Happy due date!

Happy due date, sweet babies!  I'm so glad you're here and doing well.  We can all thank Christopher for getting that show on the road.

Today you went to the doctor.  The boys are both just an ounce or two short of 8 pounds and Isabel is an ounce short of 7 pounds-- she's a dainty thing.  Doing great!  You've been home for a month now and it's obviously treating you well.  Your family adores you and you are thriving.

As for me, I'm one happy surro-mama.  Throughout this process, I've grown my own family, because I was welcomed into yours.  Next week, we'll spend our second Thanksgiving in Houston, but this time with three times the love and three times the fun.  And who could ask for more with moments like this one?

That's the first time I held all three of you on the outside, but not the last!

Thank you for trusting me to help you into the world.  I look forward to watching you grow up!

... And they all lived happily ever after.

Love,

Simi

Photo Project

The life cycle of my triplet belly:

Today, 9 days postpartum, I'm about 20-week sized.  Maybe a tad smaller?  Definitely a bunch jigglier.  :)

I never would have guessed that 32-week shot would be my last belly picture.  If goals or positive thinking or research or willpower or anything else could have controlled it, it wouldn't be and we'd still be trucking along.  But Christopher (Baby A) was apparently up on his research and knew most triplet pregnancies last 32-33 weeks.  My body was happy to oblige and didn't react at all to the magnesium sulfate.  And so we helped the statistic, delivering at 32.5 weeks, 2 days after that picture was taken at 32w1d.

It was difficult for me to leave Houston, knowing the babies were still in the hospital.  It was naive of me, but I honestly believed in our full-term goal so fully that I had never really thought about the reality of not getting "the moment."  By that, I mean the moment we, as surrogates, do this for-- the handing over of the babies, the watching parents' dreams come true.  Happy faces, no worries, babies snug in their own beds, surrounded by their families.  That's the end of the journey and we're not there yet.  For now, we're in a bit of a purgatory, while the babies grow up a bit in isolettes in the NICU.  I really would do anything to get a do-over for this last bit-- to hold them in a little longer and grow them a little stronger.  But that wasn't our story.

Don't get me wrong-- it's still a happy ending. The babies are doing well.  M and N couldn't be better friends or more grateful or more kind in keeping me updated every day.  I'm just waiting for Christopher, Isabel, and Nicholas to get home so I can go visit and hold them all and see them strong and healthy, with their family.  That's when this chapter will close for me.

No news is good news

I've had quite a few people contact me, worried because I hadn't updated the blog.  No worries!  Everyone is doing great- it's just hard to get on here in the midst of recovering.

A brief update:

Babies are doing great. They've not needed breathing support or big interventions of any kind. They're getting feeds of donor milk plus my colostrum through tubes, but will be trying bottle feeds soon. They all have strong suck reflexes- just need to see ow they do on coordinating suck/swallow/breathe.  Still breathing room air on their own without issue. Their isolettes are heated about 5 degrees Celsius over room temp to help support their body temps- but aside from that little spa-like indulgence, you wouldn't guess they were early at all.  They are super cute, regular-looking babies (not fragile looking at all).  Give them a few weeks to feed and grow and they will be home. As M keeps reminding us, they are very advanced babies. Of course.  ;)

I'm doing well.  Dr. Dryden said she made my incision small, knowing the babies would be small.  I appreciate that!  I got discharged today, which I also appreciate- I truly disliked being in the hospital, so only having to stay 2 nights was perfect.  I'm following advice of friends and not skimping on pain meds (right now, that means 2 Norco every 4 hours), taking it easy, and wearing an abdominal binder. Getting around pretty well.  I'm here in Houston until Sunday, then will go home to Austin. It will be wonderful to be with my family again. Not that the babies and company don't count as family- at this point, they absolutely do.  But Rick, Andie, Mariela, and my mom (ok, and my dogs too) are at the top of my list!  I'll be glad to get back to my normal.  My normal is pretty awesome. 

I'm trying to pump every two hours during the day and every four at night.  I have low supply issues that I can't completely address (they are physiological- I lack sufficient glandular tissue), but my supply does best if I'm pretty aggressive in the beginning. And what else do I have to do these days but sit around and bond with the breast pump?  Not getting much just yet (about 10ml/pump for the last two- an ounce is about 30ml), but I'm seeing the transition from colostrum to milk (orange to yellow and still lightening), so I imagine there will be a bump in volume soon. And every little bit helps.

I have pictures on my camera and can't get those off until I'm home, but will share them then. Just trust me that these kids are cute!

Thanks for your good wishes and support, both in the past few days and in the many months before then.  We did it!

Welcome babies!

Christopher

4:37 pm

4 lbs., .04 oz. 

APGARs 8/9

Isabel

4:39 pm

4 lbs., .09 oz. 

APGARs 8/9

Nicholas

4:41 pm

4 lbs., 1.3 oz.

APGARs 7/9

All born via c-section, since labor was progressing and baby A was still breech. All breathing room air on their own. I'm in recovery and doing just fine. :)

Update

To me, the mag sulfate doesn't seem to be working. Contractions are stronger and closer apart (about 3 minutes). Feeling a little less confident that we can put the brakes on this train. 

