Who the hell is Billy Ruben?

Well, here we are at just past 48 hours old...all three boys are doing really well. We are trying to figure out how to handle 3 babies at a time...and by "we", I don't just mean Melissa and me, I mean the entire nursing staff here. If I hear "Now which one is that" one more time...it really is just hysterical. Normally they have a little hat on with names (as the picture yesterday showed), but overnight last night, they spent some time "under the lights" so they were naked except for diapers. That makes it hard to identify which one is which. And of course, keeping track of feeding schedules (who, when, how much) and diaper changes (who, what kind, and when) is a challenge for all of us. We try to write them all down, as do the nurses, but it's still a challenge.

Yesterday evening all three boys bilirubin levels were running a little high. Bilirubin (sounds like Billy Ruben) is the yellow breakdown product that's normal in the body. It's responsible for bruises and urine being yellow. Of course, if levels are too high in the body, it can lead to jaundice, etc which can be bad. In the first 48 hours, it's common for babies to not be able to break it down very well (and excrete it through their urine), so they put the babies under LED photo-therapy lights which helps the body with that process. The boys went under the lights last night and served about a 12-hour sentence. They re-measured their bilirubin levels this morning and all looked good, so the boys are back in our room with us as of this morning. They will re-check this afternoon (~5 pm) so hopefully they will maintain good levels.

Melissa is doing great as well. Last night she did a lot of walking because the boys were in the nursery under the lights, so every 3-4 hours we made the trek over to the nursery (not very far for me, but for Melissa, it was a long walk) to feed them. In between the feedings, we got some sleep back in the room, so we both are more rested today. She even got a shower this morning and is now wearing "human" clothes.

Today we're having some more visitors. Melissa's grandparents are here now. My cousin Liz is on here way over too. This afternoon, Nana and Grandma are bringing Chase over, so that will be fun. We'll try to get some of that on video tape and post it later today or tomorrow.

Here are a few more pictures...we'll try to keep posting more and more pictures.
Mom holding Jack, Anthony and then Graham laying on Mommy:


Graham & Anthony hugging it out:


PopPop (Melissa's grandfather) and Jack:

MomMom (Melissa's grandmother) and Anthony: