18 month check-up

I took the boys to their 18 month well check Tuesday. "Nanna" (MJ - the women who takes care of the boys once a week for me) went with me. It was absolutely crazy when we first got there.

As soon as I set Alex out of his stroller seat onto the ground in the exam room he started screaming. The other two fed off him and started crying too. I had to strip them down to their diapers to be weighed and measured, so we set to doing that. They screamed and screamed, cried and cried. I am starting to think that they know that the drs office is a "bad" place and you get poked every time you go there.

Anyway, we got the boys weighed. At 18 months old...
Alex weighs 23lbs 8oz
Grant is 23lbs 11oz (he lost weight)
Ethan is 18lbs 10oz (he gained, but only 10oz since Dec 19)

Alex is really doing the best over all. We only need him to be eating better (texture issues remember?) and then he will be GREAT!

Grant has an ear infection. His eczema is also flaring up and he has some infected sores. Poor guy. He has to take an antibiotic for the next 10 days then I have to take him back in. I hope he is all cleared up by then. He doesn't really act like he has an ear infection, so I don't think it is bothering him much.

We also have to take him in to get a renal ultrasound to make sure that one of his tubes from his kidneys to his bladder isn't enlarged anymore. It was slightly enlarged after birth and once they got out of the hospital, so hopefully it has gotten back to normal. I don't know what we do if it isn't normal. We'll just have to wait and see. I have to get that appointment scheduled soon.

Ethan is still my PEANUT!! He is on his own growth curve (meaning he is following the curve, but just in his own way) at about -20th percentile!! However, he has a HUGE head for his body size. His head is in the 40th percentile for ACTUAL age, not adjusted age!!

Since he isn't growing as fast as they would like, we are still pushing the calories. I am adding butter to their lunch and dinners. I just started adding some vegetable oil to parts of their lunch and dinner. He also gets Carnation instant breakfast in his milk. And, we are trying to transition him to a Pediasure a day (he doesn't like the taste of straight Pediasure, so we are trying to mix it like we did with the formula). I tried it today and it worked ok, so we'll see if I can get him to take just straight Pediasure here in the next couple of days.

We have to return to see the pulminologist for his breathing issues sometime in March. And I was supposed to schedule the PT to come out tomorrow, but didn't get it done, so maybe next week. We will finally be getting him on the right track to be able to walk soon.

Overall the boys are doing well. We could have things a LOT worse, or we could not be here at all. I thank God every day that these boys are here and I have the chance to be a mother to them.

As for other news, Grant is thisclose to walking. He will take a few steps or more by himself, but he falls down a lot still. When we try to get him to walk between James and I, Grant gets the giggles then doesn't concentrate on what he is doing. It is so cute.

They are all playing a lot more together and Alex is starting to pick up on some things that other kids are doing. He was playing with a little girl that is a few months older than he tonight at church. They were chasing each other, tackling each other, and tickling each other. It was so cute. I should have gotten a video, but didn't think about it until just now! :)

As for James and me....

James is loving his new job. He is keeping busy. He loves what he does though.

This weekend he gets to have the boys to himself! All to himself!! I am going to a women's retreat for the weekend. James gets to take care of the boys for the first time ever by himself, with no help!!! (He is going to be exhausted by the time I get home Sunday afternoon!)

I have also found a new friend. She has twins that are 6 months old and she goes to our church. We started walking together this week and found out that we have more in common with each other than just babies!!! She used to play soccer!! Hey, so did I!! She was extremely involved in our church as a youth and young adult and thought she was the poster-child for an ABC youth.... so did I!! We really do have a ton in common and I am so very thankful to have found a very good friend to be able to talk to, walk with, and commiserate about my kids to!!

I am so excited to be going on this retreat this weekend. It will be the first time I am away from the boys over night since May of last year when I went to my friend Amy's wedding. SO EXCITED!! Plus, the last time I went, I had a WONDERFUL experience. (And not to long after that, the miracle I had prayed for the entire time I was at the retreat came true). You can read about that last retreat in this post of mine titled "A Dose of Conviction". (It is an amazingly prophetic post... go read it!)

I know this was a long post. Glad you stuck with me! I am sorry but I don't have any pictures in this post. It is late and i haven't taken the pictures off my camera yet. I will do that as soon as I can tomorrow (or so) and try to get another post up soon!! So check back then.

