Ready or Not!

Merry Christmas!!!

I couldn't resist writing one more before the triplets are on the outside of the womb.  Since I last wrote, we had Christmas.  I don't know about you, but we WAY overdid it!  It was great though.  I have recently had a thought, we are going to be busy the week of Christmas to New Year's--25th is Christmas, 27th triplets birthday, 30th is Ethan's birthday, 1st is Luke's birthday, make sure you write that down, we will be accepting sympathies!

Today, Wednesday, 12/26/12, D-Day minus 1, we decided to let loose a little.  It started off by Emily going to have a visit with the anesthesiologist to get some blood work done so they know what to dose her up with to make her happy and not feel any pain.  From there we went and had the very last ultrasound for these little boogers, it was another BTP (Bio-Physical Thing) so it was quick.  We didn't get any hint as to how big they are, all we know is that there is little to no room for these little monkeys to move around.  I have to give a huge shoutout to the techs, doctors, and everyone else associated with Pinon Perinatal, they have been awesome to Emily this entire time, and I realize that I have poked a little bit of fun at them at times, but they have truly been awesome to us this whole time!  Thank you!  Anyway, here are the only pictures that we got this time:

After the ultrasound we splurged and got something off of the lunch menu at PF Chang's.  Yes, we are big spenders!  Luckily the refills were free, we took advantage of that!  That has to be Emily's favorite place in the world.  From there, we went to go see Les Miserables that came out yesterday.  Amazing movie!  Gary complained that the voices weren't big enough, but I thought the opposite, I loved the emotion that they were able to portray.  No, the voices weren't the best I've heard.  I think that they had Russell Crowe cast before they even heard him sing, because visually he was the perfect person for the role, then he sings...and you realize that this was supposed to be a singing movie and you wonder why he was cast.  So you have to try and get over the fact that his voice isn't the typical Javert that you hear on Broadway, anyway, I just realized that I have become a movie critic.  This is not my place.  Moving on.

Tomorrow is the day!  We will be going in to the hospital at 5:30 a.m.and her c-section is scheduled for 7:30, so the babies should be coming at around 8 a.m.  I would like to say something to those of you who may be planning on coming to visit to see these babies (family, friends, family, did I mention family).  PLEASE, before you come, please, please, please call either me or Emily.  It is going to be very crazy for us for the first couple of months, and we have lots of help that is staying with us during that time, and as much as we love you and want for you to see these babies we really can't have everyone coming until we have things figured out, plus it is RSV season and we really want to try and avoid that.  You are more than welcome to come and visit, but please try not to plan anything until at least February and have talked to one of us first.  We are planning on doing the baby blessings in March/April depending on how healthy babies are, that would be a great time to come and see them.

Well, until tomorrow when I will have real pictures of these little miracles!

35 Weeks!

Well, Emily has made it to 35 weeks!  She was at her OB on Thursday, the 20th and they measured her at 50 Weeks!  Now to put that into perspective, that is 10 weeks overdue for a normal baby, that is 2 and a half months!  That is about the equivalent of 1/3 of a pregnancy.  She is in pain!  She is SO over being pregnant!  Luckily, we have a day (finally) for the c-section.  The official day is this Thursday, the 27th of December, which means...tax break!!!  We need to be in the hospital at 5:30 a.m. for getting blood work, getting the anesthetic, trying to calm down, etc.  Needless to say we are excited and scared, and everything in between!

A pretty cool thing about these babies is that they will be the first triplets born at this particular hospital.  This is the only hospital in Rio Rancho, NM, which means they will be the first triplets in history to be born in the city of Rio Rancho, NM!  Kind of cool.  I think that we need to get the news outlets on this story!

I think that this might be the final post before the triplets come.  I may try and do one the night before they are born (for those of you who are not very savvy with a calendar, that would be this Wednesday).  I will put some pictures up now for you to enjoy:

35 Weeks!

Our live in Nanny for a few weeks

Swollen Ankles

Help with keeping the belly up!

Gingerbread house crew!

Frustration Sets In!

It would appear that several people are very excited about the update of the amniocentesis that took place today.  I will let that wait for a little bit.  There are a few other things that I need to mention first.  Just kidding, I will tell you that what we know so far is that the amnio came back saying that the babies need to stay in there for another week.  Darn-it all to heck! (Gotta love Mormon swearing!)  Emily was not pleased with that piece of info.  She got a call from the perinatalist, and they said that it looked like they needed to schedule the next BTP ultrasound.  According to Emily, BTP stands for "the Bio-Physical Thing", works for me.  Emily asked the lady if that meant that her amnio came back negative, and the lady said, "Oh, your OB hasn't called you yet?"  Um, I think that would qualify as a question that was not thought out before asked, aka--a dumb question.


As of this moment, Wednesday, 12/19/12 at 4:45 pm, we have yet to hear from the OB.  Emily has called them and they told her that the doctor has been with patients all day.  Now in my little brain, this doctor has said that he is excited for these babies, he is planning on being here when they are delivered (he claims he will postpone his vacation plans to make sure that happens), he just seems excited for these triplets; so I am thinking that there is no way that he has not looked at the results.  My guess is that something came back very alarming to him, and he is trying to come up with a very strategic way of telling Emily.  Who knows though?  I guess when he finally gets the time to look at the results he will let us know!  Gotta love doctors and their attention to punctuality!  Just imagine Emily's frustration when he told her this morning that we would know  the results by 1, and the only way we found out is by the silly question lady that called earlier!


We were really hoping to have the babies before this weather forecast comes to pass:

Let me move on.  So, this picture has been forwarded, shared, liked, etc by just about everyone that we know saying that they thought of us when they first saw it:

I can't imagine why!  There are 2 main differences in this picture than what ours would look like.  The first difference is we were planning on 1, hoping for a second and the third never even crossed our minds!  So ours would read something like #1: I was planned, #2: I was hoped for, #3: WHAT?!? 3??? (on the back of this would read, "Time for a new car!")  Seriously though, this kind of stuff just cracks us up, so please keep them coming!  Difference #2: all 3 of our babies would have socks on!  Seriously, that is just child abuse, I want to know who this mother is and get her prosecuted! (Now, for all of you who think I am serious about this, please lighten up!)

So, with the amniocentesis Emily had a BTP ultrasound today.  According to that, everything is looking perfect still!    I think that if Emily wants to have these babies before 12/31/12, she is going to need to jump on the trampoline.  Could you imagine Emily with an ear to ear smile bouncing up and down on the trampoline right now?  Me neither.  Oh well, I think I will still suggest it!  Here is a picture of her 34 week mark:

We were driving around the neighborhood the other night looking at Christmas lights and came across a house that rivals Clark Griswold's!  This house is like a star leading the way to...nowhere really, we are in ABQ!  Check it out:

It's Getting Close!

There have been times in my life, especially recently, when I feel like we have had so much attention, we should be on some kind of a TV show.  There are so many that come to mind:

However, as fun as it would be to be a part of any of these shows, I think that right now the one that would best fit us would have to be:

Just thinking about how to prepare ourselves for three babies feels like it will be Doomsday!  I know that one day the triplets will read this and will probably hate us for thinking that they were nothing more than a nuclear bomb in our lives, well, I guess they kind of are!  Instead of the "blast" wiping out our entire lives though, they will be adding (lots of diapers) to it!  Maybe we should seriously consider the gas masks! I wish there was some kind of a checklist, or book, of what is needed for welcoming multiples in your home, something like this:

With the babies coming within the next 1-2 weeks, it is getting a little nerve racking!  Emily had her OB/GYN appointment yesterday, 12/13/12, and her doctor is absolutely amazed with Emily!  She is his hero!  He is so deadset on delivering these babies that he said he will not allow the perinatalist to take Emily to 36 weeks, the reason for this is that he will be out of town.  That said, if the amniocentesis comes back good on Wednesday (yes, this coming Wednesday!), they will schedule the c-section for the following day, 12/20/12.  If it comes back negative, the c-section will be scheduled for the following Thursday, 12/27/12.  So, it is official, the triplets will be born on 12/20 or 12/27.  We are taking bets!  Winners will get a personalized photo of the babies with their signature via an attachment on an email sometime in the future!  How's that for incentive? 

Emily is measuring currently at 47 weeks!  She is still just baffling every human that comes in contact with her by being on NO restrictions!  I'm pretty sure that is unheard of.  Well, I guess she shouldn't be jumping on a trampoline!  I am very proud of her, because I know it is hard, and getting harder as each day goes by.  I will close in Emily's words, "Don't underestimate the pain of swollen feet!"  

Her favorite spot these days!

All You Can do is Laugh, Otherwise You'd Cry!

Where to begin.  Emily had her "marathon" ultrasound today, however it wasn't much of a marathon since the tech was more into sprinting than a nice easy pace.  What normally has taken about an hour to an hour and a half, took 30 minutes today!  That made Emily's day!  Update on the babies, starting with the smallest....actually let me first bring to your attention some information I dug up (all good writers do research, so I thought that I would try and join their ranks!).  According to babycenter.com, "This week (week 33) your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17 inch mark." Now check out the picture that accompanied (now, this picture would classify as PG-13, but it is for educational purposes that I even put it up), "What your baby looks like--33 Weeks":

Now, look at my modifications to this picture to fit our situation (of course, this is not exact):

All you can do is laugh, otherwise you'd cry!  This is going to be a theme in this post.  Now, onto the weights of the babies (the technician said on several occasions that these are just estimates).  Again, they should be a little over 4 pounds.  Beginning with the smallest, Baby C (Taya): 4 lbs 9 oz, Baby B (Bennett): 4 lbs 15 oz, and the sumo wrestler, Baby A (Ander): 5 lbs 7 oz.  If you are keeping track, that is 1 oz shy of 15 pounds of baby!  That doesn't even begin to account for the placentas, the fluids, etc.  The projected weights at 39 weeks are...Taya: 7 lbs 6 oz, Bennett 7 lbs 15 oz, and Ander 8 lbs 6 oz.  Again, if you are counting, 23 lbs 11 oz.  

