Just A General Update

Well, we have made it another week! I had some contractions Saturday evening, more than normal, but they stopped after an hour when I drank a lot of water and took one of the pills Dr. Beaird prescribed for me. I am still having a few contractions everyday, most of them are in the evening starting around 8:00 pm. They tend to slow down or even stop by the time I am ready to go to bed. I am still having a little trouble sleeping, not due to insomnia so much, but more due to being generally uncomfortable. My back pain gets worse everyday due to the medicine ball I am carrying around out front. I am starting to outgrow most of my maternity clothes because of my huge belly. I have taken to lounging around the house on bedrest in Brent's t-shirts and comfy pants. We will be 31 weeks on Wednesday! Our next check-up is tomorrow at 10:00 am with Dr. Beaird. Then we meet with our high risk doctor in Temple on Thursday. We need to make it another 3 weeks at least.
Brent is helping with the West Fest parade on Saturday morning, as he does every year, and I have already put in my order :) 1 beer bread sandwich easy on the kraut, 1 funnel cake and 1 spudzilla. I believe the only thing I am going to miss about being pregnant is being able to eat whatever I want because of the need to pack on the pounds for these little babies. That all ends when these girls get here. Brent and I will be back on our diet and exercise plan. Boooo...
I will update here on how our appointment goes with Dr. Beaird tomorrow.
Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers! Your support is invaluable.

Released from hospital...

After resting last night, I continued to have strong, inconsistent contractions this morning without any cervical change. Due to that, Dr. Beaird gave me a sedative to relax me and try to calm the contractions. It wasn't a pleasant experience for me. It knocked me down immediately and I started to get extremely hot and sweat. Mom had to cover my head, legs and arms with cold washcloths to keep my temp down. Then I started to feel like I needed to tell myself to inhale to breathe. My breathing would become more and more shallow until I would tell myself to take a huge breath in. At one point I couldn't keep my eyes open because of the meds so I asked Mom to make sure I didn't stop breathing in my sleep. I probably wouldn't have stopped breathing but it sure felt like I was going to. The meds started to wear off after about 4 hours and when I could finally wake up and sit up, Mom had some food for me and I was starving! Dr. Beaird had come by a few times in the morning to check on me and when he came back around 1:00 to check on me I was awake. He said that these episodes of hospital stays are just going to be par for the course, my body feels like it is 41 weeks pregnant no matter how much we try to tell it I'm not ready. We will continue to try and calm the contractions with fluids and sedatives and possibly toxilitics (stronger drugs to stop contractions) but if my body breaks through those efforts the babies will be delivered once it is determined that I am in active labor with significant cervical change. So far, we haven't gotten to that point. We are hoping to hold out 2-4 more weeks, even if I end up back in the hospital one or two more times because of contractions. If that happens, it happens. Better to try to keep active labor from happening than to allow it to reach that point at home and then it is too late to stop it once we get to the hospital. Dr. Beaird released me from the hospital after our talk this afternoon. He sent me home with a prescription for a mild sedative I can take if I start contracting a lot. It may help us hold out these next few weeks. But the drug won't stop active labor if these babies are bound and determined to join us in this world. Brent picked me up and took me home and I have been in bed ever since. Please pray for us; that my mind and body will be quiet and restfull these next few weeks so I can carry these babies until at least 34 weeks.
Michelle

We tried to have a relaxing evening...back at the hospital

Well, around 8:20 tonight, I started having regular contractions about every 6-8 minutes. We are back at the hospital now getting monitored. All babies are looking good and we are waiting to see the on-call doctor, Dr. Patterson. I am sure I will get fluids and some more medication to stop the contractions. Hopefully, I won't be in the hospital as long as last time.

We just saw Dr. Patterson. She checked me and I am not dilated. We are going to do the IV fluids and if the contractions continue we may do Procardia to try to stop them. It's just a waiting game now. I will update when we know more.

We definitely need your prayers tonight.
Michelle and Brent

Appointment Today...

