June 26, 2011 - 25 Weeks!

Well, today we hit 25 weeks!  Hooray!  Each day that I can keep these babes in my belly the better!  As the neonatologist said to me (while staring at my belly), "I am looking at the best NICU."  So even though it is getting hard I just have to keep thinking about that.
Here is a little flood update for everyone.  So many people have contacted me knowing that I grew up in Minot, but thank goodness we live south of them (at least for today).  Flood Update...

Well, the good news is that our house in Bismarck so our house is still dry, but we are not even a half block from a huge dike that is still holding back the Missouri River from us.  So we aren’t in the worst of it (i.e. Minot), but we definitely are not out of the woods yet.  

Little G man, the dog, the cat, and myself are living at my folks’.  THANK YOU GRANDMA N AND GRANDPA K!!!   Thank goodness they are high and dry!  No issues here which is more of a relief than anyone could ever imagine!  Craig is still staying at our empty house down in Bismarck during the week to work and then comes to visit us on the weekends.

It is very sad as I watched dikes built around my elementary and junior high school in Minot and then yesterday to see them filled with water.  My junior high is completely under water!  The playground I played on as a little girl was sitting in a couple feet of water too!  It just breaks my heart.  I guess you can move to a new house or change towns, but you can never take the Minot out of me!  My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those friends and family that live in Minot that are struggling and displaced due to this flood!

Most of my doctor appointments are in Bismarck (an hour and a half from where I am now) or in Fargo (about five hours from where I am).  Things definitely aren’t easy right now, but we could have it much worse.  I am really uncomfortable and am having a harder time getting up and walking now.  Each day is getting more difficult and painful to make it through, but I did hit 25 weeks today!  They will be happy if I can hold out to 30-33 weeks so I am getting closer each day!  Sorry if I am a bit of a downer today, but the last few days have been very hard.  I try hard to keep my chin up and for now that is the best I can do.

We head over to Fargo tomorrow for another big ultrasound and back to Bismarck on Tuesday for a few moles to be removed.  It will be a busy week but hopefully I can get an update on here after the doctor's appointment tomorrow!

June 21, 2011 - Hooray for 24 Weeks and Contractions???

This past Sunday, we were very happy to hit 24 weeks!  At this point the doctors say that the babies are viable and at least have some chance of surviving if they were to come out now.  Obviously every day that they can stay in my belly is days of care they would need in the NICU after they are born.  I hope that I can last as long as possible, but I still have a long way to go!

And today, when I am 24 weeks and 2 days I was discharged from the hospital yet again.  Grandma N took me down to Bismarck (as I am still living up in Garrison due to the flooding) after a few hours of contractions coming about 15 minutes apart.  Thank goodness they were able to stop the contractions very easily by increasing the Procardia (smooth muscle relaxant) that I was already taking to keep the contractions at bay.  The last contraction came about 10:00 pm last night and I haven't had another one since then!  Whew!

They did another ultrasound and the babes were measuring 1 lb 6 oz, 1 lb 10 oz and 1 lb 11 oz.  Which is all within normal range and actually measuring a few days further along than average!  Yeah!  And my cervix...3.6 cm!  Which is actually 0.1 cm more than it was about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  Hooray!  All of those numbers were so great to hear after the frustration of having more contractions!  With all of the good news they said I could still remain at home, even though home right now isn't really 'my home.'  So back to Garrison we went today to hopefully be able to spend a few more weeks at home!

Our home in Bismarck is still safe and dry behing the dike in south Bismarck.  It seems as though the dikes are all holding well with the record 150,000 cfs of water coming down from the Garrison Dam.  Our prayers do go out to my hometown of Minot as they have lost their flood fight this spring.  We hope that all is well for everyone living in the river valley.

June 16, 2011 - 23 Weeks and 4 Days

Well, I am 5 weeks and a day into bedrest!  It actually hasn't been as bad as I would have thought.  I have been busy doing some craft projects, so I at least have something to show for my days of sitting on my behind.

I haven't posted anything in a while because everything has been going so smooth!  No major contractions or changes other than a lot of growth.  We have a lot of movement!  It is fun just to sit and watch my bare belly jump and move around with these busy girls!  My last post was 11 days ago and my belly has grown two more inches since then!  I am scared to think of how large this belly is really going to get to!  Below is a new belly picture at 48 inches!

Little G man took this picture (maybe he'll be a photographer someday)!  I had to include it just to give a better idea of how big this belly really is!  I wish I could say that I have started adding some fat to my arms, legs or face to help with these babes, but I am all baby!

