Week 12

How far along? 12 weeks, 4 days (Tuesday, 1/20/2015)

Total weight gain/loss: none yet

Maternity clothes? I bought a pair of maternity tights to wear at work with my regular dress. They are, in a word, glorious. They don’t push on my stomach like my regular tights do. I’m still only wearing dresses and tights to work these days. My new maternity clothes came in this week. They are, for now, WAY too big. I told Molly that they look like giant tents…she replied that I should remember that comment when these clothes are too small for me in a couple months! I still need to find some maternity pants.

Sleep: Still extremely tired- All. Of. The. Time. I’ve been keeping my 9:00 pm bedtime and still wake up several times a night to either go to the bathroom or to try and get comfortable. I’m trying hard to train myself to sleep on my sides, and that’s been a hard adjustment. I miss sleeping on my stomach!

Best moment this week: Got to see the babies on ultrasound again today! They’re all about 7 cms long and have strong heartbeats!

Have you told family and friends: Several close friends now know the big news, but we’re still keeping things quiet for a couple more weeks.

Movement: I still can’t feel anything, but they are still very active, according to today’s ultrasound.

Food cravings: No real cravings. But my appetite has kicked in this week! I feel hungry almost all of the time.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Brushing my teeth still makes me gag, but I haven’t gotten sick in over a week. Now, though, I feel queasy if I don’t eat often enough (which is pretty much every couple hours or so).

Have you started to show yet: My stomach is becoming noticeably rounder, even though I currently just feel like I look fat.

Gender prediction: I don’t have any reason for it, but I’m currently thinking 2 boys and a girl!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Did I mention I’m tired? Always? In addition to being tired, I’m feeling pretty mellow with random outbursts of moodiness. (Though I’m sure Will would have a different answer to this question!)

Weekly Wisdom: I learned from the nutritionist today that I should be eating A LOT of calories a day to keep these babies nourished!

Milestones: My regular OB wanted us to meet with a maternal fetal specialist ASAP for a consult so they could decide if I should be followed by the MFM team or be co-managed along with my regular doctor. When they tried to schedule our MFM appointment, though, they couldn’t find an available date until March! Working at Vanderbilt has its perks…I got in touch with the chairman of OB/GYN and asked for his help getting me in, and voila! His assistant got us in the week after our initial visit.

Our MFM doctor, Carla Ransom, was wonderful! She spent quite a bit of time with us, answering lots of our questions and talking about the game plan for the next several months. She was pretty frank about the risks involved with multiples, both to the babies and to me. But I feel like we’ll be in good hands with the whole Vanderbilt MFM team. We got another quick look at the babies with Dr. Ransom. Still blows our minds to see so many babies inside me! We have a plan in place to see the MFM team regularly, and then have regular ultrasound screenings every 2 weeks starting next month. We’re going to be spoiled getting to see the babies so often!

Today we met with a nutritionist to discuss how to keep these babies happy and growing. Basically I need to eat. Constantly. She told me I should be eating about 2700 calories a day and almost all meals and snacks should be a combination of carbs and protein. It’s a tall order, but I’m glad to do it! I’m determined to give the babies a chance to grow as much as possible so I’m trying to focus on eating healthy and getting lots of carbs and protein as recommended.

We also had our 12 week NT ultrasound today. Thankfully the ultrasound tech (who was a guy…which seemed strange to me) didn’t find anything worrisome on the scan and we got some nice new pictures of all 3 babies. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown in just the past week. The first time we had a scan, they could get take a picture of all 3 at once but not today! We confirmed that they are all in their own sacs and have their own placentas. I hope that helps ensure that they will get nutrients evenly since they won’t be competing against each other.

Here's everyone at 12 weeks: