Bloodwork

I have been feeling extremely tired lately and it seems to get a little worse each day. So, I finally called the doctor just to let them know. I feel strange whining about this as I was sure it could just be chalked up to the triplets! But they did send me in to the lab for bloodwork yesterday.

I had the one hour glucose tolerance test and PASSED!! Yay! And my thyroid level was fine. Which is great because I am on a hefty dose of Synthroid. But the CBC came back showing me as being extremely anemic! Hemoglobin was 9.0! No wonder I have been sooo freakin tired! I will start extra iron pills today. I already feel better knowing that I am not crazy. And a little extra iron will hopefully cure my inability to lift my head off of my pillow! I think this calls for a good juicy steak for dinner, don't you?

I had a bad day yesterday with the really disgusting glucose drink to start it off. I came out of the lab to find a note on my car that there was a screw in my right front tire. And when I headed to pick up some lunch, I realized I had left my credit card somewhere this week. UGH. But things are looking up. I didn't puke up the drink, Peter is getting the tire fixed and oil changed in the car today, and they had kept my credit card for me so I just had to stop in and pick it up. Let's hope for a MUCH better weekend. I am looking forward to not road-tripping anywhere and just being at home with my husband for a couple of days.

Very uncomfortable today. VERY. I feel some contractions, but they are spread out throughout the day. I just feel like I can't sit or lay or stand in any comfy positions. Ugh. Daddy thought this picture maybe showed the belly bump a bit better. I don't know - I am WAY bigger than I can seem to capture in a photo. We are still hanging in here!!

Watch out - here WE are!

26 weeks!!!!!

We enjoyed the last Hoorah!!

We had a blast in Orlando. The babies had their first character breakfast with Minnie, Goofy and Donald at the beach club. They don't know it yet, but I will sure tell them about it someday! Really pregnant ladies get a LOT of attention at Disney, so that was kind of fun. But it was wonderful to just chill out with the family by the pool and relax away from home. I was equally as happy to get home and sleep in my own bed, and stayed in it until 10:30 this morning. That is some kind of record for the books!!

We seem to have breezed through to 26 weeks already. It's amazing. I don't have anything else planned, and I am afraid the next 6 weeks or so may start to DRAG. I am noticing more discomfort every day. I am very out of breath and exhausted. Lots of pressure on my belly and cramps in my legs. It's all starting to feel like I am actually full of babies and my body is quite strained. But - I wouldn't expect anything different! We are very happy and blessed to not be in the hospital or on bedrest.

I had fun showing daddy the gifts we have gotten while he was gone. We are constantly amazed by the generosity of our family and friends. I can't stop rearranging things and trying to figure out a place to keep all of our baby gear. I can't imagine how crowded it will be when we actually have three crying little kiddos living here with us. I can't wait!

I was excited to find out today that I won a giveaway in my friend's Etsy shop today! Her stuff is so soft and amazing. I can't wait for Pete to get home and help me pick out some great stuff!

Check it out... http://www.etsy.com/shop/sassycookie

just so you know

Lately, I have been talking to people about our decision to deliver in St Pete instead of here in town. My OBGYN referred me to the high risk group up there and it was a no brainer for us really. They deliver multiples often including the recent set of sextuplets. I think they are very attentive to us and the staff is great! And it's only a 40 minute drive from our house. We have been asked many questions about the NICU as well. And although we toured the place and met a lot of nurses, I don't remember all the details. I just know it is HUGE. The labor and delivery unit is brand new, opening it's doors in January. But the staff has been working together in it's old location up until they moved the unit across the street into the children's hospital this year. The equpiment is all state of the art. And the nurses and staff were able to have input into the design and family centered features in the new facility. So it's very comfy and a happy place! So tonight I looked online to find out the NICU 'facts' for my friends. It is a 97 bed NICU. That's right NINETY SEVEN! It is ranked as the top children's hospital here in Florida. They specialize in multiples, extremely premature and very low birthweight infants. So never fear, I think we chose a competent place to have our babies. :)

Our last 'Hoorah!;

I am headed to Orlando with my mother in law tomorrow to meet Peter at the resort where he has been in meetings all week. His parents and sister and husband will be there also. It is going to be our LAST family weekend without babies. My sister in law is almost full term with her first baby! So, it will be very low key and relaxing. I don't know what happened this week? But I am suddenly REALLY pregnant. I am having a really hard time doing anything other than waddling around the house. Lots of pressure, shortness of breath, and swollen feet at the end of the day. I will be happy to park my rear near the pool and let my hubby take care of me this weekend!

