The birth update

On October 9th, McKenna, Parker, and Hadley (in order of appearance) were born. All were doing well and then suddenly, on October 11th, we lost Hadley. Please, please continue to hold the strong, beautiful little Watson family in your prayers. We are grateful for all your thoughts and ask that you give Jessica and Mark their privacy right now.
Carol

And now...a birthday!!!

McKenna Karen, Parker Murphy, and Hadley Jane (in order of arrival) were born late Tuesday night. All are doing well despite their tiny sizes, it is like looking at a miracle x three. The first time father is running back and forth from NICU to his wife and holding up like a champion. Jessica is improving and got to touch her little ones this morning. I have never been so proud of her in my life. Bruce and I are overwhelmed with the love, prayers, and support.

27 weeks today

Today is 27 weeks, just a week away from our next big goal of 28. Our growth scan was today and the girls are 1 lb 15 oz each followed by their brother who is 1 lb 10 oz. They all showed great lung development, heart function and blood flow so things with the babies are going as good as they could be.

I'm posting a tummy picture after many requests. I am growing by the day at this point, I can't believe I can grow this quickly and that there is still room for more!

Thanks as always for your prayers and well wishes,

Jessica

26 week update

26 weeks yesterday and the babies are still doing great! We've been in the hospital for 6 weeks now. I don't think anyone thought we would get this far when I was admitted. The babies are growing and growing and growing. As big as I am starting to get, it is so encouraging to watch my stomach expand and to know that they are getting stronger everyday and will be here before we know it.
As always, everyone in the family has been so supportive, helping with Ashlyn everyday. She is hanging in there and had been handling all of this so well. Mark is doing great too. He is so supportive and gets me through all of the emotional ups and downs of being in the hospital.... dealing with 3 criers should be no problem for him after this. He is working on the nursery now while I shop online to stock up on the last of things we need. I think our house has become a daily UPS stop :)

Thanks for all of your support and prayers,

Jessica and the babies

Everyone's growing!

We had our 25 week growth scan today and everyone is doing great. All babies have normal heartrates, lung function and are growing perfectly. Baby boy A is 1 lb 4 oz, baby girl B is 1 lb 7 oz and baby girl C is 1 lb 8 oz. All of the doctors are very happy will how well they are progressing and are amazed that all three babies are doing so well. Things are getting pretty squished in there though, watching them through ultrasound now, you can see them kicking and swinging their arms at each other trying to find a little room. I can't believe they have so much longer to go. No wonder why I have so many contractions, they are probably dying to get out!

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. These babies are certainly blessed with wonderful friends and family!

Jessica

24 weeks and counting

We have finally made it to 24 weeks. When I was admitted four weeks ago we weren't sure we would get to this point (and it seemed so far away!) but we have. Getting this far will give our little ones a much better chance and everyday from here on out is just one more day for them to grow and get stronger.

Thanks so much to everyone for their prayers, support and help. We couldn't do it without you.

Love,

Mark, Jessica, Ashlyn and the babies

Nana's Prayers

Ashlyn, Bruce & I just left the hospital after visiting Jessica, Mark, and the tiny little Watson Three. Jessica's spirit and sense of humor are nothing short of remarkable. Mark hovers protectively every day, and Ashlyn...she misses her mom but we are keeping her busy, or she is keeping us busy.
Over three weeks in the hospital and I am convinced that all our wonderful, wonderful friends and relatives prayers, as well as some special intervention from Grandpa Riney in heaven, are keeping the babies where they need to be. The triplets are in for quite a life with such great parents and a host of relatives, all just waiting and praying...thanks to all of you!!

The Baby Map

Last night I had a great visit from Ashlyn, my parents and Brett. Ashlyn and my mom decided that we should make a map out of my stomach to show everyone where each baby is so with a little help from lipstick, you can see in the pictures where everyone is at along with big sister Ashlyn's cute new haircut.

Jessica

Some good news... finally

I am happy to be able to finally post with some good news. Today the cardiologist came in to do an echocardiogram on Baby B. As Mark posted last week, there was a concern that she may have a ventricular septal defect (VSD). Well after a long look at her tiny heart the cardiologist did not feel that she has VSD and said we do not have anything to worry about. They also checked my cervix length and, although I don't have much left, is had remained unchanged for 2 weeks now despite all of my contractions. Dr. Kazzi, our perinatologist, was very happy and seems to think we have a good chance at getting to 28 weeks. This Friday they will begin giving me steriod injections to help speed up the babies' lung development and then we will meet with the NICU team on Monday so that they can explain what to expect when the babies do get here.

Tomorrow will be 23 weeks and we are feeling more hopeful with our good reports today. Mark has lots of projects now to get the house ready for the babies and I am starting my online shopping :) The good news was such a nice boost! Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts, prayers and support.

