Happy Birthday!

Danielle, Georgia, and I are so excited to announce the birth of our newest members of our family!
Harper 8:02am 5Lb. 8oz
Sophia 8:03 am 6Lb. 0oz
Emma. 8:04am 5 Lb. 9oz
All the babies are perfect and on room air! Danielle is doing amazing!

It's show time!

Today is the day wish us luck!

The Final Compromise

Wow what a day! It's really been a whirlwind of ultimatums, deadlines, statistics, threats, and compromise. So much has happened today that I don't even want to rehash it all over again, so I will just talk about the final outcome.

Our C-Section that was on the books for the 19th is now moved up to the 14th which is 35 weeks on the day if we agree to continue to take the terbutaline to stop contractions until then. See folks compromise, the hospital and doctors can rest assured that we will make it to the recommend mark, and we get to shave off 4 days of misery. Medical City Dallas Children's Hospital is on standby just in case something happens and the babies need to go, all equipment is here, and all the senior nurses will be back from training so we are good to go!

Last update full update before we send out the birth story!

Take the shots or take a trip!

This morning Danielle woke up in pain, and overall discomfort, so the charge nurse gave her a massage to try and help ease some of the tension. During and after she was having light contractions pretty frequently so they started doing a non-stress test to watch everything. About that time the contractions started getting regular and strong, strong enough that she wanted pain medication to help with the pain. Doctor was called medication ordered, extra fluids ordered and a cervix check ordered. When they had to lay Danielle down to check her cervix she was in so much pain and having such a hard time breathing that they had to give her oxygen and pain medication. Doctor was told to come in since they were not able to check and because of her pain level and oxygen. Cutler checked and the Harpers head is right there but the cervix is still closed. Danielle is finished, done, at the end of her rope, and nothing is going to make that any better. Cutler said if it were up to him he would have delivered the babies today, however Lipscomb said that if we need to deliver before 35 weeks we needed to be sent to Dallas.

So at this point it feels like we are backed Into a corner: Terbutaline or go to Plano! We never wanted to have any shots at this point to stop labor, if Danielle's body is saying to go then we feel like it's time to go! We didn't want to deliver in Plano/Dallas it's again not part of our birth plan, but with us being 4 days away from 35 weeks we chose the lessor of the 2 plans we had to pick from and took 2 rounds of terbutaline. Danielle did well, but now feels horrible. Tomorrow Cutler is going to talk to Lipscomb about trying to move the date to Wednesday, but we have already been told that he more than likely will not go for that since a lot of the nurses will be out of town and it's 1-2 days before the 35 magical week. We fully understand each day is important but you have to at some point weigh the mom's well being with what's going to be the best outcome.

So hopefully we can get some flexibly tomorrow otherwise there is a good chance Danielle will just walk out and wait at home until her water breaks on it's own!

34 Weeks

34 Weeks!

Go on Bed Rest, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00!

On Monday we were officially grounded by Dr. Cutler, I frankly was surprised that we made it to this point, but with Danielle’s cervix of steal and Cutler’s un-willingness to move up the C-Section we are making it…for now. Monday morning as I was on my way out of town to visit family that we don’t get to see enough, Danielle called to say that she told Cutler that it was time, and so Monday started our 21 day journey to doubling our family. 16 days of bed rest, followed by 5 days post c-section recovery, so three weeks in the hospital! So far during this week there have been a few issues pop up, Tuesday Danielle was having contractions, so they were watching those very closely however, it wasn’t “progressing” anything so it was fine.

Yesterday, Danielle had an ultrasound and the babies have all each gained 10 oz in 10 days, these kids are going to be big! Emma is 1 oz away from being 6 pounds, and the tech said it looked like Sophia had hair and was waving her hands though it! Harper is going to be our mystery, we haven’t seen her in months and she is really hard to get any stats on since she is so low. Emma has also changed positions from being head down to across the other babies some how, I don’t know how any of them have any room to move at all! Hospital has been getting everything ready for us and ordering equipment and putting the finishing touches on the war plan with all the doctors and nurses. Everyone is on call just in-case Danielle goes into labor before our 9/19 deadline.

