Christmas

It is almost 9pm tonight and it saddens me to know that Christmas Day is almost over.  All that you have worked hard to shop for and wrap is now ripped open and set aside.  For the night I guess that is.  All of the hustle & bustle and Christmas spirit at the malls is now over and done.  The family gatherings of laughing, playing games, enjoying yummy food & delicious treats have now ended. The branches on the Christmas tree seem to droop.  Their are no presents under the tree anymore and though that is not what Christmas is all about, somehow it seems so completed.  Fortunately for us Christians we know that there is more to Christmas and it doesn't end here.  Praise God.

Our Christmas this year was a special one.   We know that not long from now we will welcome 3 little ones that we have been anxiously awaiting for so long.  Our journey has reached even beyond the last 7 months of pregnancy.  We waited long before that to even expect one little one and now we are blessed with three.  We look forward to the day when we can see them for the first time.

The triplets made out with lots of gifts this year.  They got some outfits (including the girls getting an ISU t-shirt in support of their mommy and little Collin received a little Rose Hulman onesie that reads "RHIT's littlest fan" supporting his daddy).  They also received a CD player that attaches to the crib and some lullaby CDs & some books that daddy still reads to them every night.  They now have a few more to choose from.  I also should mention that Collin received a boppy that his daddy picked out with rockets, asteroids, etc....  Mommy & Daddy also received lots of great gifts.  It has been a good Christmas in so many ways and I hope your Christmas was the same.  

I also wanted to fill you in on an appointment we went to today (the day after Christmas).  We are so proud of our little Anniston, Bailey & Collin.  They were all little all-stars this week.  We had biophysical profiles done on each one of them today.  This is where each baby gets 30 minutes and gets 2 points in each category.  They were all three done within about 10 minutes which is amazing.  The ultrasound tech said that it was the fastest biophysical profile she has ever done on triplets which is great.  One of the categories is them practicing their breathing which is obviously very important.

My contractions are still staying well below the threshhold (6 contractions an hour).  I have had 4 an hour at the most which is pretty good at this point.  The babies are still growing well. We didn't get weights this week.  The docs only get those every three weeks and we just received weights last week and they all weighed around 2lbs 12ozs give or take.  I am now measuring about 44 weeks.  I am getting more and more uncomfortable as each day passes. However,  I have still been able to sleep well and have only had to use just one extra pillow.  I am sure the closer it gets to time, the more uncomfortable it will get but right now I am considering myself lucky.  The docs have also detected protein in my samples I have given and I have shown a few higher readings on my blood pressures so they are trying to keep a close eye on that but aren't too concerned at this point.  They sent some tests off today and we'll receive the results in a couple of days. 

Jason & I also enjoyed an evening at the Plainfield Aquatic Center floating and enjoying the pool which was suggested by our doctor.  We had a good time.  It was sort of a little safe date night out for Jason & I. 

I think I have covered everything for now.  We will continue to keep you updated as things arise.  We have another appointment next Thursday.  Hopefully things will stay quiet until then.  

Thanks again for all of your prayers and continue support.

JKABC

Saturday in the House

Not too much to report today.  The triple stroller is assembled and functional.  The camcorder is purchased and ready to go (thank you Eli Lilly).  That marks the last of the big items.  No contractions this evening.  Yeah!  I think all our Christmas shopping is done.  The presents for Kristy's family were transferred for her family's Christmas celebration tonight (thanks Voelker family for being our delivery service).  29 weeks complete, working on week 30.  We posted a few more ultrasound photos from our last checkup.  We're hoping to hunker down here at home for the Christmas holiday.  We have strict orders from Dr. Sumners for Kristy to still be pregnant after he comes back from vacation.  Hope all are having a Merry Christmas season.

JKABC  

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their last day of work before your long weekend starts. Jason started his vacation a couple of days ago and has finally been able to get out to finish up some last minute shopping. He has definitely been busy at home with me, along with household chores, & other small projects that need to be done before the babies come. We are so looking forward to that day and it seems to be just around the corner. I still can't believe we will be parents of three. It will become more real when we are able to see them being held by the doctors in front of us on the day of the surgery. I can only imagine how overwhelming that moment will be (definitely in a good way) and I look forward to taking it all in and sharing that moment with my husband and, soon after, with friends & family.

I just wanted to give you all an update since we have been home from the hospital. The contractions have subsided. It seems as though, so far, the adjustments to my terbutaline pump have proven helpful in the evenings when I usually have my flare ups. With Jason at home, it has made a world of difference for me. I love having him home. He has been very patient and very helpful.

