28 Weeks!!!!

So I am few days off with posting my 28 week belly picture but here it is. You can't miss it! Haha! Ignore my face, it takes a lot out of me to shower so doing my hair and putting on make-up is saved for once a week when I go to the doctor. But does make-up really take away the puffiness? Haha! Also here is the ultrasound pictures from Wednesday. The first is Baby A, the next one down is Baby B, the second one on top is Baby C and the last one is of all three of their heads! I don't have much else to post. There hasn't been much going on since I got out of the hospital on Wednesday, which is good. I feel good that the rest of the week will be uneventful!

An unplanned visit to the doctor turned into another hospital stay.

After our appointment last Thursday I felt a pretty bad pain low in my abdomen. It came and went but I also had continuous pelvic pressure. On Friday I called my doctor's office just to see if this was something normal and they wanted me to take Motrin for 24 hours then call if it did not get better. Saturday morning I still felt the pressure and debated on calling the exchange, but by the afternoon I felt great. By Sunday afternoon I was having pressure again and felt the pain with contractions quite often. I took a terbutaline and we decided we would call the office first thing Monday morning as we thought my pessary was flat and that's what was causing the pain.
I called the office and my Nurse Practitioner told me to come in and she would fix the pessary and check me out really quickly to make sure nothing else was going on. Well, my cervix was opening (it is so small that they are calling it closed, but it was a definite change from Thursday's visit) and I was contracting a lot, so she talked to my doctor and down to labor and delivery I went for monitoring. Good news is I finally saw MY doctor, but not under the circumstances I wanted. After he examined me he didn't think it was as bad as he expected and wanted to try some different medications and keep monitoring me for a few days in hope that I would get to go home. He came back at about 11:00 p.m. and I was contracting a lot even with the new meds so we had to increase the contraction medications. With the increase in meds I stayed pretty quiet on Tuesday and he moved my ultrasound appointment in his office to Wednesday. The ultrasound actually went really well. My cervix is staying close to the 2.5 mark and the opening did not change. The babies were very well. My doctor said they should weigh about 2.3 pounds. Well Baby A weighed 2.66 pounds, Baby B weighed 2.76 pounds and Baby C weighed 2.56 pounds. We were very excited about their weights.
We went back down to my hospital room and my doctor came in a few hours later. He said he felt comfortable with me going home with the increased meds as long as I felt comfortable being home. Of course I do, but I asked him several questions so I have a better grasp of when I need to call or come back in to the hospital. He said he wouldn't send me home if he thought I had a big threat of delivery. He also decided that I didn't need steroids yet (for the babies lung development) and still says I will make it to the 33-34 week mark. This was great to hear and I feel much more comfortable now. (Not that I am the slightest bit comfortable, but comfortable with the babies outcomes!!!)
I came home yesterday afternoon and hopefully can stay here for at least a few more weeks. My doctor said that women usually hit their breaking point after being in the hospital for a month and then want to deliver even though it is still early. So he really wanted me to be home for as long as I could. So the past few days have been tough, but I feel pretty good about making it 5-6 more weeks and especially feel good that MY doctor saw me twice a day for the duration I was in the hospital. It was very reassuring knowing where he stands on my situation.
Also while in the hospital a neonatologist came in to go over with me what to expect with the babies health and care after birth. It was very overwhelming, but it is good to know what to expect. Hopefully after our appointment next Thursday we will be able to take a tour of the NICU so we can actually see what all those things will be that will be hooked up to our boys. I don't think you can ever really prepare yourself for seeing your baby hooked up on all sorts of tubes and monitors, but we want to prepare ourselves as best as we can.

27 Week Appointment.

My appointment today was pretty uneventful. I had my glucose test and it tasted like a melted orange Popsicle, so not too bad. I won't get the results until at least tomorrow. We then had another ultrasound. The boys all look good. We didn't get pictures again because they are getting too big and they look like just a jumble of parts! Occasionally we see something clearly, like today we saw baby B stretch out his legs and his legs and feet were so cute! I can't wait to see them for real. (Okay boys, again I really can wait, so stay in there for 7 more weeks please!) My cervical length shortened slightly (only 2 mm) so they weren't concerned. After today I have officially seen every doctor in the office. The doctor I saw today is apparently the boss and he doesn't really practice the same way as the other doctors. He doesn't believe in taking meds for contractions, etc. so we had to keep things on the down low.

That brings me to my complaint. I have not seen my actual doctor since before I went into the hospital the first time, which was at least 6 weeks ago. My nurse practitioner said that their boss changed the schedule so that one doctor is on labor and delivery in the hospital and another other in the office. How is that fair to any one's patients. It's not and they hate the new schedule and are trying to get it changed back. But for now, it really sucks for all the patients. I am not the only one that is upset about this. My doctor is actually on vacation this week, which he has every right to be, but what about the other 5 weeks. Things are getting too close that I don't want to be pushed from doctor to doctor anymore. I want to know what to expect the next 7 weeks and I want to hear it from my doctor as every doctor will have their own expectations. Supposedly I am to see my doctor next week. If that changes, I will find the boss is (he's the doctor we met with today) and complain. I will be super upset if my doctor can't deliver my babies. My NP reassured me last week that my doctor keeps track of what is going on with me and if they can't get their schedules changed that they will tweak with things the best they can so that my doctor will be the one delivering the boys. I hope she is right.

