class and Changing Tables

I had my first day of my class last night. The system is screwey so I don't have access to a class roster or anything so I had to go in blind. I hate that. I knew I was supposed to have 30 students but I got there & there were 35. And get this- it is like 94% male. What is up with that? 90% of them are from somewhere in South Florida. I have a grad asst and a peer mentor. The grad asst is really cool. It is a student success class. I told them there was no eating allowed during class b/c I will just take their food and eat it. They understood :)That's all the details you get since this is all on the Internet. ;)




After class Chaz & I picked up our dresser. It came fully assembled :) we just have to put the knobs on. Otto stopped by to help Chaz unload it. I love it. Plus the mattresses arrived and fit fabulously. We had a coupon and saved $58 on the dresser. Chaz wants to get a TV in there to watch with sub titles. I am not sure about that one. I will have to put the current bookcase back in the laundry room (by me I mean Chaz...) which is cool b/c then we can store diapers, formula and bottles there. I might ger a smaller one for books.

Oh- the Marvelous Multiples parent class people called and had to move the dates of our classes two weeks early- SWEET!!! The sooner the better I say! So it will be 4 Fridays and we will be done before the fall semester starts. That worked out brilliantly.

This weekend I am going to (Ken) Shawn's bridal shower and on Sunday I am going to Lauren & Mike's shower. That's the scoop.

We had an oober productive weekend. I got to watch Charles sand and paint the crown molding in the baby room. I wore my little face mask.




Then I watched Chaz change out all the outlets and light switches from almond to white in the baby room.
Oh- and I went to bring him the pool basket to clean out and when I pulled it out of the pool, a snake swam out of the trap flap and into the pool- so Chaz got to wrangle the snake out of the pool w/ the pool net. Hotness. The light switches are supposed to light up- snazzy.



Then I watched Chaz put the remaining two cribs together. We were so impressed w/ the wood quality and pieces for the crib. He did the last crib in 29 minutes. Not too shabby. The drawers work flawlessly. They all fit. We are just waiting for the rest of the furniture before we finalize how we will arrange it.


Last week was the magic week for my weight gain. It's about time!





We watched a really lame movie (Sidney White- but it was filmed here on campus.). We also watched Casino Royal. We had dinner w/ the Roses and also ate out w/ Nicole & Otto. We did the weekend trip to Lowes.

My class starts tonight that I am teaching- too bad it is on the other end of campus (I'll be driving it). I'll keep you posted.

The 1st crib

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

Last night Charles put together one of the three cribs. It took him 40 minutes. We were so impressed with the quality parts and the drawer. He is putting off doing the other two so he has room to do the touch ups on the crown molding. I am loving it so far! Next project is to switch out the light switch in that room. It has to go! More pics as it all comes together. With that many cribs, it will look like a cute little orphanage :)

cribs

I drove home from work yesterday in a hurry to beat this looming storm that was rolling in.



Upon my arrival, I see three boxes on my doorstep. Keep in mind, when I ordered the cribs, they told me between June 25- July 8 and that they would call and that someone had to be at the house to help take them off the truck. Needless to say, it isn't even the 20th yet, I got no call, and we didn't help unload!



Well each box weighs 80 pounds (I am not allowed to lift more than 15). That storm was looming and Chaz was still at work so I called him and he came home right away and got them in the house.


So knowing me, I will want to organize the parts tonight and start putting them together!!!

Showing!

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

Apparently the magic week for really showing for me was 15 1/2 to 16 weeks. Bam- over night. The weight is right on track. For delivery, I am guessing the week of my brothers birthday (mid October). My next appt is Wednesday in Winter Park and then the big appt at the hospital where they will spend one hour per baby and determine genders is the following week on Tuesday...

Are you going to eat that?....

