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!

 

 

 

 

32 weeks

Yahoo!  Ok, that's false enthusiasm.  At one point, 32 weeks sounded like a major goal, but quite frankly, now that we're here and everything is still blessedly uneventful, it's just another day.  That's a good thing, right?  That's not to lose sight of the fact that it really is amazing that 32 weeks into a triplet pregnancy, everything is still routine and boring.  We are lucky for sure.

Giving myself a generous .8 lb. round up, I've now gained 60 lbs.  Check it out:

Ten pounds away from doubling what I gained in each of my three singleton pregnancies, and at this rate, there's a good chance I'll hit that number before I deliver (I almost typed "before I graduate" there-- I suppose it's a graduation of sorts).  I am not a super overachiever in the weight gain department, but I'm definitely in range.

In related news, I measure my fundal height at 47 cm, which would translate to being 47 weeks pregnant, and my "waist" at 47.5".  So I'm basically 4 feet around.  Attractive!

Even though I'm not feeling the babycenter updates anymore, here's this week's, just for giggles:

How your baby's growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3 3/4 pounds (about the size of a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-32-weeks_1121.bc

And the reason I actually went over there was to grab their picture of twins at 32 weeks:

Just throw in another baby on top and that's what I'm looking like from the inside out.  Look at those beautiful head-down babies.  Let me repeat that for Baby A's benefit, since he may have been distracted: LOOK AT THOSE BEAUTIFUL HEAD-DOWN BABIES. 

On that front, I have been doing everything I can think of to convince A to flip for me.  I'm spending a minimum of 30 minutes per day, split into 2-3 sessions, laying on the decline bench I bought last weekend.  Any other time, I try to be very conscious of my posture, and I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees.  I've talked to the baby, I've visualized him being head-down.  I'm continuing to go to the amazing Dr. Long (chiropractor) once a week and she is doing everything she can.  This week, I tried Pulsatilla (a homeopathic remedy), using the instructions on the spinningbabies website.  I'll swim again this weekend.  I think the only standard advice not yet in my arsenal is moxibustion and acupuncture, and it's a little early for either of those.  We are throwing the book at this.  This week in a multiples group on facebook, several people shared their stories of Baby A turning as late as 36 weeks.  So that is encouraging.

We will get to check in today and see where the happy crew is currently making themselves comfortable.  Appointment with Dr. Carpenter at 4:00.  Main purpose of this appointment is to check on Baby A's growth and make sure the readings last time were a fluke (I feel sure they were).  Before that, we have a tour of the Women's Pavillion at Texas Children's Hospital, which is where they will be born.  Also touring the NICU, though it is still absolutely my goal and intention to never have these three darken those doors.  Fat, healthy 5 pound babies.  That's what we're going for.

Aside from our loss last fall, I've never had a baby in the hospital, so this is all new territory for me.  I've been to two hospital births (one vaginal, one ultimately a c-section), so I know what it looks like from a not-in-the-spotlight perspective.  I do believe all the raves about TCH and think there couldn't be a better option for us, so that's good.

I'll update on the appointment probably tomorrow and post a belly pic then too.  Until then, just gestatin'.

Meditate on this

I've posted that picture before (24 week triplets), but now let's all meditate on that presenting baby's position, ok?  Baby A, this goes out to you.  Look how cool it is to be head down.  Flip, kiddo!

Sundays stink

Saying goodbye to my family does not get easier. Bleh. It's so nice to have them here, and I feel a little wimpy being sad when I'll see them again in a week, but there it is. What can I say?  They're good people. There's a reason I choose to be around them so much. :)

I tried to take a "big" belly pic for M, who claims my pictures aren't big enough. Not sure this does it, but it's the best I could pull off. 

31 weeks

Quick update, since I'm on my phone and hate typing on it. And there's not much to say (in a good way!).

I had an appointment with Dr. Carpenter today. All three babies look good. He checked breathing and movement on each. Baby C was most cooperative and showed his stuff immediately. A and B both needed some encouragement to keep breathing- they were breathing intermittently, but he had to jiggle them to have them keep it up and move more. Give 'em a couple more weeks and they'll have it down, no problem. 

Oh- and positions were all still the same. A breech. B cephalic. C breech/transverse across the top. 

