Induced Lactation

After our "Breast Feeding For Multiples", class I started thinking about inducing lactation. There are several reasons why I considered it. Firstly, it would solve the "more babies than boobs" issue and hopefully provide enough breast milk that formula supplementation could be avoided or kept to a minimum. Also, being able to take over some of the feeds when I'm home will give Trina some much needed breaks. It would give me another way to bond with the boys and help ensure that they each get enough skin to skin time. We don't want them shorted just because they out number us. All in all it seemed like a good idea so we contacted the lactation consultants at our hospital. They gave us some advice and are very supportive of our plan. They even offered to go talk to the NICU when the boys are born to make sure they understand our situation and accommodate us in every way.

About a month ago I started taking herbs 3x a day, began using a hospital grade breast pump every 2 hours when I was home and awake (3-5 times a day) and ordered domperidone. I added the dom to my protocol 2 weeks ago when it came in. I've only gotten some clear fluid here and there with no particular rhyme or reason. Until tonight that is. About an hour ago I got my first drop of real milk! Yes, it was only a drop, but I'm very excited that I managed to start producing "something" before the boys got here. :)

34 Weeks!

Thursday we went to L&D Testing for, well, testing. The first time we went there we had 3 very sweet nurses working on Trina and the boys. This time we had 1 not so friendly nurse. She wasn't mean per se, just not warm or talkative like the other ladies. After much "arguing" with Baby A, the nurse gave up on his NST. His super low position makes it nearly impossible to monitor him or even measure him on ultrasound. I hope he's not this difficult when he's out in the real world. :) Babies B & C both cooperated a little better and were given A+ on their heart rates and reactions and Trina's blood tests came back great. Along with her usual +1 urine protein, she also had some elevated leukocytes. I wondered if they'd put her on antibiotics "just in case" but they said it wouldn't be necessary. We left feeling very accomplished and with huge smiles on our faces.

Monday we went to the peri's office and saw one of our dr's associates. Our doc is out of town at a conference. Dr K was super nice and very warm. We liked him quite a bit right off. When he walked in the room he looked Trina over and asked "How many weeks along are you?" Trina said "34weeks today" with a grin. "And how many babies do you have in there?" "Three" bigger grin. "Well you must be doing something right, that's impressive" I thought it was very sweet of him to say. Then he started the ultrasound and got a sort of surprised look on his face. It scared me a bit until he said "These are NOT small babies!" in shocked sort of tone. I said "That's what we hear" huge grin. Once again Baby A made the doctor's job difficult, but with some poking, prodding and mumbling, he was measured. The boys are now estimated at 4lbs12oz, 5lbs1oz and 4lbs12oz and they are all head down! Looks like they heard about Friday's appointment and are preparing to come out the old fashioned way. As much as Trina would prefer it, that is just not going to happen. No way will our doc attempt a triplet vaginal delivery. And the best part of the appointment was pictures! Our first ones in forever!

Baby A, our difficult child. :)

I love this picture of Baby B!

What the f&%# is this and why is it labeled Baby C? :)

I came home tonight to find that Trina had been practicing her swaddling on Mr. Moose.

C-Section Scheduled!!!

So yesterday we went to the peri's office for another check up. She did a quick scan for all 3 heartbeats and we were done. It was the first time we didn't get a full growth scan. I guess we're pretty spoiled that way. Trina still only has +1 protein in her urine so that's holding steady. She was a little bit swollen, but managed to lose a pound of water weight over the weekend. Her blood pressure was a teeny bit elevated, but not nearly as bad as the last time. If they'd give her 5 minutes to get settled, they'd get a perfect reading. It takes energy and lots of blood flow to move that big belly around!

The doctor was surprised at how well Trina was doing. She was expecting to take us to the OR that evening! We were shocked as we were definitely NOT expecting any such thing given Thursday's test results. She complimented Trina on what a great job she's been doing and said she wanted her back at the hospital for another round of preeclampsia testing on Thurs morning. If there were any blips, she'd deliver us before the weekend. She's going out of town for a conference and doesn't want just anyone on call to do the c-section if an emergency arises. She wants to do it herself. If all looks good with the tests, she wanted to deliver us the middle of next week. Trina blurted out "But I wanted to make it til October!". She said "Fine, I'll give you til the first, but I'm not letting you go through another weekend. I want you in testing Thursday and here Monday seeing my associate." So there it is. Friday, October 1, 2010 at 34weeks 4days we will have our baby boys. We only have 2 more appointments before we have babies. One for blood, urine & NST and one for urine & ultrasound. So freaking crazy.

