Still holding on!

It's all still a little too fresh to go through all the details, but I am still baking these babes! I am off the evil, EVIL Mag Sulfate, thank goodness. The contractions are being kept to 6 or less an hour with pills around the clock. Since I started dilating when I was admitted on Thursday, I am here to stay. We now just look at everyday as a blessing and pray that we can keep hanging on. I guess every day they stay in Mommy is worth 3 days in the NICU, so putting in the time here now is the best for all.

Xoxo, Brooke

Chrstmas!....in the hospital

Excuse my medicated typing...I am waiting for the RN to come back in and hook up the gazzilion monitors again. Here is the shorter version for now:

We almost made it at home for Xmas! I was having consistent contractions that the procardia didn't phase. I also emptied my bowels 3 times which in not normal for me, but was what happened right before I labored with Brody. I called the peri office and they had me come in right away. (3:30 on Thurs) They checked my cervical length with US and it was almost gone (was 1.2cm at Tues appt) and the funneling was so large Dr.K did an exam herself. She was unable to determine dilation because it was so soft and she did not want to rupture my bag. She said she was admitting me to start the IV Magnesium and steroids for the babes....

So here I am, not getting much sleep but after they had to increase the Mag ( the first dose only brought the cx from every 2 min to every 3. I think they are around 6 minutes now and less intense, so that's good! It looks like I won't be leaving here pregnant, but will hold on to every day I can!

Merry Christmas!!

Happy 28 Weeks to Us!!!

Hooray!! We made it!! Now, bring on January 6th when we will be 30 weeks!!

Hypes and Gripes.....

Hype:
1. 28 Weeks!!!
2. No stretch marks yet!!
3. Loving Husband, Son, Family, and Friends~ couldn't do this without you!
4.
5.

Gripes:
1. Low-Carb diet, Booooo!! Much harder for a pregnant lady than I could EVER imagine!
2. Heart.BURN
3. SQUISHED bladder
4. Cold feet/shins in the shower (the belly blocks all the water!!)
5. 5-point-turn rollovers :( Oh, so painful
6. Bed Rest aches and pains, it really isn't fun...at all

I was going to stop at 5, although I could go on to 20 :)

xoxo, B

28 weeks...around the corner!

We didn't think this week would ever come, 28 weeks is on Thursday!! We had a great appointment this morning with a full growth scan on each trip. It has been 3 weeks since our last scan and they are a growin!

Baby A: was 1lb11oz and is now 2lb12oz! 88th percentile

Baby B: was 1lb15oz and is now 2lb11oz! 86th percentile

Baby C: was 1lb8oz and is now 2lb4oz! 59th percentile

All in all, they look great! A and B are still "big" and C is "average" so no concerns there. I was pretty happy last week when I didn't get the call that I failed my Glucose Screening Test, but I was informed today that I only passed by the skin of my teeth :( I was also happy that the fluids looked so good in each of their sacs today, but I guess maybe a little too good. They each have slightly above average fluid in their amniotic sacs and I guess that may also be contributing to my contractions. SO, given the high glucose and high fluids I have to cut my carb intake :( I am to go on a "diabetic diet", boo hoo!! She said I can splurge on Christmas and eat the cookies (what cookies?? I can't bake from bed!?!) but otherwise I need cut back to no sweets and only whole wheat. Since my "chef" is Ben, there is definitely going to be a learning curve! (He who has never watched what he ate or had to care about carbs, sugar, etc. doesn't exactly know what a diabetic diet is. He is bummed for sure that his go-to pasta-in-a-bag can no longer be his staple!!)

As for my cervix, it is still shortening. It's at 1.2cm now. Dr. L said that being at 28 weeks now, all that tells us is that I could go in to labor today, tomorrow or 4 weeks from now! We are hoping for the latter. The plan is to continue to monitor me weekly and if I start to dilate I will get admitted so they can start steroid shots and an IV of magnesium. I guess the magnesium may help with brain complications post delivery, but the side effects on Mom can be no fun for some. I am sure it won't phase me though, riiiight. Of course, if anything changes in between these appointments (stronger contractions, fluid leak, etc) I am to head straight in. I am happy that Dr. L is the Peri on-call over the holidays, she even gave me her pager number!! :) Let's hope that since I am armed with that it will be an uneventful holiday weekend.

If anyone has any EASY low-carb dishes you want to share with Ben, please do!!

