Hi everyone! I am so excited and proud to tell you that I had a great doctor's appointment this week. Everything continues to look stable and the babies are growing nicely. In fact, the appointment went so well that the doctor doesn't feel he needs to see me next week. He also took some of my restrictions off of me. I am allowed to move around for up to 15 minutes at a time... I am just supposed to make sure I rest between longer activities and lie down immediately if I feel any cramping or discomfort! Not bad. In fact the doctor recommended that since I don't get my big "outing" to Boston next week, Chris should take me out for lunch! We are hoping to work on that next weekend! It has definitely made all the lying down better.
I am also very excited about tomorrow- my baby shower will be happening at my house (since I am on bedrest and can't move too much) around lunch time. It is going to be so much fun to see everyone who can make it!
I'll try to update this early next week! Have a great weekend!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Day 18... still on bedrest!
I am so proud of myself... it is day 18 of lying on the couch/lying in bed- and I still can be socially appropriate when people come over! Yay! This past Wednesday I got to have another adventure into Boston. The adventure started with Whitney driving me to the Liberty Tree Mall to meet up with Chris (so he did not have to take any time off work for the doctor's appointment). I even got to go into Target to go to the bathroom! Then Chris and I drove into Boston. The poor doctor was running late due to several emergencies. I was very happy to wait- that it was not me who was having the emergency! The doctor said that I am doing very well and everything is staying stable. Basically I was told to continue doing what I have been- lying down in at least a semi-recline... on my side as much as possible, getting up for only 5 minutes or so per hour. It isn't fun, but as long as it continues to work it is worth it!
Today, Chris is upstairs putting together 3 cribs! It is going to be strange to see the 3 cribs put together. It makes the whole thing more real (not like bedrest hasn't made things real already!). It also sounds like we will have the triplet's dresser soon... Whitney has been refinishing a dresser she used as a kid. I can't wait to see it in the nursery.
Today, Chris is upstairs putting together 3 cribs! It is going to be strange to see the 3 cribs put together. It makes the whole thing more real (not like bedrest hasn't made things real already!). It also sounds like we will have the triplet's dresser soon... Whitney has been refinishing a dresser she used as a kid. I can't wait to see it in the nursery.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Pictures!
Above are some photographs of Erin taken by Kristin Gleason Griffin. We think they turned out fantastic and had to share them with you. These are only the first few Kristin sent along, we're expecting a DVD with lots more (about 60 in total!). We hope you enjoy them!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
What a week it has been...
Hi Everyone,
Sorry this post is so belated; I know a few of you out there have been waiting to hear what the hell happened last week. Here is the story:
On Wednesday 2/25 we went in to Boston for a standard appointment just to check in and make sure everything was progressing as it should... Well, as it turns out things were starting to progress as they shouldn't. The ultrasound showed that Erin had "funneling" in her cervix. Basically, her cervix was starting to shorten and open. While this may not have been immediately dangerous, if allowed to continue it would likely have lead to pre-term labor and other things that we didn't want to have happen. The solution to this was a surgical procedure called a cervical cerclage which involves putting a stitch around the cervix to keep it from opening any further, and ideally reverse some of the funneling. In this situation the sooner the procedure could be done, the better, so off we went to be admitted and got ready for a long night... Our appointment had started around 4:00 Wednesday afternoon. Erin was finally in surgery just after 10:00 that night. She came out around 11:00 and I was able to get up to see her in recovery by 11:30. We finally settled into a room just after 1:00 Thursday morning and started to get some sleep around 2:00. We saw another doctor on Thursday and had another ultrasound done at 11:00 to see how things looked then. Everything seemed to be ok, so we were released and made it home just after 1:00 in the afternoon.
