OB Appointment

I am so excited! I went to my appointment today and everything with the babies is excellent. My blood pressure is still high (156/86) and didn’t change when I stayed laying down, BUT it isn’t affecting the babies at this point. I get to do yet another 24 hour collection (yippee!!) to make sure everything with me is still functioning. Last week’s results were very borderline, but he didn’t want to change plans yet. Anyway, I am excited because he is letting me go to 36 weeks! Woohoo!!!! This is exactly what I have been wanting and have prayed about. If the labs he does today and the 24 hr come back OK, he will just check bp and heartbeats next week and then the following week will be baby week. It seems so hard to believe that they are almost here! We discussed delivery again and he said he honestly never thought I’d get this far and hasn’t talked to anyone about delivering there. He doesn’t seem to think there will be a problem, but needs to talk to hospital staff and everyone to make sure that it is OK to deliver 3-36 weekers there. He seemed reassuring that they will let him, but again, will have to be sure. I sure hope so because I love our hospital and I REALLY want him to be the one to deliver them. He hasn’t said he won’t be the one to deliver them if we have to go to Iowa City, but common sense tells me he won’t be. The babies are getting really big. Today they measured 4.68 lbs (baby C), 4.52 lbs (baby B), and 5.26 lbs (baby a). Hintz seems to think that it is entirely possible we may be delivering babies over six pounds by the time they come. Unbelievable! He said that I have a “wonderful” uterus. So, that and my cervix are apparently splendid. He said he doesn’t want to wait any longer than 36 weeks due to placenta issues they may face and also following two sections. He said it is entirely possible I may still go into labor on my own before that and if I do, I need to get in immediately because of the risk of the scar rupturing. He said it shouldn’t because it is transverse, but he also said with how “distended” my uterus is, it is a possibility he can’t rule out. So we don’t want to risk that happening. Once again, all the babies were breathing, sucking, moving excellently and umbilical Doppler and brain Doppler was excellent also, along with fluid levels being wonderful. He said all in all, they are each behaving as well as any singleton he has seen at this stage. One of the baby’s has hair he said. He showed me on the ultrasound, but honestly, I couldn’t tell. Austin had a FULL head of hair when he was born and Aidan was bald as a cue ball, so it will be interesting to see how these guys come out.So today’s appointment went well again. I am still on bedrest (he believes it is working) and if something is funky with the labs and/or the protein, then things will be changed, but so far so good! I added pictures under the my pictures link, also.Praise God for how wonderful everything is going!!!

Bedrest

Well, went in for my bp, protien, and weight check today. My OB was more than a little nervous and I am now on bedrest at least until he gets labs back. In less than a week, I gained another four pounds, my bp went up to 150/106, protien was up, and swelling is not coming out even after 10-15 seconds. Good news is that he had me rest on my left side for 1/2 hour (while he entertained Aidan!) and my bp did go down a bit. He is having me do the 24 hour urine today and drew a boatload of labs. If anything is off on any of that, he will reevaluate prior to next week. He said that I am to go to bed and stay there until I either hear from him about the labs or my appointment next week. He also checked their heartbeats, which were still strong and good. He asked about movement. I said the one is still REALLY kicking me and the other two do more shoving than any kicking and I believe that they must have less room than Mr. Transverse. He said that was probably the case. He said if movement decreases, I get ANY headaches, visual disturbances, or anything feels even a little "wierd" he wants me to go in immediately. So, I guess now we are pretty much on a day to day waiting period until about Thursday, then I get to wait until Wednesday and see what will happen. I will be 34 weeks by then, so I feel a tiny bit better about that, but I really want them to stay put just a smidge longer than that. He did say that I am his star patient. He said he hears more bitching from his singleton patients than I have ever done and he's very amazed by it. I told him it doesn't do any good to complain about it...we want this and it will be worth it and it's only a short time of feeling crappy. So, that made me feel better, too.So, I don't really know much more than I did prior to the appointment as far as how long they will stay in there, but at least I didn't have to have them today!

