Bed Rest Book Review #2: La Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors so I was all ready to have a great review of this book. Unfortunately it just didn't grab me the way her other books have. La Lacuna follows a young man as he grows up through the years during and  following WWI through is adulthood during the cold war. She chose to tell this story almost entirely through the format of diary entries, newspaper clippings and letters. This choice really left the storyline to be very disjointed and as one of my friends has said clunky. It was hard to hold interest when you were constantly trying to connect to a new writing style. I usually love good historical fiction and well established roles of the likes of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Lev Trotsky, among others could really have drawn me in, but this novel really just failed to do. I even put it down to go have lunch when I only had four or five pages left and I don't think I've ever been that close to the end of the book and not felt the need to finish before moving on. So all in all, read Barbara Kingsolver, but read The Prodigal Summer (my personal favorite), or The Bean Trees, or The Poisonwood Bible, but La Lacuna I could have taken it or left it.

I'll leave you with a little clip of what the babies are doing while I read. This is actually pretty tame, I've been working on getting this on video for a couple of weeks since they can get pretty wild, but they are apparently camera shy and like to stop moving as soon as I hit record so only Baby A really puts on a show here, but you can imagine when they all get going!

A very special Shout Out!

So, I've mentioned before that we've got a cheering section that extends through our family and friends to the online world of friends and supporters that I found through all of our struggles with fertility. Well there are a couple of groups of very special ladies that have truly been there through the ENTIRE process when in the real world it was just between Marty and I a couple of very close friends. One of these groups of women brought me to tears on Friday when a package arrived at our door, make that many packages! I couldn't believe the boxes and never expected them to all have ONE source so this little video is for you ladies.

Thanks so much to Karen, Chelsey, Bruin, Bronte, Rach, Fonz, Leah, Lisa, Martha, Katie, Steph, Bouldering, Amanda, and Jamie! All of you deserve more than just a thank you note for your amazing generosity now and support from the beginning and I have a little something special I'd like to do for each of you and your little ones if you message me your address! Love you all and thanks again!

BIG milestone!

Yesterday was 24 weeks or in terms of pregnancy: Viability week! That means these babies would have a fighting chance if they decided to make their debut. Of course their mama is very stubborn and they aren't allowed out until they are way past viable, but still it is the first big milestone and will let me breathe just a little easier.

We had an appointment on Friday and it went great. All of my measurements are looking better from hospital stay and the babies are still growing away. It's getting harder to catch them on the ultrasounds since they are moving around so much and when you get a good look at what they want suddenly in comes a foot or an arm from a brother. Once they finally found all of the necessary measurements and added it all up we still have three healthy, big boys! Babies A and C each measure 1 lb 6 oz and Baby B measures 1 lb 5 oz so that put them all at 24 weeks 2 days which is 4 days ahead of schedule and there's no one stealing all the good food I've been giving them from his brothers.  All around good news!

The latest photos of the little buggers (Baby A decided to be difficult and was pretty much facing my back the entire ultrasound, so they got all the measurements we needed but no good photos for the blog):

Baby B's Hand

Baby C's leg and foot

Baby C's profile

and mama:

One other little note to all our friends and family who plan to meet our little guys when I do let them out to see the world. They are quite likely going to be high risk and arrive in the middle of flu season which means those who want to get a little newborn snuggle in should make sure they get their flu shot this year or wait a couple of months to come and meet our boys. I know vaccines are controversial to some and I totally understand that stance, but these little guys could be quite vulnerable so you'll all have to let this mama have the final say on this argument this year. 

23 Weeks!

For some reason yesterday, I thought today was going to be 24 weeks...apparently one week in bed feels like 2 weeks in real time, oh well, 23 it is and every week is a week closer to healthy babies! So what exactly is a day in the life of bed rest like? I've kind of tried to come up with a bit of a schedule so the time passes quickly:

