Why are you up there mommmy?

29 weeks 4 days

Today we decided to take Madelynn with us to the appointment. She was very patient in the waiting room and all of the ladies in reception thought she was just too cute. For the first 15 minutes she asked lots of "why?" and wanted to know why mommy was laying on the bed. She was interested in the actual scan for the length of time it took to measure Baby A's femur, then she was over it. Thank goodness we thought ahead and brought the iPad! It's amazing how well she will sit for that!

The babies were all doing well today, all three had their heads near each other again, which is funny to see, but also difficult for the sonographer! All of their fluid levels were normal as well as all of the dopplers with the exception of one... Can you guess who? Yep, Baby B, his umbilical artery was peaking high again, otherwise he continues to be normal and was moving around and practicing breathing today. We actually had the chance to see him yawn in "4D", which was really cool.

The boys were also checked for growth today...

Baby A: 3 lbs 3 oz
Baby B: 2 lbs 10 oz
Baby C: 3 lbs 0 oz

A is apparently our chunky guy! B is still the smallest, but we were happy to see that the difference between A and B isn't quite as big right now. C is holding out as our middle guy. The doctors are pleased with their growth, I'm happy to have 2 babies that have reached 3 lbs at 29 weeks 4 days! Go babies, keep growing! So yeah for all of you who aren't mathematicians that is 8 lbs 13 oz of baby. 3 more ounces and we will be at 9 pounds total! No wonder it's getting harder to move! The rest of the appointment was uneventful, scheduling was a nightmare as it was a different lady and she wasn't understanding that Friday mornings work best and have been when we have scheduled ever since December. The normal scheduler was there and was trying to explain it, but eventually just gave up and told me to fix it when I'm there next week. We will now be having weekly appointments (which is pretty much what it has been!) with a prenatal visit every other week. But we only have at most 5 more Fridays before the boys will be here! Craziness!

On that note, please pray that I stay pregnant for another 5(plus) weeks and that the boys continue to grow and be healthy. Please pray that my final week at work goes smoothly next week and I can accomplish all I need to before my leave starts. It's going to be weird to not go to work! Also continue to pray that everything moves forward with moving. We will hopefully know the official moving date within the next few days, but the uncertainty is driving me crazy! Thanks for all of the prayers!

Oh and for your viewing pleasure... a friend of mine at work has been taking weekly belly shots the last few weeks.  Here is one from this week.  Please remember that there are 3 babies in my belly and they weigh almost 9 pounds total!!!

28 weeks 4 days update

Can't believe we are at 28 weeks and 4 days. It just seems crazy to have reached the third trimester already and to know that all these boys need to do now is grow! Our appointment this am went well. For once baby B decided to be cooperative and let the sonographer get all of his numbers easily, A and C on the other hand were not so helpful. I had to roll over and back just to try to get them to move, which is kind of difficult on a stretcher and 28 weeks pregnant with triplets! As far as their numbers - all looked good. Baby B was fluctuating between normal and abnormal for his umbilical artery, which is pretty standard at this point, but earned us an add on appointment. Good thing is that that are going to do the growth scan a week earlier, so I'll know their weights next week. It's always nice to hear how big they are getting. I also had a prenatal visit today, which went well. The doctor came in and was chuckling saying "you are just doing great, your blood pressure is better than mine!" he is so happy with how the boys look and how well I'm responding to the pregnancy. We set my last day of work for May 3rd, though he said I could stop now if I wanted to. I told him that since it is part time I thought I'd be ok until May, so we agreed to that. He said my cervix looked good and that it hasn't changed. Both he and the other peri there today did not think that preterm labor would be an issue in the near future, but to pay attention to contractions when they come. So far I have only had a few, and they are the typical Braxton Hicks that go away with change in position. He did warn us that at this point in a multiple pregnancy that the growth of the babies will likely slow down as the placenta can only do so much to keep up and that 80% of triplets born even at 35 weeks are considered small for gestational age. It was nice to have that warning, because so far A and C have been tracking right on for singletons and I think it would have worried me if all of a sudden they were falling behind. Our goal is still 35 weeks and the doctor is very hopeful that we will make it to that point. That's just a few days over 6 weeks away! Yikes! On another note I'm finally in the (+) category for weight! I have officially gained back everything I had lost during the first half of the pregnancy and am now 3lbs to the positive. I don't think gaining weight will be much of an issue as at this point I seem to always be hungry! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers! We ask that you continue to pray for the health of the boys and the health of the pregnancy and especially for Baby B as he continues his crazy trend of fluctuating normal/abnormal and continues to be our little man. Also please, please, please pray that things continue to move forward with our move and that everything falls into place. The closing date is now mid May, which is going to be a bit crazy!

