My Girls are Here!!

Girls arrived safely at 8:22/8:23am Monday the 6th December 2010. They all came out crying and didnt need any ventilation. Our first born was 2.04kg, second 1.8kg and third 1.7kg. It was one of the most surreal, amazing experiences in the world. I felt like I was dreaming and had to pinch myself a couple of times. They had their first feeds at 3pm today, 3ml per feed every 3 hours, they were so hungry they gobbled it all up. Im expressing every 3-4 hours and surprisingly got a decent amount to work with.

Im feeling OK, a bit sore but nothing too serious. I got 3 morphine injections last night and finally had to tell the doc that i couldnt possibly have any more. I was in a drug haze and to be honest didnt need it, terrible stuff. Emotionally Im OK too which is also surprising as I was preparing for some ups and downs.

Will post again asap.

C-sec Scheduled

Its Monday 6th December 2010, 7:00am, 33 weeks exactly!!

It seemed like things were getting better (but as my doc says they do get better before they get worse), blood pressure went to my normal range of 125/80 and then started slowly climbing again until last night it was 147/88 which is very high for me but still within what the doc thinks is acceptable.

Its been an OK hospital stay, havent as yet been bored. They filmed an advert here yesterday so that was amusing. Food OK, I was feeling a bit hungry as the portion sizes are small and now they bring me snacks like every 5 minutes, to be honest its actually awesome as I dont need to do anything!

Family all arriving tomorrow for the big day on Monday. It all seems so surreal. My husband is taking a bit of strain so I told him to go back to his hotel room and get some sleep, I think I need to give him one of my tranquilizers….

Ill post as soon as I can although I will be in the ICU so hopefully my DH can post something here to let you know whats happening. Im excited now 🙂 Im on the final flip of that rollercoaster. New rollercoaster called Parenthood is about to start!

Hospital Admission

So I knew it was a possibility. Ive thought about every scenario in my head and so when the doctor told us that I wouldnt be going home today, I just pretended I was in a drill, like its been going on in my head for 8 months. Very calmly and relaxed, I got authorisation from my medical aid, booked in etc. This morning I woke up with butterflies in my tummy, I have always wanted to make it to December so this morning I was excited that finally the month I am to become a mommy is here. It seems it will be sooner than later. Im kinda thankful that there was no pre-term labour, rushing to the hospital in the dead of the night scenario, that was the one I was dreading the most. So we had the more gentle introduction into the hospital. Pre-eclampsia is the diagnosis.

As soon as I walked into the doctors room, he said “your face is looking puffy”, not sure what he was seeing but I really dont think my face is all that puffy. So we scanned and Baby B is causing the issues (different baby from the one we thought would give us issues – baby C), her placenta has degraded from Grade 2 to 4 and cord flow is not too good either. She weighs in at 1.9kgs and her sisters who are all still doing OK are 1.8kg and unknown, the third baby has wedged herself between her two sisters so to get an accurate head measurment is almost impossible.

Yesterday I was feeling my tummy and right down the bottom I could feel bumps, almost like when the elastic of your pants is too tight and you get those bumps. I showed the doc and he said it is the start of water retention, a symptom of pre-e. Other than this small thing, I have absolutely no issues. I feel completely normal, infact I feel better now than I have in past weeks.

In hospital I will be monitored every 8 hours. Strapping 4 monitors to my belly is rather funny and my uterus doesnt like it much. My bp is still pretty normal 135/85 and hopefully some of the meds Im taking will help to stabilise it.

So basically Ill be a mommy within the next few days (scary and exciting at the same time 🙂 ). My doc has said Monday, all depending on my bloods and bp status. Im a tiny bit disappointed that I wont carry the babies until my goal of 35 weeks, but I guess 33 weeks isnt too bad…

Please think of us! Ill update as soon as I know more.

PS all the family arrangements are obviously out the window!

Family Politics

Im battling to figure out the emotions Im going through at the moment. Its a bit crazy in my head right now.

As the birth of our babies draws near I can see the craziness is about to be stepped up a whole lot. It mainly stems from our families. Our families all stay far away so trying to coordinate my mom, dad, MIL, sister and BIL to all travel together and find them accommodation etc is proving a bit too much for my brain. They ALL want to come up and they ALL HAVE to be there on the day I give birth. Ive tried explaining that they will probably not even see the babies as they will be in the NICU, hell I wont even see my own babies probably.

Then its a case of who stays where and when do they leave and who is where on Christmas Day and where are we and and and and and. Its driving me up the wall. I told my DH that he would have to take over the organisation as I just cant deal with it right now. Then my mom phones me this morning and as many times as I told her that Im not getting involved she just spoke over me and told me what they doing and when and where etc etc. Drove me up the friggen wall. Then my sister is bringing her puppy with, my MIL is apparently staying for 2 weeks and then DH’s aunt is also coming when “all the babies are home”. I just about freaked.

So Ive made a rule – we will be staying near the hospital whilst the babies are there (we live an hour away) so anyone is welcome to come and stay for as long as they want WHILST we are away. As soon as we hear the first baby is ready to come home, EVERYONE has to leave. I will not be able to cope if we have visitors, I really dont care what anyone thinks.

I realize everyone is hyped up and excited, I am too but obviously the whole hospital stay is freaking me out and taking a bit of the excitement away. I sometimes wish I could keep the babies inside me for a while longer just so I can enjoy them a little while longer. Soon they will become everyone else’s property and I hate that thought.

Well Ive reached the 32 week milestone, each week now is a milestone. Physically, I feel OK. Ive started eating like a trooper again and put on 2kgs in 2 weeks. The heat is very bad but luckily we have an aircon in our room that helps alot. At our appointment last week each baby was around 1.6kgs, so they are putting on around 100g a week, just hope we can get to the 2kg mark in the next 3 weeks. Emotionally Im a little worse for wear. My anxiety is high (obviously), but my gynae keeps on reassuring me we will get to the 20th Dec, he said that I havent had any complications (TOUCH WOOD) so there is no reason not to make it to 35 weeks (he wont let me go longer than this as he says there is no need). I really, really hope so.

Quick 30 Week Update

We are seeing the gynae weekly now so you will be seeing alot of updates, also because I want to keep a record of progress somewhere.

Babies weigh between 1.4 and 1.5kgs, so Im carrying just under 4.5kgs of weight now and Im feeling it. Backaches and pubic bone aches are daily aches now. If I attempt to lie on my back I soon start to feel like Im going to pass out, even at the doctor yesterday I had a very woozy feeling so what I do is prop myself on the one side with a pillow which makes for some fun scanning.

Bladder taking major strain, I constantly feel the need to go, even if I went 30 seconds before, almost feels like a bladder infection but my pee stick was clear and the doc says the bottom baby is lying directly over my cervix and bladder and using them as a trampoline, thank heavens for the cervical stitch or else I would be seriously worried.

Baby C’s placenta is degrading faster than the others BUT again cord flow is excellent so until the doc starts to see the cord flows decreasing he says he is happy. Blood pressure is completely normal so the degrading placenta is not due to pre-e but rather just to aging.

C-sec still planned for 20th Dec. 4 weeks to go!