The Final Countdown

The final countdown is on!  Today I am 35 weeks – a HUGE milestone for a triplet pregnancy.  I feel like the past 3 –4 weeks have flown by!  Guess that is why I have not blogged in a while. 

No final countdown would be complete with out a few changes.  When I went to the specialist 2 weeks ago, she recommended that we do an amniocentesis the day before delivery on the 17^th.  The purpose of this is to check the lung maturity since we will be 35 weeks, 5 days.  Because I have done so well (yay me) the specialist would like to make sure we are delivering for the right reasons – in other words, she thinks we could push it to the next week to be certain the babies are ready.  Um, did she notice that I have over 14lbs of baby?  Did she see how tired I am?  Did she see that my skin can’t stretch any more?  I am comfortable doing the amnio and have agreed, but when they run these tests on the fluid, it better show that the girls can be delivered.  At this point in a pregnancy, the amnio has little risk for me or the babies.  I don’t like the fact that a needle will be stuck in my belly, but its only for less that 3 minutes. 

My doctor agrees that doing this procedure is the right thing to do, but she also feels that I won’t make it much longer.  She checked me and I am starting to thin, but my cervix is still closed.  She also looked at my skin and realizes that the stretching feels like I am burning and how hard it is for me to get around now.  I am also having braxton hicks contractions every day and seem to have more as each day passes.  She says if the tests on the fluid come back borderline, she will push to go ahead with the scheduled delivery on Friday.

I would like to ask each of you reading this to send positive vibes to me, Joel and the girls on Thursday, Dec 16.  The amnio is at 10:30.  I will be there for several hours before a decision can be made on next steps.  I am praying that the lungs will be ready and we can move forward as planned.  We have all the doctors we want scheduled on Friday, my doctor, the anesthesiologist that is comfortable with the rods in my back, the specialist, and even my pediatrician will be on call at the hospital that weekend.  We worked hard to get all that in place and I will be so upset if we have to push delivery to the next week.  And if you didn’t notice, that is the week of Christmas.  I know all of our doctors that we have hand selected will not be available.  So, everyone, keep your fingers crossed that we have babies with lungs ready for the winter air by Friday!

As these last days as a family of 4, we are trying to do some things with the Leah and Seth before the babies arrive.  Last night we even let them both sleep with us, which is something they ask for all the time.  Right now, Joel has them at a parade.  We have done crafts and we have played games.  I want them to know that even though the next few weeks will be all about Ally, Emmy and Izzy, that they are special too. 

I will try to give one more update before we are officially a family of 7.  If that doesn’t happen, I want to thank you all for reading and following us through this journey.  I want to give a really big thank you to those of you who have been helping us with day to day living – bringing meals, taking the kids to their activities, doing my laundry, stopping by to see me so I don’t get bored, donating baby items, etc!  We appreciate it all.  I know many of you are far away and wish to be able to do more, but your thoughts and prayers are felt and appreciated.  We could not make it without the support of each of you.   I plan to keep up the blog with baby pictures, the delivery story, and the first months at home.  I just hope I can find the energy to do it! 

And the countdown continues....