Crazy weekend

Wow, what a busy couple of days! Friday started with an early morning appointment. I had my lovely Rhogam shot, which wasn't nearly as bad this time around! Here's hoping that the boys have negative blood type so I don't have to get another shot! In case you all were wondering, I'm a wuss and hate getting shots! We had a quick ultrasound this week, just to check fluid levels and blood flow for each baby. This time all of the babies were behaving! All three of them had completely normal numbers for each artery they scanned. Apparently baby B wants to keep us on our toes! The doctor said that it is not uncommon for a baby to fluctuate between "normal" and "abnormal" and that because he is fluctuating they are not overly concerned. He said they will just continue to watch it closely to make sure nothing crazy happens. He then proceeded to say "everything looks good with all 4, I mean 3 of them." I immediately said, "that's not funny!" and as he walked out of the room he says "it is if you aren't pregnant!" It made us chuckle. We really like the high risk doctors we see, which makes this whole thing a bit less scary. On a side note, I have been sick for the past week, which has not been fun! I think I am on the upswing, but now poor Maddy has it. It has also seemed to mess with my blood sugars. They changed the dosage of my medication again, but they have still been screwy, so I guess we will see how the next few days look. This is the last oral medication dosage I can try before having to switch to insulin. I'm really hoping that we have at least a couple weeks more before having to switch, but if it's what is needed to keep the babies and me healthy, I'll do whatever I need to do. So for now, we are doing well. Friday afternoon we had the home inspection for the home we are buying and aside from a few minor things, the house is in great shape. I can't wait until we have a place to fit everything. We have a few more hurdles to jump before we know everything is set with our buyers and our mortgage application, but Lord willing it will all work out and we will be closing the beginning of May! Today, my best friend, Elyse, threw a shower for us and it was fantastic! Madelynn and Dan joined me, and we had a nice time celebrating these little men with lots of friends and family. It was a bit overwhelming to open all of the gifts and see sets of three of things. We are truly loved and I have a feeling these boys will be spoiled rotten. Elyse found this cute elephant decal and used it to theme the shower, it was so cute. She even had a cute gray elephant for each boy and a big pink one for Maddy. It was just a great day! We now have enough newborn diapers to make it through one month and about the same amount of size ones. Yep, around 800 diapers in each size, which will last approximately a month! Craziness! Thanks to all of you who were able to come and support us! We love you all! We are getting ready to go through the items from the shower again to see what we actually have because it was such a whirlwind! Tomorrow morning bright and early Daniel will be running the Hershey 10k to support the Ronald McDonald house, so say a prayer for him as it starts at 7 am! This is actually a shorter distance race for him, so I have no doubt he will be able to do it without trouble! Please keep praying for the health of our boys and for continued health of the pregnancy. Also please pray that we will be able to close on the houses according to plan! I will be 28 weeks on Monday, so Lord willing that means I have another 7 weeks to cook these guys!

Easter Festivities

We started the weekend off with Egg-o-Rama at our church.  Our nanny, Abbey, my friend, Sherisa and I packed up the kids and went to enjoy the fun while Dan helped my brother and his wife move.  My parents met us there, which was excellent since we had 5 kiddos in the 2-5 age group and then my niece Emma was in the older group, so we had enough adults to manage all of the kids!  The kids had fun having their faces painted and seeing the Easter bunny.  They also cleaned up when it came to egg hunt time!  After the hunt was over they sorted through their eggs and then had some time to play on the playground before we called it a day.