Take care, Brooke

Truckin right along...

The last week+ since my hospital adventure has been pretty uneventful, yay!! I had my 27 week appointment and everything looked good with boys which couldn't make us happier. My cervix is very "dynamic" and we watched it shorten down to 1.5cm during my contractions. Dr. L was just happy to see that I still have cervical length left, so the bed rest must be paying off. I can't believe next Thursday will be 28 weeks, Merry Christmas to us! We never thought 28 weeks would come, and here we are, just around the corner :) We will have a full growth scan on each triplet on Tuesday. Even though it's a long morning, we love see how much they have grown! We are hoping for an uneventful appointment so that we are sent home to enjoy our last Christmas as a family of 3 together in our home <3

Yesterday Ben started organizing clothes and gear in the soon-to-be-nursery. I helped from the bed that we still have in there :) We received some preemie clothes from J (The Pitts Trips), and we can't believe how small they are!! It was fun to go through all of the boxes of Brody's old clothes that we saved as well (I saved them in case my sis Becky ended up having a boy, because then we could trade since I was sure I would get my girl! But no, she now has 2 precious girls and we will have our brood of boys!)

We seem to be set on clothes (so we think...but how does one know??) and burp clothes, we are just looking for a few odds and ends that we hope to buy used and a few things on the registries that I have been watching Ebay for as well, it has been giving me something to do!

Does anyone have (we still need 2) any of these that they are ready to part with: Kiddopotamus Carseat Snuzzler thingies?

We are fortunate for all of the gifts and donations given to us by so many friends and families, we can't thank you enough!! We have 3 car seats, 3 cribs (just need 1 more mattress) and our stroller has been ordered!!!! (THANK YOU Nana and Papa Lippincott for our ABC quad/triple buggy~ we can't wait for it to arrive!! Check it out here: coolest contraption ever. The seats hold newborns - 4yrs old!! And it fits through all doorways!! And it collapses to fit in the trunk!! We are quite excited to cause a skeptical cruising around with it someday!)

Here is a pic of my nightly routine (notice iPad within arms reach):

It's good to be home!

We had our 25w5d appointment last Wednesday and things were looking really good! I seemed to be pretty stable and the bed rest was definitely proving to help the shortening of my cervix, a great appointment all together!

Then came Wednesday afternoon/evening....I started having pretty consistent contractions between 3pm-5pm, so I continued to lay down and drink my water. By 6pm they were coming every 5 minutes so I took a new dose of meds (Procardia) that Dr. L prescribed for me at my appointment to use "as needed" for my contractions. At 7pm they seemed to still be getting closer so I took my 2nd dose. At 8pm I called L&D advice and they suggested I come on in to get checked out. Ben was especially not expecting this after such a good appointment earlier in the day, so I am glad that just a few days earlier I told him to never question me when I wanted to go in (I think I read or watched something that scared me and made me think someday I would wait too long and regret it!) So, we called a friend over (thanks Chapman's!!!) to sit at our house while Brody was sleeping.

I think we were checked into the L&D triage room by about 8:45pm and they hooked me up to monitor the contractions. They were still coming about every 3-7 minutes. The resident I saw first was very nice, but quickly got the attending to assist her, she had never done an US on 3 babies before. Soon we had a room full of observers cooing over how cute the boys were :) They were all looking good and didn't seem to be affected by the contractions. Dr. M left to go and consult the on-call Perinatologist and I started to feel a little sick...and then a lot sick. I filled up an emesis bag to the brim just as the nurse returned to give me 1 shot in my arm and 1 in my tush! I felt better soon and let her go forward with the Terbutaline and Vistaril shots. I only felt well for about 15 minutes when I started filling another a bag. Dr. M came back to tell me that I would be admitted to make sure the contractions get under control and that my cervix didn't continue to make any more changes, and also to get me hydrated and figure out why I was getting so sick now.

Once I got settled in my room it was probably about midnight. They still had me hooked up watching the contractions but Dr. M also asked for a non-stress test (NST). It took the RN some time to find all of the lil buggers heart beats and I was growing much more uncomfortable. After having them all on the monitor for about 5-10 minutes (she needed 20min) I apologized and quickly rolled over to fill another bag :(

I was finally all hooked up again by 2am-ish and told Ben to go ahead and go home so that our friend could go home and Ben could get up with Brody in the morning to bring him to daycare and then Ben would come back to be with me by the time morning rounds would take place.