Rick and the girls are on their way down for a visit right now. Two nights- yay!  Unfortunately, M, N, and A are out of town for a medical appointment, so they won't be here. That just means I get my family all to myself. :)

Forgot to weigh in this morning, so that exciting update will have to wait until tomorrow. [Saturday update: 215, which is 56 total.]

That's it for now!

Hump day bump day

Today's belly:

And this past weekend, used as a movie-watching pillow:

Check out the bonus kid there- Andie's piano lesson was canceled, so I got the whole Denson clan. And I get them all again this weekend. Hooray, hooray!

30 week growth scan

The growth scan with Dr. Carpenter went well.  Turns out M, N, and A were all able to go, so we had quite the crowd in that little room.  Blood pressure was good (112/68, I think), fundal height was 42.5 cm, urine dip was clean, weight was fine.

The measurements on the babies are a little confusing to me-- in part just because everything is just slightly different than what Dr. Haeri's office did.

Here's the information I have printed out:

Fetus 1, Lowest Male, "AA"
Age based on measurements: 29.8 weeks
Presentation: breech; L.S.T.
No abnormalities
Heartrate 167 bpm
Amniotic fluid pocket 31 mm
Anterior Placenta

Fetus 2, Upper Left Female, "BB"
Age based on measurements: 30.9 weeks
Presentation: cephalic, L.O.T.
No abnormalities
Amniotic fluid pocket 38 mm
Posterior Placenta

Fetus 3, Upper Right Male, "CC"
Age based on measurements: 30.6 weeks
Presentation: breech; R.S.T.
No abnormalities
Heartrate 147 bpm
Amniotic fluid pocket 78 mm
Posterior Placenta

And what I remember Dr. Carpenter telling us was that A was 3 lbs., B was 3 lbs. 8 oz., and C was 3 lbs. 4 oz.

So what's strange about that is that A has *always* been our biggest baby.  Our 67%er.  And B has always been the smallest-- our <40%er.  So how have they suddenly switched sizes?  That seems off to me.  Dr. C said he saw testicles on Baby A (but no penis, due to position), so I have no real reason to think they've switched positions, but gosh, it's still hard not to think that.

In any case, because A's abdominal circumference fell off his normal growth curve, Dr. C will scan him again in two weeks to see what's going on.  Intuitively, I think it's nothing.  A discrepancy due to the "art" in scanning.  But it's good to have another look (and I'll be there anyway!).

So the other thing that makes this all confusing is the second page of printed results, that gives graphs of projected sizes.  For each baby, it lists a projected 38-week birth weight (not that we'd get that far):

Fetus 1: 6 lbs., 9 oz.
Fetus 2: 6 lbs., 1 oz.
Fetus 3: 6 lbs., 2 oz.

So it's strange to me that A is still projected to be the largest baby, when according to this week's scan, he's the smallest.  I guess it's based on the overall growth curve, rather than one week's measurement.  I just really think that measurement was off.

M asked Dr. Carpenter when he thought the babies would be 5 lbs.  Dr. Carpenter said he'd never really thought about it that way, but when he looked at the growth curves, he thought at about 33 weeks.  That seems early to me.  If they have 3 lbs. to gain in 8 weeks, that's .375 lbs./week on a straight line curve-- which would make them 5 pounds at about 34-35 weeks.  That feels more reasonable to me.  But hey, if they want to be monster babies at 33 weeks, that's OK by me.

Anyway, I will be back in this week for a quick checkup, and then again the week after for the scan of Baby A.  Until then, I'll just be hanging out with these 10-pounds-ish of baby.  Eep!

30 weeks

 

30 weeks!  This was a big milestone week for us, though now that it's here, it feels kind-of uneventful.  But hey-- here we are!  In the decade of delivery.

 

This was me on Wednesday:

 

 

So still not hugely huge.  I mean, I'm big for sure and I'm acquiring the stretch marks to vouch for that, but I am thankful I am tall and broad and have room for this litter of babies.

 

Per the not-so-accurate bathroom scale, I was only up .8 lbs. from last week.  I think that was probably an inflation of last week's weight more than anything, but in any case, 53-ish pounds gained at 30 weeks.  That may not be a gold medal performance on weight gain, but by golly, I do eat everything I'm supposed to at least in terms of protein/calcium/green veggies, so I think these babies are doing fine.  We should find out in about an hour, when we have the growth scan with Dr. Carpenter.