Today, Danielle got her 1^st round of steroid shots to help develop the babies’ lungs just in case they want to come earlier than our D Day. The cut off is 34 weeks, which is tomorrow but it can’t hurt to get them and be ready for anything!  

The excitement is in the air people!

Oh and thank you to everyone for visiting and praying for our family, we really do appreciate it more than we will ever be able to show!

32 Weeks

Went to Dr. Zaretsky’s appointment today, found out that this would be the last time that we would be seeing him since we are now in the “delivery zone”, as usual everything is perfect with the babies; all are growing very, very well. Dr. Zarestsky said that he would see us next time we are having triplets and sent us on our way! He is releasing us to Cutler for the rest of the pregnancy and at this point if he were needed then it would just make more sense to take the babies. Dr. Zarestsky didn’t recommend any bed rest or hospitalization to us, however we are seeing Dr. Cutler tomorrow, so that may change.

On Monday we saw Cutler, we talked about our C-Section date on 9/19, I finally told him how uncomfortable and how much pain she was in so he was aware (which he wasn’t). He basically said that whenever we wanted to go and stay in the hospital he would put us there. She is miserable and I really don’t know how much longer she can hold out. Her blood pressure seems to be doing better, but she has developed cholestasis(http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/cholestasispregnancy.html), which is driving her crazy. After the appointment today we text Cutler and begged for him to move up the C-Section a week, so we will see what he says tomorrow. I'm pretty sure Danielle is going to beg to be delivered I think she has earned her multiples badge and she has done a great job getting these babies to weight. Besides if we wait until the 19^th these will be 6 pounders, and she is already is major pain with 15+ pounds of baby and 15 pounds of baby “stuff”; I have to literally have to pick up Danielle's belly to help her turn over in bed, it's crazy!

There was a really good 3D picture of Sophia but it didn't print and it appears that the recording started after they did the picture, but here are the weights of our VERY BIG TRIPLET GIRLS-

Harper- 4lb15oz (She was impossible to get she is so low, so this number is off)

Sophia- 5lb3oz

Emma- 5lb5oz

On Average Triplets are born at 32 weeks and 3 pounds, so we are already ahead of both!

31 Weeks Picture and Monitoring

Danielle had her non-stress test and BP monitoring yesterday and an ultrasound on her legs to check for clots. While Danielle was doing that I took Georgia “I can’t sit still for 2 seconds” Vereze to Chucky Cheese for some running around fun and pizza. They said everything was fine, BP was a little high but I think with us gone Danielle can relax so it goes down! Waiting for some results to come in tomorrow and then we are set for our 32 week appointment with Dr. C on Monday.

31 Weeks!



31 Week Update: We have a timeline!

Today Danielle went in for her 31 week appointment with Dr. Cutler, blood pressure was on the high side. (138/90 and 98bpm) Did our ultrasound to find the heart tones on the babies, all are doing well. Sophia is now head down with Harper and Emma. So that’s 30 toes, 6 feet and legs in Danielle’s ribs, and 3 small bowling balls in her pelvis.  After that they took her BP again, this time it was in the (150’s / 90’s). Dr. Cutler came in, standard questions, and starting Wednesday we will be having weekly appointments at Texoma Medical Center for fetal non-stress test to watch the babies and monitor blood pressure for a few hours. He said that we need to find out weights of the babies which we will find out on the 30th from Dr. Zaretsky, and after that appointment Danielle will be admitted into  Texoma Medical Center until the babies are born. So to recap

Today - Appointment with Cutler (BP, Heart tones)
Wednesday 8/ 22- Non-stress test at Hospital
Monday 8/27 - Appointment with Cutler (BP, Heart tones)
Wednesday 8/29- Non- Stress test at Hospital
Thursday 8/30- Dr. Zarestsky for growth and BPP(Biophysical Profiles)
Friday 9/7- 34 Weeks Checking into TMC until it’s baby time