Jessica

my wife is making me write in the BLOG

Jess is still in the Hospital and is the strongest person I know. It's been two weeks and a day in bed. The news lately has been mixed. All three babies are doing well. However, we did get news that one of the girls might have vsd (ventricular septum disorder). A specialist will be here wednesday. The doctors have said not to worry. Other than that, the babies weights are great and seem to be as healthy as they can be. Last Wednesdays ultasound indicated that the babies weigh (baby A) 1 pound, (baby B) 1 pound 2 ounces and (baby C) is 1 pound. FYI-(A) is my boy and (b) and (C) are the girls. Jess is in good spirits, but she misses home! I miss her at home! The doctors and nurses have been taking great care of her. We are fortunate to have Grandma (aka Nanna) and Grandpa (aka Pappa) in our lives. They are best. They have been taking care of Ashlyn. As you can imagine, Ashlyn misses her mom at home. Thank you Nanna and Pappa for everything!!!

Mark

Still Here...

Well, we are still here. I've been in the hospital for about a week and a half now and we're still hanging on. Our tests this week showed that the babies are doing great but my cervix continues to shorten and I continue to have contractions. So, unfortunately, we are still holding our breath.

Everyone has been so wonderful. My mom has coordinated care for Ashlyn so she has been traveling through the family since I got here. She has visited quite a bit and even got to spend the night once so it doing pretty well.

The babies are growing so quickly now, especially will me laying still all day, although it is pretty hard to get in all the calories I need from hospital food :P Mark has been wonderful, bringing me lunch from outside this place, staying with me, keeping me sane (well trying anyway). He has done more than I could have ever asked for. Even though this is a rough time it has showed me how lucky I truly am.

Hope to post with pictures soon, no camera here yet!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers,

Jessica

In the hospital

Unfortunately we are in the hospital now. On Friday I came in for my regular check up and things didn't look good. My doctor immediately admitted me and before I was even in my hospital room I started having regular contractions. After a long weekend of medication and bed rest things are looking a little better but it doesn't sound like I will be leaving here any time soon. We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers... we really need them right now! The babies are doing great, it's just keeping them in that is the hard part right now. Our next goal is to make it until September 7 which would give the babies a chance to survive.

Mark has been wonderful at taking care of me and Ashlyn is adjusting to days without Mom (probably better than I am). Many thanks to everyone who has been helping with her this week. We could not get through this without our friends and family!

Hope to post with better news soon,

Jessica

Catching up

Well so far I am not very good at posting regularly but now that I have to stay sitting for most of my day I should get better at this!

We have had an eventful few weeks. At 18 weeks we, unfortunately, had to take our first trip to Labor & Delivery. I had contractions that would not stop so we spent an evening there. Luckily they were able to get my contractions under control and the babies all were doing great so we were able to come home late that night. Many thanks to Anne and Aunt Marianne for keeping Ashlyn entertained. She was so happy with her night of sushi, toys r us and fun with her cousins that she was unphased by my first visit to the hospital. So thank you, thank you, thank you, I don't know what we would have done without your help!

Later that week we had our level 2 ultrasound, which checks for any abnormalities in the babies organs and overall development thus far, and all 3 were perfect. Now they just have to stay in there as long as possible. They were also able to confirm that baby A is a boy and babies B & C are girls so 1 boy and 2 girls for us, next we just have to agree on names and we will be all set. I have posted a few ultrasound pictures, it is amazing how fast they grow!

At 19 weeks we ended up in Labor & Delivery again with more contractions. After a few hours of iv fluids and meds they let us go home but with strict orders for me to stay off my feet. So now I'm adjusting to staying still all the time which is not easy. Mark and Ashlyn are taking good care of me though and Ashlyn is keeping me occupied with lots of board games. I think she is enjoying my rest much more than I am. We have a long way to go before these babies can be born healthy so every day without a trip to the hospital is a good one at this point!

Message from Ashlyn

Here is a picture I took of my mom's belly today at almost 17 weeks. I can't wait to be the big sister but I am going to be sad that I won't get to see them all day long when I'm at school. I won't get to play with them a lot because I will be doing my homework. I've been an only child at home my whole life so this will be interesting. I will write again soon. I will be 12 next time you hear from me.

Almost 17 weeks

We have decided to create a blog to keep everyone up-to-date on our pregnancy with the triplets. I will try to keep it updated and add ultrasound pictures and any other updates as they come and if I'm brave, a belly shot or two!

Here are pics from our 16 week 4-d ultrasound. The actual ultrasound was amazing, like having a videocamera right inside of my stomach.

Hopefully you can see the pictures clearly... the top picture shows babies A & B cuddling together, the second is a group picture and the third is a solo shot of baby A. It was hard to get baby C to stay still for a picture, I think he or she may be our wild one!