27 Months...

I quit doing monthly updates but figure every 3 months is good for now.

As I've already written about, Caden & Kellan will be starting speech therapy... Soon??? I'm just waiting for the therapist to call to schedule them. There was a question about their hearing & that it could have been affecting their speech but we that ruled out. It's basically just a result of being premature, if its the worst thing we have to deal with, we'll take it! 

Even though delayed the boys are really starting to talk more. I love that Garren can tell us what he wants to eat or do! Caden & Kellan are getting there... The other day while we were outside playing at the water table Caden handed me a bucket & said "need mo wawa" as he signed water. I was SO excited, it was the first time he said a number of words together aside from choo choo train. :) they are both starting to say things randomly, names of animals or objects, food they want & even juice or milk or water. I really think therapy will get them caught up quickly.

I did things kind of backwards & taught the boys colors, shapes & letters before animals & objects but they've learned lots of animals now & their sounds. Sometimes we even get an animal imitation like the elephant's trunk or a monkey scratching his sides as he makes the monkey sound, lol... My favorite though is when they sign the animal name too. They have learned some farm animals, pets & reptiles.

The boys have graduated from Baby Signing Time to Signing Time videos now, although Kellan still asks for Baby Signing Time by signing & singing "baby, baby, baby signing time" 

Cutest. Thing. Ever! 

So we do still watch those too but we've gotten a few of the Signing Time videos for them to help with the alphabet, colors & animals. Caden can not only identify pretty much every written letter, he can also identify most signed letters! I was pretty impressed with that :)

The boys have become pretty independent now, they really want to dress themselves, which they can't quite do yet. They absolutely refuse to let me spoon feed them or give them a bite anymore, even if its off my plate. So I'm stretching my patience & sitting back to watch them make a mess & finger paint with quite a few foods, primarily yogurt & oatmeal. They really want to walk everywhere we go now & protest quite a bit if they have to sit in a cart or the wagon but they do not listen well enough yet to be able to walk in stores or crowds. They've also been obsessed with brush their teeth & washing their hands themselves.

Their favorite place to be right now is "outside!" They love playing at their water table, blowing bubbles, sidewalk chalk, swimming, hiking, playing at the beach or in the dirt & at the playground. It's been pretty hot though the past month or so, so we mostly stick to water activities.

It is fun watching them turn into little people & I'm looking forward to their speech getting better & better!

29 Weeks on Easter!!!

We've made it one more week with boys where they need to be... WOOHOO 29 Weeks!!!
It's been a pretty decent week considering where I am. The babies are doing fantastic. Their heart rates get checked every 4 hours and are always good. They kick up a storm and try to get away from the monitors, giving the nurses hell when it comes to tracking them. They are definitely Donna's kids!!! lol...
My blood pressure has remained normal. I HAVE ANKLES AGAIN!!! My blood sugar levels are good and my contractions remain irregular and not painful. I tried to convince the nurses that I don't really have pre-eclampsia or diabetes, but I think they are choosing to believe the doctors over me :P

Who knew you could outgrow a maternity shirt?!

Baby C making my belly lop-sided

We also had a good Easter. A friend of ours here brought us Easter dinner to the hospital. It was fantastic and a feast!!! We had ham, deviled eggs, mac & cheese, asparagus, potatoes, yeast rolls, pretzel salad, lemon meringue pie & brownies, whew... couldn't eat it all, but I'll definitely be snacking on it for the next couple of days :) Thank you Cherie!!!
I hope all of you also had a terrific Easter

Staying A While...

It looks like I have found a new home for the duration of my pregnancy.

I had an ultrasound this morning, The boys are doing fantastic!!! Baby A & B are up to 2lbs 12oz & Baby C is 2lbs 10oz. Since this ultrasound was done here at the hospital, I have no pics to share :( But we did get to see each of their faces in 3D, Baby B finally cooperated :)

They also measured my cervix on ultrasound... Not such great news there, it measured less than half a centimeter, so there isn't much holding the boys in anymore. Good news is I'm not contracting, so I'm not in labor, but I have to stay here for the doctors to monitor the situation.
They said there is no way to predict how long my body will hold onto the boys. Not being in labor is a good sign, but nothing indicates when it could happen...

