Doctor's Appointment

My appointment today went very well. The bed rest and medication are working just as the doctor had wanted. Things seem to have stabilized, and even improved.
I have only been on bed rest for one full day (yesterday) and already my blood pressure was nice and low, and my heart rate was the lowest it has been since my early weeks of pregnancy.
It is very difficult for me to give up my job that I love, I already miss my students, and my teacher friends. It has been even harder to watch Steve (who does SO much already) do everything while I sit idly by. Most of all my heart feels heavy when I have to miss out on doing things with Will.
It is going to bed be difficult to be on bed rest, but to get the news that things are looking better was very uplifting. Now, if I can make it about ten more weeks and have three healthy babies, it will all be worth it!

Bed Rest

Well, I have successfully made it to 6 months (24 weeks). I was able to narrowly reach my goal of teaching until spring break. I was even able to go back for 3 days after! Unfortunately I got the news Tuesday afternoon at my doctors appointment that I had been dreading. I have been having contractions, and things had changed dramatically enough since last week, that I have been placed on total bed rest with bathroom privileges for the remainder of the pregnancy.

The perinatologist prescribed medication to stop the contractions. I have to go back for another appointment tomorrow to make sure that things have settled down.

All three babies are still healthy and active. I did get a few new ultrasound pictures, which I will add to this message, but it is getting harder and harder to decipher what's going in these images. It is like taking the Rorschach inkblot test! The first picture is of Baby B's face. He has his arms up by his head. His head is to the left of the picture. The second picture is of Baby C. Her head is to the left and her torso is to the right. There are also some parts of another baby (baby A?)underneath. Baby A had her face to my back, and they were not able to get any images of her.

Will and I checked out some books from the library last Friday. One book is about a boy who's Mommy is going to have a baby. At the end it shows Mom, Dad, and Big Brother at the hospital. Big Brother is holding the baby while sitting next to Mom on the hospital bed. Will looked at the picture for a long time and finally turned to me and said with confusion, "They only had one baby?!?!?" He seems very aware and excited about the triplets. He is continually asking me questions that start with, "When the babies come out.......?" Will said that he wants to feed them bottles and give them "binkies." I am sure he is going to be the best big brother ever. The triplets have tough act to follow!

Happy Easter

NEW BLESSINGS:

We have had the most wonderful things happen in the past few weeks. Number one, my amazing, beautiful, handsome, nephew Ben Samuel Farrington was born on the first of the month to Sam and Steffen. He weighed in at 7lbs 3oz and was 20 inches long. We were excited to welcome him to the world, so we ran up to the hospital to meet him. He was bright eyed and alert. I forgot what it was like to hold a newborn baby. (It has been 6 months since my last nephew, Luke (Seth and Ruth's son), was born. Luke has grown so quickly I don't remember him being newborn!) When we asked Will what he thought of baby Ben, Will simply said unenthusiastically, "He's cute," and then he went on and on about how much fun he had with his cousin Annie, Ben's big sister.

Also,......Steve's cousin Abe and his wife Lindsay had their baby, Ethan Farrington, on April 7th. He weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 14 oz and was 22 inches long! (No, that is not a typo.)

MINNESOTA TRIP:

In other news, I was on Spring break last week, so Steve and I decided to try and take advantage of the opportunity to go to IKEA to pick up the cribs we wanted for the babies. So on Friday April 3rd we headed up to Minnesota. Will enjoyed watching "Finding Nemo" over and over again on the new DVD player in the Expedition. (Yes, we have other movies. No, he did not want to watch them.) Steve enjoyed playing with the navigation system. I enjoyed seeing both of my guys having fun with their toys.

Will was very excited about staying in a hotel with a pool. When we pulled into the hotel at midnight, Will rubbed his eyes and asked, "Are we going to live here now?"

We had a great time on our trip, but we had a few minor snags. IKEA was sold out of the cribs that we went to get (Gulliver in white). Will was too afraid to swim after all, but remained very excited about the pool the whole time we were there and wanted to view it often. My horrible cold/allergies turned into a very painful sinus infection. I finally broke down and went to an urgent care clinic on Sunday for a preggo friendly antibiotic. With my allergy problems and not being able to take antihistamines OR decongestants, these babies are killin' me. I keep telling myself this part is temporary and it will all be worth it at the end.

In the end, the Minnesota trip was worth it too. We had a nice time meeting with my Aunt Pat at, my favorite, Carbonnes' Pizza! We were also able to find a nice changing table and dresser for the nursery at IKEA. Our brave son was able to stay at the IKEA play area and hang out in the ball crawl while we shopped. He begged us to take him there, and he narrowly met the requirements (at least 37 inches tall and totally potty trained) so we let him stay. I was very impressed that he was not afraid to stay without his Mommy or Daddy.

TRIPLETS:

My 23 week appointment went extremely well on Tuesday. Although, I have been dragging with my congestion, sinus infection, and leg swelling (I am now in compression knee highs all day every day) the babies were completely unbothered by my minor discomforts.

The doctor was very impressed that each baby was so big. He was also pleased that each baby was the same size, because this indicates that each is baby is growing well. Both girls weighed 1 lb 3oz and the boy weighed 1 lb 4 oz. Our doctor told us the boy weighed an ounce more because of his extra appendage :)

All three are so active, you can actually see them move through my clothing! One will kick and it will set off a whole chain reaction. Will likes to put his head on my tummy and "listen" to the babies and wait for kicks. Although he announced at dinner last night that one of the babies "tooted" because he heard my tummy gurgle.

EASTER:

The egg hunt pictures posted here of Will, Grammie, and Steve are from the Easter Celebration at Mommy's school put on by the the National Honor Society students.

Grandpa, Nana, and Uncle Bill came to spend Easter weekend with us. We had a wonderful time which included an early AM Easter egg hunt in the living room, dying Easter eggs, and eating a wonderful Easter dinner that my Mom made.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!