Happy Halloween!!

Ok- I just couldn't resist taking a picture of me and the girls in our first Halloween costume together. Thanks to mom for the lovely shirt. I am going to work looking like this... is that ok? Hope you all have a great day!!

- Nellie

ps- I got my H1N1 shot yesterday. It's amazing what a shortage there is up here in Maine. They say they want all pregnant women vaccinated, but the Maine Med specialty practice that I go to only got 80 doses! My nurse told me she wasn't calling everyone and it was a first come first serve basis, but I had been persistent in calling and she gave me the heads up that it was in and saved one for me. :) I love my nursies!

26 Weeks!! Oops...a little late

Here we are, another week has flown by. We had some excitement with our trip to the hospital last week, but all has been calm since then. I have had some contractions(Braxton Hicks) here and there, but nothing with any regularity. Luckily, I got through my full day of work on Friday and now I am on 1/2 days at work. It is amazing what a difference it makes when I get to relax and lie down all morning and then just go into work from 2-6p. I am actually in a good mood at the end of the day! :) We had a nice weekend. I had to work in the morning on Saturday and then in the later afternoon we went to a lovely wedding of some new friends of ours. Unfortunately, the pregnant lady had to cut out early. We barely made it to the cake cutting ceremony before I had to call it quits. After last week, I am not taking any chances with overdoing it. As nice as all those nurses were, it's not fun to be in that hospital room so early. I would like to stay out of there for at least another 6 weeks! Of course, we have our lactation class tonight...but I guess I'll make an exception for that.

We had another ultrasound yesterday morning. Lucky for me, my mom came up here to join me. Thanks, Mom!! It was fun to show her the girls and to have her hear from my nurses and docs how well we were all doing. She accidentally took all the photos, so I will grab a few and post them here next week after I see her this weekend. The three of them are just movers and shakers. All three of them changed position on us. Baby A is now head down, Baby B is head up for the first time, and Baby C has straightened out and has her head over to the right, although she is still transverse across the top of my uterus. They all still look wonderful. We are just so blessed that all is going to smoothly at this point. Their stats are listed below. There is a new thing they do starting now which is the Fetal Wellbeing Assessment (FWA). It looks at four different elements: fetal tone, fetal movement, amniotic fluid levels and fetal breathing movements. They will do this, as well as the fetal growth at each scan from now on. After my next ultrasound in 2 weeks, we will go to weekly ultrasounds. At that point, I think they stop measuring my cervix because they figure it's bound to change at some point. If I do say so myself, my cervix has been a champ throughout this whole thing! Everybody says so. hahaha. Anyway, enough about my cervix, here are the babies!!

Baby A... Heart rate 146, Femur Length 49.7, FWA 8/8, weighing in at 1lb 13oz
Baby B... Heart rate 134, Femur Length 47.5, FWA 8/8, weighing in at 1 lb 13oz
Baby C... Heart rate 148, Femur Length 49.3, FWA 8/8, weighing in at 1 lb 14oz

All the amniotic fluid levels are great, the cords all look good, no sign of twin-twin transfusion syndrome, placentas are healthy looking, and cervix is 4.5 cm. What more could we ask for?!?!

Here is the babycenter update... and some new pictures of me. Nathan really wanted me to post the bare belly ones. So, with a little hesitation...

How your baby's growing: The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

Looks like it's time to slow down...

Well, it appears that the girls are tired of working all day and are ready to move to 1/2 days a little earlier than planned. This was to be my last week of working full time. The plan was to work 1/2 days starting Monday. Well, yesterday was a LONG day at work. Lots of appointments and then an emergency came in that consumed my lunch break, when I usually get the chance to lie down for at least an hour. The lack of rest, and being a bad girl about drinking enough water, caused me to have some painless contractions last night. This has happened before and usually if I come home, lie down, and chug a bunch of water they stop and I'm fine. Well, last night they didn't really stop and they were coming 3-5 times an hour. It just feels like a tightening of my abdomen, but really no pain/discomfort involved. Anyway, after a few conversations with the on-call doc, we decided that I should go into the hospital and get checked out. It was about 10p.

Turns out all is well. They put me in bed and started an IV for fluids. I had a contractions monitor strapped onto my belly which showed I really was having pretty regular contractions, although most of them were pretty mild. My cervix was still nice and long and totally closed. They did some cultures, urinalysis and some blood work just to be sure that there was nothing, other than being overworked and under-hydrated. They kept me there for a few hours and once the contractions had slowed way down and they rechecked my cervix to be sure it hadn't changed, they sent me home around 2am. Needless to say, I'm home from work today. Need a day to rest per the docs.

