Hip Surgery: Day 2

According to Dr. Dworsky, days 2 and 3 will be the worst. After that, the pain should decrease. I'm holding you to that, Dr. D!

Day 2 started off rough. At 1:00 am, Shawn's alarm went off, and he made sure that I took my Vicodin. Since we were up, I figured I better hobble to the bathroom. Just a few hours ago, I could swing my legs over and off of the bed. Now it wasn't happening. Shawn had to help me move my leg, which now is super stiff and achy. That nerve and muscle pain that I had in the recovery room was back, and I knew that fastest way to alleviate that is by moving position. So I crutched to the bathroom and took a lap around the house and felt a bit better. I made my way back to the bed and sat at the edge of the bed. Pain. Shawn suggested I try sleeping in the recliner. I agreed. So he set me up there by bringing out my ICEMAN, a warm blanket and pillow and my water bottle.

I was awake for awhile until the Vicodin kicked in, then slept until about 6:30 am. Shawn helped me get out of the recliner, and I moved around. My right ankle feels sprained. I know they put me in traction for the surgery to give the doctor room to move the scope around the joint. I don't think he completely dislocated my leg, and I don't know how they hooked me up to the traction, but I'm guessing my sore ankle has something to do with that. My leg is still completely stiff, but once I move around a bit, it feels better. It's a double-edged sword: you want to sit and rest, but sitting and resting eventually leads to pain, so you move around to rid the pain, and risk over-doing it. I'm trying to find the proper rest to movement ratio that works for me. 3 hours of rest to 5 minutes of movement seems ok.

Shawn did a fabulous job of getting the kids up and ready for camp. He even got all four showered and was ready early! I helped as much as I could, which was basically cuddling with the little girls when they first woke up, and brushing hair after showers. My breakfast consisted of a little ice cream for my sore throat and a half cup of coffee.

Since then, I've been updating this blog all morning. Shawn's been working in his office and checking on me frequently. I think he's grateful that he can get some work done. He is swamped with work. Having the kids out of the house, and me being "not as bad as he expected" is allowing him some time to get things done. I'm trying not to bother him too much. I am struggling with getting up from a seated position, sometime I can do it, other times I can't. I can't bring a cup of coffee from the kitchen to my recliner while crutching. It's the little things...

I see Dr. Dworsky on Friday for my first follow-up. We set up PT and I get my bandages off. I can't shower until my bandages are off. I won't feel human again until I get a shower! It's the little things...

EVENING UPDATE: Shawn and the kids went to Bridget's softball game after dinner, so I was on my own. I was able to get myself up to walk around a bit, but from 6-7 pm was rough. That nerve pain down my thigh is really...unnerving! I had my 7 pm Vicodin but that really didn't offer any relief until about 8:30. I got a little sleep probably from about 9ish to 11:30ish. Then the pain woke me up. Shawn refilled my iceman, and helped me walk around a bit. I wanted to try laying in my bed. That was a very bad idea! My leg is pretty much dead weight. I can bend it backwards, and stretch it backwards, but I cannot lift it up or bring my knee up to a 90 degree angle in front of me (like when you're sitting down). So you can imagine how difficult trying to get into bed might be. All the movement just did me in. No sooner did Shawn get all my gear moved into the bedroom, and I was asking to be moved back to the recliner. I did take the Vicodin early, and got some sleep, sitting straight up in the recliner because laying down was just too painful. 

Hip Surgery: Day 1

So Tuesday morning 6 am, Uncle Marc comes over to do the morning routine of getting the kids up, dressed, fed, and off to camp. Today was their first Field Trip day. They were going to Cantigny, so they were all excited about getting to camp. Hopefully they behaved for Uncle Marc!

Shawn and I got to St. Joe's by 6:30, and got checked in to the Outpatient Surgery floor. I was taken back to my "room", took care of some paperwork, paid the bill, got my IV, and was rolled back to the surgery waiting room by 7:15. At 7:20 I saw Dr. Dworsky, who went over what he was going to do, and he signed my right hip so that he and I knew he'd be working on the correct body part. (LOL) Next up, I spoke with two anesthesiologists who went through some more basics and told me what to expect with the anesthesia. The second anesthesiologist put a sedative in my IV to take the edge off, and said it would work within 30-60 seconds. I didn't feel any different though. Immediately following the sedative, I was rolled back to the operating room. That was sometime between 7:30 and 7:45 am. Surgery was supposed to start at 8 am, and being the first patient, I guess they were going to start early.

This OR was nothing like the birthing OR. The birthing OR was nice...sterile...but nicely painted, nice ceilings, nice equipment. This OR seemed drab, I recall weird stainless ceiling grates, and I really didn't get a chance to look around much. The only people in the room was the nurse that rolled my bed and the anesthesiologist. I moved from the bed to the table, and was immediately given the mask and order to "take deep breaths". Within 10 breaths it was lights out for me!

Coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room was weird. It was like a movie. Everything seemed to be moving much too fast. The nurses looking in at me seemed to have awfully large heads, and my head was spinning. The first thing I saw was a big, blue number 5 on the wall in front of me. I was in recovery stall 5. I could tell there were other patients around me, but my head felt so heavy that I couldn't even turn my head to look around. I recall knowing that I had been through surgery, and I was aware that I was coming out of the anesthesia, and I remember trying to fight the effects of it. As I struggled to make sense of things, the drugs did their thing, and I was in and out of consciousness for probably over an hour. The first thing I recall saying to my nurse was, "What time is it?" She had said that it was 12:15. I was panicked. Surgery was supposed to be 1.5-2 hours, and recovery was about an hour. That puts me at 10:30 or 11 am tops. So what went wrong?!? I asked the nurse what time I had gotten out of surgery. She said 11:16. So that meant that it did take an hour to come out of the fog. But I still don't know why the actual surgery took much longer than anticipated. I will have to find that out on my follow-up visit on Friday.

