What's New?

So...what's new with the Mannings these days?  To be honest, not a whole lot.  Since we returned from KY, I've basically been hanging around the house while Ryan's been at work.  Once a week we head to the doctor's office for an ultrasound and a brief chat with the perinatologist.  The last three appointments have been very repetitive.  They start by taking a quick peek at the babies via ultrasound. Each time the babies have been big and squirmy with nice strong heartbeats.  We won't get another measurement or weight estimation until May 30th, but each time the doctor comes in to review the ultrasound pics, he comments that the babies are very big, even according to single baby standards.

Currently, I'm having no contractions and showing no signs of pre-term labor which is the biggest danger at this point.  Today I am 26 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  As of 24 weeks, the babies were considered viable.  Viability means that if they are born, they have a genuine chance at survival with significant medical intervention, but also with significant risk of long term complication.  Our next big milestone is 28 weeks, at which time the babies have over a 90% chance of survival and a decreased risk of long term complications.  Even so, they will be in for a long Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay if they decide to come at that time.  Overall, we're shooting for 35-36 weeks or full term for triplets and our best shot at bringing our babies home with us after they are born. At this stage of the game, every week is a huge success.

Last week we experienced the closest that we've had to a complication with the pregnancy thus far.  Wednesday, I went in for a 1-hour glucose tolerance test to determine whether or not I had gestational diabetes.  On Thursday, I received the news that I had failed my one hour test by a mere 10 points and would be required to take a three-hour glucose test to confirm a diagnosis.  In triplet pregnancies, gestational diabetes occurs about 40% of the time.  To prepare for the three-hour test, I had to begin with 12 hours of fasting.  I start to feel ill after 3 hours of fasting, so by the time I arrived at the hospital for the test, I was quite light-headed and nauseated.  After waiting 45 minutes to complete registration, I made a pit-stop at the women's restroom to vomit prior to beginning the test.  Making a lady pregnant with triplets wait over 12 hours to eat is just mean.  When I arrived at the lab, the nurse noticed how pale and shaky I was and offered me a bed to lie in during the test.  They began by taking my blood for a baseline glucose level which they found to be extremely low.  Afterward I had 10 minutes to consume a syrupy orange drink that was meant to drive my blood sugar up so they could monitor how quickly my body was able to process it.  It was a genuine struggle to keep the liquid down, but after a couple of dry heaves and some deep breathing, I managed to finish it and rest again.  Every hour for three hours they came in and drew blood.  After the last sample was taken, I was able to leave and eat.  At this point, it had been about 16 hours since I had consumed any food.  I drove shakily to meet my husband for lunch where I felt too sick to eat anything significant.  (I would normally have had him pick me up, but we are currently sharing a vehicle after our most recent car accident.)  On Monday afternoon, I received the call that everything was absolutely normal and I did not have gestational diabetes.  While that is excellent news, I can't help feeling like I endured that miserable test for nothing.

So far, all of my symptoms have been pretty normal.  Trouble sleeping, heartburn, swollen feet and hands, sore lower back, stiff fingers, difficulty moving, etc.  These symptoms are pretty run of the mill for many ladies toward the end of their singleton pregnancies.  However, those ladies know they are in the home stretch and it can't get too much worse.  Unfortunately for me, I still potentially have another 9 weeks and 4 days left and I'm only going to get larger and more uncomfortable.  As far as size is concerned, I am currently the equivalent of a lady who is about 40 weeks pregnant.  When I look at my swollen belly in the mirror, it's hard to imagine that I can possibly get any larger.  So far I've put on about 43 lbs and the docs are expecting me to gain 60-70 lbs total if I carry the little ones to full term.  On Thursday, we have a growth scan so we can learn how much each of our babies weigh.  For now, we're going in every week for and ultrasound, so we've seen that the babies are healthy and we've gotten some cute pictures.  Here are some of the pictures we've gotten of the sweet Manning triplets.

Baby Girl A looking right at us with her brother's head right beside her.  I've never seen an ultrasound with eyes open.  Something about this picture is absolutely haunting.  

Little Man B next to one of his sisters (Baby A).  I think he looks like Ryan.  Ryan thinks I'm crazy.

Sweet little girl C is difficult to get a clear picture of because she is always rolling around with her knees pulled up around her ears.  She's my little yoga girl.  

Kentucky

At 19 weeks pregnant, Ryan and I headed home to Kentucky for one last pre-baby visit to see family and friends.  We opted to drive the 16 hours from Colorado rather than flying.  I was a little concerned that the drive would be really difficult, but Ryan did most of the driving and I was able to nap whenever I got too tired.  We also stopped at a hotel en route, so the trip wasn't as taxing as it had been in the past when had driven through the night.