Now the good news, the surgery went extremely well and everyone came out ok. This past Wednesday, 3/4 we went back in to see what the final results of the surgery were. Things are looking good at this point. There have been no problems stemming from the surgery, and the funneling seems to have been partially reversed. The trade-off, however, is that Erin is now on modified bedrest for the duration of the pregnancy. Luckily, in this case she doesn't have to actually stay in bed all day, but can hang out on the couch and watch TV and use the newly installed wi-fi connection on her brand-spanking-new laptop. She's told her limit is about 5 minutes of being up and moving out of every hour. This sounds extreme, but the times when she's needed to be up for much longer than that (making trips to Boston for instance) she can feel the difference and becomes quite uncomfortable. She has now survived her first full week on bedrest, and while not happy about it, is starting to adjust. She welcomes visitors almost any time, since I'm still working and gone for a significant portion of the day. She's also getting plenty of milage out of our phone plan and her laptop (thank goodness for wi-fi). Many people have also been extremely generous providing meals since, as most of you know, Erin does the cooking around here for very good reason.
Other news around here is that Whitney's actually made it back and living about 2 minutes away. We're all happy to have her around to pawn work off onto... We feel very lucky to have so many friends and family all offering support in their various ways. No doubt the road ahead will continue to be challenging, but we feel we've cleared one major obstacle, and with so many others helping, we're confident in our ability to make it through to the other side. Thank you all.
-Chris
Sorry this post is so belated; I know a few of you out there have been waiting to hear what the hell happened last week. Here is the story:
On Wednesday 2/25 we went in to Boston for a standard appointment just to check in and make sure everything was progressing as it should... Well, as it turns out things were starting to progress as they shouldn't. The ultrasound showed that Erin had "funneling" in her cervix. Basically, her cervix was starting to shorten and open. While this may not have been immediately dangerous, if allowed to continue it would likely have lead to pre-term labor and other things that we didn't want to have happen. The solution to this was a surgical procedure called a cervical cerclage which involves putting a stitch around the cervix to keep it from opening any further, and ideally reverse some of the funneling. In this situation the sooner the procedure could be done, the better, so off we went to be admitted and got ready for a long night... Our appointment had started around 4:00 Wednesday afternoon. Erin was finally in surgery just after 10:00 that night. She came out around 11:00 and I was able to get up to see her in recovery by 11:30. We finally settled into a room just after 1:00 Thursday morning and started to get some sleep around 2:00. We saw another doctor on Thursday and had another ultrasound done at 11:00 to see how things looked then. Everything seemed to be ok, so we were released and made it home just after 1:00 in the afternoon.
Now the good news, the surgery went extremely well and everyone came out ok. This past Wednesday, 3/4 we went back in to see what the final results of the surgery were. Things are looking good at this point. There have been no problems stemming from the surgery, and the funneling seems to have been partially reversed. The trade-off, however, is that Erin is now on modified bedrest for the duration of the pregnancy. Luckily, in this case she doesn't have to actually stay in bed all day, but can hang out on the couch and watch TV and use the newly installed wi-fi connection on her brand-spanking-new laptop. She's told her limit is about 5 minutes of being up and moving out of every hour. This sounds extreme, but the times when she's needed to be up for much longer than that (making trips to Boston for instance) she can feel the difference and becomes quite uncomfortable. She has now survived her first full week on bedrest, and while not happy about it, is starting to adjust. She welcomes visitors almost any time, since I'm still working and gone for a significant portion of the day. She's also getting plenty of milage out of our phone plan and her laptop (thank goodness for wi-fi). Many people have also been extremely generous providing meals since, as most of you know, Erin does the cooking around here for very good reason.
Other news around here is that Whitney's actually made it back and living about 2 minutes away. We're all happy to have her around to pawn work off onto... We feel very lucky to have so many friends and family all offering support in their various ways. No doubt the road ahead will continue to be challenging, but we feel we've cleared one major obstacle, and with so many others helping, we're confident in our ability to make it through to the other side. Thank you all.
-Chris
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Nursery and other "things"
I for one, can't believe that February School Vacation Week is almost over. It was way to short this year. But busy and productive (as long as you don't look at the piles of "stuff" I meant to clean up... I guess I have a day and a half to accomplish that right???).
This vacation, Chris painted the nursery. He got some help from (and we have to send out kudos to) Rachel. Wow.. it looks great. Once Chris gets the ceiling fan up and we move back a little bit of the furniture that will live in the room, we'll post pictures!
