I'm Freed From My Prison & Triplets Are Two Weeks Old

Can you believe it has been two weeks already??? What a wonderful two weeks as well.  Lots of people have been by to visit and check out the triplets.  Thank you to everyone who has brought over food, baby clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. 

A special "thank you" goes out to Anna, Grandma Kathie and Aunt Mary (Morris) for spending several nights with us, helping us feed Holly, Liam and Megan in the wee hours of the night and allowing Shawn and I to get a few extra hours of sleep. 

Today I had my post-delivery appointment with the doctor. My neighbor, Jeannie drove me while Shawn stayed home with the triplets. Bridget was at school. At the doctor's office, I was the center of attention. All the nurses came out from the back to say hello. I had brought two photos for their bulletin board, and all the ladies oohed and ahhed over the world's cutest triplets. I was called back right away, and the first thing you do is step on the scale. When I took off my coat, the nurse was like, "Holy cow! I bet you feel like you've lost a whole person!" Then I "wa-hooed" when I saw that I weighed in at my pre-pregnancy weight. Awesome! 

The appointment with the doctor took a whole 5 minutes. Everything was fine. After returning home, I checked in with Shawn, helped him out with feeding Holly, Liam and Megan, then I grabbed the car keys and went out, on my own, unsupervised, able to drive the car myself. What freedom! It's probably been 6-8 weeks since I've driven by myself. It's been even longer since I was able to walk around a store in a leisurely manner! So I went to my favorite store: Target. Actually, I went to Dominicks to pick up a few groceries, then went to Target, then went to Walgreens, then picked up Bridget at school. 

Bridget was so excited to see me at her school. It's been a REALLY long time since I've picked her up from school. I have been to her school with Shawn as recently as mid-November, but I haven't been there to pick her up since maybe September. Bridget showed me her potty chart at school, and all of her projects that she has made. It was very cute! One of the teachers told me that Bridget was such a pleasure to be around. This teacher takes care of the younger children, so she's not used to having conversations with the children. She told me she loves talking to Bridget, and finding out what's on Bridget's mind. 

I've been posting more photos to My Mobile Me gallery. Click the link at the right to see updated photos of the babies and photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

The Triplets: Day 4 and hopefully our last day in the hospital

Oh no! Shawn called early this morning to tell me that Bridget woke up with a croupy cough. Just what we needed, a sick kid with three babies about to come home!

When I hung up with him, I went to the pantry to get some ice water, and ran into the pediatrician in the hallway. He said he was on his way to see me. I told him about Bridget, and he said that her croup wouldn't prevent him from discharging the babies. BUT...he was concerned with the babies bilirubin levels. Because they are all preemies, the tolerable bilirubin level is lowered. So he ordered another bilirubin test. If they "pass" he'll discharge them. If not, they'll spend one more day at St. Joe's. As for their weights, Holly and Liam are only down a few ounces as compared to their birth weight. Megan was down 6 oz (I think) which was right about 9-10%. The pediatrician also said that Shawn could bring Bridget by the office 10 minutes before they open, and he'll check her out quickly. 

So Shawn took Bridget to the doc, and got some good news. It wasn't exactly croup. Meanwhile, Uncle Colin was driving out to Joliet, so he could watch Bridget while Shawn picked up the babies and me from the hospital.

While all of that was going on, I saw my doctor who was now concerned about my blood pressure. I had a few readings that were a bit too high, so now I had to stay an hour or two so that my blood pressure could be monitored. Fortunately, my next three readings were acceptable. So I was cleared for discharge.

Soon enough, the triplets had their blood drawn for another bilirubin test. Within an hour or two, they all had passed that test and were cleared for discharge. Meanwhile, Shawn was taking Bridget from the doctor, to our house, then came back to the hospital, but had forgotten all the baby car seats, so he had to go back home, and then back to the hospital. 

I packed up, Shawn and I dressed the babies in a new outfit, and I signed all the discharge paperwork. Our nurse, Joyce, was wonderful. She took a family photo of us, and gathered all the other nurses so that they could say "goodbye" to the triplets (and us). Joyce was the nurse working when I was in the hospital having Bridget. She had remembered Bridget's name, and remembered me and Shawn after 3 years!

