Sunday, May 31, 2009

Calendar


I was admitted into the hospital April 17th at 26 weeks and this is the calendar I started shortly after I was admitted. When I filled out the dates on the calendar I thought there was no way we would ever make it to 32 weeks but thought it was a good goal. Well as you can see we've made it and I've had to start over with a new calendar. This calendar goes to 37 weeks. I really want the babies to be healthy but I don't think I can make it all the way through this calendar! The babies are continuing to grow and the boys are hanging out over my ribs. I feel internally bruised and cannot lay on my back at all. The weight is making my legs weaker and my stomach is getting smaller therefore causing terrible reflux that I feel like I'm going to throw up all night and most of the day. I know these are all minor complaints and things could be much worse. I do count my blessing and the nurses say I have a great attitude compared to many other patients but it is all wearing me down slowly but surely. I've put in a request to see my doctor when he has hospital rounds to discuss a "we are done date" but I'm not sure he will give me one. Here is the new calendar so we will see how many days I get crossed off!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Congratulations Soon-to-be Aunt Lindsey!

It's hard to believe but Lindsey is graduating high school Saturday. I'm a little sad that I will miss this milestone in her life but I know my job is 24/7 right now and Lindsey understands. We are both very proud of all she has accomplished and know that she has a bright future ahead. Next year she will attend Texas A&M University as a business major. Lindsey, these will be some of the best days of your life so I hope you enjoy what the next few years have in store for you! We love you and can't wait until you can teach the babies all of the Aggie yells!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Belly Picture

I've had many request for belly pictures so here is the latest at 32 weeks. I have tried to take pictures every week but usually do not post them. I guess its partly because I've come to realize I am not a good picture taker and its hard to look cute and feel up to taking pictures that you would want others to see when you are in the hospital.

This picture may not be a great indication of how big my belly is but I measured it and I am now 43 inches around! Most of you will probably think this is still small for triplets which it probably is but believe me it is all baby and getting very heavy and really uncomfortable!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ultasound pictures

Here are the ultrasound pictures I promised. These are from our last growth ultrasound on Wednesday, May 20th.

Baby A- Not a great profile picture but we are luck we got this because of how far down she is. I am a little sad that we couldn't get a 3D picture of her but I guess its okay as long as she is healthy!

We were able to get 3D of both boys. I promise their noses really are not this smushed but as they get bigger the ultrasound tech has to zoom in closer to get around the membrane, bones, etc. Basically she is holding the camera to their noses. Still cute though, okay maybe I'm a little biased!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Car seats are in and they fit!

Although I have a 4-runner I was still worried about three car seats fitting in the backseat. Well we got them in this last week and Steven put them in. They are close together but the good news is we won't need a new vehicle before the babies arrive! Steven is going to have to get used to not pushing his seat all the way back but that's a minor adjustment. We really like my 4-runner and hope we can make do with it for a while. Eventually we know reality will hit and we will need a bigger SUV. Now I'm more worried about having enough room to carry all of the "stuff" that you need to travel with babies (diaper bags, strollers, etc.) but we probably won't go out too much in the beginning so we'll worry about that later. Below are a few pictures that my sister took. I ordered them through pictures so I wasn't sure how they would look in person but they look great. I just have to thank Heidi Parker for all of her help! I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, I know I'm enjoying having Steven here an extra day.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Not in room Y322 anymore

No, I have not delivered nor am I any closer to delivery, I just moved down the hall to Y354 which is what the nurses call the "princess" suite. Its a much larger room with a large closet and the bathroom is about 4 times as big as my last bathroom. This room is reserved for the mommy on the floor that has been here the longest and guess what I've been here the longest now. 5 weeks to be exact but who's counting! Steven was not looking forward to moving all of my stuff but they let us use a cart that cut down on the number of trips he had to make back and forth. We are all settled in now and enjoying the extra space.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New Growth Ultrasound

Baby A weighed 3lbs. 11oz.
She has her head on my cervix, it actually took the doctor and the ultrasound tech to get her measurements. The doctor physically pulled up on my belly from my pelvis while the ultrasound tech got the image. Then he checked my cervix by hand and said he felt her head! Amazingly we did get a profile of her and were able to watch her open and close her mouth and stick out her tongue.

Baby B weighed 3lbs. 12oz.
He has moved a little lower too. We were able to get a 3D and profile picture of him. He opened and closed his eyes while we watched him and you could actually see his eyes look up, down and side to side. He did get a little mad at his brother towards the end because baby C kept sitting on his face, literally his butt was sitting on B's face. Our ultrasound tech thought it was so funny she wanted to watch them for a little while and baby B finally got mad enough he began to poke, pinch, and punch baby C to get him to move.

