Online forums...

First off there are not that many online forums for people with triplets and higher order multiples. Then there are even fewer that have people actively chatting. The biggest one is Tripletconnection which I have been active in for awhile now. I get frustrated at times though for two reasons:
1) Negativity. It seems to only be a few people, but those few people can be very mean and cruel at times. That ill will not only causes people to shy away from the forum but it also intimidates others so they are too scared to post questions or concerns in fear they will be made fun of or put down. It is really heartbreaking to see this go on, especially in a place that is supposed to help others. Some will say "that is just life" or "you won't like everyone you meet" but I don't buy it. You have the option to comment or not. If you are spouting mean and hurtful comments, you are doing it deliberately and for that intent. Now there is the possibility that someone took what you said wrong, but that is a much less common occurrence and is more apparent. With just a tiny bit of communication this is resolved easily.
2) It seems, at least lately, there are not many actively talking pregnant moms out there. It is cool to hear and learn from all the ones who are going through the infancy and above phases, but when you are pregnant it is nice to talk with others in the same boat too.
Perhaps I am just frustrated today. Perhaps I feel slightly lonely without anyone to really chat with. Perhaps I am tired of mean people. Perhaps I am just bored.
Perhaps...

Monday's...

I hate Monday's but not for the reasons you would think. My husband is a network administrator/ web guy, but he has worked from home for the last 4-5 years. For the most part I can't complain, even when he has a lot going on and works until 9-10pm every night for weeks. For even though he is working those long hours we still get to see and interact with him a little. Monday's though are a whole different story....
Unlike most normal computer people who take their Sat and Sun off, 99% of the time my husband checks his servers and other projects every morning, including Sat and Sun. Then if he finds an issue he corrects it before going about his day. Now you would think this would prevent "bad Monday's" but somehow it does not. For some reason (and most of the time that reason is an outside issue) Monday's are horrible. It starts out with some major catastrophe which ensues a lot of phone calls, pacing, and general frustration... Eventually everything gets solved and he gets everything running smoothly again but by then all happiness for that day seems to be squeezed out. Mentally he is burnt.
Now some might ask why this effects my hating Monday's... Well first off I am a fix it person. I always want to help fix things. It can be a bad thing at times and I have worked hard to try and squash it in me, none the less it is there. I can't help him fix it though which is frustrating. First off I am not a computer whiz like he is, so I don't really get how it all works. Give a human body and I can do wonders, but computers are not my field.
Secondly, most of the frustration is waiting for someone to fix something on their end. My husband has a very strict work ethic, and he is a lot more knowledgeable about everything then the people he deals with. So when he has to wait around half the day (or several days) for someone to complete "simple" tasks or fix something on their end so he can get thing back to the smooth point, it gets very frustrating. No one likes to watch their loved one pull out their hair and not be able to help. Wow... maybe that goes back to that whole "fix it" complex...
The thing I don't get... why is it always on Monday's!
I suppose it is worse right now because I am on leave from work which means I am here ALL the time watching this. Before I was at work Mon, Wed, and Fri (being a nurse is nice) so I only had to witness this for a brief time and by the time I came home everything was better. I wish I could help but all I can really do is lend moral support and sympathy. I don't think it helps much but at least I try.

Hitting the first Wall?

I say hitting the "first" wall because I am sure over the next two months I will experience more walls that I will have to climb over. My Wall: Well sleep seems to be elusive. I can't lay flat anymore, the upper part of my body has to stay elevated otherwise I can't breath. The belly is so large now that it is getting sore and extremely hard to find any position where it is comfortable. The babies are staying up till midnight to 1am "playing" in there so I get even less sleep. Then to top everything off I have a small cold. All in all, I don't think we are doing too bad...lol.
Ok, seriously, we are not doing too bad, even though the above issues are a little annoying. The babies are moving great, everyone at my doctors office is amazed at how well we are doing (no meds, cervix is excellent with no changes, very mild contractions are few and wide spread, no problems), and their weights are great so far. I have also gone a week now without having to take the Zofran which is wonderful since I hate taking pharmacuticle medications. I don't think I could ask for much more.
I am still hoping to make it to 36 weeks. 32 weeks is the average and that would be christmas eve, but 36 weeks gives us the best chance of no NICU time and that will be the middle of January, so that is what we are shooting for. Little less then 8 weeks now!
Things I am looking forward to after the babies are born (besides the babies): Sleeping on my stomach again. Being able to get back into my own shoes. Being able to lay down and not feel like I'm suffacating. Being able to snuggle up to Michael without trying to figure out a way around the enitity (the belly). Being able to be comfortable in general. Having the energy to do things again.
I know these sound like such trivial things but when you are 28 weeks pregnant with triplets, these little things seem like a luxury...lol.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone we are unable to be with this year. We are thinking of all of you and hope this day brings you lots of laughter and joy!

27 week Doctor Visit...