Finally, it was time to leave St. Joe's. It's always a bit scary leaving the relative safety of the hospital, and I know that was when I said to myself, "How the heck are we going to do this on our own? I can't send the babies to the nursery at night!" But then again, I knew we'd be fine. We had no choice, we'll do what we need to do.

As the tech wheeled me down the maternity ward towards the elevator, there was one last nurse that wanted to say goodbye. I don't remember her name, but this was the nurse who was with me in the recovery room after the c-section.  She was crying her eyes out, which of course, made me cry too. She hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me that the babies were beautiful, and that I did a great job with them, and that Shawn and I would be fine. Of course, we were ordered to bring the babies back for a visit when they get bigger. I promised to bring them back before they turned one, and I told them I would send a birth announcement.

We finally made it down to the main floor. It's right by the emergency room, and Shawn left me in the wheelchair with the three babies at my feet while he pulled the car around. You could only imagine the looks that people were giving me as they passed by! Some would look at the babies and ooh or ahh. Some would look at the babies and whisper under their breath, "oh my!" Some gave me a look like I was to be pitied. Some were just dumbfounded. I kinda felt like a freak show. 

So we finally left, and made it home. Bridget and Uncle Colin were waiting at the door. Bridget was excited to see me back at home. She told me all about the doctor and her croup. Shawn and Colin lugged all the stuff in from the hospital and put most of it away. Bridget and I had lunch at the table. My hormones were working overtime, and I found it hard to keep the tears back. How lucky was I? I just had 3 healthy babies with absolutely no complications during the pregnancy or the delivery. All those worries and fears were for nothing. And now, we are all together in one house. I was feeling very lucky!

Not much else happened the rest of the day. Shawn, Bridget and I took care of Holly, Liam and Megan. Bridget was a big help. She would get bottles, blankets or anything else we asked her to get for the babies. She loved holding them or feeding them with a bottle. Bridget showed a bit of attitude, especially when she wanted our attention while we were caring for the babies.   Overall, we had a very nice first night home as the new Morris 6. 

Triplets: Day 3 in the Hospital

Our day started with the triplets being rolled into the room at 6:30. They all did well in the nursery, but the nurses called them the "night owls" of the bunch. Shortly thereafter we were visited by my doc and the pediatrician. My doc pretty much said I'm good to go. My blood pressure has been a bit elevated, but he didn't seem too concerned. The pediatrician said that he was pleased with all three babies, and that they were perfect and healthy. He also didn't think that a formula change from milk to soy-based was necessary because the babies were probably spitting up on day 1 because they were clearing out other junk from their systems. So he said if we wanted to try a milk based formula we could do so. While the pediatrician was visiting, we had two unexpected visitors: two nurses from the OBGYN office. That was really nice. But they had "snuck out" of the office and were hoping not to run into their boss on the maternity floor. I told them that dr. was here, and he had just finished Liam's circumcision.  In any case, they were anxious to meet the triplets whom they had taken care of for so long. 

A bit later, Shawn left to pick up Bridget from Tina's house. Joann stopped by just in time to help me feed all three who were starting to get restless. A few minutes later, Aunt Barb and Danielle stopped by for a visit. It was really nice seeing everyone. I'm mad at myself because I forgot to take pictures of Joann, Aunt Barb and Danielle with the babies! Well, they will just have to hold the babies again so I can get some cute pictures! 

Shortly after my visitors left, Shawn came back with Bridget. We all hung out in the room. Bridget played with her many gifts that she's been receiving. Shawn and I cared for the babies. Bridget liked going to the pantry to get Mommy water, and she liked wandering the halls with Daddy. We all had dinner together in the room. Bridget was exhausted but very helpful. She helped to swaddle the babies and she loved holding Megan. She kissed Megan's head and held her tight. When I asked if I could put Megan back in her bed, Bridget honestly responded, "No...no you can't." 

Soon enough, Daddy and Bridget went back home. Bridget has school tomorrow, so they needed to sleep at our house. I was left to survive on my own with the three babies. I made it through their "final" feeding at midnight. It took me until 1:20 am to feed all three on my own. And I was just trying to nurse the three, and the nursery was going to supplement them after I was done. So one by one, I'd nurse, then call a nurse, and the nurse would take the baby to the nursery to finish feeding. (too many "nurses" in that sentence!) So if that wasn't enough, I still needed vitals and a quick check-up done at 1:20. This nurse was very thorough, and I don't think I was asleep until after 2 am.  The babies were going to stay in the nursery for their next feeding so I could get some sleep. 

