23 Week Update

Went to the doctor today and babies are doing great! The photo is of all 3 babies. My cervix length is back to 3 cm, which is very good. Who knew it could contract and expand??? Dr. Bohman says we need to keep doing what we’re doing and that means not much for me. Our doc is optimistic that we can make it to 33 weeks. WOO HOO!!! That will be a projected delivery date of around September 6. It makes me so happy that we are doing the things we need to do to ensure these little monkeys are born as late as possible. Dr. Bohman indicated that we’ll go as long as we can unless someone (either me or one of them) gets distressed or becomes ill. Chip and I also learned today that we will be delivering most likely at Summerlin Hospital, which has the best level III NICU in Las Vegas. It’s 45 minutes away from here, but they need that care and can get it up there. I’ve heard great things about the hospital facility, so that makes me feel good too.

I also weighed in today. I’ve gained approximately 20 pounds. According to the books and advice we’ve been given, this isn’t nearly enough. Ideally, I would have gained 40 pounds by now. Babies are growing great, so the doctor told us not to worry. So now at 20 pounds with the pregnancy, at almost 6 months, I weigh and am as big as when I delivered Kaitlyn at full term. Amazing! My belly is so rock hard sometimes, I wonder how they have room in there! We are both so grateful that everyone is so healthy and doing so well, but I wonder what this body of mine will look like after we’re all done. That’s a problem I’m fine with having!

Getting Ready For Babies!

On Sunday, 6/24/07 Gillian, Kaitlyn, Chip and I washed and folded all the baby things that we’ve accumulated. I had more than I realized and will publish what we have, but we still need so much stuff! Anyway, the girls and I had a blast folding the little things and taking them up to the baby room.

Today we traded in our Honda Accord for a Chrysler Town & Country minivan. Quite a day around here...one more thing to get ready for babies to cross off the list. We definitely will have more options for stowing and carrying stuff with the new car. All the seats fold down into the floor. Nope, not glamorous, but VERY functional. So it’s a good thing.

I was sad to see the Honda go, but boy, we’re going to need the space. The girls are enjoying pressing all the buttons and checking out gadgets. We didn’t get tons of gadgets, but something new is always interesting for them.

I’m still working and it’s going fine. The only thing I’ve had to stop doing is physical meetings in the casinos.

This Sunday, July 1, Lin Goldstein is giving us a baby shower! 10 people have RSVP’d! Who knew we had so many local friends! I have been on rest for almost 2 weeks so I am ready for new faces. It’s been really nice to have Deann come by with lunch and Bonnie too. It really helps the time pass more quickly.

20 and 21 Week Update

We are back from vacation and diving into all the baby stuff. My friend Lin offered to do a baby shower for us, so we are going to have the big event on July 1, 2007. I’m excited to see friends! So the first thing I did was to give Lin my guest list. Many of the invites are to be mailed to family. So, I have attempted to register at Target, Babies ‘R Us and maybe Walmart. I am finding as I put these registries together that we are SO NOT READY for these babies! Trying to though now. I’ve bought a few more items like baby towels, wash cloths and bibs. We still have almost nothing else. I’ve tried to go to both Babies ‘R Us and Walmart. I’m seriously overwhelmed by the baby products out there. We’ll keep on and see what happens. Amidst the baby shower planning, we’ve gone to our 21 week appointment. More interesting news just keeps coming!

Chip has been so great too! He moved things around upstairs and put the crib and changing table together. He also brought the curio cabinet from the garage along with all the other goodies we had packed up to sell our house. We’ve taken the house off the market and will stay here for awhile. At least until we can wrap our heads around what day to day life will be for our family with 3 new babies and all our existing responsibilities.

