Daddy reflects on the weekend...

We hosted Kim’s mom and grandmother over the weekend and had a fantastic time filled with eating, talking, planning, more organizing, and shopping. One of the reasons they were in town was because Kim had her big baby shower over the weekend, hosted by Janet Simonson. On Friday night my parents hosted a non-beef dinner (Lent) and my mom cooked up a healthy serving of homemade linguine with clams. Oh, and my mom uses fresh clams and it is so darn tasty. If I were to think about ever having a last meal I swear that would be it! Anyway, we had a great time on Friday night down at 855, which was more like a pre-party for the shower on Saturday.
Saturday rolled around so I got up, got a haircut and made plans to play golf while Kim and our houseguests were down in Menlo Park for the shower. When we all got home at 5 pm is when the fun began as both cars arrived at the exact same time and I spent the next 15 minutes unloading the Pathfinder of the all the great gifts. You know how about a month ago I was so excited about cleaning out our dining room furniture, selling the furniture, and having a nice empty and clean room for the babies? Well, it’s not empty anymore! We received so many wonderful gifts and I am so thankful to all our family and friends for their generosity. The funny thing about emptying out the car was that I wasn’t really allowed to look at the gifts and/or pay attention to them because I was going to get my own presentation of the gifts, so to speak, later on that evening. But first was dinner. I poured some wine (for me & Kim’s mom) a healthy gin martini (for Grandmother) and a tall glass of ice water (for Kim) while I went to work in the kitchen. Now I knew that I needed to stay conservative in terms what I would be serving but I really wanted to do something special--something I knew that Kim’s mom and grandmother had never eaten before. Kim and I decided to do a teriyaki-marinated flank steak on the grill with some spaghetti squash, garlic bread, and avocado salad. It was pretty delicious and I do believe it was enjoyed by all. I knocked back a few glasses of red wine, made Kim an extra-medium sized bowl of ice cream and then sat down in the middle of the room where Kim’s mom and grandmother showed me all the gifts. It’s really kind of funny how days go by and things settle in for me just a little bit more. Seeing all the bottles, blankets, clothing, rainforest bouncers, baskets, and wipes was one heck of a realty-check let me tell you. And you know what? I can’t wait.
Everything at home is great. The rain is here, which is quite refreshing although I hate having to wipe off Mackie and Lucy’s paws every time they enter the house from a bathroom break. Thanks for reading and I’ll say HI again real soon. RC

24 weeks--belly shots

Week 24 was a busy one with the doctor's appointment I wrote about, a great visit from my mom & grandmother, and a wonderful babies' shower! Phew, I'm exhausted just thinking about it all! Here are the latest pictures from this past week--still seem to be growing out! Hard to believe we are about to enter week 25!! These boys are continuing to thrive--and are all about kicking right now! I seem to notice they are especially active after a little ice cream dessert--they must love it as much as I do :)

It's a babies' shower!

What a fun weekend! Mom & Grandmother got in to town on Thursday at lunchtime--long flight from Philadelphia! We had a great time just hanging out and talking (as I rested on the couch!) and running a few light errands around town. Ryan's mom had a wonderful dinner for us all at her house on Friday night and luckily Beth & Jill were able to fly in a day early from San Diego so they could be there too!
Today was the baby shower! Janet and Mary were the best hostesses! They really know how to throw a party and make every guest feel so welcome. From delicious food to fabulous friends and family, it was the perfect day. Thank you all so much for such generous, much needed gifts for the boys! The cake in the shape of a red wagon was almost too adorable to cut and eat! These babies (and Ryan & I!) are so blessed with such a strong support network. Thank you so much for helping make this day so special!

24 week doctor's appointment

This morning we had a doctor's appointment at 8:30am. As always, first thing---the scale. I hopped on and found out that since my last official appointment 3 weeks ago I had gained another 10 pounds even. That puts me at a whopping 40 pounds total!!! While this is all good for big, strong babies, it is still shocking to me! I can't picture where these babies are going to go as they continue to grow!!! Blood pressure was fine. For the first time, they hooked this monitoring device on my belly and told me to relax, they were going to count the number of contractions I had. They left us alone in the room for about 20-25 minutes. When they came back there was this little print out sort of like someone measuring for earthquakes. The doctor said there were a few minor contractions (I didn't feel any!). I told him it may have been that at two different times Ryan decided to make me laugh and I know my belly was jiggling like crazy at those points. Next he measured the size of my uterus and said that I was measuring a size comparable to a woman in her 37th week of pregnancy! So basically a few contractions should be normal since the uterus can't really tell that there are three babies in there and just realizes how big it is and starts to contract. He just said to be on the lookout for any contractions that would come on a regular basis or any lower back pain that comes and goes every 10 minutes or so. Measured cervix and I'm at 4.7cm which he said was great-just about pre-pregnancy size, so that is good news! It's holding strong so far!
Next he did a fetal fibronectin test. This has to get sent into a lab so I don't have the results right now. Fetal fibronectin is a protein produced during pregnancy that is like glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. If the protein is detected, it indicates a possible preterm labor in the next 1-2 weeks or so. Hopefully this will come back negative! I have big plans to keep these boys in me much longer then this! Lastly, he told me that I am negative for the gestational diabetes! Yippee, bring on the ice-cream!
I go back in 2 weeks to see him again, at the 26 week mark. They will do a lot of the same tests. I will go back again at the 28 week mark too. Once I reach 28 weeks it will be every week I go see him! When you think about it, that is not that long away! Thank you again for all your prayers! I know they are working! The boys and I continue to stay strong and positive!
Ryan & I are looking forward to a fun weekend with Mom & Grandmother in town!! Lots of pictures coming soon!