The nurse took my vitals, checked if I could move my toes, asked me to speak, etc. I remember FREEZING, actually teeth-chattering FREEZING, and the nurse brought me a few warm blankets and said that it was the meds making me cold. As things got more clear for me, I remember trying to lift my right leg. I could move my toes and feet but lifting it up wasn't happening. My hip itself seemed fine. I felt no pain there. I lifted the blanket and could see the gauze bandage over my hip, but it felt completely numb. Then I noticed that my voice was horse and terribly sore. Ah, that was from the intubation! My brain was working...I felt like a detective asking myself questions and figuring out the answers.

The next thing that happened was the nerve pain running all along the front of my thigh. It was excruciating! I've had that pain before, and usually shifting my position helps to alleviate that pain. So I tried to shift around, but being numb and half-witted, it was difficult to do. I asked the nurse if she could help me shift, and she helped, but the pain was still there. Nurse Mary (it was her birthday today) could tell I was in pain, and asked me where I was at on the pain scale. I gave her an 8 or maybe a 9, and she pumped me with some sort of IV pain medication. Over the next period of time (I'm not sure how long it was) nurse Mary and I did this little dance: the pain in my leg would come back, she'd shoot me up some pain meds, I'd drift off to sleep, my O2 sats would dip to 86%, the monitor would go off, I'd startle awake, Mary would tell me to take deep breaths, my O2 % would come back up and we'd start the whole cycle over again.

I heard Mary on the phone with Shawn, telling him that I was in recovery and that she needed to get my pain under control before I went back to a room. I learned later that I had 3 injections of IV pain meds and 2 Norcos before my pain was under control. I think I got back to a room at about 1:30. Once there, Shawn was able to join me. He told me that Dworsky talked to him after the surgery. Dworsky said that the labrum was being impinged but there were no tears and it was not detached. That's great news! He also said there was no sign of arthritis (he thought there was a bit of arthritis from the MRI/xray). Even better news! So all he did was shave and contour the ball and socket to give my hip more mobility. There was quite a bit of bone spur built up to the point of it being bone-on-bone. He trimmed back the labrum that was being impinged. Since that was all that was done, I'd be able to be partial weight-bearing on the crutches. More great news!

So back to the room: I got this pretty cool ICEMAN machine. So no need to use my Pinterest moldable ice pack that I made the other day. This thing keeps me cool without all the watery mess. It also stays at a nice temperature. It's been on my hip, and will continue to be on my hip any time I'm not walking around. The nurse went over my discharge orders with me. I was able to get dressed, and the physical therapist came up to show me what partial weight-bearing meant with crutches. I had to crutch out of the room, down the hall and go up and down some steps. I was amazed at how decent I felt with very little pain. I was stiff. I had to keep reminding myself that I still had a lot of pain meds in me and I still had a local anesthetic on my hip. And doc kept telling me that day 2 and day 3 would be the worst days.

So after my visit with PT, Shawn left to swap the car for the van and to pick up the kids. Meanwhile, I was all dizzy from my walk and was hungry. The nurse brought me 4 saltines and 2 cookies. It took me a half hour to eat them because my throat was so sore. The little bit of food did take away my light-headedness. And a little after 4:00 Shawn was back to St. Joe's to pick me up. Of course the kids had a million questions. Some legitimate, some silly.
Holly: "Why are you talking all weird, Mommy?"
Me: "Because my throat is sore."
Holly: "Why is your throat sore?"
Me: "Because there was a tube in my throat to help me breathe."
 Holly: "Why?"
Me: "So I could breathe while the doctor operated on me."
Holly: "Well how did they get the tube out of your throat?"
Me: "They took it out."
Holly: "How?"
 Me: "They pulled it out."
Holly: "How?"
Me: "With their hands."
Holly: "Ewww!"
I don't know what picture was running through her mind about the tube in my throat, but she was all concerned about it.

At home, I pretty much went to bed. I was in and out of sleep the rest of the night. The kids played outside and checked in on me. One by one I got homemade Get Well Soon cards. Bridget's was the most funny. She drew me at the hospital in a skirt and purple dangling earrings with my crutches. She was also at the hospital dressed as a princess. Holly and Megan drew nice pictures too. Nothing from Liam but some hugs and kisses which is perfectly fine with me. They all enjoyed watching me crutch through the house and were helpful with moving their toys out of the way for me. Overall, the pain wasn't too bad. I could feel the numbing reside. I could move around on my crutches pretty well, but getting up and down from a chair or bed was still tricky. Shawn is a great nurse. He's been refilling my ICEMAN as the ice melts. He has a timer set on his phone for when I need to take my Vicodin. He's gotten me bottles of water, many refills, plugged in my electronics, and overall been a great husband...in sickness and in health!

Hip surgery: Background info

I know it's been forever since blogging but a friend of mine (Hi Kristen!) said I should blog about my hip surgery since she'll be going through the same thing soon. So here I am.

So here's the background info. When I was pregnant with Bridget 8 years ago, I started noticing that my knee would sometimes buckle when going upstairs. Scary! I didn't think much of it, I was pregnant, awkward, and thought it just was a part of pregnancy. Plus, after that split second of knee-buckling, everything went back to normal. That happened a few times while pregnant. After Bridget was born, all was well. A few times over the next few years I'd have that knee-buckling experience coupled with some mild hip pain but really nothing that alarmed me. Once pregnant with the triplets, things got WAY worse. I found myself limping at times, knee giving out on stairs and mild hip pain. Two summers ago I also took on the couch to 5K program, lost 25-30 lbs, but destroyed my hip. That's when I started seeing doctors.

