its been a long long few weeks. We had a few pre term labor scares with our 2 year old, but he made it to 36 weeks with just some modified bed rest at home.
The triplets have been a 'strict bed rest, take your metformin, take your aspirin, get doctors appointments every week' ordeal.

I am grateful every day that the industry I am in self insures. We use blue cross blue shield of Illinois provider list, but our bills go strait to the industry benefit fund, and they cut the checks to the doctors. I do not pay a premium out of pocket, it is a negotiated benefit that it paid directly to the fund as a cut of my total hourly pay package. So I pay it, it jsut never gets seen by me, and I cannot opt out of it. When I was single, this pissed me off, as I never met my deductible, even though it was only like $300 for a single guy.

Now? we met the 600 family deductible in... the first week of January. Now? we have paid out of pocket the $50 copay's for the couple of ER visits for fluids, etc for the wife, but all the other admissions were strait to labor and delivery for pre term labor. My insurance is 300 per person/600 cap per family deductible, $50 ER copay, 100% coverage of most care after that. The premiums paid out of our hourly wage add up to like 25k a year. This year I will definitely get my moneys worth out of them.

7/2/2014 10:16:06 PM

that's awesome.

7/2/2014 11:52:17 PM

^^ $25k

Damn dude, that's > $2k/month in premiums. I mean you've got some great coverage so I guess it's worth it, but are you all buying on the open market or something?

7/3/2014 12:26:52 AM

I hit my deductible in January, preterm labor 4 days in the hospital, 2 months of strict bed rest, doctors visits every week (some weeks more than once), then after delivery in March I hit my max out of pocket. But, all that adds up to 7.5K.

I'd love to know how it goes with taking the metformin through the whole pregnancy. I have PCOS and they took me off after the first trimester and I hadnt gained one pound and when I went off I gained about 10 pounds the first week. Ended up gaining over 50 pounds between that and bed rest. Luckily (hah) my thyroid fucked up and ive already lost 45.

[Edited on July 3, 2014 at 7:55 AM. Reason : .]

7/3/2014 7:52:54 AM

Sheeeeeewwwwwwwwww. glad you have the coverage, hope those babies stay in and cook a little longer. Are they planning to deliver at 37 weeks?

So far I haven't paid but $10 for fmla filing. after looking at my benefits I think we calculated something like $1000 out of pocket after everything as long as things go ok. I love my job.

7/4/2014 9:07:36 AM

The way our industry is set up, 90% or so of the employees are unionized. All of the signatory companies have reps on the board of the benefit office, as well as the union having a rep. there is an annuity fund, a pension fund, an education fund, and an insurance fund.

The companies pay into each of the funds as a per hour worked by the employee cost on their end. You must work an average of 100 hours per month to maintain eligibility for the health insurance. A 'normal' work month, with no time off and no overtime is ~170 hours, give or take. the health plan pay in is ~12.50 per hour worked by the employee. This includes payment for the seperate dental, vision, and counseling care coverage, not solely for the direct medical benefit.

We, as an industry are considered a 'high risk' industry. We even have whole sections of the normal workplace safety regs that we are exempted from, as following them creates a greater hazard. thus the industry for the most part moved over the the self insured benefit plan model. If healthcare costs rise too fast, the increase in what the plan gets tends to eat any proposed raise in actual take home hourly pay, however the extensive coverage and the low deductible makes it an overall good deal for those with health issues or with familys.

every day at work I deal with : Fall hazards, crush hazards, high voltage, mechanical and hydraulic stored energy, hazardous substances including ACM on many older jobsites. This long term work environment made it almost impossible, due to the long term effects on workers health, for the companies to source an outside insurance company.

7/4/2014 11:11:22 AM

My wife has still not gained back up to her pre pregancy weight. Babies combined weight as of the last growth scan a week ago was ~ 15 pounds. They plan to c-Section on the 22nd if nothing else changes, that being right at 35 weeks. That will be at the 39 days non stop in the hospital point. That will put the total between bedrest, visits with preterm labor, and the time post partum recovering at ~ 60 days total by the time all is said and done.

7/4/2014 11:14:46 AM

http://seemiracleseveryday.blogspot.com/ is the blog my wife started to help talk about her struggles with this pregnancy.

7/4/2014 6:02:25 PM

^^are you saying that she is pregnant with triplets and weighs less than she did before getting pregnant?

