Another Baby Shower!

This shower was given to us by my work colleagues - staff, faculty, and graduate students. We had planned for it to be at our house, which was a good thing since I was on bedrest at that point! So everyone crowded into our tiny living room and enjoyed pizza and cupcakes. It was fun to see everyone since I hadn't been in the office for awhile. (of course I'm still staying in touch by email and doing some work from home, but it's not the same as seeing everyone in person). Our guests were generous and our party planners did a great job with decorations, food, and helping to set up the furniture ahead of time. Thank you to everyone for a great time!

Some of the grad students


Jason and I with our monkey shaped cupcake cake


Someone thought it would be cute to give us 3 baby dolls :)


Some cute decorations

A Visit from Ruth and her girls

On Tuesday night, our friend Ruth brought us yummy Indian food and some baby girl clothes. It was fun to see her and her girls (ages 4 and 9). Madison (9) enjoyed wrestling with Casey, while Eleanor (4) played a game with Jason. Below are some pictures of their visit:

Madison wrestling with Casey - don't worry - she was safe and having fun! Casey loved having someone else to wrestle with besides Jason.


Jason was trying to be "artistic" in this shot, with my big belly in the foreground and Ruth and the girls organizing baby clothes in the background.

Pregnancy Photos - 3rd Trimester

I'm so excited to be in the 3rd trimester now! It's a big milestone for a multiples pregnancy. In honor of my strict bedrest, I will be posting my weekly belly pics while wearing all my new pajamas. I am glad I asked for big comfy pajamas for Christmas, because they are coming in quite handy now! So here's the pajama parade...


27w3d


28w2d Sorry the jammies are barely visible - they are gray with white bunnies. :)


29w4d - another week accomplished!


30w6d


32w1d somehow we missed 31 weeks. maybe because it's harder to haul myself out of bed these days!


33w0d sporting my new XXL maternity clothes. yikes.

Warning: whining ahead!

I really try to stay positive every day. I am grateful that the babies are doing well and are still gestating, and that I didn't have any complications until week 26. I am grateful that we live only 5 minutes from a wonderful teaching hospital with a high-level NICU. I am really really grateful for Jason's care-taking and all of our friends and family who are helping us out.

However....I need to whine. If you can't tolerate whining, stop reading now.

I am getting more uncomfortable by the day. As mentioned in the previous post, Baby C's head is now in my right ribs, making it hard to lay on that side. I get out of breath while eating, and I get full quickly. This morning Jason made me a great egg and sausage dish, and I could only eat half of it. I kept getting out of breath and having to take breaks. Then, 15 minutes after I gave up (and the meal was cold) I felt hungry again. Those of you who know me well know how much I love to eat - it's frustrating to have to eat tiny amounts at a time and then have to stare at good food that I'm too full to eat. I guess Jason is going to have to fix me smaller portion sizes, and I'm going to have to eat more "mushy" food (yogurt, pudding, cottage cheese, milkshakes). I'm worried that I won't be getting enough calories for the babies now that I get full so quickly.

I'm not bored on bedrest - I have plenty to do and lots of visitors - but it's uncomfortable to sit up for long periods, so I'm going to have to find more things I can do while laying on my side.

I guess that's really all. My main meltdown this morning was about food and hunger and not being able to breathe. Guess I should stop typing and lay down for a nap! Thanks for listening...

Now I know why they call us "patients"...

I'm sure the joke has been made many times before, but yesterday really tried my patience as a patient. We had 2 appointments - one for an ultrasound and one with the high-risk OB doctors (called Maternal-Fetal-Medicine docs, or MFMs). Jason and I left home at 10:10am and didn't get home until 2:10pm. ugh.

The ultrasound appointment was just a quick check of my cervix and the babies. (I swore I wasn't going to give cervix updates on this blog, but since it's pretty relevant to pre-term labor I guess I'll get over it). Cervix is still long, which is good, but the tech showed that when she pressed on my belly to mimic the pressure from standing, it opened and shortened a little bit. Thus reinforcing the need for bedrest to keep the pressure off. The babies were thriving and adorable, as usual. Good heart rates, good fluid levels, good placentas. They are getting more crowded in there. In fact, Baby C's head is now wedged up under my ribs on the right. It is not comfortable. Apparently she looks like she's trying to get into a head down position, but Baby A is taking up too much room on the lower right side of my uterus so C can't get as far down as she wants to. It feels like I've pulled a muscle on that side and it hurts to lay on my right side unless I have a pillow under my ribs.

