Week 28 ~ Milestones and Belly Fun

This week my babies and I reached a few milestones.  The first one is that we reached week 28 and according to experts (and the doctors), the babies, would they to be born now, should be old enough to live without too many complications.  Their lungs should be developed enough so that they could keep growing outside of the womb with assistance until fully developed.  To be honest, it's the first time I can breathe and truly feel happy and blessed about this pregnancy.  Every week from now on is just the toppings on the sundae.  Let's hope I make it all the way to the cherry on top, which for me would be week 34.  So cross your fingers and send some good thoughts to my boys so that they stay in my belly!  Yes, I am getting more and more uncomfortable daily, but I will suck it up and hack it as long as possible to ensure that these babies spend the least amount of time possible in the NICU and so that we can bring them home with us quickly. The second milestone is the weight of the babies... All of my little monkeys, including baby C, are all above 2 lbs this week.  At my latest growth scan, baby C was 2lb 1oz, baby A was 2lb 6oz and baby B, my superstar, was 2lb 8oz.  Baby C is smaller but he's staying just above the minimal growth curve.  Being a math person, I felt comforted when the specialist showed me the max, min and median growth curves so that I could visualize where my babies were situated.  For my math geek friends, you'll understand, for the rest of you, just know that baby C is fine ;).  The doctors are really happy and impressed with my progress.  As anything can change on a dime, I will be having appointments weekly; one week with the specialists and the other with my OBGYN.  So I now have at least 7lbs of baby in my belly, plus all the other stuff that's in there!  My belly is quite heavy and hard to lug around.  I sometimes wish I could just take it off for a few minutes to give myself a break...ha ha!  Sleep... oh what fun sleep is... now that's the time I wish I could put my belly on my night stand until morning.  Once I fall asleep, I guess I snore like a lumberjack but it takes a while to get there... oh well, not too too long to go now, it's not like I'll sleep well again for the next what? year? haha.... I just want to sleep on my tummy again!

I've had a few nice visitors this week, always bringing me treats... Mel and Lisa-May brought me tea and a cupcake and Tracy brought me a great chai latte, a pumpkin muffin and updates on RHS life which I so desperately craved!!!  Thanks ladies, and I would have welcomed you with open arms even without the treats!!!

My mom and I worked hard this week at organizing the room (mostly my mom as I'm useless on my feet), but we had a good time at Wal-Mart...

Yep, that's me in a motorized cart... It was fun, and then embarrassing when I had to back up and a wide load sound started... yeah, didn't have too much fun then...  Here's the view of the closets...

We are ready for them if they come and that makes me happy!


Today, my sister treated me to a belly paint.  Melissa (from Melissa's painting...check her page out on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/MelissasPaint) came over to the house to paint my very pregnant belly.  She did a really good job!

For my three little monkeys! 

With my sis in the baby room

Adorable right?

She said that she had never done monkeys before... you could never tell, I think she did an amazing job!  It's as cute as anything and will give us some good memories!! She's super nice too which helps :)  It took a while, but I was sitting comfortably on my couch while she worked around me like a contortionist to make sure I was always at ease and what a final product!  I'll have more pics in future blogs...

As it is Halloween week, I also had to break out my nifty t-shirt that I got just to wear for the occasion, even thought Gabe tells me that there are only like 5 kids that come trick or treating at our house... sad face...

I won't get to show it off too much, but it's still cute!!!
 I'll pay it forward to another triplet mom for next year! 

