Down For The Count

(22w5d)
I am down for the count.
For the rest of the pregnancy.
Horizontal.
And surprisingly it isn’t due to contractions.
No, we now have a bigger problem.
Dr. Peri believes I am heading into preeclampsia.
Fabulous.

As a result, I am on bed rest.
And will be monitored twice a week.

Dr. Peri believes my high blood pressure is being partially masked by the P.rocardia I am taking for contractions. The first time I spill trace protein into my urine or if my blood pressure increases further I will be hospitalized.

I have never seen Dr. Peri be so concerned and serious.
According to him, if we still had quints, the pregnancy would be over by now.

As Dr. Peri said, all I can do is what I have been doing… staying down.
Am I scared?
Sure.
But for a woman who is one urine dipstick away from pre-viability hospitalization, I’m doing fine. I can only hope this home confinement bed rest lasts for weeks to come…

Rollercoaster Ride, Anyone?

(22w2d)

See I was feeling quite smug.
I had managed to pull off attending my brother’s wedding.
Pride… always the downfall :-).

Don’t get me wrong.
The wedding itself was fabulous.
The reception, in a lush outdoor setting went off without a hitch.
The bride, as always, was stunning (see picture below if you think I am just blowing smoke). She is a great addition to the family.
Dave managed to get around despite the air cast boot he drags around on his right leg (complete with crutches). Yes, in true David fashion, he managed to rupture his achilles tendon a few weeks ago and then pull the wedding off with utter style.

As for me and the little buggers... All in all it went very well. I rested between the ceremony and the reception and tried to take it easy in general (very difficult for anyone that knows me well!). Some contractions here and there with the increased activity, but nothing to get my panties all in a bunch about.

Sunday morning after breakfast with my Mom and Jen's family, Matt and I headed back to Vegas. I reclined on my left side the whole way and then stayed on the couch the rest of the day just for good measure. I was very, very grateful all had gone well.

And then Monday dawned.
The first thing I noticed when I woke early was that I was contracting.
A lot.

When 11am rolled around and despite being down on the couch all morning and chugging a half-gallon of water, I was still contracting at least 10 times an hour… I contacted the clinic. In my best “I’m-not-really-worried-just-thought-you-should-know” demeanor, I explained the situation to the nurse (I’m sure I was utterly transparent…).

P.rocardia was doubled and I was instructed that if the contractions didn’t drop to less than four an hour I was to come in that afternoon for monitoring. Luckily the increased meds seem to have shut Womb-Thing up for the time being. It probably doesn’t hurt that my now-more-ample-than-ever backside has only left the couch to hit the bathroom and warm up food. Confined to the couch, I am. For now, the contractions seem limited to about once an hour or so. Such numbers do wonders for my sanity.

I have a fetal echocardiogram scheduled for tomorrow and I am hoping to be able to report to Dr. Peri that Womb-Thing is still behaving at that point. I am fantasizing that he will let me try to decrease my dose after a few days of minimal contractions. One can always hope.

Clawing my way towards viability….

Hitched!

Congratulations, Dave and Jessica!

Womb-Thing Down For The Count

(22w0d)
Alpha (the girl) remains the guard at the gate, firmly and consistently stretched out over my cervix. The two boys are now feet-down... on her. Already piling on top of her. Typical boys :-).

My cervix was still long (oh, happy day!)

After complaining explaining that it appears my new inability to sleep lying flat (due to the nasty habit my stomach now has of sending food I ingested... like... EONS ago up into my mouth... quite the wake up call!!) heralds the end of my Second Trimester "Honeymoon" *sigh* (and you ain't never seen a woman soooo happy to have gotten TO such a honeymoon, much less past it...), I went on to explain why I ended up seeing his partner last week.

I was possibly a bit nonchalant about the whole thing (perhaps a little smug since at that point I knew my Cervix of Steel remained firmly entrenched?). See, although the contractions remained very somewhat disconcerting (and when active continue several times an hour), I assumed it was my "new baseline" and I had learned to minimize and live with them. I was just grateful that the frequency had decreased significantly. I figured they were "just" BH contractions, and I hear all the time about women who have BH contractions through their pregnancy and don't have to be medicated. I didn't want to be a freaky pregnant lady (*snort* too late for that!). I clearly had lost sight of the mantras... "triplets are very high risk", and "this is NOT a normal triplet pregnancy".