Things went downhill for me after Ben left, I got delusion-ally ill, as I sometimes do (just ask my family, it's like an out of body experience that no one can control when I am really sick or in a lot of pain!) I think this scared the RN and Dr. M as they just sat with me and comforted me until I finally fell asleep.

I was up a couple of hours later still feeling icky but the Zofran shots were helping now, although I still was only taking fluids through the IV. At 6am we finally got the boys NST done and they performed great, the RN was very impressed!! I was still having contractions, with all the meds every 4 hrs :(

By the time the Perinatologist showed up for morning rounds Ben was back and hoping he could take me home. But, Dr. K decided that I was not stable enough and would stay another day. I agreed, I was still in rough shape!

When I woke up the next morning I was feeling much better and actually had some juice and breakfast- it was good!! When Dr. K came back for morning rounds she was pleased to see "life" back in me. My cervix was stable and we got the contractions down to 5 or less an hour which has been my normal for the past couple of weeks. I was discharged Friday afternoon with instructions to continue the Procardia every 4 hrs until I see Dr. L on Tuesday. (Many labs and tests were run and they all improved by the morning I was discharged so it was just a GI virus that kicked my butt! I am lucky the contractions came on to get me to the hospital, I can't imagine being that ill at home in my condition, the IV hydration saved me!!)

I have had a pretty uneventful weekend, thankfully, and we only hope we can stay this way for the weeks to come!! There was a time at the peak of my sickness (~3am Thursday morning) that it felt like deja-vu when I started labor with Brody and I was so scared that I was going to be having these babies, it was the worst feeling!! I am happy to be home with Ben and Brody for now :)

A few comparisions....

Brooke at 25 weeks with Brody

Brooke at 25 weeks with the Trips!

Brooke at almost 37 weeks with Brody (last picture taken before she had Brody at 37 weeks)

Again, Brooke at 25 weeks with the Trips!

I think it's safe to say that she is now going to be bigger than she has ever experienced before!

Ben.

A couple of bruisers!!

We had our weekly appointment yesterday, this one was looong as they did the growth scan on all the boys as well. They decided to make it a confusing start for the US tech, as C moved from his cozy spot on my left side to my midline pretty much underneath Baby A. They were all head down too, it was the most confusing scan to follow so far! It turns out A and B are measuring in the 95th percentile (yes, compared to singletons!) B took the lead for now being the heaviest at 1lb15oz, A is 1lb11oz and our peanut C is 1lb8oz. Dr. L said C is "normal" and A and B are just a couple of bruisers!!

I am still having a lot of contractions and the meds they gave me last week did not stop them and just made me feel crazy so I got the ok to stop them (they aren't proven to stop pre-term labor anyway). The good news is that they are not making me dilate, so I am still at home! I will continue to go in at least once per week for now, more if anything changes, and be "ultra-conservative" (Dr's orders) until at least 28 weeks, which is the day before Christmas Eve! I can't believe it is just over 3 weeks away, CRAZY!! 28 weeks is our next goal, but we really want to go farther, of course, for the health of the babes! But also because adding a Triple Birthday to Christmas week would be crazy!!

Bed rest is much harder than I imagined, especially during the Holiday Season. I did get the ok to go out for lunch or something every once and while as long as I get dropped off at the door and I can go out shopping if I am in a wheelchair! HA! I think I will stick to on-line shopping :) I am not suppose to do any of these things daily and she still wants me to be down for the majority, but at least I can get out for a bit when I feel like I am going to crack.

Thinking about it, they really have the whole pregnancy cycle, especially for multiples, all backwards. For the first 16-18 weeks I would have LOVED to be on bed rest, I was SO tired and VERY sick that all I wanted to do was lay down. Instead you muscle through the day at work and then come home and try to be a good Mommy as well. Then, just when you start to feel better and get your energy back, bed rest is ordered!! I know what's next, at 28 or 30 weeks I will be doing great (hopefully) and I will be told that I can get out a little more. Right, because I am really going to be able to get around when I am the size of a house! Oh the joys :)

I don't really have any recent pics, Ben will have to take a 25 week pic for me to post tomorrow (or soon!)

Here are a couple of pics we did at the beginning of November during a fundraiser for the Full House Moms group (Portland's Multiples Org).