It's about time for an update, wouldn't you say?
Even though I made it to 33 weeks and 5 days, my last post was at the 24 week mark, about six months ago. Mostly because I got too tired to do much besides eat and nap (seriously though), and partly because my pregnancy was so smooth there really was nothing to report. I did update a bit on instagram just so people knew I was alive, though ;)
Anyway, it's been 4.5 months since we had our babies so I figured it would be good to start taking time to blog again since it's kind of the only journaling I do. I try to write a little bit at night between settling babies during my shift. I've written our 'birth story" (if you can even really call it that ha), a bit about their milk allergy, how my last few months went before delivery, and tried to remember what I could of the first few months up to this point.
And when I say "shift" I'm referring to the system Dillon and I worked out so that we could each get a chunk of sleep each night. Basically, Dillon goes to bed (or should but never does :/) at 9 pm then gets up at 3 am, and I stay awake and take care of the babies from 9 pm to 3 am then get to sleep until 9 am. In the early days we were feeding them every three hours even through the night so I would feed them at 9 and midnight and Dillon would feed them at 3 am and 6 am. Now they aren't quite so needy ;) but they still need a decent amount of settling. I dream of the nights when they sleep more soundly and for longer.
As of now, our babies are 18 weeks. They eat 4-4.5 ounces and sleep from 9pm (I know, super late bedtime, we're working on it) to 1am (due to needing to do their tongue tie stretches), then until 5am and then until 8 when we start the day, then eat every three hours again. They don't sleep super well, waking every hour or so, which means we are still doing our night time shifts to keep them settled, but hope that once Lydia's tongue tie is taken care of and her stretches are over we can get the babies sleeping longer and maybe we can finally sleep in the same room again at the same time!
They are usually awake by 7-7:30 but Lydia can usually sleep until 8 (at least that's what Dillon tells me since he's with them then. Ashlee, the girl we hired, shows up at 8 and for the last little while has been letting me sleep in until the 11 am feed. It's been great because my body kind of gave up a few weeks ago. She is so wonderful and we don't know what we'd do without her. We love her and the babies love her!
Though Lydia was the first to sort of laugh (and hasn't since), Quin has outright laughed two times and Beck laughed for the first time at Ashlee last week (she was singing a song to him and he loved it--he loves being sung to. But she got his first smile, too, so I think he just loves Ashlee ;)), and has a few more times since. He has also found his voice and has started making the softest little vowel sounds which are so cute. And Quin keeps squealing and talking most of the time. Silly little Lydia is just a grunter but she has started smiling with her entire face and it is so adorable.
All these little laughs and smiles have made my heart explode in a way I've never experienced before. Iv'e heard many a baby laugh, but there's something about your own baby laughing that is just the best thing in the world. And for those who know me and my crying habits (seriously, 3-4 times a year), you'll be surprised to know that I totally cried happy tears as I was getting Quin to laugh.
We really love these babies and are just so glad they are finally here with us, growing and learning and making us happy! Now if they could only sleep more/better ;)
Showing posts with label triplets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triplets. Show all posts
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Allergic to Milk (??)
As of now, we've made it through the newborn stage and have figured out that our babies have a milk protein allergy and likely also have a corn allergy. I feel like it is so counterintuitive to be allergic to milk, but it does make sense when you think about how immature our babies' little digestive systems are.
Sadly, the best thing for them would have been breastmilk that didn't have milk in it from me cutting out dairy in my own diet, but I just never produced enough. We figured out the allergy around 6 weeks, which is when I stopped pumping anyway. It was so hard for me to stop for a couple of reasons.
First, my body was doing something truly amazing! It was creating food! And it was the best food for our babies! It wasn't creating much, but it would have maybe been fine for one baby and with less stress I probably would have had a better supply, but there are just some things you have to let go of with triplets. But it was really, really hard to make the decision to stop since I knew how good it was for them and I wanted to give that to them.
Second, I didn't know (and still don't know) if we would ever have more babies and it was hard to think I would never do that again. Selfishly, I wanted to keep it up for my own experience because it was hard thinking that I might not get to ever do it again.
Honestly, it was one of the most weirdly conflicting experiences I've gone through. I still wish I could have produced enough for them all, or even just one or two and rotated through who got it which day. But then it would have been a lot harder to figure out our babies' allergies, so in the end I know it was for the best. Plus, with the tongue and lip ties things wouldn't have worked anyway unless we'd gotten that figured out and taken care of sooner. All in all, I wish things could have turned out differently, but we did the best we could with the situation we had.
It has worked out to keep me sane (pumping and taking care of three babies was hard!) and allow others to help us.
But anyway, that was a long tangent to the real point of this post ha.
Our babies started showing signs of discomfort pretty immediately after we started introducing formula about a week and a half in. Up to that point they had been getting my pumped milk as well as donated pasteurized breastmilk. But since my supply was low we knew we'd be supplementing with formula anyway and they needed to get used to it before they left the NICU.
At the time, there was no way to tell it was the milk protein, but I remember thinking that Quin always seemed to be in a lot of pain and thought that it must be constipation. He would start whimpering and then crying and it made me so sad because I couldn't do anything to help him. The nurses said they don't worry about babies not pooping until it was a lot longer or unless his stomach was getting hard from it being backed up. But he never had that problem and now it makes sense since we know what the pain was from.
I just really wish it had been easier to pinpoint sooner. One of the nurses even said it was the reflux, but now we know better. I don't blame anyone, it's a hard thing to figure out.
Once they were on the formula, they started having different poop and since I only know what breastfed poop was supposed to look like, their green, liquid poop didn't mean much. But then I started seeing mucus in it and that made me worry. I turned to the internet and it gave a variety of answers, including allergy, but also a virus. So I assumed they might have a virus and hoped they could recovery quickly.
But it kept up and the boys would always wake up screaming about 2 hours after eating. At their 2 month appointment we brought up the screaming and our doctor said it was time to try Zantac for babies since it was probably reflux. By that point in all of my research I was confident it was the milk allergy, but she said that was the next step if the medicine didn't work. As we were about to leave I brought up the mucus and said I was worried about a virus, but our dr immediately said, nope, that's the allergy unfortunately and that the fix was to use a special, and expensive, hypoallergenic formula.
The crazy thing is that Lydia also had the mucus but didn't wake up crying, she would just cry when she was awake. We ended up giving her the new formula and zantac as well.
They all improved a lot once we switched them, but they still seemed fussy about two hours after eating until we accidentally stumbled upon the fact that they did better on the ready to use (already mixed up) formula than they did on the powder, even though it was the same formula and everything. We were lucky because Dillon had been looking for deals on this formula, and a person he bought some of the powder from also had the ready to use that was going to expire soon, so they just gave it to us (and it really worked out because the person selling it was my sis-in-law's co-worker).
I wanted to let the babies just be on one thing for an extended period of time because they had been switched from breastmilk to one formula, then to a different one, then to another, and then the powder special formula, then the ready to feed special formula in their short, little lives. We hoped that if they were able to get used to the ready to use then we could move them to the powder once their bodies could relax. Sadly, after a month of (really expensive) ready to use, we tried them back on the powder and they reacted within a few days so we immediately moved them back to the ready to use.
At the same time, we had tried Lydia on a regular, but still gentler, formula to see if she really did have the allergy since she never really complained before and we thought maybe her system matured enough. Nope, within a few days she had mucus back in her poop and this time it was bloody, poor girl. She barely complained but I can only imagine what her insides were doing!
So everyone was back on ready to use while I tried to figure out why the heck they could only handle that and not the powder. Sadly, we didn't feel like our dr was much help in knowing why it could be so I went back to the internet. There were very few forums that talked about powder vs ready to use, but a few of them mentioned that if a baby does better on the ready to use then it can indicate a corn allergy.
The frustrating thing is, ALLLL BUT ONE formula has corn syrup and corn starch as main ingredients. Thankfully the only one that doesn't have corn in it is also a hypoallergenic formula so our babies could use it! It doesn't save us any money ha but it also doesn't cost us more either.
We made the switch, and guess what? The boys are happier, settle more easily, have normal poop, and immediately started eating more! So even though we haven't had them officially tested yet (we will soon), we're pretty sure we know what's going on, finally. But fingers crossed nothing else will show up!