Well we are 27 weeks and five days today. My cervix is measuring 5.0 with no funneling which is excellent, still just some spuratic contractions, blood pressure is still doing good, and they are happy with the blood sugars. Everyone is amazed that I am not on any medications (just vitamins) and how well we are doing. This Thurs we reach our first milestone, the 28 week mark!
It makes me really happy to hear them say how well we are doing and no real issues. It gives me hope that we can reach our goal of 36 weeks.
All the babies seem to be doing great and they saw both the girls practicing breathing again which is excellent because they have started early. They start biophysical profiling around 30 weeks which means they watch each baby for certain movements and practice breathing.
Not really much to else to tell. We go back next week and will get our tour of the NICU then. I am just crossing my fingers that none of them will need to be there once they come.

Well after going through the new pictures this was the only good one. It is of our little Haley. Her face is on the left hand side staring out. 8 more weeks to go (to get to 36 weeks) till we get to hold our little ones. We are so excited!

(ultrasound at 26.5 weeks)

26 week Dr appointment...

Well we are actually 26 1/2 weeks but they seem to round down when looking at numbers. Criton (Baby C) seems to keep the lead in weights, he is 2lb 5 oz. Caitlin (Baby A) is at 2 lb 3oz. Little Haley is 2lb. That means they are all still right with/ above the 50th percentile in weights which is great. The cervix is measuring 3.9 which is still awesome (needs to be 3.5 or higher) with no funneling. I did talk with them about about my blood sugars and no one could explain why when I ate more my sugars were better. They said they won't get concerned anyway until the sugars are above 140. So I continue to monitor. All in all though they said we are doing excellent. So that makes me happy. :) They also said I am the only triplet mommy in the office that doesn't have a cerclage which is amazing.
You can tell they are starting to feel tight quarters in the belly though. They were not near as crazy moving as usual and they were invading each others pictures...lol.
They did catch breathing movements on the girls though which is really exciting. They usually don't start checking for that until later on (about 30-32 weeks), they just happened to see it while measuring this time.
Next Thurs (Thanksgiving) we reach our next milestone... 28 weeks! That is our most important one as far as good outcomes for the babies. The next two will be 32 weeks, the average time triplets are delivered, and 36 weeks, where we are hoping to get to. It seems crazy that we are getting so close now. Not too much longer and we get to hold the little guys... I can't wait!
I will post some new picture shortly.

Update: Frustrated and confused...

Well the dietitian has no idea what is going on. She can't explain why my sugars went up while on the diet and then went to normal when I went back to eating exactly like I was before all this. All she said is, "maybe your body needs extra carbs". Needless to say I have serious doubts about this diagnosis. I go to see the doc tomorrow and plan on a long discussion on this subject and hopefully get some answers. As for now the dietitian said to throw out everything she said and to continue to eat the way I had been before they intervened, and to continue to check the blood sugars.
I wish I had more experience with gestational diabetes so I could answer my own questions, but gd is very different then type I & II. So I suppose for now there are no real answers, but hopefully tomorrow we will figure this out.

Frustrated and confused...

I am so frustrated and confused right now. I went to my gestational diabetes class on Friday, got my meter, got my meal plan, etc. My fasting blood sugar (right after I wake up is supposed to be between 74-106... then 2 hours after meals it is supposed to be between 60-120 (under 140 if done 1 hr after a meal).... I started following it to the letter on Friday and my sugars were: 120 (1.5 hours after breakfast), 96 (2 hr after lunch), and 124 (2 hours after dinner). The next morning I had trace ketones in my urine which for gestational diabetes means your not eating enough and can be very bad for the mom. So Sat I followed the meal plan again : Fasting blood sugar was 103, 2 hours after breakfast it was 132, 2 hours after lunch it was 124, and 2 hours after dinner it was 111. I felt hungry all day long Sat even though I followed the plan and was snacking. Sunday morning my ketones were higher again (between small and moderate). So I talked to Michael and decided to say scratch the meal plan and go back to eating the way I was before this diet. Low and behold there was a huge change. Fasting blood sugar was 95, 1 hr after breakfast 154, 2 hr after lunch 107, 2 hr after dinner 109, NO ketones at all this morning (Monday), and fasting blood sugar of 100.
It doesn't make any sense... following their diet my sugars were worse and I was spilling ketones which is bad. Not following their diet and going back to my regular eating my blood sugars are lower and no ketones at all. Am I missing something here??
Anyway I am going to try and get a hold of the dietitian this morning and figure this out then I will update all of you. Just needed to vent a little.

Frustating Doctors Visit...

I am kinda irritated with my doctors office today. First off they had booked way too many people, and come to find out Wed mornings are there cardiology days. So they book tons of people and cram them all in the am. So it was about an hour and a half waiting in the waiting room before getting called back. That was my first frustration... sitting in those uncomffy chairs and being huge with triplets is not fun. Caitlin is still laying across the bottom and when I sit up she has hissy fits and starts kicking all over the place, so needless to say she was not happy about the wait either.
Then they were supposed to measure all the babies today ( a full scan) but the woman who booked it did it wrong so there wasn't any time. So I have to wait till next Tues to find out weights. I know it seems kinda petty but we haven't checked their growth for almost a month now and I want to keep close tabs on it to make any diet adjustments as quickly as possible so we have big healthy babies. Needless to say I was very unhappy about the whole visit and will never go back to Wednesdays again.
All the babies looked good though and their heart beats were fine. Cervix measured 4.2 with no funneling which is awesome, and Fri I go in for my gestational diabetes consult/ education so we make sure we stay on track with that.