Anyways... HURRAY FOR 28 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 27 ~ Nesting and beginning of 3rd trimester

Well I've made it to my third trimester and according to my doctor, I'm measuring as a full term singleton pregnancy, so these next few weeks should be very interesting.  I'm getting more and more uncomfortable by the day, everything is swelling up, even my gums are swollen which is now causing bleeding when I brush my teeth.  Yes people, this is not pretty... haha... My legs cramp up very easily, most likely due to my big belly cutting off circulation to my lower extremities and I must turn over in bed about 10-15 times a night to alleviate and distribute the pain.  I pee 2 - 3 times a night, which is not too bad considering the amount of water I drink...  I can't walk without waddling and my back hurts after 5 minutes of standing up... so yeah, you can say as uncomfortable as a woman in the last stage of her pregnancy.  I, hopefully, still have at least 5 weeks to go, but no more than 10 weeks.  I hope I can last as long as I can so that my babies can come home with me and not have to spend any time in the NICU but who knows?  All I know is that everything is going great so far so I'm hoping it keeps going that way.  My blood pressure is still doing great, so that's good.  I did have a bad sugar test, it showed that I was a little over the blood sugar limit and may be at risk of gestational diabetes (a special diabetes that normally goes away after the babies are born).  I have to go for another test tomorrow to see if it was just a bad test or if I'll have to take measures to correct it. Correcting it normally only requires a change in diet and not insulin (let's hope!).  So I have to go to the blood clinic tomorrow morning (as I have to fast for 8 hours prior), they take a blood test, give me a super sugary drink, wait an hour before they test me again, give me another drink, wait yet another hour and do a final blood test.  So two hours of sitting in a blood clinic waiting room when even sitting on my couch is uncomfortable... I can't wait!!

On Monday this week, my mom and sister came over and we had a cook-off day so that we'd have meals ready to go in the oven when the babies are here because God knows, eating will not be a priority and we would have had a lot of cereal I'm sure!  So here's a picture of what we made:

Lasagnas, Sheppard's Pies, Egg Rolls, Spaghetti.... Good stuff

We had a good time and finished the day with the whole family around that table enjoying some of the fruits of our labour for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Lots of laughs, love and gratefulness...

Yesterday, my in-laws and my sister and her hubby came over to help us start organise the house for the arrival of the babies.  One of the cribs, the changing table, and the closet organiser was all set up in the babies' room by the men.  The re-organisation of the living room and the cleaning up of random junk was handled by the ladies.  The house still looks like a tornado went through it, but little by little we are getting it all ready.  I'm finding it difficult sitting down and directing people as to what to do because being the control freak that I am, I would want to do it all myself, but my sister and mother in law were really thoughtful and were making sure that I was involved in the organising.  My mother is coming over this week and will be helping me continue to get the baby room ready.... can't wait to see it all come together.  My mother came over this morning to see the progress we made and I found her crying in the baby room... When I asked her what was wrong, she looked at me and said that seeing it all come together was making it so much more real... and then we had a little crying moment together, it was sweet...  It IS becoming more real and they'll be here so soon!! The nervousness is slowly ebbing away and making room for my anxiousness to meet them!!  Not too soon though!!!  Stay in my tummy babies, you still need to grow and develop those lungs!!!!

Here is some of what we did:

Living room coming together... Almost no room for Roxy... :(

Baby room coming together....

And here's my very pregnant self:

54" around

Week 26 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving... I had a moment this week where I felt overwhelmed, yet again, and very thankful for people surrounding us during our journey and I will steal the Facebook status I wrote and share it here:

"So I rembember early on in my pregnancy dreaming that Ellen would help us with with the triplets, but little did we know that we had our own Ellens in our own backyard... Rest assured people that when push comes to shove in your life that there are people who would do anything to help you... We don't know what we ever did to deserve such love and support, but to our "Ellens", we thank you.... and words are simply not enough... know that we will pay it forward as much as we can. Gabe and I are truly blessed and we will make sure our sons are the kind of people who are as generous as you all have been..."

We have been given many many things, some have been big, some have been small, but all were from the heart and we couldn't be more appreciative of it ALL.