So between that and the tongue/lip tie business, we're beat! It was hard to not know what was going on and not have any answers from medical professionals, but by doing my own research and advocating for these babies, we got them the help we thought would benefit them. And we think it's made a world of a difference!
Sadly, the best thing for them would have been breastmilk that didn't have milk in it from me cutting out dairy in my own diet, but I just never produced enough. We figured out the allergy around 6 weeks, which is when I stopped pumping anyway. It was so hard for me to stop for a couple of reasons.
First, my body was doing something truly amazing! It was creating food! And it was the best food for our babies! It wasn't creating much, but it would have maybe been fine for one baby and with less stress I probably would have had a better supply, but there are just some things you have to let go of with triplets. But it was really, really hard to make the decision to stop since I knew how good it was for them and I wanted to give that to them.
Second, I didn't know (and still don't know) if we would ever have more babies and it was hard to think I would never do that again. Selfishly, I wanted to keep it up for my own experience because it was hard thinking that I might not get to ever do it again.
Honestly, it was one of the most weirdly conflicting experiences I've gone through. I still wish I could have produced enough for them all, or even just one or two and rotated through who got it which day. But then it would have been a lot harder to figure out our babies' allergies, so in the end I know it was for the best. Plus, with the tongue and lip ties things wouldn't have worked anyway unless we'd gotten that figured out and taken care of sooner. All in all, I wish things could have turned out differently, but we did the best we could with the situation we had.
It has worked out to keep me sane (pumping and taking care of three babies was hard!) and allow others to help us.
But anyway, that was a long tangent to the real point of this post ha.
Our babies started showing signs of discomfort pretty immediately after we started introducing formula about a week and a half in. Up to that point they had been getting my pumped milk as well as donated pasteurized breastmilk. But since my supply was low we knew we'd be supplementing with formula anyway and they needed to get used to it before they left the NICU.
At the time, there was no way to tell it was the milk protein, but I remember thinking that Quin always seemed to be in a lot of pain and thought that it must be constipation. He would start whimpering and then crying and it made me so sad because I couldn't do anything to help him. The nurses said they don't worry about babies not pooping until it was a lot longer or unless his stomach was getting hard from it being backed up. But he never had that problem and now it makes sense since we know what the pain was from.
I just really wish it had been easier to pinpoint sooner. One of the nurses even said it was the reflux, but now we know better. I don't blame anyone, it's a hard thing to figure out.
Once they were on the formula, they started having different poop and since I only know what breastfed poop was supposed to look like, their green, liquid poop didn't mean much. But then I started seeing mucus in it and that made me worry. I turned to the internet and it gave a variety of answers, including allergy, but also a virus. So I assumed they might have a virus and hoped they could recovery quickly.
But it kept up and the boys would always wake up screaming about 2 hours after eating. At their 2 month appointment we brought up the screaming and our doctor said it was time to try Zantac for babies since it was probably reflux. By that point in all of my research I was confident it was the milk allergy, but she said that was the next step if the medicine didn't work. As we were about to leave I brought up the mucus and said I was worried about a virus, but our dr immediately said, nope, that's the allergy unfortunately and that the fix was to use a special, and expensive, hypoallergenic formula.
The crazy thing is that Lydia also had the mucus but didn't wake up crying, she would just cry when she was awake. We ended up giving her the new formula and zantac as well.
They all improved a lot once we switched them, but they still seemed fussy about two hours after eating until we accidentally stumbled upon the fact that they did better on the ready to use (already mixed up) formula than they did on the powder, even though it was the same formula and everything. We were lucky because Dillon had been looking for deals on this formula, and a person he bought some of the powder from also had the ready to use that was going to expire soon, so they just gave it to us (and it really worked out because the person selling it was my sis-in-law's co-worker).
I wanted to let the babies just be on one thing for an extended period of time because they had been switched from breastmilk to one formula, then to a different one, then to another, and then the powder special formula, then the ready to feed special formula in their short, little lives. We hoped that if they were able to get used to the ready to use then we could move them to the powder once their bodies could relax. Sadly, after a month of (really expensive) ready to use, we tried them back on the powder and they reacted within a few days so we immediately moved them back to the ready to use.
At the same time, we had tried Lydia on a regular, but still gentler, formula to see if she really did have the allergy since she never really complained before and we thought maybe her system matured enough. Nope, within a few days she had mucus back in her poop and this time it was bloody, poor girl. She barely complained but I can only imagine what her insides were doing!
So everyone was back on ready to use while I tried to figure out why the heck they could only handle that and not the powder. Sadly, we didn't feel like our dr was much help in knowing why it could be so I went back to the internet. There were very few forums that talked about powder vs ready to use, but a few of them mentioned that if a baby does better on the ready to use then it can indicate a corn allergy.
The frustrating thing is, ALLLL BUT ONE formula has corn syrup and corn starch as main ingredients. Thankfully the only one that doesn't have corn in it is also a hypoallergenic formula so our babies could use it! It doesn't save us any money ha but it also doesn't cost us more either.
We made the switch, and guess what? The boys are happier, settle more easily, have normal poop, and immediately started eating more! So even though we haven't had them officially tested yet (we will soon), we're pretty sure we know what's going on, finally. But fingers crossed nothing else will show up!
So between that and the tongue/lip tie business, we're beat! It was hard to not know what was going on and not have any answers from medical professionals, but by doing my own research and advocating for these babies, we got them the help we thought would benefit them. And we think it's made a world of a difference!
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Modified Bedrest
My doctor never really put me on bedrest, but he did say that I should be taking it easy for the most part. And basically whatever I was doing was working to keep me out of the hospital so I was just supposed to keep doing what I was doing. Once I looked things up, I was pretty much doing modified bedrest for the most part until the last very last bit.
My routine the last 6 weeks had gone something like this:
-10 or 11 am get up, go to the bathroom, get breakfast and get back in bed to eat it, then take a nap.
-1 pm-ish get up, go to the bathroom, get lunch and eat it in bed, rest for a while, then take a shower, gather everything I needed (snacks and water) and then lay on the couch for the rest of the day (seriously) usually in and out of naps.
-6ish eat dinner that Dillon had made (usually steak, spinach, and a mandarin), maybe take a bathroom break, watch basketball games or other tv until 11ish then head to bed, toss and turn (sort of, it took me quite a lot of effort to roll over ha), then eventually sleep but wake every few hours until I finally got up at 11 am-ish.
The 10 mins I stood up to shower and then the time it took me to get dressed were the most active I was and man was it was tiring! By the time I got to the couch I was completely out of breath and contracting. It took a few hours to get the contractions to calm down and gain enough strength to get up for a bathroom break ha. And every time I got up I had to hold my belly, even though I was wearing a support band because that thing was heavy!
I know people have told me that I didn't look big for triplets, but I think people expect a person pregnant with triplets to look full term from the beginning. I was definitely measuring 10 weeks ahead (and you can tell how big it was from the bare belly, front facing pictures we have so maybe I'll post those--yikes) so by the time I delivered I was measuring 44 weeks pregnant. And I think there is something to be said about how every pregnancy looks different on every woman. So size, big or small, isn't a very good indicator of how a pregnancy is going or how taxing it should be.
Anyway, all I know is that I was carrying 12 lbs of baby, 12 lbs of placenta, and 10 lbs of amniotic fluid and it was rough ha. But I listened to my body and we made it through! We are so grateful I could stay at home to eat, rest, and grow some babies until 33 weeks and 5 days. My only regret is not taking enough pictures, but such is life!
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Birth Story
Up until Saturday, March 10th, things had been very uneventful. We had passed all the major milestones our doctor had set and had made it past 33 weeks without being admitted to the hospital. What a feat! Our non stress test appointments had gone great with babies cooperating and getting the info needed went quickly so we could be sent on our way again.
On what turned out to be our last appointment, they scheduled me out until our c-section date at 36 weeks but I remember telling the scheduler that I really didn't think I was going to make it much longer, though I was hoping to.