Let's discuss how difficult 4000 calories a day is. You laugh- but dang!!!!! Today for instance, I went to McDonalds for breakfast and had the ever so delightful sausage, egg & cheese biscuit meal. Apparently that is only like 440 calories. I had an orange Hi-C with that. Then I got to work and ate a bag of combos per usual- that is 240 calories. Then I ate my Welches fruit snack pack- that is 130 calories. Then I went to Bennigans for lunch and had the baked potato soup and turkey sandwich w/ a Sprite. Not sure how many calories were in that. Not more than 500. So then I just went to Smoothie King and got a smoothie- that was 536 calories (score!). So we are not even at 2000 calories!?!?!?!? I have to eat a 2000 calorie meal???? I can hit 3500 but 4000 is harder than you think. I am doing the ice cream each night along with snacks (including bags of chips- whole bags) and so far at most gained like 14 or 15 pounds. I go home and watch TV as to not burn any calories. I've been doing my shopping online.
I see pictures of other people at 15 weeks carrying triplets and everyone is bigger than me (see below). Maybe the height thing really is a serious advantage?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e200/deebug951/Triplets/12weekswithtriplets.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wheelertrio.blogspot.com/2007/04/pregnancy-pics_16.html&h=240&w=320&sz=29&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=V5TcM__7A9R2iM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3D15%2Bweeks%2Bpregnant%2Bwith%2Btriplets%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

AWWWW!!!

So I just got the coolest phone call. My original doctor's office called. Everytime you go to the waiting room, they have these albums of success letters that every patient there anctually awaits to get 'their letter' in there one day. So of course, last week I finally sent in my letter. I even copy and pasted a pic of the triplet sonogram and of the one with the baby hand waving. So they called to ask if not only they can put in in the album, but if they can frame it in their lobby as well!!! Score! That is so way cooler than just the book. (It has no identifying info on it but I will know it is mine).

I think the dentist ordeal is over

After two weeks, Chaz finally got that one problem tooth pulled. Now keep in mind, he has never had to have a tooth extracted. This was a first. He has always had a stellar dental history minus the root canal on this one tooth in question back in 04. Looks like the tooth cracked. We went to the specialist dentist this am and he said to yank it so we went to the place across the street from him like he said & they had some ghetto hand written notice on the door saying they will be back on Wednesday. Whaaaat!?!?!? So I recalled that I had my wisdom teeth pulled and didn't recall a lick of it so that means they were fabulous. So we found that place by memory, went in, they took us, was a 3rd of the price originally estimated, and we were done. Hooray! Chaz can finally sleep thru the night w/out pain. The drugs they gave him were great. The nurse wheeled him to my car and he got up and hugged her- he was so happy to be rid of the problem. So now we just switch out the gauze every hour and he is on pain meds. He is a lil swollen but 10 times better. Phew!

Quick update

Papagayo
Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

Chaz has been in complete agony for two weeks now over this tooth ordeal. He is at the point where he would let me extract it for him. This weekend the whole side of his jaw swelled up like I beat him :o He does better when he is distracted and the drugs initially kick in but that is for a 2 hour window max. So today I will accompany him for hopefully the final dentist visit for this issue and they will just extract it. I will keep you posted.
To distract him, we went shopping. We ordered the dresser :) and everything should be arriving in abouut 2 weeks. Chaz also agreed to the Papagayo theme which rocks. We learned that we are the 'Discontintinued King and Queen" b/c EVERYTHING we select, everyone stopped carrying. It is ridiiculous.
We also met Chaz folks in Melbourne for lunch yesterday.

My sister was talking to a tennage neighbor and mentioned triplets in which the neighbor said a rather interesting point: "You know what's cool about that? When it's graduation time - when normally each kid would get 5 tickets for family and friends to attend - they will get 15 - and they will all have the same family - so lots of folks will be able to come." Good point!

Other than that, all is well. My energy level is up about 200% but I am not allowed to really do much so I am going stir crazy. Check out the Flickr pics to see the dresser we ordered.
:)

Pic of all three triplets

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

Here is the pic I was telling you about where they got all 3 babies in one pic. Now that is cool.