My appointment today with Dr. Beaird went very well. I am still not dialated, which is great and my cervix measured a 3.06 and that is completely normal. I am 29 weeks and 5 days pregnant today and my belly is measuring 41 weeks pregnant. Trust me, it feels like I am 41 weeks pregnant right about now. We also discussed the plan if I start contracting again in the next few weeks. If I am 31-32 weeks pregnant, we will try to stop the contractions but if I make it to 33 weeks or beyond, we will go ahead and have the babies if labor starts at that time. So that's the plan. Everything else is great! Brent and I are going to have some delicious Mexican food and have a relaxing evening. Have a great night!

A Great Weekend!

Brent and I had a really great weekend even though we didn't get to spend much time together. Brent is the best-man in his best friend's wedding coming up in October. Tim Payne and Kim Waddell are getting married October 10th and this weekend was the weekend for Tim's bachelor party. Saturday started with a 2-man scramble between a lot of Tim's groomsmen and friends. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the guys, drinking beer and grilling burgers out near West.
Since I was going to be alone for the weekend, my sweet sister, Mandy, came down Friday to stay with me. Mandy cooked, cleaned, ran errands and kept me company all weekend. She even got up early and made a great breakfast for Brent and me before he left for his golf game. Thanks Mandy! We love you!
Saturday night my supper club girls, Kim (fiance to Tim), Jess and Pam came over for pizza and a movie. I can't say we paid much attention to the movie but we sure laughed a lot. At one point, Jess had me laughing so hard I was crying and I started to worry that I might start contracting again from all of the jostling in my belly. :) A girls' night of joking and laughing until I cried was exactly what I needed.
Brent's Mom and Dad brought over a delicious Sunday lunch this afternoon and after we finished eating I went to lay down in bed and Brent left to go back out to West to clean up the remains of the bachelor party. When he got back, a huge storm rolled through Hewitt and we got about 4 inches of rain in an hour. After the storm passed, Brent grilled me a burger for dinner and we have spent the rest of the evening relaxing and enjoying spending time together.
Our next appointment is tomorrow afternoon with Dr. Beaird. I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing consistent enough to get worried about. We are looking forward to the checkup and by this Wednesday we will be one week closer to our goal, making me 30 weeks pregnant!
I will update everyone on how our appointment goes tomorrow.
Have a great night!
Michelle

2 Great Appointments Today!

Mom and Dad picked me up this morning to take me to Temple for my appointment with Dr. Allen. We met Brent at the Scott & White clinic. Dr. Allen looked at each of the babies and they are growing great! All three are keeping pace with the growth of a singleton baby. Baby A is estimated to be at 2 lb 13 oz, Baby B is at 3 lbs, and Baby C is at 3 lbs 2 oz. We were very pleased with that! If my body can hold out 4-5 more weeks, we have a great chance that all three babies will be close to 5 lbs.
We also had an appointment with our Waco OB, Dr. Beaird, this afternoon. Dr. Beaird measured my cervix and it has shortened to 2.24 but isn't open at all, which is good news. He was very happy with the way the babies are looking. He received Dr. Allen's report on their growth and went over it with us. At one point, he pulled out a page of line graphs and showed it to Brent and me and said, "This may not look like anything to you, but to an Obstetrician, this is beautiful." Our "trips" are growing great and we are hanging on. Dr. Beaird did say that if I started laboring again, he WOULD try to stop the labor with some alternative measures than what we did last week when my contractions started, but if my body didn't stabilize after those measures, he still would feel fine delivering the girls as is because of how they have been developing so far.
So, Mom, not sure if we should call you down right away if I start contracting again, or wait and see if we can get the labor to stop first and just have you on standby until we see what happens. You let me know what you want us to do.
As far as how I am doing, well, my comfort level has hit a wall. I don't want to whine too much because I am grateful and thankful for these three little babies, but MY BACK IS KILLING ME.
Okay, that's all the whining for now. :)
Thank you to everyone for your prayers; we appreciate each and every one of you immensely.
All my love,
Michelle

Released from the hospital!