23 weeks---belly shots

Here I am at week 23! I have recently discovered that a lot of my "early" maternity shirts in size Medium do not quite fit anymore. I tried one on today and it barely covered the belly. I am up to all Larges for the time being with Extra-Larges looking right around the corner! After that, who knows???? Ryan has generously let me borrow some of his XL tee-shirts to sleep in, so that has come in handy! The funny thing is that I had a bunch of Large maternity shirts in my closet with the tags on and receipts taped to them. I thought, "I'll NEVER wear that, it's HUGE!" Good thing I never returned them! Now I am thinking about the next size up from these!! Ha ha!

Glucose Tolerance Screening

Today I had my glucose tolerance screening test. This is the test where they are looking to see if you have developed gestational diabetes. I had no idea that this condition is one of the most common health problems in pregancies today with anywhere from 2%-7% of expectant mothers getting it! Knowing that this test is evaluating your blood sugar, I decided not to give it any reason to find extra sugar in my system--which is why I didn't have dessert or chocolate yesterday on Valentine's Day :(
I woke up and decided that a bowl of Cheerios (I'm done w/ the Joe's O's and back to the real stuff!) would be just perfect to eat--a little something in my stomach to absorb the gross drink they would give me and hardly any sugar in it at all. I left the juice in the fridge and only had a glass of water. I felt very confident that I would be good to go!
While I was waiting for the place to open, I decided I should probably look up some info on this glucose test on the internet and see what I could find. (Here I go again finding too much info on the internet!!!) Of course the first thing that I find is a chat board where all these people have written in that have recently taken it. They were making comments like, "This test is very sensitive and I haven't eaten any sugar at all my pregancy (yeah right!) and I still tested positive" and "I guess I shouldn't have eaten two donuts for breakfast before taking this test" (um, obviously!) and "You should definitely fast before taking this test--even the simple sugars in carbs like cereal can throw off your whole score, so it was recommended to me not to eat anything!" (yikes, this is right after my bowl of carb friendly Cherrios).
Nothing I could do about it, so I just decided to get it over with. When I got there I was offered the choice of either orange or lemon-lime flavored drink. This is NOT a regular drink--it's a super sugary sort of thickish drink that you have to gulp down. I chose the lemon-lime and was handed 10oz of a flourescent green drink. It was almost glowing it was so green! It was very hard to drink it that fast. It sort of tasted like a melted green otter-pop that is 10x more sugary (and not in a good way). Then you have to sit in the waiting room for 1 hour until it gets into your system. After 30 minutes, the boys started kicking me like crazy probably because they were so wound up on sugar. The reason why all those people don't want to "fail" this initial screening is because then you would have to go again after fasting for at least 14 hours, drink 2 or 3 jars of that drink, and then wait 3 hours for a blood test.
After an hour was up, I went in and they took the blood. I will get the results next Thursday morning when we go in for another doctor's appointment. Fingers crossed that the Cheerios were ok :)

To Ryan, my Valentine...

10 Reasons Why I Love Ryan Even More Today Then Ever....



10. He has not missed even 1 doctor's appointment

9. He doesn't mind going to the drugstore for Aveeno products & Ensure

8. He calls from Safeway 3 times when food shopping to ask questions about my lists

7. He always makes sure I have fresh flowers in the family room where I can see them all day and another set in the kitchen

6. He always checks to make sure I am holding the banister as I go up & down the stairs

5. He sleeps downstairs with me every night to keep me company

4. He now does all the cooking, laundry, cleaning, and yardwork while I sit with my feet up

3. He plays the guitar and sings to the boys

2. He will drop everything to come over and feel babies move and kick

1. He continues to tell me how beautiful I am the bigger I get

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband! Ryan is going to make a great daddy!
I love you Ryan!
Love, Kim & the boys

Thank you to all my breakfast & lunch buddies

It's now been a month & a half that I have been home on the couch. This thank you is long overdue to all "eating buddies!"