The first doctor I was referred to was a back specialist. He was a moron and was basically asking me what I thought the diagnosis was! Seriously, he showed me my MRI and asked me what I thought of it. I high-tailed it out of his office and was referred to a orthopedic surgeon. This gal was very aggressive and was ready to schedule me for surgery right away. She thought there was a labral tear and was talking possible hip replacement. Well at the time, I wasn't ready to go the surgery route, so she referred me to a pain management doctor. I went through several injections of cortisone in order to pinpoint the exact location of the pain. Oddly enough, the location that gave me the most relief was an injection near the top-center of my thigh. So I spent about a year with that doc, never really getting complete relief from my pain.

 I hit my low point when Shawn and I went to Seattle for a wedding. We did a lot of walking, and the one night we were walking to our hotel and every step felt like a knife was being jabbed into my hip. It was horrible and the Naproxen gave me no relief. A couple days after returning from Seattle I got another injection and that helped. Then I got sick, and saw my regular doctor who asked if my hip was fixed yet, and when I told her my story, she referred me to a fourth doctor. He was supposed to be the best hip guy in our area. So I think it was in November when I started seeing Dr. Dworsky. New MRI and X-rays were ordered. He said I have bad bone structure. The ball of my hip sits about 90% into the socket when the average person is at about 50%. He sent me to consult with the back specialist just to be sure that my back wasn't playing into this at all. The back doctor said my back is good, even though I have a couple of compressed discs (he said almost everyone has compressed discs by 40), they weren't touching any nerves and that my back was in good shape. Yeah! So, back to Dr. Dworsky...we did two cortisone injections that helped quite a bit. He said the pain management doctor was injecting me with too little cortisone. He said the amount of cortisone I was given would be enough to stitch up a finger, not enough to reduce inflammation in a joint. Great! So Dworsky's injections took me to early May.

Then we decided to fix what's broke instead of trying to mask the pain. With the school year coming to an end, getting it done as soon as school was out would allow me to recover over the summer break. We also planned to have the kids in summer camp at the Joliet Park District for the entire month of June, so that we wouldn't have to worry about them being underfoot while I got back on my feet. Anyway, Dworsky's plan was to do a scope on my hip, shave off any bone spurs that might be there to allow more movement of the joint. He wasn't going to take me from 90% impacted to 50%, but he'd give my bones more room to move properly. He suspected that the labrum was being pinched between the bones as well, causing pain and inflammation. If the labrum was torn, he'd repair it. If the labrum was separated from the bone, he'd reattach it. Those were the things he'd have to see about once he got inside my leg. He also said that the separation would be the worst case scenario. If he had to reattach the labrum, I would have to be non-weight-bearing and no twisting for the first several days. He said recovery would be slower at first but the overall timeline of 6 weeks of Physical Therapy would stay the same. With any of the listed procedures, I should expect to pretty much do nothing the first few days, start 6 weeks of physical therapy within 5-7 days post-op, crutches for about 2 weeks, and stitches out at 2 weeks.

 I had to go a week prior to surgery without any pain medication. (I was taking 500 mg of Naproxen twice a day) That was tough, and each day got a little more painful. Saturday was the worst! But then Sunday and Monday were really good days, which was weird since Sunday we had the kids' birthday party and I wasn't exactly resting. Monday was busy too. I finished up all the laundry in the house and got things in order for my recovery. So I don't know why I wasn't in more pain, but hey, I'll take it. Monday was the kids' first day of camp. They go from 9 am to 4 pm. This was Bridget's 4th year of camp, and the triplet's first year of camp. They all said they had a lot of fun! Liam even thanked me for sending him to camp this summer. It was sweet! But boy were they TIRED when they got home. Allison spent the night since Uncle Marc was coming over to watch the kids while Shawn got me to the hospital Tuesday morning.

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. 

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! 

The Big House Cleaning

WOW! Karen, Joann, and Sandy went to town on our house. Everything is spotless! What a wonderful gift. They ordered us out of the house, while they did a little spring cleaning. Well, I guess it wasn't a little cleaning, it was quite a job! But everything looks fabulous. 

So what did we do while we were out? Bridget insisted we had lunch at Portillo's. I think that's her favorite restaurant now. She loves their hot dogs, and she always finishes a whole hot dog and a few fries. She also likes to look at all the knick-knacks they have hanging on the walls and ceiling. She was falling asleep during lunch, seriously, her head was on the table! Our original plan was to go to see the movie, Bolt after lunch. Instead Shawn took us on a little drive, and Bridget was asleep soon enough. I fell asleep too. When I woke up we were by Arsenal Road driving the through rural back roads.  Bridget woke up a bit after I did. I guess we both slept for over an hour. 

After driving a bit more, we headed back to the house so that I could go to the bathroom. Karen, Joann and Sandy had the house looking and smelling pretty good by this time. They told me some funny stories about the things they found around the house, including a year old check that hadn't been cashed and the Glad Vacuum Sealer that nobody knew what it was. 

After my potty break, Shawn and Bridget went to the pet store for litter, then we headed to the theater. Bridget enjoyed watching Bolt. She's pretty funny because she gets anxious at the suspenseful parts and sad at the sad parts. So you know she's following the story. She also doesn't keep her emotions in...we had to tell her that she has to be quieter in the theater so that she doesn't disturb other people. Of course, she loved having popcorn and loved sitting on the booster seat. 

After the movie we headed home to check out the final result. We finally have usable counter space in the kitchen. Sandy also lined up (in rows) what little we had in the fridge! Joann did a heck of a job fixing up the nursery and moving Bridget's left-overs to her new room. Karen organized Bridget's bookcase with cloth containers, and hung some "artwork" in the bathroom. I posted photos on My Mobile Me Gallery. Click the link at the right. I should have taken some "before" photos, but that would have been too embarrassing! 

