Holly is in the Hospital

This is were Holly will spend the rest of her pregnancy (hopefully 2.5 months)

Many of you have asked us for updates on the triplets, so here is the latest. On Friday, April 10 Holly and I were at our monthly ultrasound appointment to check on the progress of our three babies. Since there are three of them our appointments often last two or more hours. This appointment was no exception and after two hours of measuring every inch of our babies, the last thing the ultrasound tech needed to do was check Holly's cervical length. As the tech was measuring her cervix, he suddenly dropped his equipment and said "don't get up, I need to call your doctor." Within minutes, our doctor had been called and they were wheeling Holly out in a wheel chair to head to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital just minutes later, the nurses were expecting us and rushed Holly straight into a room. They hooked her up to several monitors and within minutes after this our doctor walked through the door.

Too make a long story short, Holly was contracting every two minutes and her cervix had dilated to less than one centimeter - she was in preterm labor. At 22 weeks of pregnancy, delivering the babies would have meant no chance for survival. So our doctor pumped Holly full of several different kinds of medication to try and stop the contractions. And after a very tense 48 hours the contractions finally stopped.

It has now been five days, and no more contractions. Holly's cervix length is irrepairable and therefore dangerously thin. That means that Holly is on permanent bed rest in the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. For the health of the babies that needs to be at least 6 weeks, but we hope we can make it 10 weeks (32 weeks of prenancy). Holly is allowed to get up to use the bathroom, but other than that she has to stay in a laying position on the hospital bed.

Thankfully we have a lot of support. We know several triplet families that have gone through similar ordeals which helps to ease our fears. At this point we are just trying to take it one day at a time. Once we get past 28 weeks (6 weeks from now) we will be able to relax a bit. Every day we can keep our little ones in their mommy's womb is a good day.

- Robert W. Bennington

robertandholly@earthlink.net

They Move!!!

21 weeks

Yesterday morning, April 5th, I felt some obvious movements from the little ones for the very first time! My alarm went off at 8:45 for church, and as I lay there in bed on my left side I felt what seemed to be a "bubble" moving on my right. I wasn't sure if it was a baby or just stuff going on inside, but it happened again! I grabbed Robert's hand and put it on my belly and it happened a third time and he could feel it too! It was a very exciting moment and I'm so glad Robert was close by to experience it with me. Then a few hours later during our church service that little boy on my right side started kicking again! Robert was sitting right next to me, so I grabbed his hand and we spent the next 5-10 minutes listening to the sermon with both of our hands on my belly feeling the little guy being really active and trying to contain our laughter. I think I felt a light kick or two on the left (where the girls are), but so far the boy is by far the "athletic" one of the group:) Yesterday also just happened to be Palm Sunday and Robert made the little joke that our babies were in there "waving their palms for Jesus" - too cute!

18 Weeks

My 18 week belly

Happy mommy and happy daddy

It's 2 girls and 1 boy!!!

Assuming the position

This week was a big milestone for us! Even though we've already had about 10 ultrasounds, we were able to get the very thorough one done this week and also were able to find out the genders of our babies!!! On Monday morning (March 16th) we headed over to St. Charles hospital and had a three hour ultrasound! The ultrasound tech checked everything from each baby's size and weight, to their heart chambers and heartbeats. He even checked how their bones are growing and how their kidneys are functioning! It is truly amazing the things they can see from sound waves! And we also now know that we are having two little girls and a little boy:) Babies A and B currently weigh 10 ounces each and are about 6 inches long (from crown to rump). Baby C is a little bit tinier: she's about the same length but only weighs 8 ounces. Here are some pictures from our appointment!

Bye Bye Little Guy...

Tyler with his mom, Mama B, and Papa B - so many people love you little boy!

Riding on Papa B's shoulders before our drive

Saying bye to Kai-Kai

Mesmorized by the huge sea lions.

"Elfants!"

Driving the super cool tractor.

Watching the fish at the zoo.

