Sunday, September 25, 2011

Our first little scare...

 Everything has been going so smoothly, that I was caught a little off guard when things didn't go as planned on Thursday 9/22. We had a scheduled ultrasound and fetal monitoring (nst) at 11:00 as we have twice a week at Good Sam. Craig was with me for the ultrasound and all of the babies looked great. They were very active and were each practicing their breathing movements as they like for them to. I sent Craig back to work after the ultrasound and stayed for the routine monitoring.
 Baby A and B did great with perfectly beautiful hearbeats. Baby C was then monitored and was looking great until 16 minutes into the 20 minute test when the babies heartbeat dropped into the 75 range from 125. After a minute and a half, the heartbeat came back up, but I have to say it was a scary minute and a half! It's hard to say how many times in a day one of the babies roll on their cord and cause their heartbeat to drop... it's just not often that you witness it on the monitor!
 Although the babies heartbeat looked good after this one deceleration, the doctor wanted to watch us a couple more hrs. Once in labor and delivery, the babies all looked great on the monitor, but I started contracting every 3-5 minutes. Of course, I also didn't get to go to the bathroom or drink for a couple of hrs. This bought us a few more hrs in the hospital and finally at 7:30 at night, the physician on call felt confident that I wasn't in labor and that the babies were all doing well. We finally got the okay to go home!
 I've never been so glad to sleep in my own bed. It was a bit of a reality check that things really can change so quickly and you just can't plan on getting to go home after any of these appointments. An admission is just a deceleration in a babies heartbeat or a few contractions away.
 This weekend has been very relaxing and the babies are all very active giving mommy reassurance that they are all okay. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them on ultrasound tomorrow! Keep these little angels in your prayers... we are only 7 weeks away from delivery time!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

28 weeks! 9/16/11

     Yaaah! Another huge milestone has been met... 28 weeks! What a blessing. I feel really good and have had no signs of preterm labor. They started checking my cervix weekly and as of today, I am closed with no dilation.           I saw Dr. Habli today who was very nice. She was very optimistic and only had positive things to say about the pregnancy! Everything seems to be moving along perfectly.
     The ultrasound tech was awesome today. She took several 3D pictures of Baby B (our little girl) who was the only one being photogenic! It's amazing just how squished they really are in there. You can see in the pictures how she has her hand covering her R eye. The shiny curved bone-like structure next to her face is her brothers head! The picture of baby  C reveals his little profile looking into his brother's belly. You can see the ribs of Baby A in these pictures.
     Thank you to everyone who has been such a huge help to us over the last several weeks! The meals, visits, phone calls, cards, watching Adalyn, and most of all your prayers are soooo appreciated. I don't know how our family will ever begin to repay all of you. We are so blessed to have the friends and family we do! Please continue to pray for the babies growth and development as well as their patience as we do our best to keep them in their until 36 weeks! I pray they will have a heart for serving others and a heart for Christ! I truly believe that the prayers we lift up now will have an impact on them over the course of their lifetime!

Baby B- Girl showing off her pretty, full lips and her daddy's nose. What a beauty!
Baby C- Boy's profile on the right side of the picture looking into his brother's ribs!
Poor Baby A got left out because he was looking down at mommy's back the whole ultrasound. He is the one  on the bottom being sat on by his two siblings!

23 weeks- 8/12/11

     This pregnancy is just amazing... as they all are! I just can't believe there are three babies in there. Today we had an ultrasound and all three babies were head down. The third picture reveals three circles (or heads) all in the same picture! They are just too cute.
      I've been feeling really good and I'm doing my best to take it as easy as possible. I just want so badly for these babies to be born as close to 36 weeks as possible. So far the cervical lengths have been really good with no evidence of preterm labor. All good news so far! We just ask that everyone keeps praying that each baby develops normally with a strong heart and well developed lungs! Go babies Go!

