A VERY long birth story...

I am finally getting around to blogging about my VERY long birth story. Did I mention it was VERY long, 22 days to be exact. 

It all started when I was 33 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and we were heading to St. George for a non-stress test appointment. I was afraid I was going to go to the appointment and they would tell me that I couldn't leave because we knew I was already starting to dilate from the previous appointments. Even with this fear, I was not actually planning on staying, so we didn't even bother to throw our hospital bag in the car. Well that was a mistake, because the appointment revealed that I was dilated to a 4, and having contractions (I couldn't feel them). I was told that I would not be going home until those babies were out. I may or may not have cried a little when the nurse left the room, I was so happy that I had made it to 33 weeks without being put on bedrest, but I was not thrilled to be put on hospitalized bedrest without any notice. I was also way scared about having the babies, lets face it, as uncomfortable as I was, three babies are way easier to take care of on the inside than on the outside. The Drs. made it sound like I could have the babies any minute, but day after day I sat there. My bum was sore from the silly bed, and I was only allowed out in a wheelchair for 10 minutes a day. Luckily Carson was allowed to work from there on his laptop or I would have gotten really bored. Megan and Andrew were nice enough to watch Kynlee for us, and to bring her to visit. I was so sad when they had to go back to Denver and Kynlee went to stay with Grandparents in Moab.

Some parts of the stay were good, I didn't have to cook, and the food was actually pretty good. I didn't have to clean, or worry about laundry or shopping, and I had all the free time I wanted. We had cable TV and I spent my days reading, writing in my journal, and watching HGTV with Carson. My Mom used to watch HGTV all the time, and I used to think it was so boring, but now I thought it was fun, and Carson and I could talk about the houses, and the remodels that we liked or disliked. Carson liked seeing how they solved the tricky construction problems they ran into, and we basically planned out our dream house that we will probably never have (face it, we have triplets, we will be poor the rest of our lives). 

Other parts of the stay were not so good.Twice a day everyday we would monitor the babies for 30 minutes, this started to become my least favorite part of the day. You see, sometimes it was really hard to find all three babies heartbeats, especially since those babies move around. When we would finally get all three babies on the monitor, the nurse would leave, and then it was my job to keep them on. Easier said than done, especially when I only have 2 hands. Every once in a while the 30 minute session was a piece of cake, other times, it felt more like 10 hours. Other not so good parts include not feeling like a person anymore... Seriously who wants to be asked everyday if they are having normal bowel movements, or have to report to a nurse when I am going to shower or go to bed.

Anyway I survived day after day wondering when I was really going to have the babies. Triplets usually come around 32 or 33 weeks, and after that a woman's Dr. will usually schedule a day for them to have the babies around 34 or 35 weeks. Not my Dr. he wanted to see how long I could make it. At 35 weeks he finally decided that there was no more room inside me for the babies to continue growing, and so we scheduled the C-section for August 5th when I would hit my 36 week mark. 

It was nice to have an end in sight, but then I really started to worry if the babies would be ready to come out or not. I was WAY uncomfortable at that point though, so I trusted the Dr. and sat there till the 5th. 

We started prep at 1:00 AM, not really how I wanted to spend my last night without triplets, but the nurse got busy with other deliveries, so that is when she came in to put in my IV. Then I got to sleep till 6:00 when the nurses came in to do more prepping. By 8:00 they were wheeling me bed and all down to the operating room. I was quickly taken in and given anesthesia. I was shaking a little at this point, but once they gave me the shots, I started shaking really bad. Carson thought I was faking because I was shaking so bad. It was weird to be laying there with my arms spread out to each side just shaking uncontrollably from the chest up. The Drs. were talking to me from the other side of the sheet that was so close to me it was hitting me in the face, they started cutting into me and commented on the fact that I still had some ab muscles, news to me since I hadn't been able to feel any for the last month or two and pretty soon 8:30 came around and little Emery Grace was pulled out. They brought her around the sheet to let me see. She was still purple and alien looking. Then they whisked her away to one of the three NICU teams that were waiting and ready. Next Braxton Smith made his appearance at 8:32, again he was brought over looking just as alien as Emery and then taken away. The process was repeated one more time as Korbin Daniel was born at 8:33. Carson, who had been sitting behind my head, got up to take some pictures. At this point they had taken the babies out of the room to care for them, so Carson slipped out the door to find them. Just a few short minutes later he was back with a baby in his arms telling me that Braxton was good to go to our room with us.

 I was still getting stitched up, and we already knew that one baby was perfectly healthy and ready to go!!!

 I was shocked, we had planned on spending weeks in the NICU with the babies. Pretty soon we found out that Korbin was also set to go to our room with us. We were thrilled. When they finished stitching me up they moved me back to my bed, a very strange feeling, like being thrown overboard. Then we headed back to our room. Dad and Marie were already there waiting to see the babies. Pretty soon little Emery joined us after her brief time on a respiratory machine. Kynlee showed up with Grandma Sue and Aunt Morgan. She was excited to meet her siblings, and she got to help Daddy feed Braxton his first bottle. At this point I am laying there numb and still shaking watching the babies get passed around. I was hoping they did not get them mixed up, because I had no idea who was who. The Grandmas were busy commenting who had what features from what family members and what color hair the babes have. I still had no idea what my babies looked like. The nurse gave me something for the shaking, but that just made me have hot flashes like crazy. That was about the time that the babies were piled on top of me for pictures. I felt so stupid because I could feel the sweat pooling on my face, and I couldn't move my arms to wipe it away, I just had to lay there and smile for the pictures that I knew would document my glistening face.

Soon we were moved to a tiny room upstairs. It was ridiculously small!!! There was hardly room for the bed, the three cribs, and a small couch. The babies had to be repositioned every time the nurses wanted to get to the computer, or whenever someone wanted to use the bathroom, it was a bit silly. At this point I finally got to hold the babies so we could start nursing. Unfortunately as soon as they raised my bed I felt awful, and it took everything I had not to pass out. The lactation consultant pretty much did everything and I just sat there trying to stay conscious. The babies caught on to nursing super fast. We could not have asked for better results with triplets. 

Finally things slowed down and I was able to really hold and look at my babies. To my surprise Braxton and Korbin did not look at all alike. Braxton had lighter hair and skin, while Carson and I wondered where this dark haired, dark skinned Korbin came from. Emery looked similar to Kynlee when she was born, just not quite as filled out. They were all as perfect as could be, and I could just sit and look at their little faces all day. 

That night the nurses had me get up to go to the bathroom, and I just have to say that a C-section is brutal. I thought I was going to rip in 2 pieces if I stood up straight. I may not have any more kids anyway, but if I knew that I had to have another C-section, I would most definitely not be having more kids. Lucky for me there is such thing as a VBAC.

The next day a photographer came and took beautiful pictures of our beautiful babes, we had more visitors, we loved on our new little ones, and just lounged around. By day 3 we were getting all prepped to go home the next day. I was feeling a bit unsure about leaving when the day finally came. It was hard to get up to go to the bathroom by myself, how was I supposed to take care of 3 new babies? Carson was way ready to get out of there, so we were leaving whether I felt ready to or not. When the time came we headed down to the car and started the 45 minute drive home. Except for 1 sneeze, the babes did not make a peep the whole way home, I even made Carson stop to check if they were OK at one point. 

We are so glad to be home with our sweet babies and to be reunited with Kynlee. She is a great big sister and she loves the babes (maybe too much), sometimes I think the hardest part about taking care of the babes is protecting them from big sister. 

We are so blessed to have such healthy babies. We could not have asked for a better outcome with triplets. We also have great family and friends who have helped us out a ton, we are so grateful for them. (Except if my Dad leaves one more cantaloupe in our fridge I might throw it at him). I am not sure why these babies came to earth together, this was definitely not the way that I pictured my life going, but we love them and we would not trade them for anything. 

Now you will be rewarded with many pictures of my beautiful babies if you have actually stuck it out this long in my post. 

Right before I went in for my C-Section. 

Kynlee and Daddy feeding Braxton a bottle.

Our first family photo. Not too much sweaty shine in this picture, but trust me, there are some other nice and shiny pics of me.

"Real Men Make Triplets"

Korbin, Emery, and Braxton

Dad and Marie with their hands full.

Tiny babes all ready to go home.

Korbin Daniel: 4 lbs 13 oz

Emery Grace: 4 lbs 10 oz

Braxton Smith: 5 lbs

Braxton, Emery, and Korbin

Braxton, Emery, and Korbin

Braxton, Emery and Korbin

30 tiny toes

Korbin, Emery, and Braxton

We love our cute little babes.