29 weeks

I don't know how they're doing it but some how they all fit in there. Babies are weighing in at a whopping 3lbs a piece at about 50th percentile, still keeping up with their singleton counter parts. For my sake I hope they don't get too much bigger. It's starting to feel very tight and uncomfortable even in my most comfortable positions. I think I can feel my organs on my sides. They've never measured my actual belly before but this time for some reason they did. From top to bottom my belly measured 43inches and I guess a full term belly measures about thirty something to 40inches so yes I'm past full term and still have soooo long to go. They also measured my cervix for the last time and it's still strong at about 3.5cm, from now on they will do visual checks, wonderful : ( They also keep finding protein that indicates preeclampsia in my urine but my blood pressure is always normal so they want to do a more extensive test to be sure of what's going on. So now I have to measure and collect all my pee during a 24hr period and keep it refrigerated (gross! that bottle better not leak) until I can get it into the lab. It wouldn't be so bad but I get up to pee like 5 times every night, normally I don't even turn on the lights and return to bed and am able to fall back to sleep very easily. Now I have to turn on the lights, pee, measure, write down the amount, get the jug from the fridge, pour it in, and TRY to get back to sleep. It's going to be one sleepless night.



Phil and I knew, even before we were pregnant, that if we had a baby one day we'd get him a bear suit. When we found out we were having triplets I didn't know how I'd justify spending over a hundred dollars to get all three bear suits. The Gap sells them at $35 a piece. I thought well I'll just bite the bullet and spend the cash but then my frugality just wouldn't give. Then I thought we could ask someone to get them for us as a present, but you can't just say "hey will you buy me this it costs one hundred dollars?" I tried checking ebay but couldn't find any thing, let alone three matching ones. Then about a week ago I found the way. I get emails every day from Groupon and this particular day they had 50% off at Gap available. They had a limit to how much you could use it for and you only have 24hrs to get the groupons, so I schemed a way of buying enough to get us all three at half off. It was the biggest rush I'd felt in a while and one day later I had all three in my possession. They are soooooo stinking cute and soft. I got 3-6mo size since by then it'll still be really cold and we'll get max use and snuggling out of them, not to mention the pictures. I can't wait for them to wear them.

Baby Showers!

Some how we ended up with three baby showers! We pretty much got everything we'll need for the immediate future and I'd say we're pretty much ready for the babies to come home now. The boys have no idea what and awesome crowd of friends and family they will be born into : )

Our old English congregation threw us a great shower, so glad they still love us and remember us.
Baby shower #1:



The cake was delicious, like chai tea baked into a cake, yum!



Check out the fun crowd : )



Opening up the loot!



This looks like trouble : P



Thanks for all the awesome stuff!


Phil's work mates threw him a surprise baby shower, how sweet!
Baby shower #2:



Among all the great stuff were three homemade quilts, they are so beautiful and special! Also got lots of gift cards and cash, wow Phil works with such generous and thoughtful friends : )


Finally but not least, our new Spanish congregation threw us a fun shower at the park, wish I could have joined in on the volleyball...actually I really stink at it so probably better I don't play : )
Baby Shower #3:



Another delicious cake, vanilla with custard.



Rare chilly day in August. Sorry I look a little crazy in this picture.



Angela photobombing "the crowd" picture.



All the awesome gifts!



We're taking this one back!

JP

Glucose Test

I failed to mention that at my last appointment the nurse noticed I was over due for my routine glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I didn't want to needlessly worry any one by posting that I'd failed the first test before I knew for sure what was going on : (

They ordered a more extensive glucose test to follow. The first one was simple enough, drink a small cup of maybe 6oz of sugar water that looks like gatorade and tastes like really really sweet orange Fanta, the first two sips are good then it's just gross. Then don't eat or drink anything for an hour and then get my blood drawn and tested.

For the more extensive glucose test I was not to eat anything past midnight the night before but I could drink water till the test. My blood was drawn and then I had to drink a much larger cup of that nasty sugar water. Technically it was supposed to be gone in 5min but it took me 10min...so nasty! After that it's three more blood draws one hour apart (no food or drink in the mean time). Let me warn you don't EVER let them draw blood from the same vein twice in one day! It hurt going in, it hurt drawing out the blood, it hurt taking the needle out and then it THROBBED for 10 minutes after. For the next draw I asked them if they could poke a different vein, thankfully I'm really veiny and they pop out with little effort so they were easily able to find another suitable blood source. I spent about 4hours at the lab in uncomfortable chairs. I felt light headed from lack of food and water. I almost hoped I'd get a positive result so the unpleasant day wasn't spent in vain. Two hours later I got a call saying everything was normal!

To celebrate I asked Phil to bring me a slurpie and a snickers bars on his bike ride home from work but apparently the plaid Pantry near my house got rid of their slurpie machine, it just wasn't the same : (

This is a picture of me eating whatever I want cause I don't have diabetes.



