34 Weeks and 4 days....but who's counting?

I went today for the Biophysical Profile (BPP) which basically just looks to see if all the boys are still growing the way they are supposed to at this point. They are running out of room, which again is no surprise to anyone, so we need to make sure that heart rates, blood flow, breathing practice and movement patterns still look good. All 3 boys passed the BPP test with a perfect score (8 out of 8)! None of us are surprised that our boys are overachievers and competitive by nature! Trip A was 130 bpm for his heart rate; Trip B was 122 bpm; Trip C was 148 bpm. There is no worry with the differences in the numbers. It is actually more common to be in the 120-130 range for triplets at this point but since Trip C is the 'big boy' of the group and has taken an entire half of my body for himself, he has more room to stretch and grow.

Dr. Strauss was actually pleased to hear me verbalize to him today that I am ready to be done. My biggest pain, literally, right now is the skin just above my ribs being so stretched out that it hurts like a bad sunburn all the time. It doesn't matter what touches or doesn't touch, it just plain hurts. He literally laughs when I tell him that I am still working (and yes, I plan to finish out this week and possibly work Monday and Tuesday of next) and is convinced that people are going to think that he is 'forcing' me to work and won't 'let' me go on bed rest. I go back to UNC on Friday morning for another quick check up, then back to Rex for another BPP on Tuesday of next week, UNC for pre-op bloodwork on Wednesday of next week and then C-Section on Thursday! 9 days! 9 days! 9 days! I am down to single digits...I can't believe how close I am. Of course, things can still change before then but we are so close now.

Again, unless things change, I won't post anything new until after my appointment on Friday.

33+ Weeks Appointment Update

Let me first start by saying that if all continues as is.....15 days!!! We are officially scheduled for the first C-section of the day on January 27th for the delivery of the triplets. (not that I am counting or anything!) Okay, now that I have that written down, on to the real news update.

I went this morning for my final growth and measurement ultrasound. Baby A weighed 4 lbs, 3 ounces; had a heart rate of 157 bpm and was practicing his breathing on a regular basis. Baby B weighed 4 lbs, 1 ounce; had a heart rate of 134 bpm and was also practicing his breathing on a regular basis. Baby C weighed 4 lbs, 12 ounces (yes, I typed that correct); had a heart rate of 145 bpm and also practiced his breathing for us. The ultrasound technician also looked at the blood flow within the umbilical cord for each boy. This was the first time that she has looked at that. The best guess I have is because they are trying to make sure that the boys all have enough room to continue growing for the next 15 days. Because there were no appointments yesterday, I went today and therefore Dr. Strauss was not at the ultrasound clinic. His associate called him (at his request) prior to coming in and talking to me. Both he and his associate were VERY excited with the results of the scans. The doctor did mention that the boys had plateaued in terms of their growth percentages but that is very normal and absolutely nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact, everything else was so good that she only mentioned this in passing.

We will go weekly for what they call biophysical profiles. In essence, they will be looking at the movement patterns of the boys. Normally, they would have me sit in a chair connected to a monitor to check for movement but with 3 that isn't very effective. So I will go back on Tuesday, January 18th at 11:00 AM for my first BPP (that is how they abbreviate it.). Then next Friday, I have a regular check-up at UNC with Dr. Strauss at 10:45 AM and then we will schedule another BPP at Rex on January 25th with Dr. Strauss before the C-section on January 27th. I can't believe that I will have 4 more appointments and then the boys will be here.

I am still working full-time, which amazes everyone (family, friends, co-workers) alike. It is kinda comical when teachers see me on campus. I think I have the administration and my department members on high alert. If/when something were to happen, there is a code that the administration is going to use over the walkie-talkies to 'take care of me'. Of course, my co-worker Chris has already been assigned to "hospital delivery duty" and has said that Jason can meet us there - he isn't waiting for Jason to get to school! I am actually better off at work than at home it seems since I have an entire team of people keeping track of me.

Chase is doing well. He is officially 2 1/2 today which amazes me. I still don't think he has any idea what is going to happen when these boys actually arrive. I am still trying to work through what to tell him when we go to the hospital to have the babies. We have to make sure that we are careful with our words so he doesn't panic. Well, I hope that the next post is the result of the BPP next week and not anything more exciting. Until then....

Tired Chase

So, Chase had a long, fun day today. After a trip to Marbles Museum (a kid's museum downtown) with Grandma, Uncle Matt, Aunt Jenn, Bise and Meredith, and no mid-day nap, he had dinner, skipped his bath and got into his pajamas. He made it through one episode of Dora, and tried to make it through an episode of Diego. He even ran around a little in between the shows to stay awake. Once Diego came on, it got really quiet. We looked in his playroom where he'd been watching TV, and this is what we saw...
The floor apparently won!

Appointment Update (33 weeks)

We had another appointment this morning and got more good reports. Melissa is still doing really well...low blood pressure, great cervix...all that kind of stuff! It was not a full growth ultrasound, so we don't have all the latest growth measurements on the boys, but Dr Strauss did check the heartbeats and all three boys look great. They are still all three head down (Melissa's ribs had already determined this from all of the kicking, but the ultrasound confirmed).

We do have a growth appointment next Wednesday (1/12), so we'll have full measurements and weights then. Our best guess is that they will be around 4 pounds by next week. At 26 weeks, they were 2 pounds...then at 30 weeks they were three pounds...next week will be 34 weeks. Our forecast didn't involve an excel spreadsheet...it's just simple math :)

After the growth appointment next week, we'll be seeing the doctor weekly from here on in (we believe on Tuesdays). We are locked in on January 27th, unless something changes and we don't make it that long. That will be 36 weeks, and that's as long as he'll let her go. We are even booked on the calendar for an 8:00 am c-section (first one of the day).

