20 Week Belly

The boys are growing!! At least I hope so at the rate Mommy is growing ;) Our next appointment is on Wednesday and they will do a full growth scan again.

I met the Pitts Trips yesterday and they were soooooo cute!! J and P were doing great as well, they have had their 4 week old identical triplet boys home for 2 weeks now! They answered a lot of questions and gave me lots of hope :) I adored the boys sleeping side by side, but didn't snuggle any of them, babies that size seem to look most comfy in Mom and Dad's arms.

Happy Halloween!
Brooke

More water please!

I have been working from home all day today as I was instructed to increase my fluid intake and have decreased activity today in order to stop the *contractions* I was having every time I stood up yesterday evening. Since they were not rhythmic and were brought on by a change in position I am hoping these small changes will help. I try to pack a lot into the shortened hours I am in the office these days and I have failed to make hydration a priority, not anymore!! Anything I can do to prevent permanent full restrictions I will do, promise!!

I have been able to get a lot done without the multiple distractions that arise in the office on any given day, but I thrive on those distractions and I am not ready to give them up yet :) I also need to find a lap desk or something, my laptop on a pillow on my lap is not cutting it for long hours, I need to find one of those trays/tables on wheels they use with hospital beds! Does anyone know if you can rent one or something??

Over the last week I have been researching stroller options (I am sold on the ABC Buggy from New Zealand) and making registries online, yes, multiple registries; it's only fitting right?? We are lucky to have things from Brody, hand-me-downs and loaners from great friends (thank you!!!) and even some scores from a garage sale I went to that was from BBB triplets as well, that was fun! I really feel like we haven't done much to prepare yet though, I think in the back of our mind we know that we just need a place to put them when they come and the rest will fall into place ;) I am now 20 weeks and OVER half way there! There is no painting of the nursery yet because our house is up for sale and we are not sure if we will still be in here when the babes come....yes, we are crazy for trying to sell right now!! (again, for multiple reasons ;) )

I promise I will post another pic soon, I have definitely "popped" recently. One of the nurses at work asked me if I grew another baby over the weekend when I showed up Monday morning!

19 Week US and a Birthday

Here are the most recent profile shots of the boys from our 19 week ultrasound and perinatology appointment. They are all looking good! There was not any sign of trip-to-trip transfusion :) Dr. L was very pleased.

A certain patient may have gotten her hand slapped a bit though, I was like, Ben was "telling on me" to the Doc. I guess it's not good to be in as much pain as I am by the end of the day and my body telling me to slow down.  I am suppose to start listening! Now that the nausea is gone I have been back to leading busy days at work and not shortening my days or time on my feet as much as Dr. L would like me to. The hardest order to follow is that I am not to pick up or carry Brody anymore! I am lucky that he has been ok with holding my hand more lately, but he doesn't quite get my restrictions (although he does love to give my belly and the babies "raspberry kisses").

It was rather funny when I returned to work after the appointment and was updating some of the Drs that are at my clinic.  They said I should get a recliner in my office, stay off my feet as much as possible, make people come to me, and use the phone more rather than my feet. That all sounds great in theory...  I just need to train myself, as these are hard habits to break! About 30 minutes later I went to the break room to fill my water and on autopilot decided to take a lap around the clinic and check-in with everyone (something I usually do multiple times a day).  I was rounding the back hallway thinking to myself "this is probably one of the things I shouldn't be doing".  Of course I run in to one of the Drs and she asked what I was doing so far away from my office.  I replied sheepishly that I wanted to check-in on the machines and she yelled back in passing "just call them"!!!  I am lucky to have such great friends at work who genuinely care about my well being and support my adjustments that will hopefully enable me to make the long haul.

I also had my 29th Birthday yesterday and Thank You everyone for the well wishes, I felt the Love!!! I had a full day of meetings and such at work so I was happy that Ben got some great take-out and a YUMMY cake.  All I had to do was eat and relax with my feet up.  It was just what I needed! ;) I am lucky to have 2 boys at home who love me so much!I will be blessed to have 3 more in my life!

