Snow and visits to mommy.

Wednesday I actually convinced Mark to take a picture of Caleb while he was playing in the snow.

That night they came up to visit me and we ventured out to the lounge on the floor. It is about 5 rooms down the hall but I still have to ride there in a wheel chair and sit in a recliner when I arrive. It is a newly remodeled room and there are lots of things to do there for adults and kids and most importantly, Caleb liked it. It was by far the most enjoyable visit we have had since I was committed. One of the nurses on the floor who has been referred to as the cruise line director made a box full of craft stuff for Caleb to do while he was here so that kept us occupied for quite some time.

Mark entertained himself while we did our crafts by popping wheelies in the wheel chair. He was very proud of himself however Caleb kept telling him it was not funny.

I passed!!! (glucose test)

But just barely. So...for now I do not have a special diet. Considering I was up all night I am very sleepy right now. I also had my cervix checked and that was very discouraging. It once again has shortened and is pretty much non-existant. So now we just have to play the waiting game to see how long my body will cooperate and keep these babies cookin'. The medicine is controlling my contractions but I think they may increase the dose and possibly change it up a little. They tell me I am doing everything I can but we just need to take it one day at a time. So considering I was up all night last night I am pretty tired so I am going to sleep now.

Happy Birthday (Uncle) Pete!! (yesterday)

Pete's birthday was actually yesterday and I had planned on posting it but forgot until last night when I was signed off my computer. So once again a belated wish in hopes that he had a great (snowy/icy) day.

Belly shot 26 1/2 weeks

Both of the doctors that came in to see me today said that I looked like I was getting bigger. I'm sure I am, its expected, but it just does not feel like it. I think it might have been the red shirt, but either way I was long overdue on posting pics. Mark really liked the bare belly one.

Snow...

Here is my little angel in the snow last night and his buddy Mya from next door. We ended up getting a lot of snow which was great for the kids to play in.

I flunked

Yep, I failed my glucose test so I have to do the dreaded 3 hour one now. And the lucky part for me is I get to do it through the night so no sleep for me. This is partly my fault since I have to eat when I take me medicine at 6 am otherwise it makes me sick and you have to fast for 8 hours before this test. So I will get to go to bed tonight and at 2 am they will come in and prick me, I will get to drink twice as much nasty stuff as I did last time and then they will come back and take more blood at 3, 4 and 5. Then wake me again at 6. Doesn't that sound like a ton of fun!! My number was really not that far over last time so hopefully this one will come back normal. If not I guess I will get a really fun diet for those who have gestational diabetes. Normally they would have had me retake the test earlier this week as soon as they knew I failed, but they said that the steroid shots can increase the levels and wanted to wait a full week since my last shot to do the test again. Oh yeah, I also figured out my sudden weight gain, it was the scale. I noticed the other day the it was not starting on zero. The nurse came in today and weighed me (after figuring out how to get it back to zero) and it is hard to tell when you change scales but it looks like I have actually lost weight. I have read that this is normal since you tend to loose muscle mass from lack of movement. I'm sure they will keep an eye on it though and I may have to do some special shakes or something but either way the tenants in my belly will take all of the good stuff first anyway.

Let it SNOW!

Ok...and ice and sleet and whatever else it is doing on the outside. My next door neighbor was nice enough to send me a photo of my house so I would remember what it looked like and also, see how much it snowed as of this morning. (that is Mya in the right hand corner).

Week in review

So one week ago today around this time I was at my appointment at the perinatal center for a check on my cervix. The appointment did not go well as you already know and they sent me to St. Johns. Since my cervix was shorter after a week on bed rest at home they needed to determine what was causing it to shorten. I was sent to the monitoring area so they could decide where I was to be admitted, the 5th floor or labor and delivery. When they hooked me up they determined that I was having 7 to 8 contractions an hour, none of which I was feeling. This bought me a ticket straight to labor and delivery. What was happening is that my body decided that it was time for the babies to come out. Once your uterus gets to a certain size it knows what to do, and with one baby this would probably have been fine, however with 3, it was way too soon. Pre-term labor is a major risk and fairly common with multiples which is why they check you so often.

The next couple of days were a whirl wind as we were not sure what direction things would go. The contractions obviously had to stop or the babies would be here much too early. They had to take all precautions just in case so I received a steroid shot (2 rounds of shots). The shot helps with the development of the babies blood vessels and lungs which reduces the risks at birth for preemies. In addition I received a lovely IV drip of magnesium, which makes a person who feels perfectly normal really weird. For me it made me feel really hot and VERY thirsty. Because it affects some people worse than others I was not allowed out of bed without assistance. By the time they got the IV in me it was late in the day and I had only had breakfast. I could have gnawed my arm off by then, and thankfully they decided to let me eat dinner and drink water which totally relieved how awful the mag was making me feel. The problem is that this stuff has side effects (which depending on why they are giving it to you may be good), but it can decrease your blood pressure and drop your oxygen level, both of which happened to me.

So throughout the night they were constantly trying to monitor the babies and their heart beats. Since my oxygen level had dropped they were concerned with how much the babies were getting so they put me on oxygen. I'm not sure how they would think someone trying to lay on their back with 3 babies smashing their insides while they try for hours to keep track of 3 active babies would would not cause a decrease in oxygen, but they had to be careful as I am sure some of it was from the mag. Anyway, the mag did not work completely so they ended up weaning me off that and giving me another pill and that one did the trick. Thankfully at that point they decided to only monitor the babies every 4 hours for 30 minutes...which was always a lot longer because sometimes it would take them an hour to get all of them on the monitors. They were really busy at times and would just keep moving. Then if they could not find them they would bring in the ultrasound machine to locate them in hiding. Either way, every 4 hours was a lot better than all day.

So, once that magnesium was out of my system, I felt pretty good and things were looking up. They did switch my meds again to what I was taking at home since there are no long term effects on the babies with this drug. Since my contractions had slowed, they moved me Friday to my more permanent room on the 5th floor. They still monitor my contractions twice a day and I am happy to say that I am having less than 3 an hour which is good. The monitoring is important since I never did and still do not feel the contractions, which concerns them. The babies heartbeats are checked daily and up until today it was by the doplar machine here on the floor, but they changed it to be the ultrasound machine which they also bring into my room. I will only get my cervix checked once a week and hopefully at the next check will not be more bad news...we need it to last as long as it can.

So, you wonder how long I will be here...as long as it takes. If my body cooperates they will keep me here as long as they can which could be up to my 34 week mark (I am only 26 weeks now so you can do the calculations). Each day I can keep these babies in me increases their chance of survival and reduces their stay in the NICU 2-3 days, so the stakes are obviously very high. I feel fine, just like I did before so as long as they can keep my contractions in check this is really an uphill mental battle to stay sane while locked up.

Happy Birthday Grandma K / K

Today is Grandma Kopsky or as the kids all call her, K's 79th birthday. Happy Birthday and here's to being 79 years young!!!

YUCK!

Sometimes I do not know why I like to torture myself. Yes, it is 5 am and I am awake. Yesterday the nurse told me that the doctor had ordered a glucose test for me and I could do it anytime today. (I think he took note of all of the sweets around the room and thought I might need to be checked for sugar overload) I totally forgot about it until the nurses were in my room changing shifts and the night nurse said how about 5??? And you know what word came out of my mouth ...... sure. She thought it would be a good time since I get my contraction medicine at 6 I could drink the juice at 5 and have my blood drawn at 6 and then be done. Well currently I feel like I am going to puke. I forgot how nasty that stuff was and in addition why did I think it would be necessary this early. After all I do live here and have no plans for the day so nothing would have been interrupted.

Let it SNOW!!!!

It is supposed to snow/sleet/ice today and through the night and even though I can only view the outside from the window in my cage, I am excited. Caleb has been waiting all winter for a snow where he could actually play and sled.