Sorelle Nadia White

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

Once it arrives, this is what I believe our cribs will look like

Cribs and what not

Yesterday I went for another sonogram. What fun!!! It is a half hour drive to get to but it is worth it. Chaz went with me and we had a lady named Elle do the sonograms. She was able to get a pic of all three in ONE picture. Now that is awesome. I will get them scanned later today. She even got a pic of one putting their hand out and waving to the machine- she took a pic of that and wrote the word 'hi' on it. Cuteness. She spent a lot of time with us too. Then, despite it being too early, she humored us and searched for gender parts. She says that B and C are a boy and a girl and A's umbilical cord was blocking so she couldn't guess but the last place said A was a boy (guessing at this point- no guarantee). So our guess is two boys and a girl. Then we met w/ my fav female doc. She looks like a quiet and reserved woman but when Chaz asked her about which doc at this office will be doing the actual delivery- she enthusiastically shouted "I'm doing it!!!" She even put in the request that she gets called first on our file. That is awesome. She sat down with us and waited for us to come up with questions (I was just there Monday so I didn't have any on Wednesday!). All three heartbeats were nice and healthy, the sizes were fine, head and spine circumference didn't show any signs of Downs/MR, etc.


In other news, let's talk cribs. Holy cow what a nightmare. If you are buying just one, granted- this would be a breeze. But THREE!!!? In order for them to fit, the width has to be 55" or less. Most cribs are 58" and have the ornate curved wood. We wouldn't be able to fit that in there. I want it to look cute but not like and at the same time, I don't want it to look like an orphanage. So finally- I ordered three cribs in white today. We went with the Sorelle Nadia. It is 55" and has a drawer and the mattress adjusts three levels and it was free shipping. It was from a company called SCN (Chaz initials) so it was meant to be. It should arrive between June 25- July 8th. Ideally it will get here before the 4th (holiday) so we have a weekend to put it together before my summer camp starts. I am still in the market for the dresser changing table. Will probably buy mattresses this weekend. I think. Mattress research is rather boring but I have a few in mind. In terms of decor, which I have to painstakingly wait till July 1st to find out the gender, if the babies are not all the same sex, I am pushing for my unisex Papagayo theme:

http://search.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/default.asp?IWStore=&var=stemming&stemming=true&var=num_rows&num_rows=10&var=query.message&error_query=Go%20back%20and%20enter%20some%20words%20to%20search%20for.&RowsPerPage=10&RestartFlow=t&prod_keywords=Papagayo&Query=Papagayo&SUBMIT.x=0&SUBMIT.y=0

My belly

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

To quote my mom "take out that awful belly ring before it explodes off." That makes me laugh. ;)
It'll come out. Just not today.

Todays ultrasound

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol

I went in to the doc today. I had a tightening on my right side so I went in b/c hey, I am great at freaking out- and it is better to be safe than sorry. And I get more ultrasounds- woo hoo! Everything was fine. The kids just keep moving around. Baby A was doing push ups- no seriously- actual push ups the whole time on the screen. Training to be a Navy Seal or something?!?!? I finally got a good pic of Baby C. They are in the upside down triangle postion and each one is an a completely different position.

I had a fab time at the doc office though. My fav nurse Linda was there and she was so excited to see me and she pulled me off to the side and had to show me something special. First she told me how the docs were soooo excited that I wrote them personalized thank you cards that they even scanned them into the computer :o Then she said how they have a special coding system for when people w/ twins show up, they click on some little icon. Well they didn't have one for triplets and had to create a special SuperStar icon for me. Score!

Then I saw Dr. B and holy cow- he was so excited to thank me for the card. It must have been good b/c man am I 'in' at this place. I got an appt on the day I called (again) and then they spend how ever much time I want with them. Definitely happy with them.

Oh- I am signed up for the Marvelous Multiples class but it isnt till the end of August. That's like the parenting class that parents of singletons take- just superfied......

Maybe tomorrow we will get to buy the cribs. We know which one we want, we just need a company to sell it to us already!

Tiger

I will have to post a picture later on but get this- so yesterday I gave Tiger a hair cut. Let's just say there is not a career for me in the dog grooming business. I think it is cute and refreshing for him in the heat. Charles says all the other dogs will make fun of him.

So we came home for lunch today. Charles had an empty prescription bottle next to the bed. Apparently Tiger grabbed the bottle, opened the childprrof bottle, and then left it on the center of the bed. Ooooooooo. Maybe he was mad about his hair cut...?
Pictures soon.

