Not again

After throwing up excessively until I was 15 1/2 weeks pregnant, I thought (or hoped) I would never barf again. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Last night, I started feeling a little queasy around 6. It's not unusual for me to feel crappy in the evenings because I get so tired and uncomfortable. I just thought it was more of the same.

However, at around 10, I felt the urgent need to vomit. This was rather unfortunate since I was on the couch, and the nearest toilet was all the way in our bedroom. At the beginning of my pregnancy, I could sprint to the bathroom to throw up, but I'm not exactly a "quick mover" any more. Therefore, all I could think about as I waddled full speed to the bathroom was that I was going to lose it on the carpet, and we were going to have to get it professionally cleaned before the closing on Monday. Can you tell I'm a little stressed about making sure we unload this condo?

You will all be happy to know that I made it into the bathroom, but then, the next problem was being able to kneel in front of the toilet to be able to actually barf. This is no easy task with a belly as large as mine. I was able to manage, but it was incredibly uncomfortable. As soon as I was in position, I proceeded to throw up violently 4 or 5 times. It was ugly!

I called my ob and was told that something was going around. She thought it was just a little stomach bug and that it would pass, but she told me that if I didn't feel better by early this afternoon, I needed to go to the hospital for iv fluids. I figured that if I landed in the hospital at this point in the pregnancy, they would probably keep me there for good, and I'm not quite ready for that. I'm happy to report, though, that I am much better now. I guess I need to rehydrate and eat a little something for the babies.

The babies are still in there

It's been a while since I posted so some people started contacting me to see if these babies had arrived or are even close. The answers are no and no! They still haven't arrived, and it looks like it will be at least another week.

I saw the last doctor in my ob's practice that I needed to meet today. She said she had heard all about my "rock star cervix," and she was impressed with my pregnancy. She asked if I had any other major problems besides "elephantitis of the feet." That's how huge they are! The other day, Drew said to me, "No offense, but your feet are really gross." I had gained 8 lbs since last week, but the nurse assured me that it was probably mostly fluid retention. Is it possible that my feet each weigh an additional 4 lbs? They might. I can barely eat so I know it's not from calorie intake.

My dad took me to my appointment today, and I had on flip flops. The little strap on top was totally cutting into my feet, and I think my dad was appalled by it. He became obsessed with buying me a new pair of shoes. He decided to take me to CVS and treat me to a fancy new pair of generic Crocs. Those feel much better than the flip flops. Thanks, dad!

Next week, I head back to my perinatologist on Tuesday and my regular ob on Thursday. I'm hoping I have at least some cervical action on Tuesday so that they will start to consider when they will rip these babies out. I just want to know when I'll be able to breathe again and fit into regular shoes.

Progress on the house continues. Billy is there every day working or supervising workers. I'm not even going to recognize the place when I get there...especially since I've only really seen it twice anyway. We still need some furniture, and I'm thinking of going to Macy's furniture outlet on Saturday. Mems already looked into renting me a wheelchair. Yes, it's embarrassing, but what are you going to do? Billy wanted to me to ride in a wheelchair to my last perinatologist appointment. He kept trying to get me to sit in one. I think he just wanted to push me around and pop wheelies. I stayed upright and walked into the doctor's office with my dignity intact, but I may take him up on it at my next appointment because of these feet. I'm off to elevate them, as usual.

Gotta get movin'

We are currently the owners of 2 properties: an in town condo and a house in the burbs! We closed on the new house this past Tuesday, and our condo closing is on June 30th so we will soon be unloading our in town property. However, before we settle into our new place in Marietta, there's a lot of work to be done. Billy is going over there with a painting crew of friends and family tomorrow to try to get as much painted as possible. I am constantly amazed by how wonderful and helpful everyone has been throughout this whole process. We have such amazing people all around us.

We plan to do our major moving next weekend. I say "we," but I honestly can't do a thing. Again, we have had many volunteers sign up to help with the heavy manual labor. I feel so helpless sitting around while people pack up and move boxes all around me. I'm looking forward to feeling like my old self again when I get these babies out, but I'll probably miss their little kicks and punches. I won't, however, miss my gigantic belly! Did I mention I put on another 3 lbs last week? That's 44 lbs total now.

My foot is starting blowing up so I need to head back to the couch. I'm also having a hot flash and need to get some ice cream to cool me down. I get hot flashes in the evenings. If this is what menopause is going to be like, it's gonna suck.