Then we head off to the other side of the hospital for the MFM appointment. At this point I am always in a wheelchair since the hospital is so big - it's nice being wheeled around! And Jason is getting the hang of steering. :) Apparently the clinic was running really behind - that's what happens when you have all high-risk patients in one day - apparently a lot of them had complications that needed to be dealt with. Our appointment was at 11:30. We weren't taken back to a room until 1:00. We spoke briefly with a med student at 1:15, then didn't see the resident and attending physician until after 1:30. So much for Jason's 2pm work meeting! This was the longest I'd ever had to wait for an appointment, and I was pretty uncomfortable and cranky. If I'm supposed to be on bedrest, I don't think 2 hours in a waiting room is good for me!

Anyway, they agreed that things are stable with my cervix and I should just keep on doing what I'm doing. So it was a 2 hour wait for a 10 minute conversation.

Then poor Jason had to drive me home and fix me lunch, then race out the door to work without getting to eat his lunch. It was a tiring day - I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to nap and lay as still as possible.

So, to sum up, the good news is that things seem to be stable. Plus, I'm 27 weeks today, which is one week closer to our goal of 32-34 weeks. I can't believe we could have these babies here within the next 7 weeks! I'm not sure I'm ready...

Our 2nd shower

On Wednesday (1/20), Jason's office had a shower for us. I had been really excited about going and seeing all of our friends, but by that point I was stuck in the hospital. So, Jason brought the laptop with webcam to the hospital, and I joined the shower via Skype. It was a lot of fun to be able to watch the action and interact with people. However, it was kind of scary to see myself projected on a giant screen in their conference room!

Everyone was very generous, and we are grateful to now have all 3 carseats, a pack n' play, and some adorable clothes, blankets, and books. Thanks everyone!!!

Here are some pictures...

See me on the screen in the background?


They really taunted me by eating lots of good food in front of me while I tried to eat my hospital pot roast. Thankfully, someone prepared a couple of plates for me that Jason brought to the hospital later that evening. Everything was so good!




I hesitated to include this picture because of my giant pale self, but in the interested of unbiased journalism...

Home from the hospital!

I was released from the hospital this morning and home by noon! Although it wasn't awful to be there, I am grateful I didn't have to stay longer. The only things I will miss are the ability to raise and lower the head of my bed (rather than pile up 500 pillows) and having a nurse available at the touch of a button. Although Jason does a great job of waiting on me, I will have to live without his assistance while he's at work.

I was able to go home because my cervix has stayed stable, I have not had more contractions, and the babies are doing fine. The 5am baby monitoring today was the easiest yet - I think the babies were still sleeping so they didn't move around as much. It's so cool to hear their heartbeats and to hear how each one is slightly different. I will continue to take Procardia (nifedipine) every 6 hours around the clock to prevent contractions. Luckily I don't have any side effects from it.

So I am parked in bed, can only get up for bathroom and shower, and generally just need to not move around too much. This weekend we'll get the bedroom all set up so I have everything I need within reach, and we are in the process of arranging for people to visit me at lunchtime in order to prep my food and let the dog out.

The doctors say that a goal of 32-34 weeks gestation is still realistic for me, so let's hope that I'm stuck in bed for 8 more weeks! (I'm 26w2d right now)

Holding steady!

It is day 2.5 of hospital lockdown, and things are looking good. Here's what's been happening in the last 24 hours:

--the medication to prevent contractions (Procardia) seems to be helping - I'm on the monitor now and haven't had any contractions. My uterus is "irritable" though - probably just from trying to hold on to 3 babies while being so stretched out. I think that bedrest should continue to help decrease the irritability.

