8 weeks later …………..

   8 weeks ago on August 17th, 2011 my entire family's life change more specifically in my tiny family little family of 3! But before I go into that the night before William and I took our weekly photo session of my growing belly! Here’s what it looked like… “ WARNING…. object appears larger in photo (yea right I wish!!! )

    I went to bed that night convinced that I had 1 MORE week in me! I was behaving in my normal “overachiever” self and wanted to make it to the specific due date we had set with our Dr.

                     Well Drake had OTHER plans!

    At 4:30 a.m. I woke to what felt like the HARDEST kick I had EVER felt! It felt almost as Drake had kicked his way out! Then all of a sudden water started just GUSHING out!!!! And I am NOT exaggerating!!!! Drake had broke my water. And let me tell all those out there that have never felt what your water breaking….. there is NO mistaking it! You will know it!!!

     My first words out as this was happening was “Oh NO! NO! NO! MAN!!!” As I crossed my legs… As if that was going to stop what was happening to me! William woke up saying, “Huh, what is going on?” I started to cry as I said , “My water just broke!” I promise I have never seen William LEAP out of bed so quickly! Things moved along fairly calmly after that. Before I knew it I was at my parents house dropping Willie off with my dad and picking up my mom. Then within a blink of an eye I was in triage and the Dr.’s were saying that they were going to deliver the babies before 9 a.m. All I could say over and over was WOW I am going to be a mother of 4 BOYS in just a few hours.

    The C-Section went beautifully. I was so glad that I had my friend who is an RN and  William with me. She was able to be there to hold my hand when William wasn’t allowed to. I was so surprised how smoothly things were going. I was so happy that the Dr.’s on call were so sweet, one I saw during a previous visit to triage and the other I just met that morning but she was a mother of twins which was cool. She was so sweet to take the time to carefully label where I thought each baby was so the baby that was Baby 1-Drake was delivered matching (if that makes any sense) and Baby 2- Ross and Baby 3-  Jake. They even came out perfectly so that my two rhyming names were not next to each other; they had to deliver Ross before Jake. 

First came Drake @ 8:34 a.m., he cried immediately…

Next came Ross @ 8:35 a.m. weighing 5.0 lbs.

Last was my sweet Jake @ 8:36 a.m. weighing 4.8 lbs.

    All my fears of not being able to hold or see my babies were put to rest. I got to see each baby as they were born. As soon as Drake and Ross were evaluated I even got to hold them. Jake was having breathing issues so he had to be intubated and taken to the NICU so I didn’t get to hold him, but I did get to hold him right away. 

    The surgery was over before I knew it and I was back in recovery surrounded by my family. Drake and Ross were doing so well they were allowed to come see me in recovery. 

 

    They ended coming straight into the room with us. William & I were beside ourselves! And even though we weren’t able to hold Jake we felt blessed because he was doing well he just needed a little help.

Ross & Drake

   As soon as I was in the room and allowed to I was wheeled to got see my youngest baby! By that point he was no longer intubated.

 

By the 2nd day in the hospital Jake was doing much better and was released to our room at lunch time. Once in the room Jake took turns sleeping with both of his brothers.

   That afternoon William’s mom brought Willie up to the hospital to meet his new baby brothers! And on a side note I felt as though I hadn’t seen him in weeks because he looked like such a BIG boy! Anyway… he immediately wanted to touch and hold the babies. (in between running around the room that is )

                           Our First Family Picture!

The rest of the hospital stay was pretty uneventful other than having Triplets and learning how to take care of them. By the day we were to go home we thought everyone was coming home with us, but the morning we were to go home Jake lost his temperature and was having feeding issues so he was readmitted to the NICU and we had to go home without him. Going home without him was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. But I knew it was best for him to get strong and grow.

 

   Bringing home Drake & Ross was bittersweet but we knew Jake would be coming home soon. We were greeted by a very excited Willie!

 

Jake ended up spending 11 days in the NICU. When the day came to finally bring him home we were overjoyed!! It was so sudden though that we didn’t get to dress him in his coming home outfit.