We are amazingly ready in the gear department for these babies. Everywhere you look there is some kind of baby related item. I am feeling pretty organized for right now. We will see how long that lasts! We only have one room that is an explosion of stored 'stuff' that we won't need for months to come. So now it's diaper time! We need diapers!!! We have been told to have 30 diapers a day to be prepared. And 31 diapers come in a preemie pack. We have a handfull of diapers in each of the smaller sizes. But we need a LOT more! I have gathered a pile of coupons and hope to be bringing home lots of them in the coming weeks.

"babies" shower

A few shower pictures!

A very happy mommy!

The appointment went GREAT. Tyler is TWO POUNDS already. What a little porker! And Thomas and Reagan are both above average at 1 pound 10 ounces and 1 pound 11 ounces. I am SO excited for them being chunky! Every little bit helps. The babies have actually gained more weight than I have in the past month. Go figure! But, I am told this is not a problem at all. They are growing and that is all that matters right now.

TMI for some of you.... But my cervix is also being a rock star and holding strong and long at almost 5 cm. I guess this is some sort of miraculous achievement. And I am able to stop the meds I have taken for the past 10 weeks to keep the contractions down. Wow, huh?


We go back May 4th and will then be seen every week until the babies are born. It is now flying by so fast! I can't believe it. We were able to meet up with a triplet mom I met online today. I got a good peek at her little babies and they are ADORABLE! And she passed along some GREAT preemie clothes for us to use when our babies arrive. We are SO grateful. Thank you so much Barbie!!!!!

Life is good today...

getting settled

It has been fun unpacking the truck full of baby shower goodies. It was a wonderful day! I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our friends and family. We have some CUTE stuff!! And daddy is working hard to just 'put things together'! We kind of want to get things built and pushed out of the way so we aren't scrambling to do that while we have 3 babies to take care of. He is getting really good at it! It is fun to see how much faster the third item goes together than the first. We are actually finding places to store everything, but the house is getting much smaller these days!

I am looking forward to an appointment again today to see how these babies are doing. I was VERY sick last week and think I lost some weight. But I am doing well now and daddy is headed out of town for the week. So I can eat whenever I want and try pack on some calories without guilt! I feel them moving as much as before, but I definitely know they are getting bigger and stronger!! It is almost nauseating at times to have three ninja warriors at battle in my body. :)

We are looking forward to our last Wheatley family kidless vacation this weekend. Pete and his dad will be in meetings all week and his mom is picking me up on Friday and we will meet the guys and my sister and brother in law in Orlando. We plan to stay at a nice resort and veg by the pool for a couple of days. Laura is due to deliver our new nephew Colton very soon! So we should be some pregnant sun bathing beauties!!! I can't wait to just get away and relax.

I am officially running out of clothes that fit. So I will be in my jammies for the remainder of my pregnancy. Just be warned!! :)

Sassy Cookie Shop

Hey guys! Check out my friend Judy's awesome Etsy shop. I just got some GREAT stuff from her and can say the burp cloths are AMAZING! So soft and adorable. Check out her blog for a giveaway!!

http://sassycookieshop.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway.html

A great weekend!

Had a WONDERFUL baby shower in Fort Myers. We feel very blessed to have such amazing friends and family supporting us and loving our babies already! Daddy is busy putting together the stroller and 3 high chairs today. I am feeling better after my miserable sinus infection, and am now just chilling with my feet up and taking it all in. Life is good!