Some of the things we were given this week were a playpen, 2 big bags of clothes, our triplet stroller and a dishwasher, installed and ready to go... I'm telling you, people's generosity never ends!  The folks who gave us the playpen, upon realizing that the product was discontinued and wouldn't be sold in stores anymore, called around the Toys R Us stores in the region, found a display model in St John, drove to get it in St John, built it that same night in their kitchen and surprised us with it the next day.  The triplet stroller came from a friend who is away who just wishes she could be with us more and is doing as much as she can to help us from away (she doesn't know how much she actually DID help).  The dishwasher comes from people who I've know for about 5 years now and I've always known how very generous these people are and we are just so blessed to have them in our lives.  We were going to get a portable dishwasher because our kitchen countertops are too short to be able to fit a standard dishwasher, but this guy, genius contractor that he is, said that wasn't good enough and is going above and beyond to make sure we have a real dishwasher in our kitchen. Amazing!!  My mom and my sister are coming over today and we're having a cook off... Lasagnas, Spaghetti Sauce, Shepard's pies, and egg rolls.  That way, all we'll have to do, is pop it in the oven and we'll have some good food to eat when the babies are here. I'm telling you guys, we are so well looked after that all we'll have to worry about it making sure these babies get fed and are loved and that, above all, is an amazing feeling.

Gabe spent all weekend removing most of his tools in our house to make room for the babies.  Next weekend, the family is coming over to rearrange the house and to prepare for them to come home as we never know when it could happen. Hopefully not for another 8-10 weeks!!

I had another appointment this week and all babies are doing good :-).  Baby A was 1 lb 11oz, Baby B was my superstar at 1lb 13 oz and Baby C was 1lb 9 oz.  Baby C is my little guy... I think B is eating his food or something!  The doctors aren't worried about the fact that he didn't gain as much as the other ones, but I am a little bit.  Of course, they say that they don't worry from appointment to appointment because it could have been an error in measurement, maybe it was a different nurse who measures differently, etc.  But really, they are all over 1.5 lbs, which is the size singletons are at this stage, so that's good.  I'm pretty sure I measure as a full time pregnancy person now.  I feel like I doubled in size this week... My lower back is a pain in my ass!  I went to the grocery store for 10 minutes and I couldn't even walk anymore so I'm becoming more and more limited in my movements.  Gabe has finally felt the babies move!! Hurray!!  They are coming out of their shells and now the outsiders are seeing them move, which is really cool!  I feel them constantly, they are either moving, kicking or just pushing on my belly.  Sometimes, they are all pushing at the same time and I have a hard time differentiating between Braxton Hicks and just them pushing on me.   But I am certainly enjoying every moment of these miracles growing in my body... that's what it is isn't it?  I am making tiny little humans... incredible...

This week, the babies are supposed to be about the size of zucchinis, hearing more and more and apparently, starting to learn how to blink.  Cute!!

I feel like I've blown up this week! 

Week 25 - Shower Time!

I'm so freakin tired... but what a weekend!  I had my two showers this weekend and what an exciting time! I feel bad for my shower #2 because I think I spent all my energy on Saturday and had none left for Sunday!!

Shower # 1
This was my family and friends shower, there were about 40ish people there!  So many goodies to eat!! Meatballs, rice, cheesecakes, squares, etc... it was quite a lunch! There was a mix of people ranging from friends I've known forever, my sister's friends (who have also become mine through the years), my sister's husband's family, my aunts and cousins, Gabe's family (aunts, cousins, family friends), some of which I only met at the shower for the first time, so it was nice to meet new people.  My father in law and hubby wanted to make sure I was really comfortable so they brought over a lazy boy from the in-law's house so that I could put my feet up which is what I did for the most part.  My mom, my sister, my mother in law and I planned the whole event and I think it went really well.  We got SO MUCH STUFF!! People are just so gosh darn generous, it's crazy!  Some of the stuff we got was pyjamas, onesies, a diaper genie, a changing table topper, tonnes of cool toys, books (French ones finally!! thanks Tan!!),  gift cards, money, and so much more... I just forget, a lot of it was a big blur. I can't wait to show Gabe and actually take it all in.

