27 Weeks - We Have 2 Lb. Babies!!

27 weeks today! We're getting close! According to my weekly email the babies should be "almost 2 lbs. this week." This is the weight of a head of cauliflower, another food that we don't eat in my house (Brian hates it; I think it doesn't have much flavor. Either way, we don't eat it). The babies should  be about 14-15 inches long. Getting huge!

We had another ultrasound this week. We apparently have some overachievers! Baby A and Baby C weigh about 2 lbs. already (more than my weekly email said). Baby B is our little guy. He weighs about 1 lb. 13 oz. this week. He's also the only one who showed his face this week. Here's his picture:

 

He's a little blurry because he actually had his hand in front of his face (like every time) and the ultrasound girl had to "look through" his hand to see his face. Baby A and Baby C didn't want their pictures taken this time. But everyone is doing great! We saw Dr. Wendel and he is happy with the babies' growth and mine too. The babies all measured within a few days of each other, which is perfect. They all have strong heartbeats (all 148) and plenty of fluid. And they have eyebrows now (or eyelashes. I can't remember). Baby C was even doing his practice breathing. This gets him ready to breathe for real after he's born. 

Me? I'm hanging in there. I still feel pretty good actually. I have started having trouble sleeping and just getting comfortable in general at night (I'm usually ok during the day when I'm staying busy). And I get heartburn at night. Yuck! I feel bad for people who have heartburn all the time! I also woke up with a monster cramp in my calf yesterday morning. Apparently this is normal. But I'm pretty sure it is the absolute worst way to wake up ever!

I'm feeling bigger by the day. Dr. Wendel said I'm the size of a 38 week single pregnancy now! That means that the only place I have to grow is out. I can't even imagine how that will work. We'll see I guess!  Here's my weekly picture:

Yes I did wear this to work today! Yoga pants and flip flops are perfect lawyer attire. At least at my office they are! Lucky me! Oh and yes I'm still working for the time being. I guess Dr. Dora will reevaluate next week. Dr. Wendel did say to avoid all stress. Most people have stress just going to work because they have to (1) get dressed up and (2) get there on time. I don't have these issues luckily! I did scare Jack today when I was a little late though! He called to make sure everything was ok! Oops. 

We had a great Easter and a pretty relaxing week. Well I did. Brian stayed busy! We had our first Easter at home because we couldn't travel. But we made the best of it. Addison and I made Easter dinner. I've never made a holiday meal before because my mom or Brian's mom always does the cooking. First time for lots of things this year! Addison made the green bean casserole all by herself! And it tasted perfect! My in-laws will be happy to know that I even made gravy (the kind out of a little package where you just add water, but still gravy). I do not like gravy but I made it just for Addison because she doesn't like mashed potatoes (unless Nina makes them and they have gravy). I couldn't be Nina but I could make gravy. Here's our spread complete with the gravy:

Then we had a nighttime Easter egg hunt. Even though we didn't have any plans on Easter Sunday, we somehow didn't get around to hiding eggs until about 9 pm. Addison had fun though:

And she gets all the eggs because she's the only one to find them. Belly did try to eat one egg but I heard the crunch and stopped her just in time! The Easter bunny also hid eggs (filled with candy and money of course) but she found those in the morning. Here's a picture from Addison's morning Easter egg hunt:

In case you're wondering . . . no, Addison did not break her arm. She sprained it during her soccer game on Saturday so she gets to wear this awesome splint. She feels cool wearing it I think. Luckily she's doing much better and it doesn't even really hurt anymore. So she'll be back on the soccer field this weekend.

Finally, did anyone see Parks and Recreation this week? If not, stop reading so I don't spoil it. If you don't watch Parks and Recreation, you should. It's hilarious. Well this week, the episode title was 1 in 8000. Guess what that means?! Even without reading the title, I already knew because several people said something to me the night it aired or the next day before we watched it. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Leslie (Amy Poehler) found out she's having triplets! 1 in 8000 (really 1 in 8100). Just like us! If you watched the show, you now have a pretty good idea how we reacted to the news. I was like Leslie (kind of). Excited and optimistic (but terrified). But not as cheery as her because that's not normal. Brian was definitely like Ben. Very overprotective and scared of everything - from work to sleep to food. He's still like that but he's tuned it down some. Thank God! I may have strangled him by now! Just kidding (kind of). I know he meant well.

