Baby Videos

Just wanted to update you guys on how I'm doing. The only reason I have time to write now is cause I can't be with my boys now. I was able to get down once to the NICU yesterday but it was quite an ordeal just getting me into the wheelchair, I had to try twice with a few hours rest in between. What felt like 1hr was actually 3.5 hrs and I only left the boys cause the nurse thought they were being overstimulated. They are so sweet/perfect/beautiful to me and I can't stop looking at them. Reason it's taking me so long to recover is that I lost almost 3 liters of blood during the c-section and am super weak. Also have a ton of pain from the incision even though the actual delivery went well. Every time I get up I either get light headed or am in just too much pain. The reason for the blood loss was that my uterus was so much more expanded than in a singleton pregnancy that it took a little more work for it to clamp down and stop the bleeding after they babies were out. Probably a good thing I didn't try the vaginal delivery because my uterus would have been so much more irritated and tired that it would have been harder for it to clamp back down. The few hours I was in labor were pretty nasty and was very glad once I was numbed up but now the recovery is so aweful that I don't understand why anyone would elect for a c-sec if it were not necessary. But perhaps my experience is a little worse so I may be biased. Ok well I hope you enjoyed the videos and sorry for any discombobulated sentences, I'm a bit loopy from all the meds.

Here is a link to the story the Oregonian did on us and they took really nice pictures of the boy's: Oregonian Article

JP

The Boys Have Arrived!!!!!!!! -34.0 weeks

Its hard to believe but our boys are here healthy and making a splash here at OHSU.
This will be a quick post by the Father as this has been a crazy and awesome day.
Stats:
born 9/28/2010
Caleb - 4lb 5oz - 17"
Eli - 4 lbs 1 oz - 17"
Thomas - 4lbs 7oz - 17.75"

all boys came out fussing and screaming, they all had lungs of champions and did not need any breathing assistance. All were super alert looking with there large eyes.

here is a outline of how it went down:
- I took janet to get fetal heart monitoring at 6:00 pm
- Starting having strong contractions around 6:30 pm
- Doctor suggest possibility of delivering that night
- 8:30 stronger contractions, Doctor Clock agrees it's time for the boys to come out
- meet with the doctors, anesthesiologist, NICU docs
- 10:00 Janet is prepped for c-section
- 10:35 babies are born

- 2:00 9/29/2010 janet I still have not slept!

here our some pics from the eventful night.








I will be uploading some more pics later but now we are trying to get Jan in a wheel chair to go see our sweet boys in the NICU.

We want to thank everyone for their support during this crazy time, our Family, friends, workmates and everyone that has had an interest in our story. We feel truly blessed to have these beautiful and healthy boys with us today.

Phil (father)

On the News!

Your humble narrator made it to the local news! It's funny how everyone else always looks normal on camera except yourself. I could go on and on about how weird and silly I looked but it's probably just my perception of myself is not really what I really look and act like. Anyways, they will do a follow up story once the babies are born, after all they are the stars of the show. I did nothing to make them three, that was all their own doing. Some ego they have, I guess they thought one of them was not enough for this world so they made three!

KGW news story link

I just got back from an ultrasound/fetal monitoring/doctor's appt and everything is still looking good. One of the boys might be over 5 pounds! My blood pressure was a tad bit high so they are rechecking me for preeclempsia. Also in the last blog post I mentioned I had itchy ankles, well it's gotten worse and I itch all over so they are checking me for cholestasis. I'm not too worried about either but the itching has got to stop! If it turns out I have it I can get some medication to help me along since the hydrocortizone didn't do much. I'll try benadryl tonight and see if that helps.

Only 4 more days to 34 weeks, after that I can relax and let my chico's come when they want to. By then they won't need a shot of steroids since their lungs should be fully developed. Also babies born after 34 weeks have the same statistical outcomes as full term babies.

JP

33 weeks-Looking for a sign?

Here's me at my latest fetal monitoring, boys are doing great as usual!