I wish there was just an off switch. 

Here we go

I woke up this morning at about 6 to a gush of fluid. And then some more. No question about it- my water broke. 

I walked/waddled down to M and N's room, with my soaked pants and let them know. N called Dr. Dryden, who told us to go to the hospital for assessment. I called Rick and filled him in.  Threw some things in a bag (pretty blindly- I hadn't prepared for this at all). Drank some milk. Got in the car and headed to the hospital. 

In assessment, I peed in a cup, weighed in, and changed into a hospital gown. They started monitoring all the babies (they sound great).  The nurse started my IV and fluids. She took blood and did a GBS swab. And about then, we moved down to Labor and Delivery. 

Dr. Dryden met us down here. The babies went back on the monitors. They started mag sulfate in my IV, which slows down labor and can make you feel awful (but that should have been immediate, and I feel fine). She checked them out on ultrasound, and unfortunately, A is still breech, so we likely have a c-section in our future. She checked my cervix and I am 3 cm dilated, 70% effaced. I also got my first dose of steroids, an intramuscular injection in my left glute. 

The plan is to get both doses of steroids in at a minimum (they are 24 hours apart), which means hopefully nothing before 8:30 tomorrow morning. But the real plan is to wait as long as possible. As long as I'm not in active labor and don't have an infection, they won't deliver me. So, on the short side of things, I could deliver tomorrow. If we're super lucky, it could be 2+ weeks. Dr. Dryden says her crystal ball is broken, but most likely, we are looking at a few days as the best case scenario. Today I'm 32w3d. 

Oh, and it's definitely Baby A's sac that ruptured. That boy is trouble. 

So that's the current state of affairs. This is what we get for being cocky and thinking we would get to 37 weeks!  Thankful we've gotten this far. Hopefully, we have three big babies who just need a few weeks in the NICU. 

I'll leave you with a hospital bed self portrait. 

Tour and appointment

Busy afternoon yesterday.

 

We started off with Jan Ivey (social worker) at TCH giving us a tour of the hospital.  We started on the 9th floor, which is labor and delivery.  M and N said the labor and delivery rooms were scary-- I think the OR is scary!  Well, actually, I'm still a little uncomfortable with the hospital at all, even though I full understand it's where we need to be.  It's just all very unfamiliar, compared to the simplicity of a home or birth center birth. Throughout the tour, I was surprised how many people (just about everyone) asked if we were having a vaginal delivery or a c-section-- I would have thought there would be an assumption that it would be a section.  Interesting.  Who knows what will happen for us, but I do like that they are welcoming of non-surgical delivery.  If that doesn't benefit me, it will benefit someone else down the road.

 

Then we headed to the 8th floor to tour the NICU.  At TCH, instead of a bay of NICU beds, they have each family in their own room.  So most rooms are designed to have one warmer or isolette at a time, but there are rooms big enough to take three.  Great setup.  Hope we never have to go there.

 

From there, we headed up to the 12th and 14th floors, which are mother/baby recovery and where I will go after I deliver (hopefully where the babies go too).  When it comes time to deliver, we will try to request a suite.  The suites have an additional entry room, which I think will be best for our rather large party of spectators.  Those floors also each have a newborn nursery.  I'm hoping we don't even send the babies to the nursery.  Slumber party for all in my room!

 

Last stop was down on the 3rd floor to pre-register.  I had wondered when that would happen (again, with my unfamiliarity with hospitals), so I was glad to get us done.  They have our court order on file, which should make everything go smoothly in terms of filling out birth registry paperwork.  All we need to do now is show up and produce babies.  Easy peasy.

 

Belly pic to break up the post (my equivalent of a commercial break):

 

 

Should have been a photo project pic today, but those are on my camera and I can't get them off until I go home.  So this is just filler for now. 

 

Ok, back to yesterday.

 

After the tour, we went next door to Dr. Carpenter.  Babies are all still in the same presentation.  (Boo.)  I asked whether he had any secret strategies to turn A and he said no, but that there's still plenty of room for him to turn, so that's good at least.  I honestly think our best strategy now is just positive thinking.

 

The primary purpose of the appointment was to check A's growth.  The good news is, it was right on track for the growth curve he put himself onto last time.  He's grown about 13 ounces in two weeks and is holding steady in the 47th growth percentile.  We don't know why he jumped down from where he'd always been in the past (65%+). It could be a difference between the two offices or maybe he just slowed down.  But as long as he continues to grow steadily (and he did), Dr. Carpenter is not worried.  I'm not worried either.

 

He did not measure B and C-- just checked heartrates, movement, and breathing, which all looked good.  But assuming everybody grew about the same amount, they should all average out to about 4 pounds each (A a little less, B a little more, C in the middle).  12 pounds of baby hanging out in my belly.  Good times.

 

Two other updates: my belly button has completely flattened out and I've developed a bunch more stretch marks.  This is what 12 lbs. of baby earns you.  Glamorous!