30 Weeks

"The steadfast love of The Lord never ceases; 

his mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'"

                                                            Lamentations 3:22-24

Wow!!! I cannot believe we have made it to 30 weeks!  His mercies are new every morning! He is our rock and in Him, we hope and trust.  We are so humbled that God has carried us through this journey and brought us this far.    Most of my doctors are also shocked to see how far we have come and they are calling me "the incubator". I will try and keep cooking these babies for as long as I can. 

This week has been pretty uneventful, thankfully. I had a growth scan on Wednesday and these are the weight estimations of our 3 sweet peas:

Baby girl A: 2 lb 14 oz

Baby boy B: 2 lb 13 oz

Baby boy C: 2 lb 12 oz

Their weights are in the 40-43% for singletons. We are so thankful that they are all growing and continuing to do well!! Since last week's little scare, I now receive ultrasounds every MWF morning.  I look forward to these days and seeing my babies. 

Our little trio is very active and usually one of them is moving at all times. It feels like a party in my belly all the time! Baby C is taking up most of the room and is usually the one who is moving the most. Baby B usually gets pushed up under my ribs. Baby A is breech and down low.  I'm afraid she is going to kick her way out in order to avoid her brothers wrestling match!  I can't wait to meet our little blessings.....in a few more weeks, hopefully. 

Friday night, Paul and I got to have our redo "special" steak dinner since I wasn't able to eat mine last week. It was delicious! Originally the food supervisor relayed that I wasn't allowed to have a makeup dinner, but my nurses, patient care coordinator, and chaplain here all kept advocating for me to have another dinner so apparently the food supervisor finally agreed. I was grateful to have a good steak...and I know Paul enjoyed it too! 

Paul and Sophie brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers Sunday for making it to 30 weeks!

Enjoying a wheelchair ride outside with my precious baby girl! I have finally been given wheelchair privileges if I only stay out for about 30 minutes. Longer trips still require the stretcher. 

My sweet in-laws came and celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary with me, complete with my favorite meal and cheesecake from my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory! They are too good to me!  Notice my sweet mother-in-law dresses for winter when she comes to see me because "the incubator" is always hot so I keep the room pretty cold (although it still feels like 80 degrees to me sometimes!)

29 Weeks

We've made it to 29 weeks!!! Praise The Lord for bringing us this far! God is so good!

We had an eventful day this past Tuesday. I went to the Mom2Mom class on the stretcher and noticed I had about 4-5 contractions but they didn't last longer than about 30 seconds. My nurse hooked me up to the contraction monitor when I got back to my room. About 45 mins later she came in, told me I was having contractions every 3-4 mins, had already called my OB, and the IV team was on their way to get me started on IV fluids.  I, of course, started crying and called Paul to come to the hospital.  The IV team and nurses quickly got my IV and fluids started. After an hr or so, my contractions had not slowed very much so they had to put me on magnesium sulfate (which is what caused me to be so sick when I first came to the hospital 6 wks ago). Paul and I were scheduled to have our "special" steak dinner provided by the hospital that night because I had been at the hospital for more than 30 days.  I hardly ate anything for fear of getting sick again. Great timing for a nice dinner! I ended up only being able to stay on the mag sulfate (a muscle relaxer) for 5 hrs (supposed to stay on it for 24 hrs) because it slowed my breathing down too much. It did slow my contractions down though. I ended up having to have my vitals checked every hour all through the night. So needless to say, I got very little sleep. Wednesday, I tried to sleep, but that turned out to be impossible. Thankfully, Wednesday night was better and I was able to get rest. I woke up Thursday morning feeling more "normal"....so basically just hip, pelvic, and rib pain from the weight of my uterus and sweet little babies pushing and kicking. ;) 

Sophie started preschool this week. It broke my heart to not be able to take her to her first day of school, but I'm thankful that Paul was able to take her.  

My sweet parents brought a delicious picnic of cheeseburgers, watermelon, chips and dip to the hospital Friday night. We were able to enjoy it out by the fountain. We got lots of stares, and the security guard told us we were the talk of the bridge connecting the hospital to the parking garage. Haha! Glad we can provide some entertainment! 

29 week bump....getting larger and larger. My uterus was measuring above 42 wks gestation last Monday. The OB guessed I was measuring more along the lines of 43-44 wks because he can't even feel the top of my uterus anymore. It's up under my ribs...and making me quite uncomfortable. I'm hoping that means all of the babies are growing well! 

Aiming for 30 weeks now and hoping this week is less eventful! 

