Weekend Re-Cap!

We started out the weekend at Tim's softball games on Friday night. We had a little picnic  before the games started and the weather was gorgeous! The girls all did good and had fun seeing all the lovely ladies and getting lots and lots of attention! Tim hit a home run too!! I even managed to feed each of them their oatmeal and some carrots during the games! Natalee has her new favorite toy "Ellie", but I am going to get the girl version soon, and so hopefully she likes that one just as much as her current Ellie. She does not let go of Ellie, she sucks on it, holds it, cuddles it, talks to it, it's so darn cute.

On Saturday, Nana came over and Tim steam cleaned the downstairs of the house, which needed it so badly and not to mention we wanted to get it done since the girls are starting to scoot a little now, especially Claire. She is already doing a little "army scoot" in her crib and it's so darn cute. We had some yummy hot dogs on the grill, sour kraut, baked beans, chips and ranch dip for lunch, followed by some delicious German chocolate cake and pina coladas! Yummy! The girls of course had so much fun playing with Nana all day, and of course it's my favorite day of the week too! We LOVE our days with our Nana!!!!!!!

Claire, holding the mirror, looking at herself, the diva she is!!

We also rearranged some furniture and made a new little play area for the girls! It will soon have a big gate around it when the girls start to become crawlers and walkers. I can't even imagine what it will be like having three little ones going in three different directions at all times! My parents brought over two extra high-chairs that they had in the day care center that weren't being used, so the girls had their first times in the high chairs on Saturday night to eat their oatmeal and veggies. I want to get these space-saving high chairs soon, but I haven't purchased them yet.

Taken this morning...Nat with her Ellie in the swing.

Tim put together our third and final crib on Saturday too! It's a little different than Madelynn and Claire's cribs because I couldn't find them at Wal-Mart anymore so Natalee has the Sarah crib which is very similar, the only difference being the side panels are open slats instead of solid sides. I chose the solid sides for the cribs so that the girls cannot see each other when laying down, hopefully to prolong entertaining one another. I love that their are finally three cribs in the nursery!! It's so darn cute, I can barely contain myself. I still need to get Natalee's bumpers too, but since the other girls have bumpers, they can't see one another, so it's ok for now.

Sunday was just a relaxing day and I'm unfortunately now on day 3 of a bad case of laryngitis. No fun. Hoping my voice comes back soon and my sore throat goes away. Tim is finally feeling better along with the girls, all of their colds are gone, amen! That was a rough few days with all of them sick! Thursday was a horrible day where even Momma felt like crying at points!!!!

We also had a sweet woman and her husband come over for a few hours who are pregnant with twin girls and buy a lot of our newborn clothes and a few other items. We gave them lots and lots of advice, tips and suggestions and it was so fun to meet a new couple just beginning on the journey of having multiples! I really enjoyed it and it was so nice to pass along all that I have learned in just the past 6 months of parenting multiples. I also got to go through all of the clothes that I wanted to save for our next little girl (if we have a girl) and get rid of so much stuff to make room for more stuff! It's a never ending battle...the clothes these girls have take over!!!!! Between what's too small, what currently fits and what's to come...it's not for someone who doesn't know how to stay organized that's for sure. I have bins in my attic with size 4 in clothes and other stuff for the girls, because good deals, clearance items...things like that, you just can't pass up when you have to buy for three! For example just bought three 2T PJ sets for St. Patty's Day that say "Daddy's Lucky Charm" for only $3.99 a few weeks ago! So I was super happy to have our clothes go to a set of multiples and clean out much of our bins of stuff that were too small, even though I kept SO much because I just cannot even fathom with parting with it!

All in all it was a fun weekend and hopefully it's a nice calm week ahead. Hope your weekend was fun!!!!

Whahoo! Softball is back!

Last week was supposed to be the very first softball game of the season but due to the rain, it was cancelled! Last year at the beginning of softball season I remember feeling very discouraged because I wasn't pregnant, and I talked about it in this post but by the end of softball I was a few weeks pregnant and then this year we roll up with four month old triplets! Boy, did our life change! Mostly everyone on the team knew we were having triplets, but still everyone was so happy to meet our little girls for the first time this past Friday night! One of the guys on the team seriously thought we were joking last year when we said we were having triplets...yup, no joke! We had so much fun showing them off and letting everyone meet them! 

The past few years I wouldn't wait to have my own stroller to push up to the field with a little bundle of joy in it...however, I never in a million years thought I'd be pushing a double stroller while my husband pushes a single stroller! (CANNOT wait until we have triplet stroller one day!) The stuff I used to pack for softball night always seemed like a lot, but it is NOTHING in comparison to what I need to pack now!

