30w6d doctor appointment

Well, I've already seen the doctors twice this week. We took a quick trip to labor & delivery yesterday because I had been having some contractions that were stronger and more frequent than usual. Even though it is expected that I would be having contractions at this point, I was told to come in if there were any changes, so that's what I did. Better safe than sorry. We got all the babies and me hooked up to monitors, and everybody looked great. Their heartrates were strong and they took turns kicking the nurse when she was trying to find the heartbeats. Of course I didn't have any contractions while I was there because my medication had finally kicked in. Cervix was unchanged, and no signs of infection. So I got to go back home! I really don't want to have to spend a lot of time in the hospital again until I deliver.

This morning was our regular doctor appointment. I had to humor an earnest medical student who had to find the heartbeats with the doppler. I feel good about giving the med students experience with triplets, but sometimes it does get old. I could find the heartbeats faster by myself at this point! We asked the attending doctor about more frequenting monitoring appointments as we enter the home stretch, and he agreed. So starting next week I will have two appointments per week for something called a Non-Stress Test. The NST is basically what they did for me in L&D yesterday - hook everyone up to monitors to track heartrates and contractions, and make sure that no one is in distress. If there are signs of distress then they would follow up with an ultrasound. Although it will be tiring to go in twice a week, I feel better about the closer monitoring.

And finally, I can't believe I'll be 31 weeks tomorrow! I'm starting to think that maybe I really will make it to 34-36 weeks. Of course things can change anytime, but so far so good!

Our final virtual shower

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks with showers - between the local and the long-distance showers, we've had a total of 6! It makes me feel like we look kind of greedy, but really it was just easier to split everyone up into smaller groups, plus with so many people being long-distance it just wasn't practical to have local family showers. We feel so lucky to have so many friends and family that are excited about the babies, and so grateful for everyone's generosity!!

This final shower was from Jason's dad's side of the family. We had people logging in from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and North Carolina. It was lots of fun, as usual. Plus Jason's aunt Darlene and cousin Amy were visiting us at our house, with Amy's 2 children - it was fun to have some relatives to celebrate with in person.

So without further ado, here are some pictures...

My gigantic self


The shower participants


Cute matching outfits from Cindy, Chad, Kira, and Ty. Each pair of pants has a different animal on the rear. I can't wait to put the outfits on the babies and get a picture of their cute animal bottoms all lined up!


Washcloths, hooded towels, and first aid kit from Marilyn and Mike


Diapers and wipes from Dane. I have a weird expression on my face because he wrote funny messages on the cards for each case.


Dane got us these owl baby hats for Christmas


Amy's 7 week old daughter Haley is modeling one of the hats. Can't wait to put them on our own babies!


And we can't forget everyone who generously gave us gift cards to Target and Babies R Us - they will come in very handy as we're stocking up on other necessities!!

So thanks, family, for making our last shower so fun!

Ultrasound pictures

I've been wanting to post ultrasound pictures for a long time, but I'm no good with the scanner, and Jason has been a bit busy lately. So, finally, here are some pics of A, B, and C from the early days. I'll add more as I'm able to.


Week 12

How to "train" a cat??

As you may be able to tell from this picture, Mojo has decided that the arms reach co-sleeper in our room was assembled just for him. We will move it into the nursery until the babies are home and keep the door shut so he can't get at it. But we are concerned about his desire to sleep in comfy places (he has also discovered the changing table), and his crankiness when told he can't do something. He is scared of loud noises so our hope is that he'll just hide most of the time when the babies are home. We don't want him trying to sleep with the babies or getting into lots of mischief to try to get attention. We want to have as smooth a transition as possible when the babies come home, and try to help Mojo not feel too angry at the intruders. We need to do the same thing with Casey the dog, of course.

Any tips on how to accomplish this without anyone getting hurt??

29w6d appointment - all good

Well, it's the one month anniversary of being admitted to the hospital, and I'm back from another thankfully uneventful OB appointment. Cervix is holding steady, heard the babies' heartbeats, BP is good, weight gain is good. My fundal height (basically uterus size) is 44cm, which is approximately equal to 44 weeks pregnant! The doctor again said I "couldn't be doing better" and we're just going to continue the weekly checks until it looks like there is a need to deliver the babies.

I had been feeling anxious because I hadn't felt as much movement from the babies in the last couple of days. So the doctor talked with me about kick counts and tried to reassure me that they are probably just running out of room in there. I tried to talk him into an ultrasound for reassurance but it didn't work. I guess hearing the heartbeats on the doppler is good enough for him. I will keep trying to work on anxiety management - I feel like we are in the home stretch and I just don't want to miss any signs of the babies being in distress.

I'm also in a dangerous mental place where I'm uncomfortable enough that I'm starting to want the babies out, but then I know that I truly want them to stay in at least 4 more weeks. But geez, how big will my belly be at that point?? It's growing an average of 2cm per week. I will try to hang in there, and I will save all my bedrest complaints for another post.

Time for a nap now. Phew!

Another Virtual Baby Shower

This shower was with Jason's mom's side of the family. We had people logged in from Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida. We had some sound issues again with the website we used, but it was still great to see everyone. We haven't been allowed to travel since the fall, so we couldn't visit anyone over the holidays. So just to see everyone's faces was pretty cool! Here are some pictures:

Everyone on the computer screen


A case of baby wipes from Brian & Michele


Opening the box of breathable bumpers from Grandma & Grandpa


Monitor from Tim & Jo


Arms Reach Co-Sleeper from Diane & Peg


And just so the animals don't feel left out...
Casey with her Gumby chew toy


Mojo in an empty box - his favorite place to be


Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Jason. He was too busy managing the technology, handing me presents, and taking my picture. Rest assured that he is also excited about our gifts. Thank you everyone!! It was great to share the time with you. :)

Nursery is 50% done

We* are making progress on the nursery! My mom was a huge help in organizing clothes in the dresser and blankets/sheets/burp cloths in the changing table and closet. She also painted the knobs for the dresser - aren't they cute?? (if you click on the picture it will get larger) The dresser used to be painted white and was my mom's childhood dresser, and then mine. Jason's dad spent a lot of time stripping the paint and refinishing it. It's so beautiful now!



We just ordered and received some cute pink and green storage bins to use in the changing table and around the house. I'll post those pictures once we get them set up. Aren't the flower lights (from IKEA) cute?? And the glider is so comfy (thanks Diane & Peg!). And thanks to our friends Audrey and Andrew for giving us their extra changing table. :)



We have one crib set up so far. We still have an air mattress in there for guests who are coming through town in the next few weeks. Eventually we'll get all 3 cribs set up, but we're going to try having the babies sleep in our room in a co-sleeper first anyway, and we've heard that multiples like to share a crib for the first few months (after all, they're used to being pretty close to each other!). The IKEA Gulliver cribs are so streamlined and simple, and we should be able to fit all 3 in the room.



So all that's left is some more organization, and finding some cute prints for the walls. I never thought we'd be able to fit everything in there, but I think it's going to work!

*In this case, "we" means that other people have done all the work while I have supervised. :)