Movers and Shakers...

It amazes me how much the kids are moving now. Criton (Baby C) is still our most active but the girls are not far behind. One fascinating thing is when they are rolling over now (especially Haley) they tend to "pop up". Basically you can see and feel a round protrusion of either a head or butt. It is the craziest and most wonderful thing.
I do have to say, having three in there moving around can be a little painful though. Not like sharp pain, but more of just heavy pressure when they turn over and such. I won't complain though. As long as they are moving, I know they are doing well :)
I can't wait till Wed to see how much bigger they have gotten! We will get new weights this week.
Michael and I can't wait till they come out and we can see and hold all of them, but we want to make it to 36 weeks. That is 10 more weeks. Can you believe we only have 10 more weeks?! It's hard to believe we have been pregnant for almost 26 weeks. It just seems like it has been flying by. I wonder if the next 10 will be the same.

25 week Doctors Appointment

Well my appointment on Wed was really crazy. The doc told me I would have my 3 hour glucose test done this time so I decided to go in a little early. Lucky that I did, because no one else knew anything about it, and it was done in the lab downstairs not the office. So for three hours I was running from the lab downstairs, back up to the office for my ultrasound, then back down to the lab, then back up, then back down. Needless to say I was exhausted and the test should have been scheduled for a non-appointment day. Because of the rush on everything all they did was check my cervix and heartbeats that day. The cervix is excellent 4.5. The babies looked so much bigger on the screen this time so I am excited to know their weights next week. Everyone looked great though so we are thankful for that.
I got a call from the doctors office yesterday morning saying I failed the glucose test. My sugars were just slightly higher then the cutoff so it isn't bad but they want me to see the dietican there and start checking my blood sugars at home for the duration of the pregnancy. I have never had Gestational Diabetes before with my other pregnancies, and my blood sugars have always been great on my annual checkups so this was a little shock. It mainly has to do with my body not being able to produce enough insulin for all four of us, and it more common for moms of multiples.
I'll admit I was pretty upset about it though. Mainly because the day before everyone was saying how great we were doing and amazed at our progress thus far without any real compilcations. In my head this was a major complication because I never had it before. It was silly. My sugars were barely up and I should be able to control it very well with some minor diet changes. It doesn't mean that there is something wrong or I won't be able to reach my goals with the pregnancy. I am so thankful for Michael though. He was so supportive and wonderful while I had my irrational breakdown. I don't know what I would do without him. He is my rock through everything.
We are on weekly docotr vists now because I am measuring full term now. Crazy... just two weeks ago we only measured about 30 weeks. The babies must have had a big growth spurt :)
We'll let everyone know how big they are next week!

Shopping for Three

I wouldn't have thought it would be hard shopping for three but have found it to be challenging. I have three "to get" lists. One is the "Priorities List", these are the absolute essentials we need to bring the babies home. The second is the "Need List", this list contains the things that would make life really nice with the triplets. The third is the "Want List", it's all those little items you just want but don't need. I think we have been doing really well thus far. We have just about completed on the priority list (more bottles, receiving blankets, and winter sleepers are the only things left) and we are slowly dwindling down the other two. We even have a nice little stock of formula, diapers, and wipes going on.
I think what causes the challenging aspect for me is finding everything. I have become an avid bargain hunter which has really served well in this situation, but with babies it takes some new twists. When craiglisting for carseats, beds, and items like those you have to be very careful about their age, condition, recalls, safety issues, etc. Then price becomes a consideration. If you could buy the same item new for just $10-20 more (depending on the item), the better deal is probly with the new. If you take the time, hunt around, and are careful, you can get some really great buys. We got all three carseats for $20-25 a piece and our first baby bed (4 in 1, barely used, with excellent matress) cost around $75.
If I were to give advice to a newly pregnant triplet mom it would be: Take your time and bargin shop. Craigslist can be a great resource to find really good deals on quality items. Some times Goodwill will have something worth while. Other people love Ebay, especially looking for baby clothing lots (a huge batch of clothing being sold together). Garage sells, consinment shops, or places like Once Upon A Child can be good places to find some really good stuff too. I know there are some people out there who buy everything new and thats what they want, but in today's economy I think there are a lot more people trying to stay within more constrictive budgets. With triplets that means saving money buying certain used items so you have the money to spend in other important areas and to save. That is my two cents at least. (Yes, they are are some items like bottles, pacifers, etc that need to be bought new)

Pictures...

Above is our 24 weeks belly shot. Yes, the belly is now it's own entity...lol

Below is a picture of the three car seats we picked out for the little ones.

Below is three new pictures of the nursery. Michael refinished the dresser and made the shelf above it. He is also working on converting the top of the dresser into a changing table area, and putting new flooring in. So far we only have Criton's bed in there, but once we get the girls their beds and put them up we will take new pictures of the completed nursery.