Update an Coplin Triplets
Sorry not to have updated in so long. We have had a long, arduous journey with the babies. Thankfully, they all have survived and we actually have two home before their due date. So that is the brief update, if you want the story you can continue reading the long update below.
Long Update.
Well they were born on November 29, 2009. Baby A (Eli - boy) was born at 11:43 p.m. and weighed 2 lbs 1 oz.. Baby B (Charlie - girl) was born at 11:44 p.m. and weighed 2 lbs 2 oz. Baby C (Caleb - boy) was born at 11:45 p.m. and weighed 1 lb 15 oz. They were all on CPAP when born and stayed that way between 18 and 36 hours. They were all put on regular respirators at that point.
Charlie then developed pin***** holes in her lung which caused air to build up in her chest cavity causing pressure on her lungs. They had to put in chest tubes in both sides of her chest to get rid of the air. Because her lung tissue was so stiff still they found that the respirator was what was causing the holes because it was inflating her lungs completely causing too much pressure on them. They told us it would take 24 to 48 hours for the lungs to heal and they could remove the tubes. They also moved her to the oscillating respirator (it puffs air into the lungs instead of filling it completely) to prevent further damage to her lungs. It took 3 1/2 weeks to actually heal her lungs and remove the tubes.
Eli then developed pin***** holes in one lung and had air in one side of his chest, he also got a chest tube in that side. He did not need the oscillating respirator and he was off of the chest tube in 2 weeks.
Next they did an ultrasound of Charlie and Eli's heads. We had the devastating news that they both had level 3 brain bleeds on one side and level 4 brain bleeds on the other. The statistics are that 50% of babies with a level 4 die within one week. They told us to expect the worse and hope for the best. Both babies were to receive follow up u/s in one week to see if the bleeding was worse or if it would stabilize and start to resolve. If they did not they would need shunts in place to relieve the pressure. Level 4 brain bleeds are when the blood actually leaks from the ventricles into the brain tissue and any brain tissue that is touched by blood will erode and disappear. The results of this can be nothing to mental handicaps and cerebral palsy.
Eli received his shunt first, after the chest tube was removed. It was a temporary shunt because he was too little to receive a permanent one. He did well with the surgery. Shortly after that he was removed from the respirator and put on the CPAP machine. Then he developed an infection and was reintubated and given an antibiotic for 10 days. After that he was put back on CPAP, then moved onto the cannulla.
About 2 1/2 weeks after they were born we got a call at 10:00 p.m. telling us that Charlie had 12 hours at most unless there was a major change. Her right lung had been hyperinflated all day and was getting bigger. They had been increasing her settings on the respirator all day, now the lung had pinched her left lung shut and was beginning to press on her heart. Bill and I went running into the hospital, bawling our heads off thinking we would be holding our little girl til she passed. We got to the hospital to discover that her lung had deflated and they had been able to reduce her settings and her gases (CO2 levels and Oxygen level in the blood) were great. From this point on she improved steadily. Once she was moved to the regular respirator and the chest tubes were removed she had her shunt put in on December 22, 2009. She did very well with the surgery. After the surgery it was night and day with her. Two days after the surgery she was on the nasal cannullas. She was alert, made eye contact and responded to our presence.
At 7 days they did an u/s on Caleb's head and discovered he had a level 3 brain bleed and a level 2. They did several follow ups to determine whether he needed a shunt or not. After 3 weeks his was resolving on its own and he escaped the surgery. After 4 weeks he was moved from the oscillating respirator to the regular one. One week later he was moved to the CPAP and a week later was put on the cannullas. A day after that he was moved up to the Intermediate Care Nursery. The next day Charlie and Eli were moved up too.
Shortly after moving up they did a follow u/s on Eli and Charlie and discovered that Charlie's ventricles were once again enlarging. They feared her shunt had failed but discovered that she was producing too much fluid and her body just could not absorb it fast enough. They began to tap her shunt (put a needle into the reservoir under her scalp and removing fluid). They did this for about a month until she was large enough to have her permanent shunt placed.
