Lilypie

Friday, April 29, 2005

It's the Belly-o-Meter!!!

After many requests, and approval from the mother, the father is posting what I call the "Belly-o-Meter". It's a weekly measurement of belly growth. Of course this growth is created by growth of the babies. It gives us a rough estimate of how much the babies are growing. We didn't start taking measurements until week 15. I wish we had started earlier because the mother started "showing" very early and was in maternity clothes much earlier than a woman with a single baby.

It's amazing to (externally) see the babies grow. You can see that some weeks only produced minimal growth, but other weeks were big jumps.

We'll try to keep this updated each week and we'll provide a link to the "Belly-o-Meter" on the right side of the page.

The "Belly-o-Meter"

Thursday, April 28, 2005

No sleeping positions are comfortable

I can't seem to get comfortable anymore and sleep. If I try either side, the babies seem to slide down in my belly and cause pain. I can't lie on my back because this decreases bloodflow. If I try a semi-sitting/leaning position, I think I'm still affecting the bloodflow because my hands start to tingle. I can't seem to find anything that works and no matter how many pillows I try, nothing seems comfortable.

This problem led me to the following thought. Okay, here's a moneymaking idea for someone. Why not develop a sleep study for pregnant women? A nurse/sleep consultant/doctor could watch the positions that a pregnant women sleeps in and try and help them find the most comfortable positions that cause no problems for the mother or the babies. I think it would be a very lucrative career for someone. It would be worth paying to find a comfortable sleep position, if one exists.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Work is almost over

This week is my last week at work. I teach at a university and all the exams I give will be completed by the weekend. It's such a good feeling to know that I've made it to the end. I'm so thankful for that. Now it's time to sit back, rest more and just wait for the babies to arrive.

Baby Registry Online

Some people have emailed us and asked if they could get a gift for the babies. Well, the registry is available online, but we aren't going to advertise the link. If you are interested, just email us and we'll send you the link.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Smooth Belly vs Line Belly

Today's post has more to do with maternity clothes than it does the triplets. Although I can say the babies are growing so much that my belly is almost too big for many of my maternity pants.

When I wear my maternity pants, most of them have waistbands that come over my belly and create a line across my belly and under my shirts. It creates what I call the "line belly". I don't like this at all. I prefer to roll the waistband down some so it's under my belly, therefore creating what I call the "smooth belly". In my opinion, it's a much nicer look under my shirts.

Do you have a preference?

Monday, April 25, 2005

Swelling

This weekend, I had my first round of unusual swelling. I had noticed some slight puffiness in my feet before, but nothing like this. I was sitting and talking on the phone when I noticed that my right calf, ankle and foot were swollen. I was concerned because it was only one leg and not the other. I called the doctor's office and they were concerned too because swelling in one leg only can possibly indicate a blood clot. I was advised to elevate my foot above my heart and watch the leg closely. If it didn't go down in a couple of hours or started turning red, I was to call the doctor again.

After the two hour window, the calf, ankle and foot had reduced in size and were back to normal. I'm very thankful for that. If it's possible, I don't want to have to go back to the hospital again until it's time to deliver the babies.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Babyproofing the home

We've tried to start babyproofing. We're doing the usual stuff - covers on electrical outlets, moving the cleaning supplies, etc. All this may be in vain. According to "Raising Multiple Birth Children: A Parents' Survival Guide", multiples learn how to climb on each other and get on top of furniture and other things. According to a story we read in the book, the father stepped out of room for a few minutes and when he came back, one of his triplets was on top of the buffet and the other two were standing there looking at her. He said you could see their minds working, trying to figure our how they could get up there. This should be fun.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Thinking Like A Parent?

It's funny how my thoughts have started changing now that the babies are almost here. I guess you could say I've started thinking like a parent. I'm beginning to have thoughts like the following -

Will the children be scared of dogs because the neighbor's dog barks at everyone?
What clothes detergent should I use to keep the babies from having skin rashes?
Will their allergies be as bad as ours?
Will they have the same allergies?
What activities will the children like as they get older?
Will they be musically talented like we are?
I can't wait until we can all get ice cream together for the first time.

Yes, I guess my mind is preparing me to be a parent.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Baby Sign Language

We're thinking about trying baby sign language.

