My New View - 29.5 Weeks

The time has come. I took a one way trip as a pregnant women to the UNC Hospital on Monday afternoon. I will remain here for the remainder of my pregnancy. At Friday's appt. I had trace amounts of protein in my urine. I did a 24 hour urine test that weekend and monitored my blood pressure 4 x daily. It wasn't until Monday morning when I returned to UNC with my urine sample that my blood pressure was up. The 24 hour test showed I was just above the cut-off for protein in my urine. I have mild preeclampsia.

Living at the hospital is not that bad. The staff is great and my room has an awesome view. There is a pull out couch so Max can stay the night and the food is actually decent. The "fun" part is the 2x/day monitoring of the babies. Trying to find three different heartbeats for an extended period of time is close to impossible. The 20 min. monitoring sessions usually take at least 1 hour. Squirm babies squirm :)

Preeclampsia is not something any women wants to deal with. But, I am being watched very closely and as soon as we see a change, the babies will come out. So far, my blood pressure hasn't gotten over 140/90 but even 133/89 is concerning for someone like me who usually runs in the low 100's/60's. We could be in here for several weeks or a few days...only time will tell. I will have thorough lab work done every few days.

The great news is the babies are doing wonderful and we have passed the 28 week milestone! Certainly they will spend some time in the NICU with the awesome staff but will most likely grow and thrive. Tomorrow we will have a growth scan so will know a lot more about the babies then.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we will be sure to keep everyone updated.

28.5 Weeks - Do I Get to Vent Now?

I want to start by saying how extremely grateful I am to still be cooking these babes! I intend to continue taking every precaution in order to keep my trio in as long as possible. After 4.5 weeks of bed rest, an overall posotive attitude (ok, my dear husband knows I've had my rough days) and 3 hospital visits, it is time to share some of the inconveniences of this pregnancy.....in a completely positive way of course :)

1. In the picture above the TV remote is on the floor. Here is the plan on how am I going to watch TV. I will read a book until I have to pee. When I come back in the room I will SLOWLY put one hand on the bed for support, squat down and pick the remote up with my other hand. It will take me about 5 minutes to recover once I get back into bed.

2. Today I am wearing outfit #5. Tomorrow I will start back with outfit #1. By the way, different tops constitute a new outfit...bottoms can be worn repeatedly.

3. I get excited to go to the doctor's office and to the hospital. Sometimes I count how many new people I see. Sometimes these new people even talk to me. They often comment on how HUGE my baby is going to be.

4. Take your right hand and touch your left hip. I cannot do that.

5. I am jealous that my dog can run up the steps...several times a day!

6. I have to monitor my contractions constantly. It is easiest to type them into a hand held device....I knew I needed this Blackberry! I often have 5-6+ an hour (yes, this sounds scary but with three babies growing, kicking and battling it out in one pouch, the pouch is bound to rebel and it often does with high order multiples).

7. If I stay up past 9:3o pm it is because I am at the hospital. That means I will need TWO naps the next day!

8. Every time I get up to go to the bathroom, I get to glance in the nursery. Every day my mom makes a little progress in that room. This slight change in scenery is SO exciting for me!

9. I have no appetite and hardly have any room for food. How depressing is it that Ben and Jerry's ice-cream is not even appealing to me anymore?

10. I can only type on my laptop for so long before my contractions pick up...yep, that is all for today.

Men at Work

Max and his parents put together the changing table and the 2nd of our 3 cribs this morning. We are short on space so we are going to have to get creative as we figure out where all our baby stuff is going to go.

We had another good appointment on Friday. I passed my glucose tolerance test with flying colors. I think eating healthy and being in good shape prior to my pregnancy helped my body respond appropriately to the insulin the three babies and I are secreting as we all try to gain weight and grow.

My ffn test also came back negative again. This gives us hope of possible making it to 30+ weeks!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. As much as I would love to be relishing in a long run at the beach, I think I will stick to reading and watching TV this year :)

My McDreamy

Who knew Max would be so good at giving shots? I am getting weekly progesterone injections in hopes of delaying preterm labor. This is Max and I's new Friday night highlight. My sister Tracey taught Max the proper technique and he has become a pro. As talented as he is, I have a feeling he still won't stray from my head during the c-section:)

As we approach week 27 my cervix remains closed and I am measuring a whopping 42 weeks preggo! I promise to post another belly shot this weekend for those of you who like to gawk (Don't feel bad, if you were me, I'd love to gawk at all of you too).

I plan to distract myself during the week leading up to the BIG 28 by starting season 3 of Grey's, starting season 1 of 24, continuing on my spiritual journey with "A New Earth", and getting wrapped up in the lives of vampires with the "Twilight" series. Who said bedrest was boring?