Next up - Dr. Dora next Tuesday. I'll keep you posted! 

My 3 Boys

That's right. The Mann triplets are all boys! I don't know what to think. Again. This keeps happening. I have no idea what to do with boys so of course they are all boys. I guess we'll learn.

Today we went to our big appointment with Dr. Wendell. He's a maternal fetal medicine (MFM) doctor, or a high risk specialist. Everyone in Little Rock recommended him because he's really good - actually he's the best. I was really against a male lady doctor but because he's the best I didn't have to think twice about it. Only the best for my babies!

We had a big ultrasound that looked at the full anatomy of each baby. I say "big" because it was an hour long ultrasound on the Level 2 ultrasound machine. They're definitely boys! The first 3 pictures from our ultrasound photos from today are penises. I won't share them on here but if you don't believe me just ask. I can prove it. Trying to keep it PG on here!

All 3 babies are looking great still. Baby A and Baby B weigh approximately 7 oz. each and Baby C weighs approximately 8 oz. This is what they are supposed to weigh if you were wondering. Also they all measured within 1 day in gestational age which is perfect. 

The ultrasound technician checked all of each baby's organs and limbs. (They are all there. Yay!) They were pretty mobile today and moved around a lot. Baby A completely switched from one side to the other during his ultrasound. We got lots of pictures and a DVD today. I teared up a little at one point. This is the first time that's happened to me with this pregnancy. I was way more emotional with Addison. Here are some pictures.

Baby A (above)

 Baby B (above and below)

Baby C (below)

And we got to see them in 4D today too! I wasn't expecting this so it was an awesome surprise. All 3 boys like to keep their hands by their faces so we got a good shot of Baby A and Baby C in 4D. Baby B was hiding close to his placenta so his picture isn't as good. But it's amazing how much you can see in these pictures!

The scary news of the day - Dr. Wendell is really worried about preterm labor. I apparently have all of the risks -  (1) triplets (2) low pre-pregnancy weight and (3) history of preterm labor with Addison. My water broke at 30 weeks with Addison and she was born at 32 weeks. Dr. Wendell thinks the babies will definitely come before 32 weeks, which is average for triplets. To put things into perspective, my uterus is about the size of a normal single baby uterus at 30 weeks already! And my body doesn't know that I have 3 babies in there. This is pretty scary to me. Good news is that I'm bigger than I ever got with Addison already. 

Dr. Wendell said the goal is 30 weeks (May 14). Brian and I are still hoping for 32 weeks (May 28 - our anniversary). Dr. Wendell said ideally I would be a 240 lb. 6 foot tall black woman. Exactly the opposite of myself. Pretty much he just meant that the babies need lots of room. And I'm not a good size for that right now. Hopefully I'll get there! Please pray that I can get big and fat for these babies! Seriously. I can diet and exercise later.

So basically I have to take it easy and get fat. Dr. Wendell wants me to gain 60 lbs.!! That means lots of ice cream. We went straight to Sonic after the appointment and I got a Reese's blast and chili cheese tater tots. Yum! Also I'm not allowed to exercise. Not even yoga. Good thing I didn't really like yoga. Any extra exercise takes calories away from the babies. And they need lots of extra calories so they have plenty of room to grow and stay inside as long as possible. 

For now I'm going to keep working and doing normal stuff (just with more food). I will likely be put on some form of bedrest around 24 weeks or shortly thereafter. The doctors will reevaluate this as we go along. 

I am staying with Dr. Dora as my primary doctor for now. That's good news. Dr. Wendell has been reviewing my file and ultrasounds as I've had appointments up to this point and he will continue to do so. I will see him and Dr. Dora from here on out though. Dr. Wendell wants the ultrasounds at his office so he can view them live and look himself if he so chooses. I'm pretty happy with this decision too because that means he's right there if something comes up.

So right now we're scheduled to go back to see Dr. Wendell on March 28 for another ultrasound. We'll see Dr. Dora sometime before then.

And the babies will have names soon. I promise to share them. Also, if you have name suggestions, keep them to yourself. I don't really care. Brian and I are naming these boys ourselves. Not trying to be mean! Just honest!