We arrived in Louisville, KY on Saturday afternoon and spent the evening at Ryan's brother's house watching our favorite team (the Louisville Cardinals) win their game in the Final Four.  The next morning, we had a nice breakfast at Ryan's mom's house, then hit the road for our family baby shower in Lexington, KY.  Fortunately for us, both of our families live with in an hour of each other with his family being in Louisville and mine in Lexington and Versailles.

The family shower was held at my parents' house and was just a low key afternoon with some gifts, cupcakes, and conversation.  We opted to have separate family and friend showers so we could make sure that our families got the attention that they deserved and we were able to hang out with everyone.  This is really important to me because I want the family to be as involved in the lives of the triplets as possible.  I picture our kids learning to swim with their cousins in my brother's backyard pool or all of the girl cousins heading to the ballet to see the Nutcracker together at Christmas.  I want them to be excited when they see their grandparents and would like for it to happen often.  As a child, my family was scattered all over and I only got to see them on rare occasions.  I would like for things to be different for our children if at all possible.  After all, no one understands your world quite like family.

The afternoon was lovely.  The weather was beautiful and it was a welcome change from the snow we had left behind in Colorado.  We received some really lovely things for the babies and it was super fun to see how much my nieces and nephew had grown.  I can't wait until I can see them more often.

Exactly 19 weeks at the family shower.

The view from my parents backyard.  Green grass...oh how I've missed you.

After a couple of days at my parents house (including watching our Cardinals win the championship!) we headed back to Louisville for the rest of our journey.  As soon as we returned to Louisville, we met up with our old neighbors and their darling son for a dinner out.  At only 10 months of age, he was so quiet and polite at the restaurant.  It gave us a little glimmer of hope about being able to take our rascals out to a restaurant some day.  We headed back to their house where we saw their son's superhero bedroom and talked with them about the joys of being new parents.  There's nothing quite like someone who is excited to be parents the way they are.

Thursday night was to be our big cocktail shower hosted by our friend Lindsey.  On Thursday morning, we headed to Toast (possibly my favorite Louisville restaurant) for brunch with Ryan's mom, then they dropped me off for a morning of pampering at the salon.  After I finished getting my hair beautified (thank you Nicole at Joseph's Salon--everyone go see her) and the excess hair removed from my face, I sat down to a book and a glass of lemon water and waited for Ryan to pick me up.  Next thing I know I get a frantic phone call saying, "I'm ok.  I've been in a car accident and I'm really pissed off right now.  You need to call my mom to come get you."

Ryan's mom arrived at the salon quickly and we headed over to the scene of the accident.  Apparently, a line of cars was stopped for a bus to load and unload and a person did not see everyone stopped, rear-ended Ryan and pushed him into the back of a pick-up truck.  When a police officer asked her how fast she was going, she replied, "Whatever the speed limit is."  The officer took that as a reasonable answer with no follow-up question required.  Here is a visual of the aftermath:

We spent the afternoon dealing with the mess of the accident and only barely had enough time left to get ready for our shower that evening.

Unfortunately, in my rush to get ready after the car incident, I forgot to take my camera to the shower, so I don't really have pictures to commemorate the evening.  However, it was everything I imagined my baby shower for my family (me, Ryan, and "the trips" as Ryan wants to call them) would be like.  The event was hosted by Lindsey Ransdell at a restaurant in Louisville called Volare.  It was a low key event catered by the restaurant with desserts provided by Tittles Cake Dots, a company in Louisville owned by one of my sorority sisters.  We had both guys and girls present enjoying cocktails, food, and some live jazz music drifting in from the other room.  It felt more like a cocktail hour than a baby shower.  It was so nice just to sit and talk with everyone and to see some friends we hadn't seen in quite a while.  As a surprise, my best friend Jenny drove from Illinois to make the shower.  It's amazing how when you're really close to someone and you see them again for  the first time in a while, it's like everything just picks up where it left off.  Here are a couple of pics I stole off Facebook from the event.

David, Jay, Ryan, and Mando.

Lindsey, myself, and Jenny.

So...that's the basics on our trip back home.  Since then, we've had a couple of uneventful doctor's appointments (thank goodness), but I'll update with some more 3D pics and a long awaited belly pic soon.  To be quite honest, the belly pics don't exactly make me feel glamorous...that's why I've been avoiding them.  But I will suck it up and take one.