30 is the New....40?

Today is a day of CELEBRATION! I have reached the big 3-0!!!  Most people who see me think I am 40 weeks or more. The other day, I shuffled into a store to try and find my daughter shoes, and as I walked in a husband looked at me, turned to his wife and started whispering, keeping one eye on me as I walked by. I can only imagine what he was thinking! But I am happy to be here, despite the stares and whispers! The pinpoint of light at the end of the tunnel has grown to the size of a small animal and it is quickly growing larger by the second....kind of like my belly, shown here with only a mere 11 days difference between the two shots (for comparison, check out the bottom of my shirt in the two pics):

No wonder my belly has been aching non-stop!

And for more comparisons, here is a pic of me the day I delivered my just-shy-of-9-pounds daughter at 38.5 weeks. Yes, same shirt. This shirt was the best $20 I ever spent. It lasted me through three pregnancies. Thank you, Target.

Years ago, I thought this was the biggest I could look.

I had a growth ultrasound/BPP combo yesterday. Babies A and B passed, Baby C wouldn't practice his breathing again. But he looked great in every other way.  Baby A is going to be my easy child. He is the quickest to pass every single time.

Here are their current weights:

Asher: 4 pounds, 4 ounces. He actually weighed in first at 4 pounds, 10 ounces, so we decided to take measurements again because that seemed way too large, and his second reading came in at 4,4. I think that's probably a lot more accurate.

Brooks: 3 pounds, 15 ounces - just barely shy of 4!

Caden: 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Hey, I'll take it! I was hoping for 2 lbs 8 oz but knew that was a long shot. I am just happy he's solidly in the twos. Here's hoping he'll be near 3 by the next growth scan.

TOTAL:  10 pounds, 9 ounces of baby!

They all had fat tummies and fat cheeks. We could only get pictures of Caden, and he was being oh so cute - puckering up his lips, opening and closing his mouth, bringing his hand to his mouth, and even faced us and smiled.  The other boys are getting way too big to get good pictures.

For a bit it looked as though they were going to send me to the hospital because of C failing the breathing again, but my Peri said I didn't have to. I was very relieved because I did not want to cancel piano lessons!!!  I am really hoping to make it all the way through August. My Peri was visibly surprised when I told him I didn't have time to go to the hospital because I needed to teach and he said, "You are 30 weeks pregnant with triplets and you are still teaching?" I assured him it was actually a life saver for me - it gives me something to do every day, a reason to think, to move. When I don't teach I feel like I've completely wasted time all day. Teaching saves my sanity and gives me a challenge that I find myself desperately needing at this point. It seems it is one of the only things I can still do to make myself productive and to provide for my family, now that I haven't cooked or cleaned in months - which as much as I enjoy NOT doing that, there is a definite sense of guilt and helplessness that comes with it.  I assured him that if it became too much I would stop, but so far the only difference between modified bed rest in my recliner and teaching lessons from my comfy office chair is that I get to actively use my brain and have meaningful conversations about something I am passionate about. And I figure I am making my babies smarter with every lesson since I am sure they hear it too! Though today my student playing Khachaturian's Toccata is coming and that may scare them more  than help....haha!

My Peri said that I am "doing a great job" and "looking fantastic", and in two weeks at the next scan he would like to sit down with me, his partner, and my OB and have a "pow wow" about where to go next. It sounds like this is getting very real and very close!  I am stuck in limbo between wanting this pregnancy to be over (I can't wait to wake up in the morning without that "Just hit by a truck" feeling, can't wait to walk - not waddle - again, can't wait to be able to be on my feet for more than a minute without my legs burning and being out of breath!) and being terribly apprehensive of what life will be like when I have three babies outside of my tummy (forget waking up feeling awful - will I even be waking up at all since I will likely be awake all night? and forget about walking around when I will be rotating three babies between eating and sleeping all day).  But I think the joys of having three special little babies around will outweigh the difficulties.

My kids can't wait to meet them.  They talk to them all the time and love to rub my belly, feel their hiccups, etc. I know they are a going to be a great big sister and brother. This morning, my little boy came in my room after I got his sister off to school, and he climbed up on the arm of my recliner and cuddled in to me and fell asleep for the next two hours. At one point he opened his eyes, smiled at me, patted my arm with his little hand, and fell back asleep. I am trying to savor every little bit of these moments with my kids because I know that pretty soon we simply won't have the time to have long, two hour cuddles.

Last night, the kids were being crazy, running around and making lots of noise. We asked them to go in the other room for a while and when they left, my husband paused the TV and we just listened to the silence for a few seconds and breathed a big sigh of relief as our ears decompressed. Then my husband started laughing hysterically as he chuckled "Another two weeks and our lives won't be quiet like this again for a LONG time!" and then I started laughing as I realized he was exactly right.  Might need to invest in a good set of earplugs.

Loud or quiet - a house full of love is a blessing, right?