Brant here. 3 Girls! They are stable and in the NICU. Kari's comfortably resting on drugs. When she is feeling up to it, we'll go visit our babies together and give them names. I've been over to the NICU a few times, and checked in on them, so they've been well-loved so far.
Wish us luck!
34 weeks, 2 days: D-day
Brant guest blogging here. We've been notified that Kari will be delivered at 8am CST on June 11th. Wish us luck! We'll post again with an update after things have calmed down. Thanks for everyone's support!
(Kari's comment added in October 2009: My blood platelets had been decreasing dramatically which can cause serious issues when having a c-section. Additionally my blood pressure had reached an unhealthy level and the swelling in my body had become concerning. Basically I think my body was tired of supporting four people and the babies were tired of being squished - both understandable.)
(Kari's comment added in October 2009: My blood platelets had been decreasing dramatically which can cause serious issues when having a c-section. Additionally my blood pressure had reached an unhealthy level and the swelling in my body had become concerning. Basically I think my body was tired of supporting four people and the babies were tired of being squished - both understandable.)
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.
33 weeks 5 days: Labor and delivery visit #2
Just around midnight I woke up to some super strong contractions. When tracked they turned out to be 3-5 minutes apart and the strongest I have had to date. After attempting to give more fluids and medicine, we were sent back downstairs to the labor and delivery area. This is where we started at last Friday. Thankfully, I wasn't dilating and my water was still in tact. If either of those two things change, I will almost surely be headed for the OR. Instead we spent several hours getting monitored and eventually we were sent back upstairs. It made for a very long night - but we are thankful to get just a couple more days before these little ones arrive - the longer the better. The maternal fetal doctor on call mentioned that this will likely happen several more times before 'the real thing'. When having multiples, apparently your body gets into these spells of contractions and with some time they subside.
33 weeks 4 days: Flotation devices
I am happy to report that I am still pregnant. There have several 'extra' monitors done when I have had 4+ contractions in a half hour or so, but the contractions seem to be irregular and eventually calm down a bit to just a couple an hour. It's weird, I can tell by the increasing number of contractions when I am due for my medicine....I think these babies are getting ready. The plan is still to stop taking the medicine on Monday - hopefully we will make it to Tuesday (34 weeks).
In the meantime, my feet have become flotation devices. Even flipflops won't fit because my foot is too tall/fat - but hey one only needs to wear flipflops if you are going outside and I have been inside the hospital since last Friday.
Bonnie came to entertain us this weekend and was even able to enjoy the music of our new neighbors last night (she is staying at our house while Brant stays with me at the hospital). We haven't met those neighbors yet, they just moved in 2 weeks ago, but boy do they have a surprise coming to them when we bring home three newborns. For now, we will let them think we are nice, quiet people who don't mind music until 2am :)
33 weeks 2 days: Brainstorming
The last couple days have been pretty calm - which is great. We were able to chat with our doctor and all agreed that I will be staying in the hospital until these little ones are born. Honestly, I find this reassuring as the last thing I would want to happen is to be at home and have babies start falling out of me ;)
Today we had our weekly ultrasound. Everyone looks good and scores 100% on the 5 biophysical criteria. They also estimated weights for each baby. Alpha is estimated to be 4lbs 10oz, Beta 4lbs 2oz, Gamma 4lbs 6oz. Most of the books say that babies typically weigh 4lbs 8oz in their 33rd week, so Beta and Gamma are a little under weight, but of course the ultrasound is only an estimate. Brant also pointed out that since they just measure three body parts to estimate the weight, if anything the weights are likely to be underestimated rather than overestimated. Regardless I continue to try to eat hospital food with other food snuck in by Brant and Nicole. In this ultrasound we have also confirmed once again that Alpha is breech. Beta and Gamma are head down, but since Alpha is the lowest baby and is breech I am for sure having a c-section whenever it is time. It is pretty rare to be able to deliver all three triplets without a c-section and honestly I think I'd prefer to have just one exit path rather than two - so at least I know a c-section is on the way. In the ultrasound it is nearly impossible for us to decipher the body parts of one baby compared to another as they all overlap, so they don't even bother giving us pictures anymore because they really can't isolate a profile shot at all. The cutest thing we saw today during the ultrasound was when the tech was able to get all three heads together. Since Alpha is breech (head up) and Beta and Gamma are head down, all three of their little heads are stacked on top of each other in an upside down triangle shape. It is pretty cute. I declared it a brainstorming session. I think they are all in negotiations trying to decide when they want to be born - hopefully at least another week or so.
I am going to continue on the anti-contraction medicine until Monday and then according to our doctor, when things progress naturally we will not stop them. So while my goal still is 35 weeks or really as long as possible, everyone seems ecstatic if I can make it to 34 weeks. Heck they are all pretty happy I am already at 33 weeks and of course Brant and I are just happy we made it into June and now each day is a blessing.