--the babies are still happy and healthy. They wiggle around so much during the times they have to be monitored that it takes forever to get a long enough read on their heart rates. When they're really misbehaving we have to get out the ultrasound machine, which is fine with me because then I get to see them! Or rather, I just see parts of them - it's hard to get a full view of anyone as they get bigger.

--now that I've had the 2nd steroid shot, they are letting me get up from bed a little today. I get to use the bathroom instead of a bedpan, and later I'll get to take a shower! They want to see how my body reacts to this level of activity before they send me home.

--they are still hoping/planning to discharge me tomorrow as long as nothing gets worse. Once I'm home I think the plan will be strict bedrest (only getting up for bathroom and shower), which means I'm going to have to get very good at being patient! I knew I'd probably have to do this eventually, but I was hoping for a few more weeks of freedom.

So...thanks for everyone's phone calls and emails of support. We will keep you updated as events warrant!

In the hospital...don't panic yet!

So I'm in the hospital for monitoring, due to signs of pre-term labor (contractions and slightly dilated cervix). So far the medications and bed rest seem to be helping. Here's a run-down of events that got me here.

I had been feeling some weird contractions and maybe symptoms of a UTI. None of it was very strong or severe, but yesterday I just had this wave of anxiety and thought I couldn't wait another week till my regular appointment. I have been really worried about pre-term labor and didn't want to risk anything. So I called my OB and they said to come on in to get checked out. There was no sign of infection, but they were concerned about the change in my cervix. So up to Labor & Delivery I went.

They strapped several monitors on me - we'll have to get a picture sometime - it looks pretty funny to have 3 heartrate monitors plus a contraction monitor all strapped to my big belly. They checked me periodically, things got a tiny bit worse, and they said I had to stay for a few days.

So they've been giving me meds to stop the contractions, fluids to help me stay hydrated, and steroid shots to help the babies' lungs mature. They are hopeful that this combination will help the babies to stay in for as long as possible. It's really scary to think about them being born this early, so I'm going to follow dr's orders the best I can.

I hope that they will let me go home by the end of the week to do bedrest there, but I'll stay here if they say that's best.

I will keep you updated as long as I have access to a laptop!

Visit with the cousins

On Sunday and Monday we were visited by Jason's aunt Crystal, cousin Brooke, cousin Bree, and Bree's baby boy Blake. It was fun to finally get to meet Blake, who is 4 months old. I will add pictures to the post as soon as I can get my hands on some!

We were happy to see some of our baby items get some use (primarily the changing table!) and to get some new mom tips from Bree. And everyone was helpful to us in terms of bringing me food :) and doing other household things. We also got to see how our animals reacted to a fussy baby. Our dog Casey didn't seem bothered by the crying, but we are going to have to teach her to lick babies a little less often, or at least keep the licking away from the face. She will also need to learn the difference between baby toys and her toys - we caught her chewing on a pacifier. Time to start some training! Casey is so sweet with the kids in the neighborhood - lets them hang all over her, put their hands in her face, etc. and she never complains. However, she has been known to knock toddlers over with her enthusiastic licking. I think the hardest part will be to help her adjust to not being the center of attention anymore. She is a labrador retriever and loves nothing more than to cuddle on the couch with her humans. We are going to have to line up lots of dog-walking help once the babies get here so that she can get lots of attention and exercise.

Our cat Mojo is scared of loud noises, so he spent most of the time hiding in our bedroom. However, when it was quiet, he was brave enough to venture out and inspect all the baby equipment. It's fine with us if he hides most of the time - we're more worried that he'll get into mischief or try to sleep with the babies once he gets more brave.

Here is a picture of our current "babies":


So thanks for the visit, Crystal, Brooke, Bree, and Blake! Hope to see you again once our babies are here!

Our First Baby Shower!

Me and my belly at 25w3d, right before going to our baby shower.

Jason and I attended our first baby shower today. It was so much fun, and still hard to believe that after all this time we finally got to have a shower. It was hosted by our friends Jen and Andy, and their daughter Ruby, who helped deliver presents to us. We are so grateful for everyone's generosity and we are looking forward to future showers (both in-person and long-distance virtual showers). Here are some pictures from today. I still can't get used to looking twice as wide as Jason, and I know I still have some growing to do!

