Triplet Update - A few photos posted 11/16 on page 11

Thanks so much for all the good wishes and congratulations and prayers, everyone. It really is exciting. I have a loose plan to head out there when the time comes, and the shower date is already set, so we'll be spending time there probably at least three times this year. I should qualify for FMLA for my daughter if she needs assistance (not for the babies, but for her), and she probably will, so I will try to work something out for that where I work remotely for at least a few weeks, a few hours a day when I can. The entire family is lining up to offer help and I know it means a lot to my daughter. Patter, you were the first person I thought of when another daughter called to tell me when I didn't respond quickly enough to the family WhatsApp breaking news. I was at work, and I don't usually hang out on my phone at my work. I was so completely shocked and overwhelmed that I just walked down the hall and told every female coworker I ran into, along with "I don't know what to do." I was just so shocked and of course, immediately worried about my daughter.

Three 8+ pound babies, WOW. That's truly amazing and wonderful.

She got her blood test back and it ruled out genetic anomalies as well as confirmed the presence of at least one Y chromosome, although it's apparently not reliable to predict gender when it's triplets. But they can tell it's a pair of identicals and then another one, which is really neat.

She's in great hands, has already been transferred to the high-risk civilian docs in the area. I've kept up with NICU stuff over the years and I am aware there are tons of advancements--but also aware how high risk this is. She's doing great, though, and is very healthy. She worked on prepping her body for pregnancy for almost a year before they decided to start trying to get pregnant in December.

The babies are actually due on my birthday, though there's no way she will hit a full 40 weeks. I just thought that was really cool. I already have my grandma name, because I have a "practice" grandchild, who is my oldest daughter's boyfriend's son. He's been in our lives for almost 8 years and is such a great kid. He just turned 14. I didn't want to ruffle either of his biological grandmothers' feathers so that's how we set it up, that he can be my practice grandchild, as he told me right away he would call me grandma and I thought that might not go over real well with the actual grandmas. So my grandma name is G. It's the simplest thing I could come up with, and having a name that most people have mispronounced for my whole life, simple seems like a great idea.

Thanks again for all the good wishes. Every morning when we get up, my husband and I look at each other and go O M G.

Hi! It's been a bit over a month so I thought I'd come back with an update.

I think tomorrow is either 18 or 19 weeks, so that's great. My daughter is doing well, and has been transferred to a shore tour.

She found out the genders: Two girls and a boy!!! The girls are identical. I think they worked out names this weekend and I am a fan of all the names. Lots and lots of names. There's even a Z in one, so that's great for my lonely Zs in my alphabet stickers and stamps.

The due date is technically late September on my birthday as I think I mentioned, but the OB has told her she will be delivering between weeks 33 and 34 if she makes it that far. That's around the first week of August or so.

There's a baby shower in June, which my husband and I will fly out for, and then the plan is to drive cross-country for the scheduled C-section if she makes it, and go get on a plane with a one-way ticket if she doesn't, as soon as we get the call. If we fly there, we think we can probably drive back. This is a bucket list item for us that we were not expecting to fulfill for at least several more years, so I'm making some related plans for that. We think we'll be spending at least a month in San Diego this summer, and I'll work as much as I am able to remotely. I have all that worked out and approved.

I'm still pretty freaked out, but thrilled for my daughter and son-in-law that she is doing so well. She is SO excited and has a wonderful outlook on all of this. So does my son-in-law. I'm really proud of both of them.