 

Just had another adjustment with Dr. Long.  I was more "off" this time (which I could feel too), but she says that, generally speaking, I'm one of the healthiest and most well-adjusted pregnant patients she has.  And you know how I love superlatives.

 

When I left the appointment, I got weaseled into a ten minute conversation by some woman that was passing by and then had a million questions about triplets and surrogacy and genetics and how the world works.  She was just completely overwhelmed and kept saying "I just have one more question-- is that ok?"  40 questions later, I got into my car.  Ha!  But I'm happy to spread positive surrogacy stories when I have an interested audience.  Why not?

 

My guess is that the babies are in the same positions, despite my best flipping efforts.  A breech, B cephalic, C transverse.  I think they have flipped, but flipped back.  At least they still have room.  I'm being patient.  Kind-of.

 

I went on a date by myself last night to see "Book of Mormon," which was great (of course).  I felt conspicuously single until I realized that, technically, I was my own party of four.  I can never be lonely!

 

Rick and Mariela will visit this weekend.  Looking forward to seeing them!

 

That's all for now.  I'll update again after my appointment.  Hoping to see some 3 lb.-ish babies in there.

TMJ

I mentioned TMJ in my huge catch-up post on Saturday morning. By that night, it had gotten truly unbearable. If I dared chew on the right side at all, I got blinding, burning, shooting pain at the jaw joint, and then with all the one-sided chewing and general misalignment, my teeth began to ache.  It was horrible.  So in an act of desperation, I googled pregnancy TMJ pain and one of the top hits was a YouTube video. I followed along with the video using just my fingers (he uses tools). Then I went to bed.

Next day- no pain. Not at breakfast or lunch, but both of those meals were relatively soft and not chewy. But dinner was leftovers from the night before (when I'd been suffering), and I still had no problems at all.  And no problems today either. Thank you, YouTube chiropractor!  I can't link the video from my iPad, but it's Dr. Phillip Yoo and the video is called Jaw Cure (TMJ) for Jaw Pain in Pregnant Woman.

Today, I had an appointment with Dr. Long. She confirmed that my right jaw joint is a little tight and pulling my jaw in that direction, but since I wasn't having any pain, she didn't adjust it. She did show me how to address it myself if it starts again, which was very similar to the video, plus an additional stretch from inside the mouth, back by the molars. 

So, for now at least, TMJ is off my radar. I really think that's the worst pregnancy side effect I've ever had, so I'm not sad to see it go.

My cold is also in its end stages- a few symptoms linger, but nothing is making me feel run down.

And otherwise, my adjustment with Dr. Long went well.  We both suspect A and B may have switched positions. I'm feeling more kicks in the middle on my right side, but still feeling kicks down low.  She thought she felt a head up high on the left. However, we both agree that it's all just a guess and we really have no clue. It's just impossible to guess position when there are so many babies in there!  I have another adjustment on Friday at 12:30 and then an appointment with Dr. Carpenter at 4:00, so we will know then.

After my appointment, I took myself to lunch at Whole Foods. Not really the same as our home flagship store, but still yummy. Grilled chicken, kale salad, and a twice-baked sweet potato.  And I bought myself a piece of cake, because... cake. 

29 weeks

AKA: The Long Overdue Update

Ack.  So much to cover.  It's a little intimidating.  I'll try to go chronologically.

1.  Last Friday, at 28 weeks, I had my last appointment with Dr. Haeri.  Same old, same old-- everything looked good.  All of the babies were breech, though, with their heads all together (which is the picture I posted last week).  Stinkers.  I was not pleased with them.  My cervix was slightly shorter-- just under 4 as I recall.  He said that's still better than many of the singletons he sees at 28 weeks, so yay me.  When I told him I'd be sad to leave him, he said "We'll be sad to lose you!  We love you!  We love your cervix!  I wish we could hold on to you until 40 weeks and write a paper about you."  Ha!  Of course that was hyperbole, but I still love it.

2.  Also on Friday, I got a sore throat, which was to blossom into a nasty head cold that refuses to let go.  Harumph.  That's my best excuse for not blogging this week.  Not being able to breathe takes a lot out of me.  Unfortunately, I've since passed it to Rick, Andie, and my mom.  I do feel better, just not 100%.

