32 Weeks

I am so happy that I have made it to 32 weeks this number is huge when it comes to issues associated with preemie babies. I guess at this point they say that the risk of long term issues is very small and that some triplets are even electively delivered at 32 weeks. I have 2 more weeks to go and then I will be 34 weeks. 34 has always been the goal and the point where they will deliver the babies if it hadn't already happened. This means that I have 2 weeks or less until I get to meet the babies. I am really getting excited to see them and also starting to really look forward to being done with being pregnant and being on bedrest. Also, today I had my 6th iv since I have been here put in and I can't wait to have that thing out of me for good either. I hate being poked and when you get an iv the needle is HUGE. It is hard to imagine what life will be like when we have 3 babies and they are all at home. I honestly don't know how there will be enough hours in the day to do everything that will need to be done. I just keep telling myself that it will get done and we will be able to do it because there wont really be any other options.

Doppler

Alyssa has her dopplers MWF and she passed all of them this week. She is still doing pretty good. I will be 32 weeks tomorrow which is really good for triplets. The goal is still 34 weeks but any time after 32 is great.

All of the babies get NST's done daily. All 3 of them always do good.

Ultrasound

Today we had the ultrasound to see if Alyssa has shown growth... she has! 2 weeks ago she was estimated to weigh 1lb 1oz and today she was estimated to weigh 1lb 4oz which is 8 days worth of growth in 14 days. I am so happy that she grew a little bit. This puts her over 500 grams which is what the NICU says is the size where all the equipment will work for a small baby. Right now the plan is to wait 2 more weeks and then do another ultrasound. Then they will evaluate what to do next. That happens to be 9-3 and will make me 32w 5d. They said that they want to try to get me to 34 weeks if possible then we will have a scheduled c-section. 34 Weeks is on 9-12 but that is a Sunday so they will most likely be delivered on a different day. Also, they are going to continue to monitor Alyssa 24/7 so that means more hospital time for me. That much time in the hospital sounds awful but I am willing to do it because it is way better for them. During the ultrasound they did a cord test and there is no change :D
Both of the boys are still doing super. Both of their cords look good and they are both starting to grow big. Today Kyle was estimated to be 2lb 12oz and Mason is estimated to be 3lb 4oz. This makes them both in the 35-45 percentile for singletons which is very good for triplets.
Right now we are very happy with this news and we are just praying that everything continues to go as it is and that everyone continues to grow.

Day 10

Today is day number 10 that I have been in the hospital. When we rushed down here last Thursday I thought that I was going to have them at some point that weekend. So far everything has stayed the same, which is good. I think that everyone here is surprised with how well Alyssa is doing based on her cord. I sorta feel bad because everything has been all about Alyssa and there are 2 other babies in there. I guess that they just are doing so well that they haven't really needed to be worried about. So this is to Kyle and Mason, I love you both and I am happy that you guys aren't causing me to worry and stress that your sister is.

August 7th

Everything still looks good. Alyssa passed the biophysical profile with another 8/8 and her heart rate looked good all day. This little girl may be tiny but she seems to be tough.

August 7th

I slept so much better last night. I think that it was because of exhaustion from stress and not sleeping the night before. This morning Dr Field came in to talk to us. She was the same Dr that I saw last time I was down here. She said that they will be testing Alyssa’s cord flow every day and that unless they saw reversal or she was showing signs of stress that it is ok to keep her in. She also said that they were going to do another growth ultrasound 2 weeks from the 6th (so August 20th) to determine if she has had any growth. If she still hasn’t shown any signs of growth they will deliver the babies soon after that. If she has grown we will just continue to monitor all of the babies and let them stay in. Obviously we would prefer for them to stay in as long as they can but for now I just hope to keep them in until the 20th. Dr Field then did a test called a biophysical profile. This monitors babies’ movement, tone, fluid, and breathing. Each category is given 2 points, a total of 8, depending on how the babies do. Alyssa scored 8/8, yay! I am just praying that this little girl keeps doing well. I am not ready to have these babies yet. The other thing that happened today is they decided that since there was no reason to monitor Mason or Kyle that we didn’t need to. Now they will just have a 20 min NST done daily. What a relief, only one baby monitor to keep on and have adjusted.

