Well, that didn't go as planned!

Contraction!!!

VERY soon-to-be Mommy and Daddy

 Sooooooo, I woke up to go to the bathroom Wednesday morning and MY WATER BROKE!!The scheduler that I am, of course had not planned for such an event!  I started freaking out, Chris started running up and down the hall, after he informed me that my water had broken because he had dreamed about it that night (weird!).  I started throwing stuff in my hospital bag that was mostly packed, and we were off!
 The car ride there was the worst 45 minutes of my life at the time.  Looking back it is pretty entertaining and if we had it on film people would die laughing! We left the house around 7:45 so it was rush hour.  Chris did everything I asked him not to. The first thing he did was turned the flashers on, after I asked him not to because I knew that sound would make me nervous.  The entire ride there he kept trying to get on the shoulder, he honked and cussed out every single car we passed, screaming at them to get out of the way.  He acted like every car knew we were in labor and were purposely sitting there and not moving!  Needless to say, this was not the finest moment of our marriage!  We were yelling at eachother, when my sister called and came over the bluetooth in the car (you know our Oddyssey is pretty jazzy!) so she got to hear this.  I put her on my phone because she informed me that she was going to calm me down.  She had me close my eyes and took me to a Christmas village!!!  If you know Andrea, you know she LOVES anything Christmas!  It did take my mind off of my husband's insane driving, but didn't quite calm me down!

Once we got the hospital and got checked in it was around 8:30.  The prepped me and finished a scheduled C-section prior to mine and started mine at 11:00.  The babies were out as follows:

Molly Jo Lucas 11:18 am
4 lbs,13 oz. 17 3/4 in.

Mia (poor baby still has no middle name) Lucas
4 lbs, 13 oz.  17 3/4 in.

Max Christopher Lucas
5 lbs. 3 oz. 17 1/4 in.

Molly

So far the babies are doing AMAZING!  I have no words for what God continues to do in our lives.  The fact that I made it 34 weeks is amazing in itself. To have one healthy baby is a miracle and I have 3 healthy babies. I am overwhelmed with how blessed we are.

Mia

T

Max

 They have each lost a little bit of weight ,which is normal.  They also have a little biliruben, but not enough to be put under the lamp.  They also each have episodes of apnea and bradycardia. What happens is that they forget to breathe for 15-20 seconds (apnea) and their heart rate might slow down below 90 beats per minute, which is the bradycardia. I initially panic when this happens, but they self correct each time.  The doctors say it's completely normal for premature babies.  They are used to sucking in amniotic fluid and at 34 weeks are not quite ready to breathe the air, so sometimes they forget.  But, they all self correct and he would imagine that it will continue until they're term. Not one of them had to be intubated though, which again, is a miracle.
There is still no way to predict when they'll come home, but it should be around the 15th.  They must be maintaining their own temperatures, gaining weight, and not having any of the apnea or bradycardia episodes for a week.

I am feeling better and better each day.  I walked quite a bit today and the more I'm up and moving the easier it gets.  I had a rough start though.  The doctors explained that a c-section recovery for a singleton mom and a  multiple mom two very different things.  I was in the most excruciating pain that first couple of days and for some reason the pain meds were not working on me. So, they had to play around with those to figure out what worked for me.  Once we figured out the meds I've done much better.  I had also lost too much blood during the surgery, which is very common for multiples, so they've done 2 iron transfusions (a common replacement for a blood transfusion) because my hemoglobin was so low.  This, in addtion to the fact that I had 3 babies cut out of me is why I've had zero energy.
I am on the mend though. I've been moving around a lot today and was able to walk almost all the way to the NICU and back!!!
I should be discharged sometime tomorrow.  While I'm ready to get out of here, I cry every time I think about leaving without them.  I'm pretty sure I will need a sedative in order to leave.  I just have to keep things in perspective and remember that they are in the best place for them right now and they are soooooo very healthy, and I'm going to get to take them home so soon!

Our new family!!!

THANK YOU ALL for all of your well wishes.  We have such an amazing support system.  The power of prayer is an amazing thing. I know that we would not be as well off as we are without it.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

We love you all
XOXOXO