8:00-wake up and eat a granola bar and fruit in bed
8:15-9:30 catch up on e-mails, facebook, online forums, watch a little tv
9:30-10:00 breakfast number 2: hard boiled egg, toast, fruit and protein shake
10:00 SHOWER! this is very exciting since I get to be on my feet for 15 consecutive minutes and it is truly when my whole body feels its best and afterwards I do get dressed in real clothes (or at least more real than what I wear overnight)
10:15-12:00 settle back into bed a read until I fall asleep-nap time usually goes until about noon
12:00-lunch: some leftovers or a frozen meal and a salad. (something that can be made in no more than 5 minutes standing
12:00-3:00 switch to our couch/recliner eat lunch and watch a movie (here's where I plan to also make some art, crochet or something interesting, but I'm waiting on supplies I ordered)
3:00 snack: crackers and cheese/hummus/tapenade or something of the like and more fruit (fresh fruit is critical to keeping things moving when you are pregnant and sedentary if you know what I mean)
3:00-5:30ish-back to bed, more reading and maybe a little computer time (sometimes another nap)
5:30-Marty gets home and either makes dinner or comes and hangs out in bed with me until visitors arrive, this week there has been someone here every night except for last night, which really makes the time go faster! So thank you to the visitors!
6:00 or so I make the move to the couch to eat dinner/catch up with visitors or watch TV with Marty. Thank goodness it's about time for fall premiers, new TV sounds like a dream this year which I have to laugh at since, in my old life, I was so busy that I often didn't get to catch the shows I like until a yucky day on Winter break where I would sit and watch them all back to back! Something tells me that the new new life (the one after babies) will be quite similar, so I'll enjoy being up to date on this little aspect of pop culture while it lasts!
10:00ish-back to bed and check in on e-mails and such before sleeping for the night (sometimes I'm amazed that I'm actually tired and ready

So that's a day in the life of this bed rester! It's really not so bad aside from the sore back since I just keep reminding myself that every day we get through is another day closer to healthy babies. Most of my old life I've been able to leave behind without a second thought, since this life is for my babies, but there are certainly things I miss, but that's a whole other post!

Bed Rest Book Review #1: A Visit From the Goon Squad

For those of you that know me, you know that I love to read and in times off school will devour more than my fair share of books. Of course, during the school year, books often get put by the wayside for the long list of things that a teacher is always doing. Well, to top off the fact that this school year, I get to be greeted by my three sweet babies I also have been given unlimited hours of reading time while I wait for their arrival. Which is probably a good thing, since from what my mom friends tell me, I won't be reading anything that isn't made of very heavy cardboard for a good long while! So since my actual life isn't much to report on anymore since my calendar is officially empty until these little ones get here, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the books I get to read while I wait patiently for babies...

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about the cast of characters that surround a music industry executive and his assistant. It hooked me early on when a young garage rock band was trying to get their first gig and I had plenty to connect with from my college years hanging out with the local band members and then more recently playing with my own.  Music and the people that surround the industry have always fascinated me and Egan captured the various characters well and through every stage of life. She found all the facets of the world surrounding the music industry: the naivety of youth, the dirt and grit of living barely off the streets, the power of those who've "made it," and the corruption that that can create. The only thing I may say as a criticism, I'm still not sure if it is. Each chapter is kind of written like a short story about a web of people who've connected to the two main characters either professionally or personally and they are in no sort of chronological order. At first this bugged me a little as I was trying put all the connections together, but the one thing that the author does brilliantly is to weave music styles and real life musician references throughout the book that help you place the decade. So if you brush up on your music history from the 70s on you should be able to keep up just fine.

So book number 1 comes highly recommended and I'll leave you a picture from my new hangout where I plan to read many more books. Jovian has figured out that the belly is a pretty good pillow, excuse the bed head (on me not her):

Gratitude!

Ahhh, It's good to be home! My own bed is a much better place to be stuck than a hospital one...still not exactly how I would choose to spend the gorgeous last days of summer, but if my choices are this or the hospital, I'll take this any day.

I can't believe the number of calls, texts and e-mails from people just checking in and making sure we're all doing alright and wanting to help in whatever way possible. I'm so very grateful for the amazing people in my life and it often brings tears to my eyes to listen to or read these messages. We've got so many wonderful close friends and family that will keep us sane through this journey and we couldn't be more thankful for all of them. This, of course, I could've expected because I already  know my friends and family are awesome! The even more amazing part of this are people who barely know us offering encouragement and support. Some simply have found us through this blog, some are in the North Side Moms of Multiples Group where I've attended just one meeting, some have found me through online forums, but the common denominator is the support that they are offering.

I can't imagine not having this little cheering section in the real and online world as I'm sure it will get me through the many more weeks of waiting. Funny enough, after I wrote my post about contractions, I had messages asking me if I was worried that we were going to have the babies then and there and, you know, I never once worried about them entering the world this early. I just knew that all the good thoughts coming our way from so very many people were surrounding us as we sat there on the monitor. I don't expect this final part of our road to parenthood to be easy, but I know, in my heart of hearts, that these babies will get here safe and sound and not for at least another 6 weeks (but I'm counting on 10)!