All this hinges on Danielle’s blood pressure holding out. There is a good chance that we won’t make it to our goal, the high BP and preeclampsia will cause the babies to be born; not cervix or preterm labor it will be this. Danielle’s hands and feet are itching too which is a sign that there is a liver disease that only occurs in pregnancy. Both conditions are only resolved by having the babies. Dr. Cutler said that Dr. Lipscomb (the BEST and Georgia’s doctor) and Dr. Kalil will be  the attending doctors when the triplets are born. We know that Dr. Lipscomb trained to be a neonatologist and we have already talked to him about delivery and I believe that Dr. Kalil is a neonatologist as well so we will be in good hands.

So things have starting happening, I think I have had a lump in my throat all day! Updates will be coming more quickly I promise!

P.S. Taking suggestions for a phrase to alert those on the phone tree (text) when it’s baby time. Example from Juno (Thunder Cats are a go!) So get to thinking folks!

30 Week Update

We are trucking along here trying to hold off as long as we can. We really need to make it to the 35 week mark, and medically according to the doctors she can, but emotionally it's going to be a challenge. Danielle gets little to no sleep every night, going from the bed to the recliner and back all night; only really getting good sleep when it's time for me to roll over and go to work and when it's time for Georgia to grace us with her presence. Going to the bathroom has become another task within itself, now the only way she can use e bathroom is to doing it standing, but hey do what you have to. She can't walk more than 5 minutes without having contractions, and I'm pretty sure her belly button is going to turn in on itself. The belly is huge (had to get permission to use that phrase) and I think when you see it in person under clothes people get a little disappointed because it's not bigger. I think people expect her to have to carry around a wheel barrow to hold it and walk, it's not that big, but believe me folks it's impressive! Still getting the "you don't look big to be having triplets comments" which Danielle being Danielle would just smile and say "yeah" and then we would have our standard 3day conversation about it. Now she is to the point of wanting to fight people for saying that so watch out! "You don't look like your carrying triplets" are official fighting words for this house!

Girls nursery is slowing getting together not completed, but starting to get there. I really need to paint but I don't see that getting done. Getting the rest of the stuff that we need for the girls in the next two weeks and we will be "ready".

Monday Danielle saw her regular OB for her weekly check, Blood Pressure was high then, and when testing at home was high too, so we called today and he wanted us to go to L/D to be monitored. Took Georgia to her granny's and made our way up, and to our horror we were put back in the dreaded triage room. This room might as well be a torture chamber for as uncomfortable the room is. Blood pressure and blood work all came back good, and Danielle vows to never come back until it's baby time. Plus side is all the nurses here are awesome, so they make things a little more bearable. Dr. C next week for another check (cervix, BP, urine, and heart tones). Dr. Zaretsky on the 30th for what could be our last appointment.

Since BP is ok Danielle is getting ready for tax-free weekend to get Georgia ready for fall, which means I'm wheeling her around, so watch out shoppers!

Update next week!

Welcome to the third trimester!

Before we start all of the third trimester updates, we need to go back to the 15th of July and Danielle’s baby shower for Harper, Sophia, and Emma. It was a great day with great people, my (Josh) mom and Tabitha threw us a great shower, and we were so happy to see everyone and Danielle was thrilled looking over all the baby stuff (in threes!). So a big thank you for all that attended, both for the support and the amazing gifts!

S.H.E's Cakes

Shower Games

Triplet Fruit Platter by Tabitha :)

26 Weeks

Last week we had Danielle’s maternity photos and Georgia’s two year photos done by our friend Jackie Miller at http://www.snapedgephoto.com/ and she did a great job! Danielle doesn’t like taking pictures of herself but she looks amazing, and I can’t believe how much bigger Georgia has gotten in just one year; she is so beautiful. Georgia is having some more photos done by Brittany Jackson at http://brittanyjacksonphoto.blogspot.com/ this weekend, so we are so lucky to have such talented friends to take all these pictures for us. (We are terrible about taking pictures with our Iphones and never doing anything with them other then posting them on Facebook.) Both are great photographers so you should check them out when you need pictures!