That appt was on a Thursday and by Saturday, I was really feeling like it would be in the next few days. I was trying to hold out for 34 weeks exactly because that was our due date for that first baby girl we lost and it was also my little brother's birthday. But all day Saturday I just didn't feel very well. My back hurt and I was having Braxton Hicks more intensely. Lydia was also doing some weird moving in there like she was trying to pop out alien style and I was kind of worried, but figured I would just talk to my doctor on Monday at our next appt.
I honestly was in it for the long haul and wanted to keep those babies growing inside me as long as possible since each day growing in me saved THREE in the NICU (and each day in the NICU cost $8,000 PER BABY). So I was a little disappointed when I thought my water broke. I am actually really kind of proud at how well I was doing mentally because in the first few weeks after finding out I remember being so scared of the mental game and how done I thought I would be.
I had just gone to lay down in bed around 11:30 and was trying to get comfortable. Dillon had rubbed my back but had gone to the bathroom when I felt something. I told him to grab a towel since I was going to stand up and check to see if my water had broken, but then it turned out to be blood.
Our doctor had told us that if I went into labor, my water broke, I started bleeding, etc, to head to the hospital and we would deliver since I had made it past 32 weeks. So we called the hospital to let them know we were coming, grabbed my bag (which I had taken to every appt the last few weeks just in case I was admitted), headed out, and called our parents on the way. I remember looking at Dillon and asking if he was ready because it looked like we were probably going to be having babies!
We were a bit nervous because of the bleeding, but it wasn't too much thankfully and had basically stopped by the time they checked me. Just after midnight they had checked me in and gotten us into a room, hooked up the babies to monitors, and had done an exam when they said I was only dilated 1 cm and wasn't actively bleeding so they were thinking of sending me home.
First they wanted to check the swab they had taken just to make sure my water hadn't broken, but we know they were pretty sure they weren't going to deliver that night because later a NICU nurse told us that the NICU was told (30 mins prior to our delivery) that the babies weren't coming that night.
But in the mean time my contractions had picked up and were real labor contractions in the hour between getting checked in and the dr's going to check the swab so I didn't think it was wise to send me home. But before we could voice that, all of a sudden I felt weird. It's still hard to describe, but it felt like the blood rushed to my ears and I just felt off physically. I told Dillon and he ran to grab a nurse. I was trying to explain what I was feeling to the confused nurse when the drs came back in. They were incredibly calm and said that "baby A's heart rate is kind of low (I looked over and it was 51!) so we're just going to take you in to the OR and monitor for a little, but if it keeps up we'll probably deliver. Do we have verbal consent?"
As calm as they were, we knew it was urgent because there were about 10 people who came into the room. The second I said yes to consent my bed was moving, someone was putting an IV in me, the anesthesiologist was flipping me over to start an epidural until the told him they were knocking me out, we got to the OR in a few seconds and then they had me shift over to the tiniest little operating table (and they all cheered and told me great job for how fast and well I crab walked with my huge belly), then they were throwing a catheter in me as the anesthesiologist said he was about to knock me out, and the last thing I remember is that they dumped a bunch of something on me which I later learned is what is called a splash prep when they are working so fast they can't do the iodine swap stuff.
Twelve minutes from when they came in to say they were taking me to the OR, our babies were born. Twelve minutes. It can take 10-15 to open someone up in a planned c-section. They were all born in the same minute, that's how fast they were working to get our babies out.
In order to get to baby A (Beck) with the terminal heart tones, they had to get baby B (Quin) out first (and usually baby A is first because they label them based off of who is closest to the exit, but baby B had shifted down in the last prior few weeks so he came out first). Once they got him out and got Beck out, they realized that the bleeding and my weird feeling had come from Lydia's placenta becoming detached (called placental abruption) and got her out fast as well, since this can be terminal, too.
Later we were told that we would have lost both Beck and Lydia if we hadn't been at the hospital. It makes my heart pound to realize how close we were to losing our babies. And in reality, since Beck and Quin shared a placenta, if we'd lost Beck there is a good chance we could have lost Quin or it could have left him with severe problems.
We are so, so grateful that things turned out way better than that! And even though Beck had a lowish APGAR score at first, he's a healthy, happy little guy now. And same with Lydia. We really couldn't be more grateful. Sadly, since they knocked me out, Dillon couldn't be in the room so we don't have any pictures or videos of their first moments. But we console ourselves with the fact that they were born healthy and alive!
Dillon had to wait in the room until they came to get him and asked him if he wanted to go meet his babies. I was still out for a while and I think I "woke up" a few different times before it finally took ;) After I was actually awake they wheeled me through the NICU so I could meet our babies on my way up to our room. I don't remember a lot (in fact I probably remember the fact that I was amazed my bed could fit through the doors more than I remember actually seeing the babies ha) so thank goodness we have pictures (in which I look pretty out of it still ha).
It was a whirlwind of a few days trying to recover and trying to pump every two hours (and sadly my milk never really came in, we think due to the trauma of the emergency c-section and the subsequent blood transfusions I had, but man did I try) and trying to figure out how to stand up and walk through the pain of a major surgery. I think that, since they are so common, people forget that c-sections are major surgery.
Thankfully I felt back to normal by 4 weeks, but it was rough for a while! My dr had come to see me the day after since he wasn't there that night to deliver and apologized about how big the incision was due to the emergency, but said they had stitched my muscles back together at least. I really think that aided in my recovery. No years of physical therapy for me! And really, who could be mad about a scar that allowed their children to be delivered alive?? Fine by me!
We knew our lives would change in an instant when the babies were born, and it sure did! It has been an amazing (obviously tiring), wonderful 4.5 months!
That appt was on a Thursday and by Saturday, I was really feeling like it would be in the next few days. I was trying to hold out for 34 weeks exactly because that was our due date for that first baby girl we lost and it was also my little brother's birthday. But all day Saturday I just didn't feel very well. My back hurt and I was having Braxton Hicks more intensely. Lydia was also doing some weird moving in there like she was trying to pop out alien style and I was kind of worried, but figured I would just talk to my doctor on Monday at our next appt.
I honestly was in it for the long haul and wanted to keep those babies growing inside me as long as possible since each day growing in me saved THREE in the NICU (and each day in the NICU cost $8,000 PER BABY). So I was a little disappointed when I thought my water broke. I am actually really kind of proud at how well I was doing mentally because in the first few weeks after finding out I remember being so scared of the mental game and how done I thought I would be.
I had just gone to lay down in bed around 11:30 and was trying to get comfortable. Dillon had rubbed my back but had gone to the bathroom when I felt something. I told him to grab a towel since I was going to stand up and check to see if my water had broken, but then it turned out to be blood.
Our doctor had told us that if I went into labor, my water broke, I started bleeding, etc, to head to the hospital and we would deliver since I had made it past 32 weeks. So we called the hospital to let them know we were coming, grabbed my bag (which I had taken to every appt the last few weeks just in case I was admitted), headed out, and called our parents on the way. I remember looking at Dillon and asking if he was ready because it looked like we were probably going to be having babies!
We were a bit nervous because of the bleeding, but it wasn't too much thankfully and had basically stopped by the time they checked me. Just after midnight they had checked me in and gotten us into a room, hooked up the babies to monitors, and had done an exam when they said I was only dilated 1 cm and wasn't actively bleeding so they were thinking of sending me home.
First they wanted to check the swab they had taken just to make sure my water hadn't broken, but we know they were pretty sure they weren't going to deliver that night because later a NICU nurse told us that the NICU was told (30 mins prior to our delivery) that the babies weren't coming that night.
But in the mean time my contractions had picked up and were real labor contractions in the hour between getting checked in and the dr's going to check the swab so I didn't think it was wise to send me home. But before we could voice that, all of a sudden I felt weird. It's still hard to describe, but it felt like the blood rushed to my ears and I just felt off physically. I told Dillon and he ran to grab a nurse. I was trying to explain what I was feeling to the confused nurse when the drs came back in. They were incredibly calm and said that "baby A's heart rate is kind of low (I looked over and it was 51!) so we're just going to take you in to the OR and monitor for a little, but if it keeps up we'll probably deliver. Do we have verbal consent?"