He said BH are by definition contractions that don't change the cervix, "So unless you are managing to measure your cervix at home in a way I'm not familiar with. Or unless you, like T.om C.ruise, have your own ultrasound machine at home, you can't be sure they are actually BH".

*for a brief second, images of me attempting to... no, never mind. Believe me. It wasn't pretty.

"Ummmm. Good point", I conceded.
Score one for Dr. Peri.

He was happy with my new lack of activity (something about how since the contractions are much worse when I am up and around, the whole "Hey doc, my arm hurts when I do this" thing applies). And still much approves of my daily pool time. Although my cervix hadn't really changed, Dr. Peri wanted to calm down my eager Womb-Thing so that I would be able to tell if things start changing and will know when to call into the office.

He started me on low dose of P.rocardia which we filled ON OUR WAY OUT OF TOWN TO MY BROTHER'S WEDDING!
After nearly 24 hours and a long wedding dinner later.... bingo, bango, bongo... I have had only 2 contractions.

We have the whole fam damily here except... for Dad. He is serving as Mission President for our church and is therefore unable to leave and come to to the wedding :-(. But having everyone else (including nieces and nephews) at the dinner last night meant a good time was had by all... well, except one nephew who hit his head so hard on the wall the sound reverberated through the restaurant :-). It was a raucous good time, Fuhriman-style!

Life couldn't be sweeter.

Hook In Hand

So as promised… an explanation of my new hobby.

See, being neurotic and all… I have been preparing for bed rest in some form for weeks now. You know, collecting books I want to read, uploading DVDs of movies and TV shows to keep me occupied. I also have a few computer projects all ready to work on. But I realized there is only so many hours a day that I will want to lay on the couch staring at the TV. I like to be doing at least two things at once. I used to enjoy cross stiching while watching the boob tube. So I headed out to get some new fabric, thread and maybe a pattern or two to keep at least my fingers from atrophying while I go through my blob phase. While at the craft store it occurred to me… “Why not crochet?” Well the most obvious answer is I have never crocheted before and didn’t know anyone who could teach me. But with the thoughts of hundreds of captive hours ahead of me (and the siren song of this really cool funky yarn), I wasn’t dissuaded. A few beginner books, some hooks and other various thingys along with some cheap practice yarn later, I headed home. Marsha dropped by that night and showed me how to hold the hook and start the yarn.

After a week, I have managed, with the help of two books, to teach myself a few of the major stitches.

I know these don’t look like much, but I am as proud as if I had given birth to them (that is with an extremely short gestation period and virtually no labor pains). These are my practice swatches…

Single Crochet


Double Crochet


Not exactly even on the edges... something I had to practice a few more times before getting right.

It appears I have managed to teach myself how to crochet (kind of)! So off I ran (actually waddled) to the craft store again (yarn 50% off!!!) and I have started an afghan*gasp*. Grandma Day would be proud.

On the whole Womb-Thing front… Things are pretty status quo. Still doing the BH contraction thing but they remain not very intense and essentially only occur when I am up on my feet.

Fingers crossed that Womb-Thing hasn’t talked Cervix of Steel into joining in some lively pre-term activity. Will post tomorrow with Dr. Peri’s verdict whenever my wireless internet decides to cooperate (see… I will be on my way out of town to David's wedding… positive thinking…).

Somewhat Quiet On The Uterine Front

(21w3d)
I have avoided posting for the last few days.
Because (like any infertility veteran) I am feeling a bit superstitious.
I was afraid I would jinx myself.

Last Thursday, Dr. Peri's partner debated whether or not to place me on P.rocardia (which I would be stuck on for the remainder of this crazy pregnancy), or I.ndomethacin which would be a short course (2-3 days at most as it can cause low amniotic fluid levels with prolonged use). He decided on the I.ndomethacin, apparently in an attempt to reset the uterine ticker since the activity started so abruptly. The idea would be that if after the 2-3 day course I continued contracting like a crazy woman, I could then be started on P.rocardia.

But guess what?
*whisper*
It worked!

