34 weeks: Let the countdown begin

So as of Tuesday at 2am, I am officially off my medicine to control contractions and still about 3cm dilated. The doctors have explained that they have a very low tolerance for me with contractions - as soon as they start making me dilate, my time with these kids in my belly is through. From what I understand, this means if I go into labor at this stage, they won't try to stop it. I am still feeling several contractions an hour and occasionally have episodes of strong contractions which probably don't make me very fun to be around. As these contractions are not causing me to dilate, the cure is more IV fluids and rest.

Likely from all the fluids and lack of activity I have finally developed cankles. Up until now, just the tops of my feet have been swollen but now there is little differentiation between my feet, ankles and calves. I have to say though, my only real pregnancy issues have been cosmetic (dental issues, stretch marks and swollen limbs) so for this I am VERY lucky. My blood pressure has slowly begun creeping up a bit, but luckily I was blessed with low blood pressure to begin with so this gives me some more wiggle room. I remember a time when my family all went to get our blood pressure checked to show my grandma that it wasn't scary - I had the highest blood pressure and was the only one to break 100 - and I barely did. Who knew that this would help me later in life when pregnant with multiples.

Also yesterday, I finally toured the NICU. Brant had seen this area before as it is one of the key reasons we picked this hospital (in addition to our doctor). It is very high tech yet each area can be personalized. I'm not going to pretend that I wouldn't prefer to just take everyone home right away, but if they have to stay somewhere it seems like an excellent place to be. All of the nurses who we chatted with were thrilled that I was 34 weeks and still going - I suppose the mostly see the other end of the spectrum - super early babies. Still it was really hard to see such small babies. I think my vision of newborns is skewed as Brant and I were both over 10lbs, but I need to learn reality (especially for triplets) is not to have such beefy kids.