Well, it’s labor day weekend and here we are….not laboring, but still on the sofa with babies in the belly. Very good for them, very old for me, so that’s the same story. We are still monitoring twice a week and it looks “beautiful” according to my perinatologist. No contractions, heartbeats are strong and consistent and there is plenty of water (needs to be 2 cm or more) around each baby. Baby A is laying along the bottom, still has his head in my pelvic bone on the right side. Baby B is our flip flopper, but is vertex (up and down) on the right and baby C is like a crescent on the upper left side. They now roll a lot verses kicking. Each appointment I get scanned with ultrasound, but they don’t measure or give us pictures anymore since the goal is to see fluid and movement. My blood pressure has been slowing increasing from the 120’s to the 130’s, but no one is concerned about it at this point. Yesterday’s was 135/64. This seems to be in the normal range, so the buns continue to bake in the oven. I’m still having a lot of trouble sleeping and up a lot in the bathroom, but that’s every pregnant woman. So, pretty much no new news other than my back hurts and my feet/hands continue to swell, which are hard to stand on. I did have the same issues when I was pregnant with the girls, so it’s no surprise. I think I wore slippers the last month or so. The good news is that if we can stretch to 34 or 35 weeks we can deliver closer to home at San Martin (maybe) hospital or Siena, which would be nice. The other great thing is that every day the boys are inside saves them about 2 in the NICU, which is why I hang on for more time despite the daily difficulties I have. I am hovering at gaining anywhere from 33 to 36 pounds and apparently it’s fattening up the babies which is all good. I step on the scale every day. One day it’s more, one day it’s less.
We received some beautiful afghans from the Harrah’s Reno hotel crew as well as some really nice blankets made with lots ‘o love from Celia and Fred Colvin in Alaska. In addition, we received the “duo” stroller (we are going with 2 of them since we usually have more than one of us going somewhere at a time) that Bunny and Bill had ordered for us. Laura Besiada also gave us 2 dressers that will save few bucks. I’m sorry to see her move to Florida, but appreciate that we don’t have to buy more furniture. I think we’ll change the drawer pulls to something boy and we’ll be good to go. So the nursery is coming together and we’ve taken a true inventory of the things we have which is now posted in the “Updated list of baby items” right behind this post. The only things we didn’t account for are some used clothing I bought for both newborn and preemie on ebay. There’s just too many of one of this and that it would take forever to list. Thank you to everyone for your generosity and kindness. We cannot find the words to express just how much it means to us to not have to do it alone.
We are continuing to put our budget together and figure that we will use 1 can of formula and 20 or so preemie diapers per day, which is $27.00 per DAY for babies, not counting anything else. Hopefully when they get a little bigger we can buy larger diapers at Costco for much less. So….life is going to change for us big time in a financial way. I think Chip worries the most about that. Both of us are looking at it from every angle often to ensure we are accounting for everything. 3 kids at once along with 2 others is VERY scary.
The girls are back in school this week. Kaitlyn started 6th grade at the middle school which is a whole new experience and makes me feel old! She’s loving all the options and new things. Her biggest thing has been no more uniforms. This year she picked her own clothes. I carried the checkbook and the girls pushed me in a wheelchair at the mall. Totally uncool, but that’s what it took to school shop this year. Gillian began 3rd grade and now has the elementary school to herself. She’s still in uniforms and had fun picking new clothes too. The girls are also both busy with gymnastics, girl scouts and Gillian started fall soccer in the last couple of weeks. Don’t even ask how we’re going to do all the running when the boys come. Their dad has been really helpful, so hopefully that will continue. Both girls are really excited…we all are excited. We are seeing the girls become more independent and helping us around the house. I can’t believe how big they are, but it makes me proud that they can pitch in where needed. Today they are going to help Chip put the duo stroller together. They have all the pieces laid out and ready to go as soon as Chip is done watching the Michigan game (first of the season, against Appalachian State). They’ve helped me keep count of the baby stuff too and were awesome at putting the nursery stuff together from Abby (THANK YOU ABBY).
Happy 26th Anniversary to my mom and dad on August 31, can’t believe it’s been a year since the big party. 🙂
IF WE GO INTO LABOR….the plan right now is to call one person from each side of the family and then have them get information out. If my mom isn’t here already, we’ll call her, but if she’s here, we’ll plan to call Kristy on my side and Bunny on Chip’s side to pass the word on. I’m putting together a list of people to call/email when the big event happens. If you want us to add you to our email list, please let me know via email at sherri@metaforge.net
I’ll try to post on Tuesday, but if not, I’ll post on Thursday, which will be 33 weeks….WOO HOO!