuesday what the next step would be.

The doctor came in on Tuesday December 1st to go over my results of the past 3 days. I was alone, Vic was at work and my mom had went to go see Lil Vic get his reward for Principal's Honor Roll! Straight A's! This by the way was the first time I was going to miss my son get an award.
So she pretty much told me that it was no longer safe or feasible for me to continue with this pregnancy and that they needed to deliver the babies right away for my health and theirs. The time was around noon and she said that the c-section would take place sometime that day after 4 pm. She looked at me and said you better start calling your family. The babies were coming today!
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