Pressure SUCKS....

Cervical/Vaginal pressure that is. Maybe TMI (too much information) for some of you, but it's now part of my daily routine. Fun right?

Yesterday, I was feeling so good that I decided I could probably clean the bathrooms, vacuum and put away laundry. Yeah. Not so much. By Noon I was on the couch after cleaning only two bathrooms and by 8pm sobbing into my pillow while holding myself. Seriously. Aaron asked me numerous times if I needed to go in (ok, he wasnt asking, he was begging me to go). IN means to L&D. That is the last place I wanted to go. (Last time I was there, they put me in a room that was "triplet ready", even after I, as calmly as I could, explained to them that I didn't need a "triplet ready" room since they were no where near ready to come out!) I decided to wait it out and it did get better. By about 11pm. Until I walked up the stairs. Then I spent another hour holding myself trying to fall asleep while dreaming that the girls might just climb out of me. Not fun. Again, I say, lesson learned. For real this time. Triple pinky swear. One pinky for each of the girls.

This morning I went into the Dr. just to be sure that the pressure wasn't changing my cervix or causing any funneling. (Funneling means that the cervical opening is pushing downward and outward, not something we want to see alot of!)) and while my cervix didn't change in length (still 4.4) , it did have some minor funneling. That was probably the pressure I felt last night, but the Dr. did say it wasn't unusual for this amount of funneling at this gestation in a triplet pregnancy. He also said that given my stats, body build and history, my chances of delivering before 34 weeks was only about 5%. IF I behave. He also said no more vacuuming! Oh, that is going to SUCK. I love to vacuum. I tried to explain to him how we have a dog and a tile floor and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he could easily arrange it so I didn't have to look at the dog or the tile, that a hospital bed was just waiting for me if I wanted. Um. No. I'm good, thanks. (How I will function without vacuuming, I do not know, but I'll figure it out. Swiffer, here I come! I can push a freaking Swiffer Sweeper right?)

So after that appointment, I went into Punky Doodlebugs and got a Maternity Support Belt. Its supposed to help lift the pressure off the vaginal/cervical area. (Lil' Miss Rosalie got a lift today!) and OMG, does it ever work! I almost kissed the girl when she put it on me. It was exactly how I imagine heaven would feel like! Its AWESOME! (ok, a bit of drama here but it really, really felt good!) I'll spare ya'll the pics, because it is ever so attractive (just use your imagination on this one) but just know that it feels nice. Really nice. I just have to remind myself that its not my ticket to getting to do more stuff. Darnit.

Looks like I'm going to be getting alot of knitting done. I need to buy LOTS more yarn!

Another Fabulous Picture From Rebecca...

Rebecca is amazing. Seriously A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! I usually hate pictures of myself. But this woman is a miracle worker. As I said before, she's doing a series of pregnancy pictures. This is 22 weeks 1 day. She put it next to the 19 week one so you could see the difference. BIG difference! I look so much bigger. I also got a haircut but I think I like my hair in the first one better. Oh well. Overall, I love them. They will be so nice to have as a memory of how large my belly is capable of actually getting! She did another one too, in a different setting and outfit. I'm still waiting on that one, but will post it soon. And I will say, again, so much better than my bathroom shots. :)

Twenty-Two Weeks

Yippee....Only 14 days until "V" day. Now, 24 weeks is NOT ideal. It's definitely not our goal. I'm just taking it in chunks. It's easier that way. At 24 weeks the babies have about a 48% chance of survival. It's not great, but it's better than zero. Once we hit 28 weeks, their chances go up to 95%. Only 42 days until 28 weeks. FORTY TWO DAYS. Heck, that's nothing! Dr's appointment went awesome, as usual. (On a side not, my labs all came back fine. I'm not sick at all, I think it's just all the internal stuff getting rearranged isn't fun!) I'm going to start calling my cervix boring and predictable. BUT, in this situation, boring and predictable is exactly what we want! My cervix, measuring in at a whopping 4.4mm and no funneling! NONE! For 6 straight measurements, we've been at 4.4-4.8 consistently. I think Lil'Miss Rosalie is doing her job holding up the fort in there. She's doing an awesome job. I'm so proud of all of them. They are growing well and staying put. Right where they belong. Inside Mommy so they can grow big and healthy and strong. They are going to need to be big and healthy and strong to live in this house. lol.