TGIF??

OK - I am TRYING to pull myself together today! It is baby shower weekend you know! And we are leaving today for Fort Myers to spend time with Peter's family. His grandparents flew in from Kentucky. And then tomorrow I get to be smiley and happy and get to open presents!! It will be a very fun day. I am just a little, or a LOT under the weather with a sinus infection. So, my temp is back down to 98.8. I had my juice and my drugs. I half-ass shaved my lower legs. And I took the chipped and nasty finger nail polish off my fingers. I am a puffy, pale, sweaty nightmare. And no - there will be no belly shots until I am dressed later this weekend. For now, I am already exhausted and have plopped back in my recliner to let you know how lovely I am feeling today! I have a few hours to get my act together and get packed. But for now, I shall rest.

I had hoped Augmentin would take me away, and it did alright, I just don't know where I am!?!

Ugh.

Can I just say that I am MISERABLE! In every way. Just thought I would let you know.

I am suddenly clueless!

It recently came to my attention that I will need to find a pediatric doctor for these kiddos. And from my friendly neighborhood triplet mom, I was advised to find a doctor that accomodates all three babies in the office at the same time. So, I narrowed my choices down to a couple of offices and called today to find out if they take new patients, and if I could bring them all in at the same time. RESISTANCE!! I don't know if the doctors themselves would consider it, but the secretaries seem to have the rule book open in front of them that clearly states only two children in an exam room at a time. So, I nicely explained a little more clearly how I would need to bring in three even if only two were being seen. And I would not be choosing their practice unless they can see them together as triplets. And they said they would ask and get back to me. Hmmm....noone got back to me. So, hopefully I will feel better today or tomorrow and march my little momminess into their offices to check them out and ask again.

The other interesting thing that I never considered... The babies will be born in a hospital in an entirely different county. The peds doctor we choose will not be able to see them up there. And both offices told me their doctors would come see the babies in the hospital (until I told them where we will deliver). So I just assume one of the bizillion neonatologists takes care of passing along info to the peds doctor when we are discharged? I guess I don't have a clue how this works.

My little 'one week at a time' bubble is about to explode as I am getting closer to the end of this pregnancy adventure and whole lot closer to actually being a mommy and making decisions for these three little monkeys! I ordered Dr Sears preemie book from Amazon today. Maybe it will get my mind geared towards the next chapter in our journey.

karma

I am down in the pit of pollen!! I made the horrible mistake this weekend of bragging that I haven't been sick since I stopped working at 14 weeks. (Well - the puking doesn't count.) But, I survived the winter without a sniffle! And now I have the WORST allergy ridden, sinus infected, scratchy throat, swollen nose, unable to breathe few days of my life. I would give anything to just be able to go back to whining about my sore back and belly.

Augmentin, Benadryl and Claritin to the rescue? Let's hope!

Viability!!

It's the magical 24 weeks.

Showered with LOVE!

I had a fun baby shower yesterday! These babies are definitely well loved already. It is such an amazing thought that so many people in our lives are excited for these little ones. And for right now, I am the only one that gets to really enjoy them and feel them moving around inside of me. It will be such a miracle to introduce them to everyone out here waiting to meet our little munchkins!

Daddy is already becoming a pro at putting together 'gear'. And we are starting to realize how many cases of D batteries we need to get it all up and running. (and then KEEP it running!)

I am SO glad we splurged on the industrial size washer and dryer when our old ones died last year. You can fit a LOT of little baby clothes into one load!! I love it!

The shower wore me out. And I was able to get a good 5 hour stretch of sleep last night without even a potty break! Sleep is a rare luxury for me these days. It is massive insomnia and massive discomfort all night, every night. And I suppose that's not going to get any better!! :)

beautiful hearts!!