Given how well Melissa is doing, she's still working. She plans to go back on Monday and keep on going until her body says no more. Dr. Strauss continues to be amazed at how well she's doing (we all are) and says that, medically speaking, there's no reason she can't keep working. He's even encouraged her to do whatever she feels like doing, and says that her body will tell her when she needs to stop working.

The blog updates will be more frequent the next few weeks, but the countdown is on (19 days, 8 hours, 50 minutes for anyone who is counting).

Love to all and thanks for the thoughts and prayers!!

White Christmas, New Year and 32+ weeks pregnant!

The holidays seem like a blur now that they have come and gone but have we enjoyed this last holiday season as a family of 3 and now we anxiously await the arrival of the triplets. I am so lucky to have spent almost 2 full weeks with both Jason and Chase at home. We got to visit with Jason's Dad and Step-mom, Jason's mom, my grandparents, my mom, my brother and his family all during this time. There were so many memorable moments but I think having a White Christmas tops the list. It snowed Christmas night and when we awoke on the 26th, we had 7 1/2 inches in the backyard. It snowed most of the day. Chase is not a fan of being snowed on so we waited until the next morning to go play. Well, let me rephrase, Jason and Chase waited to play. I watched from the kitchen window and took pictures. They had a ball and so did the dogs. On a sad note, we had to put Champion to sleep on Dec. 28th so included in the pictures is the final shot we will have of all 3 dogs together. It has been hard but we are adjusting day by day. On a final note, I am officially 32+ weeks along and planning to go to work tomorrow and working at least 4 more days until my next doctor appointment (Friday, Jan. 7th). From there, we will see. I would like to think that I can make it a couple more weeks. I know it sounds crazy but we start final exams on Jan. 14th and I would love to try to make it through finals and to the end of the semester. It would be cutting it very close to my 'drop date' as I am calling it, but it would make me very happy to get that far! Anyway, we had an amazing holiday season and loved spending time together. Here are a few shots that capture some of the highlights as well as the next installment of the Melissa becomes a balloon series!

Winter wonderland - Dec. 26th



Jason, Chase and Captain playing in the snow



The last shot with all 3 dogs
RIP Champion
July 15, 1998 - Dec. 28, 2010


Here comes the belly parade:

24 weeks


28 weeks


32 weeks

Our Loss of Man's Best Friend

Yesterday was a very sad day at our house as we had to put Champion down due to somewhat of a freak accident. On Monday morning, Champion was jumping out of the bed and got his back leg caught between the mattress and the foot-board of the bed. He was obviously in a lot of pain, but seemed to be OK for about 24 hours. Then yesterday, he was simply trying to climb up onto his ottoman to lay down for a nap and his hip popped out of the socket. He was in excruciating pain so we got him to the vet quickly and they sedated him. After some x-rays, they anesthetized him and popped it back into the socket. The doctor said that he got it back in, but it went in way too easily, and thus would easily pop right back out when he tried to move. He simply had too much ligament damage from his accident the previous morning. We were given the option to try surgery which would require weeks/months of recovery time. Of course, Champ was not a young pup anymore (he was about 11 and a half) and he had some other health issues so there were no guarantees. Plus, the recovery process would require Champ to stay downstairs in a crate for an extended period of time, which would be pure torture for him. And of course, the next few weeks/months won't exactly allow us to be overly attentive to his recovery. Ultimately, we made the incredibly difficult decision to end Champ's suffering. Melissa and I, as well as Rokky, were there with Champ 'til the end. He's now in doggie heaven and pain free...and warm...and will never be hungry again (he was always starving)!

Below are a few favorite photos of Champ, doing what he liked to do best...being lazy! When fed, and warm, Champ just wanted to snuggle!!

Rest in Peace little buddy...we'll miss you!

31 Weeks and Counting...Appt Update

OK, so technically tomorrow is 31 weeks, but who's counting right?

Today, we had our last "planned" appointment of the calendar year and everything looks great. Today's appointment was just a "consult" so they didn't do full growth measurements like last week, but he did a quick ultrasound to check heartbeats and all 3 look good.
All three boys are head down, which really surprised Dr. Strauss. He said that's really rare with triplets. So my first question was "Does that mean that we'll avoid the C-section?" He said "there's not a chance." Apparently there are only a few places in the country that do vaginal births with triplets, and none of them are around here. There is too much risk because as the first one is being born, it's very difficult to monitor the heartbeats of the other two, so they just don't really do it very much at all for safety reasons. And they NEVER do it at UNC (or anywhere in the state of NC for that matter), so we're still locked in on a C-section, sometime between now and Jan 27th.

Our next scheduled appointment is January 7th (in Chapel Hill). This will be a full scale appt where they check growth, heartbeats, fluid levels, etc, etc. Between now and then, the doctor just wants Melissa to check her blood pressure a few times and if it gets higher than 140 over 90, then call them. Today it was 108 over 55, so it's in good shape for now!

After that, we have another appt scheduled for January 21st...of course, that one is apt to change depending on circumstances.

Melissa is still not ruling out going back to work at the first of the year. Dr. Strauss continues to be amazed at how well she's doing. She still has the philosophy that she'd rather be miserable at work, where she can be distracted, than be miserable at home doing nothing all day. We'll see and she's definitely playing it by ear.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Depending on the potential snowfall (we'll post videos and/or pictures if we get snow), and any other crazy events that might happen in the next 8 days (we're hoping nothing crazy happens), this might be the final post of a very wonderful 2010!

Love to all!
Jason-