Shortly before her shunt was placed the optometrist determined she had level 3 retinopathy and needed laser treatment to prevent further damage to her eyes. She did this 4 days before her shunt surgery. Eli's eyes were level 2 but found to be improving. Caleb's eyes had progressed to almost level 3 but the last visit on February 18 he found that there had been no worsening so he will visit him again in two weeks and decide if he is improving, stable or needs laser treatment also.
They began nippling the babies at 34 weeks. Eli took to it like a champ and was soon put on on demand feeding. Once he had done this successfully for a few days they removed his feeding tube. He gained weight steadily. Charlie had little interest in eating much until after her permanent shunt was placed, then she was on on demand feeding within four days and she went home 10 days after her surgery on February 19th. Eli was supposed to come home the week prior to Charlie but two days before they did a follow up u/s and discovered his ventricles were enlarging. His shunt was failing and they had to place his permanent shunt before he could go home. He came home last Tuesday. Charlie and Eli were weighed today and Charlie was 6 lbs 14 oz and Eli was 7 lbs 15 oz.
Caleb spent two weeks in the Intermediate Care Nursery and then crashed. He was unable to breathe without assistance. He spent 3 or so weeks on the CPAP and once again began to deteriorate. Last weekend we received a phone call that he was being reintubated. He continued to deteriorate and was put on the oscillating respirator again. They discovered he had pneumonia. He was placed on antibiotics. He has been steadily improving and yesterday was placed back on the CPAP. They are taking it slow because he is weak and they worry that if they push him before he is ready he will crash again but it will be worse. Caleb also has a PDA. This is when the duct in the heart does not fully close. He had a small one that was not causing any symptoms and then it became intermittent and it was closing. Since he became ill it has reopened and become large. They will be doing another echocardiogram tomorrow and see if it is closing again since he is getting well. If not they will treat it with medication. They hope he will be home by the end of the month.
We do not know what to expect of Charlie and Eli, cerebral palsy and other side effects will begin showing up at about one year. They will all need physical therapy, occupational therapy and who knows what else. We will continue to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We love them all and they are all amazing because they survived such horrors. We spent 13 weeks in the hospital with the older two and Caleb was in the hospital for 14 weeks last Sunday. It definitely felt like it would never end. We are having a good time with the two at home, even with having two newborns it seems so much easier than what we have already been through.
Thank you for all the prayers, obviously they helped keep these children here with us. We cannot believe they are with us and we feel overwhelmed by what the future may hold so we try not to think past what we must do today. We are madly in love with these little bundles and are so grateful they are still here.
Long Update.
Well they were born on November 29, 2009. Baby A (Eli - boy) was born at 11:43 p.m. and weighed 2 lbs 1 oz.. Baby B (Charlie - girl) was born at 11:44 p.m. and weighed 2 lbs 2 oz. Baby C (Caleb - boy) was born at 11:45 p.m. and weighed 1 lb 15 oz. They were all on CPAP when born and stayed that way between 18 and 36 hours. They were all put on regular respirators at that point.
Charlie then developed pin***** holes in her lung which caused air to build up in her chest cavity causing pressure on her lungs. They had to put in chest tubes in both sides of her chest to get rid of the air. Because her lung tissue was so stiff still they found that the respirator was what was causing the holes because it was inflating her lungs completely causing too much pressure on them. They told us it would take 24 to 48 hours for the lungs to heal and they could remove the tubes. They also moved her to the oscillating respirator (it puffs air into the lungs instead of filling it completely) to prevent further damage to her lungs. It took 3 1/2 weeks to actually heal her lungs and remove the tubes.
Eli then developed pin***** holes in one lung and had air in one side of his chest, he also got a chest tube in that side. He did not need the oscillating respirator and he was off of the chest tube in 2 weeks.
