33 weeks wow!!!

WAHOOOO!!!  We are SO shocked, but thrilled to still be hanging on (at home!) at 33 weeks!!   It’s definitely getting harder all the time, but every day I can hold off is huge at this point!!

Here’s a quick update from our appointment on Wednesday:

- babies all growing still:  3lbs 13oz, 4lbs 3oz,  3 lbs 10 oz.  Our dr really wants them all to get to 4 before they arrive.  usually weights end up being overestimated before birth anyways.

- She’s not sure how much time I have left, so I’m getting the series of steroid shots for the babies’ lungs at the hospital on Monday and Tuesday.  If I were to go into labor before then, they could probably still get one or 2 shots in, but let’s just hope we don’t have to do that!

- On mon, she’ll make the decision if we need to schedule the C-section for this week or try to make it till next (which would be 34 weeks and aug.8,9, or 10)

- Monday we’ll also meet with one of the Neonatologists who will be taking care of the babies while in NICU

- At this point, she isn’t concerned about them arriving any day….they will be in level 2 NICU regardless, but she can’t predict what types of problems they’ll have in there (breathing, feeding, sucking, etc)

-so far, my cervix isn’t becoming an issue (lots of times with multiples it shortens early).  I’m so thankful now that I had the cerclage surgery at 13 weeks because it seems to have really helped

So basically we’re prepared for either this week or next, and totally happy with that!   Physically I’m starting to finally feel the aches, pains, fatigue, etc that I had honestly expected all along!  The contractions are still very frequent  (I’ve been having what normal pregnancies would consider the start of their labor for months now), but are now more painful than just intense tightening.   We’re trying to control them with the progesterone shots each week and oral meds throughout the day, but dr said they will continue to increase b/c of the very cramped space!  

Thanks so much again for all your support and prayers!  Hopefully we’ll have some more good news to report after the appointment on Monday!

A Big THANKS!

32.5 weeks whew!

These thank yous have been on my heart for a long time, and I wanted to write them out now since I’m not sure I’ll be coming home after my appointment tomorrow!

We’ve been SO blessed by so many people throughout this journey, and I wanted to let you know how much it ALL has meant to us!  Seriously, there's no way we could've gotten this far without you all!

First of all, thanks to my wonderful husband for your constant love, encouragement, and excitement about getting everything ready!  Thanks for working so hard everyday to make sure we can provide the babies with all they will ever need or want, then coming home and catering to whatever i need.  You’re going to be an amazing daddy!

My Mom has been such a Godsend, truly.  Anyone who knows her will attest that she is the most selfless, devoted lady there is, and I can’t even imagine going through this without her! Through  furnishing the nursery, spoiling the babies (and us) with too many things, cooking, taking me to dr. visits and around town when I could, organizing, and much more….she has spared no detail, expense, or energy.  I really think she has supplied half of the babies’ large wardrobe J   And thanks to my sweet dad too for his constant support  (and working hard to be the credit card behind all those things J)

Thanks to my awesome sisters for taking good care of their big sis…the dinners, lunches, visits, painting,  and precious outfits for the babies are so appreciated.  (and thanks to their sweet boyfriends Alex & Chris for all your help too!)  It’s been so fun to spend all this time with you and I thank God everyday that yall live so close J

My sweet in-laws have been so wonderful and generous as well!  Thanks for all the yummy dinners you’ve supplied, along with the adorable bedding and precious gifts for the babies.  I’ve loved the girls visits, and we are so lucky to have all of you in our lives!

There’s SO many people to thank for being so generous in helping us prepare for 3 of everything.  I won’t get into listing everything b/c that would take all night, but I would love to thank the amazing hostesses of the showers again!   Kathy & Kelley McCoy, Ash&al, Christy Tanton, Julie, Katie, and Rachel LeVrier, Liz Jackson, and my incredible 3^rd grade team. Also to the very talented Tiffany Conrad for organizing my class shower and creating such special keepsakes from the kids.   I love you all and have such amazing memories from those showers!

 I want to say thanks to everyone who has supplied dinners for us, lunch for me, smoothies, etc.  Not only has that helped so much since I can’t prepare anything, but I’ve SO enjoyed your company and getting to chat when you come by.  It truly makes my day!!  Thanks Dee Dee & Paw Paw, McCoy family, Darcie & Anthony, Christy T, Alli M., Leslie & Clayton, Christi C., and of course our awesome families!

I was lucky to be loaned some great maternity clothes (thanks Ellie and Coby), and lots of precious preemie stuff and girls outfits (thanks Julie, Kristin, and Coby).  And to the ultimate triplet mom Pam Stone...she passed on So much knowledge, goodies, and her doctor!  Love them all!!

