Week 29

This week hasn't been very exciting.  It was Micah's 31st birthday last Thursday and we celebrated by going out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant (Scalo), which was nice but I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so pregnant and if I could have had a glass of wine with dinner (not that I'm complaining that I'm pregnant, but some things are just more fun when I'm not pregnant).  The weather was perfect so we got to sit outside on the patio.  Sadly, I just get really uncomfortable really fast these days and I'm always ready to go home and sit on the couch.  I also picked up cupcakes from a local bakery (The Grove), so we enjoyed eating those while watching the season finale of Grey's Anatomy.  I agree with Micah that this birthday was a bit lame compared to last year when he was climbing in Alaska, but obviously our circumstances are much different this year.

I struggled with bad headaches all weekend, which meant I spent a lot of time on the couch reading.  When I don't feel well I don't mind sitting so much, but it is kind of sad to feel like I'm wasting the days and weeks away.  I've decided that one cause of my headaches is lack of sleep, so I've been truly letting myself sleep in these last few days.  On Monday I slept until 9:45!  We haven't been getting to bed until 11:00 or so since we have different things going on in the evenings and I need to sit up for awhile after my final snack of the day so the heartburn isn't AS bad when I try to lay down, so I probably didn't fall asleep until around midnight, but I still think it's crazy that I slept so long.

Besides the heartburn and the headaches, I've also been dealing with swollen ankles and legs.  Any amount of time with my feet not propped up, even if I'm sitting in a chair, means swollen ankles.  Luckily, it hasn't really gotten to the point of painful, it is just uncomfortable and looks awful.  I know this is another typical pregnancy symptom, but I'm trying to keep my feet up as much as possible as it seems better for my circulation.

Braxton Hicks contractions have been driving me crazy.  The books say if you have more than four per hour you should call your doctor or go to the hospital, but this is a hard rule to follow with triplets as I have more than four all of the time!  I know it's not real labor as they haven't been regular (the number of minutes between them seems to change), they aren't that intense (although some really take my breath away), and they don't increase in intensity.  My OB isn't that concerned since she carried twins and said she had contractions all of the time (and she made it to 40 weeks!), so I'm just trying to really evaluate them and not panic whenever they are happening a lot.  The best thing for me to do when I'm having so many contractions is to sit with my feet up and drink a ton of water as that is supposed to help slow them down.  Real labor would not be slowed by these things.  I also have been taking it easy as walking around brings them on, so I can't do errands or much housework, which is a bit frustrating for Micah and I since I obviously have more time than him, but we both want what is best for the babies.

Today I had another ultrasound.  This was the first of weekly biophysical profiles, which are ultrasounds where they check each babies size, the fluid levels, their heart rates, they make sure every baby is making large and small movements, and they like to see their diaphragms moving showing that they are taking practice breaths.  They also check each girl's umbilical cord blood flow as they want to make sure each is getting a good amount since they share a placenta.  Today they all passed with flying colors!  Their estimated sizes are 2 lbs 10 oz (boy), 2 lbs 9 oz (girl), and 2 lbs 10 oz (girl)....plus or minus 4-5 ounces which seems like a lot, but it's hard to get perfect measurements when they are all crammed in one uterus.  Although they are only in the 37th percentile when compared to a singleton at 29 weeks, the ultrasound tech said this is still really good as they don't get concerned about size until they drop below the 10th percentile. 

Four weeks ago all babies were head down, two weeks ago, one of the girls had flipped so she was head up, and now the boy has flipped so he is head up and the girls are both head down.  I have NO idea how they can flip around in there as they are packed in, but I have felt some gigantic movements so maybe that was the babies flipping over :).  Luckily, since I'm having a C-section it does not matter if they are head up or down, but it's just nice for me to know when I'm trying to figure out who is moving.

Here is my 29 week pic: