26 Weeks & Counting!

Happy 26 Weeks!

We have made it another week! We now have about 8 weeks left until our goal of 34 weeks! It is becoming more and more real every week that we are about to become a family of five! Michael and I were laying in bed last night and talking about the babies--I'm still not sure I fully understand what is about to happen, yet I am becoming more and more excited to meet these three little people! They are kicking more and more--they are active little tikes! I always know when Baby A (Ethan) is kicking me, yet I am not sure about Babies B & C (Naomi and Levi)--those two confuse me because they move around so frequently. 

My parents got good news this week! My dad got a job in Cullman, Alabama which is about 2 1/2 hours from Nashville so they are moving! It will be nice to have them closer to us! So, they are loading the U-Haul today and then my dad and a friend are heading out from Seattle on Monday. My mom flies in on Monday night and she is staying with us for the week while the boys drive. So, they should get here on Friday and then my mom will go with them down to Alabama to help unpack and get everything organized! My parents have been with me the past 2 weeks and I told Michael that I forgot what it was like to be myself all the time--it's pretty boring :/ So, my mom will leave on Friday and then my sister, her husband, and my niece will arrive on Monday, Sept. 3rd and they will be here for 2 weeks! While my sister is here we are having a baby shower on Sept. 15th--I'm excited! 

Michael has still been able to get overtime each week which has been wonderful--he has been working approximately ten hours a week of overtime! We have been really blessed by that and I am so thankful for all of his hard work! Hopefully once we have the babies he can stop working overtime for a little bit since I will be getting the long-term disability. It will be nice to have him around more--I have definitely missed him! I love all of the visitors and family yet there is no one I love to be here more than him :) 

We met with a pediatrician this week as well--he is a tad on the querky side but we liked him. He has had experience before with triplets and doesn't seem intimidated by them which is great. He said several times how much fun he thought triplets were. He also looked at his schedule to make sure that he could really give us the attention and time that it takes for triplets and he said that he could. He said that he makes rounds every morning at the hospital so he would check-in on the babies every day once they were out of the NICU. He also reminded us that there are a lot of "boring reasons" to go to the NICU such as not being able to maintain their body temperature because they need to gain more weight. So, that was comforting. He also told us that being a triplet is already a traumatic/stressful event for the babies so their bodies develop at a faster pace than a singleton baby. So, he told us that triplets born at 32 weeks have much more developed lungs than a singleton baby at 32 weeks. So, all of that was comforting to hear--I hate that their bodies are stressed but it's good that it helps them to develop at a faster pace since they could come at any time. So, we feel good that we now have a pediatrician and we can cross that off of our list :)

And now onto the babies! We had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound on Friday--the ultrasound was at 8am which means I got up at 6:30am. I have not seen that early in a long time! The further along I get the more and more I love to sleep and I don't usually get out of bed until around 10 or even 11 some days :/ So, I had to take a nap yesterday to make up for that loss of sleep! The babies are doing wonderful though! They continue to amaze us with their growth. The boys (Babies A & C) are now 2lbs, 3oz and our little girl is 2lbs! Yay!! This is amazing because it means we are already halfway to our goal of 4lb babies and we still have 8 weeks to go! Even though our girl is a little behind the boys in weight they are still staying together and no one is stealing from one another! The ultrasound tech said that Ethan's (Baby A) head was measuring about a week ahead (so 27 weeks). I said that big heads run on my side of the family so he may of just got the curse of the genes :) Everyone is measuring really well though!

The babies have changed positions (again)--they just can't stay still! Baby A (Ethan) is in the normal position of a baby if this was a singleton pregnancy--he stays low and is head-down (vertex position). Baby B (Naomi) has moved on us--she was laying on top of Baby A (Ethan), yet she is now considered to be in a transverse position. Her head is up high near my ribs and she is laying side-ways with her feet going to my right. Baby C (Levi) has moved back over and he is in the vertex position (head-down). He is on my left side yet Babies B & C (Naomi and Levi) are somewhat behind each other. It's difficult to explain but the ultrasound tech said to think of it like balloons. Everyone is inside a balloon and they just float around. So, Ethan continues to remain the same but Naomi and Levi can't seem to get comfortable and find a spot :) 

Afterwards we met with Dr. Bellardo and he said that my cervix is still doing well--it is long and closed! So this continues to be a really good pregnancy, yet Dr. Bellardo continues to remind us that we have a long road ahead of us still. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time though because I'm not quite sure what that road entails yet! Dr. Bellardo said that Baptist opens up their schedule about 7-8 weeks in advance so he said that his homework will be to look at their schedule and schedule the C-Section. So, within in the next few weeks we should have a tentative date on when we will be having these babies! Michael asked if it would be good to keep going if I am still making it at 34 weeks and Dr. Bellardo said no. Dr. Bellardo explained the differences in a triplet pregnancy and what is considered full-time (average is 32 weeks). Dr. Bellardo said that we reach a point where the babies will do better out of me rather than staying in. It is similar to a fish in a fish bowl affect--there reaches a point where the babies cannot grow anymore because I cannot grow anymore so they become stagnant in their growth rather than continuing to develop. So, everything is starting to become a little more real for us! I think it will become more real once Dr. Bellardo schedules the C-Section and I have a date to look forward to. 

The past week I have also noticed that my fingers are very sore. It's kind of weird but it hurts to bend them. I asked Dr. Bellardo and he said that it is due to retaining water. He said that it is common part of pregnancy and he said with multiples it happens even more (go figure!). So, he said that I could buy some hand splints to wear at night they would help the nerves. They stay sore all day, yet it is pretty bad at night and in the mornings. I practice moving my fingers throughout the day though so they don't get stiff. I imagine it is similar to having arthritis in your fingers. I read that it can help to run cold water over your fingers so sometimes at night I run water on them for a while--not sure if that helps or not but its worth a shot :) Another wonderful part of pregnancy :) I bought a bottle of Tums this week too so hopefully that should help the heartburn as well--I haven't had too much heartburn but when it hits it is bad!  

So, I think that is all of our news for this week! We got a few pictures of the babies at the ultrasound but I am not going to upload them--I'm not sure you would be able to tell what they are. It is getting harder to see everyone--especially this week because they were hiding behind each other. I go back again on Thursday for the glucose test--I hope I pass! The doctor asked me to stop taking one of my medications this week so we could get a more accurate reading on the test. So, we'll see how that goes. And then we go back the following week (Week 28) for another ultrasound and appointment. 

Well it's time for me to go and find some lunch! Thanks to everyone for your continued support of us--we are truly blessed :)