Today we had our weekly ultrasound. Everyone looks good and scores 100% on the 5 biophysical criteria. They also estimated weights for each baby. Alpha is estimated to be 4lbs 10oz, Beta 4lbs 2oz, Gamma 4lbs 6oz. Most of the books say that babies typically weigh 4lbs 8oz in their 33rd week, so Beta and Gamma are a little under weight, but of course the ultrasound is only an estimate. Brant also pointed out that since they just measure three body parts to estimate the weight, if anything the weights are likely to be underestimated rather than overestimated. Regardless I continue to try to eat hospital food with other food snuck in by Brant and Nicole. In this ultrasound we have also confirmed once again that Alpha is breech. Beta and Gamma are head down, but since Alpha is the lowest baby and is breech I am for sure having a c-section whenever it is time. It is pretty rare to be able to deliver all three triplets without a c-section and honestly I think I'd prefer to have just one exit path rather than two - so at least I know a c-section is on the way. In the ultrasound it is nearly impossible for us to decipher the body parts of one baby compared to another as they all overlap, so they don't even bother giving us pictures anymore because they really can't isolate a profile shot at all. The cutest thing we saw today during the ultrasound was when the tech was able to get all three heads together. Since Alpha is breech (head up) and Beta and Gamma are head down, all three of their little heads are stacked on top of each other in an upside down triangle shape. It is pretty cute. I declared it a brainstorming session. I think they are all in negotiations trying to decide when they want to be born - hopefully at least another week or so.
I am going to continue on the anti-contraction medicine until Monday and then according to our doctor, when things progress naturally we will not stop them. So while my goal still is 35 weeks or really as long as possible, everyone seems ecstatic if I can make it to 34 weeks. Heck they are all pretty happy I am already at 33 weeks and of course Brant and I are just happy we made it into June and now each day is a blessing.
33 weeks 0 days: New goal
We finally got a chance to speak with a maternal fetal (high risk) doctor instead of a resident this morning - after all this is a teaching hospital. I really do like the idea of a teaching hospital, being an example now will make it easier for others in the future in a similar situation and I am all about that....must be the research administrator in me. I am also learning it is all about the nurses. You get the right nurse and amazing things can be done. Currently I am trying to negotiate a break from my IV line even though the policy is to have everyone on bedrest with a line in just in preparation for delivery. The tough part for me is that every 3-4 days your IV line must be replaced to prevent infection and in case I haven't mentioned it - I am not good with blood or needles.
According to my doctor turns out that my new goal is 35 weeks?!?!?! I'm not exactly sure how this goal came about, everything I read says triplets average gestation is 32 weeks, but here they seem to say it is 35 weeks. Perhaps it is the 32 that is the highly probable goal while the 35 is the aggressive but possible goal - either way I am up for the challenge. Apparently, I am a rare case in that I was not admitted for preterm labor prior to 32 weeks. However, I am currently 3cm dilated (and have been for several days) so they are keeping me here until I deliver. Even though there is no research that keeping me on the anti-contraction medicine works long term, I am going to stay on it for at least another week - the idea being that it doesn't hurt.
After hearing the news that it could be several more weeks Brant has been able to go back to work a bit. We timed the distance this morning and when running, it takes him 8 minutes to get from his office into my room (even through security) so we are both pretty comfortable with that timing. I guess this is just one more benefit to being at the UofC hospital rather than somewhere he would have to drive. To me, a hospital room is a hospital room - so as long as I am getting good care, it doesn't matter where I am physically located within Chicago.
32 weeks 6 days 18 hours: Not that I'm counting
of course everything is still subject to change but here is the latest...
The current plan is to keep me on the medicine to control contractions for another couple days while I am in the maternity bedrest section of the hospital. After a couple days (how many days is a couple anyway?) I will discontinue the medicine and see how things progress naturally. More than likely within a couple of days of discontinuing the medicine our little ones will be born - my guess is within the 33rd week which starts tomorrow (6/2) - but you never know.
For now, in the bedrest section of this hospital things are pretty good. Since my monitoring is down to once a day, I am much less of a science experiment than previously now only connected to medical devices on my legs as opposed to the 7 different places before. These leg warmer styled contraptions help prevent blood clots - but these I can disconnect myself. I am not really allowed to leave the room, but I get to use the restroom and I think my personal goal for tomorrow is a shower! Brant has even graduated from a couch pretending to be a bed to a full cot - so I think that is a nice treat for him too.
As a side note, one of my tasks for this weekend (before everything happened) was create the list of people to be notified once the crew is born. Unfortunately, this list was never generated so we will do our best, but please don't be insulted if you find out via blog - my personal emails are inaccessible to me in the hospital.
The current plan is to keep me on the medicine to control contractions for another couple days while I am in the maternity bedrest section of the hospital. After a couple days (how many days is a couple anyway?) I will discontinue the medicine and see how things progress naturally. More than likely within a couple of days of discontinuing the medicine our little ones will be born - my guess is within the 33rd week which starts tomorrow (6/2) - but you never know.
For now, in the bedrest section of this hospital things are pretty good. Since my monitoring is down to once a day, I am much less of a science experiment than previously now only connected to medical devices on my legs as opposed to the 7 different places before. These leg warmer styled contraptions help prevent blood clots - but these I can disconnect myself. I am not really allowed to leave the room, but I get to use the restroom and I think my personal goal for tomorrow is a shower! Brant has even graduated from a couch pretending to be a bed to a full cot - so I think that is a nice treat for him too.
As a side note, one of my tasks for this weekend (before everything happened) was create the list of people to be notified once the crew is born. Unfortunately, this list was never generated so we will do our best, but please don't be insulted if you find out via blog - my personal emails are inaccessible to me in the hospital.
32 weeks: Movin' on up!
We are moving up in the world.... up a floor at least. Kari's been transferred to a longer-term area where she has less frequent monitoring. The babies are doing great, still waiting to be born. We'll update again when something interesting happens.
32 weeks: OK, now it's June!
Phew! We have officially made it to June!
Kari's doing well, and I'm fine as well. The babies have yet to be delivered, but could come really at any moment. We'll update again when we know more.
Kari's doing well, and I'm fine as well. The babies have yet to be delivered, but could come really at any moment. We'll update again when we know more.
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