The 28-week milestone!!!

Well we've hit it! 28 weeks. As of today (Tuesday) I am offically 28 weeks, 3 days pregnant, about 7 months along. The best news of all is that, according to our specialist, at this point all the babies would survive, and with about 80-90% likelihood none would face any major handicap or serious long-term health issues if they were to be born now. Every day from here on out is "gravy," as the doctor put it, and will significantly reduce their stay in the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit). We're not completely out of the woods though, as an extended stay in the NICU can have its own ill effects such as lung issues from prolonged oxygen administration, infections from IVs, feeding challenges from being fed through a tube until they develop their sucking reflex, and so on. The kids are growing like little weeds: Babies A and B are both 2 lbs 14 oz, and Baby C is 2 lbs 13 oz. That's nearly nine pounds of baby I'm carrying around!!! While their size is great, the most important thing if they were born early, and what we can't see via ultrasound, is their lung development. So we continue to pray for strong, healthy lungs. Starting this week, the doctors will be tracking the babies and me much more closely. I will have appointments twice a week. On Mondays I will have an ultrasound and will be monitored for about 45 minutes for the stability of the babies' heartrates and whether I'm having contractions. On Thursdays they will repeat the ultrasound and monitoring, plus have a regular OB check up for all the "other stuff" like my weight, etc. This Monday they did the ultrasound and monitoring and for the most part all is looking good. It seems that the contractions I was experiencing late last week and caused our little scare (see entry before this one) are continuing. The doctor suspects it's being caused by an irritable uterus and at this point is not causing me to dilate or go into pre-term labor, but was sufficiently concerned enough to put me on some medication to hopefuly "calm" the uterus. Since there's no doubt at this point that we've got three little Burkes coming into this world very soon, we finally got out and did our mini-van shopping last weekend. And while we both know how very un-cool mini-vans are, wow do they have some cool gadgets! We ended up purchasing a fully loaded Honda Odessy, with every bell and whistle you can possibly imagine. It's got automatic side doors and rear hatch, a navigation system, DVD player...it even tells you when your tire pressure is low and how many miles to go until your gas tank is empty! It's on the production line right now and will be delivered before the end of the month. Now we just have to figure out how to install the car seats correctly...one "to do" gets checked off, and other one appears! We're also deep into our hunt for a nanny and trying to get started on the nursery...more on those things next time. Gotta give you a reason to check back! :-) No pictures this time - but I promise to include a picture of the monitoring they do in one of the future updates. It's pretty funny. There's a monitor for each baby, one for tracking the contractions, and usually two nurses tending to all of this. The miracle of technology!