Scott and I just can not stop smiling and saying how blessed and thankful we are. The babies are doing absolutely fabulous; even the NICU staff is amazed.
I'll post as much info as I can remember right now. We only have a few minutes to grab some dinner before heading back to the NICU for their next feeding.
The c-section went OK. Without going into too much detail, I could feel way more than I thought I should have, so I was yelling throughout, which was freaking Scott out. So as soon as the babies-being-born portion of the surgery was over, they put me completely out for the rest. But I don't remember or care about any of that; as soon as I heard each baby cry, all that was forgotten.
Molly Katherine 4 lbs 2 oz, 15" long, 7:37 pm
Cooper Benjamin 4 lbs 8 oz, 18", 7:38 pm
Emily Claire 3 lbs 15 oz, 18" long, 7:39
They were, and have been, all breathing only room air, which was a shock to the neonatalogist and nurses. They started nipple feeding (trying from a bottle vs. formula pushed into a tube into their stomach) the next day and have steadily been able to tolerate and increase several times a day, so that by tomorrow we expect them to get their IVs out and take all formula feedings (may still get some by tube if they aren't able to suck/nipple all of it). Again, this is unusually outstanding for just 33 weekers. They are all 3 on photo/light therapy for increased bilirubin, which is not uncommon; this should last a few days only.
The neonatalogist told us to go home and get things ready, because they may be coming home as early as 7-10 days!!! We were shocked, not prepared (lol), and thrilled that it could be that soon.
My recovery is slower than I would like, but probably actually pretty normal considering the level of deconditioning I was in, followed by a major surgery. I was supposed to go home tomorrow, but I told them I was going to make certain my pain is well under control before I leave.
And finally, our excitement was compounded by this little tidbit. Take a look:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5951072&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1
So much has happened this week; I hope I covered it all :)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
The babies are coming! The babies are coming!
After 2 days of near constant cramping and contractions that the meds would only stop for an hour at a time, they agreed to deliver me tonight! So we now have a c-section scheduled for 7 pm, March 3rd. We'll post details, updates, pics as soon as we can .
Thanks for everyone's continued prayers, love and support.
Thanks for everyone's continued prayers, love and support.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Begging forgiveness and then the good stuff
If I owe you
a call
an email
a note
a thank you
a swift kick in the behind
or money
please forgive me.
It has been a very rough couple of weeks.
While the babies continue to do well and grow, grow, grow, momma has had a very hard time of it. I have grown enormous (sidenote: eventually I will have access to all the belly pictures and be able to post my progress); it's hard to walk, sit, or lie down. Despite the sleeping aid I take nightly, I often only sleep a few hours a night, and not even continuously. I pee constantly. I'm currently down to 45 minutes between pee times, literally, day and night. I have had an increase in contractions (since I'm now 32 weeks and my body thinks I'm about 44 weeks) and often have to get a shot of Terbutaline which is a fun little medicine that makes your heart race and your body shake and generally want to pull your hair out. We have had a couple of "scares" with the babies that, thank God, turned out to be nothing (heartrates going wonky and that sort of thing).
Finances have been a concern since the beginning, and while we have gotten some much needed, much appreciated, much unexpected help, we've dealt with a few setbacks that make the months ahead not look promising. The stress of that has been the proverbial straw -that- broke -the -camel's -back in terms of my mental state. But we [try our best to] continue to have faith that God will provide, though WE can't currently see the way.
Scott has been the most amazing husband and father during this time. I am so thankful to have him to go through this with. But I can tell that he is at his wit's end. He often laments that this "single parent" thing downright sucks. As his partner and their mother, it upsets me to no end to not be there taking care of my husband and children. I have to be continually reminded that it is I alone who can take care of these three future-children at this time.
So, that's why I haven't had it in me to post, call, or email anyone lately.
But, hey, what you really want to know is about these babies, right? So here goes:
Feb 14th measurements: 3-5, 3-7, 3-9; so roughly 3 1/2 lbs each.
Yesterday (Feb 28th): 4 lbs, 4.5 lbs, 5 lbs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow, that's a lot of baby! And just to clarify, Baby A is not small; A and B are "right on track", C is just pretty darn huge.