33 Week Belly, 48", +49lbs

L&D: Take 2

So Thurs we went back to the peri's office. Just for giggles we decided to go on the proper day. For the last several appointments they have been taking Trina straight back to an exam room so she can lay down before her u/s instead of waiting in the lobby in a chair. Usually they send us back and come in a little while later to take he blood pressure. Well Thurs right after she climbed up onto the table and rolled over (which is quite a lot of work for a woman in her "condition") the nurse took her BP. It was 130/90. Of course it was high, but that's the reading that was put into her chart even though it was not accurate. Trina was upset because we were told if the diastolic pressure was over 90, it was a problem.

Soon we were taken to the u/s room to get started. The doc had a hell of a time trying to visualize Baby A. He was curled in a ball and way down low. After getting his skull and femur measurments she told the tech she was moving on to Baby B because Baby A "was annoying her". Baby B was nearly in C position but cooperated a bit more. As always, Baby C was a breeze. We know Baby A's estimated weight is inaccurate due to only measuring 2 of the normal 5 body parts, but she had them listed as 4lbs1oz, 4lbs10oz & 4lbs5oz. The babies look great and are growing like champs! After that was determined, the doc asked how much weight Trina had gained because she had a lot of edema. The answer was 5lbs in 8 days, we were told anything over 3lbs a week was a problem. To top it all off, she still had +1 protein in her urine. I knew that 3 checks in the "bad news" column was probably going to have some repercussions. Sure enough, doc had us go straight over to the hospital for more tests. We were told if all was well, she wanted to see us back on Tues.

The nurses in the L&D Testing department were all really nice. They came in and took several vials of blood, did an Non Stress Test on the boys, did contraction monitoring, took Trina's blood pressure every 15 minutes and had her give another urine sample. About 2 hours later we had the results. Trina's kidney and liver functions were normal, her clotting time was perfect, her blood pressure was perfect, the boys heart rates were great, she only had 1 contraction and although she still tested +1 protein, her urine was clear of blood, infection, ketones and glucose. Once again, the nurses were shocked at how well Trina was holding up and once again we avoided being admitted. Looks like we'll be seeing our peri again on Tues. :)

32 Week Belly, 48", +50lbs

First L&D Visit

So today Trina texts me at work and says there's a possibility she might be leaking amniotic fluid. In the restroom, she noticed a palm sized wet spot in her panties that didn't smell like urine. Later, when she checked again, there was another spot. She put in a call to the nurse who said she needed to get checked out. She really really didn't want to go to the hospital for what might amount to a leaky bladder. I asked her if anyone she ever knew had the same situation, what would she advise them to do? Without question she would tell them to be safe and get checked, so she got dressed and drove to my job. This gave me time to finish up a few things and delegate the rest of my day to my coworkers. Being the incredibly clever gal that she is, she Map.Quested directions to the hospital from my work and got a shorter route than what I would've taken.

When we got to the hospital, they put her right into a room. She had to give them a urine sample and get into a nifty hospital gown. Our nurse looked familiar to me... After running through some of our information she looked at me and said "I know you from somewhere, did your friend give birth here?" I DID have a friend give birth there 3 years before and this was her nurse! She then went on to remind me that she had been a client at my job a while back. I totally remembered her and we chatted for a moment. Small world. Trina's mouth was hung open. She said "Oh my god, you're a freak like her! How do you people remember this shit?" Trina never remembers anyone or anything and I remember the teeniest details from useless interactions that happened years ago. It was fun to run into someone like me. It was even more fun to watch my wife get so flabbergasted. :)

