End of Day 1!

Update time again. The girls are still on their CPAPs. Collin is off of everything breathing related. Both Collin and Bailey are taking feeds in their tummies. Anniston has had a rough day. She has been uncomfortable but doing OK. She has cried a fair amount. Hopefully she will be able to get some good sleep tonight. I got to spend several minutes with both Collin and Anniston while they were awake and looking at me. What a blessing! It is so awesome to see them open their eyes and just stare. You have to wonder just what their little minds are thinking at this point. Our nurse Cathy has helped us get our blankets under Collin and Anniston. We will work on sneaking one under Bailey a little later hopefully. Kristy went off the mag at around noon today. She spent a lot of the afternoon in some significant pain. She was able to get some pain meds and some needed rest. She is feeling much better this evening. We've enjoyed visits many visits today! Hopefully tomorrow Kristy will be feeling better and be able to be up and around a lot more. Thanks for your prayers, visits, calls and blog comments!

Enjoy the baby photos. Sorry about the rotation issue with two of them. Post me a fix if you know how I can rotate these on the blogsite.

JKABC

The Day After

Hello all. Mom and babies are doing well. Kristy went off the magnesium today at around noon. We went up to visit the babies right after she went off the mag and Kristy realized how challenging getting up and around is going to be. She's currently resting in our new room. If you plan on visiting, come up to the 3rd floor, room 354 (it is just around the corner on the left). We said goodbye to our old standby room 247. The nurses are putting new lines in the girls' arms. They had even mentioned that the girls MIGHT get off the CPAP today. We'll see. In awe of God's miracle of life.

Jason

Update on babies

Greetings! We praise the Lord for our healthy little ones! Vitals: Bailey is 3 pounds, Anniston is 3 pounds 1 ounce, and Collin is 3 pounds 15 ounces. They are all right around 16" long. Collin started the day on the vent on some oxygen. He is currently having his vent removed and having the CPAP installed (great progress)! All the babies look good. I have changed all of their diapers at least once. So far only Anniston has tried to pee on me. Kristy and I are both pretty tired and ready for some rest. I'm going to go check on Collin to make sure that the CPAP installation went smoothly. Thank you so much for your visits and prayers. They have meant (and continue to mean) so much to us. We feel greatly loved! We praise our Lord for the miracle of life!

Jason

The Babies are Here

The Bumgardner triplets are here!

Collin Michael, Anniston Nicole and Bailey Michele were born this afternoon, in that order. All of the babies are doing well. The girls weighed in at about three pounds and are both on CPAP, receiving a little help breathing. The girls both have lots of hair! Collin is a little under four pounds. He's in need of a little more assistance so he's currently on a ventilator. All things considered, they're doing well.

Kristy is back in her room recovering and Jason is with her. They're treating her for the preeclampsia and she's expected to be just fine.

This is sure to be a busy and emotional time for the family. Jason and Kristy will update this blog with information about what is best regarding visits, how the babies are doing and how Kristy is recovering as things settle down a bit.

They certainly covet your prayers. They're proud parents of three beautiful babies!

Today is the day

Good morning. We were informed that today is the day for our babies to be born! We are excited and a little apprehensive. Kristy is progressing into severe preeclampsia. Her blood pressure is elevated and her kidneys are not functioning as well as the doctors would like. Having the babies should stop this condition though. We are scheduled for a noon delivery. Please pray for Kristy and babies. I will update this site with all the specifics after delivery.

Jason

Waiting on Babies

Hello again.  It has been some time since our last post.  I am happy to say we made it through the holidays without going to the hospital!  Yesterday (Wednesday), though, the doctors told us that Kristy needed to come to the hospital.  They had observed her blood pressure increasing and protein in her urine--all signs of preeclampsia.  They told us that Kristy will be staying at the hospital until the babies are born.  We didn't have any issues with contractions this time.  Kristy is in pretty good shape at this point other than the normal uncomfortableness associated with three babies in her belly.  The doctors have administered steroids to help develop the lungs of the babies.  The doctors aren't sure when the babies will come--it could be today, it could be several weeks.  They are watching several indicators right now.  If any of those exceed certain limits then we could be having babies pretty quickly.  The doctors are very confident that if the babies come (even today) that mom and babies would stand excellent chances of survival and healthiness.   Right now it is a balancing act of health of mother and health of babies.  Hopefully, the preeclampsia will hold off for a while and we can wait a bit (we are currently at 30 weeks, 6 days).  Please pray for our family as we go through this crucial stage leading up to birth.  We're excited to meet our little ones!  --JKABC

Christmas

It is almost 9pm tonight and it saddens me to know that Christmas Day is almost over.  All that you have worked hard to shop for and wrap is now ripped open and set aside.  For the night I guess that is.  All of the hustle & bustle and Christmas spirit at the malls is now over and done.  The family gatherings of laughing, playing games, enjoying yummy food & delicious treats have now ended. The branches on the Christmas tree seem to droop.  Their are no presents under the tree anymore and though that is not what Christmas is all about, somehow it seems so completed.  Fortunately for us Christians we know that there is more to Christmas and it doesn't end here.  Praise God.

Our Christmas this year was a special one.   We know that not long from now we will welcome 3 little ones that we have been anxiously awaiting for so long.  Our journey has reached even beyond the last 7 months of pregnancy.  We waited long before that to even expect one little one and now we are blessed with three.  We look forward to the day when we can see them for the first time.

The triplets made out with lots of gifts this year.  They got some outfits (including the girls getting an ISU t-shirt in support of their mommy and little Collin received a little Rose Hulman onesie that reads "RHIT's littlest fan" supporting his daddy).  They also received a CD player that attaches to the crib and some lullaby CDs & some books that daddy still reads to them every night.  They now have a few more to choose from.  I also should mention that Collin received a boppy that his daddy picked out with rockets, asteroids, etc....  Mommy & Daddy also received lots of great gifts.  It has been a good Christmas in so many ways and I hope your Christmas was the same.  

I also wanted to fill you in on an appointment we went to today (the day after Christmas).  We are so proud of our little Anniston, Bailey & Collin.  They were all little all-stars this week.  We had biophysical profiles done on each one of them today.  This is where each baby gets 30 minutes and gets 2 points in each category.  They were all three done within about 10 minutes which is amazing.  The ultrasound tech said that it was the fastest biophysical profile she has ever done on triplets which is great.  One of the categories is them practicing their breathing which is obviously very important.

My contractions are still staying well below the threshhold (6 contractions an hour).  I have had 4 an hour at the most which is pretty good at this point.  The babies are still growing well. We didn't get weights this week.  The docs only get those every three weeks and we just received weights last week and they all weighed around 2lbs 12ozs give or take.  I am now measuring about 44 weeks.  I am getting more and more uncomfortable as each day passes. However,  I have still been able to sleep well and have only had to use just one extra pillow.  I am sure the closer it gets to time, the more uncomfortable it will get but right now I am considering myself lucky.  The docs have also detected protein in my samples I have given and I have shown a few higher readings on my blood pressures so they are trying to keep a close eye on that but aren't too concerned at this point.  They sent some tests off today and we'll receive the results in a couple of days. 

Jason & I also enjoyed an evening at the Plainfield Aquatic Center floating and enjoying the pool which was suggested by our doctor.  We had a good time.  It was sort of a little safe date night out for Jason & I. 

I think I have covered everything for now.  We will continue to keep you updated as things arise.  We have another appointment next Thursday.  Hopefully things will stay quiet until then.  

Thanks again for all of your prayers and continue support.

JKABC