Today's the day!

The babies are coming! The babies are coming!!

They ran my blood work at 4am and had the results back by 6am. My BUN was up to 21. Dr Gooch just left my room and we're scheduled for a C-section at 1:30pm.

Everyone please think good thoughts for Walter, Gordon & Adele.

Reading the red...

I had bloodwork taken early this morning (5am) and had the results back by breakfast. My creatinine level remained unchanged from my last test. My BUN number went up by one to 19. That's the one that has a cutoff of 20. Dr Gooch, my OB, is off for the weekend, so the earliest I'll have another blood draw would likely be Tuesday. I wish they would just wait and test on Wed or even Thurs so that I could hit that 33 week date first! But, we'll see.

In the meantime, my contractions have increased in the last week. They are Braxton Hicks (non-painful) so the doctors are just keeping an eye on them and want me to let them know the minute they become painful. And the babies are still doing wonderful with their heartrate monitoring. Dr Gooch's partner stopped by this morning to let me know that she's very impressed by how mature the babies heartrates and responses are tracking. Go, babies!!

From my window, I've seen the life flight helicopter a few times in the sky. On his way in to see me, Jeff happened to catch the copter on take-off. This photo is so impressive for two reasons. 1) It catches the copter lifting off the ground and 2) He took this amazing photo with only a Blackberry!

Thanks for your continued support and love!

Got your boogie shoes ready?

Today we hit another milestone by making it to 32 weeks gestation! According to Dr Barry and Dr Gooch this week is one of the most important milestones next to viability (24 weeks) because babies born after this week have many less complications than ones born sooner. Let's all take a minute to do a little chair boogie-wiggle.

I'm not sure if it is obvious in the photos, but my belly has gotten bigger. You can kind of tell by how much further it hangs over my legs/pelvis. According to estimates, the babies should weigh around 4lbs each at this point, but I'm hoping Dr Barry will swing by soon to do another growth scan.


As I mentioned in my last post, since I've stabilized, the doctors aren't planning the c-section for tomorrow, but are letting me go as long as I and the babies can make it. Dr Gooch ran bloodwork yesterday and plans to run more on Saturday. In the bloodwork, Dr Gooch is tracking my liver and kidney functions, but keeping her eye closest on two of my kidney numbers. One is the BUN which has a cut-off of 20. I came into the hospital with it around 11, then I started hovering around 15/16, but with this last bloodwork, I came in at 18. The other is the Creatinine test which has a cutoff of 1. I'd hovered around 0.6 for a while, but was up to 0.8 with this last pull. So my numbers are rising, slowly, but they are rising.

I really appreciate all the sweet cards, e-cards, e-mails and more that I've been sent. I can't stress enough to you how those little things brighten my day tremendously. One of my favorite things has been the flowers I've received. And here's the latest bouquet that arrived from my Uncle Bob and Lisa. The bouquet looks and smells divines and the nurses have all been commenting on it.

Thanks again everyone for all your support and love!

Good news, Slightly challenging news

Dr Gooch, my OB, walked in this morning with an announcement of "I have good news and bad news." My heart sank. Being almost 32 weeks pregnant with triplets bad news is, well, really bad. But it turns out she should've said she had good news and slightly challenging news.

The good news is my pre-eclampsia has stabilized. My protein levels actually went down from my last test (now 1.1 g vs. then 2.5 g) , my bloodwork is all normal, and my blood pressure is staying pretty darn low.

The challenging news is that since I've stabilized, they want me to stay pregnant longer. This is wonderful for the babies since every day in the womb is worth many days not spent in the NICU. However, it is a bit challenging for me to give up a 'goal', to give up being allowed home, and to give up not having to stay pregnant where every day has become less and less comfortable.

Ultimately, I'm going with the 'good news'. Because it is nice to have stabilized and to be able to offer the babies a healthier chance at birth.

They are running my bloodwork more often and keeping their eye specifically on two kidney parameters and once either of those hits their limit, then they'll take the babies out. My first blood work is this Wednesday, so there is a very slight chance the Friday c-section could still happen, but I doubt it.

Wouldn't it be fun if we made it until 10-10-10?

It's a date!