Next they did an ultrasound of Charlie and Eli's heads. We had the devastating news that they both had level 3 brain bleeds on one side and level 4 brain bleeds on the other. The statistics are that 50% of babies with a level 4 die within one week. They told us to expect the worse and hope for the best. Both babies were to receive follow up u/s in one week to see if the bleeding was worse or if it would stabilize and start to resolve. If they did not they would need shunts in place to relieve the pressure. Level 4 brain bleeds are when the blood actually leaks from the ventricles into the brain tissue and any brain tissue that is touched by blood will erode and disappear. The results of this can be nothing to mental handicaps and cerebral palsy.
Eli received his shunt first, after the chest tube was removed. It was a temporary shunt because he was too little to receive a permanent one. He did well with the surgery. Shortly after that he was removed from the respirator and put on the CPAP machine. Then he developed an infection and was reintubated and given an antibiotic for 10 days. After that he was put back on CPAP, then moved onto the cannulla.
About 2 1/2 weeks after they were born we got a call at 10:00 p.m. telling us that Charlie had 12 hours at most unless there was a major change. Her right lung had been hyperinflated all day and was getting bigger. They had been increasing her settings on the respirator all day, now the lung had pinched her left lung shut and was beginning to press on her heart. Bill and I went running into the hospital, bawling our heads off thinking we would be holding our little girl til she passed. We got to the hospital to discover that her lung had deflated and they had been able to reduce her settings and her gases (CO2 levels and Oxygen level in the blood) were great. From this point on she improved steadily. Once she was moved to the regular respirator and the chest tubes were removed she had her shunt put in on December 22, 2009. She did very well with the surgery. After the surgery it was night and day with her. Two days after the surgery she was on the nasal cannullas. She was alert, made eye contact and responded to our presence.
At 7 days they did an u/s on Caleb's head and discovered he had a level 3 brain bleed and a level 2. They did several follow ups to determine whether he needed a shunt or not. After 3 weeks his was resolving on its own and he escaped the surgery. After 4 weeks he was moved from the oscillating respirator to the regular one. One week later he was moved to the CPAP and a week later was put on the cannullas. A day after that he was moved up to the Intermediate Care Nursery. The next day Charlie and Eli were moved up too.
Shortly after moving up they did a follow u/s on Eli and Charlie and discovered that Charlie's ventricles were once again enlarging. They feared her shunt had failed but discovered that she was producing too much fluid and her body just could not absorb it fast enough. They began to tap her shunt (put a needle into the reservoir under her scalp and removing fluid). They did this for about a month until she was large enough to have her permanent shunt placed.
Shortly before her shunt was placed the optometrist determined she had level 3 retinopathy and needed laser treatment to prevent further damage to her eyes. She did this 4 days before her shunt surgery. Eli's eyes were level 2 but found to be improving. Caleb's eyes had progressed to almost level 3 but the last visit on February 18 he found that there had been no worsening so he will visit him again in two weeks and decide if he is improving, stable or needs laser treatment also.
They began nippling the babies at 34 weeks. Eli took to it like a champ and was soon put on on demand feeding. Once he had done this successfully for a few days they removed his feeding tube. He gained weight steadily. Charlie had little interest in eating much until after her permanent shunt was placed, then she was on on demand feeding within four days and she went home 10 days after her surgery on February 19th. Eli was supposed to come home the week prior to Charlie but two days before they did a follow up u/s and discovered his ventricles were enlarging. His shunt was failing and they had to place his permanent shunt before he could go home. He came home last Tuesday. Charlie and Eli were weighed today and Charlie was 6 lbs 14 oz and Eli was 7 lbs 15 oz.
Caleb spent two weeks in the Intermediate Care Nursery and then crashed. He was unable to breathe without assistance. He spent 3 or so weeks on the CPAP and once again began to deteriorate. Last weekend we received a phone call that he was being reintubated. He continued to deteriorate and was put on the oscillating respirator again. They discovered he had pneumonia. He was placed on antibiotics. He has been steadily improving and yesterday was placed back on the CPAP. They are taking it slow because he is weak and they worry that if they push him before he is ready he will crash again but it will be worse. Caleb also has a PDA. This is when the duct in the heart does not fully close. He had a small one that was not causing any symptoms and then it became intermittent and it was closing. Since he became ill it has reopened and become large. They will be doing another echocardiogram tomorrow and see if it is closing again since he is getting well. If not they will treat it with medication. They hope he will be home by the end of the month.
