Tales From the NICU

After they were born, the triplets were put into their own little isolette’s in the NICU. Vivienne and Kian shared an area and Kai was right across the walkway. It was observed on many occasions, that when one would cry, the others would answer. That was just the beginning. Once testing began, if one baby seemed to be getting “Special” treatment, then the other baby’s would find ways to mimic their symptoms so that they would also get special treatment as well. It was more predominant with the boys than Vivienne because she was always babied more than they were.

When Kian started looking a little yellow, he managed to blow his I.V. and they had to put it in the vein in his head. This meant that he ended up with a huge gauze hat looking contraption that sort of resembled a dunce cap. He also got to sun himself under the jaundice lamp for a day, which meant he got to wear these really cool shades (they looked like tiny baby sunglasses made of foam that were sticky-taped to his head.) Well, the very next day, Kai, as not to be out-done by his brother, decided he too wanted a very spiffy hat and shades and sure enough, he had the EXACT same set up. Kian only had his for a day. Kai, on the other had, ended his treatment a day afterward, but refused to let anyone remove his cool shades. He fought everyone and anyone who tried to wash his face. So Kai wore shades for nearly 3 days before the sticky-tape finally became un-sticky and the foam shades fell off. He was so ornery, that the nurse finally gave up on the sticky-tape removal and had my husband do it. We took a bunch of pictures of him because he was so very proud of himself.

We would discover that the boys had sibling rivalry down to an art form. Soon, the boys were sharing a bed which would lead to fighting. Kai would steal Kian’s pacifier and toss it down into the well of the isolette where they couldn’t reach it. Kian would wrap up in Kai’s wubby (a half blanket/half doll that was used to put over their heads like a tent to keep their heads warm and shade them from the bright lights.) This would inspire them both to slap at each other much like “Laverne and Shirley” would do.

Then they both were co-bedded with their sister for the first time since birth. That was when they figured out that, although they got bottles and sister didn’t, she was getting something that they were not-MEDICINE-and it looked and smelled yummy. It only took them a few days of sleeping with their heads on her chest to mimic what it was that they believed won her the extras. Kian was the first to get the “Royal” treatment. Apparently, Kai believed(or rather his brother had told him stories) that his brother was escorted from their bed in his very own little bed with wheels full of fresh-out-of-the-dryer warm blankies down to a place where he was given an extra-special bottle to drink and then they took pictures of him because he was so cute. So the very next day, Kai came down mysteriously with similar symptoms and was also escorted with the same fan-fare to that special portrait room where it was reported later that the techs found him extremely cute and funny and had played with him for quite a while. It would seem that he basically sang for his supper down there and felt he had to earn that extra bottle which he drank with such gusto that he didn’t even notice that it was full of barium until he started feeling funny. He had taken it all in so very fast that it came back up even faster, much to the chagrin of the techs. Apparently NOBODY gets sick on their table….except Kai, and he had done it so very well. So everyone ended up with the same formula and the SAME special medicine. And all seemed peaceful, for a time.