Our Minivan

We haven't been up to much lately. I did go to the doc on Monday for fetal monitoring and the biophysical test. The girls were stubborn for fetal monitoring, the tech had a hard time locating their heartbeats, then they wouldn't stay consistent on the monitor. The boy did great, quickly. I was a bit worried that the doc would send me off to the hospital, because last week the tech read the results and moved me on to the next room. This time she said, "I'll let dr. take a look at this and I'll be back." But I guess everything was fine. The biophysical exam went well too. All three babies scored a 10 out of 10 again. 

Monday night we all met up with some teachers and their families for dinner at Portillo's. Bridget had fun playing with friends Elaina and Ryan, and she got to meet new baby Alyssa. I got to catch up with a few math teachers. It was fun.

Tuesday, Auntie Anna spent the whole day with Bridget. They had lots of fun playing dollhouse, reading books, finding hidden pictures and playing I-Spy. Grandma Kathie also stopped by for a quick visit. Then Grandma drove Shawn to Car Max (finally!) where Shawn (finally!) purchased our new minivan. We ended up with a black 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. It's pretty nice. It has stow and go seating for both the 2nd and 3rd rows. Bucket seats in the 2nd row, bench seat in the back. Dual power sliding doors, and a power hatch. It should fit all four car seats comfortably, though we haven't installed all of them yet. 

After dinner Tuesday night, Shawn, Anna, Bridget and I all took the new wheels out for a spin and we ended up at Target at Bridget's suggestion. Shawn had a grand old time making fun of me because I took one of those scooter things for a spin around the store. That was the best shopping trip I've had in months! After making our purchases, Anna and I got a cup of coffee, and Bridget put the charm on the employees and ended up with a free cookie and cup of milk. She was worn out though, and she had no problem falling asleep in the new van on the way home.

Yeay! She pooped on the potty!

Finally, the day has arrived...Bridget pooped on the potty! I could tell she was trying to push 'em out, so Shawn and I coaxed her to the bathroom. She ran to the bathroom without much fuss, which is good, because the past several times she started to poop, she screamed about going into the bathroom and screamed even more when we put her on the potty. So today, Shawn took her in, and remained calm with her. She did fuss a bit because she had a hard poop, but she survived. There was no mess in her pants either. Yeay! She did have two accidents in the afternoon. One was pretty blatant, the other happened when she was on her top bunk during nap time, she tried to get down and go potty, but had the accident at the bottom of the ladder. So today was a very good day. She's been doing very well. I think she told us she had to go 6 times today, yet another improvement.

Thanksgiving morning I'm going for fetal monitoring at St. Joe's because the doctor's office is closed Thursday and Friday. The test will be done in the Labor and Delivery ward. I think Shawn and Bridget are going to come with. I want Bridget to see the hospital before I'm actually admitted so that she's not afraid. I'm going to see if they will give us a little tour of the nursery and NICU as well. I just hope that the babies pass the test so that I'm not admitted that morning. That would stink!

Shawn keeps thinking it will be another 2-3 weeks, and I'm thinking it will be shortly after Thanksgiving. My blood pressure was high (for me) at my last visit and the dr. realized that one girl is always sleeping during fetal monitoring. She'll wake up when stimulated, but I got the impression that he's keeping a close eye on her. 

I'm at the point where I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. I've been sleeping the days away.  Some days I'm napping 5 hours! This is in addition to a good 8-10 hours sleep overnight. Poor Bridget has been spending her days playing on her own, and I'm grateful that she's content to do this. I think it's wearing on her though. Today, all she wanted to do was cuddle up with Shawn and I. We got lots of hugs and kisses today.  Shawn gave her a little pep talk about the babies and how Bridget will have to share us with the babies, but no matter what we will always love her. It was very cute. 

Ok, that's it for today.

Thanksgiving Luncheon

Today was Bridget's Thanksgiving Luncheon at her school.  "Ugh" is about all I can say! We were running a bit behind schedule, so we were rushing to get her bathed, dressed and ready to go. Bridget didn't like being rushed. She was screaming and throwing tantrums about every last little thing. We got out of the house at 10:55 and the program started at 11.

On the car ride over, Bridget stopped crying and was getting in a good mood. We all played "I Spy" in the car. Once at school and in her classroom, her mood flipped again. She was shy and didn't want to cooperate at all. She didn't want to play with her friends, she wouldn't talk to her teachers or anything! The children had prepared two Thanksgiving songs to perform for the parents. This probably being Bridget's last school event until she gets into a regular preschool, Shawn and I were excited to see her perform. Instead, she wanted to cry and hang onto Mom or Dad's legs. It was very frustrating. At least she wasn't the only one crying. One other boy was acting up too. 

So then it was time for lunch. Bridget refused to wash her hands like all the other children. Shawn and I were about to just leave because she was crying, stomping her feet, and being defiant. Finally, she washed her hands and sat down to lunch. 

Bridget did eat a good lunch, and her mood improved....momentarily. Then we had to go. Now she's throwing a fit because she didn't want to leave. So Shawn swept her up, and we thanked the teachers, and high-tailed it out of there. 

There are a few photos and video from the event posted on My Mobile Me gallery. (Click the link at the right.) The one 4 second video was an accident. I forgot to switch the camera to photo mode. But I still uploaded the video so you can see 4 seconds of her tantrum! There's also a new video of our latest ultrasound. It is not very good. All babies were facing away from the camera. But very briefly you can see baby C (boy) and baby B (girl). The entire video is 1 minute 40 seconds long. 

Potty Training Update: We haven't given in. Her butt hasn't been in a diaper for a week now. Overnights are good. She did wet the bed last night, but that was the first time she's done that. Yesterday was her worst day yet. I think she had 5-6 accidents! I think she's being defiant towards me because she wants to play with me and I'm always sleeping or I tell her I can't play on the floor with her, or she's too rough around me, etc. Today has been a good day, with only a poop accident so far. I just hope she'd master this soon because Shawn and I are both tired of cleaning dirty underpants. 