Weight Update

We saw the perinatal specialist today. Here's what we found out:
-my cervix remains long and closed
-the babies are getting big: Marie is the smallest at 3 lbs 14 ozs, Abby is 4 lbs, and Will is our monster baby at 4 lbs 3 oz

Here's what all of this means to me:
-I'm fat
-I'm miserable
-I can hardly breathe, eat, or sleep anymore
-I get winded putting on my pants
-I'm being punched and kicked constantly
-It's going to be at least another couple of weeks before they come, which means I better get used to being more and more miserable
-On the bright side, they are going to be super healthy when they are born...I can't complain about that.

My Executive Vice President in Charge of Food Operations

I know that once these babies arrive, people will be wanting to know what they can do to help us. We figured that people always like to bring food to new parents so they don't have to cook. We have already had a ton of family and friends volunteer to do this for us so we decided we would make the process more organized. That's where my Executive Vice President in Charge of Food Operations comes into the picture.

After an extensive application and interview process, my friend, Becky, has been hired in this position. Seriously, she graciously volunteered to do this for us, and I could not be more thankful for her services!

Here's how the process will work:
1. Do you want to bring us food after the babies arrive? (Of course you do!)
2. E-mail Becky (beckyconners@hotmail.com) in the next couple of weeks so that she can begin to set up a schedule. Send her your name, contact info, and when you would like to make your delivery. If you need to talk to her, here is her number:678.570.5861.
3. Once you e-mail Becky, she will send you some food suggestions based on my and Billy's likes, dislikes, etc. Believe me, our eating habits are a little weird.
4. As she works on the schedule, she will let you know when your meal will be needed.
5. Once she assigns you a date, you should let her know what you plan to bring so that can make sure that aren't getting 5 chicken casseroles in the same week.

Thank you in advanced to Becky and to everyone who signs up to help with meal prep and delivery! We really appreciate all of your love and support.

I know that people will also want to help by doing stuff for us with the babies (feeding, burping, changing diapers, holding, etc.). That's the fun stuff...except changing dirty diapers. We will also be setting up a schedule for that. However, we are going to wait a little while on that one because we don't know how early they will arrive and if their little immune systems will be compromised. If they are too premature, we may need to limit visitors at first. After we get the green light from the doctor, though, we will definitely be recruiting babysitters. I will also have an Executive Vice President in Charge of Babysitting Operations. My staff is growing quickly.

31+ weeks

I'm still hanging in there! I had my 31 week check with my ob yesterday, and she still seems to think we should shoot for 34 weeks, not 36. She said that around 34 weeks, I become very high risk for preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure during pregnancy. This would put me and the babies at risk, and she doesn't want to take any chances. She told me about the warning signs of preeclampsia (blurred vision, seeing spots, sudden swelling in the hands and face, pain under the right breast, and headaches) and wants me to report any of these to her immediately.

Next week, I will start rotating around to some of the other partners in the practice. She wants to make sure I know everyone in case she's not on call when I go into labor. However, she also said that she had alerted her partners that they were to contact her, even if she was not on call, when I am going to deliver because she wants to be the one to deliver my babies. She said, "I've gotta see these triplets first!"

I've gained another 5 lbs since my last appointment 2 weeks ago, which is perfect. They said I should be gaining about 2 lbs per week at this point. I honestly don't know how I'm gaining weight because I hardly eat anything. I get full very quickly and still have so many food aversions. I think I ate scrambled eggs for dinner 3 nights last week. That's all I could stomach. Billy is the best scrambled egg maker...he makes 'em really fluffy. YUM!

When I walked up to my ob's office yesterday, there was another pregnant lady standing at the elevators. She looked over at me, and she said, "You must be due any day." I told her I still had a few weeks to go. She was probably about my same size, and she said she was due on Sunday. I told her I was having triplets, and she was shocked. It never gets old.

My newest symptom over the past few days is "fat foot." I have one foot, my left one, that gets all swollen and distorted. The doctor said that the babies are probably putting more pressure on that side. It grosses me out to look at it. I'll spare you all and will not post a picture of it on the blog. I haven't been updating the blog as much because my "fat foot" acts up when I sit at the computer. Sorry, but I have to avoid "fat foot" at all costs so I'm done with this post.

It's all happening at once

We just got an offer on our condo today, and we've done our negotiations. It will be binding tomorrow. If all goes well, we will close on June 30th! We are thrilled to finally be getting rid of it.