We have a delivery date: unless they decide they can't wait (or my bladder or uterus give out, lol), I will have a c-section on March 12th. That is my mom's birthday, and I understand quite a few other great people I know have birthdays or anniversaries on that day as well, so I'm pretty optimistic :)
And speaking of giving out, we were pretty well convinced that I was going to have these babies yesterday. When I went in for the ultrasound (mind you, they wake me up early, early - ok, 7:30, lol) I was feeling very crampy and blah and having contractions. After we were all done, my perinatalogist called down to the nurse's station and told them to get me on the monitor (usually this kind of thing is left to the nurse's, mine, or my OB's discretion) and said that it just might be time. Everything was ok with just a few contractions but then I fell asleep and slept all morning. About that time, my OB's partner came in just in time to watch me make faces and have cramps and contractions throughout her short visit.. They monitored me again, but she said she fully expected to be back later in the day to deliver me; I later found out she had called my OB and had her on standby as well. But after most of the day of feeling really cruddy and having bad cramps and painful contractions, they gave me a shot of Terb and got it all slowed down to acceptable levels again. Just when I thought I was going to get my body back....
a call
an email
a note
a thank you
a swift kick in the behind
or money
please forgive me.
It has been a very rough couple of weeks.
While the babies continue to do well and grow, grow, grow, momma has had a very hard time of it. I have grown enormous (sidenote: eventually I will have access to all the belly pictures and be able to post my progress); it's hard to walk, sit, or lie down. Despite the sleeping aid I take nightly, I often only sleep a few hours a night, and not even continuously. I pee constantly. I'm currently down to 45 minutes between pee times, literally, day and night. I have had an increase in contractions (since I'm now 32 weeks and my body thinks I'm about 44 weeks) and often have to get a shot of Terbutaline which is a fun little medicine that makes your heart race and your body shake and generally want to pull your hair out. We have had a couple of "scares" with the babies that, thank God, turned out to be nothing (heartrates going wonky and that sort of thing).
Finances have been a concern since the beginning, and while we have gotten some much needed, much appreciated, much unexpected help, we've dealt with a few setbacks that make the months ahead not look promising. The stress of that has been the proverbial straw -that- broke -the -camel's -back in terms of my mental state. But we [try our best to] continue to have faith that God will provide, though WE can't currently see the way.
Scott has been the most amazing husband and father during this time. I am so thankful to have him to go through this with. But I can tell that he is at his wit's end. He often laments that this "single parent" thing downright sucks. As his partner and their mother, it upsets me to no end to not be there taking care of my husband and children. I have to be continually reminded that it is I alone who can take care of these three future-children at this time.
So, that's why I haven't had it in me to post, call, or email anyone lately.
But, hey, what you really want to know is about these babies, right? So here goes:
Feb 14th measurements: 3-5, 3-7, 3-9; so roughly 3 1/2 lbs each.
Yesterday (Feb 28th): 4 lbs, 4.5 lbs, 5 lbs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow, that's a lot of baby! And just to clarify, Baby A is not small; A and B are "right on track", C is just pretty darn huge.
We have a delivery date: unless they decide they can't wait (or my bladder or uterus give out, lol), I will have a c-section on March 12th. That is my mom's birthday, and I understand quite a few other great people I know have birthdays or anniversaries on that day as well, so I'm pretty optimistic :)
And speaking of giving out, we were pretty well convinced that I was going to have these babies yesterday. When I went in for the ultrasound (mind you, they wake me up early, early - ok, 7:30, lol) I was feeling very crampy and blah and having contractions. After we were all done, my perinatalogist called down to the nurse's station and told them to get me on the monitor (usually this kind of thing is left to the nurse's, mine, or my OB's discretion) and said that it just might be time. Everything was ok with just a few contractions but then I fell asleep and slept all morning. About that time, my OB's partner came in just in time to watch me make faces and have cramps and contractions throughout her short visit.. They monitored me again, but she said she fully expected to be back later in the day to deliver me; I later found out she had called my OB and had her on standby as well. But after most of the day of feeling really cruddy and having bad cramps and painful contractions, they gave me a shot of Terb and got it all slowed down to acceptable levels again. Just when I thought I was going to get my body back....
Monday, February 4, 2008
Catching Up
A lot of this will end up being for my own records, since most of you that maybe reading this have been updated by email, message board, or phone.
On January 14 I had a sonogram and they measured the babies. At that time they were 1-13, 1-15, 2-1 (lbs-ozs). Everything was staying stable, which, again, is what we hoped for.
Over the next couple of weeks, I had some minor illness and was always exhausted. They did more blood work to check my iron again (I've been on iron supplements for a while due to anemia) and my thyroid. Everything was fine so they just attributed it to lack of activity, muscle wasting, and the amount of energy growing 3 babies was sucking out of me. Some days are better than others, but there are still plenty of days when I'm only up for a couple of hours before I have to go back to sleep.