And I have to share something that Annabel said this weekend. She's such a sweetie. Aaron was leaving with Noah and Juliette (Joey and Mady were already gone) Annabel, Lilah and I were laying in bed. Lilah wanted to go downstairs so Aaron brought her down there while I had some snuggle time with Annie. (She loves snuggle time) After about 10 minutes Aaron yelled up that he had to leave, so I told him I would be right down. Annie turned to me, rubbed my cheek and said "I'll go take care of Lilah Mommy, you stay here and lay down so the babies don't come out!". How sweet is THAT?!?! She is such a great little girl. The best big sister. :)

22 Week Belly.....WHOA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!

Our sweet sweet boy is 12. TWELVE. How on earth does time fly so fast? Thankfully, God knew how much we would miss his tiny little toddler self, and gave us Annie who is very much like Noah. But that is beside the point. Its Noah's Day. Today he is spending the day at a soccer tournament. He's pretty disappointed that they didn't make the winners bracket (they are trying for 3rd or 4th place) but it's ok, they played well. He only has one game today then Aaron is taking him to get his gift. At this age we pretty much let the kids decide what they want and we get it for them. He wants a PSPSlim. A Playstation Portable Slim. Video games. Go figure. lol.

We love you so much Noah. Thank you for being our amazing son and being such a wonderful little person. You are growing up to be the most amazing man. We are so proud of you.

**HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY NOAH**

Reality Of Multiples...

Reality hits hard when families you know via the internet lose one of more of their babies. You realize how risky a multiple pregnancy is and how precious and how vitally important time inside their Mommy actually is. I'm not posting these to make everyone sad or to "dwell" on the negative. It's reality. It happens. It makes it all the more important for positive thoughts and prayers for all the families out there carrying a multiple pregnancy, whether it be twins, triplets, sextuplets or octuplets. If you're a family member of someone that is pregnant with multiples, a friend, or even an acquaintance, stop, take a moment and pray. Each and every day for that family and for their precious babies.

Annaleigh's Story:
http://threecheersforbabies.blogspot.com/

Kaitlyn, Dallin, and Braden's Story
http://stanseljourney.blogspot.com/

21 week Baby Pictures

Rosalie-13oz

She's got her arms above her head in this shot. Relaxing, as usual :)

Gwendolen-13 oz.

She gave us a full body shot today. See her legs all curled up?

Emilia-14oz.

Trying to suck her thumb, but not quite making it past her chin. lol.

Another GREAT Dr's Visit....

Which is good news after my 3 hours in L&D last night. Again. I'm getting so much pressure feeling that it freaked me out. Plus just feeling icky. L&D showed nothing. A few contractions but nothing major. Another low grade fever. So today, the Dr. ordered bloodwork to see if maybe there is something else going on. (And, I have to take it easier. Easier than I already am. Basically ONE activity a day. This should be quite the challenge.) Something secondary to the pregnancy. An infection or something. I'm not really sure. I'll know more later today. But....The babies. The babies ARE PERFECT! As is my cervix! Measuring in a 4.4. YAY! I'm feeling better and better that we are going to make this to the full 36 weeks! Their fluid levels are perfect. They are all measuring at 20 weeks 5 days which is amazing for triplets. (I'm 21 weeks 1 day today) I'll add pics of the babies in a bit, I have to scan them all in. We got some really good profile shots. Their little noses are so cute. Rosalie is 13 oz, Gwendolen is 13 oz and Emilia is 14 oz! Almost a full pound each! No wonder I feel pressure. lol. My uterus is outwardly measuring at 32 weeks. So it's almost a full term singelton size. I wonder how big it will get? :)

A Few Things...

First of all, 21 weeks! Yay! Only 21 days until Viability! The countdown is ON! I'll add the Belly Shot at the end. But beware. It barely fits the computer screen. So if you have a small screen or God forbid, an i-phone, you probably won't get to see it all. :)

First I wanted to share this hilarious picture. It's Delilah. She was watching a movie on our bed and must have wanted to get down. It must have been too much work because she fell asleep trying. lol. She stayed like that for an hour and a half! Funny funny girl :)

Secondly...Here's proof that bedrest CAN be semi-productive. I knit these in about 4 days. I'm doing 3 pairs, one for each baby. I did just get around the "finishing" touches last night and I still need to wash and block them. But, for the most part, they are done. I'm pretty proud. I think they turned out well. I love the colors! I even managed a back pocket!

