28 weeks and counting...

 

Well, as you may have guessed I've had a few doctor appointments since my last post. Luckily there is not anything really to report there. My run of the mill check up was last week and what could be better than a nice boring check up right? The babies are all doing great and although I may not feel great, the doc tells me I am doing fabulous. Actually I think her exact words to describe me were "Rock Star". She is always so excited with the progress not to mention just the simple fact that I am still pregnant and up and around.

I am also now seeing a Perinatologist.  This is a doctor reserved for those with high risk pregnancies and complications.  She will also be performing my ultrasounds from here on out.  She has always been consulting with my Doctor, now that I have the complication of the Gestational Diabetes, I was the one consulting with her.  She too was very impressed with how things have played out so far with this pregnancy.  She said if things keep up like this, she sees no reason why I shouldn't make it to 34 or maybe even 36 weeks!  That's only 6-8 weeks left.  Wow, times flying!  

We also talked a lot about diabetes and she did toy around with the idea of putting me on insulin, but ultimately said she wouldn't be doing that.  She may put me on a pill every morning before breakfast, but I can handle that.  Just keep the needles away!

Let me just say, it felt really good to get such great feed back from the doctors.  I have been trying really hard to balance my family and this pregnancy and it gets harder day by day.  A little recognition felt really good.  I definitely have my list of discomforts and complaints, but I try to stay on the positive side for my own sanity.  The GD has been really tough on me.  I am having some MAJOR sugar cravings lately.  I was making my kids PB&J yesterday and it took all my will power not to grab a spoonful of jelly and eat it. Craziness!  I used to be tempted more by the PB.  I am keeping on the diet, although grudgingly,  I know it's best for me and the wee ones in my belly.

On the subject of the wee ones, they are packing some punch these days!  I swear 3-4am is a Kung Fu match time most mornings.  I'm not talking about little flutters either, theses are some roundhouse kicks!  Needless to say they are growing stronger every day and here's my belly pic to prove it...Enjoy!

28 weeks

The Run Down

Alrighty, so I had my class to learn about Gestational Diabetes today.  There were four of us in the class and let me just say, everyone looked a bit grumpy to start off with and it didn't get too much better as the 2 hours went by.  There were 3 different teachers there each to discuss different aspects of GD.  One talked mainly about portion control, one talked about menu panning and the other taught us how to use our new equipment.  All three had to basically give the pregos a good diet smack-down.  Our Q&A went something like this:

Them:  "Raise your hand if you drink juice."
Us: Raising our hands meekly.
Them:  "No more juice.  Big No No ladies."
Them:  " Raise your hand if you eat cake, frosting, ice cream etc..."
Us:  Raising our  meek little hands again with scowls on our face.
Them:  " No more sugary sweets."
Them:  "Raise your hand if your hands if you eat cereal in the morning"
Us:  Raising our hands again looking a little perplexed, but knowing what's coming next.
Them:  " No more cereal for breakfast."

You get the idea...the cereal one hit particularly hard for me as I have been eating cereal for breakfast almost every day since I can remember.  Needless t say none of us were too happy about the Q&A portion of our teaching.  It reminded me of a Seinfeld I saw years ago with "The Soup Nazi". 

 

I won't bore you all of the details, but here's the bare bones.  The dietitian wants me to eat 2700 calories a day.  Yikes!!! That is a LOT of food!  Now, I don't know if I can physically do that, especially minus any kind of junk food, total heartburn and 3 babies squishing my stomach into a thin pancake at the top of my uterus, but I have to try.  I also have to test my blood sugar before and 1 hour after every meal.  I have to track my blood glucose number and fax the weeks worth of data to the doctor every Wednesday.  If there is any reason for concern they will put me on meds {pill or injections depending}.  I definitely want to avoid this so I will be a good little patient and listen to orders...even though what I really want is Ben and Jerry's.  

So do the babies.  Don't ask me how I know, I just do.

I have a few more appointments coming up soon so I'll post on that soon.  But for now, that's the dealio.  I leave you with my 25 week belly pic.  Have a great 4th!!!

25 weeks

Update time...

Well the ultrasound went really well.  It was a measly 2 hours instead of 3. {thank goodness!} Everything looked great! Babies A & C {the girls} are estimated at about 1 lb 11 oz. and Baby B {the boy} is estimated to be 1 lb. 14 oz.  Quite the bruiser already!  They were all really active and I even got to see Baby C yawn.  I didn't even know that was possible!  Baby B and C are breech at this point and poor Baby A has the bottom bunk, laying across my hips.  So not too much to report there.

