P Town Barbours: Welcome Eddie, Gigi & Lizzie

On Sunday morning, July 8th, Matt and I welcomed the triplets bright and early. "Snap Pea" Edison Manolo (Eddie) was born at 5:24am quickly followed by "Sweet Pea" Giuliana Michelle (Gigi) and "Sugar Pea" Serafina Elizabeth (Lizzie) at 5:25am. Everyone is doing great!

Eddie (Baby A - "snap pea")

Eddie weight 2.2lbs, length 15in, Apgar 4/8.5

Eddie's long fingers

Gigi (Baby B - "sweet pea")

Gigi weight 2.1lbs, length 14in, Apgar 4/8.5

Emily getting to touch Gigi for the first time

Lizzie (Baby C - "sugar pea")

Lizzie weight 1.75lbs, length 13 1/2 in, Apgar 8/9

Mom and Dad getting to touch Lizzie for the first time

The babies are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), of course, but they are all doing well. They were all intobated breathing room air assisted through standard ventilators yesterday. As of this morning Eddie and Gigi are "extobated" (meaning their breathing tubes are out and they are attempting to breath with little CPAP machines). Lizzie is still intobated but they hope to take her off tomorrow. They are each in a cozy covered isolette and are under UV light therapy. Yesterday evening and this morning I was able to see and touch the munchkins in the NICU. They are precious!

They are planning to discharge me from the hospital this Wednesday assuming nothing changes between today and then. The babies are going to be here for 8-10 weeks while they gain weight and improve their lung function. For those that asked, you can visit me in the hospital any time before 8pm, but they probably wont let you in the NICU yet to see the babies. If you want to visit, give Matt a call and he'll tell you all the details

The long version of the birth

Things progressed shockingly quickly on Saturday evening prompting the trio's arrival on the first day of week 27 of the pregnancy. My condition had been stable in the hospital up until Saturday 2cm dilated and 90% effaced. Since things were going so smooth, Matt and I decided to have a "date night"- indian food and a movie =) During the movie, I started noticing more frequent contraction that grew stronger during the evening. We called in the nurses and they monitored things for a while. At some point it became obvious the contractions were being more regular, so they decided to put me on Magnesium Sulfate to calm the contractions and help the babies if they were going to be born. Despite "mag" (as the nurses call it), my dilation went from 2 1/2cm to 4cm at midnight. An hour later, I was at 5cm - at that point, the doctors were called in because it was likely "go time". At 3am I was 7cm and the Doctors decided it was time - the nurses began prepping me for surgery while Matt attempted to call my Mom (after several unsuccessful attempts to reach her =). At around 4:30am, they wheeled me into the OR and numbed me up from the bra line down. Meanwhile, poor Matt was told to wait in the room we were in until I was ready - 45 minutes of nervous waiting later, he was able to come into the room. The Nurses told Me that Matt was busy moving all our things into a hospital room - which in classic Matt style took him all of 5 minutes. Just as he was heading to the room, my Mom arrived and would be waiting for us when we came out. Our C-section team of 20 Doctors and Nurses ( 8 were working on me, 4 on each of the babies ) was assembled and the babies arrived smoothly. After we got back to the recovery room, we called the new grandparents and uncles. Grandma Berrio got to give me a big hug and a kiss while wiping away tears (Grandpa Berrio is still in Spain but is returning next weekend and will get to meet the "little darlings" then). Nonnie (formerly Grandma Lynda) and Grandpa Mike were overjoyed and Nonnie hopped on a plane up here to see her new grandbabies. Uncle Andy was excited to hear the news but apparently has a bit of a problem remembering names when he is woken up at 6am (luckily Auntie Carey came to the rescue). Uncle Patty was equally excited and declared that based on their names the kids were soon to be "world powers".

Here are a couple more pics of the awesome new Grandmas