As calm as they were, we knew it was urgent because there were about 10 people who came into the room. The second I said yes to consent my bed was moving, someone was putting an IV in me, the anesthesiologist was flipping me over to start an epidural until the told him they were knocking me out, we got to the OR in a few seconds and then they had me shift over to the tiniest little operating table (and they all cheered and told me great job for how fast and well I crab walked with my huge belly), then they were throwing a catheter in me as the anesthesiologist said he was about to knock me out, and the last thing I remember is that they dumped a bunch of something on me which I later learned is what is called a splash prep when they are working so fast they can't do the iodine swap stuff.
Twelve minutes from when they came in to say they were taking me to the OR, our babies were born. Twelve minutes. It can take 10-15 to open someone up in a planned c-section. They were all born in the same minute, that's how fast they were working to get our babies out.
In order to get to baby A (Beck) with the terminal heart tones, they had to get baby B (Quin) out first (and usually baby A is first because they label them based off of who is closest to the exit, but baby B had shifted down in the last prior few weeks so he came out first). Once they got him out and got Beck out, they realized that the bleeding and my weird feeling had come from Lydia's placenta becoming detached (called placental abruption) and got her out fast as well, since this can be terminal, too.
Later we were told that we would have lost both Beck and Lydia if we hadn't been at the hospital. It makes my heart pound to realize how close we were to losing our babies. And in reality, since Beck and Quin shared a placenta, if we'd lost Beck there is a good chance we could have lost Quin or it could have left him with severe problems.
We are so, so grateful that things turned out way better than that! And even though Beck had a lowish APGAR score at first, he's a healthy, happy little guy now. And same with Lydia. We really couldn't be more grateful. Sadly, since they knocked me out, Dillon couldn't be in the room so we don't have any pictures or videos of their first moments. But we console ourselves with the fact that they were born healthy and alive!
Dillon had to wait in the room until they came to get him and asked him if he wanted to go meet his babies. I was still out for a while and I think I "woke up" a few different times before it finally took ;) After I was actually awake they wheeled me through the NICU so I could meet our babies on my way up to our room. I don't remember a lot (in fact I probably remember the fact that I was amazed my bed could fit through the doors more than I remember actually seeing the babies ha) so thank goodness we have pictures (in which I look pretty out of it still ha).
It was a whirlwind of a few days trying to recover and trying to pump every two hours (and sadly my milk never really came in, we think due to the trauma of the emergency c-section and the subsequent blood transfusions I had, but man did I try) and trying to figure out how to stand up and walk through the pain of a major surgery. I think that, since they are so common, people forget that c-sections are major surgery.
Thankfully I felt back to normal by 4 weeks, but it was rough for a while! My dr had come to see me the day after since he wasn't there that night to deliver and apologized about how big the incision was due to the emergency, but said they had stitched my muscles back together at least. I really think that aided in my recovery. No years of physical therapy for me! And really, who could be mad about a scar that allowed their children to be delivered alive?? Fine by me!
We knew our lives would change in an instant when the babies were born, and it sure did! It has been an amazing (obviously tiring), wonderful 4.5 months!
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
24 Week Appointment (Viability!)
This is our first major milestone! Though it only gets us out of the red zone and into orange. Meaning that while our babies now have a greater than 50% chance of survival, if they were to be born at this stage there is a high chance that they would have severe, lifetime problems. Things like deafness, blindness, or cerebral palsy and others. So out of 10 babies born at 24 weeks, only 5-6 would survive, and out of those surviving babies 2-3 would have those severe problems. Not odds we want to play with.
But there is so much development that goes on between weeks 24 and 28 that if we can make it to 28 weeks, their chance of survival goes up to 90% and of the 9 out of 10 babies who survive, only ONE has those severe problems. Soooo much better odds. And from the orange zone to the yellow zone.
The crazy thing is, every day that these babies are inside me growing is another day that I inch closer to preterm labor. I'm like a ticking time bomb. The more they grow, the bigger I get, the bigger I get, the riskier it gets. Nice. And like most triplet pregnancies, I have consistently measured 10 weeks ahead. But the last couple weeks growth has picked up and now I'm measuring a bit further than that. For those that have seen pictures or me in person, some may think that I still "look small" but in reality, for my build and body type, I am measuring close to full term.
Thankfully I've been lucky to never have had any body image issues and am more than happy to stretch and grow and gain weight in order to get these babies here. Every person is different and size is relative (my 24 weeks with triplets or a singleton will always look different to another's), so I haven't felt like I need any kind of affirmation of size, large or small, when I reference how I'm growing. I am the right size for what's going on inside me, and for that I am grateful. I am just amazed at what a woman's body can do and adapt to--especially when there's more than one baby inside!
I think maybe the best thing to tell a pregnant woman is that she looks great, rather than comment on size ;) Though you can definitely comment to me on how quickly I've grown, because that is certainly real--week to week and sometimes even day to day. I do most of my growing (and get the most ligament pain and contractions) from Thursday to Sunday. Those days amaze me, because I know what I looked like just a couple days prior and the change can sometimes be drastic. I tend to grow out one week and then the next I'll get wider. It's just crazy to watch myself grow.
And as much fun as some of the things that happen in pregnancy can be (ligament pain, pelvic pain, rib pain, insomnia, heartburn, contractions) I feel so grateful to finally be experiencing it. Every week it gets physically harder, but sometimes the weeks bring things like my belly shaking when I laugh, which makes me feel like Santa Clause and who doesn't love that?? Or my belly button popping out and, as weird as it looks, I love it for some reason. Maybe it's because I've waited so long to actually have a baby bump? And man, when three little babies start rolling and bumping around inside my stomach, it is the coolest thing.
I've written more about their movements and how we feel like it's been a way to get to know them on a different blog post since this is getting long enough already ;)
Getting to Know Our Babies
I think one of the best parts of watching kids grow is seeing who they are and learning their personalities. That will be a while for us, but I feel like I've gotten to know each baby a bit just by their movements.
Sadly, I feel Baby A the least amount because of the huge placenta that's in the way where he is off on my left side. But I do feel him when he kicks because he is head up so his little feet just pound on my bladder. He also seems to either love or hate the car because whenever we drive, especially on the highway, he rolls, moves kicks, and flips so much. (Babies rolling is such a weird feeling.) The bigger they get the more I feel Baby A and I'm glad for that.
Baby B moves the most. And since he's right in the middle where my muscles have separated, head down, I can constantly feel and see his little kicks and jumps--because I swear he is somersaulting and doing some kind of circus act in there. He starts bumping around immediately if I drink any thing cold or eat anything sugary, and just in general (like right now he's currently moving around furniture or something), and man he bumps hard! He seems to quiet down in the car, but we're not sure if it's a good thing. Our theory is that either Baby A kicks because he likes it and gets excited, or because he doesn't and so he protests. So if Baby B quiets down, is it because he is soothed by it or because he doesn't like it and is just hanging on for dear life? All our speculating probably means nothing and we'll see how they are once they're out, but it's fun to know them in this way right now ;)
Baby C is off to the other side on my right and she is smashed up under my ribs, which gives me constant, really bad rib pain. When she's head down, it is much more tolerable, but she recently switched back to head up again after a couple weeks of less pain. I tend to rest my forearm on that side of my bump to relieve a little of the pressure and pain and she immediately starts to push back and kick. She will also always kick around when I lay on my right side and when it first started I was a little worried she was signaling that I was squishing her. Turns out she's fine, just likes to kick back. She will also kick around when Baby B starts moving so maybe we won't put them next to each other in the crib ;) But she also quiets down in the car, so we hope that means we'll have two babies who will just sleep while we're driving. Cross you fingers for us!
We've also been lucky to see our babies every two weeks at our appointments. They have been bouncing around since the very beginning, especially Baby B. And they all like to suck on their thumb, fingers, or entire fist. We know it's no real indicator of things, but I hope that means they'll pick up eating easily and take a pacifier as well.
They've only tried to do the 3D ultrasound once to see their faces but there are so many babies and umbilical cords and placentas in the way that we barely got partial views. Baby A crossed his hands up in front of his face the whole time as well, so we tried to get a look at Baby B (since they look the same ha) but his umbilical cord made his nose look super weird and gave his mouth a "joker-esque" look to it. Nice. Hopefully they'll look better than that in real life ;) Baby C was almost the most visible and I think she'll look pretty cute. Only time will tell, though. And we fully expect them to look like skinny little aliens for a couple months while they're in the NICU and learning how to eat, so it may be a while before we see what they'll really look like.