My last dose was Saturday night.
On Sunday the contractions returned, but not nearly as intense.
Not nearly as frequent.
And 90% of them occurred when I was on my feet.
Unlike the chaos of last Wednesday/Thursday... on Sunday the contractions essentially stopped soon after I became horizontal.

Ah Hah!

So for the last few days I have spent no more than three hours up on my feet (which I spread throughout the day).
Pool time not included.

Since doing so, my contractions have continued to decrease.
And my sanity is in good shape since constant tightening of Womb-Thing is nothing if not disconcerting.

I remain reticent to get too excited.
I am afraid the Fairy of Contracting Womb-Things will notice I slipped through the cracks :-).

Appointment with Dr. Peri is scheduled for Friday morning.
The car will be packed and we will be on our way out of town for David's wedding (fingers crossed).
Let's hope that "cervix of steel" is holding up...

My sudden increase in couch time has inspired me to pick up a new hobby... will post pictures tomorrow...
(just a little teaser there, you know, like a commercial for a tv show. Do you feel teased, huh? huh?)

My Snarkey Uterus

(20w5d)
So apparently this is where my pregnancy gets interesting (again).
I am now the not-so-proud owner of an irritating irritable uterus.
Officially.

I'm told this is "too early".
Unfortunately no one mentioned that to the triplet-bearing organ busily contracting away in my abdomen.

See, it all started last night.
Or at least that is when it really picked up.
Prior to yesterday, I had periodic contractions of varying degrees during the day-- maybe 2 or 3.
Totally normal.

Around 8 pm last night I started having several an hour.
Not the take-your-breath-away contractions.
The more benign, yet still disconcerting tightening-but-not-really-painful variety (a la Braxton-Hicks).

The activity decreased slightly with the usual treatment-- confinement on the couch and large amounts of fluids.
But during one hour I lost count after 10.

When standing for 15 minutes this morning again resulted in near constant contracting, I gave in and notified the clinic.
I was hoping they would tell me it was to be expected and to just lay a little low until my appt next Friday.
Instead, I found myself seeing Dr. Peri's partner this morning (Dr. Peri is on vaca).

I am proud to report that I seem to have a "cervix of steel" per the ultrasound tech (why thank you... quite the compliment)
The ultrasound showed three active babies.
And no evidence that the near constant uterine chaos is at this point a sign of imminent labor.
Fabuloso.

Having said that, Dr. Peri's partner is concerned that my uterus is so... "ummmm... active" this early on.
And says we need to attempt to wrangle it into something resembling submission.
At least a little.
As a result I am now on a trial of medication for a few days.
Because really, I am not on enough pills right now as it is :-).
At least the two I started today are different colors-- they compliment the other rainbow of meds I choke down every morning.

I am very relieved at this point that all remains well in utero.
Now I don't have to worry each time the tightness rolls across my abdomen.
A very large weight off my... well... abdomen.
I am dialing back my activity again, which leaves me very happy that I have spent so much time preparing to spend hours each day on the couch.
This may be my new "baseline".
Which is totally tolerable to me as long as that whole "no-imminent-labor" thing holds up.

Despite said reassurance, we remain, with the doctor, a bit concerned regarding what this may tell us about the rest of this pregnancy.
I have a feeling the rollercoaster is about to resume.
This could be a very, very eventful few months.

20 Weeks

(20w1d)
Well, I made it.
20 weeks is a huge milestone for me.
Mostly because being in the “20’s” sounds much more pregnant to me than 18 weeks.
Clearly a psychological thing.

All right.
It is picture time.

First of all, Dr. Peri took a few 3D pictures at our last ultrasound. Two of the babies were too crammed up against each other to get good pictures, but Alpha… the girl (of course…) was cooperative.

Introducing... our daughter



Now for the money belly shot.




Next big milestone?
24 weeks—the “viability threshold".
Onward and upward.

He Said "Yes"!

Yesterday I was exhausted (surprisingly, I found the ultrasound to be supremely uncomfortable... maybe because it turned into an hour-long belly mashing session).
And unlike today I was not feeling very snarkey.
So I failed to elaborate on a very important part of our appt with Dr. Peri.

See, I have complained bitterly mentioned that the answer to every question I pose to Dr. Peri is "No". Often his answers are punctuated by a chastising that this is NOT a normal triplet pregnancy.