The Charles dental update

Many of you know how bad Charles was out of commission this past weekend due to his tooth problem. He went to a dentist on Friday and they told him he would have to see an endodontist on Monday. Ugh. So he had to wait all that time in immense pain. He contemplated going to the ER even. It shoots up the whole side of his face. :( So get this. He goes to the doc office on Monday and it was such an absolute crap experience!!! First off, they hit him in the side of the face like 3 times with the xray machine- you know, the side that hurts. Then in comes the dental specialist guy- who by the way was wearing no gloves and no mask and was a spitter. Charles said he actually had to wipe the docs spiddle off of himself. Are you kidding me?!?!?!? So this consult costs like $80. The doc said he thought it was an infection but by this point Chaz was so done with the guy and left and made an appt for 2pm with someone else. Another $80 consult but at least not w/ a spitter. That doc thought maybe it was a cracked root or something. He is to continue antibiotics for a week to see what that does (he got good pain meds as well). But the 1st doc - we will refer to as Dr. Spitter, said they would have to redo the root canal that he had done in 2004. This 2nd doc, who we will call Dr. Way Cooler, said if there is a crack, it would make redoing the root canal pointless b/c you'd pay the $880 and then have to pay whatever it costs to remove the tooth and replace it. So his next appt is Monday.

The evil crib(s) shopping experience

So this weekend my goal was to buy the cribs. Oh how I have been looking forward to this!!! Boy was I wrong! I thought it wouyld be easy. We found the cribs we wanted about a month ago. Keep in mind, with 3 cribs and a changing table, rocker and bookcase, we need specific measurements (ideally a width of no more than 54"). We can't get any of the cribs with the ornate curved wordworks that takes up an additional 3-4 inches per crib (by the way- that is like 95% of the cribs out there). We want white cribs (to make the new crown molding really pop). The crib we really want is the Legacy 29001 http://www.albeebaby.com/le29cocr.html which we found at Kids Corner. So we go there and they stopped selling them dut to some madness about the maker sold their company to someone. Oh- I also found it on that attached weblink which is where I was really going to buy it from and they don't have any white ones in stock. I will call them on Monday. As a back up I liked this one http://www.gracobaby.com/catalog/product.aspx?modelNumber=3250281&productID=1215&tab=dimensions&CategoryID=&subCatID=87 but it is 57 inches.... We went to every baby store in town. A real interesting experience was at Crib 4 Life. They have a great product but I hated the store experience. I had already seen the video of how everything there works. Granted- it is the coolest stuff out there. But before they even let you in, you have to listen to their schpeel. There are no prices on anything (usually my 1st sign to run). They had specif stuff they wanted us to buy. I saw a crib I liked and asked them about it which their response was "That one is crap, we won't sell that one to anyone." Seriously?!?!? Why is it on their floor then? I told them I want white and they replied with "boys can't do white." Excuse me? Whenever we asked how much a dresser was the response was "oh we will work out a deal for you." I got one quote for a package deal for them and it was like a grand more than everywhere else. They do have really nice stuff and they deliver and assemble super fast but we won't be purchasing from there. We found this one place called Kids Quarters and walked up to the door- from the outside it looked cool- they had the beds with slides and what not and we get to the door and there is a big ole orange Bankruptcy sign on the door. Sigh.

The 1 store had the display model of the crib I want but we need 3. People have suggested that I just buy the really cheap $100 cribs which I understand, but I have always wanted a nursery and with three at once, this might be my only chance. I don't want to walk in there everytime and I wish I bought slightly better stuff, you know? I took a summer job that starts in 2 weeks teaching for 6 weeks which will cover the costs of all the furniture.

So that is my furniture update. I've got nothing!

Nesting

Yup, it's true. I am nesting. Hardcore.
For instance, yesterday, I redid my closet, removed all of my suits, and made a maternity clothes section. My closet is very pretty right now. But that wasn't enough. So I did all the bathroom cabinets. Even my q-tips are arranged in order. I had Chaz do his sock drawer and I did my drawers.