Just when you think things can't get any worse. Remember when I said how hard rolling over was? Well now it's just plain painful even when I support the weight with my hands, I also feel the poor babies colliding in there. Sleeping has gotten worse, can't fall asleep in my bed so I have to fall asleep on the couch watching something boring and then when I wake up in an hour or so to pee I then transfer myself to bed. I can't sit up very long so I have to lay on my sides which renders me even more useless. Then as of about a week ago I started getting really itchy ankles I thought for sure I got bit by mosquitoes or something but there's absolutely no evidence of bug bites. I told Phil about it and he said I must have itchy blood, which re-enforces my observation that Phil knows more about pregnancy than I do and most people for that matter. Through out the pregnancy I would tell him about some weird random symptom and he'd always reply with "oh yeah I know what that is I read about it in so and so book or website." According to Phil "itchy blood" affects 1 in 2000 pregnancies (his memory was vague though). It sounds preposterous so is he serious or just making it up to so I don't worry?

So I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow, this is the average gestation for triplets, and there is ABSOLUTELY no sign of them coming out anytime soon. They must really love it in there, I wouldn't be surprised if they leave scratch marks on my uterus when they finally drag them out of there. I don't want them to come out until after 34 weeks but a sign indicating that we are getting close would be reassuring that my misery will be over soon. My biased prediction is that they'll come between 34 and 35 weeks.

JP

32 weeks-My List

I get a bronze metal for making it to 32 weeks of the triplet olympics! Silver if I get to 34 weeks and gold if I make it to 36. I'm starting to impress people with the size of my belly. It's pretty much enormous with no end in sight. How much more could I possibly stretch out?

This is where all the magic happens. My natural habitat where I grow my babies, watch tv, read, eat all my meals, update the blog, surf the net, etc. All on the most comfortable yet thrashed piece of furniture we own, my Ikea couch.

So here is a list I've come up with. It's just that, a list, from which to remember things soon past.

MY LIST

Things I took for granted
1. Bending down
2. Standing
3. Sitting upright
4. Rolling over
5. Doing things for myself

Things I’ve become really good at
1. Monkey grabbing –picking up things with my feet so as not to get off my couch or bend down.
2. Being as productive as possible every time I get up to go to the bathroom (putting stuff away or grabbing stuff I need to and from the couch).
3. Controlling my gag reflexes while I was trying to consume 4000 calories per day.
-stop eating, close your eyes, and breathe slowly in and out
-getting Phil to burp me by hitting me really hard on the back
-don’t look at what I'm eating and distract my mind

My answer to a high protein diet
1. Tacos de cabeza from King Burrito
2. Beef jerky meat sticks
3. Peanut butter and condensed milk sandwiches (Mexicans love condensed milk, Phil didn't even know what it was till I came into his life)
4. mama milk snacks: whole milk 10g 200 cal, carnation instant breakfast 5g 120 cal and whey protein 26g 140cal = 41g protein 460cal

Food aversions due to over consumption
1. Whey protein powder-I'm still choking it down for the good of the babies.
2. Breakfast burritos-sorry babe but it’s the truef
3. Sunflower seeds
4. Soy yogurt…it’s a good thing because they run $1.10 a piece.

Things I miss the most
1. Sushi
2. Beer and wine
3. Coffee
4. Gardening
5. Eating vegetables not covered in ranch dressing or some other high calorie condiment. Just pure home grown ripe vegetables mmmmmmmmmm : )
6. Cooking and trying new recipes. I should mention Phil has turned out to be a very good cook. His pad see ew was better than mine last time he made it.

Things I like about being pregnant
1. Eating whatever I want without feeling guilty
2. playing ‘wack a mole’ when the babies start kicking up a storm
3.
4.
5.

Top five worst complaints
1. Back aches
2. Abdominal pressure
3. Fatigue during the first trimester when I could still be a productive human being.
4. Peeing every hour even at night
5. Restless leg anxiety

Top five unexpected or not as bad as I thought it’d be
1. Incessant dreaming about the most boring stuff ever (however due to my recent and severe addiction to "Lost" I now only dream about being stranded on a tropical island).
2. No mood swings or changes in personality...this one worried me cause I didn't want to take it out on my sweet hubby.
3. Nausea never bad enough to make me throw up…SUCKAS!
4. Red splotch that appeared on my forehead. Lasted most of the pregnancy and just recently went away. Thankfully not dark enough to appear on pictures.
5. How painful sneezing and coughing is when "really" pregnant

JP

31 weeks-going for Gold?

