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)  



Baby Momma Thyroid Drama

Well the results from the blood work and ultrasound came back as a mixed bag. Blood work all looked normal (well as normal as a triplet pregnancy can be), however the ultrasound showed that there was a goiter on the left side of Danielle’s neck that was large enough that the doctor wanted to biopsy. We were very concerned because we found this news out last Wednesday, and Friday he was leaving to go out of the country and wouldn't be back to do it until the end of June. So WebMD to the rescue! All that really did was make things way worse; research shows that when goiters are found during pregnancy there is a higher risk of it be cancerous. (so after of day of Danielle making her end of life preparations) I called the doctor and spoke to get more details, he said that since the blood work was good, and the shape was round he believes that it poses no threat. So repeat labs and biopsy at the end of June. 


I may have spoke too soon about quitting my second job as a doctor finder because it’s a full time job keeping up with all these appointments with all the different doctors we have on the roster. We are entering the 20th week, which means that we are at bi-weekly appointments with Dr. Z, monthly (I guess we really don’t know) with Dr. Cutler, and monthly with Dr. Endocrinology (bi-weekly at 30 weeks). 


Dr. Z is Tuesday June 5th, so 2 hours of facetime with Harper, Sophia, and Emma; very excited to see how much they have grown, so a lot more updates then and pictures, and I may post a highlight video. 

Well it’s the middle of the road...

It’s our 17th week (I’m posting a week late because we have been so busy) and it’s the middle of our pregnancy (34 weeks)!


Topics to blog about:

• We have finally have a solid answer on baby names (and some meaning behind them)
•  Danielle’s thyroid issue that is putting a kink into things,
• Our obsession with watching “Making Room for Multiples” 
• Danielle’s Torpedo Belly
• Our entry way/Nursery 
• Georgia’s 2nd Birthday 

Baby Names! 


From this day forth Baby A will always be Harper Ann, HAV for short because (writing all these kids names will take too long). Harper is unrelated, but Ann is for my mother-in-law, her middle name is Ann, and her mother’s middle name is Ann, and since Georgia Lynn is after my mother, she has already laid claim to baby A’s middle name. (I just broke my rule) Harper’s middle name. 


Baby B will be Sophia Grace, SGV, Sophia is somewhat of a family name, one of my favorite* aunts in Hawaii is named Sophie (well Auntie Sophie), and doesn’t Grace just sound great with it. 
*Disclaimer: All my aunts are my favorite 


Baby C will be Emma Claire ECV. Emma is my late grandmother’s name and a name that we always wanted to use and we are now able to do so. She also reminds us most of Georgia via ultrasound than any of the other babies, so she may turn into my Mini-Georgia. 


Thyroid Troubles 


Second round of testing came back bad for Danielle, so we have added another doctor to the list of doctor’s that we have on our vast list of specialists. We were told not to worry about it because the test was taken too early from the Medical Center of Plano doctor, however when we did it at the correct time the numbers were completely different however still abnormal. So, Dr. Cutler sent us to an Endocrinologist for more testing and ultrasounds, so we will find out this week if she has to take any medications. So, we are just going to have to research what we should be checking this month and telling them what to do and be our own advocate for care. This issue may force us to have to be hospitalized for a time before the triplets are born. We should know more this week, but with multiples everything can change in a week.


Thank you TLC for “Making Room for Multiples”


We have the DVR set up to record every episode of this show, granted we delete the twin shows, but we study and re-watch the triplet one every time one is on. We watch how they look, what medical issues they are having, when they are born, how long they spend in the NICU, what they drive, how much do they weight, what they wear in the NICU, what car seat they have, where they sleep, and how messy their house is after they are all home. We literally break everything down in order to “try” (I just Lol’d when I typed that) to get ready for life to come. It’s becoming very clear that even at 34 weeks that every triplet that we have watched has had to spend time in the NICU, so we are starting to think that having the triplets at Texoma Medical Center may not be possible, and we are really thinking about opting for Presbyterian Plano when it comes down to it unless we can get to the 35-36 week mark. Planning is part of my nature and it’s something that I do to try and have some control of this situation, however it’s becoming more and more apparent that I can try all I want, things are not in my control! 


