Pictures!

I thought I'd add a few long overdue pictures:



me @ 15 weeks, in the nursery when it was still in its incarnation as a guest room....



me this week, @ 23 weeks in the nursery that was partially reconverted into a guest room in anticipation of Edward's mother's arrival on Thursday! (Edit: Edward doesn't think this picture does my girth justice... I think I was turned a little to the left. Of course, this means that from now on, HE has to take the pics :P)




The finished built-in, with room for the mini fridge and crock-pot. The lamp is new, too.

More to come, once a little more progress is made!

Heaven is... a pillowtop mattress!

For years, Edward and I have put up with the broken coils and lumpy nature of a cheap double mattress. We never gave it too much thought, actually, because we always knew that at some point we'd get a REAL bedroom set, and with it, a better mattress. Someday.

Well, that day couldn't come soon enough once I entered the second trimester. It turns out that "They" encourage pregnant women to sleep on their left side, because it allegedly supports better circulation to the uterus. Determined to follow this advice, I'd grit my teeth, beach myself on my left side and wake up several hours later with a pinched nerve that would radiate down my leg and make my knee feel, for lack of a better descriptor, like it was about to explode. Add to that the tossing and turning, the trips to the bathroom and you can imagine how much sleep Edward and I were getting. He never complained, but I could tell he was silently relieved when I'd finally admit defeat and trek downstairs to the living room couch. I can lean my full weight against the back of the couch, thereby relieving the troubled pressure points. I figured that the pain was one of those pregnancy things one just grins and bears, but the thought of enduring several more months of increasing discomfort was a little discouraging (as an aside, I should mention that my tummy circumference is now a shocking 42 inches!)

A few weekend ago, in what turned out to be a very well-timed weekend get-away, Edward and I used a very generous wedding gift card courtesy of my parents to enjoy two nights at the Chateau Montebello. I adore the place (and the setting), and we loved every moment we spent eating, swimming and lazing about. However, I quickly discovered that the super high-end hotel mattress was a cure for my pinched nerve. Upon our return to Ottawa, Edward and I marched to the store, bought a pillowtop queen mattress and low profile boxspring (keeping our new bed's configuration in mind) and anxiously counted down the days until its arrival.

The delivery truck showed up five minutes before we were supposed to be at dinner with friends last Friday. They quickly observed that the low profile boxspring wouldn't fit up the stairs, and although they offered us a regular split boxspring instead, we declined it because it wouldn't fit our new (as of yet undelivered) bed. I actually felt a certain amount of sorrow when the truck pulled away with our precious mattress on-board - we found out later that the store was offering to LEND us the regular split boxspring until they could deliver the low profile split, but this was lost in translation with the driver.

Finally, on Thursday, at exactly the same time as our bedroom set pulled up to the curb, our mattress and boxspring arrived! It's been heavenly - certainly the best money we've spent in a long time. The bedroom set is lovely, too, but although it takes the cake aesthetically, the mattress has won my enduring love :)

22 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday morning, Edward and I went for our 22 week ultrasound. We've officially transferred into the care of the High Risk Unit at the Civic (yay!), and we were able to meet with our OB immediately following the scan for our results and further consultation. It was great to be able to get everything done in one morning, and we now have access to nurses (and residents!) which means additional and more complete care.

The ultrasound went very well. The babies have shifted incredibly inside what is already a pretty confined space. Before, the babies were basically in a "C" shape configuration: Baby A lying across my lower belly, Baby B curving up along the left side, and Baby C lying across the top of my belly. Now, it seems as though Big Baby B is commanding more space: Baby A is curving up along the left, Baby B is pretty much lying straight up and down, top to bottom, pushing poor Baby C (who is still lying horizontally) up into my ribs. That would explain some of the less comfortable moments I've been having! The tech also gave us a cute tour of who is kicking whom in there (and where) - basically, it's a war zone! And, of course, they're ALL kicking me... it turns out that Baby A is the culprit within punching range of my bladder. Both Baby A and B are head-down, which doesn't concern the OB too much, although he is happy that C is "far from the exit", so that my body doesn't get any ideas about delivering these babies soon!

The scan also approximated their weights by calculating the circumference of the head, belly and femur - so it's far from an exact science. The average weight for singleton babies at their gestational age is 430 grams. Baby A is still the smallest (but the mightiest! This is the one I've been feeling the most, it turns out) at 422 grams. Baby C is 441 grams, and Baby B is a whopping 467 grams. 454 grams = one pound, so I'm very relieved that one of them has surpassed that marker, with the other ones not too far behind.

Everyone was very relieved to see that my cervix is holding up very well - it's now over 4cm, with the "danger zone" being anything under 3cm. Of course, the OB stated that this doesn't mean I won't go into preterm labour tomorrow, but it does significantly decrease the probability. We got a lot of compliments on how well the pregnancy is progressing - the OB said that he was very pleased, and the nurse said I was doing "fantastic". My blood pressure was on the lower end of normal, and I seem to have lost a few pounds since the last weigh-in (I was gaining a shocking 5 pounds every two weeks until this point!), so my body seems to be weathering the stress of this pregnancy as best as can be expected.

