Wednesday night turned out to be quite an adventure. When Mike got home from work that day around 4 p.m. I told him that I had been having some mild cramping all day. I didn't think it was a contraction because it was constant and didn't come in waves. However, what did I know because they also say your stomach gets hard and let me tell you, with triplets there isn't a soft spot left. Mike convinced me to call just in case. I heard back from the nurse at 5 p.m. and she instructed us to come to Labor & Delivery.
We quickly gathered everything to head up to Sacramento. Luckily, my mom had finished packing my hospital bag the day before and Mike had it in the van just in case. We kept calm and didn't know what to expect. I was pretty sure that they just wanted to monitor me for contractions but in the back of our heads we were both thinking, "wow, the babies could come at anytime."
By the time we got there, my cramping was a little uncomfortable. The nurses were waiting for us and couldn't believe that at 32 weeks and 4 days that I hadn't been to Labor and Delivery yet. They put me in a room and we waited for what seemed like forever for them to set up the monitor. According to them they were having difficulty because they had to set up an extra monitor for triplets and didn't do it that often (mostly they just have twins). Once we were all set up it was clear that I was having contractions. They gave me a shot of Terbutaline and over the next 5 hours my contractions and the babies heart rates were recorded. The Terbutaline wasn't pleasant because it made my body shake uncontrollably. I ended up getting a second shot and it did the trick. I was sent home with a prescription for Niphedipine which I am taking every 5 hours to keep the contractions under control.
Although the average gestation for triplets is 32 weeks, the longer they can stay inside the better. Since the babies looked great there was no reason for them to keep me in the hospital. I also had a doctor's appointment the next day. We found out that the babies are growing well. Baby A (Brooke) is our biggest at 4lbs 11oz (that is a lot bigger than your average singleton!). Baby B (Sara) was our smallest at 3lbs 8oz. They will be keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't fall too far behind. Sometimes they decide to deliver if one baby falls too far behind. Baby C (Luke) weighed in at 4lbs 3oz. So....I'm carrying over 12 1/2 lbs of baby!!!
At this point I'm just hanging in there. I can barely move around and get in and out of bed. My feet, ankles, and legs are hot and swollen. I can't even wear any of my shoes (slippers only). Taking a shower takes all my energy but is the only thing that makes me feel normal. I'm taking medications and monitoring my blood sugar around the clock. There is very little that I can do without Mike's help. Yep, we are in the homestretch. The reality is that they will be here in the next few weeks. We are excited but very scared. Not too many people start out their family with 3 babies!
We go in on Tuesday for a non-stress test. They will monitor things like they did Wednesday and we will just go from there. Right now they have not scheduled my c-section. The doctors and nurses keep raving that I'm doing great. This is by far the hardest job I've ever had but I know this will seem like nothing in comparison to being a triplet mommy.