We had another appointment today, which means another ultrasound. The babies are all doing terrific! They are weighing in at 1.5 pounds (identical), 1.6 pounds (identical), and 1.7 pounds (fraternal) each. Dr. Hintz was able to get a very good view of the baby's heart whom he couldn't see as well last time and it looked great. They are looking so good! Dr. Hintz also said that if I can get another 3 weeks, the babies will have a long hospitalization, but will do well in the long term. That seems surreal to think that they could be here as early as that, and obviously we don't want that, but it is still amazing. I didn't think that they were moving as much as they had been previously, but was mostly concerned about the baby on the left. He just didn't seem to move at all. I found out why today. His back is facing out and he is facing towards his brothers, so I AM feeling him move, just in the middle instead of on the side where I thought I should be. I was very relieved! Mr. Fraternal (Flipper) was on the left side at my last appointment, and today he is all the way over on the right side. Shocking that he has enough room to still move around like that, but Dr. Hintz said there is plenty of room still for them to be able to move around. I am amazed because it doesn't FEEL like it, but apparently it looks like it in there!I am still doing terrific. My urine did have a +1 protien, which isn't terrific, but also not alarming at this point. My blood pressure was fantastic (for me) at 118/80, so that is part of why the protein isn't such a concern yet. I am having more swelling but not near as bad as it has been in previous pregnancies. My cervix is fabulous and hasn't thinned at all, which means it is still at 7 cm. He said it is probably the best triplet cervix he has seen and better than even most singletons! Ahhh, at least something is great about me! So, other than being incredibly uncomfortable, health-wise I am great!Next time I have to have the glucose test done...YUCK! I am soooo not looking forward to that, but I guess it has to be done. There is no getting out of it, either, because with Aidan I was one point over on the one hour and OK with the three hour, so it has to be done. I am putting some new pictures of the babies on the site. There are a couple in the photo section and I added one to the front page. Thank you so much for your continued prayers....keep them up because this is definitely the best pregnancy I have had and all the glory goes to God!!!

Glucose Testing

I continue to be in awe of the miraculous gift that has been given to Steve and I every day. God is so amazing to me and constantly revealing Himself in ways I could never have imagined. I had my glucose tolerance test today…disgusting! After being extremely ill Monday through Thursday, it was not helped AT ALL by having to drink that nasty stuff. I will say today’s was better than the orange nasty I had with Aidan, but it was still so gross. I have no idea if I passed or failed, but am thinking that I probably didn’t do too well. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.We had another ultrasound today. Dr. H did an umbilical cord study on the identical babies this time. It was very stressful because I had no idea what he was doing and he was very quiet. I really thought that something was wrong. It took about 30 minutes for him to do it. He also did a biophysical profile on each baby. He suddenly said that the umbilical cords were terrific and babies were moving, hiccupping, swallowing, and everything they were supposed to be doing fantastically. He got some really good videos of them hiccupping and swallowing that were really cute. He also got one picture of the two identical (we think!) babies face to face. That is absolutely amazing and I will post it under the photos section. Babies B and C, which we believe are the identical two right now, but he also said he really can’t guarantee that at this point, are both breech and on the top. Baby C, the singleton (we think!), is vertex and buried pretty deep down. He couldn’t get any good shots of him. He tried to move him and turn him manually (VERY painful) so that he could get a better shot, but he just couldn’t. Each of the babies is growing at an amazing rate. One baby is 3.05 pounds, another 2.6 pounds, and another 2.8 pounds. All excellent sizes. Doctor assured me that we will be bringing home three babies. This is the first time he has ever actually said that. He said that we are completely out of danger really and everything from here on out is essentially bonus time for the babies. He said that he has delivered a fair amount of singletons at the babies’ sizes and they have done well. He also said that at this stage (29+ weeks), the rate of mortality in one of the babies is about 1 in 200, so less than 1% and the rate of long term disability is about 2%. [Probably TMI following --] My cervix is still measuring way huge. Today is was 5.51 cm. Last time, it was 7 cm. Normal, singleton pregnancy is 3-4 cm. He showed where the one baby’s bag was bulging down and in a “normal” person, that would be causing the cervix to dilate and I would be in labor. However, in my highly interesting body, it is pushing on the right side of the cervix, moving it out of the way instead of pushing directly on the cervix causing it to dilate (like it should be). He said at this point, I will more than likely NOT go into labor on my own and if I DO deliver early, it will be because of pre-eclampsia, not dilation or anything else. I had protein in my urine again today and my blood pressure is rising still. Plus a lot of swelling in my hands, feet, and face again. Pretty much all over. My weight was a bit of a problem. I have been trying so hard to gain, but after being so ill, I am now down to lower than I was at my first OB appointment and at that point, I had already lost a lot. So now I have lost even more again. He said that he would overlook it this time because he knew I was really sick, but he does want me to work on it. The nurse also said my urine was extremely concentrated, but he said that was OK also because he knew how sick I was. And told me to keep pushing the fluids. Everything going as well as it is at this point is nothing short of a miracle and God. There is simply no human way to explain pregnant with triplets, who are growing exceptionally well and doing so well, and NOT on bedrest. It is almost unheard of. I am just so in awe of everything that is happening with this wonderful gift. And humbled by all the prayers being said on our behalf. It is greatly appreciated, more than I could ever express.Steve and the boys are going to his family’s Christmas Sunday and I will get my very last day for a very long time, all alone, to luxuriate and do nothing. I am pretty excited. I think that may very well be my best Christmas present! Then on Monday we are able to stay home for the first Christmas ever and just enjoy it as our own family. I am looking forward to that, also. I am no longer allowed to travel, so that is why I am not attending any festivities.I wish everyone a very blessed Christmas and safe New Year!