27 Weeks

27 Weeks

We celebrated Georgia’s 2nd birthday this weekend and thought it would be a great idea to have an outdoor sprinkler/pool party…EPIC FAILURE! Even with the kids in the water it was way too hot and the parents were the 1st to melt, so we retreated to the living room for gifts and cake (and of course the A/C). Last year we had a big blow out for her 1st birthday and the goal was to have a much smaller party since Danielle wasn’t going to be able to move around as well. Well it ended up being just as big as last year, but Georgia had a blast, raked in the loot, and I even think the parents enjoyed themselves, so overall it was a winner. So next year, remind me that it’s not going to be ok to have an outdoor party at the end of July in Texas, even with a pool and sprinkler! 

Curious George!

We are officially in the third trimester! Today we are at 28 weeks and 3 days and the countdown begins. It’s so strange to think that if we were still having quads we would have had our babies last week, I can’t even imagine! Dr. Z’s appointment was today, all the babies are so big, each are bigger than a normal singleton, we are so blessed and Dr. Z (and I agree) that Danielle would win a gold metal in triplet making! He can’t believe how well and great she is doing; her body is made to carry these triplets. He joked today and said at this rate she could go to 39 weeks, after he said that I think Danielle may have had tears in her eyes. She is in a lot of pain now, and not getting very good sleep anymore so even though bed rest isn’t ordered, it’s time for her to stop and get laid up! I told her yesterday at Wal-Mart that this would be her last WM trip until after the babies were here; which she disagreed with until about 30 minutes into the trip. Back to the appointment, Harper (A) is now the smallest at 2lb14oz, Sophia (B) at 3lb2oz, and Emma ( C ) at 3lb4oz; that’s over 9 pounds of just baby! Cervix is long (over 5mm) so really she can hold out until she is ready to delivery these babies. We asked him about the delivery today to get his opinion on hospital and let him know about our plan. He is very confident that we will have no problem getting the triplets to 4lb8oz (Texoma Medical Center requirement) by 32-33 weeks (TMC/Dr. C wants us at 34-35 weeks), and he didn’t have a problem with us having them there until we mentioned that it had been over 20 years since TMC has had a triplet delivery. That was the same reason he told us not to have the triplets the new Baylor McKinney, he wants a staff that has experience with triplets. So we are torn with what to do now, TMC would be the best option since we will be close to home, but I think the choice will be made for us so there is no point in trying to plan for it now! Really wasn’t able to get a good picture of the triplets, and it’s really had to see what’s what in there now anyways. The next appointment with  Dr. Z is a month away since growth is great and cervix is great, may start seeing Dr. C once a week but we will see after our next appointment what he wants us to do.    

Quick picture

Just a quick 27 week 2 days photo to post. Measuring well over 40 weeks now, but people still seem to think she isn't that big..which prompts Danielle to want to drop her pants and lift her shirt to show off her impressive belly!

The Word of the Day is DEHYDRATION

When you're pregnant they demand that you drink ALL THE TIME, but with triplets you need to consider your water bottle an extension of you. We are learning the hard way tonight and Danielle had to come to labor and delivery for what we thought was an infection, however it was just really bad dehydration (and a mild UTI).

Did get to peek at the babies while the tech was doing the ultrasound. The techs here are not allowed to talk which is a vast difference from Dr. Z's office. Harper looks to be pulling ahead of the pack with 2.13 pounds, followed by Emma with 2.9 and Sophia bringing up the Vereze pack with 2.6 pounds.

That's 7 pounds 11 oz of baby! Plus all the other good stuff (3 placentas and amniotic fluid).

Everything looks good for now, waiting to leave the hospital. I will be posting the baby shower pictures later.

At the point of no return…

OK,it’s been awhile since I have posted an update, so this post willbe very long since we have a lot of topics and pictures to post.