It was a little chilly still this past Friday night so I had to dress the girls warm and in lots of layers! They have plenty of time to wear little sun-dresses but it was well too cold for that this week! We bundled them up in their "Daddy's Little Girl" shirts, sweaters, jeans, jackets, hats and blankets! They still looked adorable! Even thought my camera was sitting next to me the entire night, I never took one photo! Great job, right?! The team though WON both games and to say we were all excited was an understatement! So after one night, they have already done better than last year's record! HAH! 

Much thanks to all the lovely ladies for their much needed help with holding and feeding babies this week and every Friday night to come!

And I promise I will get some photos at this next game!

Weekend Happenings!

Phew, we had one of the busiest weekends I think since the girls arrived...or maybe since I was put on bed rest...or just in a really long time. Anyway, we started out on Friday night by going out for the first time without the girls. We left them with Tim's Mom, Tammy and met some great friends for dinner at one of my favorite restraunts, Hamburger Hamlet. It was Tim's best friend, Nathan's birthday (also the girl's Godfather) so it was a great excuse to meet up with everyone.

We had some great drinks, food and conversations with lots of laughter. After a great meal, we headed over to 16 Handles to get some frozen yogurt and then headed home. Tim and I couldn't believe we were parents headed out for a date night..I just kept saying to him all night, "can you believe we have kids at home with a babysitter??" When I was giving updates to Tammy on everything with the girls before we left, I remember the many times my parents got a babysitter for my sister and I, and I would listen to all the instructions my parents gave and now I am the parent giving instructions on my kiddos...super weird moment, I still can't believe these beautiful little girls are ours!

Here we are on our first night out!

On Saturday, Tim had to work and so I stayed home with the girls while Tammy came back with her mom, sister and her sister's daughter who live in PA. It was so great to see everyone and have them meet the girls for the first time. Of course their Great Nana has already seen them, but their Great Aunt Terri and cousin Kaitlyn finally were able to make it down to meet the newest additions of the family. We had a fun time and the girls loved meeting new people! Such little flirts.

Saturday night we were going to stay home but then decided to head out to dinner with my parents and my sister. We went to a new restaurant not far from home and it was really good. Once again, the girls were the star of the show and everyone was complementing us on how cute they were. They were all so well behaved too, they slept through dinner and I think it helped that it was really noisy in the restaurant because it kept them sleeping. But of course everyone couldn't resist and so they managed to make it out of their car seasts to have a peak around.

Sunday, Tim, Nathan, Nathan's brother, Christian and Matt all went to play some softball to gear up for the new season getting ready to start. I CANNOT WAIT! I miss everyone when it's not softball season and I CANNOT wait for everyone to meet the girls!!! Matt's wife, Sara and I had a great time chatting and holding the girls. We were going to take them to the field but it was a little too cold and my dad was going to take the car down to get appraised since we are getting a new BIG SUV this week! I cannot tell you how excited I am about that! :)

So, Sunday afternoon, I took a nap with the ladies and we watched March Madness. It was a great weekend and even though I would have loved a great night sleep last night, I got far from it. Madelynn has a cold and was crying a lot in the beginning of the night. Claire was having fits all night because I thought **BIG MISTAKE** that I could let them out of their swaddle blankets to sleep since they keep pulling their hands out each night....but, I was totally wrong. Finally, around 1:45am, I couldn't take it anymore, so I swaddled them up and they were out like a light until 6:30am this morning. However, Natalee then decided she wanted to eat every 2.5 hours and well, we just don't do that here anymore, so I had to really work with her to get her to keep calm until her 4 hour mark. If I feed her earlier than 4 hours, she doesn't drink all her bottle and then gets hungry...the whole "snacking" thing, which is not ideal. During the day she does awesome, but at night, she just needs some reassurance. I also switched Natalee to the Dr. Browns bottles and she is loving them! I might switch them all to them once they get to the BIG/tall bottles. I barely had to burp Natty all night, she just sucked down 5 ounces in no time! It was awesome! I really think it made a difference in her happiness. The other bottles have too much air in them and I think it really affects her sucking and easiness to finish the bottle because I have to burp her every little bit, but with the Dr. Brown's bottles, she didn't make a peep. Leave it to my little ladies to like the most expensive bottles out there! Oh well, you can't put a price on happy babies!