We had an appointment this morning. They just did a biophysical profile on all of them just like the one they did last week. All of them have never failed to amaze us. Anniston seemed to be the star performer today. She received all of her points within about 10 minutes (each baby is given 30 minutes). Collin was next in line. We had to wait on him to show us that he was working on his breathing. He came through. Bailey, on the other hand, was a sleeping head this morning and was content to just let her mama do her breathing for her. No need to practice at that moment and that is fine. She was still tired from being the star performer from the last biophysical profile. I have had a bit of a runny nose the last couple of days so last night I decided to take a benedryl to help me sleep through the night. I think it may have had a little bit of an effect on Bailey today. Maybe not but she is still doing great and it isn't a concern right now. It has still been early to do the biophysical profiles so for them to be scoring as well as they have is a great thing. We will have another BPP this coming Wednesday. We will let you know how they do and we'll keep you updated on things as they come.

Thanks for all of your prayers and also for all of they meals, encouragement, etc....

Have a great Christmas holiday.

Kristy, Jason, Collin, Bailey & Anniston

Home

We are back home again! Mom & dad brought Kristy home on Tuesday. So far things have been very good with regard to the contractions. The docs adjusted the terbutaline pump to give more medicine in the evening when the contractions normally flare up. I completed my last day of work yesterday (Wednesday). I'm done working for 2007! I'm looking forward to spending some time with Kristy and the babies. We did have a checkup on Monday. The babies are doing well and are all about 2.75 pounds. Today is 28 weeks, 6 days. Praise the Lord for bringing us this far. Thank you FISH, family and friends for the meals, prayers and encouragement. Continue to pray for Kristy as she is beyond full term (for a single pregnancy) and seems to get tired a whole lot easier.

Hospitals & Snow

Hello friends and family! We have found our way to the hospital again. Kristy was having more contractions than normal and the docs wanted us to come in to make sure everything was OK. We got here around 3 am. Things looked OK, but there were still too many contractions. They gave Kristy some endocin and things seemed to calm down in the afternoon. We did get the biophysical profiles done for each of the kids. They all passed with 8 points (out of 8). Two points given for each of the following things: sufficient amniotic fluid in their sac, gross movement, practicing breathing, and one other thing I can't remember. The babies needed to be doing these things at 30 weeks, but they are doing them at 28 weeks (where we are right now) and we (and the docs) are very happy with their progress. We are spending tonight just continuing to monitor Kristy and make sure the contractions are managed. If necessary, Kristy may need a magnesium flush. Not sure if that will happen or not. I'm thinking the earliest we will return home is Monday. Keep Kristy and the babies in your prayers. We would like to get back home if possible. If not, we can manage the rest from here at the hospital. Have fun shoveling snow if you live in the Midwest! Jason, Kristy, Collin, Anniston & Bailey

Just thought I would give you all a quick update of what has been going on the past week. This past Saturday we made yet another trip to the hospital. I hadn't recalled Bailey moving all of Friday and also Saturday morning. We went to the hospital and were relieved to see that Bailey was just fine. This whole acting on your motherly instinct is so hard. It was about 5:30am and I had to have someone wake my doctor from sleep, drag my husband out of bed on the only day he could sleep in a little, drive all the way up north. Something inside of me just said to go and even though everything turned out okay, I would do it all over again just to know she was okay. Jason was great. I thought he would have been upset but he was amazing and felt that the best thing to do was to go to the hospital. It makes all the difference when you have a husband who is right there with you every step of the way. I don't know what I would do without him.

Jason's mom drove me to my doctor's appointment yesterday. On the way, we picked up a glider/rocker. I can't wait until I can sit and enjoy the baby nursery. Everytime I walk back to my room, I glance in and just picture three little curly heads in there cooing & playing in their cribs.

The appointment went fine. I am now measuring at 40 weeks and am only in my 28th week. It is amazing to see what your body can handle. They did an ultrasound and everything looks good. We have now been officially mooned by Bailey. Her head is toward my back and her little butt is toward my stomach and all we could see was a little baby crack. Anniston is also in an awkward position. She looks like she is doing a forward roll and Collin is laying across the exit. It has been harder and harder trying to make out what we are seeing in the ultrasounds because there are so many pairs of feet & hands.

Next Monday is my glucose test and then we will have another measurement the next week. We are anxious to see how much they will have grown by then.

Please continue to pray for the little ones' growth & strength. Please also pray for my contractions. I am starting to have more contractions in the evening which they say will happen because of all the activity going on in there. My contraction threshhold is still at 4 per hour and I have had as much as 7 per hour. Up to this point, an extra dose of terbutaline has calmed it down quite a bit. Last night when I had seven, the medication calmed it down to 2 per hour. They may up my threshhold to 6 per hour if I am continuing to be over my threshhold and not having any preterm labor symptoms which I haven't been. Just a little cramping which could be due to growth. Please also pray for Jason. I think he is physically exhausted and we still have some small things to get done. He has been quite sleepy the past couple of weeks and I can understand why. Me being over my contraction threshholds concerns him also so that can be emotionally draining also.