7/4/2014 9:58:50 PM

she is 32 weeks 3 days pregnant with triplets, and her current weight is 20 lb LOWER than her weight when we found out she was pregnant. She had morning sickness more or less from week 1 to week 20+, even with multiple drugs to combat it. it has basically burned fat off of her body, and she is still having trouble being able to eat enough to keep up with them, as once the morning sickness was over, they were big enough to compress her gut and stomach, making it hard for her to eat anything other than small amounts.

[Edited on July 4, 2014 at 10:26 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/4/2014 10:22:57 PM

Haven't been to this thread in awhile. We are expecting baby #2 February 9, 2015

The wife has been struggling with nausea and morning sickness for awhile now but she is still only at 8-9 weeks. Hopefully it is nothing like ^kylekatern's wife is going through.

7/7/2014 2:22:40 PM

My grandmother suggested cantaloupe for morning sickness and I think it really helped.

7/7/2014 2:29:34 PM

^^ i'd wait until the 'magical' 12 week mark hits before going too far on the announcing

7/7/2014 3:26:34 PM

^ We were going to wait but my wife was battling nausea a lot and we knew folks were going to start figuring it out. Especially all her friends at work.

7/7/2014 9:14:21 PM

I was like kylekatern's wife. I had to fight to stay out of the hospital my last trimester. Ensure over ice with a straw was all I could keep down.

[Edited on July 7, 2014 at 11:02 PM. Reason : .]

7/7/2014 10:59:21 PM

she went to a doctors apt back on June 13th and got told 'your labs and BP are higher than we would like, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go check in at wake med'

So she went and had lunch at farmers market, then got checked in at wake med.

I think that after all these days there, once she and the girls are all done and come home, she will not want to be seen back at wake med unless she goes there in an ambulance. Being cooped up in a place can make you hate it.

7/8/2014 5:50:31 PM

I was on hospitalized bedrest for 4 days at Rex and I wanted to pull my hair out. I cannot imagine staying any longer. The nurses were awesome and the food was fantastic though. My room had a lovely view of a roof. The cleaning staff promised me a new room if I had to stay the weekend but my specialist convinced my OB to let me go home Friday.

7/9/2014 1:18:29 PM

Don't want kids, but I would like to be prepared. Should I take a lamaze class or something? Or should I wait for the day when she throws up and the pen has four right angles?

Also, does anyone know if Japan makes pregnancy tests using the Plus & Minus Pokemon (sorta Pika-looking) from way back when?

7/14/2014 11:30:48 AM

Passed my diabetes test! Surprised because we found out our dog had passed away the night before a few minutes before we had to leave for the test. We were in such shock that we went to the appointment, and I broke down crying like fifty million times during the hour there. They were all super nice and let us stay in a room instead of the waiting area. Terrible day but glad it's over

I had the orange drink and it tasted like flat sun kist.

7/16/2014 7:40:44 PM

We were going to take birthing classes, but I've been working with kids for years so we were going to skip the parenting classes. Bed rest ruined that, but we survived. The most important thing was we knew the staff and the hospital due to the earlier 4 day stay. A tour is a must in my opinion.

7/17/2014 10:17:43 AM

We're taking a tour of WakeMed Cary this weekend. The wife also signed us up for Birth and Labor Ed, Newborn Basics, and CPR. Probably overkill for us to do all of that but I guess it doesn't hurt anything.

7/17/2014 3:50:31 PM

I've got my infant CPR and first aid certification already or I would have done that as well.

7/17/2014 7:34:52 PM

If you take the birthing class at Rex, they give you a tour of the labor/delivery rooms in the first class

7/17/2014 9:36:04 PM

Wife posted a new update this week, next update will probably be after we get the babies home. C section in 72 hours and counting.

http://seemiracleseveryday.blogspot.com/2014/07/week-34-still-pregnant-still.html

Quote :

"Week 34: Still pregnant, Still hospitalized 34 weeks. This was a goal I never really thought I would make. This week was a mostly quiet week compared to last week. I had a few visitors and such. I was a little more sad because I did not get near as much time with Jerimiah as I usually do, because Natalie was gone to HSP (Highland Service Project.) This is the first year I didn't go to family night at HSP to celebrate with her, so that felt bad too."

7/19/2014 8:44:56 AM

Went up and spent the night at the hospital. Babies are doing well, so is Tiffany.

Now I just have to face making it to work tomorrow, then back up to spend Monday night with Tiff, and see her wheeled in for the C-section at 8:30 am on Tuesday.

7/20/2014 4:15:40 PM

Wow getting close now! Good luck!

7/20/2014 4:33:40 PM

17 weeks and 1 day. woot!