I did my dreaded glucose tolerance test and all the other labs yesterday.  All the "other labs" turned out great and normal.  The glucose test, not so much.  Apparently I have developed Gestational Diabetes.    When my doctor told me, I have to admit I was in a bit of shock and then I started thinking wait a minute... I am not obese.  I eat healthy.  I talk care of myself.  I have never had this with previous pregnancies.  I don't get it.  The doctor assured me that it was nothing I did, in fact she was kind of expecting this.  What?  She said,  it is caused by a hormone released by the placenta.  Obviously with three placentas my odds were much greater in developing GD.   It made me feel,a little better knowing I didn't do anything to cause this.  Still not happy, but a little better.  

I just found out last night so I don't know too much about my personal case and how exactly it will be handled.  I do know that the doc ordered a class for me to take and a consult with the fetal health specialist and nutritionist to go over how to manage everything.  I will also have to be testing my blood sugar throughout the day with a little finger prick machine and keep a log of the numbers to bring with me to the doctor.  Then, depending on the trend, I will manage it through diet, pill and/or insulin injections.   I sooo thought I was done with injections...

This does explain a lot as to how I have been feeling lately though.  Usually when I'm hungry my tummy's rumbling and I may get a little crabby.  Lately though it feels like my entire body is weak.  Like I don't want to hold the phone to my ear weak.  So I eat something and depending on what I eat, I feel better or worse.  I've been noticing if I have a handful of cashews or a protein shake made with blueberries, I feel better.  If I grab an apple or some crackers, I feel worse.  Good to know there is a reason behind it and I can start to plan my meals accordingly now.   

I don't really know too much else about it, but I do know {based on my Google research} there are a slew of things that can happen if not managed properly.  I won't get into all the nitty gritty now.  I'm just gonna' take it one day at a time and hopefully I can get a handle on this quickly.    In the middle of all this, I'm just so thankful the babies are continuing to grow and develop every day. 

24 Weeks!!!

Well this week is a big milestone in pregnancy.  This week marks the week of viability.  I had a check up today and my OB and I had a quick little celebration with some Ya-hoos, sighs of relief and some big smiles.  We quickly got back to business though and set the next mile stone at 32 weeks.  This happens to be the "average" week of delivery for triplets.  

Lucky for me all looked good today.  The babies were squirming around as usual.  My cervix is still in great shape.  My Doc even went so far as to say I have an "awesome uterus".  All good news.  We will now have check ups every 2 weeks because lets face it people, pregnant women and the summer heat just don't mix.  I'm glad she is keeping a close eye on things though, it really gives me peace of mind knowing all is well.

Thursday I have another Level 2 ultrasound and if all is well there, I can wait another 4 weeks before my next one. Yay!

Friday I have the dreaded blood glucose test and a bunch of other labs along with it.  I have to admit the blood glucose test always freaks me out.  For those who are not familiar with the test, let me break it down for you.  I have to fast the night before and then go to the lab for the 3 hour test.  First, I will have my blood drawn.  Then I have to drink some syrupy, sugary drink and have my blood drawn in 1 hour.  As if this was not enough, I have one more draw at the three hour mark.   bleh.  

For those of you who don't really care about breakfast you'd breeze right through this.  For me, I am always starving in the morning.  Now of course pregnant, it's even worse!  I feed myself before feeding my kids almost every morning.  {Luckily they don't really care about breakfast.}  There are many mornings though when these little munchkins in my belly wake me up at 5-6 in the morning which then gets my tummy rumbling and I have to get a small bite before going back to sleep.  So ya, the thought of starvation in the morning gives me some anxiety for sure.

Anyway, all is looking good.  I'll update with all of the other stuff soon! I'll leave you with a 24 week belly pic...courtesy of my 6 year old. 

Belly Pix...Finally!

I'm just going to get right to it.  Here's the latest belly pix with a little explanation.  First of all, yes, I am in the same shirt as the last belly pic.  Don't worry i washed it.  It is one of my favorite shirts, not to mention a lot of my shirts are getting too short and this one stretches forever.  I'm just not the type to go around letting this big 'ol belly catch a breeze.  If you are that type, no offense.  You are very brave.  So anyway, this one was taken at 22.5 weeks along.

This one I took the very next morning{22.6 weeks}.  Morning being the reason for this headless pregnant woman in the picture.  Is it just me or does my belly look bigger?  Maybe it's the shirt?  I also measured my belly and I am now 44 inches around! 