Fantastic News!

Great news all around today...

...Bridget's potty training is going well. Only 1 accident today. She pooped in her pants (on Shawn's watch..hee-hee!) She's still not taking the initiative to tell us when she needs to go. We've been making her try about every hour and a half. She's been dry overnight since the beginning. That's fantastic! We're very proud of her. Make sure when you see her you tell her how proud you are of her. She really likes that she's "almost a big girl now."

...Had a visit with the specialist today. Shawn and I were both a bit nervous because the specialist is very thorough, and if the slightest thing were wrong, he'd be the one to tell us so. I had 3 different exams in 3 different rooms in under 2 hours, so it was quite a marathon visit. 

...Room #1: Ultrasound. The ultrasound tech measured bones, head, etc., checked out the organs and ran the numbers to give us an approximate weight for each baby. The girls are weighing in at about 4 lbs. 1 oz, 4 lbs. 4 oz, and the boy is weighing in at a hefty 4 lbs. 9 oz. I'm at 32 weeks now, and they've been telling us since 28 weeks that the babies growth should start to slow down the rest of the pregnancy as the babies start competing for space. Well, all three are still measuring average compared to singleton babies. YEAY! That's really great news. When the dr. came in to check the babies out, he thought he'd be the jokester today. He said, "Babies 1, 2, and 3 look great, but I just can't seem to find baby 4." Ha-ha dude! Not funny! Then he checked my cervix and said, "Doesn't look like anything's happening with you. You may just have 40 week triplets  going on here!" Yah, again, not funny dude! But it didn't stop Shawn from chiming in, "Only 2 more months to go, honey." Why do men think they can say things like that? It's not like they've ever been pregnant! Oh yah, all three babies are lined up like little soldiers. Their heads are up and their feet are down (all breech). This showed some major movement in the past month. They are no longer in a triangular shape. This also explains why the majority of the movement that I feel is in my lower belly. There are 6 feet kicking me in roughly the same spot. Also, lucky me, all three of their butts are resting comfortably on my bladder. 

...Room #2: Fetal Monitoring/Non-Stress Test. Very boring. Uneventful. What the tech is looking for is that the babies heart rate varies in response to its own movements (or my movements). Shawn thought playing games on his cell phone was more entertaining than talking to me, so I was bored to tears the entire time. 

...Room #3: Biophysical Exam: This was a new test for me. The tech explained that it's kinda like a pre-Apgar test. There are 5 things they are looking for, each worth 2 points. So each baby gets a score out of ten. This was a very quick exam, done by ultrasound. BTW, I should have bought stock in ultrasound gel, because I swear I've been through a few cases of the stuff the past 7 months. Anyway, I only remember 2 of the things they looked at: amniotic fluid level and indication of "fetal breathing". All three babies were showing signs that they are practicing their fetal breathing. Of course, they're not breathing like we breathe, but there's this little movement that can be seen, and babies that do this earn their 2 points. The technician said that it's almost unheard of for 32 week babies to be showing signs of fetal breathing, and all three of mine were, so that was outstanding! My little over-achievers, I'm so proud of them for being at the head of their class before they're even born! When all was said and done, all three babies scored a 10 out of 10 on this exam. Yipee!

So that was it for the doctor. The routine from here on out will be that I see the specialist every Monday for the fetal monitoring and biophysical exam, and I see my regular doctor at the end of the week for fetal monitoring. If any of the exams show signs of distress or if I go into labor naturally, then the little ones will be born. So basically, it's a wait and see what happens game from here on out. 

After that, we picked up Bridget from Grandma Joan's house. I asked Shawn for a little help getting out of the car, and ya know what he said? "You're not crippled." And he didn't help me out. What a jerk! I know he was extremely happy to have just gotten such good news, but that's no excuse!

It sounded like Bridget had a great afternoon with Grandma Joan. She took a 2 hour nap. Now, why won't she take a nap at her own house? She ate a great lunch. She found hidden pictures in her magazine. She colored and made a Thanksgiving picture for grandma. And, she went potty without any accidents.

Next up, the three of us headed to Aunt Mary's house for pizza. That was a lot of fun. Mary gave us some preemie hats and bibs, and Bridget had a blast putting all the gear on her stuffed animal named Super Dog. Bridget also ate a bunch of deep dish pizza, probably 3/4 of a whole slice all by herself! She got a bit crabby near the end of the visit, and she threw a tantrum because we wouldn't let her play with scissors, but other than that, it was a very nice visit. Aunt Mary also gave us a huge basket-o-baby-stuff. Pj's, swaddling blankets, onesies, burp cloths, bedtime blankies and preemie diapers. The outfits were very cute, and I'm sure we'll be bringing them to the hospital with us.

After that, Shawn stopped at Frye's to pick up memory for his new work computer, then we finally made it home by about 9 pm. What a long day, but also what a great day. It's looking like the triplets really have a shot at avoiding the NICU and coming home with us by the time I'm discharged from the hospital! 

Potty Training Day 3

Ok, so yesterday, Bridget had one more accident later in the afternoon. She stayed dry all through the night again. WOW! I can't believe it. The last issue is trying to get her to poop on the potty.

Today was a great potty day. She went to school today, and had just one accident, which to no surprise, was a poop accident. Now, we're 2 hours from bedtime and hopefully the tally will remain at one accident today. Definitely improvement. Now, supposedly, she's to be potty trained in 3 days, so I'm hoping tomorrow's accident tally is zero.