After Nurse S and I caught up, she undertook the tedious task of trying to get 3 fetal monitors on Trina's big belly. It took a while, but we finally managed to get what looked like 3 individual heartbeats registered. Everyone looked good and started kicking the crap out of the sensors. Then she used a test strip to check the pH of the fluid on Trina's perineum. It appeared to be negative for amniotic fluid so she did a second test. This involved sticking a swab inside Trina's vagina for 60 seconds then swishing it in a fluid for another 60 seconds, then putting a test strip in the fluid for 5 minutes. Luckily, that test also came back negative. Trina was feeling silly for "wasting everyone's time" by this point, but the nurse and I kept telling her it was better to get checked and have it come back negative than to not get checked and put the boys in danger. Our nurse gave the on-call doc our test results and boys' heart rates and we were released. :)

I'm SO glad this was just a test run. I want our boys to bake for a few more weeks. I'm also happy with how smoothly everything went. Our hospital bag has been in the car since Tues so we had everything we needed "just in case", I didn't have any freak out moments and now I have a faster way to get to the hospital from work. All in all it went very well.

Freak Out and Fondue

So yesterday we show up at our peri's office promptly at 1:20 for our 1:30 appointment. Unfortunately our appointment was actually scheduled for today, not yesterday. Doh... They took us right back anyway and we were seen within 30 minutes. Have I mentioned how much I love this place?? The doc came in and right off told Trina she was a superstar! She praised her on getting to 31 weeks without any hospital visits other than the cerclage at 12 weeks. She got down to business and started measuring the boys. She announced that Baby A has moved to head down position. Then she had a hard time measuring his femur because his legs were under Trina's ribs! My wife's torso is chalk full-o-babies. Every available nook and cranny has some baby part stuffed in it. As she wrapped up the scan she casually says "OK then, the babies will be here inside of 2 weeks" Just like that. No warm up, just a bombshell. We were shocked. What happened to 35 weeks?? She went on to say that Trina had a bit of protein in her urine, her blood pressure was up just a teeny bit from usual and she now had 12lbs of baby sitting on her cervical stitch. My mind was reeling, then it hit me. 12 pounds of baby? I asked for their weights. She looked at the screen and rattled off: 3lbs14oz, 4lbs1oz and 3lbs15oz. Holy shit my babies weight 4lbs a piece!!! With that she said she'd see us in a week and walked off.

I swear we were both in complete shock. I had a stupid grin and was filled with nervous excitement. Trina was upset and slipping into denial. Walking out she just kept saying she wasn't ready and I just kept reminding her it wasn't up to us. We decided it was a good time to go pre-register at the hospital and headed over there. That's marked of our list now. :) After that I took her to The Melting Pot for a celebratory dinner of melted cheese, dippers and salad. We followed that up with decadent chocolate and coffee. It was SO amazing. We were stuffed full of fondue when we finally waddled out of there. I have a feeling that might be the last fancy dinner date we have for quite a while. We're about to be very busy and very broke.

31 Week Belly, 47", +45lbs

Wait... I'm not ready!

Logically, I know my babies could arrive at any time, but my brain just can't quite compute that fact. I'm fully aware that 90% of triplets come on or before 32 weeks. I also know that we're sitting smack in the middle of our 30th week, but it just doesn't add up to me. How can those thumps and bumps and hiccups in my wife's belly really belong to babies that are baked enough to start life in this big scary world? Occasionally I get a flash of what it would be like when they're here. I'd hold them and smell them and love them... Then my brain crashes my daydream with a panicked "They're not ready to come out, it's too soon!!"

Trina is having similar issues. She loves being pregnant and doesn't want it to be over. This will be her one and only pregnancy. Something she never considered. She's always wanted a big family and figured on several pregnancies. Hitting the "instant family baby jackpot" never crossed her mind. These thumps and bumps and hiccups are her only ones. These bladder kicks and cervix punches will never happen again. It's overwhelming for her to come to terms with that. She's not ready to be forever-finished being pregnant. She adores the connection and closeness she has with the boys. Pregnancy causes a beautiful and sacred bond between mother and child. She's just not in a place where their postpartum relationship seems like a step forward and not a severing of ties.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's just not fair that you have less time to prepare for more babies.

30 Week Belly, 47", +44lbs