Leaving NICU at Presbyterian Saint Luke's Hospital with our family!

We were so fortunate to have Jackie and Jill as our nurses in the Graduate NICU over the last two days at P/SL. We learned how to properly wash our newborns under Jackie's tutelage; with Jill, we learned all the scheduling options, behaviors or signs of health or illness we might encounter with our premature loves. after arriving home. Thank you all.

So, after a lot of packing and goodbyes to the NICU Staff of Nurses and a quick visit through memory lane on the third floor, we zoomed through the Anti-Partum wing to visit the awesome nurses and doctors. This was our first attempt at using our new triple decker stroller that we purchased thanks to our wonderful family in Chicago, Jenny, Aunt Marilyn and Liz! Thanks again! Off we go... homeward bound. Thanks to the wonderful P/SL staff of doctors, nurses and faculty, and my dear sweet husband's efforts to make sure I was always taking the best supplements per Dr. Rich Porreco's careful expertise, these loves were coming home after only sixteen days!

We were experiencing a taste of Heaven on Earth having our family complete for the very first time, and we were on our own buckled in for many more adventures together!

Click this picture to view a photo album, which includes some movies...

Kids' Journey Home from the NICU

The kids are doing great!

The kids are doing so great that we received a call from the NICU on Thursday letting us that they are coming home on Saturday (Today)!!! The doctors are still quite concerned about RSV and the flu viruses since our babies are all premature and about 4-5 lbs now. We all received our flu Shots yesterday and the kids are too healthy (being born after 32 weeks) so they do not qualify for RSV shots. We'll be keeping the kids mostly on quarantine until March, with lots of hand washing and very few visits. They advise us to stay away from crowds and to always wash our hands when handling the kids. Know that we will welcome visitors soon, but that visitors will not get a lot of opportunity to handle the kids yet. If you are interested in helping, then meals we could feeze would be a great help. If you're wanting to bring a hot meal or have one delivered, then please use the Mealtime help calendar to add yourself into the schedule. Check in with Mark first to make sure that you have access to add new entries onto the calendar. Here are a few more pictures!!

The Kids are a week old!

Suzi is home, but visiting the kids most of the day down at the NICU.

They just gave us notice in the NICU that they will allow only the parents and grandparents to visit because of the hospital's concern for RSV and the flu season. Even parents and grandparents must be in perfect health with no symptoms (coughing, sneezing, runny nose, or fever) to be allowed in the NICU.

The good news is that our kids are very healthy, and they will be coming home soon (2-4 weeks we guess).

We're sorry that no one can visit them now. We'll let everyone know what visitations the pediatricians will allow once we get our kids home.

We hope these pictures will suffice to communicate how incredibly happy we are to finally be parents!

To help identify the kids, we've given them 3 unique pacifiers. Monique has the red dog, Maarten has the green frog, and Marek has the yellow duck.

Happy Birthday!!!

The kids arrived today at 10:31am and 10:32!

Suzi is doing well and is recovering in her room. She's tired, and on a few pain and itching drugs which keep her sleepy.

Here we are with Marek!

Monique Claire Van Alstyne was born at 10:31am, weighing 3 lbs and 11.5 oz.

Maarten Nicholas Van Alstyne was born at 10:31am, weighing 3 lbs and 8 oz.

Maarten is needing a little help and is receiving a little oxygen and air pressure, Monique and Marek are handling breathing without any assistance.

Marek Alexander Van Alstyne was born at 10:32am, weighing 4 lbs, and 3.5 oz.

All three kids have good color, and they are breathing on their own.

Here is a full picture album at Picasa Web:

The Kids Birthday!!!

Thank you for the Gorgeous Flowers!

Thank you all for the beautiful bouquets of flowers to welcome our triplets into our lives! Dad, thanks for the gorgeous irises that came after your adventures in Yosemite; we cannot wait for you to join us at Thanksgiving and meet the trio! Mum and Pop, thank you also for the beautiful roses and endless help while you were here the day Monique, Maarten and Marek were born. Becky, Tom, Tess & Finn, thanks for the beautiful irises as they also have brought weeks of beauty to our home. Thanks Centaurus High School faculty and staff, we loved the fresh flowers you sent to congratulate Grandma Pat, Mark and me. Thank you friends at J.Jill for the beautiful bouquet of flowers to keep us company from the birth of our little ones and even to the arrival of them coming home two weeks later! Thanks Welty's for the colorful bouquet of autumn flower, as well! Thank you Cathy and Chuck for the mums and daisies to keep us company while in the hospital awaiting the right time to have our little trio. In addition, thank you Kathleen and Scott for the lovely sunflowers that you continued to bring throughout my seven weeks on bed rest; you know they were the inspiration for many watercolor paintings! Thank you Adrianne, my awesome support STORM (Super Twins of the Rocky Mountains) for keeping me company with some autumn collection of flowers and chocolate. Thank you also, Kerri for your support and beautiful bouquet of flowers to help welcome Marek, Maarten and Monique into our lives. Last but not least, Mark, thank you - the love of my life- for keeping me surrounded with flowers throughout our weekly progress toward our goal of 34 weeks. We did well together; I cannot wait to co parent beside you!

Everyone, thank you for your generosity and thoughtfulness! - Suzi & Mark

Tomorrow is the big day!!!

We just found out that tomorrow is the day!

Suzi's pre-eclampsia symptoms (blood pressure, swelling, protein levels, etc...) have gotten to the point that the kids need to arrive soon.

We're scheduled for a c-section at about 10:30 AM tomorrow (October 11th, 2007; during the arrival of the new Moon :-)

There is a chance that they could arrive during the night, but hopefully they'll wait and allow us all a good night's sleep.

We'll keep updating our blog as we find time!

Ultrasound Video - 33 weeks, 1 day

Today, we had another ultrasound where they measured fluid levels. We watched their hearts beat steadily.

The kids are doing well! Suzi has been feeling ill. The doctors are concerned about pre-eclampsia, and they think that we have less than a week.

Ultrasound Video - 32 Weeks, 1 day

On Tuesday, we had a full ultrasound visit that included measuring the size of the kids.

Monique is 3 lbs, 6 oz.
Marek is 4 lbs, 4 oz.
Maarten is 3 lbs, 4 oz.

These are ultrasound guesses that are obtained from measuring the length of their thigh bones, the diameter of their heads and bodies, the width of their brain blood vessels, and perhaps a few other things. The computer software then compares these to the averages for singleton babies to allow it to make a guess at their weights.

Enjoy the video!