17 weeks!

Turnips!

I missed a week, but we are all doing well. This week's doctor appointment was great, especially because my blood pressure really dropped! Last appointment it was 142/76... This time, 118/72. If it goes much lower, she'll have to take me off of the BP pills... During pregnancy blood pressure has a natural tendency to raise in the first trimester, lower in the second, and then raise again in the third. If she does take me off of the pills, I may have to go back on them, later... but as long as everyone's healthy, I'm okay with that :)

I'm feeling the babies a little more this week, but still not often. It's mainly when I'm laying quietly.

Our anatomy scan is July 2. It'll be an hour and a half to two hours of uninterrupted staring at baby time :)

Speaking of anatomy... we saw a lot of anatomy this week! The tech wouldn't take incriminating photos because it's not our anatomy scan, and basically told us she's officially 80% sure, but unofficially... "90%, no, 100% sure." yay!


How far along? 17 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss? About 20 lbs as of our last appointment
Maternity clothes? Definitely
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: better, but still tossing & turning frequently
Best moment this week: Baby bits!
Movement: A little bit!
Food cravings: Still sweets.
Sexes: Secrets, secrets!
Names: Secrets, secrets!
Labor signs: nadda
Belly button in or out? In
What I miss: sleeping on my belly... walking & doing stairs without feeling like death
What I am looking forward to: announcing the sexes!
Weekly wisdom: Yoga pants are a lady's best friend

15 weeks

Apples!

I also started to feel our little apples move for the first time this week!

We had a prenatal appointment this week, mainly to check out my blood pressure (good) and the baby's heartbeats (good.) I have to do the glucose test before my next scheduled appointment... in 2 weeks. I went today to have it done, but the doctor never put the order in! So frustrating. I hear it's awful, so I wanted to just get it over with. Sigh.

I asked the doctor if we could try to determine sexes at our next appointment (17 weeks.) She said we could try, but anatomy scan wouldn't be until 19 weeks... I don't want to wait another month! I'm so anxious!

We are currently in the process of painting the room... the second coat is going on today. Once it's painted, we can build the furniture, lay the rug, hang blinds & rods... the valances and some of the décor are on order. So exciting!

 

How far along? 15 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss? About 18 lbs as of our last appointment
Maternity clothes? For sure. The few items I tried to wear this week that aren't maternity, are highly uncomfortable.
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: lots of tossing & turning to get comfortable. I just want to sleep on my belly!
Best moment this week: Feeling the babies move for the first time!
Movement: A little bit!
Food cravings: Still sweets.
Sexes: tba! Hopefully soon :)
Names: still a short list :)
Labor signs: nadda
Belly button in or out? In
What I miss: sleeping on my belly... ordered a Diet Coke when I'm out to dinner
What I am looking forward to: finding out the sexes!
Weekly wisdom: Babies love a good decaf caramel macchiato in the morning :)

14 weeks!

Lemons! They're getting so big!

I'm starting to show this week (I'll upload a picture later) which is pretty exciting. I'm definitely feeling pregnant though... Having a hard time breathing while I'm walking, etc. 

Our next appointment is next Thursday... I can't wait to see them again :) and sometimes you can even find out the sex at 15 weeks! Not holding my breath, but that would be so exciting!

How far along? 14 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss? About 15 lbs as of our last appointment
Maternity clothes? Let's put it this way... The few items I'm wearing that aren't maternity are getting highly uncomfortable (there's a noticeable change from last week
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: lots of tossing & turning to get comfortable. I just want to sleep on my belly!
Best moment this week: got our nursery furniture yesterday!
Movement: not yet
Food cravings: sweet/sugar... Fruit, candy, lemonade...
Sexes: tba! Hopefully soon :)
Names: still a short list :)
Labor signs: nadda
Belly button in or out? In
What I miss: sleeping on my belly
What I am looking forward to: finding out the sexes!
Weekly wisdom: even if you stop drinking water before bed, you're still gonna get up to pee :)

13 weeks

Little pea pods :)

Our nuchal translucency ultrasound went really well this week! There are 3 wiggly little babies complete with all of their limbs & brains. Their nuchals are all reading around 1.something, which they like to see less than 3... Anything greater than 3 suggests a higher risk of Downs Syndrome & other genetic abnormalities. Our next appointment is in 2 weeks... They are monitoring my blood pressure, but that is expected to go down once we are officially past the 1st trimester.

The fun news is that the only way to check their heartbeats is via ultrasound... So we will get to see them so often :)

Their heartbeats were all strong, around 155 bpm. Baby B is our biggest baby so far... And I always feel bad that he is squished in the middle! Baby A, our little dancer, is the littlest baby. Baby C is a wiggle worm and is in the middle currently for growth.

12 weeks

The size of a lime! 
I found these pictures on babycenter.com and I was kind of amazed at the difference:

The babies are really the same size and development wise, but the size of the uterus for 2 versus for 1... so I can only imagine the size for 3. No wonder I can't wear my clothes anymore! 