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

James 4:6: "but He gives us more grace..."

1. He Giveth More Grace
2. 
   
3. He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
   He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
   To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
   To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.
4. When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
   When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
   When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
   Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
5. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
   Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
   Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
   The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
6. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
   His power no boundary known unto men;
   For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
   He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

I have come across this hymn several times in the past few weeks and it has really spoken to me. God has shown us His grace in so many ways over this past year and especially, in the past 5 weeks. We are so thankful that we serve a God whose "grace has no measure".  We are humbled by the fact that The Lord has allowed our precious babies to stay in my womb and continue to grow.  The fact that each of our 3 babies is doing well is unbelievable...."he giveth, and giveth, and giveth again". 

I'm not going to lie, some days are extremely emotionally challenging for me as I am separated from my precious baby girl and husband. I miss them every moment I am not with them. I cannot wait until our family is back together again under the same roof. But I am thankful that God has provided me with strength and comfort during these long, hard days in the hospital. 

We reached a huge milestone today...28 weeks!! To God be the glory!! 28 weeks is a huge milestone for lung development. We were also told that chances of survival have drastically increased and chances of longterm neurological complications has drastically decreased. We never thought we would make it this far just a few weeks ago, but God has held these sweet babies in His hands and we are beyond thankful. All of our doctors are surprised and thrilled to see us come this far. Our next goal is 30 weeks, but we know every day is still a victory. 

Here are a few things that have happened this week:

Paul and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on August 11th. I knew Paul had to work late on our actual anniversary on Monday, so we celebrated with a nice dinner on Sunday night. He had offered to bring me a nice steak dinner, but I told him I was craving Cracker Barrel (I know, weird pregnancy craving) so he went out of his way and brought me that instead. Bless him!! Paul's mom brought Sophie up to see me on Monday night and we tried calling Paul on FaceTime after he got off work. He didn't answer. Five seconds later, he walked into our hospital room with a beautiful bouquet of roses and our engagement and rehearsal dinner videos he had made. I was so surprised!! I am so blessed to be Paul's wife!! And Sophie and our babies are so lucky to have them as their daddy! 

Baby girl

Both baby boys decided to show their faces this week. Baby B on top and Baby C on bottom. Both have their hands over their faces. I can't wait to meet them! 

My first wheelchair ride! Our sweet nurse tech took Hallie and me for a quick 30 minute ride down to Starbucks (in the hospital) and then out to get some fresh air by the fountain. We were so grateful for a refreshing drink and to see the outside world. I was only allowed that one wheelchair ride since it was short. We are sticking with the stretcher for longer rides. 

My sweet friends/sorority sisters came to hang out Friday night. 5/6 of us live in different parts of Atlanta, and Jenni was in town visiting family. They brought our 2nd annual ATL ADPi dinner to me complete with a delicious meal, beautiful flowers, and camping chairs! ;) It was so great for my soul to laugh, cry, and catch up with these amazing, godly women.  So thankful for these ladies!

28 weeks and more kisses for the babies!

I had several other sweet friends come visit and forgot to get pictures. But thank you for all of the visits, cards, words of encouragement, prayers, love, and support that you all have shown us. You all have brought us joy and comfort to our hardest days. We are truly blessed with the best friends and family in the world!

Joy

James 1:2-4: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

From Paul in an email he sent out to some friends and family earlier this week:

     A wise friend once counseled me on the phrase "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger".     While this saying echoes our thoughts and prayers regarding James 1 referring to joy in the midst of trials, it can be rephrased at times to "what doesn't kill you can still wear you thin".   By this you can infer that some days our family feels incredible joy over what God is allowing to happen and somedays we find ourselves exhausted and fatigued both mentally and physically. Each day typically exposes a certain degree of struggle but is generally overcome with sheer joy and victory knowing that God continues to allow the trio to grow in the womb. We continue to seek what God is teaching us through these emotional roller-coasters. 

We give God thanks during our joy and trials knowing that He is growing us in ways we never would have grown in if we hadn't gone through our struggle with infertility and now with a high risk pregnancy. God is refining our faith and drawing us more near to Him, and for that, we are grateful. Like Paul so eloquently wrote, we have our ups and downs each day and week. We are thankful that we have had more ups than downs this week, and a week filled with visitors, closer monitoring of the babies' heartbeats, and "classes" to help occupy my time here in the hospital. 

