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.
Well it has been another busy and tiring week here growing babies. We had the follow up to our morphology scan last week and everything was perfect.
This week has been the first week of us calling in all of our support network to help with our little boy and I must say so far it is working really well. He has been having a very busy little social life and comes home to tell me the stories about his adventures. He quite happily toddles off each morning and afternoon with his sitter for the afternoon saying goodbye Mum and gives me a kiss and a wave and is returned to us happy as anything 2-3 hours later. Next week he has some music and movement, as well as a couple of play groups on his calender.
This morning Mr TAN and I had a growth scan to check on each of the babies progress and so far so good. Each of the babies is growing well and measuring about a week to a week and a half instead of dates.
Baby A is weighing in around 470grams,
Baby B is weighing in around 460grams,
and lastly Baby C is weighing in at about 510 grams.
Baby C has always been a bit bigger and B has always been that tiny bit smaller. The general rule is the babies will continue to grow on par with a single baby so it tends to be a combination of their early arrival and if there are any issues ie sharing placentas that then effects their birth weight. At each visit know they also now scan my cervix to make sure it is not getting shorter or starting to dilate, in the Maternal Foetal Health doctor words today he said it was 'beautiful and a rockin cervix' so I guess it can't get better than that.
At our visit last week we were also told that I would likely to be admitted to hospital at 26 weeks, partly because it is such a crucial time in the pregnancy and also due to the hour long drive to hospital. So I was actually beginning to look forward to this to have a bit of rest and relaxation before life gets unimaginably hectic, but today we were told that studies have shown mothers tend to have better outcomes by staying at home for as long as possible. So for now we will wait and see.
I still feel huge and some of the maternity clothes I wore at full term with our son are already becoming quite firm around my belly. A lot of people comment on how 'small' I am but I am not really sure how big people expect me to be, especially considering I am hoping to get another 1 to 1.5 kilos on each of these babies. So I will leave you all with a picture of how small I am.
From the day we found out we were expecting triplets we knew that it would be a difficult pregnancy, I just never expected it would get this hard so quickly.
I am already feeling constantly breathless from the pressure on my lungs, just putting on a pair of sneakers is leaving my huffing and puffing. So far my belly is almost the size of someone who is full term with a single baby and we still have at least 12 weeks (hopefully) to go. As for getting comfortable, especially when I am trying to sleep is almost impossible in spite of my mountain of pillows.
Over the Easter weekend I have started to experience lots of Braxton Hicks which seem to stop as soon as I am lying down, so needless to say my Easter plans were changed and included lots of naps. So after a few days of this I decided to go in to hospital for some monitoring as I know how high our risks are for preterm labour. The monitoring did show that everything was okay though thankfully but now I am pretty much laid up for the rest of this pregnancy and need to spend more time resting and laying down. Or the alternative is to be admitted to hospital to wait for these babies to arrive.
As much as it would be easier on me physically to be laid up in hospital for weeks on end, emotionally it would be really hard to spend so much time away from my loved ones and support network at a time when I need them most. Resting at home would be so much easier if I wasn't trying to keep up with a 2 year old. So at the moment the plan is we have called in on all the offers for help that we have been given. For now this has involved on calling on all my friends in the community to care for Ollie a few hours at a time, and knowing who I can call on each day of the week. I have always really liked the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child' and this time it feels as though not only will it take a village to raise these precious gifts, but it will take a village to help ensure these babies arrive safely.
We have been so amazed by the love and offers of support shown to us from our families, friends and people in the community. We are so very grateful for that, and we certainly wouldn't be able to do any of this without you. I hope one day we are able to help others in this same way to return the favour and feelings of gratitude.
On a final note I am off for the finishing touches on our morphology scan tomorrow bright and early. It seems the 2 1/2 nearly 3 hours last week was simply not long enough so get to go back tomorrow for round 2.
Well as you all know this week has been an interesting week.... Yesterday I went and had another appointment and she seems really happy with how everything is progressing. From the photo in my last post you can probably tell that I am feeling huge and is it any wonder, currently my fundal height is measuring 33cm. For those of you not down with the lingo this number generally co relates to how many weeks pregnant you are.