Level 2 Ultrasound

Yesterday we had our Level 2 ultrasound. Dr. Hintz had told us to plan on four hours, but I guess I didn’t really think it would take that long. It did. We got there at 1:20 and we left at about 5:15. It was a VERY long day to say the least! He did give me breaks after each baby for about five minutes to go potty, get up and walk around, and get off laying on my back. He dictated each baby during that time. After the first baby, both Steve and I thought that he was finished with two babies instead of one!He looked in detail at each baby’s brain, heart, kidneys, gallbladder, bladder, bones, everything! He said that he couldn’t believe what great views he got of two of the babies hearts and he was really able to look at them in depth. The third baby is a flipper, so he didn’t get as great a look, but still got a very good look at it. Everything with all three babies is absolutely perfect!!! There is nothing wrong with any of them! That is such a relief. Baby A (Mr. Flipper) was breech like everyone else, then one minute later he was head down, then another few minutes would pass and he would be transverse. He REALLY liked to move around. He was also the last one to be looked at and was buried pretty deep in my pelvis when he was transverse, so that could be why he was uncooperative. All three babies are measuring at 20 weeks, 5 days and I am 21 weeks, 2 days, so they are still doing very well. Baby A (identical) weighed .83 pounds and was the smallest of the three, but not by much at all. Baby B (the other identical) weighed .86 pounds and was the largest of the three. Baby C weighed .84 pounds. I forgot to ask him how long they were, but they are really very long, which surprised me. All three when breech had their heads way up high under the top part of my rib cages, with butts down by hips and legs over to the side from that. Steve and I are still trying to figure out the report he gave us of each baby so we can figure out just how long they each were, but it is Greek to us! And it really doesn’t even matter, considering they are doing so great! Dr. Hintz gave us a disk with over 200 images on it of each of the babies, plus six live action movies of them. That was really neat to be able to show Austin and Aidan. They both lost interest in it pretty quick, but at least they got to see it.The very best part of the day came at the end when he checked my cervix. I dread having it done, but it was excellent. The first time he measured it it was 4 cm and he was certain it couldn’t possibly still be that long, so he had me go to the bathroom. Then he measured it again and it was 7 cm!! It hasn’t started to shorten AT ALL and he said he has never seen anything like it at this stage. Shirley, his nurse thought it would be hilarious if he had to induce triplets. He said he didn’t think THAT would happen, but he did say that he is pretty sure I will go very far. That is so reassuring! For once a part of me that doesn’t work is turning out to be a huge blessing!!I put some pictures of the babies on the front page and I put a few more under “my photo gallery” for your perusing pleasure, if you so desire. They are too big to get anything more than the tops of three heads on one picture and he didn’t save that image, so they are all individual. Some have various parts of the other babies’ in with them, though!Thank you so much for all of your prayers…God is so great! We are feeling so privileged to daily be able to witness God’s awesome power!!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!!!!