I promise to take it easy!! That little experience was enough to scare me into submission. I don't want to go back there for many more weeks. I will say though, everybody was SO nice and friendly. A great staff over there at Maine Med. haha, except the poor med student who was very awkward and whom Nathan and I think should probably stick to research. :)

Nellie

25 Weeks and counting....

So, here we are at 25 weeks. Once again I am amazed at how fast each week goes by. If we follow the rule of averages, we will be giving birth to these girls in 7 weeks! HOLY MOLY!! Obviously, we hope it goes a little further, but it's pretty crazy to think of how close we are to meeting these fine young ladies. Our next ultrasound is a week from today. Later this week we have our lactation class(oops, I realized that it's actually next week). That should be interesting. It's not a multiples lactation class but I will learn the basics for sure... and maybe they will even have some pointers on how to grow a third breast. :)

Big news this week is that I had my first baby shower this past weekend! It was so much fun to see all you ladies. Thank you to everyone for making the effort to come from all distances as well as for all your wonderful gifts. We are so greatful to have such nice friends/family. A special thanks to Kim for all her hard work in putting it all together. It's so fun to look through all this adorable baby stuff. And Merrill (the cat) is a big fan of the tissue paper. As Nathan so cutely said to me the other night... "I just want them to come out, so we can start interacting with them".

Thank goodness, this is the last week of full time work for me. I can't wait to go down to 1/2 days. These full days are long and I don't want to do anything to chance having to go on bedrest. I think that's about it from here. The babycenter update is below and some new pics. Thanks Erin/Cassie for the hand me down maternity clothes! I am sporting my new shirt today! :)

How your baby's growing: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Love to all of you!

Nellie

24 weeks!! Yippee!!!

We hit our next big milestone...24 weeks!! The reason this is a big week is because if for some reason we had to deliver these girls, they have a shot at life. Every day that goes by after today is bonus time that gives them a better and better chance at a healthy. The next big milestone is 28 weeks, where they say the survival rate is 85-90%.

We had an ultrasound yesterday and everything is still looking great! The girls each gained 6 oz in the last two weeks. Their anatomy continues to look perfect. They are really moving around in there. It's pretty neat because the twins were both head down at my last ultrasound and this past Friday I felt a huge movement. I wondered if maybe one of the twins had flipped around...and indeed that is what happened. It's nice to feel so connected to them that I can tell what they are doing in there! So, now Baby A is on the left, head up; Baby B has shifted over to the right and is head down; and Baby C is still transverse, hanging out in the upper right quadrant of my uterus. I have some new pictures and stats to share too!

Baby A: Weighing in at 1lb 6oz, heart rate 146, femur length 4.3 cm. Her fluid levels were normal.

Baby B: Weighing in at 1lb 6oz, heart rate 153, femur length 4.2 cm. Her fluid levels were normal.


Baby C: Weighing in at 1 lb 5oz, heart rate 130, femur length 4.3 cm. Her fluid levels were normal.

So, all of them are growing really well and are all pretty much the same exact size, which is great news. They fall within the 50% range in terms of averages for singletons. My doctors are really happy and say everything is going great. They do say, however that it is time for me to start slowing down.

As of now, I am scheduled to continue working full time for another two weeks. I am being really careful to be sure I sit whenever I can and not get myself overbooked. So far, it has been working pretty well. Nathan has really been so great. I can't imagine doing this without him. He is working double time at his job and at home in order to take all the burden off of me. I couldn't be a luckier girl to have such a wonderful husband. :)

Oh! And we had a very exciting lunch date with some very cute little boys this weekend. There is a couple who live in Portland who had triplet boys 10 months ago! They are absolutely wonderful people and they have three of the cutest little boys you have ever seen. We spent a few hours hanging out, meeting them and the boys, and getting the whole scoop on what we needed to get ready for. They are going to be such a nice resource and I can tell we will become good friends. We can only hope our girls will be as well behaved as these little gentlemen.

I think that might be it for now. Hope everyone is doing well! Below is the babycenter update.

