Week 11 ~ Not much to report

So Facebook blew up the moment we shared! We were instant celebrities...lol!!  People were coming out of the woodwork to congratulate us.  We are so happy with all the support of our friends.

The babies must be growing this week as my belly hurts A LOT!  I feel like it's going to blow up every time I sneeze, yawn or stretch!!! I started doing some stretches this morning, hoping to keep my body limber because if I feel like this already at week 11, I can just imagine how crazy it'll be from now on!  I'm having a hard time sleeping now because I'm already starting to feel uncomfortable.  I'm used to sleeping on my belly and sleeping on my side is hurting my hips... I know whine whine whine....  At least my breathing is getting a little better, I'm able to eat a few more things, my stomach is feeling overall a bit better unless I eat food that these babies just hate... Like milk for example, which is odd right? Anyhow, not much else to report!

week 11 - 42" round

Next morning update.... slept much better last night! It was hard finding a good position to sleep, but I think I figured it out... kinda... It involves switching from side to side many times in the night to give my hips a break.  I think this method is eventually going to lead to my getting kicked out of the bed.... haha.... once I'm bigger, turning from side to side might require some weird acrobat type movements that Gabe might not enjoy 25 times a night! It's a good thing we got a new mattress yesterday for our guest bedroom, the guest might end up being he or I!!

Week 10 ~ Maternal Fetal Care

Week 10

    Here we are at week 10!! Had an appointment this morning with the maternal fetal care clinic at the Moncton City Hospital and let me tell you... this experience was MUCH better than the experience we had at the fertility clinic.  Dr. Gaudet (LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!) explained all the risks involved in keeping the triplets but she also explained that there are risks to reduction as well.  The moment we told her that our decision had been made that we were going to give our three little ones a chance, she said fine, so that's that and don't let anyone talk to you about reduction again!  We are going to treat you as a triplet mom and that's what it is!  It was great relief to feel that someone (in the medical field) was on our side!  She answered all our questions without judgement and was so nice!!!!!!!!
  
    The babies are tri-tri (This means 3 gestational sacs and 3 amniotic sacs. They are usually fraternal but can be identical).  This is a good thing for the babies' future and chance at survival.  The sacs looked great, the doctor said they all had lots of fluid and the linings all looked good.  All three measured in line with me and their heartbeats were good ( ~ 165). I don't really know what that means, but they said it was good :-).   They are doing great!!

Week 10 Day 2 - Looking good babies!!!
 

I am feeling better and better although my pre-natal vitamin made me throw up this morning, first time I throw up in this pregnancy, didn't really enjoy it... haha!   I can drink more water now, I don't feel sick ALL day long, just a few times a day when I haven't eaten in a while.  I'm to start taking more vitamins to account for the ones I can't eat in a day (200g of protein is hard to eat in ONE DAY!!! hehe).  I'm reading the book "Twins, Triplets and Quadruplets" by Dr. Luke, it's really good and my doctor said it was a good reference book.  It's nice to already be informed before you go in for your first appointment as not only do you know which questions to ask but also understand the words that are coming out of the doctor's mouth!! 

 

Week 10 - Getting big fast!!!

We decided that since everything is going well, we were going to share our happy news with the public! I started with the staff at my school... the reaction was a mix of gasps, laughter, panic moments, and silence.  I felt like a celebrity after...haha!  They were all so supportive as everyone has been so far!  We have a staff supper with Gabe's work, he's going to tell the rest of his crew tonight.   We are also going to make it Facebook official... barrage of comments coming our way!  Here's how we're going to announce it...

Next appointment in three weeks... stay tuned!!

Week 9 ~ First week living with this triple surprise!

Week 9

The bleeding has stopped...yeah!!! My symptoms include: shortness of breath, sore boobs, tiny little cramps, nauseous from morning to night, difficulty sleeping through the night, some nightly headaches, difficulty in eating anything but carbs (not good at all as gestational diabetes is very common in a mutliples pregnancy). I have a terrible time drinking water, and if you know me, you know that's not normal for me, pre-pregnancy I could drink 1L of water in one sitting without batting an eye, now, I can hardly stand to drink 1/2 a cup before I feel like I'm going to throw up! I miss my water, I hope this gets better. They tell me 12 weeks is the magic number, so only 3 weeks to go, I can do this!!!! My belly is already started to swell, granted, I didn't have a small belly to begin with, which is why my co-workers aren't asking questions, but I can tell the difference, it's really hard and my pants don't fit AT ALL anymore. My belly is going to get sooooooooooooooooo big!!!! The pictures online are pretty scary!! We are feeling pretty freaked out about the triplet news and how much it's going to drastically change our lives! Roxy doesn't even have a clue what's about to hit her (she's our dog), but we can't wait to meet Baby A, B and C!!!

50% me, 50% babies

Week 4 - 8 ~ Twins... no.... TRIPLETS!!!

So before anybody asks, yes, we are having TRIPLETS!!! Yes, they were possibly inseminated but they are natural to us, although many people will rudely ask if they are or judge that they weren't. We tried for a little over a year on our own and we decided to seek help. We got hormones and got inseminated on April 27th @ Conceptia in Moncton, NB. It's funny how people think it's ok to ask such personal questions as "Were they naturally triplets?" or "Did you get help?". So what if we did? There are still three babies in there!!! Are they going to be known as the "un-natural triplets" their whole lives? Of course not... so let's just forget about how they got here and just enjoy them as the babies they are.