The next milestone is in a week and a half at 24 weeks. This is considered the outer edge of viability, so if the babies were to be born at that time, they *might* survive, albeit most likely with serious long term health complications. I'm still gunning for 34 weeks, obviously, but I will breath a sigh of relief once we get past the 24 week mark. It's hard to believe that if we are lucky enough to carry to 34 weeks, it will still only be a short 12 weeks until we meet our little ones!

Baby Gear - GAH!

Trying to find - and buy - the right equipment for triplets is a daunting and frustrating endeavour. I've spent hours on-line looking at carseats, for example, only to find that they aren't compatible with any tandem strollers, or aren't available in Canada. It's like searching for the Holy Grail!

I've surfed countless multiples websites, read hundreds of reviews, watched YouTube videos, checked shipping costs for items from New Zealand, scoured the local on-line classifieds and kept a running list of what fits with what, when and how. We also have to consider that if the babies are under 5 pounds (which is the minimum weight accomodated by most carseats in Canada), the hospital will not let us leave if we don't have one rated to 4 pounds.

Basically, what I've decided at the moment is that we're going to go with the Chicco Keyfit carseat - very highly rated for babies starting at 4 pounds - and a Double Snap N Go stroller frame by Babytrend (no longer available at retailers in Canada, of course!). The stroller will take two carseats, and is pretty bare-bones: no canopies, trays or cupholders. Just a simple frame that weighs a few pounds. I'm looking at a used one locally for $30. Like most triplet parents, we're planning to push two and carry one, at least in the beginning. The Snap N Go will only accomodate the infant carseats (the Keyfit goes up to 22 pounds), so by the time next summer rolls around we'll be in the market for a new stroller and carseats. While this seems like a short-sighted solution, it makes the most sense when you consider that the babies won't be going for long walks outside over the winter - the stroller will be used for indoor excursions mostly, so something cheap, light and easy to maneuvre is key. Once the good weather hits, we'll probably buy a proper double or triple stroller. By that point, the babies will be able to sit upright in the stroller itself without the carseats. That gives us a LOT more choice.

Everyone tells us that we should have a bouncy/vibrating chair of some sort. I know my nephew, Liam, absolutely loved his little swing and when he was totally inconsolable, a ten minute ride would often calm him down considerably. Again, space is a huge issue for us, so we need to find one that is compact. I think Fisher Price makes something like this, but I have yet to look too deeply into this.

We also will be buying a sling for each baby, and likely one or two Ergo carriers. This gives us the flexibility of carrying them when we're out for short trips, or when I'm at home with a fussy baby (or two) and would like to have both hands free. I do know of some triplet moms who sling all three at once (two in front, one in the back), but when they're infants I'd much prefer to have them within immediate eyesight and reach, so having one perched on my back would probably make me a little nervous.

Given the skin sensitivities that run rampant in our family (poor Liam, at two, still has very bad eczema), we won't be using commercial wipes or creams (other than the infamous Boudreaux's Butt Paste!). My sister has used water and washclothes very successfully, and I think we'll follow suite. I looked into cloth diapering, and while idealistically I love the idea, I don't know how feasible it will be for three. My sister switched from cloth when Liam was very young because the diapers didn't fit properly, but once the babies are a little older, we may consider cloth and a diaper service!

Lastly, the car. We leased a new Subaru in January, and found out that it will not accomodate three carseats across the second row. In fact, none of the Subarus would work for us. We were looking at SUVs instead, but because I'm short it became apparent that I'd have to lean into the SUV to extract babies, and the middle baby in the centre row would be almost inaccessible. If we were to put a baby in the back row, many of the centre seats in SUVs only fold 45 degrees, making it almost impossible (and unpleasant) to fiddle around with a carseat + babe back there in the middle of February. We need something lower to the ground that I can literally step into, with stow n go/ flexible seating, more child-friendly amenities and more cargo room in general. We need.... gulp... a minivan. Once we wrapped our heads around that chilling fact, we decided that we're pretty keen on the Honda Odyssey. I test drove one a month ago, and found it handled very much like a car. The brand is reliable, and Honda is currently offering some pretty good cash payment incentives, so we may end up with one in our driveway reasonably soon. Very happily for us, Edward's parents have offered to take over the lease on our lovely Subaru, which spares us about $8,000 in penalties and debt if we had to break our lease (and we only had the car for a few months!!!)

All these gear permutations and combinations stream though my brain at 4am when I'm lying awake in bed! On the bright side, pregnancy insomnia means that I can accomplish quite a bit during my hours of hopeful (ie. hopeless!) repose.