Last week we hit a major milestone - 28 weeks! That was our first goal for carrying these babies. At that point, the chances of survival greatly improve and the chances of long-term problems greatly decrease. Now we're shooting for 32 or so (average gestation for triplets) but ultimately 34-35 weeks.
This past Thursday (Jan 31) they measured the babies again and they were all around 3 lbs!!! (2-13, 2-15, 3-1) That was a very exciting day as well. We were laughing that if they continue to gain at that rate, and I do go 34 weeks or more, I could have three 6 lb babies!! Can you imagine?!? Incidently, I was weighed again and have gained only 3 lbs since coming into the hospital, which makes a 6 lb gain from pre-pregnancy. These babies continue to suck up everything I eat as well as those fat stores I had, LOL.
Scott and the kids have been sick for the past week-plus and it is killing me. I am a mom, I am a caregiver and I have been for a very long time. I can't stand not being there to just give hugs, kisses, Tylenol, back rubs and cool-washcloth baths to my family. This has been a great stressor to me over the past few days. The twins are on the mend (it seems) but Jamie and Scott are both home today. Everybody pray for my big babies this week as well as me and the babies-to-be :)
On January 14 I had a sonogram and they measured the babies. At that time they were 1-13, 1-15, 2-1 (lbs-ozs). Everything was staying stable, which, again, is what we hoped for.
Over the next couple of weeks, I had some minor illness and was always exhausted. They did more blood work to check my iron again (I've been on iron supplements for a while due to anemia) and my thyroid. Everything was fine so they just attributed it to lack of activity, muscle wasting, and the amount of energy growing 3 babies was sucking out of me. Some days are better than others, but there are still plenty of days when I'm only up for a couple of hours before I have to go back to sleep.
Last week we hit a major milestone - 28 weeks! That was our first goal for carrying these babies. At that point, the chances of survival greatly improve and the chances of long-term problems greatly decrease. Now we're shooting for 32 or so (average gestation for triplets) but ultimately 34-35 weeks.
This past Thursday (Jan 31) they measured the babies again and they were all around 3 lbs!!! (2-13, 2-15, 3-1) That was a very exciting day as well. We were laughing that if they continue to gain at that rate, and I do go 34 weeks or more, I could have three 6 lb babies!! Can you imagine?!? Incidently, I was weighed again and have gained only 3 lbs since coming into the hospital, which makes a 6 lb gain from pre-pregnancy. These babies continue to suck up everything I eat as well as those fat stores I had, LOL.
Scott and the kids have been sick for the past week-plus and it is killing me. I am a mom, I am a caregiver and I have been for a very long time. I can't stand not being there to just give hugs, kisses, Tylenol, back rubs and cool-washcloth baths to my family. This has been a great stressor to me over the past few days. The twins are on the mend (it seems) but Jamie and Scott are both home today. Everybody pray for my big babies this week as well as me and the babies-to-be :)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Parasitic Aliens
First, I passed my 3-hour glucose test. Woo Hoo! (That means I do NOT have gestational diabetes). They stuck me 4 times in 3 hours, which is ridiculous, but it's all over now. Scott said he would never have tolerated that. Yeah. The things I go through to give him healthy, beautiful babies :)
It's been a good week. Well, it's been an uneventful week, which is good enough. I'm still torn about having to be here. I know it's for the best for these babies, I know it's working and they're staying put, etc, but I really miss my family. I wish I could just have a day-long pass to go home, hang out with the kiddos, watch movies, and have nice long snuggles with everyone on the couch. Do I get some of that here? Yes, but it's not the same. The twins get antsy in this little room, then they get rowdy and Scott has to take them home. If I were home, they could just come and go to my side and I could have one-on-one time with everyone. But, in the grand scheme of things, this is but a short phase in our lives and I, and we, will get through it.
I have probably mentioned before, just because it is still so shocking to me, that I have not gained much/any weight. I had another weigh in this week, and I'm actually back down a couple of pounds to my pre-pregnancy weight. My doctor's are not concerned; they just say that these babies are sucking up everything that I eat. Parasites, I tell ya.
Have you seen one of those alien movies where the aliens spawn inside of a person, and then you can see them squirming around until they burst out? (No? I know I didn't make this up in my head LOL) Well, that is what my belly looks like these days. It's really quite freaky looking. These little boogers are so active, usually at the same time, so it looks like something bubbling under the surface of my skin. I get monitored (for fetal heartbeats and contractions) at every shift change (so twice a day) and for some reason they always respond to the monitors by kicking at them. So my belly is literally bouncing up and down, and on the machine you can hear the Whomp Whomp of the kicking, as well as the Woosh Woosh Woosh of the hearts beating. It's pretty funny, and even the nursing staff is amused.