They are so squished in there that the tech was only able to get a decent picture of baby A. They basically look the same as their 23 week 3D pictures only fatter.




This one is really hard to see but try to see if you can make out the baby. I'll give you some clues. It's a profile and he's looking to the right.

We've moved on to weekly doctors visits and bi-weekly fetal monitoring. For the fetal monitoring they do what is known as a "non stress test" were they observe the babies heart rates along with my contractions to make sure they are behaving normally. I will try to get a picture of me soon just so you can see how ridiculous I look. They strap on these discs to my belly, one for each baby and a slightly different disc for monitoring contractions. So I've got 4 big belts strapped around me each with a disc underneath. The tricky thing is that they need all three heat beats for at least 20 minutes. You may think 20min would be a piece of cake but it usually takes an hour to an hour and a half to get a continuous 20min reading. The first hurdle is finding all three heart beats, and since the underside of the discs is slathered in jelly the babies are constantly kicking them around and they slide out of place so the discs will either not pick up any heart beat at all or they will pick up another baby's heart beat. Another problem is hiccups, last time two had the hiccups but thankfully it didn't last too long. They basically want to make sure that their heart rates are within normal limits, 120bpm-170bpm, and that their heart rates fluctuate up and down within those limits. The trips have all behaved normally thus far.

We got to tour the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) today. They had like 30plus babies and can sometimes have upwards of 50 in there. They section off the babies depending on the level of care they need. We saw up close a baby that was born at 31 weeks and was a week old and weighed 3.5 pounds. It was the sweetest thing ever and he really didn't need much care at all besides a little tube on his nose helping him get a little extra oxygen and a heater. Then we saw a full term baby with jaundice and he looked like a behemoth compared the first baby (not that he wasn't a cute baby though). Then we saw a micro preemie (born at less than 27 weeks), she was very sweet too but it kind of breaks your heart to see such a small baby.

So my ultrasound and doc's visit went well and my blood pressure is still good, so no sign of preeclampsia besides the protein in my urine. They gave us specific weight measurements for each baby but since they are so squished in there the margin of error is pretty big so I'm gonna ball park their weights at about 3 and a half pounds each. Looks like we are well on our way to 4 pound babies, but "please no bigger you guys."

So I've had no complications what so ever thus far, which is very unheard of for a triplet pregnancy, I'm basically a freaking anomaly! Also this last U/S showed all three babies head down, so I thought I'd ask the doctor about the possibility of a vaginal delivery if I could make it to 35 or 36 weeks. She seemed to be ok with trying if the babies continued to be head down and were old enough; however, she did tell me I'd still have to take the epidural. I'm ok with that. So why not go for the gold, all signs point to yes? It's still very unlikely I'd make it that far and Phil really hates the idea of trying so I'll keep the idea in the back of my head and IF (big IF) things still look good down the road, we'll try the vaginal delivery. Call me crazy I know!

JP

Additional Ramblings

The sea was angry that day my friends...this was the best I could do for now. They do this and more all day long with out me agitating them, but as soon as I put the camera on them it's like the calm before the storm. It's so funny how they actually respond to me, it's like they have minds of their own!

I forgot to mention that at my 29 week u/s I asked the tech if you can see hair on the ultrasound. She looked at baby B and couldn't see anything, then baby C and nothing again. She had to go back and do baby A since she couldn't get a good head measurement before and she yelled out "air...air!" I had forgot I'd even asked her when we realized she was saying "hair," she has a foreign accent. It looked like little needles coming out of the outline of his head. We all know what this means right? Bath time baby mohawks!

