16 Weeks 1 Day

I never really thought of 4 months being a specific milestone in this pregnancy, but when yesterday arrived, I felt a real sense of calm and accomplishment. Like we were really getting somewhere. This week has been uneventful. I say that with great relief. There have been no contractions and only one severe bout of nausea that was calmed by a demand dose from the Z0fran pump.

We have FINALLY made it to a point where we only have to go see the peri every 2 weeks instead of 1 or more times a week. I'm glad we're progressing to a more stable pregnancy, but I'm sad we don't get to see the boys this week. I don't know how women with "normal" pregnancies do it. They get what, 2 to 4 ultrasounds total? That seems like such a foreign concept after our experience.

Trina's belly seems to be growing right before my eyes. It's getting bigger and firmer everyday. We decided to start doing weekly measurements to go with the weekly photos. Last week she was 40" around and this week she's 40.5". If she continues to gain a 1/2 inch a week, we may have to widen the doors. :) Poor thing is already growing out of most of the maternity clothes she started with. Luckily, most of them were hand-me-downs. We still have some larger maternity clothes that she fits into and since she only leaves the house once sometimes twice a week, we should be ok for a while yet. This is good, because buying her new clothes every 3 or 4 weeks would be a very expensive endeavor.

16 Week Belly, 40.5"

Trina's Trusty Sidekick

Dragging this thing around 24/7 is super fun...

SQ Catheter Site

This little beauty has to get changed to a different

location every 12 hours. The fun never stops, I tell ya!

Male Trifecta

It's official. We have 3 bouncing baby boys!!! Modesty was SO last week. As you can see in the above photo, today they were into letting it all hang out. It got me thinking, do the parents who want gender to be a surprise just not look at the screen during the anatomy scan? Do the doctors take only head shots to send home? I can't imagine how anyone could have missed that they were all very male.

In other news, our boys have been on the move. The identicals are now in positions A & B and our fraternal has moved into position C. The doc thinks this will be their final placements. All 3 boys are healthy and measuring 2 and 3 days ahead of schedule. Baby A measured 15w5d, Baby B measured 15w4d and Baby C measured 15w5d. As for their Mama, her cervix is holding steady at 3.1cm and she has had very few cramps and no contractions since starting the new med. Everyone is doing great. My family is on the right track. :)

15 Weeks 1 Day

Trina has been hooked up to the Z0fran pump for a week and a half now. There were several kinks that had to be worked out in the beginning reguarding sites and dosage, but it seems to be working pretty well for her nausea. Unfortunately, she's woken up with killer headaches for several days in a row. She also has to change her site every 12 hours because Z0fran is very irritating to the tissue. Once it's pissed off that bit of skin, it won't work anymore. My poor wife has palm sized reaction sites up and down her thighs and now across her belly. She's running out of places to stick that thing. They said once she's felt good for a while, they'll start trying to wean her off of it.

At last weeks peri appointment, Trina mentioned to the Dr that she sometimes wakes up with menstrual type cramps. Doc said it's probably dehydration cramps due to her not drinking enough water during the night. Trina countered that she generally drinks 16oz or so overnight. Doc ended up giving her a Rx for Albuter0l to take as needed for cramps. Yesterday morning Trina woke up with intense cramps. They started at the bottom left of her abdomen and radiated around to her lower back. She drank a lot of water, laid on her left side and took a pill. They faded some but then came back. It scared us both. We ended up with an emergency peri appointment. They hooked Trina up to the contraction monitor. Even though she was still cramping a little, nothing registered on the monitor. Doc says she's sure they were contractions and wants her to take the pills every 6 hours instead of only when she has cramps.

Before we left, the nurse took us into the ultrasound room. She said she wanted us to have a peek at the babies to calm our nerves. It was such a sweet gesture. She didn't take measurements or have any other agenda. Just a chance to see our babies for peace of mind. They were so cute. Two of them were really interacting with each other and the third was napping. She pointed out all three heartbeats and let us watch them for a few minutes.

14 Week Belly

15 Week Belly

13weeks 2 Days

Trina's cerclage went pretty well. She had 3 days of cramping and spotting, but no major complications. The procedure itself went great. She took the weekend off to recuperate then had to take Mon & Tues off due to severe nausea and vomiting. After a few days of mild issues, Trina's back to full force vomiting and heaving nearly all day every day. She has now busted blood vessels in both eyes, eyelids and cheeks. Our cerclage recheck appointment was supposed to be tomorrow, but the nurse was so worried about the pressure all that retching was having on her newly stitched cervix, that she changed it to today. No complaints here. We wanted to see the babies. They checked for them with the doppler after the procedure, but with 3 how can they be sure they picked up each heartbeat and not just one of them 3 times, ya know?

Today they measured Trina's cervix and it was "good", didn't catch the actual number, though. The babies had their nuchal folds measured and they were all great. They want to see numbers under 2.5 and theirs were 1.1, 1.3 & 1.4. The blood tests that normally go along with that screening are not applicable for triplets. Apparently not enough data has been gathered to determine what are "good results" and what aren't. The babies themselves are growing right on track. Boy A is 13w4d, Baby B is 13w1d and Boy C is 13w3d. Did you catch that gender drop there? That's right, our identicals are boys! Baby B was feeling a bit shy today and wouldn't let the doctor have a good look. She's pretty sure we have 3 boys, but no matter how much she tried to persuade the little one, she couldn't get a definite answer. Perhaps Baby B won't be quite as modest the next time around. Until then, it's a surprise. :)

The doctor has ordered Trina to be on modified bedrest and out of work for good. Trina's job requires her to be on her feet for most of the day and even though she cut her hours down, doc says "no more". She's feeling very protective over Trina's questionable cervical competence and doesn't want anything to compromise it. Secondly she wants the violent retching to stop. The pressure it puts on the cervix is far too great. It also robs Trina and the trips of much needed nutrition, which can be devastating to their growth. She ordered a Z0fran pump that will be delivered by nurse to our home tomorrow. Z0fran pills did nothing for Trina, but apparently sometimes the pump is still the answer. I certainly hope so for all their sakes.

And now for show and tell!

13 Week Belly

Baby Boy A

Baby ?? B

Baby Boy C

Broken capillaries in Trina's eye & cheek from repeated violent heaving. :(