HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We hope everyone is having a sweeeeeet Valentine's Day. We sure are! Mommy & Daddy are showering us with lots of hugs and kisses. AND...Mommy just told us that we are going to be flower girls in Nick & Sara's wedding next year!!!!!!!! We're so excited! They're getting married on 10/10/10 (they'll never forget their anniversary). So we're going to start practicing now. We're going to work on walking 1st. Then...mommy is going to show us how to throw rose petals...and not eat them. Then maybe (just maybe) we'll work on getting rid of Hannah's "mad" camera face before then. Oh we have a lot of work to do! We're going to go practice right now!!!!! Have a great day everyone! Thanks Nick & Sara!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

PS

I won't be taking over the girls blog for long. Their 1st birthday is approaching and I'm just recounting the short time in the hospital before their arrival.

Haha

So I've gotten a few phone calls already about the pic of me below. "Why on earth would you put that on the internet?!?!" Lol. It's ok really. I don't mind showing the world what I looked like...in my view - it was all worth it in the end.
Anyhow - to continue the story from the time Pete and I had to "rush" to the hospital (we really didn't rush...and neither one of us was in a panic). After I was contracting so much the nurses gave me some meds to stop the contractions...and they worked. They also started steroid injections to help the girls lungs mature quicker than normal. Silly me - I was still thinking that I was going home the next day. But then the doc finally broke the news that no...I was not going home...I would be in the hospital on strict bed rest until the girls arrival. Now I know that I'm lucky because some people end up in the hospital on bed rest way before this point. Plus...I was admitted to the very hospital where Pete and I both worked at the time. (I still work here...but he has since found another job elsewhere). I felt so lucky because people came to see me all the time everyday. Pete was there in the morning before work, he would have lunch with me and then come hang out to watch TV after work until it was time for him to go home and sleep. My friends from work staggered their lunches so they came up at different times. Then the docs would randomly stop by during the day/evening when they were up in the hospital. The BEST thing was that my friend Kim (we work in the same office) told all the docs they weren't allowed to visit unless they brought food! I love her for this. As time passed I was able to get 3 steroid injections for the girls lungs. I knew this was great. I knew that these injections were really going increase their chances of not having breathing problems when they were born. I'm not contracting as often - and they're monitoring me all the time now. Ultrasounds, measurements, scans and so on. They're keeping a close eye on the girls and I was all about letting them. Plus...the more ultrasounds I had - the more I got to see the girls!
Now moving on the food aspect of the my hospital stay. They didn't let me eat for the 1st 24 hours I was there. They weren't sure if I was going to need to deliver so they were playing it safe. When I finally did get the green light to order some food I called down to the kitchen and started to tell the girl what I'd like for dinner. After a minute she said "Listen...you're not ordering 2 meals. You know you're not allowed to share food here." OMG! At this point...I'm starving. And if one person in the world thinks I'm sharing food they're out of their minds! So I calmly say to her "I'm pregnant with triplets - I think I should be able to order as much food as I'd like." She replies "well you'll have to have special orders sent to the kitchen then because we don't let people order that much food" Now - not only do I feel like a whale but I'm pissed. And you don't want to piss off a pregnant woman who hasn't eaten in 24 hours. Especially one that works there. I don't pull strings or call in favors...it's not my thing. But you better believe that I called some people that day! By the very next day I was visited by the hospital nutritionist. I was explaining how I need to eat 4,000 calories a day and I was NOT going to fight with people in the kitchen for my food everyday. I was given full access to order whatever I wanted in the kitchen and upon reviewing the "menu" I decided that it wasn't healthy enough and was then given full access to the kitchen and cafeteria (we have outside vendors cooking fresh food everyday in the cafeteria). This made me very happy. Until.........I called the kitchen one day and the guy answers the phone and before I can even say who I am he says "Oh hi Michelle! What can I send up for you now?" Any dreams of eating french fries quickly diminished because now EVERYONE knows. I'm pregnant with triplets and I need to eat healthy. Hehe...what they don't know is that I have a fast-food-super-junkie-eating little brother who made sure I got my fries and Taco Bell when needed. And let's not forget the docs who brought food. No worries...I'll post total weight gain in another post. I'm sure you're all just dying to know how much a pregnant woman gains when she's eating for herself + 3!!!!
Michelle

One year ago today...

