Caution: Cankles ahead

Today definitely feels like I'm pregnant with triplets.  Lately I've had a lot of swelling in my feet and ankles - which is normal, but still uncomfortable.  To prove it, here are some lovely before & after pictures.  Warning: wait 30 minutes after eating before viewing.



THEN

NOW



On a happier note, Monday's appointment with MFM went really well. The boys are still growing a little ahead of schedule and continue to look healthy.  Babies weighed in at the following:  A - 1lb 8oz, B - 1lb 9oz, and C - 1lb 10oz for a grand total of 4lbs 11oz of babies.  It's great to see that all three are close together in weight which means that no one is struggling for the nutrition they need.  They all fall between the 72%-77% percentile, which is fantastic at this point.  There's no "triplet scale" to measure them against, so those percentages are compared to a single baby which is pretty impressive in my mind.  No official bed rest yet, but doc says I need to limit the time spent on my feet to 2-4 hours per DAY, which is hardly enough time to do anything.  Fortunately I've got just one day left of work and then it's "Hello, couch".  Hopefully some time with my feet up will help take care of these cankles...

Turkey and Stuffed...I mean Stuffing

"Stuffed" - that pretty much describes how I feel 99% of the time these days!  As this belly grows & grows, there's definitely less & less room for everything else...especially my lungs, bladder, & stomach.  This Thanksgiving I tried not to over eat, but that's basically impossible when you've got such amazing food spread out in front of you.  We headed to Rochelle early on Thursday morning to spend the day with my side of the family and got to visit with aunts & uncles I don't get to see very often and my bro, sis-in-law, and niece from Iowa.  It's amazing how much our niece, Alexandria, grows each time we see her - it makes me realize how much changes in a year!  There's definitely so much to be thankful for - not just on Thanksgiving, but every single day!!!  



We weren't planning to do any Black Friday shopping this year...but couldn't resist completely so Kelly, Ryan, and I stopped by Wal-Mart on our way out of town just to witness the madness.  We got sucked into the chaos and ended up waiting in line for 30+ minutes just for some $6.88 Rubbermaid containers.  We ran into a friend who was shopping for his boys, so we actually had a nice time waiting in line and keeping him company.  

The rest of the weekend we decorated for Christmas and hit a few other stores.  We were able to head into the 'burbs on Saturday for lunch and shopping with Ryan's parents, so we got to spend a little bit of time with them over the holiday weekend.  It seemed like Ryan and I have had a shopping role-reversal where I'm the one who searches for the chair in the department stores while he looks around for deals and gift ideas.  I definitely don't have the energy or endurance that I normally have, and need to take it easy.  Those wheelchairs & motorized carts were looking more and more appealing with every store we entered. 

My body was telling me to rest, so today has been a "recovery day" filled with lots of sitting down and a long nap.  It's getting tougher to sleep comfortably, so naps will become more important as the days go on. We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and a Baby Basics class at night, so tomorrow will be another big day.  While the babies are still tiny and under-developed, they could arrive at almost anytime from this point forward.  Their kicks and punches seem to tell me that everything is going well and they're doing fine, but we'll see what we hear from the doctors tomorrow.  We're hoping for at least another 10 more weeks!

Well, I need to wrap this up.  This mama is getting hungry from all this turkey talk - time for dinner...

  

Thanksgiving 2011 - 22 weeks 6 days



Triple Blessings 11/19/11



Loved the rubber duckies floating in the punch



It has been a little busy around here lately, so this post is about a week over-due!  On Saturday the 19th, our church family at Harvest Bible Chapel of DeKalb threw me an amazing baby shower.  I had such a good time with the women of the church, and I think can speak for Ryan and I both - we feel so blessed to receive such encouragement and support from everyone.  We left the shower with a van full of gifts (including all three of our car seats) and left feeling so grateful but completely undeserving of such generosity.  Even more important than any of the "stuff", I know that any of those women (and their families) have been praying for the health of these babies & the pregnancy and would drop anything to come to our side if we needed something.  I am so thankful that God has brought us to this church and a HUGE thank-you goes out to the friends who planned everything - Danielle, Jessica, Amy, Erica, and Natalie! 

 




Delicious homemade cake pops & diaper-cake centerpieces



Who knew you could get so excited over laundry detergent!



Grandma-to-be & me



Week 22 - November 17, 2011

I'm not sure if I can blame it on "pregnancy brain" but I feel like I have a zillion things running through my mind - some are things I need to do, some are things I've been wanting to blog about, and others are just thoughts about what lies ahead.  So forgive me if this post jumps around a lot or doesn't make much sense.