So hopefully I don't sound like a spoiled child although I kind of feel like one after all those baby showers. Call us crazy but we've registered for diaper service. Yes we are going to cloth diaper the triplets. I estimated each cloth diaper at about 8cents a piece while a disposable is about 16cents a piece during a good sale. Also can you imagine the amount of trash three babies can generate. At 10 diapers per baby per day that equals 210 diapers a week! So if anyone is compelled to donate it would be very much appreciated : )

Tidee Didee Diapers

JP

30 weeks and still going....

Here are some artsy pictures my friend Keturah took of us at 28 weeks.

So I got my 24hr pee test results back. Basically there is "protein" in there which means it could be a precursor to preeclampsia. Since my blood work looked normal and I don't have any other symptoms like high blood pressure, head aches, or blurred vision I don't have it yet and maybe I won't get it. They will be checking my blood for other indicators, along with my blood pressure every week. If I get preeclampsia I will be admitted to the hospital, given drugs, and kept on full watch to make sure it doesn't get too bad. Funny thing is it doesn't affect the baby much, the most common thing is prematurity...but who cares, they are lucky they made it this far. However it can take a toll on me.

I tried to get an idea of when we could schedule an elective c-section if it doesn't end up an emergency delivery. I was expecting my doc to say anywhere from 34-35 weeks but she actually said she would only feel comfortable with 36 weeks! Crap! However she did say she doesn't think I'll make it that far. So it looks like it will come down to a few days or hours notice before we know when the little stinkers will be born. I'm sure I'll make it to 31 weeks and I'm fairly confident I will make it to 32 weeks. After that is anyone's guess. I can barely get off the couch now, and my window for comfortable standing is shortening everyday. I can stand for 5 min intervals maybe 4 times a day. Any more than that the pressure in my lower abdomen is too much, even my little belt support thing doesn't work anymore, it just takes the edge off but mostly makes me want to pee more.

It's been several weeks since I stopped working, as my last day neared I was really sad about leaving a job I'd had for almost 4 years and really enjoyed. Great co-workers, nice environment, interesting work, lots of independence and on the cusp of a nice promotion that would have given me a sweet raise and not much more responsibility. I'm still trying to get over the whole raise thing since we'll be very poor as soon as my paid leave runs out (thankfully I've got a ton) but I haven't missed working too bad (you can check out what I've worked on if you just Google my name but usually you have to go to the next page to see it). In fact I thought I'd be terribly bored at home but am amazed at how content I am. I'm a real homebody by nature so if I have plenty of stuff to do I don't get cabin fever. I've got lots of projects, such as:

1. Thank you cards. I'm finished and I estimated that I wrote about 55.

2. Transferring my family's home videos onto DVD. I'll be done today and can start on all the ones Phil and I have accumulated.

3. Doing "territorios" for the congregation. Actually Phil's job but it's the least I can do since he waits on me hand and foot.

4. Figuring out what was still needed at least for the immediate future. I only want to focus on the babies once they are born and don't want to worry about having someone run to the store because we need something. So Phil got some stuff at Babies R Us and I ordered some things online from Target and am pretty sure that I have EVERYTHING.

5. Packing in case of an extended hospital stay. I sort of did this but a lot of things I use every day so I'll just have to leave some stuff to the last minute. I even packed the diaper bag for the boys, it has all their preemie clothes and a few other little items.

6. Reading other triplet mom's blogs to get as much info as I can. This consumed my life for a while. I feel they are the most reliable source of advice since they know what works and what doesn't on triplets. I have corresponded with some through email, telephone, and even got to meet a very cute set of triplets that we made cry cause we were staring at them too intently. Thankfully they cheered up rather quickly once we weren't gawking at them.

7. Reading parenting books such as "Happiest Baby on the Block" for calming techniques, everyone swears by the five S's so I thought I'd look into it. "Baby Wise" has a good chapter on multiples and establishing a schedule. "Preemies: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies" so I can get the low down of how babies are cared for in the NICU.

8. Plenty to watch since we can stream Netflix through our Wii now. I've been watching "Lost", I'm totally hooked and just finished the first season. So glad I have 5 more seasons to go!

JP