Chris and I also registered (figured, since bed rest is looming- or at least that is how it feel to me-- better do it soon) for all the "stuff" babies need. Wow... they need a lot huh? We tried to not register for the extras we won't need, but sheets, cribs, blankets, bottles, and car seats seemed important! We registered at Target.com for the cribs (the room has slanted ceilings so it was a bit of a challenge to find cribs which would fit). We went to Babysrus (store and online) for most of the stuff they seem to think we need. Lastly, Amazon.com has a few things which we were unable to find at Target or Babysrus. Do you know how hard it is to find thing that are "premie" sized??? What an eye-opener. And premie clothes are so small.... good god, are they really going to be that small!!!! With our little "brood" being born at 35 weeks (at best) I at least figured it made sense to have some stuff which they won't swim in, and if they don't need it, I am not removing tags and will return it or donate it to the NICU happily!
We have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Hoping to hear more good news. I always go to these appointments worrying that this will be the week I am told, "no more work for you- Bedrest". No real reason to think it will happen though. No cramping. No visable problems. That's good. My goal remains to make it to April School Vacation Week... then my leave through to the start of the new school year will be paid!
Oh, and for all who are interested- I still have a belly button. If your guess has gone by, feel free to guess again!
Will update with doctor's appointment info and hopefully nursery pictures on Wednesday/Thursday- Erin
This vacation, Chris painted the nursery. He got some help from (and we have to send out kudos to) Rachel. Wow.. it looks great. Once Chris gets the ceiling fan up and we move back a little bit of the furniture that will live in the room, we'll post pictures!
Chris and I also registered (figured, since bed rest is looming- or at least that is how it feel to me-- better do it soon) for all the "stuff" babies need. Wow... they need a lot huh? We tried to not register for the extras we won't need, but sheets, cribs, blankets, bottles, and car seats seemed important! We registered at Target.com for the cribs (the room has slanted ceilings so it was a bit of a challenge to find cribs which would fit). We went to Babysrus (store and online) for most of the stuff they seem to think we need. Lastly, Amazon.com has a few things which we were unable to find at Target or Babysrus. Do you know how hard it is to find thing that are "premie" sized??? What an eye-opener. And premie clothes are so small.... good god, are they really going to be that small!!!! With our little "brood" being born at 35 weeks (at best) I at least figured it made sense to have some stuff which they won't swim in, and if they don't need it, I am not removing tags and will return it or donate it to the NICU happily!
We have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Hoping to hear more good news. I always go to these appointments worrying that this will be the week I am told, "no more work for you- Bedrest". No real reason to think it will happen though. No cramping. No visable problems. That's good. My goal remains to make it to April School Vacation Week... then my leave through to the start of the new school year will be paid!
Oh, and for all who are interested- I still have a belly button. If your guess has gone by, feel free to guess again!
Will update with doctor's appointment info and hopefully nursery pictures on Wednesday/Thursday- Erin
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Final 33.33% of Names and Genders!
Dad post #2 to complete the tally:
The level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday went great. We even got a 3d image of one of the babies! How cool is that?! So with the gender score tied at 1-1 we were dying to hear the result of the tiebreaker. And the verdict is...
Baby C is a GIRL! So the girls will outnumber the boys 2-1 or 3-2 if you count the parents. Our second daughter-to-be's name is Sophia Sada, so now we have Maggie, Sophie, and Charlie just waiting to be introduced to the world. Further updates will be forthcoming as events warrant (or when anyone feels like posting).
-Chris
The level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday went great. We even got a 3d image of one of the babies! How cool is that?! So with the gender score tied at 1-1 we were dying to hear the result of the tiebreaker. And the verdict is...
Baby C is a GIRL! So the girls will outnumber the boys 2-1 or 3-2 if you count the parents. Our second daughter-to-be's name is Sophia Sada, so now we have Maggie, Sophie, and Charlie just waiting to be introduced to the world. Further updates will be forthcoming as events warrant (or when anyone feels like posting).
