On Hold

(27w4d)

Ok, time for an update.

Unfortunately blogging while in the hospital has been frustratingly difficult.

The wireless internet card I would normally use gets spotty reception at best here in the hospital.

And although I am grateful that I can access the internet through the TV in my room, the type is so small from y bed that I can't read enough of what I am attempting to write in order to make it worth worthwhile.

To boot,  I have been exhausted the last few days, without energy to even crochet or read my book.

Shortly after I last posted (on Sunday) the Neonatologist and a NICU nurse arrived at our room to discuss what to expect when the triplets are born early.  

Turns out, we know both of them.

Dr. Neo is a kind, mellow and very good neonatologist who Matt did some contract work for several years ago.  When I worked at U.MC, Dr. Neo always went out of his way to chat with me in the hallways.  Turns out he now runs the Level III NICU here at the hospital where I am.  As I mentioned in my last post the NICU here only gained Level III status in the last year.    What we didn't know is that they ONLY care for Level III babies here.  Once they are stable enough for Level II, the babies will be transferred to a hospital within the same system that is very near our house.  I find it reassuring that the nurses and physicians here specialize in only the smallest and most acute babies.

As for the nurse-- she used to date Matt's brother in high school.  It has great to see her again.

I see all of this as a good omen.

We may be their first triplets, but we are in familiar and reassuring hands.

Until yesterday my blood work was still trending slowly in the wrong direction.  It appeared that my liver was becoming involved and the MD filling in for Dr. Peri seemed more concerned.  She was talking about possibly needing to deliver the babies by the end of this week.  But my lab tests have improved and stabilized over the last two days.  My blood pressure has also stabilized (being on hospital bed rest will do that to a woman!)  I attribute this turn around not only to hospital bed rest, but also to the thoughts and prayers of family and friends.

So at least for today, things are going all right and it appears (knock on wood) that we will at least make it to 28 weeks.

The babies are still doing well.  They put all the monitors on my belly for 2-3 hours every nursing shift (which means every twelve hours).  Because of the difficulty finding and keeping the babies on the monitors, I have to essentially lay completely still, often basically on my back, for the whole time.  As you may imagine, this is anything but comfortable... especially when one's bladder is being bashed either by Baby A or by a contraction.

But at times it is quite entertaining.  The babies seem to resent the monitoring as an intrusion into their world and often start kicking and moving.  A lot.  It is reassuring to hear their heartbeats and feel them moving around.

In summary, I am feeling better than a few days ago and all signs point to this being a longer-rather-than-shorter hospitalization.  We are grateful for every day that I remain on the Antepartum instead of Postpartum unit.

Just taking it one day at a time.

This Patient is Forever

(27w1d)

I have been classified as a "forever" patient.

Meaning I will be here in the hospital until the babies are born ... no matter how long that is.

Dr. G was covering for Dr. Peri last night... who is out of town for the next week.  Nice, Dr. Peri... dump me in the hospital and run off to some tropical location :-).

When Dr. G arrived it was clear there was no chance I would be heading home to sleep in my bed and swim in my pool.  My pressures fluctuated between 150s-160s/90s (highest being 164/98).

While on bed rest.

Laying down.

On my left side.

High enough by itself to classify me as preeclamptic.

In addition, I am spilling significant amounts of protein, my kidney function was sub par and my uric acid was a bit high.  All in all not great news.  BUT that babies seem to be doing well and although they keep calling my Womb-Thing "highly irritable" (What you talkin' about, Willis?), I am only having a few "real" contraction an hour.

I attended the baby shower yesterday via video conferencing that Matt set up.

Not ideal, but quite fun nevertheless.

Afterwards, some people came over and hauled all the presents into my hospital room (much to the delight of the nursing staff who thought I should have had the shower here).  I gleefully spent a few hours opening all the gifts for the babies.

I am overwhelmed by the amount of concern and love that our friends and family have shown to us and the babies.

Marsha, Natalie and Tami pulled out all the stops for the shower (I know since I got to sample the food later!)

I will post some pictures and more about the shower in the next few days.

Jennifer and Diana were here for the weekend and among other very important things both gave my tired, swollen feet a good rub.

My digs here are great.  I am in a fairly new hospital and I have an enormous (and I mean ENORMOUS) private room.  The nurses have been fabulous.  And get this... even the food is tasty (or maybe that is the result of having little variety in my diet since being on home bed rest?)  There are really only two drawbacks to being at this particular hospital...

1) It is quite a ways from our house.  Our first choice of hospital no longer has a contract with our insurance company.  The two hospitals with Level III NICUs that were closer were completely full when Dr. Peri admitted me on Friday.  So he called the fourth and last hospital in town with a Level III NICU and they had a room (if not, apparently my insurance would have had to pay for me to be treated at our first choice hospital since they also had a room).  As the freeway between the hospital and our house is undergoing construction and parts will be closed in the evenings for the next month, the commute will be even more painful than normal for Matt.

2) This hospital has had Level III NICU status here for just under a year.  Rumor is that they run a great NICU, but as far as I can tell (judging by comments from several nurses), we are their first set of triplets.  The good news is that the neonatologist who will be caring for the babies (per Dr. Peri and per reputation), is fabulous.

So there you have it.

I am getting settled into what will hopefully be a long hospital stay.

Every day the babies remain inside is a blessing at this point.

Signing off from Room 304

Out Of Luck

(26w6d)
So my luck ran out.

I am currently blogging from a hospital room while sporting a hiney-baring gown complete with three heart rate monitors and one tocometer straped to my belly. Quite a site, I assure you.

In short (since I am exhausted and attempting to type this using a tv screen across the room which i cannot reliably see well), my blood pressure was 160/100 and my kidneys (despite the strict talking-to they received just prior to their moment in the sun) started spilling protein.

Yep, game over.

Luckily, since being in the hospital, my blood pressure has improved and my labs came back fairly normal, thus I was able to avoid the pre-third trimester emergency delivery. But attempting to monitor three VERY wiggly little ones on the monitor all at the sme time proved nearly more than the antepartum staff could manage. Luckily, all babies look good and healthy.

Since I have been such a "good patient" and things are looking ok, there is a slim possibility that I will be set free tomorrow.

Considering the lecture I received from Dr. Peri this morning, (a la... you will be in the hospital until these babies come out whether that is tomorrow or 6 weeks from now)... I'm not holding my breath.

More tomorrow....

A Wee Whinge

(26w0d)

It has been a while since I posted.

To be honest, I was in quite a foul mood on a few days this week and just couldn’t bear to write about it.
Let’s just say this pregnancy is hard.
I have good days and bad days.
And I had my share of bad ones this week.


For starters, my abdomen became very sore to the touch and I felt as if my abdominal muscles were slowly being ripped apart (ummmm… I believe that was exactly what was/is happening), throw in a good measure of food coming up into my throat hours after eating if I had the gall to eat a normal meal portion, plus a dash of swelling which included gaining an average of one pound a day for the last two weeks culminating in me now eerily resembling the M.ichelin M.an….


EXHIBIT 1



Who wouldn’t want to do this for another 8 weeks?

Dr. Peri keeps referencing my “preeclampsia” although he concedes that technically I don’t fit the criteria since my kidneys are not spilling protein. He seems to consider this purely a formality and an inevitable occurrence. He emphasizes to me at every chance that I should expect to be hospitalized any day. I, on the other hand, gleefully point out at every possible opportunity any minute detail that may indicate I will be proving him wrong when he says, “I don’t expect to be delivering you in the next week or so, but I doubt you will make it much beyond that”.

That is a challenge if I have ever heard one.
And anyone that knows me knows I am a sucker for a challenge.
Now, if I can only get my kidneys on board…

But I am proud to say that I managed to avoid wearing gowns that close in the back with my hiney hanging out for at least another three days. A small success for sure.

Our growth ultrasound yesterday was great in that the babies still appear to be developing well anatomically. All of their parts seem to be functioning well and appear to be in the right place. The one glaring exception? They continue to be small. Very small. Small even for triplets (and believe me…. that is small!). The computer estimates them to weigh approximately 1.5 lbs, but he seems to think that is a stretch (Dr. Peri points out this is another sign of my preeclampsia).

But as Dr. Peri concedes… there is nothing that I can do at this point but wait, hope, pray, continue to lay on the couch... and monitor my blood pressure and kidneys twice a week. I will continue to see him every week as well.

Every week from here on out is a blessing.
Dr. Peri says he won’t start smiling until I hit 28 weeks.

And believe me… I REALLY want to make him smile :-).


P.S. After reading this post it occurs to me that I paint Dr. Peri in a very pessimistic light. To be fair, he is just very blunt. He did have me schedule appointments out four weeks in advance. Perhaps an unintentional positive impulse he couldn't fully squash? Hmmmmm.

