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?

My second goal!!!

Well today it is official, I have finally reached my minimum gestation goal of 28 weeks!  This also means that I am officially in the third trimester of pregnancy.  Lastly and most importantly I have been told that babies born at this gestation have a 95% chance of survival. 

On Friday night we made a late night dash to hospital as my Braxton Hicks started to become painful and regular.  Luckily it all turned out to be nothing, however they did keep me in for observation and rest until Monday. 


We are still planning on having me admitted to hospital from 30 weeks for a few reasons.  I am finding it harder and harder to cope at home on my own.  So for the next 2 weeks I have someone here permanently to help me.  I am really feeling it now if I do too much and tend to suffer the consequences, which I am sure is the reason why I spent the weekend in hospital.  Mr TAN is also finding it increasingly stressful to have me at home as he is constantly worrying about what I might be doing. 


Being in hospital also made me realise just how hard it will be.  The private hospital which is closer to home and much nicer do not want me there, even if it is just for respite.  The major public hospital where the babies will need to be delivered is busy, much further away from home.  I found I was always hungry, even after each meal.  They also only had food available 3 times a day compared to the nice one which feed you 6 times per day.  Also being a vegetarian the menu options were the same every day,  I also found it really hard to sleep.  I am finding it hard now at the best of times but being on that horrible little bed, with crying babies in other rooms, and being woken up 4 hourly for obs I cam to rely on the Tamazapan they were giving me to help me sleep. 


So apart from the physical discomforts there were the emotional ones.  After Mr TAN left me on Friday night I didn't get to see him again until I came home on Monday afternoon.  I did speak to him a few times but it wasn't the same.  Also over that whole weekend I also only got to see my baby boy for about 15 minutes on the Saturday.  I got to speak to him about twice a day but it just wasn't the same as seeing him and holding him in my arms. 


My weekend away however did bring some advantages.  Mr TAN has managed to finish the construction side of things so that is all now complete, plus he has now made a start on the painting too.  We are hoping the painting will be finished by the weekend so the room will be ready for Ollie before I end up in hospital. 


So I guess at the end of all of this being in hospital will have it's advantages.  It means that each day and week we can keep these 3 precious miracles in utero is a massive plus, and less time they will need in the NICU and SCBU units after birth and the sooner we can bring them home and begin our lives as a family of 6.

26 weeks and another growth scan

Well as another week passes us by and we get another week closer to meeting our trio I realise we still have a lot to do.  I am beginning to feel quite useless at home it is getting harder and harder for me to do anything and am relying on Mr TAN or visitors for anything that needs doing. 

Mr TAN and I have discussed the home situation and we have decided that if all continues to go well then I will get myself admitted into hospital from 30 weeks.  It is getting to the point where I don't feel safe to be left alone with him for a long period of time.  This really saddens me as he is at such a beautiful age and is so much fun at the moment and generally quite easy to care for.  I just don't have the energy or strength to stand for any length of time and it is recommended that I don't spend more than 30 minutes on my feet in a 2 hour period.  He doesn't seem to bothered by it though as he is having a wonderful time each day on his little adventures with various friends and family members, I just wish he was having this much fun with me.  Ideally I would like to have everything finished at home and our son settled into his new room before I go into hospital.  Which means we still have a lot to work to do

We now have a back door which was stage 1 of getting the house ready, but now need to fill in the cracks and paint the old pantry.  Hopefully this week we have a builder coming to put a wall up for Oliver's room so we can then paint and carpet that room and get Oliver's new furniture.  Lucky last will be to put up the railings on the deck so it is safe and we don't fall the 2 meters onto the ground.  So a lot to do considering how busy Mr TAN is with work, helping me and preparing for his uni exams around the time I go into hospital.


We had our growth scan on Friday and all 3 babies are looking great.  They are getting harder and harder to scan though as A is hiding directly behind B and they are very quickly running out of room.  I can't remember exact weights but all 3 babies are around the 1 kilo mark now, so B has well and truly caught up to her brothers.  We have also been given a whole heap of girls clothes recently so there is very few things that we still need but will be buying 2 more car seats down the track.  Well I think that is about all for this week, so until next time....   

25 weeks...

Well another week is almost over and not a whole heap has changed. We now take great amusement of watching my belly shake and roll. Oliver has taken to driving cars over my belly to play with the 'Noahs'.

We have also all been hit with rotten colds this week which I am taking forever to recover from, like I needed any more trouble breathing. It has also been revealed to me this week through my mum's personal trainer the reason why I have been extremely tired and am struggling to gain weight is due to my elevated heart rate. At the moment my resting heart rate is between 100-120 bpm so it is comparable to me doing constant mild exercise. I had been aiming to gain at least 15 kilos by this stage in my pregnancy but so far have only managed 6.

This week I also had my glucose tolerance test which I should get the results back from in the next week or so. At my obstetrician appointment this week I am now measuring 39 weeks, but i can feel my stomach beginning to grow width ways now too. We had a lovely little peek in on the babies and all seem to be going well. We saw Baby B opening and closing her little mouth and her tongue sticking out. It appears baby A has now had a growth spurt and both A and C are now sitting around the 70th percentile. So hopefully at this coming Friday's growth scan we will see that B has caught up to her brothers. My thyroid has come back fine, and my iron levels are now borderline so am now up to 2 iron tablets a day.

I have also been told as soon as I feel the need to be admitted to hospital for some rest, all I need to do is ring and need to do is ring and ask.

Yesterday afternoon my lovely sister in law arranged a bit of a pre triplets high tea gathering so we could all celebrate this amazing gift together. It was so lovely to spend the afternoon with so many good friends and family members.

On a final note it has been a while so here is my bump at 25 weeks...

On a final note it has been a while so here is a photo from yesterday at 25 weeks

Week 24 - Growth Scan and Ramble

Well this morning we had another routine ultrasound and as per normal all is looking perfect.  All 3 babies are now measuring pretty much on par with each other and are sitting at around the 700gm mark.  Baby A is closest to my back with feet down so sort of underneath his brother and sister.  Baby B is head down with her legs coming up my left side.  Baby C's head is just above my belly button to the right with his body coming up and along my ribs to the left.  They still seem to have enough room to move and change positions slightly although I really have no idea how. 

The sonographers are beginning to find it tricky to keep track of the babies (especially A) and getting the measurements they need.  Today's results were everything is looking good, although B's tummy measurements were on the smaller side.  When they compare them on the chart it is in comparison to a singleton pregnancy so not overly concerned but from now on we are on 2 weekly scans.  I am somewhat relieved that we are now on 2 weekly scans as we get closer to the time of delivery and preterm labor is becoming more and more of a risk, it is reassuring to know that the growth of the babies and any indicaters of preterm labour are being monitorred more regularly. 

I also attempted to get a blood test today which ended up being a dismal fail.  After 10 minutes, 2 arms and lots of poking and prodding it turns out my body would not give up a single drop of blood.  So will need to try again next week. 

As time goes on I am continually finding it harder and harder to do everyday things.  Now if I want to straighten  my hair or cook, cut up vegetables ect I am finding that I need to sit on a stool as I just don't have the energy to stand for that period of time anymore.  I can still manage driving as in my new 'bus' I am able to climb in and out a bit easier plus it has handles to help me in and out.  

We are slowly getting the things together that we need for the babies, we have the anchor points all installed in the car now we just need to find the carseats to fit.  We still have a lot to do at the house including where our son will sleep.  We are hoping we will be able to get him to sleep in a bed before the babies come home as we will need his cot for the other babies.  Ideally I would have loved to toilet train him so I didn't have 4 children in nappies (gulp) but at the moment is in the too hard basket especially with all the outtings he is having with some of my wonderful friends. 

In the coming week I have many things to look forward too.  We have Mothers Day this weekend which we will spend with Mr TAN's family, I also have my glucose tolerance test (sarcastic tone) and I am spending next Sunday afternoon with some of the wonderful women in my life at a local high tea establishment.  So lots to look forward to and I just hope we don't get the gestational diabetes results back before the high tea.  Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a beautiful Mother's Day.

Neonatologist's and Maternal Foetal Medicine

Wow what a day yesterday was!  I was quite nervous heading down to our appointments yesterday with the Neonatologist.  After hearing so much doom and gloom in the early stages of this pregnancy I really wasn't sure what to expect. 

Firstly we had our MFM appointment, this doctor has been present at all of our scans so;
 far and we already have built up a confidence and trust in him.  In fact if it wasn't for his positivity we may have looked more closely at selective reduction.  We did get the chance to ask a few questions that we weren't sure about like if we will get given steroids for the babies lungs routinely, or only if there is a need.  So he explained that unless a situation arises like labour far earlier than 32 weeks then they would probably go ahead.  But from 32 weeks it is not something they would do routinely.  We also got a chance to discuss the option of me being admitted, and the good news is he is happy for me to stay at home for the moment due to all the help I am getting.  However if anything changes, or I need some respite, they are happy to have me admitted for a few days or a week if needed.  Everything else seems to be going splendidly, but he did mention my fast heart rate.  I have noticed this the past few weeks, ever since Baby C has been in my ribs I have been finding it much harder to breathe and in turn my heart is working that bit harder.  So we will see him again tomorrow at the growth scan and see how well these babies are growing.  He is also happy to keep the scans at 3 weekly for now. 

So next up we had our very first appointment with a neonatologist.  This was the one that was worrying me the most but was surprised that I found it quite reassuring and positive.  As this was our first chance to discuss any possible complications and what to expect with having early babies.  One of my concerns was how much we would be able to be involved in their care and how soon I would get to see them after their birth.  But as it turns out I will get to see them briefly as each baby is taken out, again before they get wheeled off, and once more on my way out of surgery.   Again everyone is optimistic that we can and will make it to at least 32 weeks which minimises any complications enormously.  To conclude this appointment we got shown through the NICU and SCBU.  I had seen pictures of tiny little premature babies previously but neither of us had seen these babies in the flesh before.  The were so little and precious, we saw babies at a few different gestation's so it was a really good opportunity to get a picture of what it will be like.  We saw babies that were born at 25, 28 and 32 weeks.  It is amazing to think that tiny little 25 weeker is about the same size as our babies now.  MR Tan was quite surprised at how small even the babies born at 32 weeks were as that is likely what we will at least reach that gestation. 

All in all I feel very confident about the care that we will all be receiving and we are very much looking forward to our triple cuddles sometime in July.  Hard to believe they could be here in as little as 8 weeks!

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.