NICU Awareness Month part IV- Let's Tell Your Story!

By Summer Mobley

In the Social Media world, Tuesday’s are known as Transformation Tuesday’s. So, in honor of #transformationtuesday, here are some pictures to show how much the triplets have changed since they were born and in the NICU.

They have come so far and grown so much!

Birth Pictures. (Left) Xander @ 4lbs, 6oz; (Middle) Isabella @ 3lbs, 13oz; (Right) Elly @2lbs, 15oz

8 days old. (Top Left) Elly; (Top Right) Izzy; (Bottom) Xander.

4 months old. (Top Left & Bottom Right) Isabella @ 11lbs, 9oz;(Middle) Xander @ 12lbs, 1oz (Top Right & Bottom Left) Elly @ 8lbs, 10oz

2.5 yrs old at their Early Intervention Graduation. (Left) Xander @ 34lbs; (Middle) Elly @ 22lbs; (Right) Izzy @ 35lbs.

I talked about how life in the NICU and life outside the NICU can go at different speeds. As parents to NICU babies, we tried to pause one (life outside) and speed up the other (life inside). It didn’t work.

What did work, was the astronomical amount of support we received from family, friends and even strangers before and after the triplets were born.

When I was 24 weeks pregnant, (TMI WARNING) I lost my mucous plug. I will spare everyone the details of this, but the after affect meant that I was put on home bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I wasn’t allowed to walk or stand for periods longer than 3-5 minutes. I wasn’t allowed to sit for longer than 10 minutes. Basically, I had to lay down all day long. The amount of reading I did…who am I kidding?! The only thing I read in the 6 weeks I was on bedrest were emails and FB posts. The amount of Netflix I watched, on the other hand, was a lot.

Anyways, Ray took the brunt of the keep life moving and care for the outside of the womb child responsibilities. But when I say we had an ASTRONOMICAL amount of support pour in, I’m not kidding. My MOPS group scheduled visits and meals while I was on bedrest. The staff at our church brought us meals every other night for almost three months after the triplets were born. We had friends cook for us, clean our house and do our laundry; while others did our grocery shopping. My mom flew in to help us with Braelynn, my in-laws came to help us celebrate Christmas, my grandparents ordered our Christmas dinner and other family came to help once the girls came home, so I could still go see Xander in the NICU. Others took Braelynn for playdates and sleepovers while others helped pick her up from school. My triplet moms group sent us cards and words of encouragement. We met strangers who became friends. And so many people prayed for our kids to grow and thrive and come home.

NICU life, especially when it’s an extended stay, can be lonely and isolating. And at times it was just that, at least for me. But, it was so amazing to know that so many people were supporting us in a variety of ways. We had a tribe (we still do). Our tribe pulled through in so many ways.

Saying thank you 6,398,120,093 times would never even chip away at the mountain of gratitude we have for every.single.one.of.you.

Isabella on CPAP, 5 days old