Needless to say, Emily is hurting.  We understand that it is SO good for the babies to stay in as long as possible, but when you have that much weight, and not to mention that much movement by foreign objects that you have no control over that like to kick, roll, punch, etc in your ribs, it is VERY hard to want to continue your pregnancy to 39-40 weeks!  The doctors seem to be content to have Emily set some kind of record for triplet pregnancy, not only length of baking, but birth poundage as well!  This is not very amusing to Emily.  That said though, all you can do is laugh, otherwise you'd cry!

Anyway, back to the babies.  Everything, I mean everything looks absolutely perfect with them!  We consider it such a blessing and an answer to not only our prayers, but yours as well.  We are so happy by that news for our gigantic threesome!

What happens from here?  Next Wednesday (12/19/12) Emily is going in for an amniocentesis which will determine the maturity of their lungs, and if they ALL have good lungs the doctor will plan for the c-section the following day (12/20/12).  We are really hoping for this date, since that is the day before the end of life as we know it (12/21/2012 according to the Mayans), and it would be nice to see these little guys before we all have to say goodbye!  If the amniocentesis shows that the lungs are not quite ready, the doctors will schedule the c-section for 36 weeks, which is 12/31/12.  Awesome birthday, especially for tax purposes!  However, that would mean that Ethan (12/30) and Luke (1/1) would be the bread to the triplet sandwich of birthdays!  Poor kids!  But, all you can do is laugh, otherwise you'd cry!  5 kids birthdays within 3 days!  AAAGGHHH!

That about sums it all up.  We did not get any pictures this time.

Embarrassingly Famous!

I have realized over the past few days that it seems like everyone I meet seems to know who we are.  As word spreads about the pregnancy we can't go anywhere without hearing, "Oh you're the one having triplets!"  It is hilarious to go into a store and have some random lady come over to Emily and put their hand on my wife's belly to see if they can feel the triplet movement!  I will give a couple of examples:

1) The other day Emily went into Subway to order a sandwich for her little picnic with the brothers.  The girl behind the counter looks up, sees Emily and says, "Oh my goodness!  You are the one pregnant with triplets, aren't you?"  Emily proceeds to tell her yes, then it is followed by congratulations and good lucks.  Then anyone else that is in the store that heard has to give their thoughts on life and their stories of multiple births.

2) We went into Costco a couple of days ago, I walked in with the boys while Emily went to get her favorite thing about the 21st century, the driving shopping cart (yes, it has come to that!).  The lady checking the membership cards says, "Oh wow!  You are the one having the triplets huh?"  She said it like Emily was a superhero, and she was seeing her hero for the first time!

Emily in her favorite vehicle at Target

I still don't quite know if Emily loves this kind of attention or not.  I am going to take a guess and say that she hates it, and that is based on the fact that when we got married she had no desire to have a wedding reception with just me and her.  Luckily for her she was able to talk 2 of her siblings into taking the wedding plunge in the same month, and she only had to do one reception with just the two of us!  Wait, I just realized that she must be embarrassed by ME, not the fact that she doesn't like attention!

As I have seen people react to the news of the triplets, especially in public, it amazes me that the first action taken after a woman finds out about the triplets is to swing their hand from a position of rest directly to the belly of my wife to rest it there.  Could you imagine if I (or any guy) found out a woman was pregnant and did the same thing?  Would I be considered a pervert?  If the baby daddy was right there, would I get my head bashed in?  I don't know, just some food for thought.

Even the great Mrs. Claus was shocked and floored when she asked the brothers if they were having a boy or a girl, and Cooper replied 2 boys and 1 girl.  It is priceless to see the look on people's faces when they find out it is triplets, probably a lot like mine when I found out it was triplets!

Santa was on a potty break!

Emily has one of her "marathon" ultrasounds on Tuesday where they check everything on the babies, weight, length, heartbeat, lung maturation, etc.  I will do an update on all of the baby stuff at that time.  Until then, enjoy some pictures from the last little while:

32 Weeks!

33 Weeks (she is sucking in)!

Our new favorite exterior Christmas decoration! 

Happy Birthday to me! #33

Good Bye Old Friend!

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day in our preparation for the triplets to arrive.  We had to say goodbye to a very loyal and faithful part of the family.  It had been with us for 6 years, almost to the day.  It took us from one side of the country to the other and back again!  It took us safely across 25(ish) state borders.  To several activities, games, shopping who knows how many times, not to mention all the Costco runs!  Yes, it is very hard to see it go because unfortunately we will not all fit in it as we add 3 more little bodies to our family.  We have to make room for a new member, a bigger one.

We are so grateful that we were able to sell the Odyssey, and we are extremely grateful for the new "Snowball" coming our way.  For now I say, Adios Odyssey.  You will be missed immensely!

Our last view of the Odyssey in its new home.

Snowball, just hanging out in Utah for a couple more weeks!