First, this is how they looked before:

And after: :)
And last but not least. Me. 21 weeks. Nekkid Belly Shot. Growing nicely, I would say. :) And yes, that is a naval piercing in my belly. I'm trying ever so hard to not have to take it out. I haven't had to with the last 3 kids, but I'm not sure I'll get so lucky with 3 at one time in there. I really love it and Aaron does too. Then again, not sure it's gonna look so hot after a triplet belly either. We shall see. :) For now, it's staying and it's doing just fine.

I have my 21 week Dr. appointment tomorrow and it's another full growth scan so I'll be back tomorrow with a wonderful update!

Pronunciation Clarification

That was fun to write, and it's even fun-ner to say! lol. Try saying to 5 times fast. Whew.

Anywhoooo's...I've had alot of people ask me about Emilia's name. Basically how to pronounce it.

It's Emilia. e-Meel-ya or EE-Meel-ya. Like the E sound in excellent or the E sound in evening. (And we are happily using the nicknames Mia or Emmie. Love them both so I'm not going to turn into a witch with a B if you call her either of those. lol. )

It's not to be confused with Amelia. Which is Ah-ME-lee-ya.

Amelia is like Amelia Bedilia. Amelia Earhart. Amelia is also the unfavorable medical term for a congenital absence of one or more limbs. Yuck. (see here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/amelia)

We chose a totally different name, not just a different spelling.

Emilia is like in William Shakespeare's play Othello.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_(Othello)


Amelia: http://www.behindthename.com/name/amelia

Emilia: http://www.behindthename.com/name/emilia

So, I do realize that choosing a name that has minor pronunciation issues is kinda a PITA, but it's not THAT big a deal. I just had alot of people ask so I thought I would put it out there and show everyone where we got the name. (I'm a bit of a Shakespeare fan, in case the name Juliette didn't tip you off. :) ) It's not a popular name, although it is very old, so many don't know how to pronounce it.

Now ya do. :)

And...Everyone Else..

So I realize that me and the babies have kinda been hogging the blog. This is a blog about our life and it seems that right now, it's all we can think of. Getting these babies to stay in a LONG time and be healthy when they do come out. So anyways, I thought I better give an update on the rest of the clan.

Madeline: GOT A JOB! YAY! She's very happy and she's loving it. She spends all her time now working, hanging out at home and with friends. I think she's pretty anxious for school to start. She's got her Running Start stuff all ready and she registers on the 24th. Hopefully she gets all the classes she wants. RS students are the last to register so keep your fingers crossed for her!

Joseph: Soccer. Need I say more? He hangs out with friends occasionally and him and a few friends even went golfing the other day. But for the most part, he's at home, and going to soccer. He's been a HUGE help to me this summer with the little girls and all the resting I've had to do. If I had known that a 15 year old boy would be so awesome, I would've order them all to be boys. lol.

Noah: He's pretty much spent his summer playing video games. He did go to a great camp that taught him how to do rowing on the lake, he loved it. It was good for him to get out and about. Him and Joseph are currently doing a Smallville Marathon. They watch them every night. They are starting Season 2 tonight. He's been a great help taking Delilah for walks when she gets nuts.

Juliette: Soccer. What else? So much like her older brother. Between soccer and just hanging around the house, she's been alot of help too. The little girls idolize her and both run to her with their arms open for a hug whenever she gets home.

Annabel: It's not the terrible 2's, its the terrible 3's. My sweet, quiet, perfect little girl has been taken. And replaced with this 3 year old that I do not know. She is very whiny. O.k, still sweet and kind. You just gotta catch her on the right day. She's very excited about the babies and talks all the time of when they will be here. She's got her helping all planned out. She's growing. Way too fast. Everytime we go out, at least 2-3 people feel the need to stop me to tell me how beautiful she is. Lord, help us now.

Delilah: Growing. Fast. She's a climber. She can climb anything. Her favorite place to climb is to the top of the playset and give her parents heart issues. She's feisty. Reminds us so much of when Joseph was a baby. Although her temper is a bit more controlled (I think it's because she's a girl. lol) She will be so interesting when these babies come. We might have to keep the babies suspended in the air, away from her little reach. She will love them so (too) much.