First, the not-great news:
- I have no protein update. Something got screwed up with my labs and the numbers came up obviously off. I'm re-doing the sample today (suck) and should have results late tomorrow
- Turns out, while all of my bloodwork has been normal, my liver enzymes have been climbing. That, more than anything, brings home to me that I really do have mild pre-e
- I'm still on the gestational diabetes diet so I still need to stay away from Starbucks awesome Pumpkin Spice latte

Now, for the fun stuff:
- Dr Barry, my MFM, came to see me and the babies have strong heartrates and are moving and breathing as babies should. They look awesome!
- Dr Barry mentioned scheduling a birth plan since he does not want to let me go much beyond 32 weeks so I brought this up with Dr Gooch, my OB. She agreed we should go ahead and schedule my c-section so the hospital and NICU staff can have time to prep.
- We chose Oct 1st. I have an end date! I'll be 32 weeks and 1 day. At this point, the babies are done developmentally and keeping them in womb would be for growth purposes. Since I'm pre-e, my doctors agree the risk of me ending up in ICU is not worth the benefit to the babies staying in womb.****DISCLAIMER: I could develop full pre-e or go into pre-term labor at any time forcing an earlier birth
- I hit 31 weeks yesterday! Another milestone made.

The coolness of Oct 1:
- Jeff and the babies will now have their individual birthday months (Jeff - Sept, Walter, Gordon, Adele - Oct) which is very important!
- Their birthdate is cool: 10-01-10
- The binary of their birthdate 100110 translates to the decimal number 38, which is how old Jeff turned yesterday on his birthday. Happy Birthday, love!

Everyone keep your fingers crossed! I'd love to see this Oct 1st birth happen now.

I just wanted to give a big thanks to all of my local, Austin friends. I have had so many visitors and gifts while in the hospital my heart simply overflows. I am blessed!

No news should be good news

I don't have any real update other than I'm holding steady. I haven't had blood work or 24 hour collections since I last checked in, but those are planned for this coming Wed/Thurs. That will give the doctors a week between tests to show how I am trending. In the meantime, my blood pressure is staying low. Good news!

One of my OB's partners was on call the other day and stopped by to talk to me. As I've mentioned the nurses monitor the babies' heartrates twice a day, looking for strong, steady heartbeats and accelerations as the babies react to the stimuli around them. The doctor told me all three babies are strong and reactive and they are tracing well ahead of their gestational age. Remember, they also measured ahead of their gestational age at their last sonogram. This is all fantastic news for when they are born!!

My dad sent me a few other photos. Here I am at only a couple days old.


This next photo is another one of my mom. This was taken only days before she gave birth to me. We all agree she got bigger with my brother, but she still looks like she's carrying more than one baby!!

Everyone keep your fingers crossed for my tests later this week!

At least now we know I inherited the belly...

I thought I'd share a few images from my hospital room. This first photo is how I look twice a day for 30 to 90 minutes depending on how the babies are cooperating. It usually takes two nurses to hold the monitors on my tummy so they can get a solid 20 minutes of the babies' heartrates. Gordon and Adele have been fairly cooperative. They may buck and kick at the straps and monitors, but they stay in place. Walter varies his positioning a lot and somehow runs away from the monitor, making the nurses' jobs that much more difficult. Little stinker!
My friend Lisa came to visit me yesterday and brought flowers to brighten up the room. The bouquet is very fall. Now I just wish the weather would follow suit. She also brought me a set of mini puzzles of kittens. I have them displayed on the fridge because they are just too adorable for words. This fridge is at the end of my bed and directly in my line of sight.
My Aunt Rosemary mentioned that I look like my mom in my pregnancy photos. I think my maternal features have been highlighted by my shorter hair. My dad sent a photo for comparison. It shows we definitely have one feature in common -- big, fat belly!! My mom is 8 months pregnant with Matt in this photo in June of 1977. It is taken in our backyard in Germany and Dad says I'm playing in a pool off camera which is why mom is in her swimsuit. Isn't she adorable?

30 weeks and celebrating!

I'm 30 weeks pregnant today. This is another huge milestone and so let's all do a little happy dance. Well, I can't really dance, so I'll just 'woo-hoo'. Above is my 30w belly pic. I don't look so serious on purpose. I had to take about 10 photos before I got one to turn out. *shrug*

In other news, food changes seems to be keeping my blood sugar under control, so I'm being good and not cheating on the scheduled diet they have me on for the gestational diabetes. My protein levels went up with the collection they did yesterday, so I'm definitely not going home pregnant.

The babies are very active for the last week, moving almost all the time. We've heard Walter have hiccups on the monitor a few times and I think I felt some this morning. The nurses tell me this is a great sign for advanced lung development! We listen to their heart rates twice a day and all of the babies are beating strong and reactive.

