Year One

As the first birthday quickly approaches (and I'm still not at all ready!) I can't believe it's already been a year since I suddenly went into labor when Nora decided it was time to pull herself out.  I decided to document some of our memories in the week leading up to the first birthday while they are still somewhat fresh in our minds.  I had gone to my weekly Peri appointment just shy of 32 weeks on 5/12 and the doctor said that things were looking pretty good and he thought I might get to 36 weeks.  I was miserable and had been feeling worse that week and almost started crying at the thought of four more weeks.  I asked him to check and make sure things hadn't changed and when he did my cervix had shortened from a 4 to a 2.  So instead of four more weeks he decided to go ahead and have me head to the hospital to be monitored and see what was going on.  Chris asked if we had time to stop at home and to stop for lunch, he said yes but not to dilly dally!  We quickly headed home to pack a bag and stopped at McDonalds for one last Big Mac.  We took a pic just in case this was my last time home before heading out.

Turned out it would be my last day at home before the birth, which would happen much quicker than we had anticipated!  We checked into St. Joe's antenatal unit where the nurses were unimpressed and questioned why I was there if I was only 32 weeks.  "Ummm, because I'm 5 ft tall and having triplets"... They hooked me up to the monitors for a while but because I had been having benign contractions since 20 weeks they didn't think much of anything they saw.  However my doc asked me to go ahead and stay at least for a few days to be monitored.  As you can see I as thrilled, but I agreed.

So I spent the night and got Chris to stay on the couch in my room.  The next morning he informed me this would not be a regular occurrence as he limped around the room. 

Chris headed off to work and I settled in for a day of surfing the net and watching court shows, my usual routine since being put on modified bed rest at 20 weeks.  I complained several time to the nurses about the mattress asking if they had a better one because this one was KILLING my back.  I also informed them I felt really "gassy" and asked if there was anything I could take.  They pretty much blew me off saying they were looking for extra mattresses or pillows (which they never found) until about 6 PM when one of them informed me the stress test for one of the babies was a little off yesterday and the doctor wanted to have it repeated.  Chris had just arrived and was looking through a book of menus for something to order for dinner.  She hooked me up to the monitors and a few minutes later said "are you feeling that?"  I said yes, that's part of the pain I've been telling you about.  She waited another minute and informed me that I was having contractions every 2 to 3 minutes.  We observed them for about 15 minutes and they were increasing in frequency and intensity each time.  Chris was oblivious and yelling out "how about Mexican?  Indian?  Thai?"  The nurse said she needed to check on something and left the room.  I tried to let Chris know something was going on, but he was pretty engrossed with finding something to eat.  An resident on call came in, checked me, and informed me she was "shaking hands with Nora" and that these babies were coming tonight!  This finally caught Chris' attention, and I immediately started bawling.  I had wanted them out so badly because I was so miserable, but now I felt so guilty that they were coming so early. 

We were taken down to the maternity ward where I made them turn down the volume on American Idol because it was the finale and I was DVRing it.  (Yes even in labor I had my priorities).  Labor began progressing quickly and I was in immense pain waiting for blood to be delivered because I was so highly anemic.  After about an hour we headed in to the operating room where an army of doctors, nurses, and others were waiting.  After several failed attempts to get the epidural in we were finally on our way.  The girls were each born one minute apart and Chris video taped and went from one to the other checking on them.  Once they were born and all seemed well all I wanted was water.  I just remember laying in recovery begging for water and counting down the minutes till I could have it.