Feeling Movement

Lots of people have asked what kind of movement I'm feeling from the babies, and when it started. So I'll give you the timeline, to the best of my memory.

Around 14-15 weeks, I started to feel what people call "flutters." To me it felt like bubbles popping or something, or maybe goldfish brushing up against me. I especially felt it low in my pelvis if I leaned forward at my desk - as if someone was saying "stop squishing me!". It was very strange, and I was never sure if I was just making it all up.

Closer to 19-20 weeks, I started to feel movement that seemed more like kicking. As it got stronger, it was more like thumps.

Around 22-23 weeks, I started to see my belly move when they kicked! That was really cool. Plus Jason was finally able to feel the movement from the outside. Because my belly is so big already, I can really only see any movement that is at or above my belly button. Anything lower than that is out of my view.

Now (25 weeks), sometimes the thumps are so strong that if I'm resting a book on my belly it will jump. Pretty fun, and reassuring. Of course when I don't feel movement for awhile I start to worry. Sometimes they respond if I jiggle my belly or drink something cold, but sometimes they don't.

Here's how they are positioned and what I feel from each one:

Baby A (girl) is very low and deep in my pelvis, with her head down and body/legs off to the right. I usually feel things more like rolling or flipping from her. She is also the one who usually has her back to us during ultrasounds - she is shy about showing her face.

Baby B (boy) is on the left side of my belly, head down, feet at or above my belly button. He is my strongest kicker! He is definitely the one I feel most often. Maybe it's just the way he's positioned, or maybe we are going to have an active boy on our hands.

Baby C (girl)is on the right side of my belly, usually either breech or sort of sideways. Her placenta is in the way, so I often don't feel her kicks as strongly. I think I feel them most when she is sideways - that's when I feel something to the far right side of my belly. I don't think she is as active as A or B, but that could be about her positioning or the placenta's position. Then again, we caught her yawning during our last ultrasound, so maybe she's just the least energetic. We also had an ultrasound once where we saw B kicking C in the head. Not nice, Baby B!

I'm imagining things will get more interesting as they get bigger and have less room to move around. It's pretty fun to just lay around with my shirt up and wait for the show. :)

How are you feeling?

I get this question a lot, and I'm never sure how honest to be. I don't want to complain too much, because I think I'm doing pretty well considering how big I am, and I know it's only going to get worse. I want to save my serious complaining for when I feel really bad!

But...for those who are curious I will give you a rundown of what it feels like to be 25 weeks pregnant with triplets. I will try to just keep this post very matter of fact - please don't read a complaining attitude into it!

First, if you have been pregnant before, think back to when you were almost 35 weeks. That's how big my belly is now. Remember how you were feeling, and think about how you knew you only had a few weeks left and couldn't wait to feel "normal" again. Now imagine knowing (hoping!) that you had at least 9-10 weeks left and were going to get even bigger during that time frame. How would you feel then?

Ok, now that you have that memory in place...

I am tired. A lot. I have very little stamina. I can handle a few outings per week, as long as they are to places where I can sit back down immediately (restaurants, friends' houses, etc.). If I am standing for more than 10 minutes, my back and feet hurt, and I tend to have Braxton Hicks contractions. Often I need an hour of sitting/lying down to make up for each 10-15 min on my feet. I usually sleep 8-9 hours per night (well, that includes multiple bathroom trips) and take a 1-2 hour nap each day. If I have an outing planned for one part of the day I can guarantee that I'll be out of commission the rest of the day. Doctor appts. are particularly tiring b/c I have to go to their office at the hospital each time. I have finally given in and agreed to be pushed around the hospital in a wheelchair. I'm even considering getting a seat for my shower because showers are becoming more tiring.


I am still eating a lot. I love having the freedom to eat pretty much whatever I want, but sometimes I get tired of figuring out what to eat next. I get bored with my snacks pretty quickly. Jason has been doing a great job of buying a variety of foods for me. I get full more easily, and sometimes even get out of breath when eating. This means lots of small meals and snacks. I'm thinking I'm going to have to rely a lot on liquid calories in future months. Thankfully, I don't really have much trouble with heartburn - a little reflux now and then, but nothing a few tums can't handle. I'm supposed to drink 3+ liters of water a day, and I definitely feel worse when I don't meet this goal.