Photos of today are posted on My Mobile Me Gallery. 

Triplets: Day 2 in the hospital

Well, today Chicagoland was hit with some pretty nasty weather, which effected how our day went. Also, St. Joe's maternity floor was completely booked. They were telling the ladies scheduled to be induced to reschedule, because there were no available rooms.

We had the babies in our room from 6:30 am until 11 pm. That's a good thing, because it means that the babies are healthy and have no issues. It was also good for Shawn and I because at some point we have to convince ourselves that we can handle all three on our own. Because of the weather, we had no visitors today. That was good because we had to do everything on our own, but it was bad because there were several times we found ourselves actually bored. We considered downloading the Uno app on our iPhones so we could play Uno against each other. This is also when I got photos uploaded, and most of the blog updated, etc. Anyway, the babies were easy to take care of. They slept, then we'd feed and change them, and they'd go back to sleep. They're eating every 3-4 hours, so even if feeding them took 1.5 hours, we had a lot of down time to do our own thing. 

One fun thing that happened was that my doctor stopped by in his street clothes and with his 3 year old daughter. He wanted to show his daughter the triplets. She was so cute! And he was cute telling her, "All three of those babies came from Arlene!" and I said, "And your daddy was the one who took them out of me." She took her time looking at each bassinet "oohing" and "ahhing". I messed up though, I should have let her hold a baby, but I didn't think of offering to let her do that until after they had left. She would have loved that...just like Bridget loved holding Holly. 

My goal for the day was to get "unplugged" from everything and to be up and walking around. I went wireless before 11 am then took a shower after that. By 2 pm, I was walking the halls of the maternity ward. I felt like an 80 year old lady, walking somewhat bent over, but I forced myself to keep going because I knew the more I got around, the better I would feel. I had to take at least 4 walks, and that was no problem. Well, the only problem was that my too big Crocs were now too small because my feet and legs were so swollen. Good thing Shawn brought sandals with him. It was a tight squeeze, but I was able to make do with his sandals. Even my own socks were a tight fit. The heel of my sock was on the bottom of my foot! That's how swollen my feet are!

Later on, Shawn stopped by the house to pick up a few things, and I was on my own. While he was gone, I took photos of each baby in their cute preemie clothes from Aunt Mary (Morris). 

Photos from today are posted on My Mobile Me Gallery. Anna I made a video of the babies, especially for you!

"Happy, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me and to you!"

4:45 am  I woke up, showered and got ready for the hospital.

5:15 am  Bridget was up and sleeping in our room.

5:30 am  Bridget was sent back to her own bed to sleep.

5:45 am  Shawn and I left for the hospital.

6:00 am  Arrive at the hospital.

6-7:40 am  Got registered, had my IV put in, had blood drawn, talked to a bunch of nurses, talked to my doctor, talked to the perinatologist (it was HIS birthday too!).

7:40 am Wheeled down to the operating room. (Panic! Panic! Panic!) Said "bye" to Shawn who had to stay out in the hall until the last minute. 

7:40-8-ish  Met the anestethiologist (I don't know how to spell it, we'll call her the "A lady"). She was a young lady, and was very nice to me. I told her she was whom I was most afraid of, and she said she'd get me through the operation and that I was fine. Chit chatted with the doctor and nurses. My doc said that he saw a quad bike with a plow that was "so much cooler than a snowblower". Most of the nurses just asked "dumb" questions because I was so panicked. Got my spinal, and it didn't hurt (though I remembered that it didn't hurt), everyone was congratulating me on getting through the worst part (yah, right) and told me how great I was doing. As I numbed up, I knew it was better than last time because I was only numb to my rib cage. However, I was getting weird feelings. My collarbone hurt, and I told the A lady, and she said that was normal and gave some reason why. Then I'd complain about my ribs hurting and she gave me a reason why. Then I'd tell her that my hands were swollen and numb, and she'd explain why. Then I'd complain about something else, and she would explain why. She was really patient with me, and explained everything, and somehow got me to lower my heart rate from some crazy number to a normal rate. 