I also added a page of belly pictures as it is easier to see how it has grown when you have the previous pictures to compare it to.  Check it out:  Belly Pictures

June 5, 2011 - Doctors, Pics, Shower & Flood Update

Yeah for hitting 22 weeks!!  Within the next two weeks they say that the babes are viable if they came out!  Sounds like they would have many complications if they came out now, but at least we are getting closer to it all!
So the report from the doc on this last Friday was that each of the babies weighs about 17 ounces, which still puts them about 5 days ahead of average.  They checked my cervix and it remained at 3.5 cm, which was the measurement two weeks ago as well!  So this bedrest thing is working!  Previously I was loosing about 1 cm every two weeks and now I only lost 0.5 cm in one month!  Much better results!

We were able to meet with our neonatologist on Friday as well!  He seemed to be a really neat guy!  Seems that the consensus between him and the OB that 30 weeks is our minimum goal!  I will hit 30 on July 31st, so that is our next big target!  Every day that we can keep them in my belly is worth days of care in the NICU, so we are going to do our best to keep them in there!

So here are some more belly pictures!  I think this first one is a repeat, but it is interesting to see how it grows and changes shape!  The other night I had a big lump right next to my belly button.  I am not sure what body part it was or heck, even what baby it was.  I thought I had it all figured out until our last ultrasound when they were all twisted around in there.  It is pretty crazy as they kick and move around in there!

May 17, 2011 ~ 19 weeks and 2 days ~ 44 inches

May 22, 2011 ~ 20 weeks ~ 44.5 inches

June 5, 2011 ~ 22 weeks ~ 46 inches

It actually measured 46 when I hit 21 weeks, so yes, 1.5 inches in one week!

I have been emailing with another mother of triplets and it is amazing how with a single pregnancy you count the weeks where with a multiple pregnancy you realize how much each day counts!

I had to include this too!  At the baby shower a friend of mine has been razzing me about what it is like to carry one baby at a time so we took a picture of these bellies!  L.F. is pregnant with one little girl and is 23 weeks and obviously me pregnant with three little girls at 22 weeks.  That is quite a difference!  Apparently she just hasn't gotten the memo that it is much more efficient to have 3 at a time instead of just 1!  (I have to find a way to tease her back)  Besides that, I will be done carrying mine 1-2 months sooner than she will too.
Thank you to everyone who came to the baby shower!  It was so fun to see everyone (especially after being cooped up in your house for a month)!  I wish I would have had more time to talk with everyone as it is so great to catch up!  I will get some of the silly pictures up here in the next couple of days.  We really appreciate everyone's support, prayers and generosity!

So an update on the flood...

First I have to say that what fabulous timing for such an ordeal.  For those of you that don't live near Bismarck to hear all of the chaos, I'll give you a little update.  It was announced about a week and a half ago that Bismarck was going to flood.  We believe their should have been more warning of this, but for some reason there wasn't.  The people in charge finally got real about how bad this was all going to look at the end of last week and thank goodness the predictions haven't gotten any worse since then.  I believe our house is sitting at an elevation of 1637 ft and the predicted level of the water when it hits the high by early next week, will be an elevation of 1640 ft.  The city has built a dike around where we live, and is in the process of adding in a secondary dike on the south side of us.  Thank goodness for that! 

Our prayers go out to J.M. & B.M. whose home is right on the bank of the river as well as E.D. who is evacuating her house as well!

Craig with the help of many family members and friends have been busy evacuating our house just in case it gets even worse than predicted or if the dikes cannot withstand the 150,000 cfs speed of the river.  If my predictions are right, the water should be moving approximately 20 mph, which is really fast for water!  I believe more of our belongings are being moved out this evening and Craig continues to box up as much as he possibly can from the cupboards and closets.  What a mess, but thank you to all those who have helped box things, move things, and given us garage space to store our belongings!

Ms. Preggo (a.k.a. me) did spend a night in the hospital with some chest pain about a week and a half ago.  I went in really hoping they wouldn't find anything and that it was all caused from the stress of all of this!  We figured out that my iron and thyroid levels were low, so we made some adjustments with the supplements to make up the difference.  The doc said it could also be that the babes could be going through a growth spurt, which I think was evident in the 1.5 inch growth in belly in one week.  We are happy to say that the babes are good as well as mama, so that was the most important thing!

Thank you again to everyone who has been helping us so much over the past week(s) as we prepare for the flood and these wonderful babies!