Sadly, I feel Baby A the least amount because of the huge placenta that's in the way where he is off on my left side. But I do feel him when he kicks because he is head up so his little feet just pound on my bladder. He also seems to either love or hate the car because whenever we drive, especially on the highway, he rolls, moves kicks, and flips so much. (Babies rolling is such a weird feeling.) The bigger they get the more I feel Baby A and I'm glad for that.
Baby B moves the most. And since he's right in the middle where my muscles have separated, head down, I can constantly feel and see his little kicks and jumps--because I swear he is somersaulting and doing some kind of circus act in there. He starts bumping around immediately if I drink any thing cold or eat anything sugary, and just in general (like right now he's currently moving around furniture or something), and man he bumps hard! He seems to quiet down in the car, but we're not sure if it's a good thing. Our theory is that either Baby A kicks because he likes it and gets excited, or because he doesn't and so he protests. So if Baby B quiets down, is it because he is soothed by it or because he doesn't like it and is just hanging on for dear life? All our speculating probably means nothing and we'll see how they are once they're out, but it's fun to know them in this way right now ;)
Baby C is off to the other side on my right and she is smashed up under my ribs, which gives me constant, really bad rib pain. When she's head down, it is much more tolerable, but she recently switched back to head up again after a couple weeks of less pain. I tend to rest my forearm on that side of my bump to relieve a little of the pressure and pain and she immediately starts to push back and kick. She will also always kick around when I lay on my right side and when it first started I was a little worried she was signaling that I was squishing her. Turns out she's fine, just likes to kick back. She will also kick around when Baby B starts moving so maybe we won't put them next to each other in the crib ;) But she also quiets down in the car, so we hope that means we'll have two babies who will just sleep while we're driving. Cross you fingers for us!
We've also been lucky to see our babies every two weeks at our appointments. They have been bouncing around since the very beginning, especially Baby B. And they all like to suck on their thumb, fingers, or entire fist. We know it's no real indicator of things, but I hope that means they'll pick up eating easily and take a pacifier as well.
They've only tried to do the 3D ultrasound once to see their faces but there are so many babies and umbilical cords and placentas in the way that we barely got partial views. Baby A crossed his hands up in front of his face the whole time as well, so we tried to get a look at Baby B (since they look the same ha) but his umbilical cord made his nose look super weird and gave his mouth a "joker-esque" look to it. Nice. Hopefully they'll look better than that in real life ;) Baby C was almost the most visible and I think she'll look pretty cute. Only time will tell, though. And we fully expect them to look like skinny little aliens for a couple months while they're in the NICU and learning how to eat, so it may be a while before we see what they'll really look like.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
A High Risk High Risk Pregnancy
Many people wonder why we are so cautious to share our good news. I mean, haven't we been trying for years to have a baby--shouldn't we be happy about it and share it?
Being happy about it and sharing are in no way correlated. We just know that just because you are pregnant right now doesn't mean that you will for sure take home a baby. Call us jaded, but while we are thrilled we just know everything that's stacked against us. Last time we really didn't have anything stacked against us, and it didn't end with a baby.
Please don't get us wrong, we want to be excited, we want everyone (especially those who have prayed for and with us) to know and be happy for us, we want these three babies more than you'll know. But again, we've got quite a bit to make it through before we actually get to potentially take these babies home.
We are being seen solely by a high risk doctor due to the volume of appointments we will be having. Non complicated triplet pregnancies can be seen by their regular OB for most of the pregnancy and only consult with the high risk doctor, but that just won't cut it for us.
Our doctor told us that if we can stick the landing, we will for sure win the gold medal. Meaning that having triplets got us into the Olympics but, just like in gymnastics, we aren't competing at the base level of triplets. We have multiple things that raise us above that base level and qualify us for tons more points. Neat.
The first thing is that our identicals are sharing a placenta, a blood/food supply. At any time, the blood could start to be shared unevenly, putting both babies at risk. Within a short period of time one would have less than what they need and could die, or more than what they need and could die. This means that we will go in every two weeks for ultrasounds to check for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. We could go in every week if needed, and past 26 weeks will anyway.
Another thing that puts me at higher risk is that I've never carried a baby to term. This means that my uterus doesn't know how to stretch and most likely will start trying to put me into labor around the time I measure full term, 24-26 weeks. Obviously we will not make it to our due date no matter what, but our first goal is to make it to viability (where the babies have a greater that 50% chance of survival) at 24 weeks, then 28 weeks, then our ultimate goal is 32 weeks. If we can make it there, we should be great! They won't let me go past 34 weeks due to the placenta sharing but we would be thrilled if we could make it that far. It's not likely, but one can dream, right?
The last (current) thing is that I most likely have placenta previa. This is when the placenta is covering the cervix. In the long run it won't change my method of delivery (a c-section) since it's too risky to attempt a vaginal birth with shared placenta and then a third baby. But it does mean that I could have more bleeding, placental abruption (when the placenta pulls away from the uterine wall, and risk of stillbirth if my cervix shortens too much and I go into labor. We are hopeful that it can correct itself in the next month or so, but when first finding out our doctor said he fully expected me to be admitted to the hospital for bedrest at some point during the 24-28 week range, potentially for the remainder of the pregnancy. Okay.
But as scary as it is, it has all been worth it so far. We are cautiously optimistic and really are hoping that we have a boring, low key pregnancy.
Being happy about it and sharing are in no way correlated. We just know that just because you are pregnant right now doesn't mean that you will for sure take home a baby. Call us jaded, but while we are thrilled we just know everything that's stacked against us. Last time we really didn't have anything stacked against us, and it didn't end with a baby.
Please don't get us wrong, we want to be excited, we want everyone (especially those who have prayed for and with us) to know and be happy for us, we want these three babies more than you'll know. But again, we've got quite a bit to make it through before we actually get to potentially take these babies home.
We are being seen solely by a high risk doctor due to the volume of appointments we will be having. Non complicated triplet pregnancies can be seen by their regular OB for most of the pregnancy and only consult with the high risk doctor, but that just won't cut it for us.
Our doctor told us that if we can stick the landing, we will for sure win the gold medal. Meaning that having triplets got us into the Olympics but, just like in gymnastics, we aren't competing at the base level of triplets. We have multiple things that raise us above that base level and qualify us for tons more points. Neat.
The first thing is that our identicals are sharing a placenta, a blood/food supply. At any time, the blood could start to be shared unevenly, putting both babies at risk. Within a short period of time one would have less than what they need and could die, or more than what they need and could die. This means that we will go in every two weeks for ultrasounds to check for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. We could go in every week if needed, and past 26 weeks will anyway.
Another thing that puts me at higher risk is that I've never carried a baby to term. This means that my uterus doesn't know how to stretch and most likely will start trying to put me into labor around the time I measure full term, 24-26 weeks. Obviously we will not make it to our due date no matter what, but our first goal is to make it to viability (where the babies have a greater that 50% chance of survival) at 24 weeks, then 28 weeks, then our ultimate goal is 32 weeks. If we can make it there, we should be great! They won't let me go past 34 weeks due to the placenta sharing but we would be thrilled if we could make it that far. It's not likely, but one can dream, right?
The last (current) thing is that I most likely have placenta previa. This is when the placenta is covering the cervix. In the long run it won't change my method of delivery (a c-section) since it's too risky to attempt a vaginal birth with shared placenta and then a third baby. But it does mean that I could have more bleeding, placental abruption (when the placenta pulls away from the uterine wall, and risk of stillbirth if my cervix shortens too much and I go into labor. We are hopeful that it can correct itself in the next month or so, but when first finding out our doctor said he fully expected me to be admitted to the hospital for bedrest at some point during the 24-28 week range, potentially for the remainder of the pregnancy. Okay.
But as scary as it is, it has all been worth it so far. We are cautiously optimistic and really are hoping that we have a boring, low key pregnancy.
Pregnancy Progress
Just a week by week update of my thoughts/symptoms. Nothing special but stuff I'd like to remember.