8-ish to 8:10 am  Shawn was allowed into the O.R. He was wide-eyed, checking out all the people and trying to be brave for me. By the time he was there, I was almost calm. He rubbed my sore collarbone and swollen hand. We talked a bit about who-knows-what. I remember asking him, "Are they going to start anytime soon?" and he said, "Arlene, you're already cut open! He's about to take out the first baby." I was amazed because I couldn't feel anything at all, and I thought I'd at least feel pulling and tugging. 

8:10  Holly Lynn was born. Dr. said, "Baby 1 is breech. It's a girl. She's coming out peeing!" I didn't see her or hear her cry, Shawn was able to see her. William John was born. Dr. said, "Baby 2 is breech. It's a boy. He's coming out peeing too!" I couldn't see him or hear him. Shawn saw him.

8:11 Megan Delia was born. Dr. said, "Baby 3 is breech. It's a girl!" I could see her being worked on in her cubicle thing. I know she was given oxygen at one point, and 3 people worked on each baby. 

8:11-9-ish Babies were cleaned up. Each baby scored a 7 or an 8 APGAR score. Nurses and doctors began leaving the room slowly. Before the babies were taken out, a nurse let me see them, kiss them, and they unhooked my arms from the "jesus position" so that I could touch them too. They were all so perfect and beautiful. Such round heads. So small.   The neonatologist told us that all were doing well but they would be going to the NICU for 2 hours for observation.

9-10 I was in the plain old boring recovery room, falling in and out of sleep. Shawn was on the phone calling everyone.  Shawn also went to the NICU to see the babies.  All 3 were doing great, breathing room air, and getting their baths.  The nurse told Shawn that the babies would be able to come out around 11 as long as they all maintained their state.  Shawn also ran down to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast.

Around 10:30 I returned to the room and about 30 minutes later the babies were wheeled in one by one.  John and Kathie arrived a little later and of course they were over the moon! A little while later, the babies had to go back to the nursery because they were too cold. 

The rest of the afternoon was a blurr. Shawn watched over the babies. I was bed ridden. 

Shawn picked up Bridget and brought her to visit at about 4 pm. I wanted to record her reaction to seeing the babies on video, but unfortunately, a nurse had me tied up at the time, so I even missed her reaction. I know Shawn asked her what she thought of the babies, and she said, "They're so cute!" and "They're so small!" She got to hold Holly, and she really enjoyed that. 

About 6 pm, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Joan, Karen, Ron, Ryan, Kristi and Sandy all came by for a visit. I think Grandpa Bill monopolized little Liam, but who could blame him? Boys are hard to find on that side of the family. The aunts took lots of photos for me, since I couldn't get out of bed yet. The babies were quite content to be held by all the many visitors. 

By 8 pm, everyone left. I had to move from the bed to a chair. I told myself that the little pain I'll get from moving around is MUCH easier to tolerate than how I felt 2 days ago, so it didn't take me long to get from bed to chair. Plus, the painkillers must have been working well, cuz it really didn't hurt much. 

By 11 pm, the babies went to the nursery for the night. Both Shawn and I needed some sleep. I had only slept less than 5 hours the night before, and Shawn was looking worse than me! It was nice getting about 7 hours sleep that night. 

Photos and video from the day are posted at My Mobile Me Gallery. 

Delivery Day Eve

I think pretty much everyone knows that at my Thursday doctor visit, my doc said he wanted to schedule delivery. His opinion differs from the specialist, but that was ok with me! My doc said at 36 weeks, the babies are fully mature and considered term, and waiting for nature to take its course means just waiting for something bad to happen. So I said, "Well, Monday's my birthday." and he said, "Would you want to have the babies on your birthday?" I said, "Sure! It's not like I celebrate my birthday anymore. After 21 it's all downhill." He shook his head and agreed. It was kinda funny. 

After that, came the stream of nurses that have been taking care of me the past 8 months. They were all so excited, and glad that he finally gave me the news that I wanted to hear. One nurse was actually crying because she was so touched that the babies would be born on my birthday. Another nurse told me that she was at Bridget's delivery and that she'd be at the triplets' delivery. 

Shawn was waiting for me in the waiting room (since I can't drive anymore) as I came out with a huge smile on my face. "Did they tell you?" I asked. "No." he said. "We're delivering the babies on Monday." He laughed a nervous laugh and said, "Really?" Yep. It's finally over!