My mother in law and me

My sis, me and my mother

View of the hall, the gifts, the guests and my huge belly!!
Notice the sign... my hubby crossed out the "a" and put a "3" and added an "s" cutie pie!
We got a lot of cards that got modified grammatically, it was cute and super thoughtful!  

Shower # 2
This was my friends and colleagues party, all planned by my friends Becky, Alicia, Sarah and Pam. Lots of yummy goodies there too... Two cakes (amazing carrot cake and chocolate cake), this awesome dip that I can't even describe to you but I can tell you it had chocolate chips and you can never go wrong with chocolate chips, nanaimo squares, brownies, CANDY, just a bunch of yummy yums!!   It was great to see my girlfriends that I don't get to see all that often anymore.  It made me a bit nostalgic as about half of them I was used to seeing everyday at work and I feel totally out of the loop and makes me miss being at work that much more.  I spent most of the time just sitting back, soaking it all in and enjoying having them around me.  I was spent within the first 1/2 hour, I guess the day before really took a lot out of me, but I still had a really good time.  Don't you always when you're surrounded by people who love you and you love?  Again, I was showered with amazing gifts and generosity.  We got some awesome preemie clothes that the boys will surely need at the hospital or when they just get home from there.  We were also given a video monitor that swivels so that we can spy on all three boys, it's in colour and we can talk to the babies through it!  Gabe tried it the moment I got home from the shower, it's super neat. It even has a little night light on it!

Three "It's a boy" banners welcomed the guests... cute! 

My wonderful friends... xox
The sign says "Week 25"

Anyways, so much love, generosity, support... SO MUCH STUFF!!! My mom is going to come this week to help me sort out what we need right away and what we can put aside for a few months.  That will give me a chance to really look at everything and actually appreciate it without feeling completely overwhelmed and honestly a little guilty about all the stuff we were given.  I know people don't give what they can't afford, but it still made me feel guilty accepting all of it.  Trust me, I normally like being the centre of attention, but this was a little much, even for me.  It was another very humbling weekend.

I also got to spend some time with my book club girls this week.  I think we're on year 5 or 6, no one knows for sure.  All I know is that I would be lost without them...  When I started with them, Sondra was the only one who already had a baby, Claire.  Through the years, our book club meetings became less and less about books (although we always had the best book choices) and more and more about babies and everything surrounding baby making in general.  Our club is special in the way that we've dealt with everything a woman can go through during the baby making process... we dealt with infertility and loss and even through it all, we've been each other's biggest support, knowing that we would be there for one another no matter what.  Some of us had a hard time being part of the club when there was joyous talks of new babies while we were dealing with the negative sides of baby making, but we always came back to each other.  Through the years, we saw the appearance of, in order of their births, Sondra's #2 Wyatt, Kari's Jackson, shortly followed by Becky's Sawyer, Mel's twin girls Leah and Lily shortly followed by Alicia's Alfie, then there was Sarah's Isaac and Kari's #2 Avery and just last week we got our newest addition, Meg's baby girl Mackenzie.  My boys will be next and then who knows?  Our book club family has grown so much in the last 5 years, I can't even imagine what the next 5 will bring us. I'm sure our baby making topics will change to the toddler years and etc...  Our husbands got a little jealous of our monthly meetings I think because they established their own "Thirsty Thursday" tradition, where they also meet once a month at a pub and probably bitch about us! haha...  We certainly bitch about them... I mean... share how much we love them... yes, that's it!  We always have our yearly selections of books, as that's what ultimately brought us together, but it's certainly not what keeps us together... xox ladies...

So the babies are apparently the size of a rutabaga, whatever that is, and are supposed to be about a pound and a half each.  I have another appointment on Wednesday, so we'll see how much they've grown.  I can't wait to see them again!

A little closer view
That's Sarah's little guy Isaac being held by my fiend Shawna :) 

Rutabaga