18 weeks
Anatomy scan! No twin to twin yet and Baby C is a girl! She is stuck up under my right ribs, which is where I feel the most kicks/movement. Babies all look good. All head down now which explains all the extra pressure. Always heartburn. Belly grew wider more than out this week. All babies are now head down--baby C had been head up since the beginning but she probably rolled down once her head started smashing into my ribs.
17 weeks
Uterus measuring 28 weeks. Major heartburn, tums are my friend. Babies are rolling around and I can feel that baby c is the main mover and roller. I'll feel a roll and then there is a hard lump popping out that I can let Dillon feel. It's nice to be able to share that with him. I have zero core strength and have to roll to my side and use my arms to push my self up from laying down. Weird week emotionally since this is the week we found out last time. Babies seem to sink down when I'm upright for long periods of time, put lots of pressure on pelvis and make it hard to pee but makes it feel like I have to all the time. Lots of false alarms so then I lay down for a while.
16 weeks
Uterus measuring 26 weeks and getting hard to hide. Kind of sinking down and heavier down low. This is the week I've really started to feel like I wouldn't be able to tell if I were pregnant or not if I didn't have a belly because all symptoms are subsiding. The acne is getting better again and I'm not hungry every two hours. Ultrasound at clinic but Dr E did it and told us that the identicals are boys and baby c is most likely a girl. Will confirm at 18 week anatomy scan. Weird but strangely nice to know what a 16 week baby actually looks like since thats the size our first baby was when I delivered her last year.
15 weeks
Uterus about 1.5-2 inches above belly button, supposedly that means measuring 23-24 weeks. Not huge but def can't suck in anymore/def look pregnant. My belly bounces a little when I laugh and I not so secretly love it ha. Feel pretty normal and hunger back to normal but started having pelvic and inner thigh pain that could be ligaments throwing things out of whack. A little RLP. Less tired but less physical comfort/capability. A bit of acne back, wondering if hormone surge causing that and all the ligament pain.
14 weeks
Uterus a little above belly button, measuring 20ish weeks. Starting to feel like I'm a normal human being again and not pregnant at all, just can't bend all the way. Bit less tired. Bump def visible to others now but still trying to hide it. Heartburn has started and acne chilled out middle of last week (just in time for Courtney's wedding!) Ultrasound at MFM but clinic so only HB check. Met with Dr Esplin. Still nervous about things and worried but what can you do? Now feeling slight kick every once in a while. Baby A kicked for about 30 sec but now they just feel like muscle twitches here and there. Only feeling babies A and B though. Still can find all on Doppler though toward end of week, harder to find. Baby C is under my artery so hoping that's why and not because I'm picking up the others and it's gone :/
13 weeks
Uterus at belly button, measures around 18-19 weeks. Shows if I'm relaxing my abs despite a loose shirt but can kind of hide it if I suck in/sit right. Tire easily still and don't feel good if I don't rest or eat. Still hungry every 2-3 hours. Friend gave us fetal heart Doppler, able to find all three babies easily! Think I felt baby B kick or roll over, not 100% sure, but pretty sure!
12 weeks
Uterus 1-2 inches below belly button, 17-18 weeks measurement. Had appt with MFM, made me feel so much better to have visual/set up appts for next 6 weeks (October 23rd, nov 6, nov 21--anatomy scan!) Tech recorded on DVD and so cool to see them kicking around. Made it feel more real and have lots of reassurance. Hungry every 2 hours. Tired easily and rest a lot. Blood drawn, things are all normal.
11 weeks
Uterus halfway between pelvic bone and belly button, 16 weeks measurement. I can tell there's something there but it's not visible to anyone else yet. Started week by week stomach pics. Feel like there can't be three, not big enough but hungry all the time and tired.
10 weeks
Bloating gone so I look normal and that worries me/means something is wrong/babies stopped. Hard to not be worried. Had ultrasound with Dr Laine last Friday but then was super paranoid this week and had one again this Friday. Being referred to MFM for care. Felt better once we got appt scheduled. Got to stop progesterone suppositories and thank goodness because they were so gross!
18 weeks
Anatomy scan! No twin to twin yet and Baby C is a girl! She is stuck up under my right ribs, which is where I feel the most kicks/movement. Babies all look good. All head down now which explains all the extra pressure. Always heartburn. Belly grew wider more than out this week. All babies are now head down--baby C had been head up since the beginning but she probably rolled down once her head started smashing into my ribs.
17 weeks
Uterus measuring 28 weeks. Major heartburn, tums are my friend. Babies are rolling around and I can feel that baby c is the main mover and roller. I'll feel a roll and then there is a hard lump popping out that I can let Dillon feel. It's nice to be able to share that with him. I have zero core strength and have to roll to my side and use my arms to push my self up from laying down. Weird week emotionally since this is the week we found out last time. Babies seem to sink down when I'm upright for long periods of time, put lots of pressure on pelvis and make it hard to pee but makes it feel like I have to all the time. Lots of false alarms so then I lay down for a while.
16 weeks
Uterus measuring 26 weeks and getting hard to hide. Kind of sinking down and heavier down low. This is the week I've really started to feel like I wouldn't be able to tell if I were pregnant or not if I didn't have a belly because all symptoms are subsiding. The acne is getting better again and I'm not hungry every two hours. Ultrasound at clinic but Dr E did it and told us that the identicals are boys and baby c is most likely a girl. Will confirm at 18 week anatomy scan. Weird but strangely nice to know what a 16 week baby actually looks like since thats the size our first baby was when I delivered her last year.
15 weeks
Uterus about 1.5-2 inches above belly button, supposedly that means measuring 23-24 weeks. Not huge but def can't suck in anymore/def look pregnant. My belly bounces a little when I laugh and I not so secretly love it ha. Feel pretty normal and hunger back to normal but started having pelvic and inner thigh pain that could be ligaments throwing things out of whack. A little RLP. Less tired but less physical comfort/capability. A bit of acne back, wondering if hormone surge causing that and all the ligament pain.
14 weeks
Uterus a little above belly button, measuring 20ish weeks. Starting to feel like I'm a normal human being again and not pregnant at all, just can't bend all the way. Bit less tired. Bump def visible to others now but still trying to hide it. Heartburn has started and acne chilled out middle of last week (just in time for Courtney's wedding!) Ultrasound at MFM but clinic so only HB check. Met with Dr Esplin. Still nervous about things and worried but what can you do? Now feeling slight kick every once in a while. Baby A kicked for about 30 sec but now they just feel like muscle twitches here and there. Only feeling babies A and B though. Still can find all on Doppler though toward end of week, harder to find. Baby C is under my artery so hoping that's why and not because I'm picking up the others and it's gone :/
13 weeks
Uterus at belly button, measures around 18-19 weeks. Shows if I'm relaxing my abs despite a loose shirt but can kind of hide it if I suck in/sit right. Tire easily still and don't feel good if I don't rest or eat. Still hungry every 2-3 hours. Friend gave us fetal heart Doppler, able to find all three babies easily! Think I felt baby B kick or roll over, not 100% sure, but pretty sure!
12 weeks
Uterus 1-2 inches below belly button, 17-18 weeks measurement. Had appt with MFM, made me feel so much better to have visual/set up appts for next 6 weeks (October 23rd, nov 6, nov 21--anatomy scan!) Tech recorded on DVD and so cool to see them kicking around. Made it feel more real and have lots of reassurance. Hungry every 2 hours. Tired easily and rest a lot. Blood drawn, things are all normal.
11 weeks
Uterus halfway between pelvic bone and belly button, 16 weeks measurement. I can tell there's something there but it's not visible to anyone else yet. Started week by week stomach pics. Feel like there can't be three, not big enough but hungry all the time and tired.
10 weeks
Bloating gone so I look normal and that worries me/means something is wrong/babies stopped. Hard to not be worried. Had ultrasound with Dr Laine last Friday but then was super paranoid this week and had one again this Friday. Being referred to MFM for care. Felt better once we got appt scheduled. Got to stop progesterone suppositories and thank goodness because they were so gross!