The doctors also finally decided I do have pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure is good, but I do have protein & my feet & legs are swollen. As long as my blood pressure stays down, it shouldn't be a big deal.

Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming. I will post again when I have more news.

First Mothers of Multiples Gathering

Last night Donna & I attended our first Mothers of Multiples gathering & we had a blast!!! I didn't mention before that when I was in the hospital, I met a woman who had had quintuplets there 6 years ago. She is a member of this group and invited us to come to this months meeting. It also turns out that she & I are from the same city, Bradenton, and attended the same high school a couple years apart. Small world huh...
We met some really great and FUN women last night and are looking forward to being apart of the group ourselves. It was nice to meet people who have been where we are and can give us some insight into the world we are about to encounter, lol.

I also had a doctors appointment yesterday, just a check up for me. Everything went well, blood pressure is still good & no protein, which means no pre-eclampsia!!! We listened to each of the babies heartbeats on a doppler and my belly measures 33 weeks (I am currently 25, ha!) We also went over my blood sugar and eating habits. My mealtime sugar levels have been good with the insulin, my fasting levels are still high so she upped my dose a little. I told her I was still having a really hard time not eating for 2 hours at a time and it was making me sick, so she told me to just check my sugar after an hour if I needed to eat again and that I should not let myself get sick or go without eating when my body says to eat.
I love my Midwife!!!

The meeting was a lovely ending to a long weekend for Donna & I. We didn't go anywhere, but did a lot right here around town. It was kind of a drearing weekend, so we shopped for the boys, found a new salon,  had portraits done, and just spent time together. Boy am I worn out now. Donna said last night she was contemplating taking today off. I told her she had to go back to work so I could rest, lol. I'm cleaning up the apartment a little today, then I'm putting my feet up until Friday, when I go back to the doctor for an ultrasound.

Went In For 1 Problem, Came Out With 2...

I am home!!! YAY!!!

I don't have pre-eclampsia as of now :) My blood pressure has leveled out in the 120's over 60-70, of course that was on hospital bedrest, but it lets us know it can be controled. The protein in my urine turned out to be a UTI. They found the UTI the first night I was in the hospital, but had to be sure the protein was from that and not Pre-eclampsia, so we had to wait on cultures. My bloodwork all still checks out good with the exception of the low iron, but I've started taking iron for that.

In the meantime while I was in the hospital they ran several other tests that are routine in pregnancy including a glucose test. I "passed" all but the glucose test :( So now I have gestational diabetes & have to check my blood sugar 5 times a day. I'd rather give myself shots than prick my finger!!! Right now they are just monitoring it. It is very confusing for me because they want me to take my blood sugar 2 hours after breakfast, lunch, & dinner... That would be great if I wasn't eating for 4 and constantly eating... I'm not suppose to eat for those 2 hours either, which is going to be really hard for me because I don't have the room in my belly for a big meal so I eat lots of small meals & snacks. Anyways... I go to the doctor today, so maybe they can help me make sense of it, the "diabetic educator" didn't really seem to understand my circumstances, she didn't even know I was having triplets until I told her :|

So that's it, I went in for pre-eclampsia & came out with a UTI & gestational diabetes.

I'll post again later today or tomorrow about todays ultrasound and doctors visit. I can't wait to see how much the boys have grown :)