It's been a good week. Well, it's been an uneventful week, which is good enough. I'm still torn about having to be here. I know it's for the best for these babies, I know it's working and they're staying put, etc, but I really miss my family. I wish I could just have a day-long pass to go home, hang out with the kiddos, watch movies, and have nice long snuggles with everyone on the couch. Do I get some of that here? Yes, but it's not the same. The twins get antsy in this little room, then they get rowdy and Scott has to take them home. If I were home, they could just come and go to my side and I could have one-on-one time with everyone. But, in the grand scheme of things, this is but a short phase in our lives and I, and we, will get through it.
I have probably mentioned before, just because it is still so shocking to me, that I have not gained much/any weight. I had another weigh in this week, and I'm actually back down a couple of pounds to my pre-pregnancy weight. My doctor's are not concerned; they just say that these babies are sucking up everything that I eat. Parasites, I tell ya.
Have you seen one of those alien movies where the aliens spawn inside of a person, and then you can see them squirming around until they burst out? (No? I know I didn't make this up in my head LOL) Well, that is what my belly looks like these days. It's really quite freaky looking. These little boogers are so active, usually at the same time, so it looks like something bubbling under the surface of my skin. I get monitored (for fetal heartbeats and contractions) at every shift change (so twice a day) and for some reason they always respond to the monitors by kicking at them. So my belly is literally bouncing up and down, and on the machine you can hear the Whomp Whomp of the kicking, as well as the Woosh Woosh Woosh of the hearts beating. It's pretty funny, and even the nursing staff is amused.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
I've been admonished
Apparently, I'm supposed to update if I had a bad-ish blog post. Sorry. I did say that the bleeding had stopped. I'm glad to say there have been no other scares since and all is well. :)
I've had a couple more sonograms; all continues to be well. Cervix stable, babies looking good.
I had my glucose test yesterday for gestational diabetes. I "failed" by just a few points so tomorrow I get to have the 3 hour tolerance test. I have to fast in the a.m., draw blood, drink that nasty drink again, then have a blood draw every hour for 3 hours. Goody! Good thing needles don't bother me much :) My OB said that because my "failing" number was so low, the second test will probably come out fine. Let's hope so. Hospital food is bad and limited enough without them wanting to dictate further what I can and can't eat. If I'm only off by a few points again, we're going to be having a "discussion" before I let them put me on some restricted diet.
Oh, if you're local and reading this, I thought of something I could use. Magazines! Sometimes I just want to read/look at something quick while I'm falling asleep or whatever. Of course scrapbooking magazines (my subscriptions all ran out 4-6 months ago, so I haven't read anything in that time), and I also like People/ Us/ gossipy celeb stuff. Thanks!
I've had a couple more sonograms; all continues to be well. Cervix stable, babies looking good.
I had my glucose test yesterday for gestational diabetes. I "failed" by just a few points so tomorrow I get to have the 3 hour tolerance test. I have to fast in the a.m., draw blood, drink that nasty drink again, then have a blood draw every hour for 3 hours. Goody! Good thing needles don't bother me much :) My OB said that because my "failing" number was so low, the second test will probably come out fine. Let's hope so. Hospital food is bad and limited enough without them wanting to dictate further what I can and can't eat. If I'm only off by a few points again, we're going to be having a "discussion" before I let them put me on some restricted diet.
Oh, if you're local and reading this, I thought of something I could use. Magazines! Sometimes I just want to read/look at something quick while I'm falling asleep or whatever. Of course scrapbooking magazines (my subscriptions all ran out 4-6 months ago, so I haven't read anything in that time), and I also like People/ Us/ gossipy celeb stuff. Thanks!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Bleeding
So last night I started having some bleeding. They gave me a shot that stops contractions (I'm not having any, just a very little cramping, but it's just in case that is what's causing the problem) and it stopped within a few hours. I was really scared and am still really nervous.
My OB came in a while ago and wants the perinatalogist to come in and do another sonogram, just to make sure everything is ok. It's the only way to see what's going on in there, so I'm glad for it, but still nervous until I know for sure.
Prayers today please!!
My OB came in a while ago and wants the perinatalogist to come in and do another sonogram, just to make sure everything is ok. It's the only way to see what's going on in there, so I'm glad for it, but still nervous until I know for sure.
Prayers today please!!
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