Week 3 1/2
I am so nervous and anxious that I decide to take a pregnancy test before my blood test on Saturday (this is Wednesday). It's 5am, I've been up all night asking myself, is it morning enough yet? Sitting on that toilet, waiting those three minutes were the longest three minutes of my life, I've had so many discouraging no's in the last year that I wasn't too hopeful about seeing the YES, but there it was, a clear yes (don't buy the ones with the lines, they are so confusing!!). I start shaking and crying and run in the bedroom to wake up my completely dead to the world fiancé Gabriel. I shake him and say "it said yes, it said yes baby!", to which point he wakes up all confused and says "isn't that a good thing babe, why are you crying?". If you know me, you know how emotional I am, so why he was asking why I was crying is beyond me...haha. I wait about another hour before I call my mother and my sister who are both beyond thrilled. I then send a picture of the positive stick to a few good girlfriends who knew I was taking the test and they are as excited as could be!

Week 4
I go to the fertility clinic where they take a blood test and confirm 3 hours later what I already knew. I am definitely preggers and my numbers are good.

Week 5
I go for a second blood test to make sure my numbers are good and growing. Again, they confirm 3 hours later that all is good and my numbers are growing at a steady pace. That night, I am at a cousin's wedding and knowing what I know is so difficult not to share with my whole family! At least I got to give out all my wedding invites (yes, can you believe we're getting married this summer!!)

Week 8
First ultrasound at Conceptia and surprise! She tells us it's twins!! I had had a feeling that I was going to have twins!! I have been feeling sick since before I found out I was pregnant! I'm not throwing up, thankfully, but I feel hungover from morning to night! Anyways, we grab our pictures, drive immediately to my mother's house, then to my in-laws, and back to my mothers to show my sister and my nieces. We are all in shock but so elated! I can do this, I have two arms and two boobs, it's going to be awesome!

Twins!!!!

Week 8 1/2
It's after supper... I go pee, when I wipe... blood... I panic, we go straight to the ER where after checking my cervix, the doctor seems to think everything is fine but they want to send me for an ultrasound the next day just to be sure. Gabriel goes to work the next day (his job is not easy to take time off from, so I insisted) and my mother comes with me instead (she wanted to see an ultrasound anyway). I was still bleeding a bit, but I was trying to stay calm. I go to work for a little bit as my appointment is not until the afternoon and there's no point sitting at home worrying when my students need me (I'm a high school math teacher and it was their final exam day). I leave school and meet my mom at the hospital. We wait about an hour for the ultrasound (which is extra hard because they had me drink 1L of water before my scheduled time, and I have such a hard time drinking water these days, it always makes me feel sick!). Finally, they call my name! The ultrasound technician advises me that she can't tell me anything as she is not a doctor but I am free to look at the monitor while she is working. I watch as I see one little heartbeat (phew!) and then I see the second (one more phew!) and then I see her write the number 3 with a question mark... I look at my mother with my own question mark and she says "three?". We do another ultrasound to get us closer to the babies and although she can't tell us, when she starts writing stats on a third baby, she can't deny it any longer, so she says "yep, there's three!" WHAT?????????????? Of course I call Gabriel right away and asks if he's sitting down, and inform him of the third heartbeat. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! I next call my sister who had previously joked about taking a third baby if I were to get three out of this and when I asked her if she was ready to adopt, she just started laughing and crying at the same time, she was at an car dealership so I'm sure the whole dealership knows I'm having triplets now! haha! I have to go back to the ER so I can talk to a doctor and while we wait I call my step-dad who says "wow, just what you need!" haha and my closest friends who just don't know what to say (I still don't know what to think!). The doctor says I shouldn't worry too much about the spotting as everything looked fine with my cervix and my babies. The next morning I have another appointment at the fertility clinic as the moment I called them to tell them that they missed a baby, they immediately wanted a follow up. Gabriel comes with me this time (we are so lucky he has a very understanding boss). Of course, the doctor, whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting, confirms that there are three babies (duh!). The first thing he proceeds to tell us is that we have the option to reduce to which we immediately say no. Our friend Alicia had already warned us that this is an option that was going to be presented to us and we had discussed it ahead of time (thankfully). He didn't seem to like our decision at all and from that point, he started to tell us all the risks involved and how I was going to be on bed rest very early on, etc. I understand it's his job to give us the risks, but he was really mean about it and for the first time, we really started feeling scared and nervous about going through with this pregnancy. After we left and talked in the car in front of our house like teenagers at the end of a date for like an hour, we were confident that we had made the right decision. If nature decides to take one or more of our babies, then it'll be nature's call and not ours. We want to give all three of these little ones a chance at life. We have had an outpouring of unbelievable support already from our families and friends, they are amazing. We are surrounded by greatness and we know how lucky we are! Here's a look at the first ultrasound...

I know they look like a giant alien with a very big mouth but it was almost impossible to get all three in one shot, that's why it also looks like one of them has more room then the other two.

We can't wait for the next part of this journey!

I'm sorry for the impossibly long post, will keep the rest mostly weekly and shorter :)