Well, we finally had another u/s today. We were supposed to go in yesterday, but my doctor had a family emergency, so he canceled. Based on his appearance and silentness, he should not have been in today, either. He just really wasn't himself. Anyhoo....the babies are doing GREAT! They are measuring about a week ahead of schedule, which is excellent, and they are all almost the exact same size, which is also excellent. Their little hearts were beating away and you could clearly see all four chambers today on all three babies. He printed off two pictures of faces and one of “the goods” and in one of the face pictures it looks like the baby is smiling at us. In some ways, it reminds me of what Aidan looked like when I was pregnant with him. They are still pretty skinny, of course, so that worried Austin a bit. One is still more active than the other two...starting to worry me a tad! Fluid around all the babies is terrific and my cervix is staying the same size/length with no thinning whatsoever. Which means the contractions I am having really are just BH and not worrisome. Thank goodness!Sooooo.....we also were able to find out what they were. They were REALLY proud of themselves and put it ALL on display. I knew Baby C (fraternal) was a boy, and I was right. I had no clue about the identical babies. ALL THREE ARE BOYS!!!! We now have FIVE boys!!!! Steve and the boys and I are all very excited. I think Austin was the most excited, though! Now we just really have to work on names. I have a couple that I really like, but I am not sure about the third or if hubby agrees on the other two. Although he picked one of them. We have time to pick them out though! Anyway, we appreciate any and all prayers said on our behalf...the babies are doing great and God is wonderful!!! Keep saying them please!Trista and her SIX boys!

How Many Babies Did You Say??!!??!

haven’t updated in a while because I wanted to get my thoughts together before this post. I don’t even know if it will make sense even still, but I will try!We went for our ultrasound on Thursday afternoon. I didn’t sleep at all Wednesday night, I was so nervous. I felt like everything was OK with the baby, but it is still nerve racking knowing that you are going in to make sure the baby has a heartbeat. Steve didn’t sleep much, either, but still did pretty good.Steve took me out to lunch before our appointment, but my stomach just doesn’t handle much these days. I try to eat, though, because I sometimes feel better after I eat. Just depends on what it is. We got to the appointment early and they got us in early, which was great. We were in there and she said my uterus was ‘acting up’ so she went to the ovaries first. She wasn’t saying much and that panicked both of us. She did point out that I have a large fibroid on the right and a smaller one on the left and that they are OK right now and not interfering with the baby. Then she finally went in to look for the baby. She didn’t say anything again for a while, and Steve and I just kept looking at each other. Then she finally said she was going to go to the sac on the left first. When she used the word ‘sac’ I was positive there was no baby. She looked it over, then said, OK…this baby is alone and we will call it baby C. Hello!?!? I said you mean there is more than one baby? She said, we’ll go over to the right to that sac. And, again, I thought, ok, a sac, no baby. Inside that sac were TWO BABIES!!! She said because of the fact that they are in the same sac, they are identical twins. Amazing!! They are facing each other and it is so neat to see. She can’t see a membrane separating the two right now, but she did say that she saw two yolk sacs, which means that there is a very high chance there is a membrane. If there isn’t, that can be dangerous because they can strangle each other as they get larger. She said usually if there is no membrane there is only one yolk sac, too, so we feel pretty good there is something there. It is so early that it can be hard to see it all. The babies heartbeats were as follows: Baby A: 140; Baby B: 133; Baby C: 140….all excellent! The rate of miscarriage after seeing a heartbeat is less than 5%, so we know they are OK. They are measuring terrific, also. The doctor and nurses informed us that the identical babies have nothing to do with infertility treatment….it was all God. He is so awesome and deserves all the glory for these babies!Of course, the doctor wasn’t pleased there were triplets and immediately discussed selective reduction with us. We told him absolutely not and he informed us it was his “medical duty” to let us know we should strongly consider it. Bodies aren’t made for carrying more than one baby and I am immediately a high risk pregnancy. We told him that morally and emotionally there is no way that we would even consider selective reduction. We were upset because they discussed this with us before and said that they would be cautious with triggering and they would cancel the cycle if there were more than three follicles. So, I didn’t get it, but we got past that.I am able to go back to my regular OB for now. He will see me unless I go into premature labor and then I will be sent back to Iowa City. I don’t have my first appointment with him until August 22nd (he will do another ultrasound) because he is on vacation before that. How am I going to wait that long?!?! I guess I don’t have a choice!The fibroid is causing some pain, especially when I am really active during the day. I have discovered that I really need to take it easy….when I push myself I get exhausted and am in pain. “Morning” sickness has been horrid, but that’s to be expected. The tech had asked how I was feeling and when we saw three babies we knew why I was so sick. We went back to DBQ this weekend and told everyone. It was exciting and I was so glad to finally be able to tell everyone I was pregnant!Please keep us in your prayers to keep these babies healthy and right where they should be at least until February!