We're still pulling for 32 weeks. Please keep those happy thoughts and prayers coming our way!

Diet, Contractions & Heartrates -- oh my!

*sigh*

I failed both of my glucose tests so I'm now on a restricted diet for gestational diabetes. I also have to check my blood sugar two hours after every meal. The nice thing is, I'm already in the hospital so the dietitian came with a schedule and they provide all the food and snacks. I don't have to think about a thing. The bad news is, no more special treats from home and friends. Hopefully the diet works, we can keep this under control, and it will all go away after I give birth.

The babies are cooperating more for their twice-daily heart rate monitoring. The last two times, we've been able to capture Gordon and Adele really easily. Walter still hides a bit, but even he has been staying on monitor long enough for the nurses to get their full twenty minutes. The babies still dislike all the monitors, straps, and general poking, however, so they move and kick and buck the whole time. Which means I have LOTS of Braxton Hicks contractions. Today I had 10 in an hour and the nurse was worried, so I told her to go ahead and call the doc. The doc said 'no problem'. But they sure are annoying! Especially when I'm mid-contraction and one of them decides to kick me. *Twinge*

We'll have results tomorrow on the protein/pre-e test. Fingers crossed, everyone! We want low to no change!

Man vs. Machine

Last night I had my first scare with a high blood pressure (148/70), but luckily my OB (Dr Gooch) was around and had the nurse re-take the pressure manually. Only 10 minutes had passed, but my BP was down to 117/60. I guess man-made measurements are more accurate than the machine when it comes to BP. Who knew? This morning it was back up to 135/70, but that again was with the machine. I might have to talk to Dr Gooch about changing the order to always taking it manually.

In other news, my Maternal Fetal Medicine (high risk) doctor, Dr Barry, stopped by last night to check on the babies. With his little traveling sonogram he measured heads, abdomens and femurs. All three are measuring bigger than their current gestation by a few days and they have plenty of fluid and blood flow. Their weights were huge:
Walter - 3lb 1 oz
Gordon - 3lb 5 oz
Adele - 3lb 2 oz

Dr Barry and Dr Gooch spoke and it is looking less likely that I'll be released home for bedrest. They'd prefer to keep me here so they can keep weighing the tradeoff between my health and the babies' health.

Our new goal is to make it to 32 weeks!

So much excitement!

I've moved to yet another room, but this one *should* be permanent. It is larger and further away from the nurse's station. I'm very comfy!

I got my first 24 hour sample test results back and things look good so far. My protein went up from 1.3 to 1.6 but my doctor considers that still steady. She's worried about jumps up from say 1.3 to 5. My bloodwork is also normal for kidney/liver function and my blood pressure is varying between 100/55 to 135/70. Now the big test will be when they do the 2nd 24 hour sampling in 3-4 days. I hope you will continue to send your good thoughts & prayers.

I've been chatting with another triplet mom on hospital bedrest and she got so many questions about what she did all day, she posted every visitor, test, and scheduled thing she did. So I decided to do the same! The list isn't too exciting, but just gives you a general idea of how crowded my day really is!

5am -- Biobreak

5-5:30 - vitals check, change out ice buckets

5:45 - 6am - change out broken calf compression, tylenol for headache, small snack (blood sugar)

6-7am - surf the net

7-8:30am - nap

8:30-8:45 - vitals check, weight

8:45 - 9am - breakfast,get dressed, wash face, brush teeth

9:20 - 9:30 - meet day nurse, take prenatals

10:30-10:40 housecleaning & hostess (lunch order)

11:30-11:45 - got fridge! got clock! And end of urine sampling

12:00 - 12:15 - vitals check, then lunch

12:25 - 12:45 -- Doc visit, update on tests!

1:10 - 1:45 -- fetal heartrate non-stress test attempt, doc visit & sonogram verification of heartbeats

2;35 - 2:40 -- hostess (dinner & Breakfast order)

3:00 - 4:00 -- Friend visit

4:00-4:15 - snack + vitals check

5:30 - 5:45 - dinner

5:45 - 6:00 - move rooms

7;20 - 7:45 - meet night nurse, vitals check, tylenol for hip pain

8:50 - 9:50 - fetal heartrate non-stress test (successful!)

10 - 10:20 -- shower & get ready for bed

11-11:!5 - vitals check, then bed!!