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

23 Weeks!!

Believe it or not, another week has passed! We are now sitting pretty at 23 weeks. Only one week to go before these girls would have a shot at life if they are born. Pretty crazy. They have REALLY stepped it up in terms of their activity. With three babies in three different places in my uterus, my abdomen often looks like an alien is about to emerge from within. I love feeling them kick. I have found that they are especially fond of ice cream... just like their mom and dad. :)
Nathan and I went to our Expecting Multiples class at Maine Med last night. It was somewhat repetitive of all the information we have already learned, but there was some new stuff as well and we got to see a DVD of a triplet birth. We got a nice tour of the new baby center at the hospital as well. It's a really nice new facility... although I am a little disappointed we won't have a room with a hot tub! I guess those are for those singleton moms who can have their babies in their own rooms. As our instructor said to us last night... "you won't be doin' much hot tubbin' anyway." I guess she has a point. We didn't get a chance to see the NICU, but we can make an appointment to see that at another time.

Work is still going well. The days do seem to be getting a little longer, but I have asked that they not overbook me when at all possible. I have started to have benign contractions (Braxton Hicks) after long days when I don't drink enough water. Because of that, I have gotten much better about forcing myself to sit when I can and drinking more water than anyone should ever have to. I only have three more weeks before I go to 1/2 days. That will be nice.

It has been a hard week, with losing Nugget and all. I am starting to recover, but it was definitely a hard blow to my emotional state. Thank you to all of you who sent notes and flowers. It has really helped to know how fondly everyone thought of him. He will be missed for sure. And on a side note... Merrill (our other orange cat), almost made me go into labor yesterday! I was in bed reading my multiples book like a good pregnant lady and I opened the window behind the headboard to get some fresh air. Well, Nathan had taken out the screens and put in the storm windows and without thinking I just lifted up the storm window. Five minutes later, Merrill is one second purring in my face and the next second he went up and over my shoulder and right out the window!!! I turned around and looked out and no sign of him. There is a little roof line that sticks out a foot or two about 3 feet down and he wasn't there. I ran, like a bad pregnant lady, downstairs totally hysterical and outside to find Merrill sitting in the garden with a look on his face that was suitable for framing. Thank goodness he is totally fine. No broken bones or organs or head trauma. I think his layers of blubber really saved him this time. Anyway, thank goodness he is ok.

So, I think that's it from here. Our next ultrasound is Monday, Columbus Day. I will try to get some good pics of the girls to post. Lots of love to all of you. Below is the babycenter.com update and some new pics of the baby mama.

Love, Nellie

How your baby's growing... Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

Some non-baby sad news...

I am very saddened to report that we lost our dear cat Nugget a few nights ago. Nugget came into my life when he was only 5 weeks old. I had just started working at Angell Memorial in Boston as an ICU technician. Lindsay and I were living Cambridge. I remember looking up one day at work to see Lindsay (I think), holding this teenie weenie kitten in the window. He had a bum foot and always limped around on his right hind leg, as he was born with no toes on this leg. Everyone was afraid that he wouldn't get adopted, so what could I do? I had to take him. That was the day that Nugget entered my life.

I won't go on and on, but he joined me for some very significant events in my life. He moved with me to Grafton to start vet school, he moved to Brighton with me when Nathan and I moved in together, he snuggled with me when my dad died, he celebrated with me when I got married and then graduated vet school, he moved to a tiny apartment in Portland with us, then moved to South Portland with us into our first home. During all this time, he was a loving, loyal, healthy little gimpy guy that was truly the first pet that I had raised from kittenhood. He always had the yearning to go outside and we never really let in, as we were worried that something would happen to him. When we moved to South Portland, we decided that he would be allowed outside on weekends in the summer if he behaved. That turned into pretty much every day when it was warm outside, but he always came in and was not let out at night. He was SO happy outside. He couldn't get enough of it. He just loved to roll around in the grass, "play" with the chipmunks, drink from the bird bath, and soak in the sun. I truly believe he was happier in his two summers here in South Portland than he was in the rest of his life combined. I couldn't have taken that away from him.

In the end, it was his freedom that took his life. He accidentally got out after dinner and spent the night outside. This had only happened a few times before. I think his lack of street smarts at night and his limpy leg not making him as fast as some others allowed him to be taken by some nasty carnivore from the park behind our house. Luckily, our neighbors found him in the woods behind their house and we were able to bury him on our property. It was nice to have closure, as he had been missing for a few days and we didn't know what had happened to him. It has been a very sad time, as we didn't get chance to say goodbye. He was such an innocent little soul who did not deserve to go the way he did. We will love him forever and ever and it is too bad the girls won't get a chance to meet him.

We love you Nugget... aka Super Nooge