I can’t end without thanking these sweet girls who have kept me going and provide me with more encouragement, advice, etc than I ever imagined.  Just like the song says “you find out who your friends are”…. I am so blessed.  Thanks Kel, Darcie, Christy, Court, Ash/Al,  and Christi.

So sorry if I left anyone off, and sorry for the long post!  I just really want you all to know how much you mean to us.  Can’t wait for these babies to get here in the next week or 2 so you can share in our JOY!!

Happy Birthday to Dee Dee (86!!) and Ashley & Alyson (23).  Everyone got to come over to our house after dinner since we couldn't go, and it was a great celebration!  This GIANT foot tall cake from Oh La La definitely hit the spot!  Love you young ladies!!

FAQs....

Not a whole lot to report--except making it to 32 weeks WOOHOO, despite the ever increasing contractions.  Had 8-10 an hour a few nights, and the monitor nurse even called the dr around 10 last night when I had re-monitored and still had 8.  But thank the Lord we are STILL home and truckin’ on!

This week I wanted to “answer” some of the frequently asked questions tim and I get (or some that I know people are thinking and just don’t want to ask!)  Questions are implied, I’ll just post answers…

-NO, we did not do Invitro, IUI, or any of those artificial inseminations

-NO, we did not “plan to” or “want” triplets, but YES of course we are thrilled to be having them!!

-YES, I plan on breastfeeding as much as possible.  We’re getting the best of the best hospital pumps which will help, but the 8+ times a day will be rough I know!

-YES, I will be having a C-section…with triplets there is not an option otherwise.

-NO, I will not be working for awhile (possibly ever, but I think I would go crazy staying home one they go to school!)

-NO, I don’t plan on having them wear matching clothes ALL the time…probably frequently, but I’d also like to have their own personalities show once they get a bit older.  On a side note, my sisters (twins) did match 99% of the time up through 5^th grade and it was adorable, although they might disagree J

- YES, the babies are in their own sacs, making them Fraternal.  There is a chance they could still look very similar to each other (esp since tim and I share many of the same features), but won’t be identical

-NO, I’m not “huge” yet….tummy definitely looks like a full term (or bigger) baby, but not as big as I was thinking with 3, and thankfully haven’t had any swelling or much weight gain in other places. I'll post a pic next week, but don't feel like getting "dressed" at the moment! ha 

-YES, we will have lots of help with the craziness!  My mom is moving in with us for awhile and will be a Huge lifesaver I know!  Also, tim’s family lives close and will be here a lot too, along with my dad, grandparents, sisters, and lots of sweet friends who are wanting to be around!  Our house will be like a hotel for awhile I’m sure…never a dull moment!

Hope that answers some of your “I wonders”!     Pray for another week (or more!) Love you all and feel SO blessed to have you in our lives!!

31.5 weeks...getting close!

We’re still going strong, believe it or not!  We had our weekly  appointment yesterday, and everything is looking good!  I brought my hospital bag just in case, but was so relieved to go home for now!  I’m not on “full” bed rest yet, and can still make an occasional outing (although most days I spend 90% of my time on the couch or in bed!)

    Dr. won’t set a delivery date b/c we really don’t know, but she’s still planning on making it through July…the 31^st would be 33 weeks and an awesome goal to achieve!  Anytime after that is just a plus!  I’m still taking the meds that slow contractions, and getting shots of progesterone to relax the uterus, so hopefully those are helping!  I’m a better incubator than the ones even in the best Nicu (as dr. always says), so keep praying the babies will stay in and develop for as long as possible!!

Haven't done this update in a while (thanks for the reminder Al), so here you go:

how far along?  31.5 weeks

how are you measuring?  Around 42 weeks
size of babies?  About 3.5 pounds each (yes, that’s like a 10.5 lb baby already!)

total weight gain  +36 pounds

stretch marks? Still none…cannot believe it! 
sleep?  Not great…toss and turn to get comfy, and go to the bathroom about 6 times

 best moment this week?  Getting a good report at dr and not having to check into hospital!

movement?   YES—all 3 are very active-not so much kicks, but full body turns hah!

food cravings? Anything COLD….smoothies, fruit, dips w/ chips, ice cream, etc

what i miss this week:  shopping and errands…even a quick trip to target wears me out, and I usually have to have an escort (mom, ash, and al have been happy to accompany me to any store J)  

what I'm looking forward to:  hitting the 32 week mark on Saturday! BIG milestone for us!!

What’s bugging me: doing the contractions monitor several hours a day, then dreading having to remonitor b/c I went over my threshold L

how are you feeling?  Pretty good actually for being this far! Surprisingly enough I’m not even bored yet at home….have had so many visitors, read lots of books, shopped online for the babies, and watched enough tv/movies to last all year. But I’ve NEVER had a time like this where I had NO responsibilities or things I “should” be doing, so I guess my body is thanking me for this break and preparing me for the craziness that is to come soon!!