We saw Dr. Bohman for our 21 week appointment June 14. Babies are growing great. I’ve been really feeling good too. Just normal pregnancy stuff....tired, in the bathroom a lot and growing a big belly! The ultrasound looks great. All are still boys. Each baby measures at about 11 inches each and about a pound each. My belly keeps growing every day too it seems. After the baby ultrasound, Dr. Bohman took a look at the cerclage stitches and the length of my cervix. It has shrunk over a centimeter in 2 weeks. My body is thinking it’s growing so much that it’s time to begin to prepare for birth. It’s way too early. So, Dr. Bohman has instructed me to be on limited activity....bed rest! I can’t walk more than 20 yards, 1 outing per day, need to be in a recliner or bed, preferably on my side. So that wasn’t good news to receive because I feel great. Day to day life as I knew it has come to a screeching halt. It’s hard to just sit all the time. I am thankfully working so at least that’s a good distraction.

Chip has been taking good care of me since my rest period started. He is becoming an expert grocery shopper and he’s really good at running the girls where they need to be. He’s staying on top of keeping the place clean and also becoming our household chef. He’s been cooking a lot. I am trying to do so stuff if I can and updating the baby registry online. I am working on the computer a lot and trying to prepare for the baby shower next week. I wish I could do more, but basically for me, it’s life on the sofa or in bed. Along with trying to buy almost everything online to get ready, we are also shopping for a mini van to cart this brood around. So, online we go again for that too. We looked at a Chrysler and think we’ll go with either a Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country. We test drove one the other day and it will suit our needs, be good on gas and be better on the environment that a full size SUV. The price is much more appealing than a full SUV also. That is a work in progress that needs to get done very soon. The only downside is that I am trading in my Honda, which despite having a bad “please damage me” vibe, has been a good car that has so many miles left on it. So.....we’ll see.

17 to 19 Week Update

This was the visit prior to our “LAST VACATION” to Hawaii. I thought it would be quite an extensive appointment, but it was about the same as any other. We learned that we are having 3 BOYS!!! We are so excited that all seems to be good. 10 fingers and toes each, the head and abdominal measures look great. When they told us the first 2 were boys I was so excited. When the 3rd one turned out to be a boy too I just stunned! Wow...3 boys. I think it will be great. Since we have Kaitlyn and Gillian, I am happy that the sexes are different. No competition between 2 sets of girls. That works for me. I’m also happy to have a change of pace with Legos and GI Joe, rather than gathering more girlie stuff. The girls really enjoy the makeup and glitter. I’m looking forward to dirt, trucks and sports equipment. The girls are really excited about their brothers on the way. So with the happy news, we hopped a jet to Oahu and then the big Island 2 days later. It was a fabulous vacation, full of great food and beautiful scenery. Everything was really great until our return to the mainland. We had an 11 p.m. flight from Kona to Las Vegas via LAX...never do this if you don’t have to. We started our journey home with me being seriously tired. The last few days of the vacation I learned that my belly was growing and that it is time to slow down. I had had some belly pain if I walked a lot. It had been somewhat intermittent depending on if I had walked a lot or sat in one position for a time. Anyway, we got on the plane and sat right behind a very sick gentleman who vomited repeatedly for the 5 hour trip. So with the noise and full, hot plane, we did not enjoy our trip home, nor did we get any sleep. We thought our last trip to the islands was bad, well...this trip positively blew it away. Then we arrived at LAX and found we needed to change terminals and that meant leaving security and shuttling over. My belly ached from being on the plane and it became more intense with every step at LAX. I was almost in tears from being in pain and tired. So as soon as we touched down in Vegas we called Dr. Bohman and talked to him about the pain. We had an appointment to see them that same day anyway, so they told us to go home and rest and come back for our appointment. The appointment was quick, but I was really weepy and tired. Dr. Bohman thinks my pain is coming from muscle stretching that will not change, but get worse with time. I’m frustrated by this news, but try to keep in mind that it’s for a good cause.

We also successfully came up with 3 names that we like.....drum roll please.....the names for the boys so far will be: Gary Charles in honor of our dads, Benjamin Isaac, and Ryan Thomas. The last 2 names are ones we came up with based on Chip’s opinion and talking to friends and family. I like the names, but am not crazy about Benjamin. I really like Ben much more. Time will tell.