There are lots of articles about it on the internet. I think all of the ones we have read recommend it. Most of the articles state you can start teaching basic words at 6 months of age. The big debate over using baby sign language is whether you should use American Sign Language or sign language just created for babies.

Has anyone had any experiences using it?

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

24 Weeks

In a way, it's hard to believe that I'm already at 24 weeks. Time has really flown by.

Yesterday was another visit to the doctor. Everything was good. When they did the ultrasound, I found out another reason, other than the costochondritis, for my ribs hurting. One of the girls, the one at the top, has part of her body under my ribs and her feet are pointed toward the ribs in the back. That's part of the reason for the rib pain in the front and the back.

Here are the latest scans.

Baby A


Baby B


Baby C

Monday, April 18, 2005

First Shower - Thank you!!!

Yesterday was the first baby shower for the triplets. (Would flood be more appropriate to use instead of shower because there are three babies?) Now some of you may be thinking "What? I didn't get invited to the shower?". No need to worry. This was a shower thrown at the church I attended until I got married. There will be another shower at the church that I'm currently a member of.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that helped plan, prepare, set-up, worked at and cleaned up at the shower. I also want to say thank you to everyone that brought a gift to the shower. We certainly appreciate it. And I had a great time too!!! Now it's time to start writing those thank you cards.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Baby Carriers

We have 2 baby carriers we're excited about trying out. They are the MaxiMom carriers. According to the website, it's the only carrier designed to carry 2 babies at a time. You can actually carry 3 at a time if you want to. I can't imagine the weight of the babies if you do that.

These should come in handy when we get out and take walks and go to the store. There are so many possibilities. I can carry one, push one in a stroller and the father can carry one. The father can carry two and I can push one in the stroller. I think we'll stick with that plan.

They should definitely make splitting up in a store easier and less distracting than the triple stroller.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

We know the feeling



Jump Start at comics.com

Truly Amazing

I sit around and just love feeling the babies move. Whether it's smaller moves that only I can feel internally or larger kicks and movements that both of us can feel by putting our hands on my belly. It's amazing.

I guess it could be easy to get used to feeling the babies move and maybe even start to ignore it. Something like driving by a beautiful scene each morning on the way to work. You know it's there, but you get used to it and eventually you ignore it. I hope that never happens with feeling the babies move. I want to enjoy and remember each time. It's just such a miracle.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Feeding Three At A Time

Hello. It's the father here writing another post that will probably make people think I'm crazy.

We attended our second breastfeeding class last night. In the class, we learned about different breastfeeding positions. It was encouraging to hear that all of the positions can be slightly modified to allow two babies to feed at the same time. Getting the third one in is a bit trickier. You can allow the two to eat and then rotate the third one in or you can just give the third one formula at that feeding time. Whichever you do, you have to rotate the babies around so no one is left with just formula or stuck with the same breast each time. It sounds more complicated than it really is.

There are lots of different names for the positions that you can use - cradle hold, cross-cradle hold, lying down, football hold. For men reading this, the football hold isn't like this.

After learning about the different positions, I started thinking of more creative ways to feed all three of them at the same time. Here are a few of my ideas.

Maybe we could use something like a garden sprayer, fill it with milk, line up the three babies and squirt milk in their mouths.

How about building some type of trough that you could get the babies to eat from? These guys seem to be enjoying it.


Here's my best idea though. I'll need to contact Dr. Otto Octavius to get the plans for the tentacles.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

I try to sleep and they want to play

It seems like every night when I try to go to sleep, the babies want to start moving around and playing. It's like they are on a schedule that's the opposite of mine.

Last night when I got into bed, the boy and the girl that is across from him started some type of rhythm in my belly. One would move around and then the other and then the other and then...

I think they might have been playing patty cake.

A new shirt update

In case anyone was unfamiliar with the shirt logo, it's a take-off on the long running milk ad campaign - "got milk?"

Monday, April 11, 2005

A new shirt

After last Friday at the hospital with the mother, it seemed like we needed something to distract us from the problems that had occurred. My idea - a funny shirt to wear during the pregnancy. I decided to get one that's large enough for the mother to wear now and for me to wear after the babies are born.