Flash Flood Warning

(25w0d)
Not much new to report.
The view from the couch has changed slightly as monsoons have rolled in for the weekend. Which simply means that the monotony of clear blue sky has, at least temporarily, given way to mostly cloudy skies floating by and the occasional flash of lightening and frantic rain storm.
Hey, a girl on bed rest is desperate for any source of entertainment/distraction!

Speaking of flash floods… I have entered a new phase in my pregnancy.
The emotional phase.
Up until this point I have managed to avoid the normal crying-at-the-drop-of-a-hat pregnant woman stereotype.
No longer.
Not only do I now cry easily… I now cry at the TV.
You know those baby shows they have on T.LC?
Starting a few days ago… guaranteed to open the flood gates.
If the woman in the episode has a C-section, I had better have a full Kleenex handy :-).

As for my appointment yesterday… all is status quo.
Babies look fine—their heads are now all together—a meeting of the minds of sorts…
My blood pressure makes every one in the office scrunch up their faces… but for now it is stable and I remain free to lounge on the couch instead of a hospital bed (Hallelujah!)

25 weeks down, 9 to go.

Bed Rest Agrees With Me

(24w3d)
Well pin a rose on my nose.

First BP at Dr. Peri’s today was a little higher, but after laying down in one of the monitoring recliners for a few minutes, my systolic dropped by 25 mmHg.

Wow!
Beautiful.

The front office staff jokingly said I cheated when the nurse took it lying down.
But as it best represents the position I am in 90% of the day, I’d say it is the most accurate picture of what my blood pressure is on a daily basis.

Judging from that blood pressure, I should have weeks of bed rest ahead of me :-).

For now I will continue on the current schedule…
Tuesday BP and urine,
Friday BP, urine and doctor visit

I was so pleased with myself that I picked up some lunch and ran (ummmm, slowly waddled) into a bakery on the way home.

As for the most recent belly shot….



24 Weeks

Independence Day

(aka "Houston, we have viability")

(24w0d)
As a child July 4th was (ok, ok, besides Christmas) my favorite holidays. We would decorate our bikes first thing in the morning ride in the Oak Hills parade. Here I am (on the right) with Liz...



Then there were the Oak Hills Ward July 4th bashes at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. Don’t worry, it wasn’t as foreboding as it sounds. There was an enormous park there where we would play softball, have water balloon tosses and pie-eating contests, dig through haystacks for candy, and generally run around like a pack of hyenas for the day. I was reluctant to swim in the pond… you know, visions of glowing in the dark and all. In the evening it was always the Oak Hills fireworks. For years we had a plum spot on the lawn of the community church. That was, until the wind shifted and Mom got smashed in the head with a spent shell one year…

As a teenager, there were always the “after fireworks” that we set off in our driveway and while walking around the neighborhood. Oh, yes and then there was that mishap with the crazy fireworks that set a shrub on fire. Don’t worry, Rich, I won’t name any names :-).

By comparison, my July 4th this year was decidedly subdued.
Decidedly.
Let’s just say I am very grateful to Wimbeldon for graciously scheduling their tournament while I am on bed rest. And, oh yes, to the US Olympic Committee for holding the Olympic Trials. Whatever would I watch otherwise???

Instead of having “pool time” in the morning as I normally do in order to escape the worst heat of the day (Hello, 111’ F! Not exactly Prego-friendly weather), I held off until the evening. Matt and I got into the pool just after dusk and watched the fireworks go off around the valley and down on the strip.

It was, I imagine, our last “quiet” July 4th for many years to come.
But, I actually didn’t name this post “Independence Day” as a result of yesterday’s holiday.
No, it was actually in honor of a very important Vannah holiday which is occurring today.

Today the babies are 24 weeks.
Officially viable.
*(There is, some may know an ongoing debate as to what constitutes “viability” and whether or not the threshold of viability could now be considered closer to 20 weeks. I’m not getting into the debate. For the last 20 years, babies at 24 weeks have been considered viable. For my purposes, it is the most conservative number and I feel more confident of their chances of surviving now than I did at 20 weeks…)

They are considered capable of living outside the womb (albeit a tenuous existence with tubes, monitors and IVs, high mortality rate and a long-term disability rate that would make one cringe).

This is a very important milestone.
And considering all of the twists and turns to our journey, one which we could never be entirely sure would be reached.
But we made it!

And I am oh so grateful.