-Chris
Thursday, February 5, 2009
66.66 % of Names and Genders!
For the first official "Dad" authored post I have the pleasure of announcing 2 of our expected children's names and genders.
We were back in Boston for an appointment on Wednesday 2/4, which put us at 17 weeks and 1 day. Erin and I had spent the previous evening discussing possible names. We have struggled a great deal on this subject, but had managed to come up with 2 boy names and 1 girl name. The evening of the 2/3 we managed to come up with a second girl name, since we both felt it important to have at least 2 of each ready... For whatever reason we had already decided we were not having all girls or all boys, we simply needed our doctor to confirm this for us...
The appointment went well and everyone (Mom included) are progressing as they should. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for... the verdicts are:
Baby A is a GIRL!! At least the doctor says there's an 85% chance she's a girl... hopefully she's not the troublemaker of the bunch already starting with the practical jokes...
Baby B is a BOY!! This one he seemed more sure about, and after reviewing the ultrasound pictures we can understand why... (wink wink)
Baby C is sitting cross-legged and feeling shy, so is still anybody's guess. It seems that Baby C is just full of surprises as this same child felt the need to remain completely hidden until week 12 and continues to keep the suspense building...
So on to the names. Like I said, we struggled over these, but finally came to some decisions we're both happy with.
Our young daughter to be is to be named Magdalena Ruby. Magdalena was Erin's paternal grandmother's middle name and Ruby was my father's biological mother's name. We plan on calling her Maggie except in those (hopefully rare) instances which cause us to call her by her full name.
Our young son to be is to be named Charles Thomas. Charles is Erin's father's middle name, and was his father's first name. Thomas is my father's name. We plan on calling him Charlie (Chuck and Chas are not to be responded to). Again, parental law dictates the use of the full name when the young man is not behaving like a true Himmel gentleman.
So there you have it. Magdalena Ruby Himmel and Charles Thomas Himmel - Maggie and Charlie. Baby C's forthcoming name will be disclosed once he or she takes the time to uncross his or her legs. Bets are now being taken, but the house gets 10%.
-Chris
We were back in Boston for an appointment on Wednesday 2/4, which put us at 17 weeks and 1 day. Erin and I had spent the previous evening discussing possible names. We have struggled a great deal on this subject, but had managed to come up with 2 boy names and 1 girl name. The evening of the 2/3 we managed to come up with a second girl name, since we both felt it important to have at least 2 of each ready... For whatever reason we had already decided we were not having all girls or all boys, we simply needed our doctor to confirm this for us...
The appointment went well and everyone (Mom included) are progressing as they should. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for... the verdicts are:
Baby A is a GIRL!! At least the doctor says there's an 85% chance she's a girl... hopefully she's not the troublemaker of the bunch already starting with the practical jokes...
Baby B is a BOY!! This one he seemed more sure about, and after reviewing the ultrasound pictures we can understand why... (wink wink)
Baby C is sitting cross-legged and feeling shy, so is still anybody's guess. It seems that Baby C is just full of surprises as this same child felt the need to remain completely hidden until week 12 and continues to keep the suspense building...
So on to the names. Like I said, we struggled over these, but finally came to some decisions we're both happy with.
Our young daughter to be is to be named Magdalena Ruby. Magdalena was Erin's paternal grandmother's middle name and Ruby was my father's biological mother's name. We plan on calling her Maggie except in those (hopefully rare) instances which cause us to call her by her full name.
Our young son to be is to be named Charles Thomas. Charles is Erin's father's middle name, and was his father's first name. Thomas is my father's name. We plan on calling him Charlie (Chuck and Chas are not to be responded to). Again, parental law dictates the use of the full name when the young man is not behaving like a true Himmel gentleman.
So there you have it. Magdalena Ruby Himmel and Charles Thomas Himmel - Maggie and Charlie. Baby C's forthcoming name will be disclosed once he or she takes the time to uncross his or her legs. Bets are now being taken, but the house gets 10%.
-Chris
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