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
18 Week Anatomy Scan
This is the appointment we have been waiting for! We already knew the genders, but more important to us was finding out if our babies looked healthy. Even though nothing glaring ever showed up on any of the previous ultrasounds, we were still nervous and didn't feel like we could breath a slight sigh of relief, or share our triply good news, until we got a sort of clean bill of health.
But I'm happy to say that things looked good, babies looked healthy, and they are growing right on track. There are currently no signs of twin to twin and Baby C stayed a girl. We are THRILLED.
We've decided it's finally time to tell people. It's been a little hard to hide it the past couple weeks because I've been measuring 10 weeks ahead since I started "showing" at 11 weeks. Which means I am now measuring 28 weeks. But since it's my "first" pregnancy (aka my body didn't get stretched out very much last time) I am a bit smaller than if this were a true second pregnancy, but still definitely bigger than normal and I definitely feel the rapid growth!
Dillon had this idea to share pics from our trips and then have the ultrasound pic saying that this is our next adventure/"trip" since a lot of people ask us where our travels will take us next. Totally understandable since we have traveled quite a lot. So Dillon compiled a few of the (not a joke) thousands of pictures we have of our trips and it was pretty hard to narrow it down. We've been a lot of amazing places--sometimes more than once!
This should be our last "booking" for a while though, and we are juuuuuust fine with that!
The ultrasound pic is a view of their heads--the only view that gets them all in one pic these days since they're getting bigger!
But I'm happy to say that things looked good, babies looked healthy, and they are growing right on track. There are currently no signs of twin to twin and Baby C stayed a girl. We are THRILLED.
We've decided it's finally time to tell people. It's been a little hard to hide it the past couple weeks because I've been measuring 10 weeks ahead since I started "showing" at 11 weeks. Which means I am now measuring 28 weeks. But since it's my "first" pregnancy (aka my body didn't get stretched out very much last time) I am a bit smaller than if this were a true second pregnancy, but still definitely bigger than normal and I definitely feel the rapid growth!
Dillon had this idea to share pics from our trips and then have the ultrasound pic saying that this is our next adventure/"trip" since a lot of people ask us where our travels will take us next. Totally understandable since we have traveled quite a lot. So Dillon compiled a few of the (not a joke) thousands of pictures we have of our trips and it was pretty hard to narrow it down. We've been a lot of amazing places--sometimes more than once!
This should be our last "booking" for a while though, and we are juuuuuust fine with that!
The ultrasound pic is a view of their heads--the only view that gets them all in one pic these days since they're getting bigger!
Monday, October 23, 2017
16 Week Appointment
We had our 16 week appointment this morning!
We had a rough start to the day even though daylight savings time was working to our advantage, but my gag reflexes were working against me. Some days I'm totally fine and some days I can barely even choke down food without them acting up. Thankfully nausea has never been a factor, so once I throw up, it's over and I count myself incredibly lucky.
Though throwing up my raisin bran made us get on the road a little late, the office is always running a little behind so we saw Dr. Esplin the same time we did last time when we were on time. We always have an ultrasound (awesome perk of having three in there) and it has been the nurse the last few times, but this time it was the doctor. It is always so awesome to see three bouncing babies on the screen, and they are all usually always wiggling around. It's so cool.
Dr. E first started off with saying that the identicals' placenta is low lying and at this point looks like it is covering my cervix, which is called placenta previa and is kind of a big deal. Since it's still early, there is still a chance that it could change as the uterus grows, but with the amount of placenta to support three babies there really isn't much space in there that isn't covered with placenta. But we've got our fingers crossed that it just looks covered and will not actually be covered in the coming weeks of uterine growth.
As they were checking the heart rates I know that Dr. E could tell the gender of one of the identical twins and he asked if we wanted to know. We said definitely, but only if we could know all of them at the same time. He was great and said he wouldn't tell until he could see all three, but that also meant that maybe we wouldn't be able to tell the one that was feet down, baby C. We were totally fine with that but then he wiggled baby C who flipped a little and then he was able to say with 90% surety that he knew. He asked if we were okay with 90% or if we wanted to wait, but how do you wait when 90% sure sounds so good??
He told us what he saw and then went to show us. He panned over to what he could see in between baby C's legs, and to us it looked like a boy, but then he shifted and said there was nothing there (which we thought we kind of saw at that point, but we're no professionals) and pointed out the umbilical cord, which is what we thought made it a boy. But with 90% surety we can say that we're having a girl! Then he shifted over to the identicals to baby A (which he labeled baby B today) and said it was the baby he could tell really easily because it was really obvious that there was a boy part, and it was super obvious and definitely didn't look like an umbilical cord! Then we checked out the middle baby and he got a better view and it also definitely looked like a boy!
Dillon kept saying that's how it would be. I totally wanted the identicals to be girls and have the single one be a boy, but every time he would say it'd be the opposite I couldn't help but feel he was right. And every time I'd see a picture of identical twin boys I would think how cute they were but how I wanted girls and then bam, I would get that little inkling the Dillon was right. I mean, beggars can't be choosers and we really just want healthy babies, but we were hoping for both genders in any kind of combo.
So as long as Baby C doesn't turn into a boy at our 18 week appointment (major fingers crossed), we're having two boys and a girl! We really couldn't be more thrilled! And even though I wanted the identicals to be girls and the single a boy, how could I complain--we are getting both genders! So that and healthy babies is all we could ask for. Uh, I guess besides the whole placenta previa thing to go away...and to not deliver too early...and to not get twin to twin transfusion or gestational diabetes or preeclampsia...so a decent amount of things I guess ha.
Woooo!
We had a rough start to the day even though daylight savings time was working to our advantage, but my gag reflexes were working against me. Some days I'm totally fine and some days I can barely even choke down food without them acting up. Thankfully nausea has never been a factor, so once I throw up, it's over and I count myself incredibly lucky.
Though throwing up my raisin bran made us get on the road a little late, the office is always running a little behind so we saw Dr. Esplin the same time we did last time when we were on time. We always have an ultrasound (awesome perk of having three in there) and it has been the nurse the last few times, but this time it was the doctor. It is always so awesome to see three bouncing babies on the screen, and they are all usually always wiggling around. It's so cool.
Dr. E first started off with saying that the identicals' placenta is low lying and at this point looks like it is covering my cervix, which is called placenta previa and is kind of a big deal. Since it's still early, there is still a chance that it could change as the uterus grows, but with the amount of placenta to support three babies there really isn't much space in there that isn't covered with placenta. But we've got our fingers crossed that it just looks covered and will not actually be covered in the coming weeks of uterine growth.
As they were checking the heart rates I know that Dr. E could tell the gender of one of the identical twins and he asked if we wanted to know. We said definitely, but only if we could know all of them at the same time. He was great and said he wouldn't tell until he could see all three, but that also meant that maybe we wouldn't be able to tell the one that was feet down, baby C. We were totally fine with that but then he wiggled baby C who flipped a little and then he was able to say with 90% surety that he knew. He asked if we were okay with 90% or if we wanted to wait, but how do you wait when 90% sure sounds so good??
He told us what he saw and then went to show us. He panned over to what he could see in between baby C's legs, and to us it looked like a boy, but then he shifted and said there was nothing there (which we thought we kind of saw at that point, but we're no professionals) and pointed out the umbilical cord, which is what we thought made it a boy. But with 90% surety we can say that we're having a girl! Then he shifted over to the identicals to baby A (which he labeled baby B today) and said it was the baby he could tell really easily because it was really obvious that there was a boy part, and it was super obvious and definitely didn't look like an umbilical cord! Then we checked out the middle baby and he got a better view and it also definitely looked like a boy!
Dillon kept saying that's how it would be. I totally wanted the identicals to be girls and have the single one be a boy, but every time he would say it'd be the opposite I couldn't help but feel he was right. And every time I'd see a picture of identical twin boys I would think how cute they were but how I wanted girls and then bam, I would get that little inkling the Dillon was right. I mean, beggars can't be choosers and we really just want healthy babies, but we were hoping for both genders in any kind of combo.
So as long as Baby C doesn't turn into a boy at our 18 week appointment (major fingers crossed), we're having two boys and a girl! We really couldn't be more thrilled! And even though I wanted the identicals to be girls and the single a boy, how could I complain--we are getting both genders! So that and healthy babies is all we could ask for. Uh, I guess besides the whole placenta previa thing to go away...and to not deliver too early...and to not get twin to twin transfusion or gestational diabetes or preeclampsia...so a decent amount of things I guess ha.