Shawn's bowling tonight, so it's just B and I for the rest of the night. It's really hard for me to do anything with her. I'm really tired all the time, and my hips and back hurt when I walk around. My muscles are non-existent from the lack of movement and I'm basically uncomfortable all the time. The absolute worst thing is overnight my right hand goes numb to the point where it hurts and wakes me up. I can usually make it to about 2 am without pain, but then after that, I'm up every hour shaking out my arm until the circulation comes back. Last night was really bad. I was up every 45 minutes for several hours. The last time I was up it took over 20 minutes to get the feeling back in my hand. I couldn't move my fingers and it hurt really bad. If there's any bright side, then it's that this only happens overnight. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep at night doesn't do much for my attitude throughout the day.

So, I have 2 hours to entertain Bridget before her bedtime. We've already read a long Disney book and played with some magnets. I think I'll have her listen to her 2 library books & CD's, then we'll probably color a bit then start her bedtime routine. 

---Update---

She ended up listening to her library books, then we played with her dollhouse for awhile. Then bedtime. Of course, she had to be a pain in the bottom when Shawn's not around. She was out of bed 4 times. "I gotta go potty." Ok, so she sits on the potty and does nothing, she just wanted to delay bedtime. Then it was, "I want a drink of water." So I got her a sip of water. Then it was, "I'm hungry." which I usually just ignore, but this time she was crying so much and holding her belly, that I actually believed her. So I gave her some fruit snacks. Finally, she says, "I hear a noise in my room." So I ask what kind of noise? "The noise of a digger." What?!? I'm sure it was a car passing by, but I had forgotten to turn on her bedtime music, so maybe that's what she really wanted. So I put her bedtime music on, gave her a stern warning that it's bedtime, and she's not to get out of bed unless she has to use the potty, and there's no more crying and screaming. That worked.

Whew! Then I pretty much passed out on the couch. 

Potty Training in Progress

Well, yesterday we tackled Day 1 of the 3 day potty training boot camp. We began the day by Bridget throwing out all of her pull-ups. She fought it at first, actually crying about having to throw out her diapers. I had to first put her in underpants, then she was willing to throw them out. Overall, Bridget did very well. She liked wearing her Elmo underwear. We made it all the way until about 1 pm without incident. At 1 I asked her if she needed to use the potty. She said no, then proceeded to pee in her underwear. So we ran to the potty, and I stuck her on the toilet and tried to get her to finish on the potty. Within the half hour, she also pooped in her pants. 

After that, she went on the potty and stayed dry the rest of the night. So part of the boot camp plan is that there's no diapers from this point forward...not even at night. So we were interested to see how this first night would go. 

Step 1: No drinks 2 hours before bed. Done.

Step 2: Go potty right before bed. Done, she went.

Step 3: Get Bridget out of bed 30 minutes later so that she understands that she's allowed to get out of bed overnight to go potty. Done, she was try and she tried to go.

Step 4: Put Bridget on the potty when we go to bed. Done, she was still dry. She tried but didn't go.

Step 5: Wake Bridget up shortly before her normal time and have her go. Done, she was still dry, and she went potty! This happened at about 6 am.

Step 6: When she wakes up have her go again. Done, she went! This was about 9 am. She usually wakes up at 7 am, but must have been extra tired from us waking her up so much. 

So now we're half-way through Day 2. I was hoping there would be no accidents, or at least an improvement from yesterday's 2 accidents. Nope!  Almost the exact same thing that happened yesterday happened today. Bridget had cereal and juice at about 10 am. When she finished, I asked her if she wanted to use the potty. She said no. A few minutes later, she looked at me and started peeing. So I snatched her up and ran her to the potty. She did hold it, and finished on the potty. So that was an improvement. Within a half hour, and AFTER she was showered and dressed in clean clothes, she pooped in her pants. 

Today's focus is getting her to take the initiative instead of me saying, "Do you have to go?" or "Let's try going potty." We'll see how the rest of the day goes. Both Shawn and I are very proud of our big girl!

Pizza Party at Grandma's

Bridget spent Saturday night at Grandma Kathie's house. Sounds like she had lots of fun. They went to the mall, and Grandma bought her a little Dumbo doll from the Disney store. (Bridget will tell you, "Grandma Kaffie buyed me a Dumbo doll from the Disney Store at the mall.") Then they went to see the "2" movie. That's what Bridget calls Madagascar 2. Which makes sense, because she sees the signs and advertisements for the movie everywhere, and she can't read, but she does recognize numbers. Bridget said that she enjoyed the movie. I know they read lots of books at Grandma's house too. I guess she had difficulty sleeping, and she only ended up sleeping from midnight to 4 am. 

Shawn picked her up around noon today, and she fell asleep in the car just blocks from Grandma's house. She slept the whole way home, then slept for another 30-45 minutes at our house, then the three of us headed back to Burbank to visit Grandma Joan. She slept all the way there too. So that was good, because she was in good spirits when we got there. Tina's family and Sandy's family were also there. Bridget had lots of fun playing with her cousins. Kaitlyn and Bridget did lots of pretend play. They were running from a monster (Morgan), eating  pretend food, capturing cars and playing lots of imaginative games. Morgan and her baby mullet, basically ran around the house chasing after the two bigger girls. Ann, still a bit sick, just hung out with mom, dad, or anyone who would play quietly with her. 

Of course, we never visit Grandma Joan without ordering pizza, so when dinner rolled around, we had our usual Phil's Pizza Party. Seriously, this is the best pizza in all of Chicagoland. I highly recommend trying a cheese & sausage Phil's pizza. While waiting for our pizza, we got the girls to sit down and eat. By the time they were done, the pizza was ready, so we cleared out the girls and it was the adult's turn to eat at the table. Overall, it was a very nice visit. 

Shortly after dinner, the house cleared out. Shawn, Bridget and I stayed a bit longer because Grandma Joan sewed up three things for us. When we left, we took the long way home in hopes that Bridget would fall asleep again, but that didn't happen. She was very chatty the whole way home. However, she was in bed by 8 pm, and didn't wake up until after 8 am Monday. 