I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists/hands. They fall asleep and get tingly easily at night, and are sore during the day, apparently due to swelling and fluid retention. I just got wrist braces to wear at night and I hope they help. I need to be able to play online for as long as possible!

I am often congested, and apparently I snore at night. Jason has begun sleeping in the guest room so that he can be well-rested for work. I miss him, but it does give me more room to spread out! I'm also very hot and sweaty at night.

Speaking of sleep, it's going ok, I guess. I sometimes have trouble falling asleep due to discomfort or due to my extra-long afternoon naps. I can only sleep on my sides, of course, and I have to switch sides every 1-2 hours because my hips go numb. This isn't really a problem, since I need bathroom breaks so often! I have a variety of pillows for cushioning all my sort spots, and Mojo the cat likes to keep me company. He also likes to hit me when he feels it is time for breakfast, or when I am not petting him enough.

And of course, there are the usual big belly issues - can't get up from the couch as easily, can't bend down to pick things up off the floor, can barely get my socks on, can't cut my toenails anymore, can't bend down to clean the dog's paws when she comes in from outside, etc. I am in desperate need of a pedicure. I fear that eventually Jason will have to help me get dressed.

Overall though, not too bad! Nothing I can't live with at this point, and I hope the serious discomfort stays away as long as possible. I am trying to rest and stay off my feet as much as I can, and I think that's helping. I am grateful to be on medical leave from work so that I can rest. I am still working from home a couple of hours per day, but it's a lot easier to do work from the couch rather than going in to the office!

So thanks for your concerns about how I'm doing, and I'll be sure to let you know when it gets really bad!

Pregnancy Photos - 2nd trimester

The belly really started growing in the 2nd tri! And by that time it was definitely all baby and not bloat.


14w2d


16w2d


16w3d


17w3d


18w2d


19w2d


20w1d

oops - skipped a few weeks! the holidays were busy and we misplaced our camera...


24w3d


25w3d


26w3d - last week in 2nd trimester!

Pregnancy Photos - 1st trimester

Here is a timeline of my belly progression during the first trimester. Please excuse the headless photos - sometimes it was just better to crop out my facial expressions!


5w2d


6w2d


7w2d


8w2d


10w3d


11w2d


12w4d


13w2d

Growth Scan Update - 24w6d

The babies and I had a great growth scan today! Here are the stats:
Girl Baby A: 1 lb. 9 oz. (45th %ile)
Boy Baby B: 1 lb. 9 oz. (46th %ile)
Girl Baby C: 1 lb. 10 oz. (48th %ile)

There is only a 3% size difference between the babies, which the doctors say is a good thing. They have plenty of amniotic fluid, are moving around constantly, and have good heartrates. We got to see Baby C yawn, which was really cute.

So I have almost 5 pounds of baby in me! No wonder my belly is so big right now (close to the size of someone who is 35 weeks with a singleton).

My health is also good:
BP = 110/60
weight = let's just say I'm gaining appropriately
No signs of preterm labor

The doctors are pleased with my progress and say I couldn't be doing any better at this point. So I remain on "take it easy" status - no strict bedrest, but stay at home and off my feet as much as possible. I have some aches and pains, and I'm tired, of course, but I can't complain too much. I'm sure it will get much worse later on.

Next appt. in 2 weeks! That will give me time to figure out how to upload pictures and ultrasounds. :)

Introduction

Welcome to our blog! We're hoping that this will help to keep friends and family informed about the triplet pregnancy and beyond.

A few words of introduction...
I am Lisa, 35 years old, married to Jason, also 35 years old. We have a dog (Casey) and a cat (Mojo), and in a few months will be adding 3 babies to our home! I am currently 24 weeks pregnant with 2 girls and 1 boy, after 2 years of fertility treatments and 2 miscarriages. We are excited yet terrified about this new adventure!