3.  But that didn't stop me from packing up everything and moving to Houston on Sunday!  I did no pre-packing at all, since I was feeling so puny.  So Sunday morning, I got up, tried on a bunch of clothes (trying to figure out what still fit) and eventually got the girls and myself into the car.  Teared up a little driving away from the house, knowing it would be two months before I came home again, but the drive wasn't bad and we got to Houston at about 1:00.  Rick had come straight from work and beat us here by a little bit.  So we hung out Sunday and Monday and then they left to go home.  Not going to lie-- watching them drive away was really hard and I had a big, ugly cry on N's shoulder when they were gone.  But that was the "pulling off the bandaid" part-- it's been easier since then.  And thanks to the wonders of FaceTime, I've seen them most days.  Andie and Rick will be back today to visit.

4.  Tuesday morning, we had the first appointment with Dr. Carpenter.  M went with me.  The exam room was teeny tiny, and we had the two of us, Dr. C's nurse, Dr. C, a nursing student, and a med student in there.  Cozy.  Poor M was sitting right up against me and trying to divert his eyes as I was instructed to pull my skirt and underwear down to mid-thigh for the ultrasound.  Eek!  It was a very quick peek at the babies-- basically just checking position.  Baby B had moved to cephalic (head-down) presentation, but A was still breech and C was transverse, as tends to be his preference.  It was good to meet Dr. Carpenter in person.  He was saying that, left alone, 15% or so of triplets would make it to term (37 weeks), but people don't leave them alone.  He will, though, so long as everything is going well.  So that's good.  We're on the same page.  37 weeks, here we come.

5.  Wednesday began my chiropractor saga.  I wanted to start seeing a chiropractor, in hopes that it would convince the babies (or Baby A, really) to turn.  I belong to a Houston Pregnancy and Birth group on facebook and they recommended two different chiropractors-- Dr. Chung and Dr. Long.  Dr. Long is closer, so I called her office at West U Wellness first.  The first appointment I could get was 9/24, when I would be nearly 32 weeks pregnant.  Eek!  So I took that appointment, but called Dr. Chung.  He had an opening at 4:00, so I ended up going over there that afternoon.  As it turns out, it was for nothing.  It's about a 30 minute drive away.  I got there, filled out the mountain of paperwork, and then he told me that because his techniques induced labor, he couldn't treat me (it was too soon).  He could see me three weeks prior to my due date.  Well, though I certainly don't want to induce labor, that timing isn't going to work for me.  These babies need to turn while there's still room!  Bleh.  On the way home, I called West U Wellness again and asked to be put on the cancellation list.  It was all very discouraging.

6.  Thursday morning, M worked his magic and got me an appointment with Dr. Long on Friday at 3.  Frustrations relieved!

7.  Friday morning, I had an appointment with Dr. Dryden.  Babies were still in the same positions they were in on Tuesday, but everything looked good.  Dr. Dryden will be out of the country for the last two weeks of September, so I won't have another appointment with her until October 4, at 33 weeks.  I feel pretty confident we're not going to have September babies, so that should be fine. 

8.  Friday afternoon, I had the appointment with Dr. Long.  She really is fabulous-- I see why she gets all the rave reviews.  Young, bright, personable.  She found several issues to address and took care of those.  We scheduled two more appointments for next week, in an attempt to get some movement before my appointment with Dr. Carpenter on Friday (which will be a full growth scan).  She also did some adjustments to help with drainage in my head because of this rotten cold.  When I got home, I spent some time inverted on an inclined ironing board (much to M's amusement).  Flip, babies!

So that's the speedy update of a million and one happenings since I last wrote.  I'm sure I left some stuff out, but c'est la vie.

At 29 weeks, I've gained about 52 pounds.  I now have some carpal tunnel pain in my fingers-- I'd always thought that was just a wrist pain thing, but no.  Apparently, the extra fluid/blood in my body puts pressure on the wrist joints and that affects how my fingers feel.  They feel swollen, but they're not.  It's worst first thing in the morning, but it's nothing I can't deal with.

My other new ache and pain is much more uncomfortable.  Just in the past week or few days, when I chew on the right side, I'll occasionally get terrible, sharp pain in my jaw joint, up by my ear.  It hurts quite a bit-- almost feels like burning.  I asked N about it this morning to confirm my guess that it was TMJ, and she said it could be caused by the extra fluid generally, or specifically by all the goop in my head from this darned cold.  I have no love for this virus.  Go away.

Other than that, I'm feeling fine and getting around just fine.  Last time I measured, I was 45" around.  Headed rapidly for three feet.  A yard.  8 weeks or less to go.