 

  Since that day we have been getting adjusted and settling into a routine. Things were kind of crazy in the beginning, but thank goodness we were blessed to have some very special helpers that came morning noon and night to help us! They did everything from feedings &  changings to housework. And we were blessed to have three full weeks of meals prepared for us by friends and family. We feel truly blessed.

  Things have started to calm down, well as calm as a house can be with newborn triplet babies and a two year old. Willie has I think finally gotten used to having 3 new little brothers as well as the triplets have gotten used to a new BIG brother! Each baby is referred to as “baby” I think eventually they will each have their own name given to them by Willie!  He is a wonderful helper. He gets diapers and gives paci’s , that is when he isn’t taking them away!  

  Overall we feel so blessed to have 4 happy healthy boys! Every night I thank God for blessing me & trusting me with each of them!

There are no Words to describe this BELLY!!

 

 

What do an ELEPHANT and I have in common!!!

 

 

  Well we both have ridiculously LONG pregnancies or at least my size makes me appear that I am pregnant for a long time.

A little background…. I originally thought that elephants were pregnant for 52 weeks but after some research I have found that they are pregnant for MUCH LONGER!! They are pregnant for 24 months which breaks down to 96 weeks!! I don’t know about you other ladies out there but I WOULDN’T want to trade pregnancies with an elephant.

   Anyway back to the point… I am sure with seeing my belly pictures you can see that I am as BIG as a house! Little did I know that I have surpassed the size of a “normal” pregnancy which stops at 40 weeks. I was measured this past Friday and I am measuring 46 weeks! All I can do is laugh and thank the Lord for blessing me with being pregnant this long! Because most triplet pregnancies are over by now. And I have been very blessed with minimal issues and trips to the hospital triage.

   Speaking of TRIAGE… We seem to visit about every 3 weeks and this past Monday was about 3 weeks. This is what happened…..

    All day I had quite a few braxton hicks. Then around 6:50 I started having pain along with the braxton hicks around 7:50 I started tracking them on a contraction counter and called my wonderful friend who is an RN. We continued to watch them and decided to head to the hospital at 9. Long story short I am very  very minimally dilated. The wonderful Dr. decided to go ahead and administer the shot to help develop the babies lungs along with some blood work and did a test to see if the babies will be coming in the next 2 weeks. The test came back negative which is good (woo hoo)! She also prescribed a medicine to help take the edge off from the contractions it will not stop them but certainly make them a little easier to endure. I took some that night and haven’t had to take any since them the contractions have stopped all together which is absolutely wonderful!! God is so Good!

   When we went back to the hospital yesterday to get the 2nd dose of the shot I spoke with the Dr. and she said that sometimes it can have good effects and stop it ALL together! So I guess so far that is what it has done! Thank You Lord!  So the plan is still on for us to make it until August 23rd (36 weeks). Less than 3 weeks to go!

  On another note I had a BPP ultrasound on Friday which I will be having every Friday until we deliver and the boys scored perfectly! They all almost 4 pounds each! Ross is exactly 4 pounds, Drake, & Jake are 3.11 and 3.12. So only a few ounces behind Ross. We are praying for each baby to be 5 pounds each, I guess we will just have to wait and see! 

I hope everyone is doing well!

Belly Pictures for weeks 28-32

   WOW! I can’t believe that we are already to 32 weeks these babies are going to be here before we know it! To be honest we are getting a little nervous and scared!

  Things have changed so much in the last few weeks to start my belly is HUGE!!!!  And as you can imagine now that it is so BIG the wonderful marks of pregnancy have appeared …. yep “STRETCH MARKS!” It’s something all mothers know of but prefer not to speak of! I don’t have too many right now but I am SURE they will only get worse! I really didn’t notice them at first because we don’t have a full length mirror at the new house yet and I can’t see anything past my belly button. But once I saw them I was somewhat sad. I must have been delusional to think that I would only get minimal marks carrying triplets!