Wondering what shirt could be funny to wear?

Here's the logo from the shirt -

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Freaky Friday

Yesterday was an unusual day. I spent about half of the day at the hospital. Thankfully there was no harm to the babies or me, but it was an usual day.

It all started around 3:30 am with extreme dizziness that led to a couple rounds of nausea and vomiting. After talking to the doctor, I spent most of the early morning awake dealing with the dizziness. The problem continued until the doctor's office opened. I called them and they suggested I go to the Ob/Gyn unit at the hospital for observation and to be checked for what could be causing the problem.

After staying there for half of the day and enduring an IV and blood tests, they were unable to determine exactly what was causing the problem. While I was at the hospital, the dizziness eventually went away and I haven't had any problems since then. I hope it doesn't occur again.

I kept wondering the whole time if the babies were feeling the same dizziness. If so, they were probably thinking "Whoa, Mama! What's going on in here?"

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Those Week 20 Restrictions

A few people have been emailing and asking about the restrictions that the doctor placed on me at week 20. Here's a list of them.

No more grocery shopping. This is not allowed because of the amount of walking it takes. We used to grocery shop together at Walmart, but now the husband takes care of that. I did try out the motorized carts they have available, but they are too slow. In the time it takes to go two aisles, my husband was halfway across the store. Using one of those things would make grocery shopping a day long adventure.

Limited walking. As mentioned above. This covers lots of things I used to normally do. When I go out now, I have to park closer and walk less. A lot less.

Limited stair use. We live in a 2 story house. I'm allowed one time down and one time up in a day. That's all. I try not to climb stairs anywhere else either.

Limited amount of time standing. I try to sit or lay down as much as possible. I teach part-time at a university and most of my lectures are now given from a chair.

No more water aerobics. I used to teach water aerobics at the YMCA. I can't teach now and I probably miss that the most.

Lots of rest. Most of the time I try to sit or lay on the couch. It sounds like fun, but it really isn't.

All of these changes took a bit of time to get used to, although I can say I'm probably still not used to them. It's all worth it though to try and limit anything that could potentially cause preterm labor.

Baby Measurement Update

In a posting a few days ago, we mentioned that the babies were about 12 inches in length. We've received emails from people wondering if that was really true. We did some more checking on pregnancy sites because they were unable to give us an exact measurement at the doctor visit. Their reply was that the babies would be about the same size now as a single baby. After checking different websites, we've discovered that the babies could be anywhere between 10.9 and 12 inches. So yes, folks, that measurement is correct.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Another class

If nothing else, we're certainly going to be educated parents.

We've started taking another class. This one is on breastfeeding. Yes, believe it or not, you can breastfeed triplets.

Here are some links -

Is Three a Crowd? Breastfeeding Triplets!

A Triple Play!

It might be a bit more difficult because the babies will probably be premature, but we're going to give it a try. Those little babies will need all the benefits that only breast milk can provide.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

We went to the doctor yesterday

It was back to the doctor yesterday for a check. Everything was good.

The babies had some measurements made so they could estimate the size of them. Based on the measurements, the babies are growing nicely. All three are approximately one pound each. At this point, they are the size of a normal single baby - around 12 inches in length. From this point on, they will probably not keep up with the size of a single baby due to three sharing the space of one. I guess it will be a bit like this -

Monday, April 04, 2005

Food Cravings

You usually hear about different food cravings women have when they are pregnant. I thought I was exempt from that until recently. I've been cravings two things and they are at completely different ends of the food spectrum.

One item is eggplant parmesan from a local Italian restaurant. That's the only place I want it from. The other item I've been craving is Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies. I guess the perfect meal would be to start with the eggplant parmesan and finish with an oatmeal pie for dessert.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Can babies hear in the womb? We think so.

There seems to be a lot of debate about babies hearing in the womb. Here are a few articles.

Babies can hear in the womb

Research adds to evidence that unborn babies hear 'melody' of speech

Alertness in the Womb

We can't say for sure what the triplets hear, but we certainly think they can hear and recognize our voices. We've already had one interesting experience. One morning the babies weren't moving. The father got close to the mother's belly and started talking to the babies. One of them definitely started kicking and moving during the conversation. Maybe the baby was sending a message using morse code.