Thank you so much to the many, many friends who have brightened up my mornings or afternoons by meeting me for breakfast or coming over and bringing me a great lunch treat. I just want you all to know how much I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. It really makes my day and I really look forward to each visit. It's so nice to relax, catch up and talk to someone during the day other then my dogs (who don't answer back).

Huge thank yous to: Marg, Margy, Heidi, Kelsey, Patti, Emma, Joanne, Mary, Janet, Georgia, Elizabeth, Ana, & Geneva.

Thank you again for helping make me feel so cared for while I'm here at home!!
Love, Kim

22 weeks--belly shots

Sorry we haven't posted all week!! We'll make up for it this week! Here are the pictures for this week--getting a little bigger maybe? I feel like at this point maybe we won't be seeing a drastic change from week to week, we might be getting to the point where the belly is just getting slightly bigger. I did go from 42 inches around the belly from last week to 44 inches around the belly this week! Anyone want to take guesses on how many inches I will get to???? I don't know if I really want to hear all those guesses!
This past week was a little more eventful then I would have liked. Starting last weekend I began to get really itchy. It started on my belly but I thought maybe it was just because it was getting stretched so much and maybe it just needed more moisturizer. The belly itch turned into a whole body itch--with the worst spot being on my legs (especially knees!) I knew that it couldn't just be dry skin because I really am the queen of moisturizing, and I also knew that I hadn't switched around detergents, shampoos, soaps, or anything like that recently. Which led me to begin searching on the Internet....one night at 2am. When you are searching medical websites at 2am it can't be leading to anything good! I found out that there is actually a really common itch that happens to pregnant women called PUPPP. The bad thing is that if you get it, it lasts the entire pregnancy and only goes away when you deliver. The good part is that it is not harmful to the babies. I immediately thought that while this could be annoying to keep itching for 3 more months, at least the boys would be safe and that is all that matters to me. Maybe I should have stopped reading there. But I didn't. The next "pregnancy rash" that I read about was much more serious and had implications for the baby/babies because it affects your liver and bile salts get built up. At 2am this is not what I wanted to read!!
After one more day of itching, I decided to let my doctor know. I sent him an email outlining my symptoms and of course telling him all about PUPPP and the other "rash" called ICP (just in case he hadn't heard of them). (Doctors probably hate it when patients try to self diagnose from the internet, oh well!) He ordered a blood test and the next day I went in to get the results. Thankfully my liver was fine and he thought it looked like a simple allergy. The last couple of days I have been taking Aveeno showers and lubing up on the oatmeal lotion. Still itchy tonight though. The doctor said hopefully it would go away by itself (because it was a reaction to something) and if not, then it might be PUPPP. Turns out that PUPPP occurs 1) most often in a first pregnancy (yes), OR 2) in a multiple pregnancy (yes), OR 3) when you are carrying a boy (yes, yes, yes)...so go figure! I am just thankful that the boys are fine and I don't have to worry about that. I celebrate at the end of each day, and at the end of each week. I can't believe starting 23 weeks next week! We're getting closer to my goal of 34 weeks (could I dare say maybe even 35??) with every passing day! Thank you for all your continued prayers and well wishes!

21 weeks---belly shots

Wow, look at that view from below!!! Here we are at 21 weeks and the boys and I are definitely growing. Ryan measured my waist all the way around and it was 42 inches! I am feeling well, just pretty uncomfortable at times. I have not been sleeping well, but I keep thinking that I'm just getting ready for what is to come. I have been sleeping with 4 pillows--two behind my head, one between my knees, and one down pillow all crunched up around my belly to support it. Well, that was a little difficult to maneuver in bed especially when I have to get up multiple times to go to the bathroom. Therefore, I have now moved downstairs to sleep on our couch that has firm cushions and better back support. Sometimes Ryan likes to sleep downstairs on the other big chair and we have a campout downstairs with the dogs. Only thing missing is the s'mores.

21 week Doctor's Appointment

Ryan & I had a doctor's appointment today at 3:45. First thing they did was weigh me. Since we don't have a scale here, I was very interested to see what they would find. It had been a month since I had last been weighed. Turns out I have gained a total of.....30 pounds! At 21 weeks for triplets that is really good!! Right on track! It sounds like lot though, doesn't it? (The average weight most people put on with triplets is 58-78 pounds total.) Ryan was quite surprised--he definitely doesn't think it looks like I gained that much! I was dancing around the room I was so happy--especially because I know that I'm eating good, quality, nutritious foods and not donuts all day. I am hoping that I will continue to put this good weight on and the boys will be big and healthy when they are born!
Blood pressure looked good too. Next he listened to the heartbeats and everything sounded great. I will get a blood test in 2 weeks to check for anemia and my glucose levels. Next doctor's appointment in 3 weeks. I'll just keep drinking my Ensure till then :)