Let’sstart with Dr. C’s routine OB appointment at 23 weeks. Babieslooked great, all three had very strong heart beats and were as usualfighting with each other. Dr. C and Dr. Z decided that it was timefor us to start seeing Cutler every 2 weeks for a checkup, and cervixcheck. Talked to Dr. Cutler about how the delivery would work if wewere to deliver at Texoma Medical Center, he said that we would needto be at 35 weeks (9 weeks away) and the babies be at 5 pounds each.(Which really is almost unheard of…but keep reading) Our concernwas that there would not be enough staff to care for all of the girlsbut he reassured us that there would be numerous nurses and severalpediatricians on hand for the delivery.

Dr.Thyroid – Well after waiting a month to have her thyroid biopsy,the doctor’s office called to confirm a follow up appointment.Problem was that we hadn't even had the biopsy yet! So they rescheduled for the following Monday. I know that people makemistakes; I get it, but come on. (Another reason we steer clear ofWNJ) It’s just a good thing that they talked to Danielle and notme, I have a very short fuse right now! Biopsy completed, notsomething that you want to have done, it was quick but kinda painfulbut it may have taken some of the focus off of her back for a day.The results came back and everything is great! I think they want tosee her again around the end of September but that’s baby time sowe will try to slide that in somewhere down the line, but as of now Ican cross Dr. Thyroid off the list.

Wehave reached viability! Once we hit the 24 week mark we officiallyhit viability, a major milestone in pregnancy, so to celebrate weunpacked car seats, and the pack-n-play. Georgia loves playing withthem and putting her babies in their seats, and then kicking them outof the seat so she can get into it herself.

Weare getting excited about Danielle’s baby shower on the 15^th, I would think that she would be happy about seeingpeople and looking at baby stuff, but this momma has 1 thing on hermind…and that’s food. She doesn’t care about anything else butfood, so if you’re coming Danielle will more than likely be the onehovering at the food table. Dr. Z told her that she has a freelicense to eat (what, when, how ever much) he wants fat babies.

TheState of Texas has determined that Danielle Vereze is now officiallyhandicapped! The explorer has a new decoration hanging from themirror. Which to be honest we really need, Danielle is ok for veryshort walks, but anything too long she starts having contractions. SoI also ordered her a wheelchair so that she can keep getting out ofthe house and shopping but doesn’t have walk or use the electricchair. Believe me folks, don’t let Danielle drive the electricwheelchair! She used it at Wal Mart in Sherman a few weeks ago, andgot stuck in the baby department, so she backed up and rammed her waythrough to get out, I couldn’t even look at her for the rest of thetrip. The explorer is out of cargo room with a stroller andwheelchair in the back which is a good and bad thing, good becauseit’s less things that she can buy and bad because it’s lessthings that I can buy.

Tothe Nay Sayers- This time around, if you want to get Danielle going,tell her “you don’t look very big to be carrying triplets” thiswill send her right over the edge and I have to hear about it fordays later. We are going to start putting up bi-weekly belly shotssince Dr. Z confirmed Thursday that she is measuring full term and isonly 25 weeks. I really don’t know how she is going to go 9 moreweeks I think she looks like she did when Georgia was born, and shewas almost 9 pounds!

MyGeorgia Bear will be turning 2 in 3 weeks (July 30^th)and she is getting so big. Everyday she is doing something (good orbad) that makes me laugh and realize that all this is worth it. Hernew favorite thing to do is get in trouble (not hard) and run to theother parent, and fake cry and point and say “they mean”, I can’thelp but laugh when she does it. She has also learned one of the mostdreaded words for parents “Why?”. I don’t know if she knowswhat she is saying, but she sure will tack it on to the end of anyrequest! Sometimes when thinking about what’s going to be happeningin a few weeks, I get so stressed out and nervous, but I just have toremember how great life became when Georgia was born, and how muchhappiness and fulfillment we have gotten in just 2 years, and that’sabout to be multiplied by 4. I really don’t think we could do thisif we hadn’t already had Georgia to guide us.

