Just because I’m feeling dramatic, I thought I would let everyone know that our a/c is out and has been since this morning. It had to have reached the 100’s today here, and it doesn’t feel too far from it inside. I am sitting on the couch with a fan about to blow me away… (which is helping) and drinking more water than I ever have in my life.

A sweet a/c man is working overtime today to fix the a/c of “the pregnant triplet mom….” – yes, we totally pulled that card!

Be back tomorrow with a doctor update. Please say a prayer that all is well & the boys have grown to 3.5 to 4 pounds! I’ll let you know!

Sending out love & thoughts of ice cubes…
ML

Yay! I’m happy to report that all is well here in the Blanton baby-brewing household. They are still in and are still growing! The last report at the doctors office was that the boys were all doing well with strong heartbeats, and that I hadn’t dilated any more! It was very surreal hearing that because with all my contractions last week, I was prepared to be admitted to the hospital. When I got to leave with Chris, I was so happy!!!

After walking to the car in the heat (blech! pregnant women + heat = no good), I was huffing and puffing. (Chris didn’t make me walk all the way, just standing and holding a belly that weighs what feels like 40 lbs is enough to wear you out) I got into the car, and Chris gently takes me hand, sweetly looks at me and says, “How can I encourage you?….” (awwww, precious sweet hubby) “…because it looks like we are going to make it all the way!” I started cracking up! We know anything can change at any second, but at this point, he thinks, I think, mom thinks that we are going to make it not only to 32 weeks, but 34 weeks! (I can’t think beyond 34 weeks right now… my mind hits a brick wall)

We are sooo very thankful for all of your prayers and for your words of encouragement!!! I am so sorry if I haven’t returned phone calls recently. The boys are literally right under my lungs and it takes a lot out of me to talk on the phone. Please know that your calls mean so much to me, but if I don’t call you back it’s because I’m out of energy – not because I’ve become a hermit or don’t want to talk to you!!! Same goes for email/ comments… it’s hard to keep up with it all b/c my belly sits on my legs and the circulation gets cut off. (That is also why I have about 4 random posts – from Harper to visitors to something else that I haven’t finished yet) They will get done eventually. My priority right now is doing all I can to keep boys in and contractions away!

My Aunt Nean comes this Monday and I can’t wait to see her! I had some great visitors today – my friend Amy and all the Taylor girls came by to cheer me! It was great to see everyone!

Please pray for us this week:
– contractions to stay away
– boys to keep on putting on the pounds
– for me to rest well and keep my spirits up
– for fear to stay away regarding c-section and recovery

My Doctor is out of town this upcoming week, so she told me to cross my legs and not think about labor -ha ha! I really want her to deliver our boys, so they don’t have an option to come out this week!!! 🙂

Thank you all once again for loving and supporting us through this… I can’t believe in less that a month I will be putting up pictures on this blog of Maverick, Warner, and Crews!

Alright, can’t feel my legs… signing off! 🙂

LOVE
ML, Chris, Harps, and the 3

This little engine is doing all she can to keep her spirits up and focus on getting to 32 weeks. “I think I can!” ” I think I can!” Why is it the closer you get to anything fun, the slower time goes???

I have been so tired – this is a fact, not a complaint- for the last week or so. I really want to make it to 32 weeks, but I think my body is realizing how tough growing 3 babies is. My belly is quite huge… in fact, when I sit down, it rests on my legs. I can feel the boys moving on my legs (not just in my belly) – it is really amazing! Thankfully, I am still sleeping at night.

I find myself dreaming and day dreaming about when they are born. Holding their tiny little bodies, rubbing their little heads, and snuggling them close! I think about next summer and their 1st birthdays, as well as having our family life back to normal again. It is so weird because even as I dream about it, I still feel like I’m going to be pregnant forever, but at least I know in my head that is not true. 🙂 I will probably miss being pregnant at times.

Harper comes home tomorrow!!! I can’t wait to see my little one and kiss her sweet face! Tuesday, I go see the doctor, and Thursday I will be 31 weeks! My Aunt Nean comes to visit the next Monday, and then I will be 32 weeks!!! We really are soooo close to holding 3 little boys.

**Update** Well, after having contractions coming more often and kind of regular (every 5-7 minutes for about an hour or so, then they would stop, then start again), I called the doctor. She wanted me to come to the hospital to be monitored. It was our first adventure to the hospital, and I must say I am soooo thankful this is the first time I had to go. It wasn’t terrible by any means, just uncomfortable. Our nurses said that they were surprised this was my first time admitted to the hospital, and that I was doing great! 🙂

(look at all the monitors… total of 4… craziness!)

It took forever to find all 3 boy’s heartbeats. We knew they had heartbeats because they were kicking like crazy. Baby B was easy to find… he is right in the middle and has no where to go. Baby C we found easy at first, but then I had to flip sides and we lost him on the monitor. We searched for Baby A for almost 30 minutes. Finally, after bringing out the ultrasound machine, we found him. Then, it took almost 20 minutes to find Baby C again. Once I was finally hooked up for a while, they had to see how all the babies did when I had contractions. They were doing fine, so I was given some medicine to stop the contractions. Then we had to wait an hour to see what the medicine did. The contractions never really stopped, but they did space out to 10 minutes apart. They left the choice to me to stay the night or go home. By that point, my back was killing me from the bed I had to lay on, so I decided to go home! I knew I would sleep better in my own bed than at the hospital.