All weekend I've been doing last minute things. I baked and froze a lasagne. Shawn and I finished doing almost all the laundry in the house. I double checked my hospital bags, and made sure Bridget had a bag packed in case she ends up spending the night somewhere. I tried to wrap Christmas presents, but didn't get very far. 

Surprisingly, I'm not too nervous yet about the operation. I have my moments, but overall I've been sleeping well, and I've had some relatively ache-and-pain-free days. I really think if the doc didn't schedule the c-section, I'd probably make it another week or two. There's been no signs of my going into labor!

As for Bridget, we've been preparing her that Monday when Daddy picks her up from school, she is going to go to the hospital to see the triplets. I had to tell her that they won't be in my belly anymore, and she said, "Then your belly won't be fat anymore?" Well, sorta! She then said, "The doctor is going to cut them out of your belly? I don't want to see them when they are all red. I want to see them when they are clean." Me too, sweetie! So I think she gets it. 

By the way, she got the "all red" thing from watching the baby shows on tv. It doesn't phase her to watch the babies being born on tv, and all the babies come out red and slimy. That's also how she knows about doctors cutting the babies out of bellies. 

We have told her that the babies are coming home to live with us and that they'll be sleeping in the crib. "MY crib?!?" "Yes, Bridget, you sleep in a big girl bed now, the babies need to use the crib."

On the potty front...she's getting better. She doesn't fight us trying to poop on the potty anymore. We've had 2 dry days in December. That's progress. We're still working on her taking the initiative to go to the potty on her own. Mostly, we tell her to go and she goes. 

Ok, so the rest of tonight's activities include dinner with John and Kathie. Watching the Survivor finale. Making sure everything is ready to go by 6 am tomorrow. And probably a bit of freaking out on my part. (And probably Shawn's too!) Hopefully, I'll get a bit of sleep in too. 

Here's the hospital's website for those interested: http://www.provena.org/stjoes/

I couldn't find the Family Birthing Suites visiting hours, but I think it's something like noon to 8 pm. Grandparents can visit 24 hours. 

Shawn will have his and my cell phones, and he'll start contacting people as soon as he can. 

An Unexpected Trip To The Doctor

What a weird morning! Obviously, sleeping is difficult when you have a belly full of babies in the way. So I sleep fine until I wake up for my first bathroom run. That's usually at about 2 am. From that point on, I make a bathroom run about every hour to hour and a half. It stinks! I'm exhausted when I "wake up" and every time I get out of bed, I dread laying back down in bed because I know it's just going to be uncomfortable again.

So, usually sometime between 5-7 am, I tend to wake up, and try the living room couch (which isn't any more comfortable). Today, I woke up at about 7 am, and I felt a bit queasy. I kinda thought that it might be that I was just hungry and dehydrated. So I turned on the Today Show, and started drinking lots of cold ice water. I woke Shawn up at about 7:30 and asked him to go buy a loaf of bread, since we ran out yesterday. I told him I didn't feel too good, and he asked if I was going to call the doctor. I said, I wanted to wait and see if getting some food in my system helped any. I also had this pain underneath my right rib cage, and it wasn't contraction pain. It was a constant, dull, crampy kind of annoying pain. I had this once before, and felt our little boy move, and the pain went away immediately, so I figured it was just him again with a hand tucked under my ribs. 

Ok, so Shawn came back, and made some toast for me and I felt slightly better. The rib pain was still there, so I figured I would go to the basement and try to lay on that couch or recliner because it's slightly more comfortable. Before I went downstairs I took a swig of orange juice (bad idea) because I figured I needed some vitamin C. 

So now I'm laying on the recliner, and I'm very thankful that Shawn didn't clean up Bridget's popcorn bowl from last night, because I ended up needing it to puke in. Weird! I hardly ever puke. Immediately after that was over, I felt a ton better. The rib pain was still there. By now it's 8 am. Bridget was still asleep. I told Shawn I was going to lay down for a bit, take a shower, then call the doc. So I did that while Shawn got Bridget up, fed and dressed. By the time I got out of the shower, my rib pain was gone, and my nausea was gone, but I was hungry and didn't feel like eating anything. Kinda reminded me of the first trimester. 

When I called the nurse, she said come in right away, so we did. I must have puked out 2 lbs, because since Thursday, I've lost 2 lbs on the doctor's scale. The nurse kinda worried me, because she was so somber when asking me questions about what had happened all morning. I was nervous when she took my blood pressure too, because I knew if I was having this side pain, vomiting and high blood pressure it could be preeclampsia or Help's syndrome, and I didn't want to hear that. But nope, my blood pressure was perfect according to the nurse. Just before she left, she informed me that the protein in my urine was up and there was a trace of blood too (possible UTI or bladder infection or preeclampsia). Crazy! 

The doc comes in, and this was the more thorough doc, and he didn't seem too concerned about my symptoms, so that made me feel a bit better. He checked my cervix and said it hasn't changed at all. (Darn, that probably means labor won't happen for a while!) He did an ultrasound to check for all the babies heartbeats. Then pretty much said, "Well, if you feel better now, and the side pain is gone, then you're probably fine. Probably just a bug or something." So I said, "The nurse said there was protein and blood in my urine. What's the deal with that?" He seemed surprised. So he left the room to check on that, came back and said, "Why don't you go to the lab and leave a urine sample with them, just to be sure. It was just a very minute amount of blood detected, and our dipsticks aren't very accurate, so let's see what the lab has to say." I asked if there was blood, what does that mean? Would I be going to the hospital? He laughed and said, "No, it would just be an infection. Why? Did you want to go to the hospital?" We were standing in the hallway by the receptionist at this point, and all the gals (nurses, receptionists and myself) all said, "Yes! I'm ready to get the babies out." That was kinda funny.

Shawn and Bridget drove me to the lab, and I ran in and out in 10 minutes or so. We got a call from the lab within an hour of getting home. My nurse said I had a "whopper of an infection" and she called in the antibiotics to Walgreens for me. Weird! I had no symptoms of an infection unless nausea and vomiting are symptoms. 

I've been lying around all day (not unusual) and sleeping periodically (not unusual) and eating lots of chicken noodle soup (unusual), and I'm feeling much better. No more side pain, no more vomiting, just a slight feeling of yuckiness. I'm hungry, but there's nothing I want to eat. Who knows, maybe it's a mild flu. I never got my flu shot this season. I'm going to start the antibiotics at dinnertime, and it's only a 3 day treatment, so we'll see how that makes me feel. 

Darn, I thought I'd end up having the babies today...guess not. The "hurry up and wait" continues.

A wonderful weekend

What a great weekend. We had lots of family fun! Friday night we went to visit Grandpa John, Grandma Kathie and Uncle Colin in Burbank. Bridget had LOTS of fun playing with Colin. Of course, Grandma and Bridget shared lots of laughs over their favorite counting book. They always end the book by "eating" the candies on the last page. Grandma sent us home with some very cute outfits for the triplets. 

Saturday was a productive day. Shawn managed to get the Christmas stuff down from the attic without my help. I don't know how he did it, but he did! Tree and all! Then he set up the tree while I took all the ornaments out of their boxes. I'm SO glad that we bought a pre-lit last year (Black Friday deal!). It came in very handy this year! Shawn and I worked together to put on the garland. Once all the ornaments were ready to go, Bridget and Shawn loaded up the tree. Bridget really liked putting the ornaments on, and she was very possessive of "her" ornaments. She wanted to put on all the ornaments, even the breakable ones. If you see our tree, you'll know how tall Bridget is, because all the ornaments that she put on are at the same height all the way around the tree. And many branches have 2 or 3 ornaments on them. (I haven't moved them yet!) I must say, this was the first year that I didn't set up the tree, and Shawn and Bridget did an excellent job. Maybe I'll sit back and relax every year now!

Saturday night, we decorated the basement with lighted garland around the foundation wall, and holiday dolls on top. Bridget liked helping with that too. She's really a great helper. Always willing to get you the things that you need. I don't know how many times she ran upstairs to get more dolls, while Shawn and I were setting up the basement. 

Sunday was kind of a lazy morning. Since we were up late, Bridget woke up late. We all kind of did our own thing until lunch time. Then, as Bridget would say, "we ate lunch as a family." Oh yah, while Bridget was playing with her Potato Heads, she made a lovely potato that she insisted looked like Grandpa John. Sorry Grandpa...I tried to see if she meant Grandma Joan or Grandma Kathie, but she insisted it was you. She said it looked just like you. Photo of "Grandpa John Potato Head" at the top of the entry.

