Contractions & Baby Junk

Trina started contracting again on Thurs night. She wasn't overly concerned because they weren't painful or radiating, but I was freaked out. I couldn't sleep at all. Every time she moved or rolled or adjusted (which is constantly) I'd ask her if she was ok. Then I nodded off. I woke with a start when she got up to pee, which is also constantly. I closed my eyes again until I noticed the bathroom light come on. My stomach dropped. My mind raced "Why does she need light to pee? Is there blood? Bloody show? Amniotic fluid leak?? What is she looking at???" When she walked back in and saw my eyes wide open she laughed and told me "Everything is fine. Now you should really get some sleep. I feel sorry for your coworkers tomorrow. You're going to be SO cranky" "But you turned the light on." "I ALWAYS turn the light on. That way if I have a bad dream I can think to myself, I just checked and everything was fine" I didn't know she did that. That totally makes sense, though. She's had several miscarriage and bleeding dreams. It was a terrible night for me, but Trina was a champ.

The next morning she called our nurse. They upped her albuter0l to every 4 hours and sent over 2 home health nurses to set up an at home contraction monitor and give her a semiautomatic blood pressure cuff. Now she has to weigh herself, take her blood pressure and pulse once a day and monitor for an hour twice a day. After she monitors she transmits the results to the nurse who calls her back within 10 minutes and they tell her how many contractions she had. If she has too many, she "fails" and has to drink water, possibly take an extra pill and remonitor for another hour. If she fails again, they call our doc for further instructions. Luckily she's only failed the first monitor once. Every day the nurses send our doctor's office a report. She likes having the constant feedback and knowing that our doctor is paying such close attention to detail, but she HATES monitoring. She has trouble staying still for 5 minutes, let alone an hour. She's constantly pushing the pause button so she can toss and turn and scratch and shift. She says it makes her want to pull her hair out. :)

Yesterday she started feeling like she wasn't able to empty her bladder all the way. She couldn't tell if a baby was sitting on it, if she really just had to pee every 5 minutes or if she was getting a UTI. She called the nurse again this morning who told her to come in for a urinalysis and an ultrasound. It seemed a little like overkill, but apparently our doc doesn't take ANY chances with triplet moms. I was so sad that I was at work and had to miss it. It is the first appointment I haven't gone to. Luckily one of our good friends was able to go with her to keep her company.

When she got there, she was taken right back, no waiting at all. She gave them a urine sample and they did a full ultrasound. Her bladder looked good and empty, no obstructions. The doc went on to take all of the measurements on all 3 babies. This woman really doesn't mess around. I like that about her. She moved quickly and didn't give Trina or Megan much of a chance to see any "cute" views of the boys, but who can be choosy with an impromptu u/s and no appointment? At one point Trina saw some boy junk pop onto the screen and she said "Ooh look, a penis" Doc immediately printed the shot and handed it to her. It's the only picture she was given. Nice. :)

After the u/s she was sent to the lab to give a second urine sample. It had to be a "clean catch" so she was given VERY specific instructions to follow. Wipe a certain way, hold your who-ha open, don't let the cup touch your who-ha, pee a little into the bowl, then catch some urine, then pee the rest in the bowl. She looked at the tiny sterile cup and said "Is this some kind of a sick joke? I haven't been able to see my vagina in months and you want me to pee in THIS without touching anything??" Apparently the lab techs laughed and told her yes, it was important. She peed a little then missed the cup, and luckily her hand, the first time she aimed for it. Then peed a tiny bit in the cup and the rest in the bowl. She had just gone at the doctor's office and they didn't want the "end" of the pee in the cup so there wasn't much to work with. Thankfully it was just enough. We won't get the urinalysis results until Monday, but they put her on antibiotics in the meantime just in case.

22 Week Belly, 43", +29lbs

Baby Boy Junk :)