Baby C weighed 2lbs. 12oz.
He is still our little runt and Steven thinks he has little man syndrome. Mainly because of him bullying or picking on the other babies. I was a little concerned about his weight but the doctors think he is okay. He has gained weight since last time just not as much as the other two. The doctor said he was so active and his heart rate was good. He said we will continue to watch him but he is probably fine. He did rank in the 15 percentile but this is based off a singleton percentage. I think if he gets down into the 2 or 3 percentile range is when they start to worry or get a little more concerned.

I am doing fine. The contractions are getting a little more intense but they are still not consistent. The doctor did check me by hand
after he realized how low baby A was and he said I am effaced 80% and only dilated to 1cm.

I do have ultrasound pictures but I haven't had a chance to scan them in yet so those will come with a later post.

Monday, May 18, 2009

A little sunlight!

I know it doesn't sound like much but I went on two wheelchair rides this weekend. Since we passed the 30 week mark I guess I feel a little more comfortable getting out and about. So as long as the doctors will let me and Steven is here to wheel me around, I have plans to get out of room Y322 for my 15-30 minute rides in the sunshine :) I took a picture but as I'm posting this I realized how swollen my face is starting to look. My hands, feet, ankles, etc. are not swollen and appear pretty normal. With that being said I'm not sure why the doctors requested I start wearing T.E.D. stockings, they are definitely a fashion statement I'm not ready to start! They are used to help with blood circulation and to help prevent blood clots. Since I'm not swollen I'm not sure why they requested I wear these so I'll be talking to the doctors about that in the morning! I was also told that I will start receiving physical therapy which I'm not as upset about because I think I will enjoy a little exercise. I haven't complained about it but I do get really stiff laying here. I'll let you know how it goes.


Saturday, May 16, 2009

One Month

As of Friday I have been in room Y322 at St. Luke's in Houston for one month. That is a total of two months on bed rest at home and in the hospital. We celebrated 30 weeks this last week which was a big milestone for us and really makes us feel at ease. We spoke with one of the doctors this morning and she said the next goal is 32 weeks and they will probably not let us go past 34 weeks. 34 weeks is considered "full" term for triplets and since I have the cholestasis they don't want to take any chances. We are doing really good for triplets and the doctors and nurses keep saying they are amazed we have done so well. I feel really blessed we are doing so well when there are many patients on this floor that are worse than me and only carrying one or two babies. I'm still not on any medications and having regular contractions that are not painful. I still feel like everything is going to happen all of a sudden which the doctors agree that is usually what happens with higher order multiples. I just pray that if Steven is not here he will be able to get here in time.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

This weeks ultrasound

I don't have much to report from this weeks ultrasound. It is getting harder to get good images of the babies. Baby A is head down with her face to my back and she pretty much refuses to move. In the one picture we got of her she was pointing her finger like a gun. Steven said we may have a Red Raider on our hands, I'm sure my dad will put a stop to that! Baby B is probably the easiest to get but he is also facing my back. We are able to get Baby C pretty easily but he is in a weird position. He is curled up with his legs straight out and his feet are in front of his face(basically folded in half). No wonder we have a hard time getting his heartbeat everyday. They did a quick check of the babies heartbeats and deep pockets (the fluid around the baby). From what I could tell everything looked fine but I haven't talked to a doctor and probably won't if they don't think anything is wrong. They didn't measure my cervix this week and are going to only measure that every two weeks now. Next week will be the next growth ultrasound so we are excited to see how much they've grown.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and all the other Mother's out there, we hope everyone had a great day. It was a nice first mother's day for me. Steven and I spent the day together hanging out in my room. He bought me a beautiful ring that has three stones on it for each of the babies. Something I will definitely treasure for a long time. It is also a day that we really miss Steven's Mom (Laverne) especially this year with the babies on the way. She would be super excited about their arrival! Laverne and my Mom have taught us both so much and I hope I will be a better mom because of them. We are also lucky to have Myrna in our lives, she does so much for us and will love our babies just as much as our own mothers. Okay obviously I'm having a sappy, emotional morning so enough of that!

I know everyone has been waiting for an updated belly picture to see just how big the momma has grown! Well the below picture was taken Saturday and I think my belly measures about 42 inches now.


I also had to include a picture of my favorite niece and newphews that came to see me this weekend.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I'm not crazy!