Okay I will stop complaining now, it's just frustrating. I'm sure all you women understand. Other than that I feel good about today's appointment. Let's hope for another good week!

26 Week Appointment.

Today's appointment went well. We didn't get any new photos, but the boys all look good. My cervical length has stayed the same as last week which is very good. My Nurse Practitioner said that next week I will have a glucose test and be tested for anemia. She said most triplet moms will have to go on an iron pill. Right after she said that I told her that this week I have been feeling extremely tired and nauseous, she said that leads back to the anemia. So most likely I will be started on iron in the next week or so. Only 2 more weeks until I reach my next touchdown. We don't want to deliver in two weeks, but that is when the survival rate increases to 90%. We are still shooting for my goal of 34 weeks, but ultimately they hope for anything between 32-34 weeks. So ONLY 6-8 weeks to go! I can't believe it! She also stated that it is high probability that at 30 weeks I will go into the hospital. If I can make it to 30 weeks without going into the hospital and have to be there from 30 weeks on I would be happy! So it's continue the best rest as I've been doing and hopefully have an uneventful week. Hopefully next week's results won't be much different from this week.

25 Week Appointment!

Today was our 25 week appointment. During our ultrasound today they measured growth. Will (Baby A) weighs 1 lb. 11 oz., Max (Baby B) weighs 1 lb. 10 oz., and Levi (Baby C) weighs 1 lb. 12 oz. They are growing right on track. They all look so cute and healthy. The first picture is of Baby A's leg, foot and hand. The next picture down is of Baby A's leg, the next Baby A's foot, the next Baby A's leg and foot and the first on top in the next row is Baby A's foot again. The second picture down in the second row is Baby B's profile. The third picture is of Baby C's head and hands-he was waving at us! The last picture is of Baby C smiling at us. Finally, the two pictures at the bottom are of Baby B showing off all of his glory. He sure made his father proud!!!

The rest of the appointment was good. My cervical length was good. I am measuring around 35 weeks and he said that I would be at 40 really soon! (See here comes more stretch marks!!!) I am to continue everything that I am doing. As far as my cold he said that I could take Claritin for the congestion. All in all today's appointment went great!

OMG! As if my day weren't bad enough!

I am having a horrible day. My runny nose has turned into a full blown cold. I can't breathe and can't get comfortable. My eyes are watering constantly and I keep sneezing. Not that I want to bore everyone with my cold complaints, everyone has been there, but here's the doozy. I go to take a shower, a highlight of the day when you are on bed rest, and there it is staring right at me, yes a big ol' STRETCH MARK!!! I think my watery eyes are now tears!!! I knew it was coming, but I had hope that maybe, just maybe I would make it through this pregnancy with no stretch marks. I don't know what I was thinking, I mean I am having three, but that hope was still there. With 9 weeks still left until my goal, I guess I should now expect them to pop up everywhere. Sorry honey, so much for my bikini days! You might just have to save up for that plastic surgery after all! Ha-ha!!!

A quick trip to Labor & Delivery.

So I woke up this morning with some stomach cramping and that in turn caused frequent contractions. It still hadn't gone away around 11:30 a.m. so I decided to call my doctor's office. The Nurse Practitioner that I normally speak to was leaving because she had a sick child so she had me come into labor and delivery to get evaluated rather than come into the office. After arriving I was hooked to the contraction monitor and was having quite a bit of contracting. An exam showed I had some slight pressure on my cervix, but they did not feel any big change (that is a very good thing). I received a shot of terbutaline and after about an hour the contractions, though not near as strong, started again. I received another shot of the terbutaline and was able to be discharged home. I was given a prescription for the medicine in oral form with instruction to take it when I felt cramping like I did this morning since that is the type of cramping that brought me into the hospital the two previous times. I always feel like I'm being paranoid when I call, but after the three trips I realize that I know when something just isn't right. It has been three and a half weeks since I was last in the hospital so something must be going right. The doctor told me that I have probably just been doing to much and that's what triggered this episode. He said that I really need to lay down more and be careful of how much I do and to avoid any kind of stress.

So this was not what I expected for my day today, but I didn't have to stay and hopefully I can manage this at home and not have a need to go to the hospital again until I deliver. I told the staff that I don't want to see them again for another 9 weeks and they said they don't want to see me either! Hopefully now that I have a good grasp of what is happening, we can get this under control with more rest, less stress and as a last resort the medication. I will have another update after my appointment on Thursday.