All the babies from the scan on Tuesday are all growing nicely and are currently all measuring at about 20+ weeks.
We are having a fairly quiet Easter weekend this year. Today Mr TAN decided to tackle the shops and pick out a few cute wee little clothes for the bubs but we really struggled to find any 00000. All this time I have been bursting to buy little girls things but then when the time came we couldn't find anything. We did come home though with a few little things, and a few boxes of nappies to help build up our collection. After 2-3 hours at the shops I was completely exhausted and came home to bed for a few hours, so it is looking like that was my last big shopping adventure.
On Monday we are heading to the Easter picnic races for the day which is a bit of a family tradition and a lovely way to spend the day. That is it for tonight hope everyone has a happy and safe Easter.
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
I was laying in bed last night unable to sleep and was imagining what it will be like to give my special trio their very first cuddle, especially if we are not able to hold them for a few weeks. Then I got to thinking what it will be like for Mr TAN to get to hold them for the first time. As the child bearer we get to feel every movement and feel our bodies change, and although our partners are able to experience some of that I feel it is something so amazing for them when they have that very first cuddle.
Mr TAN was always someone who could take it or leave it with children, so I will back track a little here. The Friday night our first little darling was born Mr TAN was tired from a long day at work and as always seems to be the case he was not very well that night. After Oliver had made his arrival just after midnight the new father was sitting in a recliner on his own while I was lying down. I asked the midwife to place Oliver in his arms so they could properly meet for the first time. It was amazing to see them looking into each others eyes for the first time, and to see how that amazing father and son bond has developed and grown over the last two and a half years.
Here is the picture of that very first cuddle. This second one was taken a few weeks ago of them sharing a hot dog at a local show.
When I was discussing this last night Mr TAN expressed his concern that he would not be able to hold them all at once. I explained that we will learn and we will find a way, to have these amazing group hugs.
Last night Mr TAN was laughing about everyone asks him now if he will get the snip. Although I don't imagine we would try for any more children and would be more than happy with our four boys if another miracle were to occur we would still be more than happy with our family. Just because we will have four young children does not mean that our family is complete, or that people can make that assumption for us.
Apart from that 2 more sleeps until our morphology scan on Tueday and will update a belly shot then too (it feels huge!!!)
I have been quite slack really when it comes to updating this blog but will try to make more of an effort. I suppose it is because not too much has changed in the past week or so. I am still fighting the exhaustion and thankfully our little Ollie still sleeps for about 2 hours a day so I have been able to manage that as well. I am finding it hard to get comfortable of a night time when I am trying to sleep so toss and turn a lot. I also quite often have a period of about 2 hours around the 2-3am mark where I struggle to get back to sleep. Also it doesn't matter which side I sleep on because there is a baby there waiting to kick me and remind me.
I had a check up with the obstetrician on Friday and all is looking really good. So far my fundal height is measuring 28cm and baby A and B are facing each other on either side below my belly button, baby C is just above my belly button and was facing down to watch his brothers. I am now on 3 weekly scans, and also have 3 weekly doctors appointments in between so all up get to see my baby boys every 10 days or so.
I also have finally started to gain weight. This was something that had been worrying me as I was told to aim to gain between 24-35 kilos this pregnancy to help achieve the healthiest possible weights for these babies. Those of you who know me, now how hard I was working on this to no avail. Well it is finally starting to creep on and have managed to gain a kilo in this past week. I have also been told from 20 weeks that it will pile on quite quickly too.
Another thing the doctor has told me is from 22 weeks I am pretty much not allowed to do anything, which is not so easy with a busy toddler to care for. So I am starting to put plans in place to make our lives easier and his life not too boring. I am already beginning to struggle with chasing after him and entertaining him. I am also finding it really hard to not pick him up when he needs it.
We have slowly started looking at cars that meet our long list of criteria, as for the modifications to the house we are not anywhere near finishing (or starting), although Mr TAN has just employed some more help so hopefully we will be able to get on to it before winter sets in. We still haven't looked at extra cots, linen, car seats any of that essential stuff. Let alone all that nesting and organising I would have normally liked to do. But we will get there eventually.
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