Well, I have just been released from the hospital! No more wires and needles. I left with instructions for strict bed rest and to not come back to see them for at least another month, which I plan on. We saw Dr. Beaird late last night and he is very happy with the way everything looks. We love our doctor! Babies look great and I haven't had any contractions in 2 days. We are going to keep plugging along. Our next appointments will be Tuesday, the first at 11:00 am with Dr. Allen in Temple and then 3:30 pm that afternoon with Dr. Beaird. Can't wait to see how much our little girls have grown since our last appointment.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers during our little scare. We appreciate all of your love and support.
With love,
Brent and Michelle

Update on hospital stay...

Today is a much better day...no more contractions HOORAY! They had me on monitors all day checking the babies' heart rates and my contractions (or lack thereof) and everything seemed to completely calm down. Brent's mom came to visit us and keep us company in the room for a while this afternoon. I was begging the nurses to find out if I could take a shower. They never got a response back to me so when we got to see our doctor, Dr. Beaird, around 7:00 pm tonight that was one of our questions. He agreed to let me take a shower! HOORAY ! THANK YOU! It is a little tricky when your IV hand is bagged and taped and you are working with an IV tube and one hand in the shower...I think I did a pretty good job though. :) I feel soooo much better now.

Then, to my delight, our wonderful Nurse Manager, Gay, came in and let me know she spoke to Dr. Patterson, our on-call doctor and Dr. Patterson agreed to take me off all of the monitors so I can sleep better tonight, especially since they haven't seen any contractions all day. I will definitely let them know if I feel one, but today has been smooth sailing so I am not worried.


I did order dinner from the hospital tonight, because breakfast was so good, and I learned my lesson. No bueno. Brent ended up having to order take out from The Elite and the shrimp poboy I got was AWESOME! So much better!


We talked to Dr. Beaird about our chances of having to deliver at Temple Scott & White hospital and he has 100% confidence in the NICU team at this new Hillcrest hospital and the only way he would consider moving us is if there was some issue with my health, which hasn't happened so far. So, as far as we know, we will still be delivering at Hillcrest, 5 minutes from our house.

I took this picture with my phone last night or, rather, really early this morning. They had given me 2 ambien to try to sleep and I didn't even doze at all, I was WIDE awake with all the worry, but Brent was trying to get some shut eye in his very comfortable couch/bed.

Doesn't he look like an angel husband with that spot light on him?!?! I know, gushy lovie, but so true. Love you honey!

I will keep everyone updated on when we should be released to go home. I can't wait for my bed, I feel like I am sleeping on bricks.

*MWAH* Love you all

Shell

Update on hospital stay

Well, the contractions continued pretty regularly through the night. By this morning, Dr. Dunn and Dr. Beaird decided to keep me here for monitoring until Friday. As long as I am stable and the contractions have slowed down or stopped, they will release me Friday and hopefully we can go a few more weeks before the babies make their appearance. We are hoping to hold out as long as possible but if the contractions start again and are regular then we may end up back here to deliver sooner than we anticipated.
So far the things I have not liked about being in the hospital:
Being hooked up to so many wires, tubes and monitoring devices....I have to untangle and ask for help each time I need to go to the bathroom, which is often because I AM PREGNANT
The IV - ouch and it ouches each time I move my hand the wrong way
Blood Pressure Cuff - Squeezes so hard I think my fingers are going to explode
The hospital bed - so uncomfortable...I thought I was uncomfortable in my bed at home when trying to sleep, well, guess what, it gets a whole lot worse

The things I have really liked while being in the hospital:
Hearing the babies heartbeats all the time like galloping horses as background music
My nurses!!! Candace and Amanda have been so patient and sweet with us.
Oddly enough, the hospital food...I had a very decent breakfast burrito with potatoes and a side of sausage for breakfast with salsa on the side, not too shabby.

I will update everyone as things progress and we hear more news from Dr. Beaird.