JP

27 week Appointment Update

I apologize for the lack of eye candy, I always like to have something to look at. I didn't ask for pictures at the last appointment because there really weren't any good shots of the boys. They are running out of room and look totally squished in there! One baby was straddling his brothers chest. They can't get perfectly round belly measurements anymore so they do their best. And they have a hard time figuring out who's leg is who's and who's arm is who's. They probably won't suffer from claustrophobia as adults.

Here's some great news, baby C caught up fast and is now one of the bigger babies! Little foot no more! Their estimated weights are about 2lbs and 5oz each. I have about 7lbs of baby plus an extra large placenta and not to mention the extra amniotic fluid. I'd say if I was having a singleton he'd be over 10lbs by now.

In about a matter of three days I went from feeling pretty good and relatively mobile to feeling like I'm going to collapse under my own weight. It's so hard to get up since my knees feel like they are going to give out. And rolling over from one side to the other takes my breath away. It's like someone is sitting on me and I can't breath. My hands feel numb throughout the night and feel sore throughout the day. The doc say's it's pregnancy carpal tunnel and not to worry about it.

My latest weight measurement is 152lbs so I've gained 45lbs thus far. It's been a while now but I'm no longer on my crazy diet. I just eat as much as I want and honestly I just can't eat as much since the babies take up so much room. Mama milk snacks is still a staple and a main contributor to my continuous weight gain. I'm also drinking lots of water to keep away contractions. It's been warm so it's easy to drink a lot, I'm especially partial to my "lemon essence" (spritzer water with lemon flavor).

The boys have also kicked it up a notch, literally. They are kicking really strongly and consistently throughout the day. The baby foot lumps come out about an inch or more so it looks like squirrels running around under a blanket. I've also given up trying to guess which baby is which. They change positions so frequently, you wouldn't think they were running out of room in there. Going to my baby shower now so I'll have some good pictures to post next time.

JP

Homemade

Thanks to Phil's Photoshop skills we altered a few pictures of our pets. In case you've never met our non-human babies, the calico cat is Pachacuti, the orange/white cat is Lankston previously known as Tippy, and the clown fish is Soncho (please don't call him Nemo, it thoroughly annoys Phil). These are cheap iron-ons so I doubt they will last one wash but we'll be sure to take pictures of the boys wearing them.



Here are some ID bracelets my friend Anna and I did. The ones with one letter will be their preemie bracelets and the ones with their full names will be for later, but I think my mom might be working on some real bling for them so they may not be so important to telling them apart. Some people have asked us how we will name them. We've been saying all along that we'd name them in alphabetical order. So the first one born will be Caleb and the last one born will be Thomas. We don't want to pre name them since we aren't sure who will come out first but from what I've heard from other trip moms is that they try to get them out in order baby A, B, and then C. We'll confirm with my doc and see if that's true, if so then Baby A will be Caleb, Baby B will be Eli, and Baby C will be Thomas. Recently we've been calling baby C Thomas or little foot since he's the smallest of the bunch and doesn't seem to kick as hard as the others. He mostly just tickles me but it may just be the position he's in. Also we'd like people to refrain from calling Thomas "Tom" or "Tommy." We like just plain Thomas or Tow-mas (Spanish pronunciation) or Tom-Tom. You can call the others whatever you'd like, how's that for a deal?

JP

26week belly update-Cat's vs Dogs

Just wanted to update everyone on the latest ultrasound/appointment from last Thursday. The boys are growing steadily, baby A and B weigh 2lbs and are in the 60% percentile, so they are actually a little on the big side for their age. Baby C weighs 1 lbs 11oz and is in the 47% percentile, so he's right where he should be. To quote the radiologist, add on a Finnish accent, "these are not small babies, these are good size babies, they are not small."

So here is the story on my cervix, about a month ago (21 weeks) it was measuring a healthy 4.1cm and hadn't changed since the last time they measured it. Two weeks later at 23weeks it measured 3.5cm and 3.1cm, they said my cervix was being "dynamic." I don't quite know what they meant by that but they did mention there were some light contractions happening (I didn't feel a thing though). As long as your cervix measures 2.5cm or higher the doctors don't worry but since it had shortened I was told to cut back my activity. Fast forward another two weeks at 25weeks it was measuring back at 4cm! Supposedly the cervix is unidirectional so once it shortens there is no way to gain length back; therefore, it never really did shorten. So I'm still not technically on bed rest yet, great news there!

I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed something funny about baby clothes. Little girls clothes can have cats on them but not dogs. Little boys clothes can have dogs but not cats. Everyone knows Phil and I are animal lovers but primarily we are cat lovers (picture above depicts Phil doing the "double snuggle," this is a very rare occurrence yet most satisfying). What's the deal, can't anyone make a little boys outfit with a couple cats on them? I'm working on some iron-on's but we'll see how they turn out.

JP