It's also been great spending time with all my visitor's! Kathryn and Ben, your chili rocked; Manpreet, LOVE the vampire series..perfect for bedrest; Mike and Erica, it was great to see you and get updates on everyone from school; Cara and J, can't wait to see you; and of course a huge thanks to my mom for all her help and support.

Grow babies Grow!

The nursey - phase 1

We have a lot of work to do in the nursery. Let me rephrase, my mom and husband have a lot of work to do in the nursery. I have had two baby showers. One was in my hometown in Roanoke, VA and had to be a video conference since I could not make the trip. I would have loved to have been there but it was still great to see everyone and watch from afar. Thanks Kathy and Lauren! The second, my sister organized and was here in Raleigh. Although I had to lay on the couch the whole time it was still lots of fun. Tracey, you did an amazing job! We received a lot of great gifts that I've organized beautifully :)

The next several weeks my mom, who is taking such wonderful care of me and these babies is going to help me get our two extra rooms upstairs baby ready. One will serve as "baby central" and be the feeding/playroom. The other will house the cribs (since that is that will fit) and be the sleeping room. Hopefully the next picture will look much better than this!

Monday I checked in with the doctor to make sure my cervix was still closed. At this point, it is pointless to continue to measure the length of my cervix since it has almost completely disappeared. Luckily I am not dilated and I had another negative Ffn test. This means assuming all goes well, I am home till my next appt. on Friday! It is stressful not knowing when these babies will arrive but we have to stay posotive and accept the fact that we are doing all we can do at this point. 26 weeks is better than 24! We will keep on cooking!

25.5 Weeks and Growing

We haven't posted any pictures of the babies in awhile because the technicians don't often catch a good profile shot. At our 25.5 week growth scan we caught a great profile of our boy, Baby B. We always get the most pictures of him and judging by our ultrasound photo album, he would be our "first child". In this picture he has his hand up by his face, probably protecting himself from the girls...better get used to it :)

As always, we received good news and bad news. Appointments are never boring anymore. The babies look great and are growing like weeds. They are measuring between 55-60% for a singleton, which is good if they come earlier than we hoped. I have been loading up on protein (ok, and ice-cream too), which I think helps.

Baby A (girl)- 1 lb. 14 oz.
Baby B (boy) - 1 lb. 14 oz.
Baby C (girl) 2 lb. 2 oz.

Some people have asked how they can weigh the babies. The weights are just an estimate based on measurements they take of their heads, stomachs, and thigh bones.

The bad news is my cervix is continuing to shorten. I did go back to the hospital for a few hours to be monitored for contractions again (as a precaution) but surprise, I was not in labor :) The doctor is letting me continue my bedrest at home for now. The concern is my cervix will continue to shorten and then open, possibly triggering labor. However, there are women who's cervix will shorten and actually dilate but they still will not go into labor for several weeks to months. As my doctor explained, as advanced as science has gotten, we do not fully understand all the factors that brings on labor. In fact, rates of preterm labor have increased over the past 20 years.

On Monday I will get another Ffn test. If it is posotive, I will probably continue my bedrest in the hospital just to be safe. Every day is a new adventure! With the internet and online TV shows, the days go by surprisingly fast!

Thanks for another week!

Our first hosptial visit

We always knew several trips to the hospital prior to the arrival of our babies was immanent. Monday was our first scare, right at our first 24 week milestone. The doctor has been watching my cervix closely since it has started to shorten. At Monday's appointment it had shortened even more so I was sent immediately to labor and delivery. I received a steroid shot to help develop the babies lungs in case they came early and was monitored for contractions. I had very few contractions so after a few hours, I was sent home on strict bedrest.

We went back to the doctor Wednesday to recheck my cervix, receive the second steroid shot and do a fFN test. The fFN test detects a protein released by the placenta up to two weeks prior to delivery. In singleton pregnancies, a negative result it has been shown to be 99% accurate in predicting you will not delivery in the next two weeks. The accuracy for multiple gestation is not as clear. Luckily my cervix stayed about the same and my fFN test was negative. We are definitely not in the clear but hopefully bedrest will postpone delivery by taking pressure off the cervix. At this point, each week is a huge milestone.

My next appointment is Thursday. We will do growth scans so hopefully this bedrest will also help these peanuts grow! Although it has only been a few days, bedrest isn't too bad. I read, nap, and watch Gray's Anatomy. Plus, knowing this short time is for the lifelong health of my family really puts things in perspective.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We are determined to meet our next milestone, 28 weeks.