Love you all,
Shell

2:30 am In the hospital

At the hospital now. Started having regular contractions around 10:30 pm last night. Brent and I started measuring and once I had 5 in 30 minutes, we called our on-call doctor and Dr. Dunn told us to come in if we wanted to be checked. When we got here they admitted us and since then they have checked out all 3 girls and they are doing great. They cheched my cervix and it looked fine, not dialated. Took some blood and urine samples, gave me a shot and some ambien to calm everything down and they are pushing fluids and antibiotics. Dr. Dunn just came In to tell us that things have slowed down a little but he wants to wait until morning to check me again, there is a possibility we may have to deliver in Temple at Scott & White of things keep professing. We will see what other measures we need to take to keep the babies cooking a little longer in the morning. Going to try to sleep now.
Love you all!
Shell

Doctor's appointment today!

We had our weekly check-up with Dr. Beaird this afternoon. My BP was a little higher than normal when they took it the first time, but after they took it a few more times, everything was okay. The babies still look very good and Dr. Beaird was pleased with the results of our last ultrasound with Dr. Allen. My cervix length was a little shorter this week at 2.65, but Dr. Beaird reminded us that we have seen it fluctuate before and especially in these last 4-6 weeks, we will see it get shorter. I am not dilated and I am not in pre-term labor, but he emphasized the fact that I really need to start reducing my activity even more. I need to be off my feet so either in bed or in my comfy recliner. He also reiterated that we need to have a low threshold for changes and increased uterine activity. So, if I feel more than 4 contractions in an hour, we need to go in and get checked.
I am starting my maternity leave next week so that will help me to stay in bed and not worry about checking e-mail and taking phone calls.
I will keep everyone updated with any changes, otherwise, our next appointment is Wednesday, Aug. 12th with Dr. Allen. We will get to see how much the babies have grown since our last appointment. :)

Hospital Tour Today!

Today we went to the new Hillcrest hospital in Waco for a private tour of the NICU and Labor and Delivery Units. We met with the Nurse Manager, Sandra. She is so wonderful! She took us up to the NICU to meet with some of the nurses and the neonatologist, Dr. Wheeler. We spoke to Dr. Wheeler at length about what we can expect depending on when the babies arrive and how things work in the NICU. We got to see a baby that was born at 27 weeks (where I am right now) and was only 2 lbs 1 oz. at birth (what our babies are weighing in my belly right now). So tiny.
Everyone in the NICU already knew who we were and they are all very excited for the babies' arrival. Sandra told us that we have been discussed during their staff meetings, so they are gearing up for our girls! The nurses in the NICU like to make little scrapbook name cards for the NICU beds, so they wanted to know the names we had picked out so they can start working on their name cards. :) So sweet!
Dr. Wheeler informed us that he is 99% sure that our girls will spend some time in the NICU, how long depends on when they come and how developed they are. Grandparents and parents are allowed in the NICU at any time, other visitors must be accompanied by a parent and no more than 2 people next to each bed at a time. They did mention that they are concerned about the Swine Flu this season and some hospitals are already limiting access to the NICU to only parents, but Hillcrest won't implement that policy unless they have an outbreak in the area.
We got to see the Labor and Delivery area as well, but I won't be spending any time there. When I deliver, I will be taken to pre-op where they will prep me and Brent will be with me. Then after the c-section, they will take me back to post-op for an hour (Brent will go with the babies to the NICU) then they will move me to the mother & baby recovery area where I will stay for 48 to 72 hours.
We got alot of information in a short period of time. We have the direct lines to our Nurse Manager and the NICU so we can give them a heads up when we are coming in. Dr. Wheeler wants to make sure they have plenty of people on staff for our girls and he said sometimes the OBs can forget to give them advanced notice and that can put them in a bind. So I will be calling Sandra at least a week ahead (if I can give her that much notice) to let her know when we think we might deliver so they will be ready for us. They also want to make sure they have a sectioned area in the NICU for our three girls so they are all close together and not spread out.
I am relieved that we got to meet everyone today and see everything. I hate going into anything blind and the more information I have the more comfortable I am.
We feel like our sweet girls will be in very good hands and I am much more relaxed.