I'm still here...

YES, I’m still here J  Never thought I would be home still at this point, but I’m still kickin’!  Not much to report from our appt. yesterday (which is good), but wanted to give you a quick update!

-Best news is that ALL the babies made it to 3 pounds which is a good milestone at 30 weeks! They were 3 lbs, 3lbs 2oz, and 3lbs 6oz.  Now our next goal is 4 pounds!

-I gained just a pound over the last 2 weeks (still not sure how that’s possible since the babes total weight gain is way over that for those same weeks?l)  Now up to a gain of 33….I’m thinking my goal should be 40lbs overall instead of her initial one of 70!  Just not going to happen no matter how I try.  We even had a BIG Mexican lunch at Ninfa’s on Navigation just before the appt thinking it would help, but guess the babies needed those enchiladas more than I did J  you’re welcome kids!

- Dr. told me to pack my bags for next week’s appt and each one following b/c we just don’t know when hospital time will come.  Dodge &Cash aren't handling the suitcases in the corner very well L

-Still averaging a contraction every 10 minutes…my “threshold” on the monitor is supposed to be 6, but I’ve gone over that several times last week.  Dr. is more concerned with the “quality” (how heavy/painful  over “quantity” of them, since I’ll have a lot more than a singleton would anyways.  They are getting a lot stronger, esp at night or when I’ve been out/on my feet for longer than I should.  Hence the reason I’m spending most of my time of the couch or in bed now to prevent that!!

Knock on wood, but still no swelling, intense pain, stretch marks, or other irritating issues from my meds like I was expecting!  The biggest annoyance now is the MANY bathroom trips…not exaggerating at all when I say I go every 15-20 minutes, then overnight every hour. 

What I’m loving this week: 

-long soaks in our Jacuzzi tub (although the water has to be lukewarm, not hot),
-fruit juice/lemonade, smoothies, or anything cold!
-seeing all the babies’ swings, seats, etc. being assembled and waiting to be used,
-watching random movies from Netflix or HBO (Ramona and Beezus was really good! A suggestion from the teacher and 3rd grader in me I guess!)
-the fact that July is half over...makes us that much closer to meeting our new loves!

You know you're 30 wks with Triplets when....

Sorry it's been awhile since i posted!  Here's a little change since i don't have a whole lot to update:

You know you’re 30 weeks with Triplets when…

-you have to sit down on the tub edge to dry and straighten your hair

-you’re mid-morning “snack” consists of a box of mac’n’cheese followed by a large bowl of peach icecream…or something along those lines (that was today)

-your hubby won’t even let you walk to the mailbox by yourself for fear of something happening in those 20 feet…

-you rotate through 3 big t-shirts at home (only ones that still fit), then get stressed if they are all in the laundry leaving nothing to lounge in

-you have more conversations and physical interaction with your pups than any human while home all day

-you have about 10 alarms set on your iphone for medicine reminders throughout the day, and wake up at 2am to take one of those doses

-speaking of meds, you fill up 2 giant pill cases each week, and can’t leave home without a travel case too

-your booty is still sore from the large progesterone shot you got 4 days ago

-you don’t even save all the ultrasound pics anymore b/c you’ve had SO many of them the past months

-you are excited when the uterine monitor shows “only” 4 or 5 contractions an hour

-you haven’t cooked a meal or baked a dessert (besides slice&bake) for months, but don’t mind

-the 1st thought when you open a menu is "i wonder what has the most iron and protein?"

-you realize you truly have the best family & friends in the world, and appreciate all they do so much!

-your uterus is officially “full term” for a singleton, and your bags are packed to head to delivery at any moment!

I could list so many more things that I never thought I would experience, but wanted to give you just a taste of my daily life!  I truly can’t complain, b/c everything I keep reading on blogs, etc makes me so grateful that I’m still somewhat mobile and not in much pain!!

Got a good report from the Dr on Tuesday, and she’s planning on us making it through july (which would put me at 33 weeks and an awesome milestone!) Even if they were to come next week they should still be fine...at risk for more future complications, but still fine!  Otherwise, not much to report!   I hadn’t gained anymore weight since last week, but she says babies are doing fine so I’ll just keep doing what I can!  Still having quite a few contractions every hour, but not enough to put me in the hospital yet!! 

  Thanks so much for all the sweet emails, messages, calls, etc--they mean so much to us and feels so good to know we have so much support out there.  Love you all!!

my 2 cuddlebugs :) they keep me company in bed or couch all day! love my babies!!