Then today I even rushed home from work. Why? Because I was anxiously anticipating cleaning all of my drawers and all of the kitchen cabinets. They are all quiet lovely at the moment. Then I decided all of the loose hair needed to come off the dogs so I used the fabulous Furminator on them. That killed time between laundry. Then I saw Tiger's toy box. Suddenly the urge to wash everyone of his toys and his toy basket hit, so they all sparkle now.
Granted, you must be thinking it is way too early for me to be nesting. However, you must keep in mind that we are on the accelerated track and the notion of being put on bed rest looms in the back of my mind. Therefore, everything needs to get done yesterday :)

Thankfully I am having no problems and am putting on the appropriate amount of weight and feel quiet frankly, fantastic. I have been stockpiling about a billion magazines off to the side just in case I do get bed rest as early as August, but at this rate, I could be working up to an hour before delivery!It was such a long and painful (and pricey!) road to get here that everything else seems like such a breeze. Seriously, I feel like I should have a sense of panic or something going on but that is just not happening. Maybe this organizing is a replacement for other things that I can't do! I guess I will go read up on the 50 books and count the days till July 1st when I find out genders!!!

Winnie Palmer experience

Yesterday I had my Winnie Palmer appointment. Sticks that we have to pay to park every time we go down there. It is a beautiful facility though. First we met with the genetics counselor. He was freakishly knowledgeable and all but I didn't really like it. You basically sit in the room and answer questions about family history and he goes over the odds of certain risks. I think legally they also have to tell moms of multiples the options for testing such an amnio to screen for certain thinks such as MR but their are risks associated with that such as infection (esp since they have to do the needle three times at least...). I am gonna pass on that one. They can check for that stuff (not as accurately tho) on ultrasounds by measuring the circumference of the neck and spinal cord. We left the genetics counselor more informed I guess and maybe with a little bit more peace of mind but it wasn't a wower. I also have a special ed degree so all of the discussions related to Trisomy 18, Downs, etc was old school to me. However, it was a genetics refresher where they went over charts of genes and DNA. Okay really, I went to public school in the hood so it wasn't a refresher- that part was new! I went in there fine but then I feel like I left with worry. That's not so cool.

From there we went to this other unit for the ultrasound. I think I was expecting a tour (of the NICU and what not) and information on classes and I got none of that. :( Their ultrasound machine was cool. Charles was so excited as they scanned each baby that the nurse had to tell him to settle down! He was able to see each scan before I could. The nurse did the cool scans (pics soon - my IT guy is scanning them for me). Then came in the high risk specialist. His last name is the same as my schools coach. I have been anxiously awaiting to meet a 'high risk' doc and then I met him and wasn't wowed! Man! I'll see if they have someone else there next time. He was more like "cool, there is nothing wrong with you, see you on July 1st." No Q&A session. Nothing. What a jip. The nurse was cooler. She 'suspects' that she might have seen two penises and Baby C was being modest so no guess on that one. They should be able to tell us on July 1st though. In the ultrasounds though- it was crazy!!! One of the babies was on his/her back and then decided to completely flip and lay on the belly. So we got to see that action. All of them were doing fine. The heart rates were way calmer this time (last time they were elevated since I was freaking out). If there is a possibility of bed rest, the earliest odds would be mid-late August but that is worst case scenario. So that is the abridged version of the Winnie Palmer experience. Not what I was hoping for but it was fine.

Then later that evening I had my first moms of multiples meeting. I hate traveling at night by myself down
I-4 but I made it. I was expecting like maybe 15 people but there was 50-65 women there. Majority of them are moms of twins. I did meet three triplet moms (one quad mom was there too). There was one named Nicole who I really, really liked. I hope they match her up as my Big Sister. Either way, we exchanged emails and I already wrote her this morning. Hopefully her husband can be a big brother to Chaz! The 1st hour of the meeting was for new prospective members which was the best part of the meeting. That is where you really learn all of the cool stuff and people bust out their pictures. At first I was worried b/c I was talking with this one group and they mentioned how orange juice, combos pretzel snacks, and pop tarts made them sooo sick. Ummmm, that is my exact first snack! Then they all reminisced about how much weight they lost the 1st trimester b/c they were always sick........um, I had nothing so that caused a few glares! I could go on and on. The one triplet mom made it to 32 weeks and 2 days and the other one was 29 weeks. They recommend I sign up for the marvelous multiples class so I called this morning and it is Aug 20-Sept 10th and they didn't want to take me b/c it is so late in the game. Whaaaaat!?!?!? Would have been nice if someone told me about that 2 months ago! Grrrr. Oh, I did know two people from campus that were at the meeting.
So that is my update in a nutshell. Not as cool as I was expecting but it will have to do. More soon!