The weekend passed and I had lots of visitors who brought me yummy treats! There is actually a scale in my room and I weighed myself this morning and it said that I was 10 lbs heavier than I was yesterday. Now I am sure there are issues with the scale however at the rate I am going it is quite possible :) Saturday night Mark and Caleb came up for a movie night. They went to the Bean House (Mark's parents restaurant) and made a pizza for dinner. The pizza was great and the movie was good but Caleb was really antsy. He gets that way when he is tired. He had a busy weekend already by that time since he stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa Gardner's on Friday night and had Caiden over to play on Saturday morning. Then he did not take a nap so on the way home he passed out. Mark was probably relieved since he was tired too. The weekend wrapped up for them with Sunday dinner to celebrate Grandma K's 80th birthday on Tuesday.

I expect the week to be pretty low key for me especially with the pending bad weather, but I guess from my end no news is good news.

New digs

So I was told all day that I would be moving to the antepartum floor (5th floor) for my more 'long term' stay. Then around 4 the move finally happened. My new room is nice, not quite as nice as my old one, but it does come with some advantages. The most important is that I will not have to ask permission to go to the bathroom. This is because of the second bonus which is that I will not have to be constantly be hooked up to the contraction monitoring machine. They will still monitor the babies twice a day with just a doplar which will be much nicer and then I think I will be taking daily trips to the perinatal center to check me there as well, but I am not totally sure on that one just yet.

Update

First off I wanted to thank everyone for all of their thoughts, prayers and offers of support for Mark and Caleb. We are definitely very blessed to have such awesome family and friends. Today was a good day. They checked my cervix which had changed slightly since Tuesday, but really very close to what it was. In addition it seems as it the contractions have stopped. Since I don't feel them I rely on the nurses to tell me. They did have to switch my meds again, but that was to be expected as what I was on could only be used for so long. The good news is that I seem to be responding to the new meds too.

I currently am only hooked up to a monitor for contractions and expect that they will remove my iv port tomorrow or Saturday. They are still monitoring the babies every 4 hours for 30 minutes however depending on their cooperation it can sometimes take a couple of hours to get good readings on all of them. My oxygen level has been around 95 and drops lower at night so I have been hooked up to ensure I have enough oxygen for the babies too.

I have been told that I will be moving to another floor soon...most likely tomorrow or Saturday. They said today that the floor was pretty full and did not want to put me in a room with anyone else since I am 'long term'. On that floor they will not be monitoring me as closely and I will be able to wear regular clothes, etc.

Mark was here all day and decided to take Caleb to Incredible Pizza. Sounded like they had a great time and since today was double ticket day they got lots of goodies to bring home. I'm going to actually try to get some sleep tonight, but we shall see if everyone else has the same plan for me :)

Hopsital Vist

Mark spent the day with me before he went to class and then my mom brought up Caleb so I could see him. He is still very proud of the pen with the heart shaped thing on the top that when you hit it it flashes. He got it at the store at the hospital last night when he and Mark came to visit me. I on the other had in this photo still had not had a shower since yesterday morning and have 4 monitors on my belly which is why it looks bumpy. I am happy to report in that I have showered, washed the 32 oz of jelly off my belly from the monitors and feel clean and refreshed! In my palace of a room, I have two beds, one for delivery and the standard hospital 'comfortable' bed. Caleb enjoyed playing with the bed and lifting Julie and Michele high off the ground. Day two and he is still bored! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Today turned out to be a good day, but we still have a long way to go!!!

I'm free...

Well not really, but sort of. I so love my dearly husband, but he may be banned from updating the blog. The earlier blog about my whole bathroom issues was not true!! I am happy to report that I have only peed in that bedside potty and I'm sure I will at some point have to 'do the duty', I hope to do it in the privacy of the bathroom and it would of course smell like nothing other than roses.

Like Mark said they are VERY pleased with my response to the indicin that I started taking this morning which is taken by mouth I think twice a day (so far I have only had one dose). They stopped the magnesium drip about noon and so around two this afternoon they unhooked all of the baby monitors , oxygen and my blood pressure looked good too. They also gave me my second steroid shot which is to get the babies lungs. I feel so free! Things are looking up, at least for the moment, but they still have to check my cervix to make sure everything is OK there. Not sure when they plan to do that though and of course things could change at any point, but I am hoping and praying that they stay stable. I still have an IV and a contraction monitor on me, but that is nothing compared to all of the ones for the babies.