So we packed up, drove to Arby’s, and then went home. I had a bite to eat and then fell asleep on the couch. We are thankful that the boys are still growing away! It was nice to have a trial run at the hospital and not have to stay. Dr. K doesn’t think I will go much past 32 weeks. She thinks 33-34 that I will deliver. I can handle that much better mentally right now.

Well, that’s about it… Chris has already been to the grocery store this morning and is now fixing me and the boys French Toast. He is the best hubby! I look forward to hanging out with him this weekend. Be back later for more posts…

Keep praying… I’m all the more motivated to make it to 32 weeks – at home – not in the hospital!!!!

Praise the Lord!!! We have made it to the 30’s!!! I feel like we’ve been in the 20’s forever! Only 2 more weeks to make it to the doctor’s first BIG TIME goal for me! I have been super-duper tired this past week, therefor, no posts. In fact, I tried to sit down and post earlier this morning and decided to take a nap instead. 🙂

Let’s see… what to update on…

Went to the doctor on Tuesday with Crystal and Nancy since Chris was on a mission trip (in Nashville) until Wednesday night. It was so fun taking them because neither of them had seen an ultrasound before. They took all sorts of pictures of me in the waiting room, being scanned, and in the patient room. I felt like such a dork, but I’m glad I have those pictures. (I will included them later when Nancy sends them to me.)

Here is one of me in the patient room. I always sit in this chair b/c it is miserable sitting on the exam table… my hands and feet fall asleep, so I just sit there, and my Nurse Practitioner sits on the exam table. 🙂

The ultrasound was good – the boys are doing great! I’m still doing well, although I am dilated to 1 cm and am 50 % effaced now. The NP said this doesn’t mean anything – I could walk around for weeks like this… it’s probably just a result from the weight of the boys.

I am thankful that everything is going well. Today I am home by myself. Harper has traveled to GA with JoJo and Grandy and will be back on Saturday or Sunday. ( I will post on this later) I’ve slept and enjoyed the quiet and spending time with the Lord. Chris and I will be able to hang out by ourselves for the next few days which I’m looking forward to! I plan to finish some posts I’ve been working on, and to take it easy and nap when I can.

Keep on praying for us! Only 2 more weeks until 32 weeks!!!! I know your prayers are giving me strength to get through each day. I won’t lie… it is getting harder and harder, but God is good and is helping me through!

Love,
ML

God is so good!!! These boys are doing wonderful! I’ve been really tired this week – so tired that I thought something might be wrong, but it was just the boys sucking the life out of me! hahah! They have grown a ton this week. All the nurses commented on how much bigger I looked! My belly has gotten really tight and looks like it is stretched to the max with lots of new stretch marks. 🙂 Even though they aren’t very pretty, I’ll take ’em b/c I know it means the boys are doing what they are supposed to be doing!!!

Also, this morning as I was trying to go back to sleep, all three boys were moving all at once. This is the first time that all 3 have gone crazy together. It felt like I had swallowed a bag of snakes. (creepy, but the best image I’ve got) It was the WEIRDEST feeling ever! I wish I hadn’t been so groggy, or otherwise I would have gotten out the video camera to record it. Hopefully, they will all start moving together & I can capture it on film!

Onto the appointment…We went into the ultrasound room and got started. The tech warned me that it might take awhile to get all these measurements. We started with Baby A. She couldn’t see his head completely b/c it was squished against my right hip bone. Right when she was saying that, he turned his head and cooperated so nicely. Everything else was very easily found and measured! We were all surprised! The other 2 boys are both breech w/ their heads together up under my stomach. She measured their head circumference, abdomen circumference (like a belt), humerus (upper arm bone), and femur (thigh) bone to get their estimated weights.

Baby A : 2 lbs. 15 oz. (57% on singleton chart)
Baby B : 2 lbs. 14 oz. (51 % on singleton chart)
Baby C : 2 lbs. 10 oz. (24 % on singleton chart)

All are almost 3 lbs!!! And it only took 30 minutes to get all of their measurements! She said they all looked like they had long legs and arms! Oh, and don’t be alarmed by Baby C’s weight/ percentile… that is actually more of the normal range for triplets, the other two are big boys! Oh and, while I’m thinking of it, she said she thinks B & C are identical b/c they look so much alike w/ their measurements. It would also make sense if B & C are identical w/ their weight difference b/c usually with id twins, since they have to share nutrients from the placenta, one takes a little more while the other takes a little less.

As I was laying there, I was reminded at how encouraging it is to go every week and see my boys. It really gives me the boost mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually that I need to make it another week. This is the only time in their lives that we are privileged to see what their insides are doing, and how they are working. Each heart was perfectly formed with 4 chambers. I saw their stomachs, their bladders, one babies’ ear, and I kept thinking to myself, God formed that with His own hands!!! We are watching a miracle!!!

We went to see the nurse practitioner next. Both of my NPs, Cindy and Tracie, came in and did their happy dance for me! I loved it! Even though I know the longer i can carry these boys, the better, they said anything over 28 weeks is icing on the cake! Yay! My body is also holding up fine – not dilating and not contracting any more than my norm. All my other vital signs came back normal, too! Praise the Lord!

As I walked out of there, I literally felt that Chris and I were being carried in God’s hands. He provides so much more than we can ask or imagine. As soon as I can get my hands on a scanner, I have a super cool post to share with y’all on the power of prayer. I can’t wait to share how BIG our God is!!!

Keep on praying for us, please. God’s goodness and your prayers are carrying us through – especially on the hard days.

Love you all so much –
Mary Lindsey