(top left:  Joleigh, Addy, Aiden, Maddy, Jordyn, and Emma - it was hard to get them to all stay in the picture!)

(All of the girls had their faces painted, somehow I missed Jordyn)

  

Sunday was an early day with church at 8 am, and Dan stayed for all 3 services to sing. It was a great service and the kids had a blast during their service!  After church Maddy and I joined my brother, sister in law and kids for breakfast.  We stopped at home for a few minutes so Maddy could enjoy her new lawn mower from the Easter bunny and then we were off to my parents for the afternoon.  We had a good meal and the kids had fun with another egg hunt and opening presents from grandma and pap-pap as well as from each other.  Shortly after we finished presents at my parents we headed to Dan's parents and had more good food while Maddy enjoyed getting yet another Easter basket.  I think she may be a bit spoiled!  All in all we had a busy weekend, but had so much fun spending time with our family and friends!  Next year I think it may be even more chaotic with 3 little boys in the mix!

(it was really early, so she was a bit out of it!)

(Maddy had so much fun with her cousins!)

Oh and with all the craziness of the weekend I completely forgot to take a picture of Maddy in her Easter dress!  Fortunately my brother is doing a Mommy and Me photo shoot next weekend and Maddy will be wearing her dress again for that!

Now I'm a Superstar! (26 weeks 4 days)

Today was a marathon appointment! We were in the office for almost 3 hours, but got everything accomplished that they needed. First we had our fetal echocardiograms done on each baby. It was absolutely amazing to watch the cardiologist look at an ultrasound image of a tiny heart and point out every structure and each vein and artery. I'm pretty good at this point with identifying major things, but I look at the heart and say, there are the four chambers, after that I'm clue less. The speed at which Dr. W could point everything out to us was just fascinating. All that to say, the boys' hearts are perfect. So that was good to hear. During the echo Baby B's umbilical artery was abnormal again, it was actually showing little pauses, something about diastolic end. So Dr. W said he wanted my regular doctors to keep an eye on it.

Next was our normal growth scan, cervix check, fluid levels and doppler studies. My cervix is still holding strong. I was told this week that I am a superstar. I have no control over my cervix, but apparently it has earned me superstar status! All of the babies fluid levels were normal, and all of their doppler studies were normal, with the exception of Baby B. His umbilical artery was peaking high again, not enough to be abnormal, but higher than it should be. Fortunately each time they took it they did not see the little pause, so they are thinking it was just a fluke that it was happening, but just in case it wasn't we have to go back next week. As far as growth, A is our chunky monkey and B is lagging behind.

Here were their weights:
Baby A - 2 lbs 6 oz
Baby B - 1 lb 11 oz
Baby C - 2 lbs

They have all gained weight since the last growth scan, so they are pleased, but are obviously going to keep a close eye on B. Right now, he is still growing on his scale that he has been on, so he's ok, but we don't want him to fall any farther behind.

One of the coolest parts of the scan was watching all of the babies practice their breathing. It was so neat to watch their lungs and ribs move. It was making it hard to get some of the readings, but the sonographer said it was the best problem to have and that it was especially good to see with Baby B since he is the smallest.

My prenatal visit was good too. My blood sugars are good and the one medication I am on is seeming to control my fasting sugar like it is supposed to, so that means at least a little longer before we have to move to insulin. The longer the better! My blood pressure was great, which is amazing because I had just had blood drawn and she literally just finished saying, next week we will give you the Rhogam shot. I don't know if anyone else has had this shot, but it burns like crazy. Definitely not looking forward to that next week!

Please pray for the boys, that they continue to grow and that they continue to be comfortable where they are! We want to meet them, but not until after 34 weeks! Please pray that Baby B continues to do ok and that his umbilical artery numbers stabilize again. Oh and we are selling our house and buying a new one, so pray that everything works out so that we can close on the day we have selected.

We hope you all have a wonderful Easter! Madelynn is so excited for the egg hunt at our church tomorrow! I can't wait to see how much fun she has!