No one ever wishes for a long stay at the hospital, but this is one of those rare moments. If anyone needs me you know where I will be for the time being and for now it looks like my

Breaking News! New meds may be the answer...

It seems that new medications may be the answer. Andi's oxygen level has gone up and they have taken the monitors off of the babies. Her contractions have gone down to 1 to 2 an hour. We could be here for the long haul.
More updates to come...

Oh St. John! Andi's new home....

Reporting to you live from the new home of Andrea and the Bambino's, I'm Mark Gardner.
In a dimly lit room at St. Johns Mercy medical center, Mrs. G lays in bed in a nervous sleep. Always a woman with stunning beauty, she now more or less resembles an average computer hookup. With the amount of monitors, printers, and cables connected to her, her body is the hard drive. She treats the nurses as computer programs sending out commands to be executed. One looking on might dub her the nickname of HAL, the famous mischievous computer from "2001: A Space Odyssey".
On a serious note. All is as well as it can be. Her cervix is not dilated, yet it has been shortening. Though she can not feel them, she has been having 5 to 6 contractions and hour. At this moment the doctors have been giving us mixed signals about the babies. It seems that the oxygen in-take of Andi has been a concern for the bambinos. Apparently they are looking at the heart rate of one of the babies. What we've gathered is, if this baby was a singleton(meaning single pregnancy), they would be considering taking this baby now. In all, we don't know what to think. Thoughts and prayers are needed now more than ever. We will try to keep you up to date as much as possible.
On a side note, there is a portable potty next to Andi's bed. Every time she needs to do her business, she buzzes the nurses in as if they are her Royal Servants. They disconnect her from the monitors, and assist her to the potty. As the "Servants" wait beside her, she lets it all out. As the noises ring the ears and the stench hits the air, the Royal Guards hand her the toilet paper. Then she is assisted back to her bed.

25 weeks

Wow, I had not had any fresh air or been out of the house since last Wednesday. I got to get out today for my 25 weeks and some change doctor appointment. All he really does is measure my belly, check the heartbeats, and weigh me. I gained 2 lbs in two weeks and my belly measures 31 1/2 weeks. So, even though I do not feel like I am really growing since I have been laying down for the last week, I am. My big appointment is tomorrow at 9:15 so I will update after that.

Rub a dub dub

My friends planned a wonderful shower for Mark and I on Saturday. It was originally supposed to be at my moms house but due to my 'condition' it the master minds of the planning committee felt that I should be as close to my bed as possible therefore it was moved to my house. The cleaning crew showed up early and whipped my house into shape. I have to honestly say that it was really hard to lay in bed knowing that everyone was cleaning my house. Then, I went to a party at my house that I did not plan or prepare for or clean up after at all. This is all something that I have to get used to. Anyway, the party was great and we got lots of things that we really needed for the babies. I must say that Mark and Caleb did a great job opening all of the gifts and anytime there was tissue paper Caleb would make 'snow'. We are so grateful to have such great friends and family to help up through this journey.

Triplets

So many good things come in threes,Like Musketeers and ABC's. But triplets are the best of all From little ones to those quite tall. Its extra laughter, triple grins.With Joys and mischief's multiplies And two defenders by each side. So much alike forever linked,And yet they're also quite distinct. They share a birthday and a name, But moods and tempers aren't the same. From days of youth till life is done, Its one for all and all for one. We're all quite novel and precise, But special folks-God made them thrice!---Larry Howland

Kids say the funniest things

Caleb's teachers knew I had an appointment on Tuesday and that Friday was my last day of work. Since they had not seen me dropping off or picking him up they asked Caleb how I was doing. He told them " my mommy's belly is tired and she needs to rest for a minute". Too cute!

Knitting

Caleb has been spending a lot of time in our bedroom and last night since I was knitting a scarf for grandma, he wanted to as well. Below Mark is reading him his last book before bed and he is 'knitting' as he listened. And yes, even though it is 30 below outside he still insisted on ONLY wearing his pull up to bed. Any time he was covered up in the middle of the night he would kick off the covers so apparently he was quite comfortable. He's nuts!

What now?