I hope you all are having a great week. Love to all...
The Fischer 5

What a Roller-coaster Ride!!

So, I was totally excited for my growth check ultrasound Thursday. Everything on my side went really well. BP was good, weight gain was a bit on the high side but still good, and glucose/protein in the urine was negative. I am still without restrictions, which is a good thing. No bed rest yet.

The babies did fairly well. They all looked very good at first. Fluid levels were good, and they were all moving and kicking (they don't like to be poked and prodded.)

There is a slight problem with Baby C. He isn't growing as well as the twins. A month ago they were A-11 oz, B-12 oz, and C-8 oz. Thursday they were A-1lb 5oz, B-1 lb 7oz, and C-14oz. C was in the 9th percentile of where he should be. A month ago he was only 2 weeks behind his brothers in growth, and now he is 3 weeks behind.

The doctor, Dr. F just gave it to me straight. They are not sure why he isn't growing as well. She said it could be a couple things. It could be a placenta issue, where he isn't getting enough oxygen or something. It could also be a possibility of Downs (though he doesn't show signs of it any other way, such as the bridge of the nose, etc). They gave me the option of doing the amnio, but said that it could put everyone at risk for really premature birth. Plus, my nurse practitioner said unless we were planning on doing something (abort if the test is positive) then the amnio most likely isn't worth the risk. There may be the option of delivering early, if they have to, but only if it doesn't put A and B at risk.

James called our other doctor, Dr. P, today and he sounded WAY more optimistic that the other Dr. F. He said that he would almost completely rule out Downs and placenta problems because baby C is growing symmetrically. (Usually something like the stomach would be way off compared to everything else if that was the case.)

He didn't rule out possibly a genetic problem though. We haven't been able to get a good picture of C's heart yet (its hidden behind my belly button, and gets shadowed out) so there could possibly be a heart problem, which could make him small. He also said it could possibly be a different genetic issue, but those would have to be found out after ruling out the heart issues, and only through an amnio. He said the risk of the amnio isn't too bad since we are so far along (we will be 26 weeks at the next appointment). If the amnio does find something then, it may change the way they are treating me and all the babies.

James also asked Dr. P if there was a possibility that C was just small and behind the others, and he said that is very very likely and probably what is going on, but they just have to make sure on everything else.

So, I am feeling better today and we will be rescheduling our next appointment with him instead of Dr. F. Dr. P is the one we were referred there to anyway.

We are still needing all the prayers/thoughts/whatever that you can muster for my little guys in there. It was a hard Thursday but I have to trust that God is in control and He has a plan. Today is a new day, and we are all still doing well, so we just need C to grow! GROW C, GROW!!! (We do have a couple of ultrasound pictures of the three and profile of C-he was being very photogenic-so I will post those once I get them scanned in.)



Other than that, we had a great July 4th weekend. My parents stopped in town on their way back from California. I wish I could have been able to go, but alas, 3 babies keep me close to home. We hung out with my aunt, uncle and cousins on Friday and just chilled most of the weekend. Mom cleaned our loft for us, and now we have a nice big space for the babies to have tummy time, instead of having to move everything out of the living room downstairs for that.

We went to the fireworks on the 4th and sat fairly close. Actually, so close we had ashes and debris from the fireworks falling on us. It was very very fun though. My dad has some pictures of it that I will try to get and post soon.

The boys just jumped and kicked the entire time in my belly. I don't know if they didn't like it, or were kicking and dancing in approval. I am guessing they kept getting startled. It was fun to feel though.

My parents headed home Sunday morning and James and I went to church. I have found out that my voice has dropped almost a full octave, and I can no longer sing soprano, much less alto. Every hymn/praise song we sang I had to sing an octave lower. C below middle C is NO PROBLEM for me to hit right now. I am singing tenor with the best of them... I HOPE MY VOICE COMES BACK. I think it is probably all from the testosterone that is running through me right now from these boys!! :)


They loved hearing our pastor preach though. They were all awake at the same time and kicking and punching through the entire sermon. It was fun to see. Hopefully this is a sign that they will like sitting in church and listening!! :)

Well, I will wrap this up for now. I'll post pictures soon. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

I CAN'T WAIT TILL FRIDAY!!!

Friday is our BIG ultrasound!!! We get to see the babies again, of course, but we also get to find out what gender they are. What do you think they are???? I think they are 2 girls and a boy, but we'll just have to wait to see.