Ohand our blog is also now on http://www.multiplesandmore.com/blogroll/  under blog roll and expecting parents. I think we are one of the fewon there that are still blogging and updating.

Also, I just want to show how many pictures we get from Dr. Z when we go to appointments, and we have gotten this many every time we go! The DVD wasn't as good this time around so the pictures of the girls that we get aren't there, so I had to take pictures of the ultrasound shots to post. 

Dr.Zaretskys' Ultrasounds- Great news! The hole in Harper's heart iscompletely gone, like it wasn’t ever there! The Ultrasounds arestarting to get very hard to do, since there is so much baby hangingout in there, and getting good pictures is near impossible. Harper ishead down so no more face pictures of her since she is pressing onDanielle’s cervix ready to go like she is the only one inthere. Dr. Z was thrilled with the babies and couldn't have beenhappier with the stats. He called Danielle a “Baby Making Machine”and wanted her secret (Lucky Charms and Sweet tea....and a lot ofeach). Babies should be a little more than 1 pound right now, but ourbabies are almost 2 pounds and each are measuring larger than what asingleton would be right now. So back to Texoma Medical Center'srequirements, it looks like we may have a fighting chance to get tothat mark, Dr. Z is confident that we will hit the 32 mark, but as hesays “his crystal ball gets fuzzy after that” So the next time wesee Dr. Z, unless there is a complication, is 30 weeks which isalmost baby time!

Harper-25w2d 1 lb 13oz

Sophia-25w1d 1 lb 12oz

Emma-25w5d 1 lb 14oz (once the smallest)

Emma's 25 Weeks

Sophia's 25 Week

Sophia kicking Harper in the butt! Pay back!

Sophia

 

20 Week Ultrasound

20 Week Update

Had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday with Dr. Zaretsky and it’s amazing how much bigger the girls are and what personalities we can see in them now. Harper is the most active and is either beating up Sophia or hugging Emma. Poor Sophia is constantly getting beat up! Surprisingly all the babies are measuring 20 weeks and all are 13 oz, normally by now one is starting to slow down and get smaller, but they are all keeping up which is great news.

Harper – 21w0d 382g (13oz)

Sophia – 20w2d 359g (13oz)

Emma – 20w6d 382g (13oz)

Danielle’s cervix is still very long (4.3cm) and high which is great, so no cerclage. Really honestly everything is going great, and our doctor’s couldn’t be happier with the progress of the babies and how well Danielle is doing with the pregnancy. The video that we got is great, and really fun to watch, they are to the point now where you can tell what’s going on and what is what (although you may not know which baby is which). I’m going to edit it down, right now it’s at 30 minutes and I’m going to label it and post it later. So for now enjoy the pictures below, next appointment is in 2 weeks with Cutler to check the cervix again.  



Group Picture 20 Weeks
B  C  A



Ms. Harper Ann 20 Weeks

Harper's 3D, 20 Weeks



Harper has a very, very, very tiny hole in her heart, but the doctor’s think it will close up and it’s very common.



Ms. Sophia Grace 20 Weeks

Sophia 3D 20 Weeks 

Ms. Emma Claire, She was laying under both her sisters so getting a good pic was very hard. 20 Weeks

Emma Claire 3D



Our 1st Trip to Labor and Delivery

Early Saturday morning (2:30 am), Danielle woke up in a lot of pain suspecting kidney stones, so we did the drink a gallon of water and warm bath method to try and ease it, however she was still in pain. So we called L/D around 3:45 and Dr. Cutler called us back at 4:30 and told us to come up and be watched. Everything small that we would encounter in Georgia’s pregnancy is a big deal during this one. So we were put into a room (not the triage room), monitored, pee tested, ultrasounded, and waited about 5 hours.

Turns out Danielle has kidney stones (small) in both kidneys and a bladder infection, so antibiotics and vitamin C. Appointment tomorrow with Dr. Z to see the babies for the 20 week scan, which will be even longer than the normal 2 hour appointment. (So lots of updates on babies and pictures and maybe some of the video tomorrow)