August 6th

I didn’t sleep at all last night. All 3 babies were hooked to a monitor and every time that one of them moved off it would need to be adjusted. Also, when one baby moves it causes all of them to move so that makes it take a really long time to get all of the monitors back on again. Sometimes like an hour and sometimes they would get them all on and then someone would move or they would realize that they were picking up the same babies heart rate on more than one monitor. Plus, I was so worried that I wouldn’t have been sleeping anyways. When I got here they also told me that since I hadn’t done the glucose screening for this point in pregnancy yet that I needed to do it. Since I hadn’t eaten since 7 something the night before they decided to do it this morning which was fine. The only little issue with this is that I started having small contractions because I was dehydrated, but this was easily fixed with fluids through the IV. At about 9 am this morning I had someone take me to the radiology section of the hospital on a gurney. This took me by surprise because I expected to be able to walk. The growth scan was started and like always it took forever because there are 3 babies. Both boys look so good. Mason has an estimated weight of 2lb 11 oz and Kyle has an estimated weight of 2lbs 8oz. After hearing how much bigger the boys were it gave me a bit of hope that maybe they had been off by that much with Alyssa too. When they scanned her they also got that she is estimated at 1lb 1oz, bummer. All 3 babies’ cords were tested and we were told that we would soon be told the results of everything by the perinatologist. Well Dr Boe did a C-section that morning that started at 7 and lasted until mid afternoon and then had to go do another one that ended up being complicated as well too so we waited all day. When she made it in to see us she hadn’t yet gotten the results. The other Dr with her looked on the computer and saw the results while they were in our room. Both boys look good and we found out that Alyssa’s cord looks better than expected. There is no reversal through her cord and this is good. There is a resistance in her cord which means that she is not getting everything that she needs but she still is doing ok just not growing. This is by no means a good thing. This is really scary but as long as she continues to show no reversal and doesn’t show stress she won’t pass away. Also we had the NICU Dr’s come in and talk to us about the challenges that a baby being born at this time would face. It seems like the outcome for an almost 29 week baby is pretty good especially since I had the steroid shots the week before. Being that Alyssa is measuring so small things can’t really be as easily predicted as they are for the other 2. She is measuring about the size of a 22 week baby but she is the age of an almost 29 week baby. If she is just small for her age but developed she should have the same chances as any other almost 29 weeker. If she isn’t as developed they don’t really know how she will do until she is born. John and I decided that we would continue to monitor her and that if it came to a point where it was no longer safe for her in my belly that they would deliver all of the babies at that time. This could be about 5 minutes notice.

August 5th

I went to Mercy Hospital today for the growth scan and the Doppler cord flow test done on Alyssa. When each baby was given an estimated weight they guessed that Mason and Kyle were just over 2lbs and Alyssa was still estimated at 1lb1oz which means that she has had zero growth since July 13th when we were in Davis the last time. He then looked at her cord and determined that it was really bad. I then asked him about it and he told me that he couldn’t discus that with me because they don’t allow anyone who isn’t a Dr to discuss test results with a patient. After this I go back to the house and decide that I am going to do laundry because I figured that if nothing else I would be sent down to Davis for a second opinion and I would need clothes. A few hours later I get a phone call from my Dr’s office telling me that I needed to come in for a copy of my medical records then go home and get a bag ready because I was going down to Davis and I was going to be there for awhile. At this point I am not only worried like I was before but now I am pretty panicked because I didn’t have any idea what would happen and I was convinced that this would mean that I would have to deliver later today. My parents were already on their way to Redding because they knew that I was upset and they followed John and me down to Sacramento. We get to UC Davis and they check me in and hook me to monitors, started an IV, and did some blood work. I am told that I will have another full growth scan done tomorrow and then Dr Boe (a perinatologist) would come in to discus my results.

She is still too tiny

August 4th
Today I went to the Dr and told my Dr that I felt better about delivering the babies at UC Davis unless I made it to 36 weeks because they are better equip to take care of preemies. My Dr looked at all of the babies and saw that Alyssa was still really small so he scheduled me an apt. at Mercy hospital the following day to have a Doppler cord flow test done and to have a growth scan on all 3 babies.

Time off

August 2nd
Today John finally went in and talked to the office about what time he will be able to take off when the babies are born. He found out that he can take 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks paid through disability. I am excited that I will be able to have him home for a long time and that he will have time to bond with the babies before going back to work.

Steroid shot #2

July 31st
Today I went back to Mercy hospital to have the second steroid shot given to me. I was happy that John was there with me because I had someone to talk to instead of sitting in the room by myself. This second shot made me a lot sorer but I didn’t feel sick and to me that is way better. I also had to stay at the hospital for awhile because the Dr wanted another NST done. When they do the NST they also hook another monitor on and it monitors contractions. The babies aren’t stressed and I am not having contractions so everything is going great.

Steroid Shot

July 30th
I went to the Dr today and I had an appointment that doesn’t really make me feel super. Alyssa is still a lot smaller and the size difference is increasing every time. However, when you look at each baby individually and look at their growth in terms of time, it doesn’t really seem as bad. In the 2 weeks since I have been to the Dr last each baby has had 2 weeks’ worth of growth. Also, because she is smaller I am going to be monitored really close from here on out to make sure that everyone is growing and that no one is getting stressed. Dr Williams did the NST test on Alyssa and she is showing zero signs of stress, which is SOOOO great. Another thing that happened today is that I had the first steroid shots done. The shot that I got is called betametasome. These steroid shots are given because they help speed up fetal lung development. This is important to have done with multiples because even if I go the full 34-36 weeks that is still early and the lungs are the last thing to develop. The shot needs to be done at the hospital. After this first shot I felt pretty yucky but it is very worth it to me so I am ok.

Baby Shower

July 17th
Today I am 26 weeks pregnant. I would have never thought that I would make it this far in the pregnancy and not have any complications. My Mom, Grandma Selma, and Patty Gregory threw me a baby shower today. The theme of the shower was 3 peas in a pod and all of the decorations turned out super cute. I got a ton of presents and had a lot of fun.

Dr. Apt

July 14th
This is the first time that I have went to the Dr without having an ultrasound done. This was because I had just had a 3hr ultrasound at Davis the day before. This was the most boring and uneventful appointment that I have had so far. All we did was talk about the results of the level 2 ultrasound that was done at Davis.