The nausea has been striking whenever it feels like it... there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason. I'm still starving all the time, and I'm also exhausted... however, I seem to be getting my second wind after work now. Instead of lying down for a nap immediately when I get home, I'm wide awake... I'm the most tired around 12 and 6. Obviously I can't nap at work, and I feel like if I nap at 6 I won't sleep all night... so I have just been trying to push through. Of course I can't prevent the occasional snooze in the chair in the evening, though. :) 

I've had a lot of heartburn this week and Tums are quickly becoming my very good friend.

Our next appointment is on May 22, a week from tomorrow. We'll have our nuchal translucency ultrasound, and basically see if there are still 3 babies kicking in there. I am always a generally positive person and I have no reason to suspect otherwise, but in this situation I'm sticking with stark reality... There is a chance there may not be. Vanishing Twin Syndrome is real, and there doesn't always have to be symptoms associated. So until next week, we'll just wait and see.

Stole this from a friend:

How far along? 12 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Not really sure
Maternity clothes? Definitely, for a few items… I got more in the mail yesterday though.
Stretch marks? Not yet, but my belly’s definitely getting itchy.
Sleep: No problems here

Best moment this week: Mother’s Day on Sunday, and of course dancing last night J
Movement: Not yet. I feel the occasional small flutter, and I read that you can feel movement earlier with multiples, but I’m thinking it’s probably in my head.

Food cravings: Everything I see. J
Gender: TBA
Name: There’s a short list of names we like…
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: Coffee!

What I am looking forward to: Next week’s appointment
Weekly Wisdom: Stop drinking water at least an hour before bed J

11 weeks

The babies are figs this week. That's pretty big! :)

Our little figs are sure taking it out of me, too. The nausea is finally subsiding over the past couple of weeks. It only strikes occasionally, whereas in the beginning it was every time I was the least bit hungry. Good thing, too, because now I am constantly hungry and overwhelmingly exhausted. I wake up around 5 (well, 5:20 these days) and by 11 I could use a nap... By 1 I'm so tired I can hardly stand myself. I leave work around 3 and take a nap... Then I'm still ready for bed not long later.

Adding to my exhaustion I'm sure is the fact that I'm tossing and turning more. I'm naturally a stomach sleeper, so the transition to sleeping on my side has been rough... Not only am I not as comfortable, but the pressure on my hips wakes me up, so I roll to the other side... And start the process again.

Beginning yesterday, but more so today, my abdominal muscles are getting sore. Apparently this is normal from the stretching, but it feels like I did a few too many crunches. I certainly haven't done any crunches, but I did go line dancing last night. I was so tired but I'm glad I went before I physically can't anymore... I'm so happy to have found a hobby and activity I love, and a great group of people to do it with.

The final update for the week is just a reflection on how amazing people can be. It really restores your faith in humanity when not only your family and friends band together to help you out, but complete strangers as well. It's absolutely phenomenal and I'm ever so grateful.

There are how many?

April 21, 2014. Our first prenatal appointment.

"This is going to be the fun ultrasound... we'll just make sure they're where they're supposed to be, and not in a fallopian tube, and we'll check for a heartbeat..."
...

"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not kidding... There's one sac, and a heartbeat... There's the second sac and a heartbeat..."
"But there's no bean in the third sac..."
"Not in this view, there's not..."

Three sacs, Three Beans, Three heartbeats

 

"You're kidding."

 

And just like that, our whole world changed.

 

The lab tech afterwards gave me an ice pack... apparently I looked ready to faint. My husband? In the lobby, getting a counseling session of his own. Now to look back on it, twins run on both sides of my family... I guess I should have had an inkling that multiples were possible. This is something neither of us saw coming. Who expects spontaneous triplets??

 

A few days and a trip to the high risk OB later... this is happening. We're having triplets. We're only 9 weeks. We could still lose one. I absolutely do not want that to happen, but for a few more weeks, it's still a real possibility. Their heartbeats are good, and they're measuring appropriately... two at 8 weeks 5 days, the other at 8 weeks 6 days. So far, so good.

 

I wasn't going to blog. One day my kids may see this, and do I really want to put all of these confusing emotions out there for them to see? I'm still not sure. But the fact is, these babies are my first... and will most likely be my last. I need to cement these memories.

 

I wasn't scared to find out I was pregnant. We had been trying for 2 months... this was planned. I had worked in a day care for 6 years. I've got this. Now... Now I've got triplets. Three babies. A week later, and I suppose the shock has subsided... as much as it will. Will we ever not be shocked that we're having three babies? Does that ever go away? And there's fear. Will I be okay? Will the babies be okay? The unknowns with a triplet pregnancy are so great... When will bed rest inevitably come? Will they be born premature? How premature? How much time will they need to spend in NICU? Will there be lasting developmental delays? What will life be like? We don't have the biggest house, and we certainly aren't wealthy. We can love these babies to death, but they need more than love. What are we going to do?

 

Our next appointment is May 22. We will be 13 weeks, and we'll be "out of the woods" of the uncertainty of the first trimester.