As you can see, it is kind of hard to get bored. At least not yet! *grin*

Down for the count...

I'm officially in the hospital for bedrest. I have mild preeclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension). There are 3 signals for this -- high blood pressure, bad liver/kidney blood work, or protein the urine. I have only one of the three, the protein. And my levels are only 'high', not 'dangerous'. They are running a 24 hour test today through tomorrow, then they will repeat that test in 3 days. If those tests stay steady and the two other markers (blood pressure and blood work) stay low/normal, then I'll get sent home in a week, but on 100% bedrest.

If anything changes at all, I'll be here until the babies need to be delivered. At this point, I'm okay with either choice, though Jeff and I would prefer if I went home, but I just want the babies to be able to 'cook' as long as possible.

Overall, I feel great! So don't worry about me. The nurses are spoiling me and I've got my laptop, books, and a tv. I don't feel sick at all. But I do appreciate the thoughts and prayers you can send my way so my condition can remain the same and the babies can get a few more weeks in the womb.

So blessed

My friend Ledda organized and threw me a baby shower this past Saturday. She held it at my house so that I could be comfortable. I was amazed by the turnout and the length of the party. I felt so blessed. My friends are very generous.
Ledda got this cake from "Be My Cupcake". That is a local cupcake shop that has quickly become my favorite store. I loved the triplet theme and the cake was delicious. It was white with a raspberry filling. Ledda also picked up 3 cupcakes for Jeff (his favorite -- coconut) and had "D", "A", and "D" piped on top of them.







Ledda spoiled me rotten at my party! And she's gorgeous and creative, too. I told her I'd have to hate her for being too perfect if I didn't know she had a temper to balance things out. *smile*










Ledda provided quite the spread of food My mom was in town, so she helped with all the pre- and post-party clean-up as well as setting up the buffet. My friend Deb from college (who lives now in Houston) couldn't make it to the shower, but she went out of her way to stop by to visit, drop off gifts, and also ended up helping with set up. Deb got really into making the guess-the-chocolate-in-the-diaper game diapers.





Everyone was so generous in the gifts they gave for Walter, Gordon, and Adele. I felt so blessed and our whole family appreciates all that my friends and family have done! My parents went overboard getting a gift and card for all three babies. It was too cute!














My parents even found a gift that made Jeff laugh -- learning the ABCs with Star Wars! Of course, the guys didn't hang with us for the shower. We were downstairs for the party and any guys who stopped by or hung out (including my Dad) were upstairs watching the Florida football game and playing XBOX.













I think Ledda's gift might win for best wrapping. She made this adorable diaper tower with bib and sock flowers as well as a few other miscellaneous items.
















I want to just say thank you, not just to the friends and family who attended my Texas baby shower, but all of you who have sent your blessings, your gifts, and your prayers.

Additional photos are up at my Picasa site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joeysbooks1

I'm officially too pregnant

At my 28 week OB appointment this week, I officially measured 42 weeks pregnant. That means I measured 2 weeks overdue! I guess this is what happens when you carry three babies. I'm nervous to see just how big I'm going to get before the babies arrive.

My appointment was almost all good news. I'm still carrying the babies well with no current signs of preeclampsia or pre-term labor. The babies all have great heart rates. And I was allowed to continue with my restricted activity level vs. full bedrest. I am starting to see my OB every week now. I see the perinatal specialist in 2 weeks and we'll see how often he wants to see me.

28 weeks is a huge milestone in the babies development, especially their lungs. Fingers crossed we can hold them in for a while longer!

More blurry ultrasound photos!! The top one is hard to see, but she was able to get all 3 baby heads in one photo (centered around my belly button). Adele's head (C) is a nice round circle, but Walter & Gordon's heads (A&B) are shadows. The bottom photo is of Adele's arm and Gordon's hand (labelled C & B respectively). Just before the tech captured this photo, Adele and Gordon were trying to touch hands.

I'll get an update on the babies' growth in week 30 and I'm very excited!

Naming triplets...

We never realized how difficult it would be to come up with names for 3 babies. But we eventually did it. Here's our baby names**

Walter Otis
Gordon Leroy
Adele Eileen

My brother joked "Are you giving birth to grandparents or babies?". He was very close, Adele was my maternal grandmother's name and Leroy was Jeff's maternal grandfather. The rest of the names were ones we simply liked. And we did spend a bit of time looking at the most popular names between 1910 and 1920. We both just like old-fashioned names.