   The other BIG change is at my 29 week Dr. appointment I was told that we needed to start thinking of a C-section date. At first I wanted to pick the furthest date possible saying that they will come when they come but, after speaking with our Dr. we decided on an earlier date at 36 weeks, because of all the risks of carrying them past 36 weeks. As you can imagine we were nervous about deciding to take them so early but the Dr. said pending an serious issues the babies may be able to come home with us or spend no more than 2 weeks in the NICU, of course we know it’s all up in the air until they arrive.

   But our  official c-section date is August 23, 2011. So pending any surprises that will be their birthday! Two days after their Daddy’s and 16 days before their Big Brother’s. So I will have 4 boys under 2 years old when they are born! CRAZY!!!

Here are the last few weeks belly pictures…Click here, here, and here if you want to see previous belly pictures.

28 Weeks : 42 1/4 inches around

29 Weeks: 42 1/4 inches around

30 Weeks: 43 3/4 inches around

• Try to over look the fact that we don’t have switch plates yet we are still putting the finishing touches on the house.

31 Weeks 43 3/4 inches around

 

32 Weeks 45 inches ( yes you read correctly!)

 

I can literally feel my belly stretch and grow it is not as painful as it is ITCHY!!! I know I am getting close to surpassing my height at 17 inches left and 27 days left!

A Triplet Baby Shower!

  On July 10 some wonderful friends and family threw me a beautiful baby shower!

• They even displayed some of the gifts that were sent early beautifully!

   The shower had some surprises as well! My Aunt Laurie and cousin Alana as well as my S-I-L Sarah and her three sweet babies drove the long distance to come to the shower. It was wonderful to be able to share the day with them!

  It was rather funny to try and maneuver ALL the adorable outfits and gifts  around my belly! Along with the fact that EVERYTHING came in 3’s!  and I only have two arms so I used my belly as an extra arm!

 

 

 

 

   I was truly over whelmed by the generosity of my family, friends, and church family!  I received LOTS of necessities, adorable clothes, and of course ……

LOTS and LOTS of DIAPERS!!

  People were even sweet enough to remember Willie and got him a matching outfits to go with his brothers! This is just one!!

Here are a few pics from the shower…

Of course once the festivities were over William & Willie had to come and check out all our new goodies!

 

Thank You so much everyone for coming and for all these wonderful gifts! I feel blessed to have all of you in my life!

What’s Up With Willie?

  I have noticed that since I have been pregnant with the triplets I haven’t posted much about Willie. So here is a little update of our sweet Willie Boy!

   To start he is FAR from being a baby anymore! He is in FULL toddler mode, at 22 months! I know lucky us! But with all the challenges that come with having a toddler come the sweet surprises as well!

  He has become quite a chatter box! He has the sweetest names for his cousins; he loves them ALL so much!! He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse “mee meee” and knows what he likes and dislikes (mostly things that I ask him to do)

   I love being able to wake up and spend each and everyday with him! He is so sweet and FULL of love especially for his DADDY!!! He has SERIOUS “Daddyitous!” It just melts my heart in the evenings when he hears the door open and runs straight to his daddy yelling “Daddy! Daddy!” I am not quite sure how William is going to pick up ALL FOUR boys as they greet him each evening in the coming years!

   This summer Willie has adjusted well to moving to a new house; which I am sure the new pool helped. He has been such a good helper helping his daddy any chance he can! We just hope he adjusts well to his 3 new baby brothers just as well!

  This past month we started swim lessons! He has really enjoyed them since he learned how to follow his instructors rules. It has amazed William and I how much he has learned not just in his ability to swim, since he still needs to learn how to pick his head out of the water when he swims. But mostly the pool safety skills! We couldn’t be more proud of him. He is definitely our little fish! He would swim ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT if we would let him!

  I thank God everyday for blessing us with such a wonderful son! I will try to post more regularly about ALL 4 of my boys!

Here are a few pics of my handsome little man!