Woooo!
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
12 Week Appointment
We had our 12 week appointment with the high risk doctor today (Maternal Fetal Medicine)! It felt like forever of waiting since they didn't get the referral for a week after meeting with my OB at 9.5 weeks and so it felt stressful not having anything set up yet. I mean, triplets are a big deal, right? But it felt like we weren't being kept track of at all. But that's just our own paranoia since we haven't gone longer than two weeks without an appointment. That has helped with all our anxiety regarding losing a baby.
We went straight back to the room, which, if you've never been in one you need to know they are the super suite of ultrasound rooms. Perfect lighting, comfortable exam bed, warm jelly, large TV screen to see everything. It's great. And the ultrasound techs are also top notch. Ours was so great and started by saying that they normally don't film and burn a DVD until the anatomy scan, but triplets were cool enough that we deserved it. Dillon usually films all our appointments, but this was way better.
She first started off figuring out everyones' positioning in there to be able to label each baby A, B, and C and then started checking out each baby individually. The first part was so cool because we could see them all lined up next to each other in a row. Then the middle baby started bouncing around which seemed to set them all off wiggling. It was so cool. Imagine, three little potential humans just hanging out in my midsection.
After about half an hour of trying to measure each baby's neck fold to check the fluid levels to determine potential genetic abnormality risks (all the levels looked good, meaning a 60% chance that nothing is wrong), the tech said she didn't see anything she was worried about and went to get the high risk doctor that was on rotation that day. She wouldn't be our regular doctor, but I really liked her. I suppose high risk doctors are all good though since they need to be able to handle high risk pregnancies.
My friend from back home (who did our ultrasound when we lost the baby last year) was working that day and had actually texted me before the appointment saying I was on the schedule and what the heck, was I having triplets. She came in to chat and had gotten me set up with the doctor we will have for the remainder of the pregnancy.
We then finished up and went out to make our next three appointments, including our anatomy scan. Having them set up and having an action plan made me feel so much more settled about things. I was even feeling so confident about things that I would have shared our good news if Dillon had been on board ;) But knowing the date of the anatomy scan meant I knew the time that Dillon would be comfortable sharing.
Our next visit scheduled is the 14 week appointment where we meet our permanent doctor, thankfully only two weeks away!
We went straight back to the room, which, if you've never been in one you need to know they are the super suite of ultrasound rooms. Perfect lighting, comfortable exam bed, warm jelly, large TV screen to see everything. It's great. And the ultrasound techs are also top notch. Ours was so great and started by saying that they normally don't film and burn a DVD until the anatomy scan, but triplets were cool enough that we deserved it. Dillon usually films all our appointments, but this was way better.
She first started off figuring out everyones' positioning in there to be able to label each baby A, B, and C and then started checking out each baby individually. The first part was so cool because we could see them all lined up next to each other in a row. Then the middle baby started bouncing around which seemed to set them all off wiggling. It was so cool. Imagine, three little potential humans just hanging out in my midsection.
After about half an hour of trying to measure each baby's neck fold to check the fluid levels to determine potential genetic abnormality risks (all the levels looked good, meaning a 60% chance that nothing is wrong), the tech said she didn't see anything she was worried about and went to get the high risk doctor that was on rotation that day. She wouldn't be our regular doctor, but I really liked her. I suppose high risk doctors are all good though since they need to be able to handle high risk pregnancies.
My friend from back home (who did our ultrasound when we lost the baby last year) was working that day and had actually texted me before the appointment saying I was on the schedule and what the heck, was I having triplets. She came in to chat and had gotten me set up with the doctor we will have for the remainder of the pregnancy.
We then finished up and went out to make our next three appointments, including our anatomy scan. Having them set up and having an action plan made me feel so much more settled about things. I was even feeling so confident about things that I would have shared our good news if Dillon had been on board ;) But knowing the date of the anatomy scan meant I knew the time that Dillon would be comfortable sharing.
Our next visit scheduled is the 14 week appointment where we meet our permanent doctor, thankfully only two weeks away!
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
IVF: Nine Week Ultrasound, From 2 to 3
We got back from our trip and had a couple days until our next ultrasound. I was always worried that maybe one of the babies stopped growing because I had been fine the whole trip. Besides being hungry all the time and needing to use the bathroom frequently, I hadn't felt too bad. I definitely didn't mind not having nausea, but it did nothing to reassure me that babies could be thriving.
But when we went into our appointment, this time with our regular doctor who we love, we immediately saw heartbeats. She measured Baby A and we heard the heartbeat and then she moved to Baby B.
As she moved over, up popped something close to Baby B that, to me, looked like what the other sacs looked like. She quickly moved away back to Baby A as I was about to ask, "Is that...?" But then she scanned back over and I could see it again as she said, "Guys, I'm seeing a third." On the video, you can see a flash in my eyes as I turn quickly to her as she started saying, "Guys..." because I had seen it, too.
And all of a sudden we went from two babies to three.
They say there are few true surprises in life, and let me tell you, this was the ultimate surprise. One minute we were having twins, and then bam, triplets. SUCH a curveball. Such a crazy thing to wrap your brain around after going around for a few weeks thinking ("knowing") there were only two. I was so stunned because I hadn't been sick enough for one, let alone three! (I certainly had enough acne for three, though, but I will take it over nausea ANY day.)
Obviously, one of the embryos split because we definitely only transferred two embryos! We could immediately see that they each had their own sac but were sharing a placenta, which means that they split within a day or two of being put back in me. If they had split any later they would be sharing a placenta and the sac, which is incredibly risky. Sharing even just the placenta is pretty risky though, so not only is this a high risk pregnancy because of three babies, it makes it extra risky because of the shared nutrient supply for the identical set.
I know this sounds silly, but I was secretly so thrilled/pleased/proud that the embryo split because identical twins are just so cool. Besides the fact that they are completely spontaneous so there's nothing a person can do to make it happen, I just think it's crazy that two people can exist who look exactly like one another since they came from the same genetic makeup. Twins are cool and everything, but identical twins are amazing.
Though we are very aware of the risks and complications, we are thrilled that we have this opportunity to maybe have three babies. We've waited a while for this, and while we're not out of the woods yet, we are hopeful!
But when we went into our appointment, this time with our regular doctor who we love, we immediately saw heartbeats. She measured Baby A and we heard the heartbeat and then she moved to Baby B.
As she moved over, up popped something close to Baby B that, to me, looked like what the other sacs looked like. She quickly moved away back to Baby A as I was about to ask, "Is that...?" But then she scanned back over and I could see it again as she said, "Guys, I'm seeing a third." On the video, you can see a flash in my eyes as I turn quickly to her as she started saying, "Guys..." because I had seen it, too.
And all of a sudden we went from two babies to three.
They say there are few true surprises in life, and let me tell you, this was the ultimate surprise. One minute we were having twins, and then bam, triplets. SUCH a curveball. Such a crazy thing to wrap your brain around after going around for a few weeks thinking ("knowing") there were only two. I was so stunned because I hadn't been sick enough for one, let alone three! (I certainly had enough acne for three, though, but I will take it over nausea ANY day.)
Obviously, one of the embryos split because we definitely only transferred two embryos! We could immediately see that they each had their own sac but were sharing a placenta, which means that they split within a day or two of being put back in me. If they had split any later they would be sharing a placenta and the sac, which is incredibly risky. Sharing even just the placenta is pretty risky though, so not only is this a high risk pregnancy because of three babies, it makes it extra risky because of the shared nutrient supply for the identical set.
I know this sounds silly, but I was secretly so thrilled/pleased/proud that the embryo split because identical twins are just so cool. Besides the fact that they are completely spontaneous so there's nothing a person can do to make it happen, I just think it's crazy that two people can exist who look exactly like one another since they came from the same genetic makeup. Twins are cool and everything, but identical twins are amazing.
Though we are very aware of the risks and complications, we are thrilled that we have this opportunity to maybe have three babies. We've waited a while for this, and while we're not out of the woods yet, we are hopeful!
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