Okay the jury is probably still out that I'm not totally crazy but at least I'm not going out of my mind! Several weeks ago, before I was admitted into the hospital, I started having this severe itching from head to toe. It has gotten so bad that I practically scratched my skin raw. Well it got to the point they would give me benedryl to try to stop the itching. I tried to go through everything like what soap and lotion I used, what I ate, and detergents but I couldn't figure it out. I started thinking it was in my head but the other day one of the doctors said lets do some blood work. I didn't think anything was really wrong but what harm could there be in giving a little blood. Well today the doctor came in and said my bio acids test came back elevated and I had cholestasis of pregnancy. This is when pregnancy hormones affect how well the gallbladder functions. Sometimes, pregnancy hormones slow or even stop the flow of bile. Eventually, this excess bile may enter the bloodstream. This is apparently what causes the uncontrollable itching. I asked if this affects the babies in any way and they said that if it goes undiagnosed there is a risk of fetal death. The doctor felt that our babies are okay because they are monitored everyday and we know their heartbeats are good and they have good movement. They started me on a medication today to help control it so keep your fingers crossed that it will go away. The good thing is it only occurs during pregnancy and resolves itself a few days after delivery.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

It's been a busy day!

It's been a busy day! The ultrasound tech came in early today, the nurse came and did the usual heartbeat monitoring, the high risk doctor stopped by, I took a shower, and have plans to go down the hall and visit my new friend. Then I get to have a long weekend with Steven. He will be here tonight until Monday morning, thanks to the Maifest Holiday.

The ultrasound tech didn't do a growth ultrasound so I don't know how much the babies have grown but their heartbeats were good. My cervix has shortened to 1.0cm which is not great but to be expected. The doctor said he is just glad I have a cervix to measure still.

My nurse came in this morning with exciting news, I don't have to be hooked up to the contraction monitor 24/7 anymore! My contractions have not changed so that is why they decided to take me off. Obviously if the contractions become more frequent or stronger then I will be hooked up again. I still have to be monitored three times a day for an hour but we can handle that!

Now that I'm not hooked up I can get out of the room for a little bit, YEAH! I've made a new friend in the hospital, Kelley is carrying twins and has been here a while. Since she is on the same floor I can go to her room and visit for 45 minutes. She actually came to my room yesterday and was here for 2 hours and we could have continued to talk but the nurse wouldn't let us :(

My high risk doctor came in to talk to me for a little bit today. He is always full of statistic and case studies going on. Well today he shared with me a study that was done on triplets that were 6 months old. He said the study showed it took 196 hours a week for one person to care for triplets. If you do the math there are only 168 hours in a week without sleep. I'm not sure why he felt the need to share this study with me now but I think he found it kind of humorous. I didn't find it so amusing! Good thing I have a wonderful husband and lots of family and friends close by, keep your calendars open 6 months from now!!!!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Adoption, it's not for cry babies!

I am asking everyone I know to check out the website www.notforcrybabies.com. This is a very good friend of mine that has tried for 5 years to have a biological child of their own. They have been through many emotional and expensive fertility treatments only to realize that GOD has a different plan for them. They have now turned their focus towards adopting a child and have begun the process. They will not let anything stop them from having a child and who could blame them! Dave and Jessica are going to make wonderful parents and are very kind and caring individuals. She was one of the biggest supports to me when we were going through our fertility process and I want to support them through this process. She has created this website to raise awareness of adoption and to help raise money to support families that would like to adopt. Even if you are not able to contribute to her cause I'm asking that you at least share her website with friends or family that can help spread the word. Thanks for checking it out! Adrienne

www.notforcrybabies.com

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Ultrasound Pictures

Baby B rubbing his head "ouch that hurt"

Baby C's head and Baby B's foot. As we were watching Baby B kicked C in the head several times. We are going to have our hands full!!!!

Cute 3D picture of Baby B(our biggest baby), the only one we could get 3D of that day.

Baby B 3D picture again with chubby little cheeks!

Friday, May 1, 2009

BES is Awesome!!!

Steven came to the hospital Friday night carrying a huge basket full of goodies from the faculty and staff at BES. I can not tell you how amazing this school has been to us! I took a picture of the basket but you can not see all of the food, snacks, games, movies, magazines, gift cards and gas money that was included. I have not had any real cravings during my pregnancy but as I went through the basket of goodies I wanted to eat half the basket right then and there. I'm pretty sure I will be gaining a few pounds from this basket. I can not thank everyone enough for their kindness, all I can say is you guys are AWESOME!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!