Aaron and I are good. Well, you know how I am since I'm always writing about me. Aaron is working. Pretty much working and driving kids around. He's taken on more of the household stuff for me which is nice. I can rest more and I don't go too crazy. I just feel a bit guilty that he's doing so much when he already works so hard.

How did we all get so lucky? The most amazing husband and father. God sure must love us. :)

A Better Belly Pic To Share :)

The amazingly talented photographer that did our family pics also is taking "Belly Progression Shots" of me. I was beyond thrilled when she emailed me and asked if I would be a willing participant in her collage of belly shots profiling a triplet pregnancy. HECK YEAH! This is the first one that we did. I was 18weeks 5 days (I think). She's going to come every 3 weeks or so and take one so that we can see the progression. A HUGE improvement over my bathroom belly shots huh?

Check out her site. It's breathtaking. I cannot wait to get the babies pictures done with her. We are already planning some layouts. :)

www.catchlightsnw.com

Lesson LEARNED!

Note To Self: I am carrying THREE babies. Not ONE, THREE. Three tiny littles. That need to get bigger and stronger. Alot bigger and stronger. But they do need my help.

Lesson learned and point taken. When pregnant with triplets, DO NOT think you can go to Walmart, go to Winco, take kids to Dr's appointments, take kids to dental appointments, take child to get permit, go to the library, go to your own Dr's appointments, clean your house and sew 2 stuffed animals and a skirt. All in 2 days. Can't happen. Well, I guess it can, but not with positive results (See posts below for verification) In addition to not drinking enough water (because when you are running around all day, it's very inconvenient to stop to pee) and not eating enough protein. Your uterus will get irritable, and I must admit, with good reason. So, instead of bedrest, I just have to "rest", off my feet 2-3 times a day for an hour each time. MUCH more do-able for me. MUCH. :)

Oh, and one more thing. (Thank you Raven, for emailing me about the Mag) I ran out of my Magnesium/Calcium/Zinc tabs on Thursday night. I never went to get more. Mistake number, Oh, I don't know, 15? Magnesium helps keep the uterus calm. So, not only did I buy more Mag/Calc/Zinc, I bought extra Magnesium. I am not taking any chances! I also bought some dried apricots. For the potassium.

Dr.'s appointment today went AWESOME. Beyond awesome. Babies are all perfect. Fluid is perfect. They are growing and kicking away. My cervix is measuring it's usual 4.5 and still 4.5 under pressure with no funneling! YAY! The Dr. quoted alot of stats since I told him my biggest fear was to come this far and to lose these little girls just before they are ready. This is what I was told (by my favorite Dr.) Quoted. :)

"Statistics have shown that if a cervical measurement is 3.5 or greater at 20 weeks, the chance of preterm delivery is about 1%" -Mine measures 4.5-4.6

"The chances of me delivering before 30 weeks is very. very. very. very. very. very. very. very. very. very. very. very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very, very LOW" (He seriously said very like 15 times) -I have zero history of an incompatible uterus. All the other kids were born at 39+4 to 40+2 weeks. Remember Miss Delilah? She hung out in there with a cervical dilation of 6 for 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure if I can hold a baby in, dilated to a 6, then I can hold these guys in for at least 30 weeks. At least.

"I'm positive that you will make it to 26 weeks, hell, I'll even say 30 weeks, with no problems"

I also asked him about a test, called an fNF test. I'm borrowing Carrie's link here:

http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1149.asp

(I've no idea how to make the link into the word, sorry) but it tells all about it. Basically, the test will measure whether or not you may go into labor within a 2 weeks period. It measures the hormones in the membranes. They secrete a hormone when they start to release from the uterine wall which could signify the start of labor. I'll start getting those at 22 weeks. That will be reassuring.

So, yup, I would say that it was a GOOD Dr. appointment.

I'll leave you with my LARGE 20 week belly shot. :) I notice, that although my pants still fit, the strings are getting shorter and shorter. lol.

Bedrest....Day 3

This is TOUGH. Harder than I thought it would be. But only 16 hours until we see how everything is going. I feel better. A bit less pressure, but only if I do nothing. :(. The water drinking is coming along well. I really do have to choke it down, but if it gets me off bedrest, I'll drink a bathtub full, I kid you not. The kids have been amazingly helpful. My house is no longer a mess, and the little girls are finally getting used to the fact that Mom stays put. The only good news? I can get ALOT of knitting done when I have to just lay here. I have another pair of longies almost half done. In just 2 days. Yay me. :) I'll be back tomorrow with some GOOD news. I hope. Pray for me, or at least cross your fingers. :)

Crappy Day...