Danielle’s Torpedo


Danielle has that pregnant look to her, and I guess she should she is pregnant with triplets! I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a jerk and I of course think my wife is beautiful always, but she is over the top when she is pregnant. It’s a look that just suits her to a tee! Danielle refuses to have a picture taken of her right now so pictures to come later. 


I should buy stock in Graco


Our entry way has become a stock room/nursery! I really need to move my office so that we have a place to put everything, even though I think that room would still be too small! We have three car seats, a pack-n-play, a dresser and Georgia’s birthday gift. So we are slowly building up stuff that will one day seal us into the house, LOL. This week the three bouncy seats will be here so I have got to get some solution together this week. 

Georgia’s 2nd Birthday


The big day is quickly coming up and it’s bittersweet, I can’t believe she is about to be 2, although I’m ready to leave the terrible twos behind and get to another stage with her. We are getting everything ready for her party which will be done in Curious George. She demands that we watch the show ALL DAY.


Also I fixed the blog so you can leave comments now without having to have an account. Until the next Dr. Z appointment on June 5th everyone have a great day!

Is that 18oz of baby in your belly, or are you just happy to see me?

Our appointment went better than expected; we had a little scare last week with some test results that we got back from “the clinic”, but once we had a trained competent doctor review everything (that didn’t train to also be a zoo keeper) it wasn’t anything to even worry about or test for. We received a call on Friday from the Medical Center of Plano, letting us know that Danielle’s TSH level was dangerously low and that we needed to start medication and see a specialist right away. Well that test was completed at 12 weeks, and here we are at 16 weeks and we are just now getting the results back? So anyway we tell them to send everything to our doctor and informed them that we wouldn’t be seen in that clinic again. So Dr. Cutler re-did the test yesterday just to check, but both Dr. Cutler, and Dr. Z doesn’t think there is anything wrong, it’s normal for a woman pregnant with triplets to have low TSH. (Thyroid stimulating hormone).

(PS by “the clinic” I’m not talking about an abortion clinic, I’m talking about the Medicaid/Nightmare Clinic at MCOP)

Also apparently the clinic that we saw was very proud to have us as patients because they have been telling everyone that we were using their clinic, and thanking Dr. Z for sending us to them, and talking about us with his wife, (a hospitalist OB/GYN at Medical Center of Plano). We feel like we are a circus act when we go there, so I’m glad that we aren’t anymore. Dr. Z was horrified when he received that call, he said that we would never send us there and we all had a good laugh about how we are just “fish out of water” once we leave Grayson County about how the doctors/clinics are set up and work.

The spending marathon has begun, we wanted to wait and double/triple check that we were in fact having three girls, well it has been confirmed, all three are 100% girls. So today we went and spent $500 on car seats for the girls, we had to get ones that would hold a preemie, so options were limited which equals expensive. We got the Graco Myride 30 in Jacqueline print for you ladies interested in the print style of the car seats. We still have a lot more to get but we have officially kicked off what we are calling the “Baby Bankruptcy”!

On to baby stats, all of the babies weigh 6oz each, with just a few grams separating them from each other, and all of them in the 16w5d -17w0d range. There are a total of 30 fingers (which they like to show off and wave and point with), 30 toes, and 12 arms and legs. Heartbeats were great and everything is on track so far. Danielle’s cervix is were it needs to be so no bed rest at this time. We will start seeing Dr. Cutler every two weeks for a cervix check, and Dr. Z every 4 weeks for growth checks, so basically every two weeks these kids will be on camera! Danielle has gained 8 pounds over all of the 24 that she was suppose to gain, but since the babies are doing fine he isn’t worried about anything.