So, I finally broke down the other day and bought some real maternity clothes. I had just been using the belly bands to hold up pants and I had gotten some oversized clothes at Lane Bryant. Well, James and I went on a small shopping spree on Friday night (or was it Saturday... I dont remember exactly.) I found a Motherhood Maternity store that actually sells plus sized clothes in the store!!! (YIPPPEEEEE... I know who will be getting my business from now on.)

We had to go all the way over to Arvada (I think is where it is) to the Colorado Mills mall, which is an outlet mall. But, I got a pair of jeans, a swim suit (since I think I will probably spend as much time in the pool as possible) another belly band, and I think that was it right now. (The pants were on sale for $15, can't beat that!! The swim suit was only $30 too!!) I was so excited!

We also went to Lane Bryant where I found this really really really cute dress that I will be able to wear for a good length of my pregnancy. It is long and sleeveless, and has lots of room for me to grow! I am wearing it today and I broke down and took another belly pic in it. (I have a sweater on in the picture so you can't see the whole dress.) I know it isn't form fitting, but you can get the idea of how much I am growing. Take a look!

I am getting big, but since I am only 16 weeks right now, I know I will get much MUCH bigger!!

Oh, I should tell you about my adventure on Friday. I decided about 12:30 that I wanted Taco John's for lunch. The nearest TJ's to our house is about 15 minutes away, so I went and got myself two tacos and a small super potato ole! MMMMMM it was sooooooo good. I started driving home and remembered that I needed to stop by the bank, which I had just passed, so I circled around and went to the bank.

As I sat in the bank drive up, I get a call from my doctors office telling me that I am missing my 1:00 ultrasound. We had rescheduled the ultrasound from that day to May 8, so I told them so. They are the ones that forgot to delate it from their system. But they had forgotten to schedule me for an office visit on May 8, which they still had scheduled for that day, so they asked if I could get there by 2:00. Sure, I had nothing else to do! So I went to the doctors office.

I was very flustered by the time I got there. I had basicly made 2 huge circles in the car, and just ate a sodium filled lunch. They called me back and had me stand on the scale. I looked at the number and was frustrated because I didn't think it was high enough. (Last appoinment I was short 2 pounds.) But then they looked at my chart and I was right on track! PHEW... but not good for my blood pressure!

They took my BP, and it was 140/90! I about fell over. I told them "I just ate at Taco John's. Take it again before I leave and I promise you it will be going down." So, they did, and it went down to 130/82, still high, but decreasing! They weren't worried. They just said next time don't do that!

The appoinment went well, and I got to see the babies and hear all their heartbeats on their small ultrasound machine there in the office. It is not a high quality machine, but it did it's job. They looked really good. The nurse reassured me that at our next appointment, since we want to know gender, the ultrasound techs are really determined and will spend some amount of time finding out what they are!!!!!!!! I am soooooooooooo excited!!

Well, I suppose I should stop blabbing on and on and let you get back to whatever you may have been doing. I will post pictures and results as soon as I can Friday evening, so check then for more. Our appointment isn't until 3:00 pm, so don't panic (those of you I normally call or text) if I don't get to you until about 5:30 or 6:00. (This is also the ultrasound where they will do a full systems check on each baby, so it will take a while.)

Like I said, I will let you go. Remember to leave what you think the babies are in the comments section!! I can't wait to see your responses!

Waiting Game

James and I are waiting as patiently as possible for our next doctors appointment. It is this coming Wednesday with our new doctor, Dr. Porreco. We both hope and pray that this appointment will go well. We were told that if we could make it to around 10 weeks with all 3 we most likely would carry all 3 till birth. I pray that all three are still thriving and healthy.

I have been feeling pretty good. I am still stinking nauseous, but I guess that is better than worshiping the porcelin god all the time. I have yet to do that. I am hoping it stays away. I have been cramping some, but nothing big, nothing long, and I am thinking it is just the stretching of the uterus.

I have a request of you. If you would like this to send you an automatic update when I post a new post, would you leave a comment with your email address. I have changed the comments so they have to be approved by me first before they are seen, so if you just give me your email address, I won't post that comment. If you leave another comment I will post that though. I hope that isn't confusing for you all. (You can also send me an email if you know my email address).

So, I'll update after our doctors appointment. Ta ta for now, and as always, your prayers are appreciated.