24 Week Appointment.

We had our 24 week appointment yesterday. There were no changes so that made it a great appointment. The babies all looked good. We actually saw Levi (Baby C) kicking Max (Baby B). As you can see by the ultrasound photos their skin is thickening and their faces on pictures don't look as scary. The three on the left are Will (Baby A), the top two on the right are Max (Baby B) and the bottom two are Levi (Baby C). It looks like Max is smiling! Dale said that they look like him! Other than that I am to continue my medicine to stop contractions and continue the modified bed rest. Next week growth will be measured again.

I've also posted our 24 week belly pictures. 24 weeks means I made another touchdown and reached another goal. The next touchdown is 28 weeks and it is a big mark to reach. My goal is to reach 34 weeks, which is only 10 weeks away!!!

Our cribs have come in and I am hoping Dale can get them together this weekend. We are really excited to see all three cribs in the room! Once they are complete I will post pictures of the room. Dale's family had a shower for me last Sunday which was very fun and my mom's family is throwing a shower for me tomorrow. It is starting to feel so real now that we have started to accumulate stuff. We are very excited, but again boys, not in a hurry! Stay in there as long as you can!!!

23 Week Appointment.

We had another appointment yesterday. The babies all look great and were all moving around. My cervical length has been fluctuating which means I am still contracting quite a bit and there was some pressure from baby A. I now have to have a balloon to hold my cervix up. (I won't explain any more details for those men who read this!!!) I am to continue bed rest as I have been and will continue to be seen every week. I gained another 4 pounds and I am still measuring at 30 weeks, which is what is normal for triplets. Hopefully there will be no changes next week!

On another note, Dale finally felt a baby kick. I was so excited that he finally felt it because he was getting frustrated and thought they didn't like him. I made him put his hands on my belly for a while and finally Levi kicked him, and then kicked him several more times. Dale was so excited and I am so happy that he now knows what they are doing!

The top picture is of Levi (Baby A)-he is the squirmer so he is face on. He wouldn't hold still for a profile picture...again!!! The second picture down is Max (Baby B) and the third is Will (Baby A). They are getting to big to get anything other than their head in a picture! Aren't they adorable!!!

22 Week Appointment.

I had another check-up today and all is looking well. My cervical length has stayed the same, the babies heart rates are great and the amount of amniotic fluid went down. Because the amount of fluid went down I am now only measuring at 30 weeks, but I am still gaining weight. 3 pounds this week-yay! (This is the only time I will say yay to gaining weight!) My doctor has been out of town this whole week so I saw another one of his partners. (Boy is my doctor going to be surprised what kind of week I had when he gets back!) I asked several questions about pre-term labor and the gist of it is that it is going to happen and it's possible for me to be in the hospital 6 or 7 times even. I just have to continue to take it easy and make sure I drink lots and lots of fluids. He did give me permission to go swimming and actually encouraged it. So Dale and I will be making trips to the Rec-Plex a few times a week. I will be looking forward to those trips out of the house. That's about it for this week. We go back again next Thursday. Hopefully I won't have any more incidents to write about before then.

I wasn't home long.

So it was Monday evening and I had been home from the hospital for 1 day and the stomach cramps started again. They became pretty severe and it was another trip to Labor and Delivery. I was having quite a bit of contracting again but no pelvic pressure. I had to receive a shot to calm my uterus down and as soon as it wore off the contractions started again. They gave me another shot and I had to stay overnight again. I was able to come home Tuesday afternoon and continue on modified bed rest with very minimal activity. I will be evaluated again tomorrow in my doctor's office. Hopefully we can figure things out to get this under control. The nursing staff sounded as if they will most likely see me several more times before I deliver. Pre-term labor is very common in multiple pregnancies, my doctor was just hoping it wouldn't start this early. The next few months will be long, but staying in bed and making trips to the hospital for the health of our baby boys is worth it. Thanks for every one's thoughts and prayers!

A trip to the hospital.

So Friday after staying in bed all day we went to dinner for Dale's birthday at Fast Eddie's. I had a stool with a back and thought I would be fine for a couple of hours. By the time our food was ready I was not feeling well and knew I should go home. I only made it about 1.5 hours. I didn't want to ruin Dale's birthday so I went home with my parents to their house to lay down until they came home and could pick me up on the way. On the way to my parents house my stomach starting cramping. I know that is one of the warning signs of pre-term labor but also knew I just ate. My stomach continued cramping for a couple of hours and by the time I was picked up the cramping was becoming severe and I was feeling a lot of pelvic pressure. I broke out my book and the pelvic pressure is another sign of pre-term labor. I called my doctor's exchange and they wanted me to come in to be evaluated in labor and delivery. Dale was clueless and passed out from celebrating his birthday so I called my in-laws to have one of them take me to the hospital and called my parents to have them meet me there.