** disclaimer - We reserve the right to change the names up until birth certificates are filled out.

We also chose our pediatrician this week. She is in the same network of doctors as my OB and primary care physician, but has her office up here in Round Rock. We met with her yesterday (Friday) and I was very impressed. She was friendly, animated, and immediately started in with the challenges and treatments for preemie babies. Additionally, she's had triplets in the past and currently has a few sets of twins in her care.

I'm so excited about all the things we've crossed off the 'list' this week!

Where they'll sleep... or so we hope

We've made great progress on the nursery this weekend. I'm very excited about how the room is coming together. We are big geeks who chose a star / Star Wars theme for our nursery.
Above is the back wall, where the three cribs rest. The bumpers are star patterned, which matches the adhesive stickers I found for the walls. The mobiles are cute little animals and include a projector. We have a piece of artwork in mind for this wall and have our fingers crossed we'll be able to get it when it becomes available.

Above is a view of the left side of the room with the changing table and two of the cribs. The table and cribs are from different stores, but match beautifully. We have a piece of Star Wars artwork that hangs on that wall, but wasn't up when I took the photo.

Above is the front corner of the room. The doors lead to the closet (left) and attached bath (right). We have two pieces of Star Wars art already hanging. Below the photo on the right is where my recliner will sit. We plan to mount the video camera for the monitoring system in the corner between the two doors, where it will hopefully give us a view of all three cribs at once.

Our next step is to clean out the closet to make room for all the baby stuff we're going to have!

At least I can now swaddle...

Today we went to our 3 hour Newborn Care class. Most of the information I'd gotten from baby books, but there were a few new things. Additionally, it was nice to see some of the information demonstrated either on DVD or in person by the instructor. As the title says, I now know how to swaddle a baby. This was previously a disaster any time I tried it.

They did a 5 minute bit on poop and, naturally, I couldn't make eye contact with Jeff or I would've lost it. I could see his shoulders shaking with laughter. He is such a 15 year old boy when it comes to potty humor!! One of the segments also focused on studies done with baby monkeys forced into isolation. That bit had both of us cringing and I was glad when it was over. But it did drive home the point -- newborns need love and attention, not just food and shelter.

Overall, I'm glad I went, but I'm also glad we're not doing any of the longer childbirth classes. I'm not sure either of us could sit through one of those.

Another 2 week pass

This week I had appointments with both my OB (who focuses on my health) and my perinatal (who focuses on the baby's health). All 4 of us checked out great! For me, blood pressure, cervix length, and overall well-being made my OB happy enough to give me another 2 week pass of restricted activity vs. bedrest.

More interesting is the baby's development. On the day I am 25 weeks, 6 days pregnant, the babies are all measuring large -- between 26w1D and 26w3D. Baby A (boy) weighs 2lb, Baby B (boy) weighs 1lb 14oz and Baby C (girl) weighs 2lb.

The photos show (From upper left, heading clockwise): Baby B & Baby C plotting with their heads together, Baby A's profile, with his head on the right side and hand near his face (if you squint you can see Baby B's feet in the background), Baby B's profile (which I hadn't seen in weeks because he's been facing my back), and Baby C's profile with her head on the left.

Keep your fingers crossed and keep sending your good thoughts and prayers. They seem to be working!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Berube Babies

Everyone tells me how their babies liked music and would move whenever they put headphones on their tummy. My babies like to go to the movies. Give them a big theatre, with awesome surround sound, and a good ole action flick and they go nuts.

Yesterday we went to see "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World." It was a silly, fun movie with lots of action. The babies danced for two-thirds of the movie! I think the combination of the jarring action sequences plus my semi-constant laughter kept them constantly on the move.

I hope they had as much fun as I did.

The first purchase

I had a few things to pick up at Target today, so I decided to also buy some sleepers, onesies, and diapers for the babies. As I picked out what I wanted, I realized this was my first purchase for the babies. I've received a lot of gifts from very generous friends and relatives, but this was the first time I was personally buying something for my little ones. I'm sure soon in the future I'll be *gulping* at how much my children cost, but this was a special moment.

The other night, Jeff mentioned he's worried about me buying stuff. The thing is I don't like to spend money on myself, but I love spending it on other people. He says he could see me easily getting out of control buying stuff for the kids.

I'm heading to a resale shop on Monday with my friend Karina to look for a few more outfiits for the babies. This could be dangerous...