Btw….. the babies are kicking. When things really get going, my belly feels a bit like a bag of worms (oh, I know. Just wait. In another four weeks my belly will LOOK like a bag of worms). I contend that Beta appears to be the most active (as he has been on ultrasound since 9 weeks!), and considering the position they were in a few days ago, I imagine him kicking Alpha’s noggin. I will often get a kick on the lower right side where I know his legs to be, and then in quick succession, kicks (in protest?) from the lower left side where I know her legs to be. Charlie seems to be the mellower one (I’m hoping that means he will take after his father).

I’m getting flashes of three years from now when they are lined up along the back seat of the SUV…
“He’s kicking me, Mom”
“No, I wasn’t! It was just a ‘love tap’!”
“Stop touching me!!”

If Charlie’s mellow nature holds out, he’s getting the center car seat…

Adolescent Blackmail Material

(23w5d)

First of all, appointment with Dr. Peri was mostly good.
My BP had increased slightly.
And as a result, Dr. Peri was not a happy boy.

He kept repeating...
“Your blood pressure is too high”.
“If only your pressure wasn’t so high things would be great”.
"I really don't like the look of your blood pressure".
Etc.

Not that his stressing me out about my blood pressure serves to help the situation at all...

Otherwise he was happy with things.
Urine shows no current preeclampsia (Yay!)
Womb-Thing remains somewhat subdued although the activity varies greatly by the day.
Cervix of Steel is still living up to its name and has so far not given into Womb-Thing’s manipulation. The babies, although they remain small (did I mention they are smaller than expected for triplets at this point? Thus reinforcing his concern regarding the hypertension and possible impending preeclampsia), look good.

While Dr. Peri was going for another 3D picture of Alpha’s face, he caught the privates of Beta in the picture. Alpha is on the left looking down with her hand partially obscuring her face. And Beta, well... his back end is to the right.

Yep, definitely a boy!
Poor Alpha!

Tales From The Couch

(23w3d)

I have decided that I am probably (hopefully!) in for several weeks of this bed rest thing.  I still am not very swollen (or is that a result of my faithful daily dips in the pool?) and feel fine.  Once I got over the initial shock of Dr. Peri's edict, I calmed down and I am now quite zen about the whole thing.

For someone on bed rest, I have had quite the eventful week.

Matt returned home last Wed evening to find 1/2 inch of standing water in the laundry.

I, of course, was caught unaware as I was, per doctor's orders, firmly implanted on the couch (see, I'm a good girl!)

Repairman the next day said not only were we leaking water (really?), but the transmission was blown (Oh, so that was the weird sound it had been making for the previous week?)  The washer was several years old and the repair costs would be as much as we initially paid for the thing.  So Thurs evening, Matt spent a few hours picking out a new washer.

And anyone who knows Matt can guess it was quite the gadget.  

All digital, extra-capacity (triplets!) and smart as a whip.

It worked great.

For the first two loads.

Then it stopped working and while beeping incessantly, blinked error messages. 

No matter what we did to placate said appliance, it mocked us with the beeping and blinking.

So today another repairman showed up and after a while discovered that during assembly, a wire was not connected well.

One little wire.

We now have a super-smart washer humming along in the laundry room.

If it continues, I think I'm in love :-)

Yesterday was my birthday as well as our 14th anniversary.  Yes, I got married on my birthday... It's a long story and don't get my mom started :-).  We celebrated my birthday yesterday and will celebrate our anniversary this weekend.  It wasn't my most active birthday, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Of course, like a good little patient I spent the majority of the day on the couch.  

BUT... I did actually leave the house.

To get my allergy shots and have my blood drawn.

Woohoo!

I felt like an inmate that had escaped from the asylum :-).

Before the whole bed rest thing Matt and I planned on having dinner at our fave sushi restaurant (no worries since prego I only eat the COOKED fish.  Promise).  Since that clearly wasn't on the list of Dr. Peri's approved activities, Matt was nice enough to get the sushi to go and we had a nice little dinner at home just the two of us.

Matt's family came by later in the evening for dessert.

They brought over homemade angel food cake along with berries and homemade whipped cream. 

YUM!!!

It was fun to have everyone including all the nieces and nephews over.

Today, besides the blessed repairman who restored our latest gadget to working order, the local coordinator for an au pair agency we have signed up with (we are debating domestic nanny or international au pair) came over to verify that I am, in actuality pregnant and that we do have a separate room for an au pair to stay in.  Apparently they occasionally have men sign up that don't actually have children.  Creepy.

Run-in scheduled with Dr. Peri tomorrow afternoon.  Here's hoping for a good blood pressure and non-protein spilling kidneys.

I have my hospital bag packed just in case :-).