In other news, there's not too much to report.  The babies are WAY more active.  They have been exercising A LOT between midnight and 1am almost nightly.  Their movements are definitely getting a stronger and more vigorous.  A little harder to ignore, but I sure do try!  It usually starts with one squirmy baby who then wakes up the next before going to back to sleep and the torch then gets passed to the other one before they are all asleep again.  I just hope they get this out of their system now so night feedings go smoothly for their parents.  Oh, and they have been getting the hiccups lately too.  :)

As for me, 22 weeks has hit hard and I am slowing down once again.  Routine things are getting more difficult.   Lately anything that falls on the floor or is in need of attention below my knee will just have to wait.  I've come up with a couple solutions though, Toes need to be painted-pedicure. A spill on the floor-call in the dog.  Toys on the floor- allowance for the kids for doing their chores.  I'm sure I'll come up with a few more solutions as I grow, but being a Mom you've gotta be creative right?  

I also have to say, my family has been really supportive through all of this.  I am so lucky to have them.  I am still in good spirits.  I really feel like it would be so easy to focus on the discomfort, but I think that would just make me miserable and being positive (for me) is the best way to cope.  It allows me to still be there for my kids and my husband as much as I can be.  So that's my game plan for now.  I have another week until my next doc appointment and ultrasound.  I should have more to report then!

The 20 week Ultrasound

So, I'll start with the fun stuff.  I went in for the big 20 week ultrasound last week.  My IP's got to come out and visit too!  The ultrasound took about 2 1/2 hours and I had to do a lot of rolling and moving to keep things going along.  Laying on my back for that long is very uncomfortable.  It was so amazing to see how much these babies have grown in 4 weeks!  It was also wonderful to see their parents glued to the screen and hanging on to their every movement.  All three babies still look great and are right on target.  They are each about 10 inches long now.  I guess that means I have about 30 inches of baby in me!  Wow!  Thank goodness we did not have any surprises this time.  The count is still the same and it is still 2 girls and 1 very active boy.  

I also had another check up with my OB and everything looked good there too.  I have to admit I was a little nervous because I have been having the occasional Braxton Hicks.  I know this is normal with pregnancy, but apparently should not be taken lightly with triplets.  Lucky for me though my cervix was still just fine.  In fact, everything looked so good, the Doc said I could go another 4 weeks until the next check up and ultrasound.  Woo hoo!  After that I will be going in for both bi-weekly.

I do have to apologize.  I have been so bad about blogging lately, but I have a really good excuse.  I am carrying triplets and I'm tired!  It seems like every time I sit down and have a free moment, my eyes start to get really droopy and before I know it I'm out.  I usually just cat nap for a few and feel much better.  I really didn't think there would be THAT much difference from carrying one baby to carrying three.  I know, I know wishful thinking and very naive on my part.  I am a can do kind of person though.  As it turns out, there are a lot of differences.  For instance, you know that extreme fatigue you get in the first trimester?  It never stops.  In fact it gets worse!  I find myself planning my days with a couple of breaks in the middle for cat naps.  It's crazy how much energy these three munchkins are using up.  

So to help combat the fatigue, I have had to limit myself to one, maybe two "things to do" in a day besides the usual feeding and caring for my two busy boys.  Yesterday, my project of the day was laundry.  Today, I went on a field trip with my sons preschool to the fire station.  I felt pretty good after wards so I pushed the limit and went to the grocery store.  Whew!  Let's just say, the my little hiney is glued to the recliner.  It's gonna' take some thing really good to pry me off of here.

Well, that's the long and short of it.  I'm still hanging in there.   I'll post some pix soon!

*UPDATE*
Here's some pix of the wee ones.
Baby A (girl) Top
Baby B (boy) Middle
Baby C (girl) Bottom

 

18 week belly pix

Well, I am now almost 19 weeks!  I can't believe how fast time is flying.  I feel like the babies have definitely gone through a growth spurt because all of a sudden I am HUGE!  Unfortunately, I am really starting to feel some of the lovely discomforts that go along with it.  I am still up and around, although I do tire easily.  Just walking up the stairs, I am out of breath and winded.  I think I'm going to need one o those stair chairs.by the end of this!   Ha!

I am one of those "doer" kinds of people so it  does make it difficult when mentally I know I can do something.  I also am the type of person that does not typically ask for help.  Problem is, by the end of the night I just feel ex-haus-ted.  So, I promised the hubby I would take on less and take it easy so we can have some of our family time back. 

So, I am working on a few things, but overall I am in good spirits.  I feel like I am doing pretty darn good for carrying three wee ones in my belly.  It's not easy, but it'll be worth it!

I leave you now with my most recent belly pic...

18.4 weeks