Bedrest has been going pretty well also. We have been blessed with such an amazing support group who have been willing to do anything to help and it has been great. Jason's mom has been amazing to come over and help me wrap gifts. She has been my hands and feet when it comes to Christmas shopping along with my sister in law, Sandy. We have decided to make stockings for the babies. They will be cross stitched just like their daddys. I have also decided to make one for myself so that the whole family has one. It has kept me busy. We also are going to make little scrapbooks for each one of the babies so they have something to take when they get older. Jason's parents come over a lot to help out with projects & play cards, etc. which has been very very helpful. My sister in law, Sandy, our fellow Life Group members, and many friends & other family members have come over to fix me lunch or provide dinners. A couple of friends from our Life Group have been amazingly helpful in faithfully coming over and cleaning every other week. That has been great. We just want to thank all of you for everything you have done even if it is just talking on the phone and hearing your enthusiasm has helped us through this journey and has made it so much more joyous than we could ever imagine so THANKS:-) We hope you all are enjoying your Christmas season and your kids too. We love you all and we will continue to keep you updated. I will post some ultrasound pics soon.

Thanks:-)

Kristy

Well, Jason & I are back home. We were released from the hospital late this afternoon. Everything seems to be under control at this point. The real test will be when we are done with the extra medication (Indocin) I am currently on in addition to the terbutaline pump. They have me on a twelve dose cycle. They increased the amount of terbutaline that I am getting in an hour. Once I get done with the cycle of Indocin will prove whether or not things are really under control. The indocin is a medication to quiet down the uterus but whether or not the contractions will flare up again is still an open question. We are hopeful that these changes will help fix the problem but we will keep you all updated.

The doctor was able to move our scheduled appointment, that should have been on Wednesday, to today so that we didn't have to drive back up again tomorrow. Everything looks good. There has been no cervical changes and the babies are growing very well. Collin is weighing about 2lbs 8ozs, Bailey is weighing about 2lbs 5ozs and Anniston is weighing about 2lbs 3ozs. They are probably still pretty average in the weight category which is great considering there are three of them.

Please continue to pray that, even through these scary contraction flare ups or even anything else that comes up, the doctors are able to get things under control. Ultimately we would ask that it wouldn't happen at all. Please continue to pray for me and the bedrest situation. I no longer have work to keep me busy. I am now officially on leave from work so I have to come up with things to do each day. The good thing about this is that I can get more rest which, at this point in the pregnancy, is key.

Thank you all for being such wonderful friends & family. We are continually grateful for the support group that we have. It has made this journey a great one.

Thanks again for your thoughts & prayers.

Kristy & Jason

Greetings all. It is late Monday night. We are hanging out at Women's Hospital again tonight. Last night Kristy had 4 contractions during her monitoring session. That is the threshold. She took a little more medicine (which usually reduces the number of contractions) and the number went up to 5. The doc had us come in to monitor Kristy. She continued to have more than the threshold of contractions but no other obvious pregnancy problems. The doc reassured us that this is normal as this pregnancy progresses. We may have to do this several more times. As long as week can keep these babies past 30 weeks, we will be able to handle it. The doc put her on another medicine temporarily and we are watching to see if the contractions calm down. So far so good. If all goes well, we will be released tomorrow morning. We will likely go home with a revised terbutaline dosing regimen. No big deal, we just change the medicine cartridges a little more often. We have a baby checkup on Wednesday to take all the measurements. We did get some good news though. The doc said we can go swimming once or twice a week if we like. Well by swim, I mean float around in the pool. We look forward to using that maternity swimsuit several more times in the next few weeks! Please continue to pray for us! More info to come.

Quick update: We've had only one instance of being over the contraction threshold in the last several days. A little extra terbutaline and that was under control. Our friend Kelly Carr came over last night and took some pictures of Kristy (and the belly) and I. Hopefully we can move some of those out to this blog this weekend. Today is the last day of week 26. Tomorrow starts week 27! Praise the Lord for bringing us this far!