Hope your weekend was great! Today we are off to look at our new SUV and go to the doctors for synigist shots and RSV shots for Madelynn and Claire. Blah, poor babies. And then tonight we are meeting some lovely ladies that are going to start helping me out during the week! Praise Jesus! I am so excited and blessed to have that possibility of help here and there...and to be able to take a nap!!!

4w3d - Beta #2

Today I went in for my beta #2...and I just got the call from my Nurse and my number went from 641 to...

1255

That is great news. I have also managed to go well-over 24 hours with NO pain medication (just some extra-strength Tylenol)! No episodes of vomiting or rolling around in a fetal position like I'm going to die! I'd say that is improvement!

I was concerned a little about the stretching and pulling feeling that I am having from the top of my rib cage all the way down. So, this morning when I signed in for my blood draw, I asked if I could speak with the Nurse too. The lady said, "Sure, go on back," so I did.

I saw Dr. Stillman standing there and I just decided I would skip the Nurse and go to him. After all, I'm practically family.  I said, "Oh Dr. Stillman, thank you for calling me. We are so excited, I just can't believe it, thank you so much for your kindness and help"...blah, blah...and then I said, "is it normal to have all this pressure and bloating and soreness"? I just kept going on and on. He says, "well ya know, there could be four babies in there.." Insert here -- an almost completely white faced woman practically on the floor -- haha! I was like, "no really, it's ok, this is normal...I've never been pregnant before ya know". So he said, "well lets go take a look"...I'm like awesome!!! He mentioned over to the Nurses and I was in the room ready before I could say ok. No worries though, I just have HUGE ovaries and some fluid. Nothing major, he said my lining was more than perfect and plush. I thought, wait, are we describing a couch or my uterus here! I asked if it was too early to see the babies and the Nurse and Dr. Stillman looked for a few minutes but it's still too early to se some saks. Heehee...I was just tickled to death! I got the royal treatment!

So, all and all it was good! My tummy is still very sore and anything that touches it hurts. I hate sleeping on my back and my side, so it's been hard to get used to this already. I just NEED to sleep on my tummy. And I have been peeing a lot! Whahhooo! I love this already though! I'm so excited. I just keep thanking God for giving us this gift. It is such a wonderful gift. Last night, I forget what we were watching we were watching Bill and Guilana (LOVE that show) and this couple said they had done 5 IVF's and I just started bawling. Tim kept asking what was wrong with me, and I'm like, look what a gift we got, on our first try!! We are so lucky, and I will never forget that. Such a miracle God has given us. I am forever thankful.

Looking forward to telling everyone at Softball this evening. Tim's team never has games on Memorial Day Weekend and then they had a bye last week, so we haven't seen everyone in three weeks. So excited to tell them all. Everyone was so sad to hear we still weren't pregnant (I wrote about this briefly before) on the first game, so I'm sure they will be surprised now, however, it was no secret that we were doing IVF!

And then this weekend we are heading up to PA to visit with Tim's family. He has four aunts that will all be there, so to tell everyone our good news together will be awesome. Something I have been dreaming about for over a year now! We have some fun things planned so it should be a great weekend!

So next beta (#3) on Monday!

Update

Well where to start..it's been over ten days since I blogged last and a lot has happened.

First, I'll start with how the meds are going...I started with 20 IU of Lupron on Friday, May 7th..and other than being really nauseas and having terrible headaches...I was fine. I went in for blood work and sonogram on Friday, May 14th and I was told everything was perfect and we could start the stims! I was beyond excited. We went to Tim's softball game and then when we got home we sat down to figure it all out and we both looked at one another and we're like, wait what do we do..(mind you, we were conscious when we took the Injection Class)...but somehow at 11pm at night after a long day, our brains weren't working...imagine that. But thankfully our clinic gives lots of lovely handouts and educational videos on their website, so we eventually figured it all out. There are 2 shots to be given each night. 150 IU of Gonl-F (which isn't bad at all) and 75 IU of Menopur (which is so PAINFUL, it brings tears to my eyes). So by now, we have a routine and it works great expect the last part when Tim gives me the bigger Menopur shot...I just cringe, it hurts so badly. I think because it's such a large amount of fluid going into my muscle..ugh, no fun! Icing before does help a little and heat and massaging it in after helps a lot. I still am taking 5 IU on Lupron each morning, so it's a total of 3 shots per day, along with all the oral meds. With adding the other two shots, I haven't had any side effects other than headaches and some weird twinges in my ovaries, oh and peeing A LOT..because I guess my ovaries are growing, like they should be!! I got really mad the other day when I posted that I wasn't feeling well on Facebook (I know, ugh, hate Facebook) and someone (pregnant with the same disease I have and knows were doing IVF) said "maybe it's all the crap the doctors put you on"...I literally screamed some choice words and felt like crying. People can be so RUDE and INCONSIDERATE! To call the miracle drugs that will be the only way I will be able to be a mom, crap, ugh, I was ready to punch a wall. I prayed about it and Tim and I talked and I felt much better. I just can't stand people sometimes. Ok, enough of that.

These are my night-time shots.

This is my morning shot.

I went in on Monday for blood work and ultrasound and I have 5 follies growing on one side and 7 on the other. Dr. Not mine, but still Nice, said "it's all about quality not quantity"...yeah, yeah, ok and I thought, "it's my wallet, not yours". I go back tomorrow to be checked again. As of right now, it looks like we will continue the stims and then most likely "trigger" on Sunday night to have the retrieval on Tuesday morning. WOW!

We have a very busy weekend ahead. My Master's Degree graduation from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Social Work is Friday! I am still in denial that I am actually finished and they are really going to give me a Master's Degree!?? Freaks me out still. I don't think it will hit me until the fall, when after 19 years, I will not be going to school. I love it though, my new found freedom is so nice! On Saturday, we have our 5TH ROW concert tickets to see Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and someone else (ugh, the name slips my mind right now). I LOVE Brad Paisley and he was so amazing last year so this years show I'm sure will be great too! And then Sunday is our one year anniversary. WOW! I cannot believe it has been one year already, it still seems just like yesterday! "Trigger" will be that night and then the whole next week we will be consumed with the retrieval, recovery and the transfer (which looks like the 30th).

Some other things that have happened in the past few days weeks and thus the reason of no blogging (but that doesn't mean I don't read everyone else, because I do!):

1. SIL, Megan and her boyfriend, Julian were in town for 8 days from New Mexico. We miss them so much, so we had some fun times while they were here. We got to spend Mother's Day at PB Dye Golf Course for brunch and then go to Liganore Winery, which was nice. Also, Tuesday evening we had crabs at our house and with my MIL, it was such a fun time!! I took some photos and then they some how got erased...so I don't know what happened there!

2. Tim has officially started back to softball (ok..three weeks ago was the first game) and his team is off to a better start then normal. They haven't one a game yet but let's be serious...the have won ONE game in 3 YEARS. But the game they did win last year, knocked the highest ranked team out of the playoffs...so it was AWESOME! This year they are really scoring a lot of runs so I bet they will win one this yea too! It's still so fun regardless of who wins! All the guys on the team are so nice and I love hanging out with all the wives late into the night on Fridays! We both really enjoy our time! Of course this year, many people came up to me asking why I wasn't pregnant or that they expected me to be wobbling over to the bleachers this year...blah, blah, I know...I said at the last game last year that I would be pregnant when I came back this year so it was kinda a bittersweet day of the first game. I'm over it now.

3. Last night, I had my RESOLVE support group. I LOVE RESOLVE and the women who are in my group. For those of you who don't know what RESOLVE is; it's a support group for women struggling with infertility and it's a blessing in every way! I have blogged about it a few times. We meet once a month and give updates on our cycles, bitch about doctors, infertility, clinics, meds, shots, ignorant people, pregnant 15 yr old...you name it, we complain about it, but it's so nice to get things off your chest. As a social worker, I am a big believer in support groups and therapy so I love it. However, each month I attend, I say this is the LAST month I am going to be able to attend, but somehow, I am always back again, along with everyone else. If it wasn't for RESOLVE, I and/or my sister wouldn't be here. My mom stumbled across a RESOLVE article back in the early 1980's and she contacted them and they got her in touch with Dr. Stillman, who performed many surgeries on my mom and finally after 13 years my parents were able to have me! My mom was the 4th person in the US to receive IVF, but got pregnant the month before they were to start, but Dr. Stillman had been her doctor for about 6 years before me. So having Dr. Stillman as my doctor is so amazing to me! I love him and am so blessed to have him hopefully help us conceive too. It will be a great story to tell our children that without him, none of us would be here!

4. A side note...a few of my friends, some real and some online/blog-related found out they are pregnant. :) Some IVF, some not, but I am HAPPY FOR EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!!

5. We went strawberry picking on Saturday and had a lot of fun. I have been picking strwberries since I could walk I think, so it's normal that we go every year a few times. This year Tim was eager to come too....don't ask me how that happened, but he came along and we had fun. I just ate them and Tim picked. It was fun though!

He picks....I eat.

Ok, well enough for now..I'm going to go take a nap but I promise I'm going to be keeping up with my blog each day!