We do not know what to expect of Charlie and Eli, cerebral palsy and other side effects will begin showing up at about one year. They will all need physical therapy, occupational therapy and who knows what else. We will continue to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We love them all and they are all amazing because they survived such horrors. We spent 13 weeks in the hospital with the older two and Caleb was in the hospital for 14 weeks last Sunday. It definitely felt like it would never end. We are having a good time with the two at home, even with having two newborns it seems so much easier than what we have already been through.
Thank you for all the prayers, obviously they helped keep these children here with us. We cannot believe they are with us and we feel overwhelmed by what the future may hold so we try not to think past what we must do today. We are madly in love with these little bundles and are so grateful they are still here.
I am SO happy to hear that all 3 are doing so well (considering). I had feared the worse (while hoping for the best) when you weren't posting. Glad that you were just too busy :) I can't wait to read the next update which will hopefully have Caleb home with Charlie and Eli. where he should be!
T :)
T :)
I DID Make It - 135.4 8-1-10! Now working on post baby weight loss. (All WL post-op - preop got up to 220 from quitting smoking & last supper syndrome.) 5'2"
Thank you so much for posting this update for all of us. I have thought of you and your babies often and kept you all in my daily prayers. I know first hand having a baby in the NICU is absolutely the most exhausting roller coaster ride in the history. One day you go in and everything is fabulous...in the middle of the night you get the call things are going south. I only had to do it with 1 baby at a time...I simply cannot believe the strength you and your husband must have to take care of all 3. I will continue to keep you all in my thoughts and prayers...and pray for strength for both you and daddy to hang in there until all 3 babies can be home with you full time...I know your schedule must be a nightmare with 2 at home and 1 at the hospital...I can imagine your heart is torn constantly not knowing where to be.
I hope you have some outside helping coming in. I so wish there was more that I could do for you, but I do not know, at this point, what it would be other than to pray for you all. If you think of anything you need please let me know. I would be more than willing to be your "angel" to post updates if you do not have time. If you would like me to do this...go ahead and msg me and we can exchange cell phone info. I live in Orting, which is actually very close to you...are the babies at Mary Bridge, Tacoma General, or the UW? Honestly, if you can think of any way I can help out, please please let me know! Congratulations again on your beautiful babies! I cannot wait to hear more updates :)
Hugs to you all!
Laura
I hope you have some outside helping coming in. I so wish there was more that I could do for you, but I do not know, at this point, what it would be other than to pray for you all. If you think of anything you need please let me know. I would be more than willing to be your "angel" to post updates if you do not have time. If you would like me to do this...go ahead and msg me and we can exchange cell phone info. I live in Orting, which is actually very close to you...are the babies at Mary Bridge, Tacoma General, or the UW? Honestly, if you can think of any way I can help out, please please let me know! Congratulations again on your beautiful babies! I cannot wait to hear more updates :)
Hugs to you all!
Laura
I was just asking about you guys the other day! Im glad to know that things are improving! These babies are such little fighters, and it looks like they get that from mommy! :) You seem to be holding it together, I know i'd be a mess. We are all here for you hun! My prayers are with you!
Super proud mommy to Dylan, Owen and Sophia Brianne!
SO glad to hear from you! You and the babies have been in my thoughts and prayers often. I am happy to hear that they are all doing better and even better that you have Eli and Charlie home with you! How exciting! I hope that Caleb continues to improve and your family can be complete at home in no time.
They were born at about 28/29 weeks weren't they?
How are YOU doing Mom?
*hugs* thoughts and prayers
Liz
They were born at about 28/29 weeks weren't they?
How are YOU doing Mom?
*hugs* thoughts and prayers
Liz
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