So I'm sure you all have been wondering what I have been doing. Well, so far Mark and everyone else has been wonderful. I can't say that I have experienced 'full' bed rest since Tuesday I did not get home from the doctor until 10:30 or so and my brother came over that night to help with the trim in the babies room so I had entertainment. Then yesterday Megan, Carter and Griffin came over in the morning to visit and then I was allowed to go to my hair appointment in the afternoon. Mark has class on Wednesday night and Caleb was going to my moms house so I decided to go home with her so I would not be home alone all night. When class was over Mark picked both of his kids up and took us home for bedtime. Then, today Danielle came by to visit. We have a folding table in our bedroom now so that Mark and Caleb can eat dinner with me and it seems that I keep bringing more and more things in here so that I never have to leave :) Caleb likes to dive off of it onto the bed so it serves as entertainment for me as well. I finished my last book on Monday and have not started another but I am sure I will soon. I sorted all of my photos and just need to put them in photo albums now. My mom brought me a couple of projects to work on as well. I started knitting her scarf this morning and as soon as she gets me some embroidery needles I will be sewing some blocks for a baby blanket that she has been planning to make for the kids at her house. I also have a puzzle book and magazine that Megan brought me. So, thus far I have been pretty busy. I'm not going crazy yet but I am sure at some point this will all get really old. I'm trying to behave and I think I have done well so far.

Belly Shots

OK, So this is me and my belly that was taken last Thursday:) I asked Mark today if my belly looked smaller and he said, no-you are getting bigger. I guess with all of this laying maybe the babies are spreading to my sides. Since this was taken last week I will have to get a new one soon.

Bad sister - Happy Belated Birthday Jason!

So last week in my lack of blogging, I totally flaked and forgot to post my brother's Birthday. Jason turned 33 last week on Wednesday, the 7th. I know that he knows I did not forget, but I just did not want anyone else too. I will post a picture of him as soon as Mark can get me one from downstairs. Happy Birthday Jason!!!

24 1/2 week update

Well, I had my appointment at the hospital today with the specialist and I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the babies all look great. They are all 1lb and 8oz and believe it or not the boys are EXACTLY the same size (in grams). Baby girl is just a couple of grams short of the boys, but it still comes out to be the 8oz for all of them. My body on the other had is not behaving so well. I honestly have to say that I was surprised because of how great I really have been feeling. At each of these appointment's they measure all of the babies parts and then they measure my cervix via ultrasound. Last month it looked good, this time not so much. It it was little 'short' so I have been put on some medicine and put on bed rest. They said that it was nothing that I did to cause this, but my body is just starting to change so we have to make it stop. Since this is something that they caught early hopefully the bed rest and meds (which are to relax my uterus) will help and next Tuesday when I go back to be checked again everything will be back on track. So, for now I am stuck (and even if things look better next week it does not mean that is a get out of jail card). I am allowed to get out of bed to take a shower, go to the bath room, I guess grab a bite to eat when I am alone and like a dog, I am allowed to go for rides in cars. Don't worry, I won't hang my head out the window as it is WAY too cold for that! I can lay down anywhere though and I'm even still allowed to go to my hair appointment tomorrow so that will be nice. I have to be honest in that I am not taking this well. It probably did not help that I did not sleep well last night and when I am really tired I get emotional. You all know me so staying in bed, especially when I feel good is going to be hard, but the hardest part is going to me Caleb. I will survive as we are going to have healthy babies so I am am on full time cooking duty. I do have a belly shot update that was taken a couple of days ago that I will post and hopefully some ultrasound pics. We did get some good face shots this time.

paragraphs!!!

One of the things that I did do last week was figure out how to post with paragraphs. even when you space everything out it all jumbles together. I'm pretty excited.

Fallen off the face of the earth??

Not really, it just seems that the last week really got the better of me and I never made it to the computer to give you and update. A lot did happen and I'm happy to say that we survived. Since my last posting, we purchased a TV for our bedroom. I have never wanted one, but considering the fact that I knew the amount of time I would be spending in bed, I thought it would be a good idea. I think Caleb loves it the most since he can lay in bed and watch cartoons in the morning or watch a movie in bed too. The rest of the week is really a blur trying to wrap up work and just keep the house straight. Oh yeah and another reason for being bad about updating is that I have been reading. Once I get into a book it is hard to put it down so.