So imagine my shock when I got my first "Yes" yesterday. David (my brother for those not in-the-know when it comes to my fam) is getting hitched on June 21st (I will be 22 weeks). Luckily said pairing is occurring just down the interstate a bit in L.A. (otherwise I would be out of luck since it has been drummed into my head that Initially-quint-with-twins-lost-which-were-located-over-the-cervix-now-triplet pregnancies and airplanes DO NOT MIX). But I figure that a reclined front-seat in the car and frequent stops would essentially mimic my couch potato routine.

I have been debating the timing of informing (yes, not asking) Dr. Peri that I will be leaving town for two days (that is, on the condition that all was well in utero). Instead of waiting until the very last second possible (my next appt is scheduled for the morning we are leaving), I was "feeling the love" yesterday as he seemed so pleased with how the little buggers are developing, with my so-far-obedient uterus, and with my general compliance with his instructions. I informed/asked him.

And he said, "Yes".

No lectures on stopping frequently to walk around. No reminding me I am a ultra-high-risk triplet pregnancy. No rebuking me for even WANTING to leave the confines of our valley while I am gestating precious cargo. No scary stories of me developing monster clots. In fact, he didn't even remind me to take it easy and rest a lot while we are gone.

Perhaps a consequence of the fact that I am ACTUALLY quitting work next week as instructed? He seemed genuinely surprised by my compliance when I swore to him my last day is next week :-). I think I earned some brownie points by giving the job the 'ol heave-ho as ordered. And maybe, just maybe he has determined that although I am interested in knowing where my boundaries are, I have no intention of jeopardizing this pregnancy by non-compliance. They say doctors make the worst patients (and you know, I believe whoever "they" are to be right). But in this case I am playing it straight. I think he actually believes me now.

Emboldened by my first ever "Yes", Matt looked at each other and I dove in... head first.

"Well," I said, "then there is this other thing..."

See Matt's family has a yearly traditional trip to the San Diego area over July 4th. We stay at a Aviara-- a gorgeous resort with all the amenities where Bob and Marsha have a membership. Their spa is fabuloso... I feel a light-bed-rest-friendly-spa-day coming on (PLEASE... a pedicure! My feet seem to be getting less and less accessible by the week...) Despite the monologue I prepared in my head just in case begging was needed (You know... but Dr. Peri, I promise to spend my whole time lying by the pool/beach while Matt feeds me grapes...) I was convinced he would shoot me down since I will be 24 weeks. But I was on a roll, and it couldn't hurt to ask, now could it?

After I explained, he said, "Sure".
In fact, he wanted to talk about how pretty the area is where we will be staying.

At this point, I am starting to wonder what the nurses did with Dr. Peri...

I also got clarification regarding bed rest. I am to keep my activity level low, but as long as things continue to go brilliantly, I won't be confined to the house until 28 weeks. Fabulous!

Another Look At The Little Buggers

(19w4d)
We look forward to ultrasounds. It is always reassuring to see the three of them wiggling around in there and getting larger by the week. We had another full anatomical ultrasound today. All three babies showed normal growth and anatomy (heart, brain, head, spine, kidneys, face, limbs, etc). We were able to see the lenses of their eyes, and the tooth buds in their palates. Amazing. It continues to look like we are having two boys and a girl. And in typical boy fashion, they are piled on top of their sister :-).

Dr. Peri encouraged me to hit the pool which is perfect timing since we have one in our backyard and the weather has turned very warm (and will soon be quite hot). Natalie's kids are frequent visitors to our pool during the summer, so now I have a great excuse to join them. After my last day of work next week, I will have nothing better to do but float in the pool and lay on the lounger while watching the little ones splash around. There are worse ways to spend a summer!

My belly is becoming somewhat protuberant and we will be taking another belly shot this weekend to celebrate the 20-week mark. I will post it so you call all see my ever-expanding mid-section.

Repeat ultrasound in two weeks and if all is ok, I leave town that day for David's wedding in L.A. (driving as I am totally grounded from flying). Fingers crossed!!!!!

Why "Crib" Is a Four-Letter Word

(19w2d)

I do my homework.
I like to be prepared.
I am slightly neurotic.
Think Kate from J.on & K.ate P.lus 8--- only minus (at least some of) the harshness, and plus a little (!) flexibility.
Or at least I would like to think :-).
These are qualities that I believe will serve me well in the years to come when attempting to corral, feed, and play with three toddlers. All the while averting bodily injury nigh unto death (ummmmm, their's, not mine), preventing bodily fluids from taking over our house (a la "The B.lob") and keeping baby clutter to a minimum so that we don't have to move into a bigger house next year.

I know. A tall order
Thank heaven for nannies who do housework :-).

Consistent with my aforementioned neurotic nature, I have spent HOURS (20-30) researching the perfect cribs for us. I had finally settled on one particular type. I was VERY settled. It fit all the picky little criteria I had listed (including being black and relatively small). Saturday morning we spent moving the furniture out of the nursery (well, Matt moved and I looked on admiringly), leaving a completely cleaned-out nursery. Matt was excited to set one of the cribs up, so we spent a few hours going through a few other stores first to be SURE that "our" crib was truly THE destined crib. We ordered a changer/dresser to go in the nursery. Then we headed off to the last store to pick up one crib and order the other two, enthralled that our dream crib would soon be gracing the nursery with its presence.

We arrived to find out there has been a "stop-sale" order put on the crib.
They are investigating it for safety problems.
Only two weeks have passed since I was in the store discussing the crib and how to order the extras.
But now... my crib is gone.
(we are obviously grateful to have discovered this issue BEFORE purchasing and assembling the one and ordering the others!).

Pregnancy hormones fully engaged, I sat in one of the gliders all annoyed that I was now back to zero.
Never fear... All that research paid off (really it was partly a issue of me REFUSING to do another 20 hours of research on a dang crib!). We ordered, over the phone from another store, our "second choice" crib that was, as a bonus... on sale. All the furniture should arrive together in about 3 weeks.

Oh, but I wish that was it.
We had previously measured the nursery and had an idea of where all the furniture would go. We knew exactly how large the cribs could be and how the dresser could be no longer than 50". But I decided, now that the nusery was totally cleared out, to tape off where the furniture would be... as an exercise in reassuring myself there truly was room for everything.

Well, there isn't.
Not if we also have a glider.
Fitting three cribs, a changer/dresser and a glider into this one room (at least if we expect to be able to WALK between said furniture and actually be able to access the bathroom and closet) is a complicated puzzle for which there is no solution. and believe me, we tried.
A full hour of crawling around on the floor convinced me of such.

It was so frustrating I actually started considering having two nurseries (*gasp*. My motto has been "contain the chaos!!!").

Then it occured to me.
We were never going to set up more than two cribs to start with since as preemies the babies will be sleeping in bouncy seats for at least the first few weeks out of the hospital (because of reflux). And after that, we can put two in a crib temporarily. We were going to put two swings where the third crib would eventually sit. But even with only two cribs... there would still be no room for a glider AND swings AND bouncy seats. So the solution? We will only set up one crib initially. That will leave us room for all the seats, gliders and swings (and as a bonus... a mini-refrigerator to store bottles for each night in order to avoid several night-runs to the kitchen on the other side of the house). Slowly they will be moved from bouncies to swings/cribs at which point the bouncy seats will be used in other parts of the house, and either the glider or one of the swings will be moved to another room, leaving us room for a second crib... and eventually a third when none of them are using swings to sleep. There is actually room (barely... and I stress barely) for three cribs and a dresser. Just not for anything else.

I am cognizant this may have been for you, dear reader, an exercise in tediosity (yes, I am aware that is not a word). But I cannot tell you how relieved I feel. This will work. This will really work. It will just require being a little flexible and modifying the nursery in stages as they grow over the first few months home.

But we can do this.

As for the whole pregnancy thing (oh yeah... the whole reason for this mess)... if my abdominal girth is any judge, the babies are still growing. Ultrasound this Wednesday.

btw... it is a record. I have now been off of any sort of bed rest for a full THREE weeks. Well slap me silly and call me Sally! Granted, said record will end this weekend as I will hit 20 weeks (wow, 20 weeks, really?) and I will be on "light bed rest". Still not clear what Dr. Peri expects that to look like, but I imagine he will give me the long list of things I shouldn't even possibly CONSIDER doing when I see him on Wednesday. Such is his style :-).