Are they natural? This is a question I have been asked so many times in the last few weeks, and I am sure one that will continue to be asked of me many more times in the months and years ahead.
Yes we did have to use IVF to conceive our children however I do not see how this is relevant. At this stage we are led to believe that our triplets will be identical which means the one little embryo split into 3, so nothing to do with the fertility treatment.
In some countries they will transfer more that one embryo sometimes even 3 or 4, just think of Octomum. So people quite often end up with triplets or quads, or the other scenario is if people have 2 embryos transferred and 1 of those splits into 2 then you also have triplets.
People would not normally ask complete strangers how they conceived their children, and I am not sure why people think it is there business. I don't believe that a mother pregnant with one child would be asked this question, so isn't it a bit rude to ask a mother of multiples? As I am sure mothers who did conceive their multiples naturally get tired of people asking them the same question too. Sometimes I do just say no, they are natural as people seem more excited and it is easier to answer all the questions.
We are honest with friends and family in the hope that one day if perhaps someone is struggling on their journey to conceive a child maybe it will help them. But for now strangers will get a rude answer to a rude question, perhaps I will just tell them it was S.E.X or a very big dick! What do you think your reply would be?
Meanwhile here is a picture of my rapidly growing bump at 14 weeks.
Well today has finally arrived and 2.30 took forever to get here. We had been warned that today's scan would take at least 2 hours to do all the measurements. The killer is the litre of water I was told to drink an hour beforehand.
I was such a bundle of nerves the closer we got to the sonography place. My heart was racing and I was shaking like a leaf by the time we actually got in to the room to lie down.
As soon as I saw the 3 little dears though I relaxed and the relief and happy tears set in. All 3 babies are doing brilliantly and came back as all having a low risk for Downs Syndrome. I nearly left out the best part. The scan only took an hour as all 3 babies were on their best behaviour and were in perfect positions. Hopefully a sign of things to come?
This weekend we are off on a family get away to the beach which will be so lovely and relaxing. We are staying in a beach house with Mr Tans family, luckily we are all close and get along well too. So it definitely won't be a drag.
I already look about 6 months pregnant and have been needing to wear maternity clothes for the past 2 weeks. I will take a picture to show you all soon. But for now are some happy snaps from today.
Ok so I can't work out how to get the pictures in the right order but the first pic os of Triplets A and C
The second is a group shot and last but not least is Triplet B
I have finally caught up in filling you all in on the events of the past few months.
Well we have made it to 12 weeks and so far so good. I woke yesterday with an awful cramp along the left side of my bump like I had been doing too many sit ups or something. But after a quick phone call to my obstetrician and resting with a heat pack it has disappeared. I assume it has something to do with how quickly my bump and the babies are growing at the moment.
I can't help but panic every time something doesn't feel right, especially with all these risks we have been told about. It was at this stage in our last pregnancy that we lost the baby which was one of the most traumatic experiences we have ever faced. We had seen a healthy baby with a heartbeat just 2 weeks prior and had been told everything was fine. It took us a long time to recover emotionally from that experience.
So sorry for all that to be a bit of a downer. In other news last week I had to see a physio and get fitted for like a large elastic bandage type thing to wear over my bump. I made a silly decision to google what tummy's look like after a pregnancy with triplets and it's not pretty.
Another little snipet that I wanted to share with you is this link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23471625/ns/health-health_care/t/woman-gives-birth-identical-triplets/ I found. It is the only other incidence that I have found of a lady having triplets after a single embryo transfer
So for now the count down is on for our scan on Thursday to check on all 3 babies. Two weeks seems like such a long time between scans so it will be lovely to see my trio again. Only 2 more sleeps....
I had another obstetrician appointment and my mum came along with me. I have been banned from going to any of these appointments by myself now, especially after that first time finding out with only a 2 year old for company. So at the moment the plan is I will be doing shared care between my obstetrician and the Maternal Foetal Health Specialists at the hospital. So my normal ob will be checking blood pressure quick scans etc and the major scans will be done at the hospital. This suits me as my doctor is about 20 minutes closer and parking is much easier too.
All is still going swimmingly. We had another peek in on the little ones today and it is incredible the difference 2 weeks has made. We can now see all 12 little arms and legs dancing around and they look like babies now instead of little prawns. I also discovered the reason as to why I look so big already, turns out the fundal height is already at 18cm at 10 weeks.
I left today feeling much more comfortable and supported in our decision, it is just such a shame how all the doom and gloom risks make you feel especially when it was all the negatives that we were being warned about and not the positives of being able to bring 3 precious babies home.
It has now been just over a week since we found out about our 3 precious little babes. I have already grown out of my normal clothes and are in maternity clothes full time. Leading up to the scan last week I had been feeling quite bloated and had put it down to OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome) which now I know there was more than one reason for feeling this way.
I am also under Mr TAN's strict orders of resting and banned from exercise and housework, which I am more than happy to oblige with. I feel like I can't stop eating and recently have read that my recommended calorie intake is about 2400 calories per day.
So apart from lounging around and eating like a horse I am feeling pretty good. The what ifs are always in the back of mind but we just need to take each day as it comes.