I went on bed rest at home when I was 5 months pregnant. That was Dec 1st 2007. Once I went on bed rest I got this cool little contraption to use called a "home monitor" to see how many contractions I was having. When you have 3 little babies growing inside of you the doctors like to know exactly when the babies are going to make their grand entrance into the world so they keep a very close eye on every little thing. I would have to take this belt with a monitor on it and strap it around my ginormous (that's a word when you're pregnant with triplets) stomach and stay still for one very long hour, twice a day. After I was done monitoring I would have to hook up the monitor to a machine and send the information to a nurse. She would then call me back and tell me how many contractions I had and ask me the same gazillion questions I was asked when she called the last time I monitored. "How many contractions did you feel? Did you feel the babies move? What was your blood pressure? Are you staying still? Make sure you drink water!" That last one killed me...they would tell you to guzzle water all day long and then when you had to get up to pee 50 million times during the day they would yell at you for being off the couch too much! Ugh...I learned early to tell the nurses ONLY what they needed to know. These nurses that called me back would panic at the smallest things.

Which brings me to a year ago today. I was home (duh) and bored (duh again) when Pete came home from work. He went upstairs to do something and I dropped my chap stick and it rolled under the couch. I look at the stairs, debate calling Pete, decide it's stupid to make him come down and fish for my chap stick under the couch. Now logically...I should have left the chap stick right? I was pregnant...and logic was not part of my vocabulary. So I sit up on the couch and bend over to feel for the chap stick when I feel something happen inside of me. I don't know exactly what it was but I knew it was a different feeling. Pete comes downstairs 2 minutes later. Couldn't I have waited? I tell him what happened...he calls me an idiot and says to just call him when I need something. For the next 2 hours I think I'm feeling contractions every 15 minutes. So I call the nurse and she tells me to monitor for the next hour and send her the strip right away. I did just as I was told. She called me back and this is how the conversation goes:

Nurse: "Michelle! How many contractions did you feel?!?!"

Me: "I think I felt 4...but they weren't very strong so I could be wrong."

Nurse: "WELL YOU HAD 10! GET TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!!!"

Me: "Are you sure I had that many? It didn't feel like that many..."

Nurse: "WHY ARE YOU STILL ON THE PHONE!?!? IS YOUR HUSBAND THERE? GO!!!!!"
Now I'm thinking to myself "if I wasn't in labor before talking to you...I am now!" These nurses are always over reacting. But I oblige and tell Pete that we need to go to the hospital. I don't even pack a bag because in my head...I'm coming right back home. Hahaha....

It took over an hour to make a 20 minute trip because it was snowing. I get to the hospital and the nurses are looking at me like I'm crazy when one of them blurts out "what took you so long? We've been waiting for you!" Apparently - crazy, over reactive, home-monitor nurse called the hospital and said we'd be "right there". Not my fault there's a snowstorm. They hook me up to a monitor and I didn't even have 1 contraction for the next hour. I'm thinking 'yeah...I'll be home - this was waste of time'. But then I started contracting every 5 minutes for the very next hour. Out the window were any dreams of remaining on bed rest at home. The hospital became my new home until the babies arrived.....

Wow

We really love when we get something in the mail. Not only because we love "things" but because it shows that someone was thinking about us. And mommy always says it's the thought that counts. BUT we must really have been good to get this in the mail from Auntie Lucy & Uncle Bryon! Can you believe it?!?! THANK YOU!!!!!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

Sunday

We did so much today that we didn't even have time to take an afternoon nap. (Well...Hailey found time to sneak one in but not the other 2). Grammie came over this morning and hung out for a while. We had more fun in the tunnel and then Uncle Joey & Kristin came over and took us for a long walk in our choo-choo wagon. It was the very 1st time we used it and it was great. It attracts a whole bunch of attention...but that's ok - we love every bit of it! Then Grandpa, Grandma and Titi came over. We're so tired now...but it was a great day! Hope you guys had as much fun as we did this weekend!!!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily

YIPPIE!

We woke up this morning and this was in our living room just for us!!!!! Can you belive it?!?! OMG! It's a Disney playhut with a tunnel and it is soooooooo much F U N! Mommy had to keep pulling us out of it when it was time to leave. We went to visit at Auntie Lucy's house today. We had fun but once again we were overwhelmed with the # of people there. It's just so overstimulating and we seem to have a hard time adjusting to those kinds of situations. Maybe it'll get easier as we get older (at least mommy is hoping it does). Anyway - we really love this new playhut and tunnel. It is just amazing! And check out the new video on the blog of us playing peek-a-boo in it!

Love,

Hannah, Hailey & Emily