Hospital Update

I am still here, and not that thrilled about it!!!
Late the first night I got moved out of Labor & Delivery into Antepartum (no more screaming women.) They had me up taking vitals, listening to the babies and examining me until 1:30 in the morning, nothing like a pelvic exam at midnight! They finally gave me ambien to help me sleep, but woke me up at 5 to take a glucose test, which I only passed by one number, so I have to take the long test again in the morning,ugh...
So yesterday I was tired and miserable and to make it all worse Eason is sick, Donna woke up to him having uncontrolable bloody diarhea all over the apartment. Donna of course took care of all that and got him to the vet, but now my emotions have the better of me and I'm even more miserable. He ended up having gastroenteritis, which the vet said could be nerves or he could have eaten something, he ended up spending the night at the vet.
I spent the day trying to sleep, which never happened, having my vitals taken every 2 hours, listening to the babies every few hours, and waiting... My doctor fianlly came in and explained that all my other symptoms, blood pressure, bloodwork, vitals and whatnot are good. I have protein in my urine and I now have a UTI, so they are trying to figure out if the protein is from the UTI or pre-eclampsia? They are waiting for urine cultures to come back to figure that out, meanwhile I have to stay until they do :(
At first I thought I might enjoy a couple days relaxing here, but there is nothing relaxing about it! Last night I asked for the ambien early thinking I could get more sleep, they brought it to me about 9:30 :) At 10:30 they came in to put in an IV, the dr wanted to start fluids at midnight, WTH?! So then at midnight they came back to hang fluids, you'd think they could do it without waking me?!?! Then of course she had to take my vitals... Finally a few hours of sleep and it felt wonderful... Until 4:30am, it was time for another glucose test, but first she had to take my vitals & draw blood... 5am sharp I drank a cup full of what I think was syrup and for the next 3 hours on the hour they drew blood, I tried to sleep in between, but at 8 the nurse wanted to listen to the babies and I don't know anyone that could go back to sleep after having ice cold gel squirted all over their belly, plus that woke the babies and they gave the nurse a run for her money trying to locate and confirm 3 different heartbeats, lol.
The boys are all doing great, they are very active and all have good heart rates.
I'm just sitting here waiting for the doctor and hopfully my urine culture results along with my glucose results, praying both are fine and I can go home today.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!!!

Spoke Too Soon...

Well... I'm in the hospital being "observed." Apparently my 24 hour urine sample had elevated protein. I assumed yesterday when they said everything came back good, that included the urine, but that's what I get for assuming, silly me. So far everything seems fine, my blood pressure is 130ish over 60-70ish, they take it every 15 minutes, well they were, they have cut back now. They took more blood and they are checking my urine and the babies heart rates every 4 hours. Hopefully I will get to go home tomorrow.
They didn't have any rooms available in antipartum so I am in labor & delivery. I can hear women giving birth and babies crying. They don't make it sound fun, kind of glad I'm having a c-section, lol...

Whew!!!

Everything checked out GREAT at the doctors today!!! My blood pressure was down to 126/64, it hasn't been that low since I was 12 or 14 weeks pregnant :) There was no protein in my urine today or the 24 hour sample I collected, FUN!!! And my bloodwork came back good, the only exception was I have low iron, which the doctor said happens with most pregnancies. So, no pre-eclampsia & no stay at the hospital!!! YAY!!!

Thank you all for the positive thoughts and prayers.

They did a heat rate check on the boys again today too, they were all good, 150, 154, & 171. The high one makes Donna very nervous, but the doctor said he's active and it's normal for it to go up when they are moving around. It's just never been that high, so it's making her nervous. The babies have also decided to all take a transverse position, they were all either breech or head down, now they are sideways accross my belly & crammed together, the tech couldn't even tell which one was which. No wonder my ribs hurt :)

My belly measures 30 weeks & the doctor was very pleased with that :)

So thats all good news for once! We go again friday for a growth scan on the boys and hopefully that high heart rate is lower so Donna can relax a little :) I will post again then...

Cervix Check (again)

Well my cervix looked great yesterday! The boys all had great heartrates too. However, I mentioned to the doctor that my feet and hands have been swelling and that sparked a series of tests... First they took my blood pressure, it was 146/86... not good. Then they did a urinalysis & found a trace of protein... not good either :( Then they sent me for bloodwork and I have to collect my urine for 24 hours & go back on Monday for the results. They are checking for preeclampsia. If I have it, I will have to go into the hospital.
I will post again Monday after my doctors appt.