This morning we are all heading down to have an appointment with my obstetrician. This is the first chance we have had to actually speak to a medical professional since finding out we having triplets 4 days ago. We went in expecting to to get more information and care options, and maybe to touch on the risks involved. Instead it feels like a lecture. We are told all about the high amount of risks involved with a HOM (higher order multiples) pregnancy including:
- premature babies born before 28 weeks,
- high risk of having children with mental and physical disablitlies,
- 90% risk of gestational diabetes
- and also the scary fact that we could loose all of these babies at any stage in the pregnancy.
Again it is discussed with us about considering using selective reduction to reduce the risks involved. She also referred us to see a Maternal Foetal Health Specialist from the Women's and Children's hospital at another ultrasound place for that afternoon. We both leave feeling really deflated and scared.
Having suffered the emotional and physical pain of miscarriage last year at 12 weeks we don't feel that this is an option that we can consider. Especially given this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and a true miracle we have been incredibly blessed with.
So later that afternoon we head off for yet another scan which reconfirms that there are in fact 3 placentas and 3 amniotic sacs (trichorionic, triamniotic.)
We are told that this is the best case scenario and makes it less complicated than pregnancies where the babies share a placenta or amniotic sacs. When we talk to the Maternal Foetal Health Specialist we are once again talked to about the risks although this time we feel much more at ease with the risks involved and potential complications. We hear that
- most triplets are born between 30-34 weeks
- they generally weigh around 2 kilos each
- the risk with the most complications is if the babies are born before 28 weeks
- I am also told I am likely going to be needed to be admitted to hospital for a few weeks at some stage later in the pregnancy and I will be on modified activities
We are also told that if we do choose selective reduction there is a chance that we could loose all 3 babies. We are also told that the bubs are most likely to be identical. As with our embryo transfer we only had the one embryo transferred which somehow managed to split a lot. We both leave feeling comfortable with our decision and knowing that we have lots of support from our family and friends we are going to embrace these miracles with everything we have.
Today I get to see our babies again. All are still going great and measuring as they should be. We also learn that each baby has its own sac and own placenta which we hear is excellent news.
The last few days our minds have been racing with all the logistics of bringing home 3 newborns things like
- needing a new car
- how to modify our house so we all fit
- all the things we will need ie cots and car seats
- how I will breastfeed 3 babies with only 2 boobs
Along with a whole range of other things that keeps me awake in the middle of the night.
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. Between Christmas and New Year and battling this extreme exhaustion but we are now 8 weeks and Oliver and I are heading off for a scan to see how things are looking. So we head in and lay down and there is silence
Sonographer: "Are you seeing this?"
Me: "No, is it twins?"
Sonographer: "No, TRIPLETS, and they all have heartbeats"
And then the shock and happy tears set in. She rushes off to get another sonographer to make sure she isn't seeing things and the doctor. So after all the compulsory measurements and checks are done we have to go off and see the doctor, still with little Ollie by my side. I am told I need to arrange another scan and an appointment with my obstetrician within the week. I am also given a brief low down on the high amount of risks involved in a multiple pregnancy and how I should consider reducing the number of babies to reduce the risks.
So we head off home with my thoughts still racing at a million miles an hour. As I get home my Mr TAN is in a rush getting ready for work.
Mr TAN: "How did it all go?"
Me: "Good" showing him the picture.
Mr TAN: "Oh that's nice"
Me: "Look at the picture there are 3. It's triplets!"
He doesn't have too much to say and continues getting ready for work. After 30 minutes or so and the initial shock has worn off he comes back inside and gives me a big hug. He also tells me all about all the information he has found on Google, and the plans he has started making, including how we will fit 4 children into our small 2 bedroom house.
My mum came up later that morning and we told her our new news. We told the rest of our immediate family that day as we knew we would need lots of support around us. Below is the pics we got from that day.
Today is the day, not only do we get the results we have been waiting for, I also get to be a bridesmaid in a very dear friends wedding. So I had been checking my phone all morning waiting for 'that call' when at about 11.30 sometime between getting my hair done and investigating the reception venue to see where I needed to walk we get the magical call.
I am 4 weeks and 4 days pregnant and I am told that my HCG levels are 1039 which is very good. So the rest of the day passes in somewhat of a blur of being incredibly happy, tired and emotional. We are just so happy that we have reached this point again.
Ok to catch you all up on when this all started on the 22/12/11 I had to drive down to the clinic early for a pregnancy test.
I was cautiously optimistic as I had been having lots of lower abdominal ligament pain. As they were drawing the blood I was told that we would need to wait until tomorrow for the results as the lab was shut that day. Bummer! So we headed off home and resisted the urge to buy a test on the way, and waited...
Well I am going to start this off by saying I really have no idea about the blogging world and what you are meant to do. But as of recently we have lots of people interested in our story and thought this would also be a good keepsake of our journey and to keep people updated. So I will do a few entries now to get you all up to speed on our adventures the past few weeks.
My name is Kylie and I have a wonderful husband, and we are also blessed enough to have our little boy, Oliver who is 2. I am a SAHM and MR TAN is self employed.