Here are a few things that have been going on this week:

Hallie is my "neighbor" here at the hospital. I have gotten to know her over the past few weeks, and I enjoy hanging out with her. She is teaching me how to crochet! She is so talented and can make all sorts of things.  She is a fellow mom on bedrest and has wheelchair/walking privileges so she comes over to my room sometimes. It is so nice to have another mom to talk to who is going through all the ups and downs that go along with hospital bedrest. We are the 2 faithful moms who go to all the "classes" offered to moms on bedrest.  Out of about 20 other moms on our hall, we are typically the only 2 that go to these classes.....what can I say, we like to get out of our rooms as much as we can.....and we like to learn. ;) We had a NICU class this week and learned more about what life will be like for our little ones in the NICU. I am greatful to have met Hallie here. 

My sweet friends and sorority sisters from Samford came to visit and bring me dinner. I loved catching up with them and meeting Christina's precious son. 

Terrible photo but this shows how the nurses are monitoring the babies' heartbeats now. Each baby has a separate ultrasound probe that they use to make sure that they are in fact getting all 3 babies' heartbeats. I also have a contraction monitor on at the same time. It typically takes awhile to find all their heartbeats so I have to lay super still, and I better not tell them that I have to go to the bathroom! And it never fails that the babies (especially baby boy C) always kick the probes! I love my active babies and I love listening to their little heartbeats! 

I get to see the babies on ultrasound every Monday and Thursday. I look forward to these days. On Thursday, the babies had a growth scan. The estimated weights of the babies are: Baby A (girl): 2 lb 3 oz, Baby B: 1 lb 12 oz, Baby C: 1 lb 14 oz.  Baby girl is on track for weight, but the boys are measuring a little small for their gestational age. We are praying that the boys will gain weight and catch up to their sister. I have been ordered by the perinatologist to eat more to help the babies gain weight. While I look and feel like a whale already, it is a bit hard to eat a lot because there is just not that much room in my stomach anymore with all the babies, and the hospital food is not so great. However, I am going to take advantage of the one time in my life where I have been told to eat more and just eat as much as I can for our sweet trio. 

Baby girl A

Baby C with Baby B's feet above his head. 

Baby boy B typically is face down so we haven't been able to get a profile picture of him since I've been in the hospital. All the babies heartbeats and fluid look good. We are so thankful to have come this far. God is so good and He continues to hold our family in His Hands. 

Thursday, I had to have an EKG and echocardiogram because the doctors were slightly concerned that the pregnancy was putting extra stress on my heart due to a few symptoms I have been having. Thankfully, I just have a minor issue and the cardiologist is not too concerned. 

Sophie was in TN this past week with my parents and I missed her terribly. She was in good hands though and I know she had fun with her Honey and Papa. But I was so glad to get to hug and kiss on her today, and she was excited to kiss and hug her baby brothers and sister, too.  She talks all the time about wanting to hold the babies, feed them bottles, change their diapers, and play with them. She often lifts up my shirt, kisses them, and sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to them. Melt. My. Heart. I know she will be the best big sister to these babies! 

Getting fresh air by the fountain. And more kisses for the babies. 

Can you tell Sophie has Papa wrapped around her little finger?! They both got wet splashing in the fountain!

We are so grateful for all of the visitors, meals, flowers, cards, gifts, encouraging words, and prayers that we have received. We are truly blessed with wonderful family, friends, and our church family. 

26 Weeks

     I am 26 weeks pregnant today! Praise The Lord!! Each passing day and week is a true victory, and we are so grateful and thankful to God for bringing us this far. We celebrated another small victory today, too....I passed my glucose test. I was a little worried about it this pregnancy since I am at a higher risk for gestational diabetes because of multiples. But I passed...woohoo! I can still eat cookies! :)   

     Yesterday marked 1 month of me being on bedrest (3 weeks on hospital bedrest). This includes not driving, cooking, walking more than 20 feet at any one time, or picking up my baby girl in over a month. Being unable to care for Sophie has definitely been the hardest part.

I had several visitors come see me on Friday. I am not someone who likes to be by myself very often so I am always so grateful to see family and friends. My sweet friend, Nicki, who is 32 wks pregnant with boy/girl twins came by and we decided to get a photo of our bumps. Nicki and I were roommates together at Samford my junior year and she lives here in Marietta now too. It is so fun to have another friend expecting multiples at the same time. 

Sophie and Paul came to visit me for dinner. To say Sophie loves hummus is an understatement. 

Love my family so much! God has blessed me with the best husband and daughter and I cherish our time together. 

Paul took me outside to get some fresh air and Sophie enjoyed splashing in the fountain. 

26 weeks (don't worry I was only standing for two seconds)