Everything is coming together very well for us right now, we have our plan in place. Dr. Z and Dr. Cutler trained together at Parkland and both can’t praise the other enough, we both were a little worried about Dr. Cutler being fairly new but Dr. Z has complete confidence in him, and from our interactions and conversations we feel like we have made the best choice. It’s nice to have a team support you and give you the facts without trying to scare you into doing something that you don’t want to do.

Baby Names- HELP! We can’t come up with any, it’s been such a pain in the butt so we are taking suggestions, and please be aware that any that you give can be used at anytime, so don’t get mad if we steal a name you throw out there!

Group Picture

Group Picture

I get to quit my 2nd job!

Well like the title says I get to quit my second job of looking for a regular “I’m not going to do anything but test your pee” OB/GYN. I’m so sick of calling doctor’s offices and explaining everything just to hear that they will not take us on. It’s very hard to find a doctor for our situation. We thought we had found a doctor and the hospital that we were going to deliver the trips in; but that turned out to be a big no! It was a free/community (Medicaid) outreach clinic where you saw whatever doctor was available to see you and they didn’t deliver you. (Plus the doctor that we saw had her degree in Zoology), so something went terribly wrong. (On a side note, and this is just one of the many FML moments we have; we were told to use the valet, so we are done they stamp the ticket and we are leaving wishing we didn’t waste 3 hours of our time, and I realize that the ticket is stamped “Free Clinic”, and I didn’t have any cash for a tip). It seems like a great place if this is all you can get, but we are used to our small town doctor’s office where the doctor you see and knows your case delivers your baby. We did learn a lot from this appointment (not about the babies, but how these hospital’s work) most of the OB/GYN’s in the McKinney, Plano, Dallas area do not deliver babies the hospital hires OB/GYN hospitalist that do nothing but C-Sections, and births all day. Which in theory sounds good, but it’s not the experience that we are really thrilled with. So we have made the choice to try with everything we have to have the babies here at Texoma Medical Center.

We know that this may not happen, we are under no misconception that Danielle, and/or the trips will have to be sent to Plano, but all things considering this is what makes our stress level go way down. If something happens pre-term labor wise then she will be sent to Plano and a hospitalist will take over, same if we were seeing a doctor there. If the trips are having problems that TMC can’t handle they will be sent to Plano as well so it’s really not that big of a change. Bottom line, if something goes wrong or happens too fast we will be in Plano. (TMC – 5 minutes, Plano -1hr-1hr30min)

Met with the new OB, Dr. Cutler and I think it’s really going to work out very well. He has delivered two sets of triplets, trained with/by our maternal-fetal medicine doctor, and has a lot of connections with the hospital that he will send us to if we encounter any problems (Presbyterian Hospital Plano). He doesn’t seem scared or completely turned off to the idea that all this will work as long as we realize that it might not. So the new goal is 34 weeks to have the babies here! So September 7^th is our 34 week, girls you need to hang in there until then!

Our next appointment is May 8^th with Dr. Z, and it will be another 2 hour marathon ultrasound, so we will have lots of updates then and pictures. We will also get the 100% on the babies’ sexes at that appointment; Baby C may have decided that she wanted to be a boy! 

Lots of updates on the pregnancy and the babies:

Saturday night after going to the emergency room we found out that we had three perfectly healthy babies and unfortunately baby D was no longer there. It’s a strange and weird feeling that we had when we got this news, some people will not understand, however most of you have never been faced with this monumental situation. Yes, we were sad we lost a life that we created, it was our flesh and blood, but at the same moment it was a wave of what can best be described as relief. The difference that one baby makes is absolutely mind blowing. The relief feeling comes from not having to have an extremely high-risk life threating pregnancy, Danielle not having to be on in-patient bed rest for 6+ weeks, not having 4 micro-preemies that will have major medical problems/issues, not having to move, and not having to get a cargo van. It also takes away any hard decisions that we were faced with, selective reduction/total termination was always an option, and always declined, however, decisions that make you have to choose to save the life of one at the expense of all, or choosing to save Danielle or the quads. So yes relief is the word that I would use, this was put into god’s hands and here we stand. Triplets by no means is a walk in the park, but it’s a much safer and easier pregnancy then what we were faced with, and for that we are grateful. We knew from the start that baby D was a little behind and heart rate was a little lower, and with HOM (High-Order Multiples) it’s very common for 1-2 of the babies to stop growing at a certain point and simply vanish, it’s not an indication that the pregnancy is in trouble.