Hello all. It's Jason again. I just wanted to give a brief update. The last week or so has been fairly uneventful (as far as scary stuff). The contractions have been kept under control. We have a routine appointment today.
I got to feel little Collin moving for the first time last night. He is positioned lower in Kristy's tummy so it has been a bit more challenging to feel him move. The kids normally get a story read to them each night. No visible responses yet, so I guess they are OK with it.
I did want to convey our gratitude for those who have been bringing meals and helping keep our place clean. If I had to come home and cook a real meal every night, I would be completely frazzled.
With Tim & Kathy's help, we have managed to get the border up in the nursery. The bedding also came in yesterday! On a more mundane note, I was able to finish up the guest bathroom tiling project last night. We now have two operational bathrooms again.
We are in the midst of week 26 and things seem to be going as well as we can hope for right now. Praise God! Thanks for your continued prayers.

Well Jason usually does the postings but I thought I would fill you in on the latest for once. Jason is in the baby room doing some additional painting as we speak. He has been amazing since I have been on bedrest.

We have had a couple of scary moments in the past couple of weeks. I know it comes with having triplets but when in the midst of these moments, it is terrifying. There has been a couple of times when I have been slightly over my contraction threshhold but, between the doctors and Matria, they have gotten it under control. There was another time early in the morning when I woke up and all the sudden thought my water had broke. That has been the scariest moment. I was just completing my 25th week and I knew if they were born that anything could happen. I couldn't imagine them being born that early. I spoke with the doctor and he said what had happened was normal. Being a first time mom, I don't know what to expect so it makes it even scarier. However, in the midst of all the scary moments, God finds a way to show you that he is there through everything. After we had talked to the doctor, I was getting ready to go to bed and was feeling around for the babies (something I do a lot) and I was able to feel Anniston's little foot up by my ribs. It was an amazing feeling and I felt that God was with me at that moment saying that everything was okay. I was able to caress her little foot for about 5 minutes without her minding at all which was a moment that I will never forget. I still feel around to see if I can find that little foot but haven't been successful again up to this point.

Anyway, we recently went to another appointment and all babies are growing and remain strong. We pray and ask you to pray that they continue to stay strong and healthy as we continue on through this journey of ups and downs. Please pray that I can view this time on bedrest as my sort of purpose in life right now. This is a way that I can take care of the babies right now and the longer they can stay in the womb, the better. Please also continue to pray for Jason. Like I said, he has been absolutely amazing during this time both with me and the babies. He is a true provider and supporter of his family and I am sure that will continue to prove true on throughout their birth and into their homecoming, etc... I couldn't ask for a better husband. He reads to them every night and rejoices in the happy moments when he has been able to feel them move & kick. I know he has been overwhelmed at times with projects, housework, getting things for me, waking up late in the night when I am worried about something that happens or if he just needs to do something for me.

We appreciate all of your prayers and support and will continue to keep you updated on the latest.

Thanks again for everything,

Kristy

Week #24 complete (on Friday). Starting on week #25. Just a quick update from the weekend. The number of contractions seems to be down. Mama and babies are hanging in there.
We are starting to be suspicious about our children being night owls. In the last couple of weeks, we have noticed them getting active around midnight. It's fun for me to feel them move. It may not be as fun for Kristy if she is trying to get to sleep.
My parents got us some garage shelving and helped us install it this weekend. It is nice to have all the diapers and car seats up out of the way! We could even play pool on the pool table if we wanted to. I'm sure that won't last too long though.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Howdy! Just a quick update from yesterday. Based on the contraction monitoring we had seen over the past few days (had more than the threshold amount of 4), it was decided that we should go in early for our checkup. We did that yesterday and everything looked good (babies and cervix). We did end up switching meds for Kristy to the terbutaline pump. We will be watching things the next few days to make sure things are progressing properly (best case=no contractions).
As far as the babies go, we got new measurements for them all. Both Anisston and Collin weighed 1 pound 7 ounces. Bailey weighed in at 1 pound 5 ounces. These weights put them all right around the 50th percentile at this point. We were amazed at this growth because just two weeks ago, they were only 12 ounces.

Continue praying for mama and babies.

Greetings family and friends. This is the initial post for the Babies Bum blog. Right now we are 23 weeks and counting. We have an doctor's appointment on Thursday where we will be measuring the babies. We expect them to be somewhere around 1 pound each.

Last night before bedtime, I felt Anniston move for the first time! She was very active around 11 pm. So far, daddy has felt Bailey and Anniston move. I'm looking forward to feeling Collin move soon. I am hoping to add some ultrasound pictures for each of the babies soon.

Here are some specific issues for which we need prayer:
Health of Babies Bum (good weight gain and development)
Health of Kristy (tolerate bed rest, no premature labor)
Jason's patience

Thank you so much for all who have blessed our family by attending our baby showers. Your generosity and encouragement has been overwhelming! The nursery is stuffed full of baby stuff and my pool table is loaded with car seats, diapers and baby wipes.