After birth, the 3 girls were immediately placed in the NICU for close monitoring. Being 8 weeks premature, their lungs needed to further develop, their liver needed to begin functioning, and they needed to learn to maintain their own body temperature. After a little more than a week, they each began to move into closed incubators which kept the air temperature constant, keeping them warm. Another week went by and soon the began to transition to open cribs as their temperatures stabilized. They continued to be on a heart and respiratory monitor as they had periodic spells where their breathing would slow and their heart rate would subsequently drop.
Over the next 10 days they began to take more and more feedings from a bottle instead of their feeding tubes. One by one, they nippled all of their feedings for 2 consecutive days and remained spell-free over that time. Serena came home first on September 17 followed by Scarlett on the 19th. Sadie came home on week later on the 26th. During that time, Sadie had been fed formula and had gained substantial weight, even passing Serena. At the time they were released, Serena weighed 5lbs, Scarlett 4lbs 12oz, and Sadie 5lbs 12 oz.
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