As for our house situation, we have a house in East Cobb under contract, and it will be inspected this weekend. If it passes, we will close in about a week! Can you believe it? The triplets are going to have a house to come home to.

The good and bad part about all of this is that I can not help with the move at all. It's kind of nice to think that I'll just be sitting around on my butt while others do the work, but at the same time, I hate not being able to put stuff where I want it. I would say I can get things organized later, but who am I kidding...once these babies arrive it will be years before I can get anything organized again. I'm just being realistic. We'll figure it all out-we have to!

The babies have hair!

We had an ultrasound today, and they were able to see that all of the babies have hair. Can you believe that? It's crazy to me that their lungs aren't fully mature, but that they have hair. Shouldn't things develop in a more prioritized manner? Oh well...I'm happy to not be having bald babies.

My perinatologist said that I have had an "A+" triplet pregnancy. She's very impressed with me, and she thinks that I can make it all the way to 36 weeks, which is about the longest women go with triplets. She said it would ultimately depend on my comfort level. I'm going to try to go as long as possible to make sure these babies are as good as I can get them.

The weights have jumped dramatically since our last check. Will and Abby both weighed about 3 lbs 10 oz and Marie was around 3 lbs 8 oz. They are getting big very quickly! I currently have more than 10 lbs of just baby weight inside of me.

The doctor asked if I had considered delivering vaginally because 2 out of the 3 are currently vertex (head down). I guess that the thought is that once those 2 come out, it would give the other the chance to flip around and come out head first. I told her I hadn't even thought about a vaginal delivery. My concern is that I would deliver the first 2 vaginally, but the third would have a problem, and I would end up having a c-section anyway. The thought of having 2 vaginal deliveries and a c-section all in the same day is completely unappealing to me. I think I'll just stick with Plan A and have the c-section.

Action-Packed Weekend

I had a very eventful weekend. I take advantage of the weekends because Billy can drive me around, and I can go other places to sit on my butt. A change of scenery is always helpful.

On Saturday, a potential buyer came by to see our condo at noon. Billy was supposed to go house hunting (AGAIN!) with our agent at 11 so he took Winnie and me to Vivian's house to hang out for the afternoon.

When we first got to Vivian's, her cat, KC, flipped out at the sight of Winnie. He was hissing and tried to attack. Vivian asked Paul to throw the cat outside, but Paul said that KC would claw his eyes out if he tried to pick him up right then. So, Paul calmed him down and then threw him out the front door. Right after he threw him out, there was a knock at the door. It was our agent, Alyson, coming to pick up Billy for the house hunt. I asked if Paul had thrown the cat on her, and she said she had just seen the cat fly by as she walked up.

Winnie and I spent most of the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the porch. Winnie would run up and down the stairs to go out to the yard. She loved playing in the backyard with Rose and Paul. Paul would push Rose on the swing, and Winnie would run after the swing and try to jump up and stop Rose from swinging. She got knocked in the head a couple of times, but it didn't even faze her. She's such a big dope.

At one point, Vivian went inside to have some lunch. Winnie followed her in because she always has to see what everyone is doing. A few minutes later, Winnie walked back out on the porch, where Paul and I were still sitting, and she just plopped down on the floor looking innocent. Then, Vivian appeared in the doorway with an empty pie tin, and she asked us if we knew where her apple pie had gone. Paul and I both looked at Winnie. The eating machine had struck again! Whoops! Vivian said it was a good thing that Winnie was so darn cute or else she might have beat her because she was really looking forward to a slice of apple pie.

Billy came by and picked me up after he finished looking at houses. He found 3 that he liked, which is miraculous. Typically, he sees a bunch of houses and maybe has 1 that he thinks is okay. We went back to those 3 on Sunday, and we settled on one we both agreed on for an offer. We called our agent to let her know we were ready to proceed with the offer, and she said she would draw up the papers. We decided to leave in an offer that we have on a pre-foreclosure house. We can always get out of it later. Then, our agent called later that night to say that the agent from the first house we ever liked contacted her to see if we were still interested. This is ridiculous!

Now we are waiting to hear if the sellers for that first house are willing to take our last offer. If they are, we will proceed with that house because we have always loved it. If they don't want to play ball, we will go ahead with the latest house. Hopefully, one way or another, we'll end up with a house for these babies. They are going to be here before we know it.

I have an appointment with my perinatologist tomorrow afternoon. I'll give an update after that.