Can't do anything and it stinks!

It seems like overnight I've gone from being able to do about anything, just at a slower pace to not being able to do anything at all. It's crazy! I guess I shouldn't complain, because tons of women pregnant with triplets are put on bed rest, or even hospitalized sometime along the way, and so far, I'm still officially on "house rest" which basically means, "do what you can and rest when you need to." 

I think I'd welcome bed rest though. When I stand for more than a few minutes, my back hurts. I can't walk around much anymore. Trying to get off the couch or out of bed takes longer every day. Even just sitting down, my heart will start to race for no reason (well, maybe it's the babies positions.) 

Overall, I know it's best that the babies continue to grow for at least another few weeks, but boy will I be glad when they come out! 

-----

Bridget and I are starting to work on Thanksgiving arts & crafts projects. I printed out several things from the internet, and we're focusing on coloring, learning to cut, and learning how to use regular white glue. Today she colored parts to a pilgrim bear, I cut them out b/c we were short on time, and she glued the parts together. It turned out really cute. 

Of course, she didn't nap at all, and today it really hurt her. She was a big, crying, whining, crabby pants from about 4-6 pm. She was SO tired that she was throwing a tantrum about everything. If she said she wanted to wear her gold shoes, and we helped her put her gold shoes on, she'd cry that she didn't want gold shoes. Maybe she was such a pain during this time because Shawn and I were doing a little work in the babies' room. Shawn set up the crib (FINALLY!), I cleaned out the closet and put the linens on the crib. The closet-cleaning just involved breaking down all the boxes from toys that we were storing in there. Bridget would bring me a box, and I'd fold it down, then Bridget would bring it to her new room where Shawn would store it away in her new closet. We still have a little bit more to do before the room will be ready to go, but we're getting there. Their newborn clothes are in the drawer-yah, we only have one drawer of newborn clothes so far. There are newborn diapers in the diaper stacker. But there's still a few baskets and boxes of stuff that needs to find a home. There's also a ton of stuff in the garage that needs to be brought in, wiped down and disinfected or washed before the babies come home. 

We babysat Allison tonight so that Matthew could go to a program at his park district. Fortunately, Bridget decided to behave like an angel while we were there. Allison was in an "I don't like Auntie Arlene" mood, so Shawn was her buddy. Bridget and Allison played quite nicely together. They're into having tea parties. How do girls learn those things? I've never had a tea party around Bridget. I've never played "tea party" with Bridget. Yet, she knows what a tea party is. Weird. Anyway, Allison went to bed by 8, Bridget was an angel and picked up all the toys they had pulled out, and she read books, did puzzles and laid down until Auntie Jo came back home around 9. Bridget was asleep in the car before we pulled out of Joann's subdivision. Sweet!

Worst Doctor's Visit Ever!

First of all, yesterday was a really bad day. I can't do much of anything, yet Shawn decided to work at the library and leave me with Bridget. It's kinda hard to watch her and take care of her when I'm falling asleep every two hours! She deserves better care. I let her watch E.T. while I took my first nap. I think she was in her room for mandatory rest time when I took my second nap. She got herself into quite a bit of trouble during that time too. When I woke up, she was about to color all over her shirt with a dry erase marker and dry erase doesn't wash out of clothes. She didn't nap, and her room was a mess. Shawn was with her when I took my third nap of the day. I don't know why I was so tired. Maybe because I was trying to do laundry, but I didn't think I was particularly overdoing things then. I guess I'm just at the point where I can't do much of anything anymore. Also, I was having difficulty breathing because the babies are getting so big, and it's just really hard to take a nice deep breath with their 9 lbs. laying on my diaphram. Then overnight, I woke up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, and couldn't get back to sleep.  I tried surfing the net to tire me out. I tried sleeping on the couch, but that was too uncomfortable, so I headed back to bed. Bad idea...Shawn won't wear his mask, and would much rather keep me up with his snoring, so I made him go sleep on the couch after listening to him for another hour or so. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep overnight, and I had an early doctor's appointment today.

So, I headed to the worst doctor's visit ever! I knew it was going to take longer than Monday, because they told me Monday, that I'd be at the other office, and they don't usually do the non-stress tests there. Also, I'm always called back to the room in less than 5 minutes after arriving, and today it took almost 20 minutes to get called back. Oh no, this isn't looking too good!

So the nurse from the "old" office was at the "new" office, which was nice, and the first thing she tells me is that the fetal monitoring machine was really old, and Dr. had told her "Good luck" with hooking me up to it. Oh yeay! I'm already crabby and tired from being 10 months pregnant with no sleep, and I'm not looking forward to the rest of my morning. Anyway, the nurse hooks the first baby girl up to the monitor and says, "the good news is that you only have to stay on for 10 minutes per baby." Great! First good news I've heard. So my 10 minutes goes by as I count the ceiling tiles and spots on the walls, and the nurse returns. Asks if everything is ok, I say yah. She says the dr. will be in to check the print-out. Two seconds before the dr. comes in, the machine beeps, and I could tell that it ran out of paper. I tell the dr. this, and he does nothing. Another billion years passes by, and the nurse comes in and says, dr. wanted me to stay on a bit longer. Ok fine. I tell her that all this time there was no paper in the machine. Enter doctor. Nurse puts me in the middle of their bickering about why dr. didn't replace paper. Wonderful!

Ok, the first baby takes well over an hour before the dr. is satisfied with the results. (He is the more thorough doctor, which is good I suppose...sometimes!) During that time I thought I was going to pass out, because I was laying on my back, and I can't do that anymore. I was about to push the emergency button when the nurse came in, saw me sweating and asked if everything was ok. "Heck no!" I said. I told her I was burning up, it was so hot in the room. I told her I can't stay on my back that long and I was really uncomfortable. So she got me another pillow, propped me up a whole lot more, and brought me some water. Almost immediately I felt better.

