Milestone for Chase

While I am not foolish enough to believe it is due to anything other than his belly being upset and needing a better position, Chase pooped in his potty today! He was so excited when he was done (mostly because of the relief he felt) but we made a big deal of it and he got to flush it down the toilet and say good-bye to it. Maybe we are turning a corner, but I am not getting my hopes up. Could I have only 3 in diapers instead of 4? We'll see what happens over the next few months!

24 week profile picture

16 weeks VS 20 weeks VS 24 weeks


Well, it's that time again. I didn't think it was possible but I am even bigger now than I was 4 weeks ago. I know I said it last time, but I honestly, truly don't know how I can stretch any more! My poor belly button is already sticking out so far and the area around it is bruised because I have no depth perception so I bump into the faucet in the shower (yes, it's funny, but it also hurts like the dickens!)

Will the belly be bigger than Chase's head? Well, to be fair, this time around he was actually looking at the camera. However, I fear we will get there before this is all over!

20 weeks 24 weeks

For those who have asked what we need or how they can help, unfortunately, there are some things that we honestly won't be able to answer until later. For one, until we get the remodel finished and can 'clean out' the nursery, we won't know about crib spacing/layouts and furniture for that room. Second, until the triplets are born and we get a better sense of what we need, there isn't much 'fun' stuff. We have registered for stuff at Babies 'R Us again for those who are curious. I am seriously under-estimating on diaper needs but I have 2 friends at school who are hosting a 'diaper drive' for us - which is AWESOME - so I decided to get the styles and sizes that I know we will need. As we get some of those delivered to us, I will adjust the registry and add more. On average, a newborn uses 8-10 diapers per day. Multiply that by 3 and we will use almost 100 diapers every 3 days! How do you begin to plan for that?

Anyway, we just wanted to get this information out for those who are interested. We are grateful for the continued thoughts and prayers as they are doing their job and making this pregnancy so smooth. My next appointment is November 16th in the afternoon. It will be a growth and measurement appointment for the boys so we will have a better picture of their growth and progress over the 4 week period. We will update the blog after that appointment (unless Chase gives us a reason to post something)

Appointment update - almost 24 weeks

Well, yet again, Dr. Strauss was excitedly pleased with how the boys and I are holding up. All the questions he has for me warrant a negative response (which is good) and he is just pleased with where we are right now. He actually commented to the Ultrasound nurse that I am not a complainer (which I try not to be) but he is surprised that I am not more uncomfortable with all the pressure on my lower abdomen. All heart rates are good (around 140-160 depending on the boy) which is good. They were all very active and busy which is normal for that time of day. I am doing great as well. Cervix measurement, which is an indicator of impending delivery, was great so no worry about that any time soon based on the numbers. The fluid pockets/levels for each of the boys is well above normal as well, yet another great thing for all of us. Dr. Strauss says I can keep working since things are going well which is good news for me. At this point, I feel good about my first work target date of Thanksgiving. If all continues to go well after then, well, we'll see. We go back in 2 weeks for an actual growth ultrasound to measure the boys and their progress but we got some pictures today just to 'check in' on them.

Trip A waving hello to everyone. The ultrasound nurse commented that it might not be too much longer before we can't see much of him. His position has him potentially blocked out by his brothers as the all continue to grow and get bigger. We actually got to witness that today when the tech was trying to get a 3D scan and Trip B's spinal cord was in front of Trip A. It was weird to think about being able to scan through a spinal cord like that!


3D image of Trip A. Facing front with his umbilical cord snuggled near his chin. You can see his eyes and nose pretty clearly. His mouth is covered by his hand and umbilical cord.

3D image of Trip B. This is the only shot we got of him today. He was not very cooperative in either 3D or black and white scan. You can see a good view of his nose (which looks enormous in this shot but it is simply because he is looking down. It also looks like he has a lump on the upper left side of his head, yet again, just a result of the picture angle. What looks like a beaded necklace near his chin is his umbilical cord too. We joked about the fact that the boys must be bored and wanting something the play with which is why they all keep messing with the cords!



Black and white scan of Trip C. He was extremely cooperative today so we got lots of shots of him. He moved a little right as we were taking the shot so you can't see much in his chest or upper body area.

3D scan of Trip C. We actually got this one in hard copy because the ultrasound nurse said it was such a sweet shot. His features are very clear and he is either sucking on his fingers on his right hand or has them tucked under his chin. Either way, too cute!



Trip C black and white shot. You can see his fingers above his head (or maybe it is part of a brother's hand!) and he is bending his leg which is in the upper left corner of the scan.

Trick or Treat...

