Heading home soon

Abby's been given the all clear to leave the hospital, so we're heading out soon. We're both looking forward to the comforts of home. In no particular order:

• Our bed (I do not recommend sleeping more than 2 nights on a 2-foot wide, vinyl-covered, pull-out chair)
• Food (the hospital food has exceeded expectations, however said expectations were not set particularly high)
• Milo (life without the troublemaker is a little dull)

Thanks to everyone who called and stopped by. We'll be back here again, but hopefully not until at least 20 weeks from now. Keep your fingers crossed!

Surgical success

Abby went into the OR about 1:30, and they finished the procedure around 3. Everything went fine. They did a post-op ultrasound and all three babies looked great. The doc said it was a challenging procedure, but that Abby did very well. It's 5:30 now and she's fast asleep. The hospital room is actually bigger than our hotel room in Paris, so I figure I have a halfway decent chance of getting some sleep tonight. And if not, that's what the Nintendo DS is for!

Twas the night before surgery and all through the house...

Just wanted to thank everyone for the all the thoughtful notes, e-mails, Facebook posts, blog comments and phone calls since our little announcement hit the airwaves. It's wonderful to have so many caring people in our lives. I'll try to get a blog post out sometime tomorrow late afternoon or evening to let you all know how Abby is doing post-surgery.

Also, for those who've been asking, items on the "Abby is craving this" list include:
Canned peaches in light syrup
Stouffer's spinach souffle
Toper's pickles (editor's note: these frighten me)
Kraft Easy Mac
Gatorade

Back with more tomorrow,

Sam

12 Week Ultrasound

Hi, Abby here. You can tell it is Abby writing because I write like a fourth grader and Sam uses big words and lots of pop culture references. So, we had the big 12 ultrasound scan this morning. All the babies look great. They are measuring 12W4D, 12W3D, 12W1D. So all on schedule. We could not believe how much the babies were moving. I guess I just expect them to be still. Baby A was moving his/her hand, almost like waving at us, Sam thought maybe he/she was trying to suck her/his thumb. Baby B, this is our ACTIVE baby he/she was actually jumping up and down the entire ultrasound. Pushing off with his/her feet. Baby C was doing some kicking action too, maybe a future soccer player ? The last picture is all 3, kind of a view from above. Also, they did something called a NT (nuchal transluceny) scan that calculates the risk for chromosomal abnormalities. All the babies passed this, which puts our risk for some like down syndrome very very low. I am super relieved that all the babies look so good.

So, know that we now the babies are looking good we are going to go a head with surgery this Friday. I am having a trans-abdominal cerclage put in. To learn more click on the link.....http://www.cpdx.com/cerclage/background.html . We feel the benefits of this surgery out way the risk and this will give the babies a better chance to stay inside longer. I will be in the hospital 2 nights. Prayers, happy thoughts, good vibes, ect, are all appreciated.

Dr. Donahue, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cyborgs

When tell people you're having triplets, they often ask if multiples run in your family or if you sought the assistance of a reproductive endocrinologist. (Sometimes they just say "fertility drugs," as if you can buy them from the kid three houses down who drives the IROC-Z with the tinted windows, but I digress.) I think these are perfectly reasonable questions and, goodness knows, I'd ask them too. But my favorite is, "Are they natural?" As much fun as it would be to tell you that these kids were the precursors to the Cyberdyne Systems models of James Cameron's dystopian future -- actually, that would be rather hard to explain and sort of a bummer -- the reality is that they are, in fact, natural. It's all our DNA, we promise. Our DNA and the best science we could get our hands on.

Welcome

Hi there. This blog is for all the friends and family who wish to follow the progress of babies A, B and C, as well as their mildly neurotic, solidly eclectic, adjective/adverb-prone parents. Which would be us. We appreciate your thoughts, prayers and all the positive energies you're sending our way. May the Force be with us all.