Today's Checkup

Today I had one of my obstetric appointments and all is still going great guns.  Mr TAN has now banned me from driving and everybody has agreed with him much to my disappointment, which I am not complaining about I just don't like being dependant on others. 

I am now measuring 43cm - YIKES!  For those of you who don't know what this means it generally relates to the equivalent of how pregnant you are IE 30cm is 30 weeks pregnant.  The babies are now all between the 50th and 70th percentile, which is fantastic news and I am looking forward to seeing how much they have grown at my next growth scan next week. 

Generally apart from being constantly breathless, headaches, being huge and in pain, the reflux and how squished all my internal organs are now I am feeling pretty good.  My high resting heart rate is still a concern so need to keep an eye on it and watch out for swelling and dizziness.  I have also been told IF I make it to 35 weeks a ceaserean will be scheduled for then, although the way I am beginning to feel already I am not sure if I will make it that far.

I am now finding myself with very little energy and basically just move from the couch to the bed.  Thankfully my mum has moved up to help me as of this week which is making a huge difference.  She has been helping with all the general household chores like cooking, washing and helping to care for Oliver.  With her help I believe I can manage an extra week at home but we will need to play that one by ear.

One thing that I am beginning to have fun with though is the comments I am getting from strangers about the size of my belly.  For example I was browsing in the shop at the hospital and a customer was having a conversation with the lady behind the counter, this is how it went:
Shop Lady "Busy day?"
Customer "Yes, people keep having babies"
Shop Lady "Look at her she is about to have a baby"
Me "I'm about to have 3" this is the fun part
All faces turn to me "3" "your having twins?" "Are they those ivf babies?"
Me "Yes, triplets, yes they are natural ;)"
This was then followed by a whole lot more clucking, this is just one example but it is becoming more of a daily occurrence when I leave the house but it is keeping me entertained....

Are there any other HOM parents out there that have had fun with these kinds of things?

Week 23!

Well not too much has changed here, have been fairly quiet just busily growing babies.  And growing they are!  I had an ob appointment this week and she could not be happier with how things are going for a triplet pregnancy.  I am now measuring the same size as someone who is 38 weeks pregnant so it is any wonder that some of my clothes are getting a bit firm and uncomfortable.  Baby C who has always measured a bit bigger as of 2 weeks ago was in the 90% percentile for size, with Baby's A and B not far behind.  When they compare sizes they always compare it to a singleton baby so considering there are 3 in there it appears all the rest I am getting is helping tremendously. 

This week we have a lot of appointments coming up we have our first appointment with the maternal foetal medicine doctors, and we are also meeting with the neonatal doctors for the first time.  We will also get shown the NICU ward at the same time.  On the same day we also are meeting with the hospitals multiple birth coordinator.  So a very big day coming up there.  Then next Friday we have another growth scan so I am excited to see how much my little trio have grown in the past 3 weeks.  Another exciting milestone approaching in just 2 short days is we will reach 24 weeks.  This means we are officially 'viable'.  This is a term that I despise immensely but important nonetheless.  My first official goal is 28 weeks, though I hope to make it to at least 32 thanks to all the wonderful support I have around me. 

As the arrival of these babies and the changes that will happen draw closer I have been thinking alot about how they will actually arrive.  From the beginning I thought that a cesarean was the only option and had never questioned it.  But after hearing a few amazing stories from other Australian women who have birthed triplets I begin to have doubts.  There are a lot of criteria that you need to meet for it to be able to occur from what I have heard apart from a doctor willing you need to meet these

• Baby A and B head down
• Past 32 weeks
• Mum and babies in good health
• Epidural in place for just in case
• Need to deliver in theatre, again for just in case
• Constant monitoring for each baby

That is all I can remember for now.  But after thinking about all this I wonder if I will have the energy and the strength to birth 3 babies, with the possibility of it ending in a cesarean anyway.  So I guess in a way I am still torn and perhaps am leaning towards the easier option.  For me what my concern is with the cesarean is mainly the recovery time.  Not only with caring for my son, but also all the hour long drives to the hospital to visit with the triplets and relying on someone to take me there each day.  Mr TAN will find it hard to take off too much time of work as he has a business to run and there isn't really anyone who can do the work for him. 

So that is what has been occupying my thoughts this week, but I am sure I will have a lot more to say after this weeks appointments.

More surprises!

Well folks as you all know today was the big morphology scan.  Everything is looking amazingly well and after a long 2 and a half hours of being poked we have nearly all the measurements we needed and all the babies are weighing a little over 300grams each.  Just need to go back next week to get a few more measurements.

The big shock we got today was after our last visit and seeing Baby A's willy, we got a good look today at all the babies bits.  And as it turns out A and C are both confirmed boys, but little B is a GIRL!  What this means is somehow on our fresh ivf/ icsi cycle we managed to conceive a girl, and the embryo we had transferred split into our 2 little boys.  So somehow after 6 years it finally happened. 

The whole 6 years we had spent trying and hoping for a baby we would often hear of these urban legends were people would fall pregnant naturally, or their embryo would split and all these amazing stories and I always thought wow wouldn't it be nice if that would happen to us.  Now I feel like we have the double whammy and could not be more shocked and amazed at the miracles that have been bestowed upon us.  What an amazing gift!

I can feel all 3 babies squirming away now which is the most incredible feeling.  I caught a reflection of myself yesterday in the mirror and is it any wonder people are beginning to ask when the baby is due?  I look and feel huge already and these little mites still have so much growing to do.  

We took a car for a test drive today, so it looks like that can be crossed off our long to do list, and I also found 2 matching cots that match our existing one on Ebay so bought those today too.  It feels as things are finally slowly starting to happen and come together, but now for some pics. 

This is my bump today at 19 weeks

Here is a group shot of my trio's heads (can't say boys anymore) from L to R we have C, A, B 

And lastly I won't bore you with a pic of each individual bub, just little Miracle baby B

The 12 week scan

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

Another appointment 02/02/2012

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.

Doctors and yet another scan 20/01/2012

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.

The Scan 16/01/2012

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.