Mama B giving him a kiss in our hotel room in Portland

Helping me vacuum and wearing my shower cap:)

Morning playtime with his Elmo toy

On February 17th we received the phone call that Tyler would be leaving us and joining his mom the very next day. Since that day became our "last day" with Tyler, we both decided to take the day off work to spend with him. I, of course, was a ball of tears that day and was pretty upset that we were only given one day's notice from DHS that he would be leaving. Thankfully, the weekend before we had been able to take a little family trip to Portland which included taking Tyler to the Portland Zoo so he could see the "efants".

When Wednesday morning rolled around I was still feeling pretty weepy. Robert got all of Tyler's clothes and toys packed up since I was too emotional to say "goodbye" to even his belongings. And at the last minute Robert got the idea to ask his caseworker if we could accompany them to the reunion with his mom and help ease him into his new living situation. The reason we hadn't been asked to join in the reunion was because his mom is currently in a treatment facility in Eastern Oregon which is about a 5 hour drive - one way. Tyler's caseworker said we were more than welcome to drive him there ourselves, so we threw a suitcase in the car, loaded Tyler and all his gear into the Mazda and headed for the Oregon/Idaho border.

When we pulled up to the treatment facility I couldn't stop crying. Right then and there I said "Lord, you've got to get me through this. I just can't do it on my own." And He did. We walked into the center, Tyler's caseworker asked one of the staff to let his mom know that we were there, and we waited in suspense for Kim to come see her son. When Kim came around the corner, she was overcome with emotion. The first words out of her mouth were "Robert and Holly came too!" and she burst into tears. We've been in contact with Kim via telephone every week since December, and most of her phone visits with Tyler have also been phone visits with me (it's hard to get a 2 year old to carry on a conversation). She couldn't believe we had driven all the way to see her, and once I saw Kim and how happy she was, I knew Tyler was in the right place. In fact, rather than crying, I ended up comforting Kim during the reunion with Tyler, and let her use all the kleenex I had stuffed into my purse for my own anticipated breakdown.

At first Tyler was pretty clingy to Robert and me, but after about 10 minutes of observing Kim and hearing Robert and me talk to her it was like a switch was flipped in his little brain and he toddled over to her and said "mommy?". She picked him up and hugged him and he wouldn't leave her arms the rest of the night. My normal reaction would have been severe jealousy (hey, I was "mommy" for the previous two months!), but God changed my heart towards the situation, and I was glad for Tyler and for Kim that they had found each other again. We took some pictures, gave Kim a list of his daily routine, gave Tyler a kiss goodbye in Kim's arms, and headed to our hotel. And God was faithful... I didn't shed a single tear.

Just last week I received a phone call from Kim (which was quite a surprise!) She had called just to give us an update and to let us "talk" to Tyler (although he had just woken up from a nap and wasn't feeling like talking on the phone:)) Kim informed us that she was still going to church and that she had Tyler baptised! She even confided in me about some of the difficulties she's been having learning how to be a mother to Tyler and that she feels like she gets pretty impatient with him. She said the sermon at church last Sunday was on being kind and patient with others... and she felt the message was just for her! We hope to visit Kim and Tyler again soon, and to continue to be a source of friendship and support for them both when her treatment is done and they return to Bend. We sure miss having Tyler around, but we also feel blessed for the time we had with him, and for the way God has used this entire situation to bless all involved.

Life at Home with our Little Guy

Having fun with Mama B

Someone likes Mama B's red shoes

Molly, T, and his bear from Grandma Marsha

Opening up his presents on Christmas morning

Fun with Papa B

Looking smart in Papa B's glasses

Wearing Mama B's snow boots

T and his buddy Jack from church

T enjoying bathtime!

We sure are enjoying having little T around! He brings so much energy to our home and we love how he says "hiya" everytime he sees us, how much fun he has playing with his toys, wearing our big clunky shoes around the house, chasing kitties, and of course, taking baths. And he sure has been soaking up all of the love and attention his five foster grandparents have been pouring on! His caseworker came by the other day and told us that his mom went into a drug treatment facility and that as soon as she has had a chance to settle in and get a little better they are hoping to have T join her there where she will receive training on how to be a good mommy to her son in a supervised environment. So, if all goes as planned, our time may be short with T so we're trying to enjoy each day with him and fill his little life with as much love and security as possible. We know God has a plan for his life, and whether that includes us or not, he's touched our lives forever and we'll always keep him in our prayers.