Next up was the baby boy. He was the scary one. The nurse couldn't find his heartbeat with the monitor. Even though I felt him kick at least once while she was trying to find the heartbeat, you start second-guessing yourself. Maybe that was the girl's feet that I felt kick and not the boy? So she leaves to get the dr. and the ultrasound machine. Now this just brings back memories of the October when the dr. wheeled in the ultrasound machine to confirm that I had a late term miscarriage. Then I felt another kick. That had to be the boy, right? So dr. does his ultrasound magic, and as it turns out, the boy's heartbeat is way on the side of my belly-directly below my armpit and ribcage. He moved WAY over, and the docs have been saying that they'll pretty much stay put from here on out because they're running out of room. So that was a surprise. I still can't visualize how he's sitting in there because it doesn't seem physically possible for his head, butt and heart to be where the dr. said...but that's how it is, I guess.

Alright, so the main drama is over. His monitor is on. Everyone leaves me be to count the number of tears in the wallpaper. I'm watching the print-out and to me it looks worse than the girl's. His heartbeat seems to be all over the place, and now I'm getting worried that he's going to send me off to St. Joe's to deliver these babies, and I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet. Only 10 minutes goes by, and the dr. comes in and says, "I like this baby. You're done. We're moving on to the last baby." What!?! Shows how much I know about the monitor!

So the other baby girl was easy to find because when dr. had the ultrasound out, he located her heart, and put a little smiley face on my belly to mark her position. I'm feeling much better at this point, the end is near, and I don't feel like I'm going to pass out or anything. Well, baby girl #2's print-out looked the same and baby girl #1's print-out, and that means I'm going to be there for awhile. Sure enough, she was monitored for over an hour as well. But I survived. And the dr. and nurse were being quite friendly because they knew it was frustrating and uncomfortable for me, so at least that part was good. 

Summary: all three babies heartbeats were mainly in the upper 140's and low 150's. The girls were very consistent, didn't vary too much. The boy had lots of variation where he spiked as high as about 165 and as low as 125. Don't know what that all means, but my guess is they like to see that variation. 

After that, I had my progesterone shot to prevent pre-term labor. Then they had forgotten to take my weight at the beginning so I had to go do that too. I was surprised that I only gained one lb. in 10 days. I feel as though I've gained 10 lbs. in 10 days! Oh yah, my blood pressure was elevated for the first time. I'm supposed to rest more. I almost asked for that in writing because I knew Shawn wouldn't believe it. Sure enough, when I got home and told him that, he says I do nothing as it is.  I guess being Bridget's primary care provider for at least 9 hours a day requires that I "do nothing." I really wish men could be pregnant for one day of their lives-maybe then they'd understand. 

Now keep in mind as you read the next paragraph that if I'm on my feet for more than a minute or two, or walking more than a few steps, it totally wears me out because of the babies sizes and positions. It's similar to any one of you running a quarter mile as fast as you can.

Shawn bowled tonight, so again, I "did nothing" but made and fed Bridget dinner, loaded our dirty dishes into the dishwasher, got her three refills on her drink, got her a snack later, read books to her, played Play-doh, colored with her, put away some stuff from the prior shopping trips, fought the bedtime routine with her. Changed her diaper, got her changed into her pj's, helped her to brush her teeth, got her to clean up the toys in her room, put away a basket of her laundry, read her a bedtime story, tucked her in, and said good-night. Then I finally got to lay down after 8 pm.

Bridget's teacher wrote on her daily report that Bridget told her that her sisters' names were going to be Holly Kate, and Ruler Mint and her brother's name was going to be Tape. Gotta love her mind! 

Also, next time you see Bridget, ask her what E.T. was about. She does a pretty good job explaining the plot of the story. My favorite part of her rendition is that E.T. was laying on the table, and his heart glowed, and it was red in his belly, and when the doctors take the babies out of Mommy's belly with scissors and knives that's what her belly is going to look like. Where does she come up with this stuff? To prepare her for my being in the hospital, I have told her that the doctors are going to operate on me and take the babies out of my belly, but I've certainly never mentioned scissors or knives! She was pretty cute too, at the end of the movie when E.T. was "being sick" she was all nervous and crying and that reminded me of Ryan's story watching E.T. Ryan said his allergies were acting up during that scene. Bridget was very happy when his heart glowed and he "got better" after that. 

Let the Fetal Monitoring Begin!

Well, we had our (I had my) first fetal monitoring appointment today at 30 weeks pregnant and both Shawn and I were a bit nervous. However, everyone is still doing well. I was a bit bummed to find out that I couldn't just sit down and read while the monitors were on.  I had to lay on the table and push a button every time a baby moved, and sometimes I had to hold the monitors down if the baby's heartbeat went out...so no free hands to read a book. The whole thing took just over an hour, which was good because we were told to expect to be there for an hour and a half. They were able to monitor two babies at once, then the third got monitored on its own. From what I could tell, all three heartbeats were mainly in the mid 140's, and they went up and down a bit from there whenever they moved around. Baby C (the boy) was the most uncooperative. His heartbeat would go in and out, no because of any trouble, but because he kept moving away from the monitor. The doctor was very impressed with all the babies. He said he wouldn't want me to deliver today, but if I did, chances are everything would be fine. The babies are getting big (probably about 3 lbs. each), and their heartbeats are strong. He said I'm carrying them well and hopes that continues for at least a few more weeks. We'll see! Same drill on Thursday.

Other than that, when Bridget came home from school, we had yummy burgers on the grill, thanks to Shawn and the nice weather. Then Bridget and I did a few pages in her Hidden Pictures Playground magazine that came in the mail today. She also did a page or two with Shawn. She played awhile with Shawn, then it was toothbrushing, story time, and bedtime.