All-
Poop! That’s the big news for today! After 8 days of waiting following bowel surgery Brenna has finally filled her little diaper…well, not filled but enough for us to be excited. Hopefully this means her entire intestinal tract is working and the perforation has healed. The last week has been tough with Brenna being on a morphine drip almost the entire time and showing little to no signs of stomach improvement…so it would be an understatement to say we are thrilled for today’s news. We will see what the doctor says at rounds tomorrow morning but hopefully this means she will be able to avoid a second stomach surgery in the near future. Unfortunately, it was discovered yesterday that she has a heart murmur like her two sisters and will require the heart surgery to fix her PDA. More than likely the doctors will wait a while to perform the procedure so that her stomach issues might be resolved. She is also off her morphine drip and becoming more and more alert and active which makes mommy and daddy very very happy.
All three girlies are now off the high frequency ventilators and onto the dragger (the next step up in respiration assistance). For about 27 hours Anna was extubated and on the CPAP machine trying to breathe on her own. She did great but got a little tired after a while and needed to be reintubated. Hopefully she will be able to try again in a few days. The doctors assure us that having to go back and forth is normal for babies her size when they are trying to master breathing. The PDA surgery seems to have done wonders for Anna and Lucy as they have both recovered quickly and are very active little girls. It brings us such joy to see their little eyes open and alert. Anna is even becoming quite good at working her pacifier (there are new pictures on facebook).
With all three girls on the dragger, all are able to be held at this point (for the first time!). Angie held Miss Brenna today for over 2 hours. Brenna has not been able to be held since before her surgery so this was a very welcomed time for both mommy and Brenna. Daddy was able to hold Miss Anna for a few hours this afternoon as well. We ran out of time for Lucy but she will be first on the list tomorrow morning.
It feels amazing to finally be able to write an update with more good news than bad. Obviously Brenna is still far from out of the woods but today was a victory and we pray that tomorrow brings us more good news. Please continue to pray for our little peanuts. Your support has been overwhelming. When things seem so bleak it is comforting to think about how many family, friends and even complete strangers there are praying and pulling for our family. I dream about the day that I can show off my tough little girls to everyone…they are sure to melt some hearts.
Each day that passes we are able to learn a little more about their different personalities, it’s crazy how different they can be at such a young age. Brenna is definitely our most laid back little lady while Anna is quite spunky and sassy. She likes to give her parents and the nurses a hard time. She is a master at getting all her limbs out of the swaddle position and then flaunts it by laying sprawled out in victory. There is definitely some attitude there. Lucy appears to be the ring leader. She was the one that set this whole early arrival in motion by breaking her sac and appears to enjoy taking her time with her milestones, only progressing after one of her sisters has tried it out first. She was even able to somehow negotiate her own room for a couple nights post surgery!
This will be the last email update we send as we have finally started work on our new blog. Updates and eventually pictures will be posted on the site. Here is the URL: http://kampstriplets.blogspot.com/ We hope you will keep following our girls journey in the NICU and beyond and we look forward to comments and notes on the website.
We know we have many more trials to face before our girls arrive home but tonight we celebrate a great day with our babies. God is Good!
In His name
Brad, Angie, Lucy, Brenna, and Anna
We are so thankful to hear that the girls are doing so well! We too went through this journey 24 years ago with our oldest son, Matt. Going through it with one was so hard....we can't imagine having three in the NICU! We are praying for you!~Philip and Linda (your neighbors)
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