P.S.  For our local friends who've been offering to bring meals we'd certainly be grateful and my friend Patti has set up a meal calendar for us at mealbaby.com. You do need an invite to view our meal registry since it contains our address so let me know if you didn't get an e-mail from her since I've always been horrible at keeping contacts organized and I'm sure there are friends who would like to help who I missed giving her contact information for.

22 weeks and hanging on!

Hello from Labor and Delivery visit number one and hopefully this will be the only stop here before November or even better December. I thought I did a great job on Day One of bed rest on Thursday, but babies had different ideas and I started having contractions 5-10 minutes apart which brought me to the Maternal Assessment Center where we got to monitor everyone for a while. The doctors ended up deciding to admit me, have me on magnesium to slow down the contractions and put in a cerclage so that we can keep everything shut nice and tight until babies have been in there longer. The magnesium was no fun and I was one sick mama overnight Thursday night, but once we got that reduced down to a minimum I was doing better and ready for my cerclage procedure. There is a part of me that appreciates that I got to have it done since I know a little more what to expect from the spinal block that I'll have with the c-section farther down the road as well. I'm now off the mag and haven't started contracting any more which is a good sign so hopefully I'll get to go back to bed rest at home tomorrow.

I'll leave you with my 22 week belly, this time from up above, the best I can do in the hospital bed!

Today is the day...

I've been dreading. I went to the doctor this afternoon and babies are just fine and still kicking away, but I'm officially on bed rest. I was of course well aware that this could happen, but I still feel great so I was taken off guard, without a doubt.

Apparently, what I thought was one of my babies stretching out, was actually a contraction I have two or three of these "movements" an hour to which my doctor said to expect modified bed rest and then she did an ultrasound and sure enough I'm showing other signs of heading towards preterm labor. This means, not modified bed rest, but strict bed rest. So I made it through the first 2 days of schools and that's that. I'm officially on the horizontal for the next week and then we'll reevaluate. I still won't be  able to go back to work, but they may reduce me to modified bed rest. So all the good thoughts to keep me sane for the duration are welcome! I still have every hope that I'll be able to keep these babies baking until at least 34 weeks so I've got a good 3 months to make it through...

On my soap box again...

So just because I'm pregnant, very pregnant, doesn't mean I have forgotten about the fertility challenges that got us here and something in the land of facebook has been eating at me this week. I know most of the people following this blog are ladies and many of you have probably gotten a message about changing your facebook status to support breast cancer awareness. Last year you were supposed to write the color of your bra, the year before the location of your handbag...harmless enough, not sure how it's supporting breast cancer awareness, but that's beside the point. This year, the status update is a code with your birthday that leaves you writing "I'm ______ weeks and craving______." This also may seem harmless enough. Now imagine, you've been struggling to start a family or just had a miscarriage and post this and get all the "does this mean what I think it means?!" and "oooh, congratulations, so excited for you!!" as responses from those who see this status. Now you have to explain to the world that you are in fact, not pregnant. For the most part, those of us who are experiencing or have experienced fertility issues will simply not repost, because it is just too painful to write something that gives the world the idea that you might be pregnant. I don't know if there is an organization behind the facebook status thing, or how it came about, but I really don't think they thought this one through very well. One women's health issue for another doesn't seem like a very good way to spread awareness. Go back to silly things like bra colors and I'll play, but reminding women who are struggling with fertility issues or grieving after a miscarriage that they are, in fact, only playing a game and not actually pregnant is cruel and needs a second thought! (Whew, I suppose there should have been paragraphs in this one, but it's been building up for a week so I just spewed it out!)

Hello Again!

So I started getting e-mails and phone calls seeing if everything is ok since I kind of stopped updating. Everything is ok, it's just that I'm back to school! So yeah me...first goal, being able to come back to my kiddos in the fall has been accomplished! Of course that also means that I'm a very tired mama when I get home in the afternoon so I'll try and keep at least a weekly update going, but as you can imagine that may not happen. All is well though.

I'm now 21 weeks and still feeling really well. The babies (and I) are growing just like we are supposed to. At the last appointment all three of them were 11 ounces which is actually ahead of schedule so I've got three BIG baby boys growing away. They are also on the move. We've gone from me being able to feel them, to Marty being able to feel them, to actually being able to watch them move through my skin in the last 2 weeks!

Our house is also changing as both of our parents have spent the last couple of weeks helping us make room for babies by helping us finish our big empty basement room so we can have a family room. So here are the last two weeks in pictures:

Me at 21 weeks:

The babies at 19 weeks 4 days:

proof that we've got THREE boys!

and my favorite shot from our very long ultrasound:

and our basement then:

and now: