Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!
2 1/2 weeks and everyone is doing great! I promise I'll post more information soon, but for now, here are some halloween pictures of the boys - Alex, Logan & Nick!

Terrible Trio of Terror

Momma's Boys

The master & his padawans

This is one of dad's favorites - Alex's Pumpkin Pirate Posse Pose

They're finally here!

They're finally here! Alexander Baron and Logan Karl Bennington entered the world at 4:50 pm Sunday, October 14. Nicholas Andrew was only one minute behind.

Alex: 4 lbs, 9 oz. 17 3/4 inches long. Peed first. Blond and tiny.

Nick: 5 lbs, 10 oz. 18 inches long. Most hair.

Logan: 5 lbs, 3. oz. 19 1/4 inches long. Most problems. :)

In general, the boys are doing great. All the docs and nurses are really impressed they are in such good condition for triplets, but then they stayed in a very long time for triplets. They all had low blood sugar when they came out, so the docs gave them some sugar water to suck down and they were fine. Poor Logan, however, seems to have blown a hole in one of his lungs. Nothing serious, the docs say, and not uncommon. Something about their first cry when they come out and negative pressure sometimes pops a little whole. So they have Logan hooked up to an IV through his head of all places. Apparently this is actually a really good place to put it in babies because they can't get at it. Tiff and I have fed each of them at least once and have held all of them.

Tiffany is recovering pretty well. She's sore. And the pain meds they were giving her were making her itch, so she really didn't sleep well last night. They switched her to something else tonight. She's been up and walking around a little and when I left this evening she was taking a shower.

Everyone is due to come home on Thursday.

Tiffany's View of the Operation

The New Family

Plotting Against the Parents

The Nursery
(This may look like a lot of people, but there were more in the OR!)

Still Stuck in the Hospital

Well, that was a week ago and we’re now at 34 weeks (and it’s October)!!! The doctor came in and took me off the medication to stop the contractions. Basically we’re back to the wait-and-see game. It’s up to the boys (and how much more my uterus can take) on when it’s birthing time.

The past week has been rather uneventful. We had one scare earlier last week when the contractions got closer together, but after a quick exam, everything was fine. They turned up the meds over night, but I was back to normal by morning. Otherwise, they monitor the babies once a day now and contractions 3 times daily. I am on “bed rest with bathroom privileges” so I at least get to take a shower each day! I even got a facial yesterday!! They have a volunteer that comes around once a month to this floor to give complementary facials. That was a nice escape from the boredom.

Thanks to all the great visitors that have stopped by and called!! That helps pass the time too. Adam has been great bringing me my TV shows on VHS or downloading them from TIVO onto the laptop. They don’t have internet access here, so I’m definitely behind on my email (and of course this blog)! But, we’re hanging in there. We’ll try to keep updates a little more regular for you (reading this blog).

Here are some more pictures. The first is at 33 weeks (when I went into the hospital). The second is at 34 weeks.

In the Hospital

We had our doctor appointment at Maternal Fetal in Peoria today. This time mom came with me to see the sonos (and so Adam can save his vacation time for when the boys are here). Everything on the sonos looked good. With so much baby in there, it’s harder and harder to tell individual babies from one another. We couldn’t see faces very well as they were all intermingled with each other. The good news is that we have 3, 4 1/2 pound boys squirming around. The bad news is that my cervix is shortening even more. The “trap door” is still closed, but it isn’t as thick of a door to get through! The doctor, of course, was concerned about the shortening, so they put me on a monitor at the doctor’s office to see if I was contracting. No contractions, but he still wanted to admit me to the hospital. Mom brought me over and we got all settled in. They put me on monitors to track the babies’ heart rates and to check again for contractions. After being on the monitor for about 30 minutes, they said I had had 5 contractions in 15 minutes. They were very mild, short contractions and I could hardly tell I was having them.

Since the doctor would like for us to get to at least 34 weeks, they started giving me Magnesium Sulfate to stop the contractions. They also gave me a steroid injection to help stimulate the babies’ lung development (just in case). Now they will monitor the babies’ heart rates and my contractions daily. The average delivery of triplets is between 32 and 34 weeks and we’re at 33. Everyone at the hospital was saying “Wow – we can’t believe you’ve made it this long. That’s awesome!”

MOM and the Baby Limo

Mom came up today to go with me to the Bloomington-Normal Mothers of Multiples Club semi-annual garage sale. They have a big sale twice each year out at the interstate center and being an expecting mom, I was able to get in early on Friday night. The sale is usually open on Saturday to the public, but they open Friday for members and for other MOM organizations in the area. Yes, I’m still on bed rest, so mom got to push me around in a wheelchair. They definitely have tons of stuff from racks of clothes to games and toys to bigger items like car seats and strollers. Mom was excited about the triplet stroller we got (for only $25 – typically retails in the $300 – $500 range). It is obviously used, but still nice. Definitely not one to transport around in the car, but still good for around the neighborhood. Dad took some pictures of it with the different canopy configurations.

Baby Jack 'O Lantern

Okay… I guess that’s what I get for trying to wear a different outfit from the 4 or 5 I’ve worn all summer! “You look like a pumpkin!!” Sheesh – I realize I’m huge now, but really!! Okay, so after Brandon made the jack 'o lantern pieces, I guess I really do look like a pumpkin.


Oh well, I guess at 31 ½ weeks, pregnant with triplets, no mom is going to like the pictures taken of her. So, here’s more. The first one is about 29 weeks and the second one is 31 weeks.


Just 5 more weeks to go (or longer, but at least 5)! That will put us at 36 weeks and that’s the marker for when the doctors can deliver here in Bloomington. So far the boys are behaving themselves. I can only assume they are growing since my belly grows about 1-2 inches each week! This weekend they let Brandon, and my mom and dad to feel them kick. Typically, they quit kicking as soon as I say to someone “come feel, they’re kicking”. This weekend, they weren’t quite as shy. It could have had something to do with all the sugar I had this weekend too! Whatever works!

Our next doctor appointment in Peoria, where they’ll measure the boys again, is next week. Until then, not much more to report. We’re just hanging out around here taking it easy. All of the babies like to move around during the night, when they all start to attack each other. Gotta love sibling rivalry this early!!

Well, next week I should have a better update for you (hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday by the time I type it up). Until then, hope everyone is doing well!

Stay tuned… more to come!

Trap Door Still Closed

Can you believe it?! 2 posts in one day - bringing this blog up to date!!!

August 29th, 2007:
Today we had another doctor appointment with Maternal Fetal over in Peoria. It was supposed to be a quick cervix measurement, but they ended up measuring the babies too. Last week my cervix was showing signs of shortening. The shorter it is, the closer we are to delivering the babies. That’s not a good thing at this point. The longer the babies can stay inside, the better. I’ve been having weekly appointments to get my cervix measured. The Peoria docs had said once it goes below a certain threshold, they wanted to see me sooner than whenever my next appointment was. Well, my next appointment was supposed to be next week (September), so they scheduled another appointment for today – again, it was supposed to just measure the “trap door” as Adam calls it.

Well, when we got there, they went ahead and measured everybody. She started out trying to get 3D images of the babies’ faces. Baby B was participating quite nicely, but not so much for A and C. We did get some 2D pictures of them. The 3D imaging is awesome, but for triplets, it’s a little too good. It renders so much that we’d see one baby’s face and another one’s foot (in his brother’s face), so it was hard to get good pictures. That seemed to be the theme of today… Too many body parts and not enough room. Even when we could see Baby B’s face, Baby A’s foot was right there above it. Or Baby A and Baby C’s heads were always so close, it was hard to get good measurements. For example, the mustache (or pig nose as Adam calls it) on Baby B is really part of his umbilical cord shadow.

The good news… the boys are growing just right. They all weighed in at 3 lbs 1 oz or 3 lbs 2 ozs. That’s over 9 lbs of baby!!! They’ve all gained about a pound in 3 weeks. That’s a good sign. The bigger they are, the less chances for problems later!

Even mom measured well today! The cervix measurement was back up to where they like to see it. Although, the funny part of getting that measurement is while they were watching the cervix to make sure it didn’t change, Baby A literally punched at the cervix. They thought it was so funny that they took pictures. Unfortunately we didn’t get that one, but I guess they really are “knocking at the door” to get out. Just wait until October boys!! The doctor today even seemed positive that if we keep up like we are, we might make it to the point that we can deliver here in Bloomington. That would be awesome if the babies didn’t need special NICU care. We have to double check with our pediatrician (which we’re still picking) to see how far along we need to be before they’ll agree to deliver here in town.

Other than that, they said to keep up the bed rest. That gets easier each day. The bigger they get the more energy it takes to do the simple things. Even eating a meal tuckers me out! How sad is that?! Otherwise, I can’t complain too much. If I stand for too long, my back starts to hurt, but it could be so much worse! I can’t see my belly button (or toes) and getting out of comfy chairs takes a little longer, but again, 9 lbs of baby – and growing!!!