7/21/2014 12:01:50 PM

^^^ Best of luck.

7/23/2014 6:15:32 PM

Wow, its been a long 36 hours.

C-Section prep started at 6:50 am on Tuesday, July 22. We expected prep to be starting at 7. so I was not fully awake yet. At ~ 7:45 they got done with prep, and wheeled Tiffany back to start prep in the OR and get anesthesia set up.

I got into a set of surgical scrubs and got told they would call me when the doctors got ready, should be around 8:30

At 8:10 they came and got me, pulled me through a crowded OR to a stool at my wife's head, and they parked me there. By 8:27 all 3 babies were out, crying, and getting prepped to transfer over to NICU.

Sophia 6 lb 14 oz 19 inches
Meredith 6 lb 1 oz 19 inches
Penelope 5 lb 14 oz 18.75 inches

The babies are all doing well. they started on room air CPAP via a nose piece, the smallest was off of CPAP within an hour of making it to the NICU. The 2 other girls have been breathing on their own now, no CPAP, since this morning.

Tiffany is felling better, they are letting her eat today, where as yesterday was a clear liquid day. They got all the catheter and iv and stuff gone, she is down to just having an iv set in one arm, with no bag or line, just in case. She has been going down to the NICU in a wheelchair and getting to hold and nurse the little ones. She is a trooper. She has put up with more, and gone through more in this one pregnancy than I think will go through in a lifetime. I am just in awe of all the work she put in to get the 3 cute little girls so big and so strong.

7/23/2014 7:14:21 PM

Congratulations! Those are big girls for triplets, and I am impressed they are already all breathing on their own. Love the names too.

7/24/2014 9:39:21 AM

^^ That's fantastic and the weights are amazing. Both of my twins (induced vaginal birth @ 37.5 weeks) weighed less than the smallest of your girls.

7/24/2014 11:34:53 AM

awww congrats!

can't wait for pics of your baby girls!

7/24/2014 4:08:48 PM

Wow, great news! Congratulations!

7/24/2014 7:25:44 PM

Congratulations! One of your triplets was only 1.5 ounces smaller than my baby.

7/24/2014 10:04:39 PM

Awesome! Congrats. beautiful names too

7/24/2014 10:35:58 PM

¡Felicidades!

7/25/2014 10:38:26 AM

COngrats! It is great everyone is doing so well!

7/25/2014 10:32:29 PM

Congrats kylekatern. Our one baby was 6 lbs even.

7/29/2014 1:38:11 PM

Pics!!

I know, I know, you're probably busy but come on! Whenever you get a free second or something.

7/29/2014 8:14:16 PM

Kylekatern I believe I spy your triplets on a photographers Facebook page my friend just linked me too. Super cute!

8/15/2014 10:21:51 AM

Kiwi. Where is dat baby?

9/19/2014 10:12:25 AM

third trimester next week....here we go!

9/19/2014 5:56:10 PM

That's a good question! 38 weeks today. But the way things are progressing I'm thinking he'll be here sooner than later!

9/20/2014 7:08:07 PM

Good luck! First babies could stay in until 42 weeks! but I hope for your sake he is right on time.

9/21/2014 9:41:40 AM

Goodness knows I am a very rare poster anywhere on TWW, but I am now at 28 weeks....so in less than 3 months chembob is going to become a daddy!

I have been super lucky thus far. My blood pressure is staying where it should, I passed the glucose test with flying colors, and the little minion is kicking away. We can't wait!

9/26/2014 1:56:32 PM

^nice! congrats! we're at 26 weeks and the kicking is seemingly increasing with every passing day.

9/26/2014 3:22:08 PM

Congrats guys! I'll be 39weeks tomorrow and patiently waiting for little bubs to make his appearance. I'm definitely getting the warm up labor but nothing progressing yet. We can't wait to meet him, apparently he's comfy in there even though he is definitely running out of room. Shew!

9/26/2014 3:29:41 PM

Well, my wife is now at 5 weeks.
We passed the pee stick test, twice, with flying colors.
We are not telling the real world for another month, but figured I would post here.

We had been trying for about 2 months, then decided we would wait till next year.
As soon as we decided to wait...

Based on her family history, trying for 5 years was what we were expecting, not success on the first go-around.

Now I need to start learning.

9/27/2014 10:59:35 AM

time to read the baby books

9/27/2014 7:25:27 PM

^^congrats!!! advice....don't go all in until after the first ultrasound.

9/29/2014 12:40:32 PM