Friday was my last day of work and it still seems strange. Mark sent me roses and Julie sent me chocolate covered strawberries and apples. They sure do know the way to a girls heart and belly : )

IT was a good week, but still seems strange that I will not be back at work in a week or so.

Ho Hum

It is Monday and the babies do not like them any more than anyone else. In fact, they really like to make my tailbone hurt for sitting in this position and squishing them all day long! As the week goes on it is not so bad, or at least I get used to it. It is so sad when the holidays are over! I know that Caleb has the same sentiments. When Mark took the Christmas lights down he seemed a little perturbed and wanted to immediately throw his ginger bread house away. It is actually the last bit of Christmas we have left out and I think he and Mark keep eating the candy off of it which does not sound appealing to me at all since it has been sitting out for the past couple of weeks. He does keep reminding us that it needs to be thrown away and when you ask him why he says 'because Christmas is OVER' and we have to laugh. The past couple of weeks Mark and I have been so spoiled being home with Caleb as much as we have. He of course loves it too, and since he was out of school when we worked he was lucky enough to get to spend two full days at Aunt Trisha's house and one of them cousin Dominic was also there. Since he is only there after school now which consists mostly of nap time I know he loved this. In addition, at Angie's (his M-W baby-sitter) Christian was also out of school so he had a partner in crime for the full day. The down side is that he has been missing out on his Grandma time since we have been off on Fridays. I'm sure they will catch up this Friday. 2008 had some ups and downs but we have a lot to be thankful for and lots of excitement coming in 2009. The road ahead seems a little uphill at times, but we always manage to get through. Someone told me the other day that I seemed stressed and I guess if I am being completely honest with myself I am. Then I think, who the heck wouldn't be with what we are up against :) We have wonderful families and friends and I know we will get through the next year happy and healthy, even if we are a little sleep deprived. Did I mention that I only have 4 more days of work left?

Happy belated Birthday Brandon!

Well, today Brandon is officially 29 and 1 day. Yesterday he celebrated with a feast of steak. Mark and I joined them for dinner which was really good, but did not partake in the after dinner festivities. Since he is still ONLY 29 I'm sure the rest of the evening consisted of shots, getting wasted and partying like only a 29 year old could!!!

Monkey Caleb!

Yesterday we went to Monkey Joe's and of course Caleb LOVED it. We have been before, but not in quite awhile so I think he had forgotten about it. Basically it is a huge room full of blow up slides, trampolines, and lots of things to climb on. Some of his friends were there too so that made it even more fun. After all of this play you would think that he would have needed a nap, but NOOOOO!!!

WHO HOO!
Cheese!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

We rang in 2009 quite a bit differently than we did 2008. Even though it was different it was still a really great time. Julie and Brandon hosted everyone. We had an awesome dinner, which Mark is still talking about with great company. The girls in the photo below from left to right are Michele, Me, Sarah, Jen and Julie. Everyone is pregnant except Michele, who just had little Evan not too long ago. I am clearly the farthest along and then Sarah, Jen and Julie are all exactly two weeks apart due at the end of June through July. So, with 4 prego's Michele had to do our share of the drinking :) Not everyone made it to midnight, but I did!!! Well, I say that but was gathering my coat at 11:45 and was out the door on the way home by 12:10. Hey, at least I can say I made it past midnight!!

Mark and Andi - the happy couple!



Mark livened up the evening with a little Karaoke. Thanks again to Grandpa Szachnieski for Caleb's great Christmas gift! Mark really was the only one who sang, but it did liven up the party before the ball dropped!!!

The Bambino's

Mark and Caleb made me this night shirt for Christmas. Mark says that he wished he would have had my reaction on video, apparently it was pretty good considering I thought it was hilarious. In the cloud on the left is the number 36 since that is how long we want the babies to cook and in the cloud on the right is says love daddy and C. Caleb would apparently only write C instead of his full name. Mark can be so creative :)

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