For starters, I had another doctor's appointment on Monday with MFM.  It was just a quick appointment to check cervical length, and so far everything continues to look positive.  Ryan was in Texas for the day (whole other story), so my mom came with and got to see an ultrasound of her grandsons.  All three heartbeats were normal but they weren't being very photogenic.  Most of my appointments have been first thing in the morning, but this one was mid-afternoon and apparently that's their nap time. They had curled up into little balls just like the cat does, so we didn't get many good pictures.  My blood pressure was high but had dropped to the top of the normal range the second time they checked it.  It really is getting tougher each day to move around.

The boys, on the other hand, like to do TONS of moving around!  Sometimes I think babies B & C are having a dance-off in there.  Because of Baby A's placement, I really can't feel him moving at all, but we've seen it on the ultrasounds so there's no need to worry.  Yesterday I woke up with a mini-bump on my belly that was either a little butt or head sticking up.  It won't be long before I have strange little alien bumps & lumps all over the place.

Let's see, what else...

Work is winding down which is a strange feeling.  I don't think I've wrapped my head around that one yet.  I've got two weeks left before I need to be resting at home, so there's really not much time left.  I'll miss what I do, but know that the health of these babies trumps everything else at this point so I'm looking forward to some time at home.  We're making progress on the nursery and a few other little projects around the house, but it will be nice when I can just focus on taking it easy.

Tonight will probably be my "last hurrah" as we're having some friends over to hang out before going to the midnight opening of the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  I'm not sure how I'll make it till midnight, but we had a party last year too and it was a blast.  I may spend most of the night in the recliner, but it should be fun and I've got all day on Friday to catch up on sleep.  I'm just hoping Bella's birth scene in the movie doesn't totally freak me out...

Favorite pic from last year's Eclipse party

11.11.11

Just a quick post with a few updates from the weekend - maybe more details to come later...

• On Friday I had a quick appointment with Dr. Russo and everything went well.  No ultrasound, but she measured that my belly is the equivalent to a singleton pregnancy at 33 weeks.
• I (technically "we") now officially weigh more than Ryan.  It won't be too much longer before I join the 200-club...and I'm sort of excited about it.  The more weight I can gain, the bigger these babies will be, so continue to bring on the food!
• We took a "Managing Multiples" class at CDH on Saturday and got lots of good information.  I found the most beneficial part to be touring the NICU so we can mentally prepare for what's ahead.  I couldn't help but tear up when I saw those tiny little babies - it's hard to imagine that ours will be that small. 

Sorry this is such a short post, but it's my bedtime and this mama needs some sleep!  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Last week's pictures

I finally got around to scanning our ultrasound pictures from last week.  I decided not to post the ones that pointed out their "little boy parts" (as our nurse likes to say) but they're definitely boys!  I also posted a few old pics on the August 7th post which are worth checking out if you want a good laugh.

Baby A

Baby B

Baby C

Baby B has his knees tucked up to his chin

Baby A

Week 20 - November 1, 2011

As promised, here's your update!  Yesterday we had another appointment with the M-F Specialists at CDH and everything went really well.  This was the third doctor we’ve seen there, and fortunately I’ve liked them all.  We had a level 2 ultrasound which is just a more detailed anatomy scan to measure the size of the babies and evaluate their major organs to make sure they’ve formed properly.  So far, all three boys look very healthy, organs all looked as they should, and they're actually growing a bit ahead of schedule.  Baby A was measuring 2 weeks ahead, and Baby B & C were both 1 week ahead - so hopefully they keep it up!  I was officially 19 weeks and 3 days at the appointment, so Ryan and I had to laugh when the leg measurements were all in the 21 week range.  Looks like we may have some long legs in there!  They boys definitely looked a little more crowded than before, but were still moving and squirming the whole time.  I still can’t quite feel the movements, but it should be any day now.  We brought home lots of good pictures, but I'll have to post them tomorrow.  The doctor reminded me to watch for signs of pre-term labor and to call if I start having contractions every 10 minutes.  So far, I haven’t felt anything that’s caused me to worry, but these next few weeks will be important ones (although I guess they're ALL important!).  We’ll see Dr. Russo next Friday and will be back at CDH in two weeks to check cervical length and then again in four weeks for another growth scan.   Now we just hope for smooth sailing until then!

Heartbeats (normal 120-180)
A: 158
B: 146
C: 150
Mom: Constantly out of breath

Weight (normal 10-10.5 oz)
A: 13 oz.
B: 12 oz.
C: 12 oz.

Mom: +35 lbs.