...or as Chase says, "Trick or Treak"

On Thursday afternoon, SciQuest had it's annual trick-or-treat event for the kids.
Chase's penguin costume made it's debut. For the record, Mom is 23 weeks along in this picture.


After all the trick-or-treating, everybody went to the breakroom to eat the candy and other snacks. Chase got to see his buddy Alex (Tiller) from his previous daycare. Alex is almost exactly 2 months older than Chase. They have really missed each other!


On Halloween morning, we had to carve the pumpkin. First, Daddy cut it open and started cleaning it out. Chase was not sure at all about the pumpkin"guts".


Then we drew the face on the pumpkin. Mommy gave Chase several options (preview on a piece of paper) and Chase chose the smiley face one. Captain was also intrigued by this whole process!


Our finished product!


Then on Halloween evening, we went to Uncle Matt & Aunt Jenn's house to go trick-or-treating with cousins Bise and Meredith. The other strange little girl in this picture is Bise's neighbor who went trick-or-treating with us. Bise was a transformer and Chase felt like he needed help with his mask.


We're ready to go!!


One house had a gigantic inflatable Shrek on the front porch, so we had to get a picture of that. Chase is a big fan of Shrek!


After leaving each door, Chase would run back to the street and scream "I got candy!!"


Finally, we got back to Bise's house where we got to eat our candy. Cute cousins!

Chase Memory.....

I had to get this down before we forgot because it made us both laugh so hard. So after his shower tonight, Jason was drying Chase off in our bathroom getting ready to brush his teeth and dry his hair. Chase looked down at his chest and told Jason, "get the dirt Daddy". Jason giggled and responded, "that isn't dirt buddy, those are nipples." Chase then said, "oh, hippos." We both burst out laughing, which Chase then did too.

Kids says the cutest things sometimes.

Appointment Update (21.5 weeks)

Melissa had another appointment this afternoon and everything looks great, both with her and all 3 babies. They performed ultrasounds to get growth and development measurements on all three boys. They all checked out great. "A" and "B" are measuring 15 ounces while "C" is exactly one pound. All of the measurements are right in line with expectations for 21+ weeks.

If you recall from the last appointment (9/21) there were two very minor issues that the doctor wanted to keep an eye on. Boy A had a little bit of excess fluid in his left kidney...and Boy C had a slight issue with the dura not completely fusing together at the top the brain. Well, we are happy to report that today's ultrasounds show that both of these issues are no longer issues. Boy C's dura shows no issues any more, meaning it has completely fused, like normal. Boy A's kidney was measuring a proper amount of fluid, well within normal range, so everything is fine there too!

The doctor was also extremely pleased with Melissa's condition as well. She's been feeling very well (relatively speaking of course). She obviously gets fatigued quicker than normal, but for being almost 22 weeks pregnant with triplets, she's holding up really, really well. And, according to the doctor, her cervix looks fantastic! Trust me, that's all the details you want. :)

We have appointments scheduled on two week intervals (for the next 6 weeks), which gets us through Thanksgiving and then he said we'd go to weekly after that. So the next one is on Tuesday, Nov 2nd. As for bed-rest, the doctor still has no specific time-line for Melissa, but he said that Melissa can continue with her current schedule and we will continue to play things by ear. Since Melissa has her planning period as the first class of the day, she's going to try to go in late (sometime during the middle of that planning period) a couple of days a week. Occasionally if she doesn't sleep well at night, or has had a rough day the day before, going in late will really help her body to just chill out a little bit. The doctor liked this idea a lot. He said that her body will be the judge of when she needs to change her work schedule and/or eventually go on bed-rest. He has the philosophy that unless it's medically necessary for bed-rest, he is fine for Melissa to continue working and doing things that she feels comfortable doing. He obviously wants her to continue to take it easy, but at least for now, he thinks it's actually better for her to continue being active (relatively speaking of course). That made us both feel great, because Melissa and I are both pretty sure that she would go crazy if she was forced to be on bed-rest before she really felt her body needed it. And when Momma's crazy, we're all crazy!

We are extremely pleased with today's appointment and the results. Again, the next appointment is Tuesday, Nov 2nd. We'll have another update that evening. Here are a few ultrasound pictures of the triplets.

Supposedly this first one is a picture of all 3...if you can pick out three heads, well, you should be an ultrasound technician!


This is a profile picture of Boy A.



And Boy B...


And Boy C...

But Dad, it's raining outside...

So, this is what happens at 7 am when it's raining like crazy and you tell the dogs to go outside. They panic and run to the crate...nevermind that other crate back there in the corner...they have to go to the same crate...all three of them!


Yep, Champ is under there somewhere!



Unbelievable...outside can't be THAT uncomfortable!!