The Nursery

To be honest, Edward and I haven't done too much with the back guest room, other than start referring to it as the nursery, although we have ordered a custom built-in that will be placed in a five foot by two and half foot alcove behind the door - this is a tiny room, and we need to use every square inch to our advantage. The built-in will have shelves, two sets of drawers and a five foot long surface for changing babies, etc. It will also have an appliance garage for the crock-pot and space for a bar fridge: two appliances that come highly recommended by other multiple moms so that we don't have to run down to the kitchen every time we want to access and warm a bottle. Although I do plan to breastfeed, due to obvious physical limitations, if all are fed at once one baby will get a bottle of expressed milk.

Before the built-in can be installed, we needed to do some serious cleaning and purging. The nursery contains the only real closet in the house, and as such was stuffed to the rafters with linen, clothes, books, magazines, shoes, handbags, fabric, wrapping paper etc. It was a slow weeding out process, given my limited mobility, but with Edward and my mother's help, we managed to ship out 4 bags of garbage, 4 bags of donations including a desk and a drawer unit, and 3 tubs for storage. We already had a "tall boy" type dresser, so we put that in the now empty closet which still leaves us quite a lot of space to fill. Everyone tells us that babies come with a ton of stuff, but we're really trying to limit what we buy (so far, so good: I've bought some blankets and 3 wall prints!) and what we accept from those generously offering their baby items. Basically, we're concentrating on gender neutral clothes, washclothes, blankets, sheets, etc. right now - everything else will wait.

Also, we're having an electrician come in to check, redo and add to the wiring in the room. We've been very skeptical of the quality of the electrical in the whole house, but particularly the nursery. A few years ago, Edward borrowed a gizmo that tested the outlets in the room and we found several problems (no ground, highly variable current etc). The electrician will also create a circuit specifically for the nursery, so we can add extra outlets and plug in a fridge and new lamps without burning the house down.

Happily, we won't have to paint the room. I love the creamy colour it is now, and I'm planning bright red and green accents to keep the palette fresh and gender neutral. The look I'm going for is cheerful, vintagey and cosy - I'm having a lot of fun looking at things on-line! We don't want to overdo the whole organic thing, but given my asthma and allergies (and Edward's) and the fact that our preemies may have lung/breathing issues at birth, I'm going to buy organic matresses and bed linens. For cost-saving reasons - and to keep the room from looking too cluttered and "theme-y" - we're not buying crib sets: just fitted sheets and blankets.

I'm really excited about putting the room together! I have a few crafty projects lined up for when I'm finally bedridden, including a sampler (I've never cross-stitched in my life), some floor pillow covers and a really neat fabric book sling. I'm also going to buy a single air matress for the corner of the room, because that's where I'll be sleeping for the first few months!

I'll post pictures as the room progresses...

20 Week Ultrasound

My mother and I went to the Civic on Monday for the 20 week ultrasound, and she got to see the babies in action for the first time! I was expecting that the technician would do a brief headcount and that would be it, considering all the detailed measuring was done two weeks earlier. However, she still examined the hearts, brains, kidneys, bladders and spines of all three and the ultrasound was nearly as long as the first. She mentioned the difficulty of getting a good look at some of these vital organs with three of them in there - with an singleton, you can change the angle for a better view. With multiples, there's usually someone else in the way!

Edward and I went for our results on Thursday, and our OB was very pleased with the ultrasound. He noted that Babies A and C are exactly the same weight (about 10.5 ounces), which is within the normal range. However, Baby B is a good 12 ounces, which places it several weeks ahead of its siblings. He told us that as long as A and C continue to thrive, he's not at all worried about the discrepancy - and B has been the biggest from the very beginning. I definitely feel this baby the most, and yesterday morning it delivered a kick that made the newspaper on my (even expanding) belly jump. It's wonderful to be able to feel their movement on the outside, even though they're still fleeting at present, and I'm really excited that Edward will have the opportunity to experience it, too! My cervix has also lengthened considerably, which is great. But the OB warned me that it will grow and shorten throughout the rest of my pregnancy, so I shouldn't be too pleased by what is likely a temporary gain. I'm still on modified bedrest.

Our next ultrasound is July 21st (22week 2days), and from here on in, our care will be managed by the High Risk Unit at the Civic. It's MUCH easier for us, logistically, because the Civic is a fifteen minute drive from our house - but our meetings with the OB are twenty-five minutes away. It will be a lot less complicated to have everything centralized at the Hospital. Plus, once we get settled in there, they will give us a tour of the NICU so that we have a better understanding of what to expect. They strongly encourage us to go, as it is not the sort of place you first want to see when your babies are admitted.

At our prenatal class we were told that it could take them 45 minutes to an hour to sew me back up after the c-section, and that Edward would be able to accompany the babies to the NICU immediately after their birth. I'm thinking I'll arm him with a camera so he can document their status and report back to me. The NICU nurse was saying that a lot of frazzled new fathers get so overwhelmed trying to keep everyone and everything straight when their babies are admitted to the NICU, that they return to their wives virtually speechless. Edward is a very level-headed person, so while I don't expect that the situation will alter his approach too much, I think it's wise to give him a few tools to help jog his memory - after all, enquiring minds will want to know every little detail!