Sunday afternoon, Shawn did a lot of cleaning and Bridget helped him out. Shawn's been doing a lot around the house and for me lately. I'm very proud of him! Bridget also pooped on the potty this afternoon, so we told her that after dinner we would have popcorn and hot chocolate and watch The Polar Express. She was excited about that. 

So that was our evening. Family movie night. Bridget loved the movie, and I was surprised that she didn't get all scared when the train started going on it's roller coaster ride. She was more upset when the boy lost the ticket. She liked her not-so-hot chocolate, and of course, ate most of the bag of microwave popcorn by herself! She made the comment, "Hey, they're drinking hot chocolate just like us, Mommy!" Mommy always has these tricks up her sleeve! No coincidence there, sweetie!

After the movie, Shawn and I realized that Bridget stayed dry all day. YEAY! I think this is only her 2nd dry day, so that's really great. She's less resistant to trying to poop on the potty when we ask her to try, so hopefully she'll continue to get better and better at using the potty. We told her how proud we were of her, and gave her lots of hugs and kisses for being dry all day. So what did she say? "Mama, I'm going to give YOU hugs and kisses because you were dry all day. You put all your pee and poops on the potty today. Give me a kiss and a big hug." What a sweetie. Shawn must have had an accident, because he didn't get the same treatment, and he was sitting right next to us. 

And that's pretty much it from our end. It's Sunday night, so Shawn and I will watch Desperate Housewives. I'll probably go to bed shortly thereafter. I've been on my feet a bit more than I would have liked to this weekend, and my feet and ankles are all swollen as a result, so I need to rest a whole bunch tonight and tomorrow. 

We're headed to the specialist tomorrow afternoon to see what he thinks about the delivery. Will he recommend that I schedule the delivery, or will he recommend that we wait until my body decides to deliver the babies? That is the big question now! I'm hoping for the first, but won't be surprised at his recommendation either way. Hey, I've made it 2 weeks past the average due date for triplets. Amazing!

Maybe next week

Another doctor visit, as another week comes to an end. This appointment was with my regular doctor. Fetal monitoring went quickly, and doc says that all three are doing great. He told me to ask the specialist on Monday about possible delivery. Doc also said that until now he and the specialist have been allowing my body to decide when the babies will be born. In his opinion, 35 weeks should be well sufficient for triplets, and mine have been doing great with no issues. He's a bit concerned about my previous c-section scar and whether it can handle any further stretching. So now he wants to see what the specialist has to say about it. I'm hoping they decide to put me out of my misery!

So that's about it. If I go into labor before Monday, then I just get to head to the hospital. Otherwise, we're waiting to see what the specialist has to say on Monday. Perhaps I'll get to schedule the delivery next week. We'll see!

As for Bridget, she has a busy and parent-free day today. She woke up, had breakfast with us, we got her bathed and dressed, and she headed off to school. Shawn bowls tonight, and since I can't take care of her on my own, she's going to spend the evening at Auntie Karen's house. When Shawn picks her up after bowling, she'll probably fall asleep during the ride home. 

34 weeks and another doctor visit

Well, I made it to my goal, which was 34 weeks. My doctor didn't think I'd make it to Monday-I showed him! Anyway, I've been very tired lately, sleeping away my days and nights. Shawn's been doing everything, so I don't have much to say about our days. 

Today we went to the specialist for fetal monitoring and the biophysical exam. Both went well. The babies have plenty of fluid, they're practicing fetal breathing, the blood flow through the cord is fine, their heart rates are also good. Couldn't ask for anything more. The monitor picked up that I'm still having mini contractions. Or as the tech called it: an irritable uterus. That's also what the tech at the hospital called it. I think that it'll happen this week. We'll see!

As for Bridget, she had a great potty day. She went 5 times, including one poop, and had only one poop accident at school. She also took over a 2 hour nap at school, so she was in great spirits this evening. 

Shawn got all the swings, bouncers, carseats, etc. inside and washed. They're all set up now. Bridget likes to put her dolls in the swing and push it REALLY fast. I put a stop to that right away!