Now on to the fun stuff!

1^st Appointment with Dr. Z, and I have to say that I am a great doctor picker! This wasn’t a doom and gloom appointment that we were bracing ourselves for, it was very informative and the office staff was very excited and extremely nice. It was the 1^st appointment that we have gone to during this pregnancy where we felt like it was ok to be happy that we were pregnant. We had a 2 hour ultrasound, and boy oh boy (or should I say girl or girl) my babies were moving, jumping, and very cute (even Dr. Z said so). Our goal delivery date is 9/24/12 (correction) Aug 24th, which is 32 weeks, Danielle needs to gain about 30 pounds at the 24 week mark to have the best outcome. Most triplets don’t require inpatient bed rest, (which is a huge relief since it would kill Danielle to be away from Georgia that long) they will require a stay in the NICU however it’s almost cut in half, and some triplets are born at 5 pounds which is our goal. So Danielle is required to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat. She needs to take in over 4000 calories a day! Starting at 16 weeks, we will have bi-weekly ultrasounds (at 2 hours each), these babies will get a lot of face time with us!

96% Chance that all babies are girls!

Baby Stats:

A – 12w6d, 164 BPM (Possible Baby Name- Mariah Ann)

B-  13w1d, 162 BPM (Possible Baby Name- Maggie Jane)

C- 12w4d, 156 BPM (Possible Baby Name- Emma Claire)

So….what’s new? A BIG NOTHING!

The babies are the size of a lime! Well four limes! Drink anyone?

Giving a 12 week update, since we will be completing our 1^st trimester this week, and we are trying to think about what updates we can give out. We haven’t been to the doctor yet, and at our last appointment with Dr. Hermann, it was just a quick, “ok, good luck” visit. It seems like forever since we have gotten to see the quads and check on them, Danielle is scared to death that when we do get to go it will be bad news. This seems to be a theme for our pregnancies- DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP. But we keep reminding her that it will all work out like it’s suppose to, and there isn’t anything she can do different now to change that outcome.

Our 1^st appointment with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine doctor is April 9^th, which just so happens to be my mom’s birthday (so Happy Birthday, and I hope that brings us some good luck). We will be going to see Dr. Michael Zaretsky at Children’s Medical Center Legacy in Plano. That in it’s self was a major project, finding a doctor that would take you with quads, that takes both insurances, delivers at your choice hospital, and has a highly rated NICU for the babies. It was a full time job, and once you finally get everything ready and you have your selected doctor, you just have to wait, because they don’t see anyone before you 12 weeks. Also we may get to find out some of the sexes of the babies at this appointment.

We have really been lucky in the fact that almost everyone that has had quads, has a blog, so we have been able to read, read, read, (at least 2 blogs start to home coming a day), it’s really given us some insight for what is going to be happening for us in the upcoming weeks. We had some hesitation with opening up for everyone to see, but if it wasn’t for people like that we would be in the dark about a lot of things, so expect us to be completely open from cravings to constipation. (Speaking of cravings, I have been woken up by Danielle the last week around 4 a.m. each morning with a new one, the last one that I can remember is the 4 a.m. wake up for McDonald’s French fries.)  We have so much to do, but we are frozen, we don’t want to start doing anything because we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves and something happen. One thing is that our Explorer that we bought 3 days before we found out we were having quads will not fit our family, and it appears that a family of 7 with a triplet stroller and a twin stroller will not fit into anything other than a small bus…frankly I don’t think I can do it!