Waiting...

I am getting so excited for Thursday that I can hardly stand it. It seems like the last three weeks have just d-r-a-g-g-e-d by! I am more and more convinced there is more than one baby in there. I have checked several different hCG calculators and it is high for a single, and even high for twins. I am so excited to see how many are there and just keep praying that there is a heartbeat. In my heart, I just feel this deep reassurance from God that this baby is OK and everything is going to be fine. I also feel this tug that there is more than one...but have a question as to whether we will actually *have* more than one baby. It's a weird feeling and I don't understand it at all...but I guess all will be revealed this week! I've been feeling more nauseous as the days go by. And it is completely unpredictable. Some days it is constant all day, others it is in the morning, not in the afternoon, then back in the evening, other days are different than that, too. Ugh! And it is just a general icky feeling...not like a real sick, sick feeling. Which I guess is good, but I don't like feeling so icky all the time. I've also still been really dizzy at different times and have some "stretching" type cramps on my right side. It feels more like a pulled muscle than anything is really "wrong." And it is beginning to happen on the left, too. I have been super tired and very irritable, too...I feel so bad for the boys. I have had a short fuse and have tried to be nice, but it isn’t working all the time. I also feel very “full” up top…I don’t know if that is because I nursed until just six months ago or if it normal for everyone, and feel very full and bloated down below. I SWEAR my uterus is already way enlarged…I guess that is normal with a third pregnancy.Steve is excited and nervous also. He's thinking about it more than I realized. We talked about it again and he keeps saying that Thursday is a big day. I keep tossing out different names for him and he keeps telling me that when the snow flies, we can discuss names. I am not one to wait, so I guess I'll just name her! ;)(I'm just kidding!!) I think he's trying to not get my hopes up too high in case something isn't right...but no matter what, this is a baby and I am pregnant and it isn't something that will just be "written off" if there is no heartbeat. He understands that, but is trying to protect me, also. I told Austin today that on Thursday we might have some big news for him when I get back from my doctor's appointment. We haven't told him point-blank yet that I am pregnant, but he's gotten enough hints. So he got really excited and asked me if maybe the shots and medicine have worked. I said we will find out for sure on Thursday. So, now he's excited too. I just don't think this is something that would be a great idea to just drop on him...if at all possible, he needs *some* warning. It is getting harder and harder to not tell my family! We went to dinner yesterday with my mom and uncles and grandparents and I SOOOO badly wanted to tell them. Steve said to go ahead, but I just want to be sure that there is a heartbeat before I tell everyone. I told him if anyone asked if we were ever going to have any more children, though, I would have jumped and said something. Noone did, though. :( Oh, well!Please keep us in your prayers for Thursday and pray for a healthy baby and a strong heartbeat! I will update as soon as possible Thursday afternoon. Our appointment is at 1:30 p.m. and we have a couple hour’s drive to get there and back.