The 23 week appointment was a very good one! The babies were very disturbed during their echos. But after quite a bit of manipulating, and lying me flat on my back (ugh) we got to check out every little chamber and view of the hearts. And they were perfect!!! YAY! It was really difficult because Thomas had his leg over Tyler's chest, etc. So there were lots of shadows. And they were SO active that just when you could get a decent view, a baby would decide to completely flip from lying on their back to lying on their stomach. It was funny. They already have a mind of their own!! And ALL THREE babies had their feet way up over their heads and were folded in half. Reagan had the hiccups and was kicking herself in the face. It was just quite a show!!

I am so relieved to know how well they are doing. My mother in law came with me to this appointment and I am so glad she got the chance to be there for such a happy appointment and a fun ultrasound. We go back in 2 weeks again. Time is flying by!

Whoomp there it is.

23 Weeks!!

Grow babies Grow!

I am REALLY looking forward to my appointment on Wednesday. Each one reassures me that they are doing okay. I think this appointment is the detailed check of the heart. We are praying that all is great! I feel a TON of movement from high to low. It's not just kicks, but it is this balled up feeling sometimes or pushing/stretching. I LOVE feeling my babies!

We went to visit some friends at the hospital tonight. They had their new baby boy today! There is nothing more amazing than holding a few hour old baby. He is beautiful! And my prego belly made me look like I definitely belonged there! I had someone tell me like I looked as if I was going to pop at any moment. It is fun to watch the jaw drop when I tell them I am only 23 weeks. LOL Baby Oliver was 8 pounds 4 ounces and I could hardly imagine that my babies will weigh less than half of that. He seemed so small!

The time is really flying by right now. 'I like that!' Each week is a milestone and I am looking forward to being 24 weeks next Monday. The magical 'viability' age for the babies. We just keep praying for the best! And hope they start packing on the weight. I can't wait to meet them!

Car seats!

We attended a car seat class today offered to us by the county. And the result at the end of the class is a carseat for each baby! We had wanted some little cute snugride seats from Babies R Us. But we couldn't pass up this deal!! The state trooper leading the class scared us by telling us three seats would not fit in our car! But after class, she and Pete crawled in the back seat and muscled them in! And they are there to stay!!! They all fit just perfectly and the trooper says they are super safe. And that is what matters. There are no bases, no handles, no cute dangly toys. I guess we are going back to the basics and learning how to carry these babies!!!

After an hour and a half of horrible accident videos and a lecture, daddy and I took several things off of our gift registry! LOL No more glass mirrors, roll up window shades or pillows for the seats! It was an eye opening class and we were brought back to safety over cuteness. :)

Oh - and the REALLY great thing is that they flip to an upright position when facing forward and become a toddler seat to 50 pounds. Cha ching. We took THREE!

Happiness!!

How cute are these chicks? Daddy would like it if I could keep the blog gender neutral as it is as much for our boys as it is for us girls. BUT, this background was too cute to pass up for Easter!

A VERY, very generous friend dropped by with bags of clothes she was ready to pass along from her son. And I can't tell you how grateful we are! I have been resting and lounging and sorting and staring at clothes all day. I still can't imagine MY children wearing these cute clothes. And how much laundry our new family of FIVE is going to cause! It is really hitting me today. THREE BABIES! I can't even wrap my head around it or explain how much my heart is filled up with love and joy. It is a true miracle!!

Belly whines...

The newest symptom that has emerged is the extreme pressure in my belly. I feel like I am bloated and ready to pop anyway, but now have a hard time sitting or laying or standing in one position for more than a few minutes without getting so uncomfortable that I feel I can't breathe. I also don't want ANYTHING to touch my belly. I even find myself lifting my shirt up to let it out!! Weird huh? I hear from other people that I am suddenly growing REALLY fast. I always feel that way. But am justified by hearing it from other people! This discomfort is MUCH, MUCH worse when eating. I get very warm and nauseated from the extremely full feeling I have after eating anything. And any food seems to cause the babies to boogie around and make things a bit worse. It's like being extremely carsick while sitting still in the recliner. I am not saying this is the end of the world. I am just sharing my discomfort!! Once again, I feel like 22 weeks is awfully early to feel this way. I can't imagine what is to come!

8-10 more weeks...wow