My father-in-law drove me to the hospital and my parents arrived a few minutes later. I was immediately put on a contraction monitor and IV fluids. I was in fact having quite a bit of contracting. I was also give an exam which showed a lot of pelvic pressure. I was immediately given a shot to calm my uterus down to stop the contractions and was informed that I was going to be admitted. An ultrasound exam was then performed to check the babies-which were all fine! My dad and my father-in-law now went home to hopefully get a few hours of sleep (it was now 3:00 a.m.) and my mom stayed with me for the rest of the night. I was moved to a different room and was given another shot and had to continue to IV fluids and the monitor for the contractions.



The doctor arrived around 10:30 on Saturday morning and I was doing a lot better. There was not near as much pelvic pressure and the contractions had really calmed down. I was taken off the monitor and was to be monitored for an hour here and there. I was also taken off the IV and had to make sure I took in enough fluids on my own. I had to stay at least over night and then see what would happen the next morning. Dale finally arrived at the hospital shortly after that. His face was priceless because both of our parents were in the room when he came in! Of course the one night he decides to let loose I go into the hospital. He promised he wasn't going to drink for the rest of the pregnancy, but we'll see if that lasts!!! I don't think the poor guy is going to live this down anytime soon!!! He stayed with me the remainder of the day and overnight. I think that fact that he was there with me really helped and I was able to sleep like a rock.



Sunday morning the doctor came in and examined me again. He didn't feel any pelvic pressure and since I had done very well the night before he was going to release me, but he wanted me to be on the contraction monitor for a while first. Of course I am put on the monitor and was having contractions, but they only lasted about 15 minutes then subsided. I was able to go home on modified bed rest and will be evaluated again on Thursday at my doctor's office.



I am now at home and on modified bed rest which means off my feet with minimal activity. It's very weird having to ask everyone to do things for me. My in-laws were over before we got home getting the house cleaned up so that I would be comfortable. My parents and my grandmother then came over and helped with laundry and other little things. (My poor mom had to trim my toe nails since I can't go get a pedicure anymore... Thanks mom!!!) Then everyone stayed for dinner. Writing this post is my little bit of activity that I can have for the morning and I am now going to move to the couch for a while. I am thankful I am home and that nothing was seriously wrong. I'm also glad that I followed my instinct and didn't talk myself out of calling the exchange Friday night.

21 Week Appointment

First off Happy Birthday to Dale! He is 26 today! I love you babe!

We had our 21 week appointment yesterday. We were very anxious for this appointment because of the contractions I was having a few weeks ago with back pain. We had an ultrasound first and the babies look great. They each weigh around 1 pound which the doctor said was perfect. The first three pictures on the left are Baby A, the top two on the right are Baby B and the bottom picture on the right is Baby C. Baby A of course was waving again and Baby C was moving around like crazy. As you can see he moved around so much you can't even tell what his picture is of! They then did a cervical ultrasound and they noticed my cervical length has shortened. I was now nervous.

We then had to wait to see the doctor for an hour and a half. Dale was getting quite impatient, but everyone had to wait as long as us. We were thinking he must of had a delivery in the morning that put him behind schedule. The doctor had a lot to tell us. First off I am sick with some sort of cold/respiratory infection. He put me on a Z-pack so that we can knock it out. He then talked about the shortening cervical length. This is always a concern because it is a sign of pre-term labor. My length is certainly good, but because it has shortened quite a bit in two weeks he wants to start treating it now. I have been apparently having contractions quite a bit for the past few weeks. He put me on a medicine that will help stop the contractions. I take this for two days then skip a day and start over. The babies also have quite a bit of amniotic fluid which this medicine will help reduce. (I thought it was good to have that, but I guess not.) I am 21 week and am measuring at 31 weeks, which is ahead of schedule, he said that was because of the large amniotic fluid. So I probably won't grow as rapidly in the next few weeks. He also told me that I need to be laying down for at least half of the day now. I should be laying down for at least 16 hours a day. So basically I am on limited bed rest. I feel very nervous now and realize that sometimes I do try to do too much. But, the doctor didn't seemed too concerned, he just wants to fix the problem so that it does not get worse which we really appreciate. I don't want to be in the hospital for the rest of the pregnancy! So in bed for half the day it is!

So after the 3 hour doctor appointment we went to look at a Yukon XL we found on the Internet. It was perfect, in great shape and they gave it to us for the price we wanted! We are now proud owners of a 2003 GMC Yukon XL. We officially have a kid vehicle! We are very excited about it!

Finally I will post the names we have decided on.

William Dale (He will go by Will)
Max Leon
Levi Joseph