More calorie talk

Now that the nausea is at bay, I have been finding myself craving foods that use to be my staples but have been ignored the last few months. I went through Starbucks last week and got the protein plate and a half-caff latte, it was SO HARD for me to not order a skinny vanilla latte! I actually felt weird when I ordered a pumpkin spice latte, I didn't say "non-fat" or "only 3 pumps please" like I normally would if I was being wild and  not ordering my normal skinny, but I couldn't resist saying "no whip," I still think some things are just unnecessary, even if I do need the calories! I will probably change my mind as I get more accustomed to this new way of ordering :) (I am almost beside myself thinking about ordering a eggnog latte next month without saying "cut with skim please"!! WAIT- I can have eggnog, right?? If it's steamed? It must be ok!...right??)

I had another "experience" at the salad bar at my work today. Kaiser has a big salad bar that has many healthy choices to help us THRIVE! It was a staple for me pre-pregnancy, I would get a nice spring lettuce and spinach mix and top it with sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, grape tomatoes, scallions, pickled peppers, garbanzo beans, and light balsamic vinaigrette...it was delish! When I craved a salad for the first time for lunch today I knew I had to alter it in order to help me cut away at the 4,000 calorie goal. It ended up something like, lettuce, chicken, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, eggs, garbanzo beans, black olives, pickled peppers, sunflower seeds, and....full-fat ranch!! For as many years and times through a salad bar as I can remember, I can't recall ever choosing full-fat dressing of any kind, I am sure I did as I know light dressings have not always been so commonly around and I haven't always been so picky!

That said, I think my Mom really enjoyed cooking for me last week, I wasn't hovering to see if she was going to add cheese or butter to the veggies, etc.

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be the same after this experience!!

17 Weeks....then and now!

17 weeks with Mr. Brody (thinking I was HUGE!!!)...

17 weeks with the Trips!! Now, I know I said I would never take a picture in these pants again...but I have found that they are already nice and stretched out for me! Just what I need right about now ;) We had an appointment with our Peri Dr yesterday and she said my uterus will probably be measuring full-term by 20 weeks - yikes!! The almost 3 hour long ultrasound appointment was very positive with all of the boys measuring the same size and looking good! We looked closely at their hearts, spine, skeletal system, abdominal organs, and all that good stuff - it was a marathon appointment for sure! Now we will go in every other week for a scan to look for any signs of trip to trip transfusion - please pray we will bypass that all together. She said if we continue to do this well over the next month she will be optimistic that our 2nd half will be just as good - that was inspiring :)

 

Hopefully I can hide behind these stripes for quite some time, teehee.

As for Mom, I am doing good. I am now off the Zofran for nausea, yahoo!!! But a fun new side affect has surfaced - acid reflux - YUCKY!! I am taking Zantac for now which is helping. The Doc advised me to lighten my load as I have been having a couple of side affects that she does not want to see progress this early and could cause bedrest, double yikes!! So, in order to preserve myself I am trying to work from home when the opportunity arises and shorten my days when possible. We have been very blessed to have Grandma Sharon out here for the last week taking great care of the 3 B's. I don't have to lift a finger and I am very well fed, we will be so sad to see her go tomorrow!! Brody is especially going to miss their time together, they have had sooo much fun all week long!

Thanks again for all the well wishes, they really help! 

- Brooke

Oh Me Oh My! Soon there will be 5!

We had our 15 week ultrasound last Thursday on the 30th and this was a big one.  We were looking forward to this one because we had a good feeling that we would find out the sex this day, but given my family history, we knew what to expect.  3 more Boys to add to our family!  Here are a few Ultrasound pics.

Mom is feeling a little outnumbered, but knows that her boys will take great care of her!  We have Grandma Sharon out here this week giving us some great assistance and Brody is loving every minute of it.  This little guy is getting so big and is going to be the best big brother.  Here are a couple newer pics of him and Mom this weekend.

Mom still has not been feeling that great, but we have big plans to get out to some pumpkin patches soon and have some fun.  We also wanted to say Congratulations to another Portland couple, The Pitts Trips, and their successful pregnancy and birth of their Identical Triplet Boys!

- Ben