I woke up feeling not-so-hot today. I was having alot of pelvic pressure that was different so I called the Dr. to be sure. He had me go in just to be checked and put on the monitors. Turns out, my feeling was right. My uterus is irritated. Which I can say right back atcha, cuz I'm now just as irritated with it at the moment. At the hospital, I was monitored for almost 2 hours. During that time, my uterus was irritated almost the whole time. Fabulous. The good news is that in that 2 hours, I only had 2 contractions. The ultrasound showed my cervical length holding awesome at 4.6. It also showed that the babies have grown, which could, or could not be, the cause of all this drama. But these are 3 little girls in there, we should expect the drama, right? The babies are now lying like pancakes on a plate, kinda overlapping as they go up. Anyhow.....my diagnosis? Irritable uterus with mild contractions. Oh, and a slight fever. No clue why though. A cold? But what did that diagnosis get me? Bedrest. Limited activity, up to pee and eat. It's not going so well for me. I am so much more of a control freak than I ever imagined. My house is a mess and I can't stand it. Aaron thinks it's funny to watch me go batshit laying here doing nothing. The only time I ever do nothing is when I am sleeping. But I keep telling myself that it's for a vey short time. I need to get these babies here safely. Hopefully, at my Dr. appointment on Tuesday, my uterus will start being happy and I can resume life again. But I WILL be taking it easy from now on, bedrest or not and I promise to drink more water. Pinky swear. :)

Seriously?!?!?!

Is it even possible to grow overnight? I mean, noticeably? Cuz I did. ALOT. And boy, can I feel it. It's harder to breathe. Really hard. (And every time I write that, the 80's song, "And its getting harder and harder to breathe" pops into my head even though it has nothing to do with growing babies in your belly. lol. ) I had to sleep in a semi reclined position last night. Boy, that was fun. But, I'm not going to complain. I mean, at least I'm sleeping, right? I won't be very soon with 3 little mouths to feed. Still working on the logistics of that one. I mean, I only have 2 breasts. 2 breasts and 3 hungry mouths. Hm. You don't have to be a math genius to figure that one out. I'm just hoping that one of these babies are very relaxed and doesn't mind waiting her turn to eat. I DO NOT want to use bottles. At all.

Anyways. back on topic. So, I measure myself too. To make sure these girls are growing and from yesterdays pic compared to todays, I am almost 3" bigger! Yes, I said 3.

Ok, so here is me tonight. Around 8pm. I tried to be artistic and do black and white. Kinda cool huh? The stretch marks show less anyways. lol. And here is me last night (so you don't have to try to scroll up and down to see the difference. :))

So, is it just me, or did I grow? Well, I KNOW I grew, the tape measure doesn't lie. :). Gee, I cant wait to see me in about 8 weeks. GO BABIES! lol. I very well may need plastic surgery after this batch.

Poor Aaron. He insists its just shadowing on the picture. I do believe the man just doesn't want to face the fact that his wife may soon look like the GoodYear blimp.

I just wanted to edit this to add that I'm not worried at all that I grew so much. I know it's totally normal. The babies are fine, my fluid levels are fine. I just thought that the visual difference would be quite a site for everyone to see. :). So no worries over here. I'm happily growing. :)

FABULOUS News!!!

19 weeks!

I'm doing so good. I'm so happy that I've made it this far and everything is so perfect. My cervix is still measuring between 4.4 and 4.8! No funneling. Babies are moving around alot. AND....The BEST news of the day??!?!?! Gwendolen (Baby B) DOES have a 3 vessel cord!!! YAY! YAY! YAY! The tech said that she must have been at a funky angle last week because there was very clearly a 3 vessel cord there today! It was like Christmas in there for me today. I was so happy to hear that. That means that all 3 babies are perfect. fluid, cords, growth, EVERYTHING. Celebration time! :)

I am doing well. Growing but not so tired, which is great news. I get alot of pressure down low but if I lay down, it relieves a ton. Rosalie (Baby A) is laying pretty low down there. I can no longer bend at my waist. My legs are getting quite the workout. All things considered, I don't think I could ask for a better day. :)

Noah and Juliette went today to see the babies. I think Noah needed to see the lack of penis' for himself. Sweet boy. :)