19 Weeks Picture and Update

Happy 19 Weeks!

Praise the Lord for some great things that came out of my 19 week ultrasound:

1. I didn't pass out because the technician realized in time that I was about to and had me sit up. Apparently it is a somewhat common thing when the weight of the babies plus the pressure down from the ultrasound cuts off circulation somewhere.
2. All 3 babies look great anatomically.
3. Everything is staying in place (as in no one is trying to escape yet), so they extended my next appointment for 2 weeks, which means I have at least 2 more weeks before potential bedrest.
4. All 3 babies weigh 10 ounces each, which is great since the boys share a placenta. One of the reasons that could cause them to take the babies early is if one of the boys starts aggressively growing and leaving the other behind. That would mean he was taking all the good nutrients from the placenta leaving not enough for his brother. The fact that all 3 are the same weight is a great thing.
5. My blood pressure was in good range.
6. One of the doctors I saw yesterday said their new goal for me is to make it to 34 weeks. That would take us to May 29th. I saw pictures at the office of a set of triplets where each baby weighed over 5 pounds at birth and completely avoided the NICU. NEW GOAL!!!

So I had a great appointment and I'm praising the Lord for getting us to this point without any further complications.

My schedule is about to get a lot simpler because we lost our playoff game last night. The girls fought hard and had a chance, but it wasn't meant to be. One of my seniors, Amber, scored 19 points for her last game, including 5 three pointers. I was very excited for her that she finished so strongly. With the end of basketball season comes only a few more meetings and an All-Star game to coordinate and oversee next Saturday. Now I can officially go into my own modified bedrest routine while taking care of little man and working on organizing and getting the house ready for doubling occupancy. I am thankful that God allowed me to finish my season with my girls.

The doctor yesterday did tell me that the pain I have been experiencing is most likely due to the expanding uterus pushing my spleen up into my ribs. He prepared me that soon enough my liver will do the same thing on the other side. I feel myself stretching and wonder where in the world everything is going to go in the next 15 weeks.

Sleeping is becoming a challenge, but I figure this is great preparation for the initial months after they come home. I'll have to learn again to function on 1.5-2.0 hours sleep in broken up segments throughout the night.

My fingers are officially swollen enough that my wedding ring had to come off before we got to the point where it either took off my finger or had to be cut off. I didn't like though the idea of walking around gigantically pregnant without a ring on that finger. I did end up finding a bigger ring in my jewelry box that is going to work for the mean time. It doesn't have a diamond but it is gold and fits my ring finger. So I'm happy about that.

As far as food, it is amazing - I could eat a normal breakfast and literally within an hour start feeling the need to eat again. If I don't eat, I get sick. So, I've definitely increased the caloric intake right now. I have to intentionally plan food around times that I'm leaving the house so that I don't end up stopping at every fast food restaurant in my path. :)

Thanks again for praying with us on this journey. We know that we wouldn't be at this point without God overseeing this pregnancy each step of the way.