Jessica Ann Dudley

Jessica was our extra gift. We had ultrasounds done at 6 weeks - twins, then 8 weeks-twins looking good and wait- we see another baby! The specialist at Yale thought that baby was too small and would probably never grow and develop. He could not have been more wrong! We had another ultrasound at ten weeks and we heard all three heartbeats going strong for the first time! We also got to see their first tiny little movements. For the rest of the pregnancy the extra small baby was baby B but ended up baby C at the c-section. Jessica did not want to be left behind without her brothers and once her bag of waters was opened she literally popped right into the doctor's hands! She was the tiniest at only 3 lbs 12 ounces, but never needed any extra help! They told us that preemie girls do better than boys and she was no exception. It took her a few days longer to move out of her isolette into a crib, but other than that she did great. She was soo tiny - I was a little scared at first - she looked like a tiny porcelain doll!






When it was decided that the boys would go home from the NICU, Jess wanted to go home too and picked up her pace and got better at eating and keeping her temp up. I am very glad to say that all three of my babies got to come home together! I found out from a lot of other triplet moms that does not happen often!

Once she was home, Jess took her place and became the princess of the household. She was and is still a very easy baby as long as she gets what she wants! She is a total daddy's girl! I love watching her get so excited to see him and play with him. It is melt your heart stuff! LOL Even though she was the tiniest, she has really caught up and can give her brothers a run for their money. She was the first to really sleep thru the night. It was then that we got a little bit harder on the boys - if she could sleep thru at her weight and age- they boys should be able to!

She has always been very close to them developmentally. Usually within a few days to a week of them reaching a milestone, she would to! She was also the first to really master sitting - so much so that she never was excited to crawl. She did the army crawl to perfection for a lot longer than the boys, but started working on her standing first. She and Logan are in a constant battle for alpha triplet. They can really go at it and now she has started to voice her opinion on the matter! Jess, being all girl, was the first to really start to make noise and turn that into words. She has the cutest voice, but I am biased! With the boys now working on walking, she does not want to be left behind and is also trying hard but is just not ready. She is always happy and smiling when Dave gets her up in the morning. Her favorite game is peek-a-boo. She loves to thru a little cloth over her face and then drop it.
OK, I better go fix the crew their lunch. Here are her random photos - Enjoy!