25.6 weeks- 9/2/11

   Time is just flying by. I think it hit Craig last night just how soon these babies could be here! We now have 10 more weeks until the scheduled cesarean section at 36 weeks. Adalyn and Daddy have been talking to the babies a lot. Addy likes to "show" them her paci, blankee, and koala bears as we sit on the couch together at night. I just know she's going to be a great big sister! We continue to take suggestions for names as they don't seem to be coming to us easily. The list just continues to grow!
 Today we had another ultrasound where they measured the babies to determine their size. The closer their weights are the better! Fortunately, each baby is doing fantastic. I've included some pictures along with their weights. Enjoy!

Triplet A- Boy- 2 lbs 1 oz- 62% for growth

 Baby B- Girl- 2 lbs 2 oz- 64% for growth (She's in the lead!)
Baby C- Boy- 2 lbs 1- 62% for growth
You can see in the first picture that this baby is about to be kicked in the head by his brother!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Adalyn's 2nd Birthday

     I can't believe my baby girl is already 2. When Craig and I found out we were pregnant with her, we had lots of people telling us how fast time would go and how quickly she would grow up. Despite us trying to cherish every moment with her... everyone was right. We look back at the past 2 years and on one hand it seems like she's been here forever and we can't remember what life was like without her, and on the other it seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.
     One thing I can say is that the last 2 years of our life with Adalyn have been filled with nothing short of the richest blessings of our life. Her smile and sweet spirit brings us so much joy. She is quite the talker as most of you know and cracks us up with some of the stuff she comes up with. This year her 3 favorite things are Dora the Explorer, Popsicles, and her enter-rouge of stuffed animals/ items she takes to bed with her (including: paci (yes she still takes a pacifier at night:(), blankee, baby (a stuffed lamb), Bert (a stuffed dog), pooh, and her 2 latest additions Koalee and baby Koalee ( a very large and very small koala bear). She sleeps from 10-10 every night and still takes a 3 hr nap in the afternoon. A real blessing to mommy as I'm on bedrest!  
   She is very excited about the 3 babies in mommy's belly and thinks my shirt has to be up for them to hear her talking and for them to "see" her animals and books! We're so glad to get to bless Addy with siblings and just hope that although it will a huge adjustment for her, that oneday... she will thank us!
 Here are a few pics from her birthday parties at Grammy and Pawpee Jolly's, Katie and Steve's, and at Totter- Otterville.






 At Don Pablo's where Addy ate a whole basket of chips before dinner!


My crazy haired girl playing with her new computer or "pewter" as she calls it!


Addy with her new Koala bear... her new favorite animal!
My belly gets in the way as I lean over to cut the cake. Me at 23 weeks!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Growth Ultrasound 21 weeks

What an amazing journey this is! It is such a gift to see my babies on ultrasound each week. I have been off work now for a couple of weeks and I'm very thankful! I'm definitely feel like my body is working overtime trying to grow these little angels. I'm enjoying the extra time at home so much and wish I could store up all the extra rest I'm getting for when the babies get here:)
Today was really an exciting day. We had our anatomy ultrasound where the ultrasound is looking at each babies organs and growth to be sure there are no obvious abnormalities. As I laid on the table, I just kept praying that they would all be okay. It just doesn't seem possible that there could be no abnormalities seen with any of them. My prayers were answered as each baby was looked at very carefully and no abnormalities were found. Even baby boy C's kidney size had gone back to normal! They are growing well and beginning to beat up on each other in there! Several times we saw one of their feet come into view while looking at another baby only to witness the one being kicked by his brother or sister!
Her are the beautiful photos of our little ones. If only you could tell what to name them by the pictures... we are really struggling with names!

Baby A- Boy 1 lb 1oz


Baby B, Girl 1 lb

Baby C- Boy 1 lb 2 oz (He kept hiding his face, so we don't have any profile pictures. He just waved and showed us his boy parts!)

"You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:13-14