First Baby Items!

Being first time parents, trying to decide what to buy and when has been an adventure. Add in to that the fact that we have to buy three of almost everything, and things can get overwhelming! We are trying to buy "big ticket" items early to help spread the cost of things out. We purchased all 3 (that STILL seems so crazy to me!!) cribs several weeks ago, but they haven't arrived yet.

One of the first things we realized when we found out about the triplets is that we were both going to need new cars. To be fair, we were both already hunting for new cars, but our new additions means that we had to adjust our car expectations. I really had my sights set on a Subaru Outback. But since three car seats don't fit in the back, my beloved Outback is no longer an option.

Instead of guessing which cars will accommodate three infant seats, we decided to go ahead and buy the seats and take them with us car shopping. The car seats are the first official baby items that we have in hand!

Week 13

How far along? 13 weeks, 5 days (January 28,2015)

Total weight gain/loss: Nothing yet, but I haven’t weighed myself in a couple days

Maternity clothes? Oh yes.

Sleep: I’m tired all the time, still. I have to get up several times at night for the bathroom and still trying to get comfy. I had a long bout of insomnia last night, which made today especially rough.

Best moments this week: Telling everyone about the Rice Krispies! Another great moment: my work teammates, Ali and Allison, bought me a TON of healthy snacks to stock my work drawer. It was so thoughtful. And truly exciting to have so many snack options available for my every craving!

Have you told family and friends: Yes! We told everyone this week via calls, texts, and the ever-important social media tool, Facebook.

Movement: Nothing yet, but I’m hopeful I’ll start to feel movement in the next few weeks

Food cravings: I am normally not a fan of hamburgers, but for the past week have been craving them. So that’s different. We were in Santa Fe for our 2^ndanniversary trip and I had a fresh fruit plate every day we were there. It tasted so good…

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still need to eat frequently otherwise I get pretty queasy.

Have you started to show yet: Yes. The bump seemingly arrived out of nowhere over the weekend!

Gender prediction: Still not sure but I’m sticking with my prediction of 2 boys and a girl

Labor Signs: None

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I’ve been pretty upbeat this week!

Weekly Wisdom: Now that everyone knows I’ve been getting lots of advice from folks about how to take care of myself over the next couple months.

Milestones: We’re officially out in the open! It feels great to not be keeping such a large secret any longer!

We spent a long weekend in Santa Fe for a combination anniversary/babymoon trip, which was really nice. We didn't have a very busy agenda, so we spent a lot of time relaxing in our casita and walking around Santa Fe. I brought maternity clothes with me to wear on the trip, and was glad I did! My baby bump made its debut over the weekend, seemingly out of nowhere! We had planned to wait until we were past week 14 to tell people, but since my bump appeared I knew I wouldn't be able to hide it at work. 

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:

Week 11

How far along? 11 weeks (Friday, 1/9/2015)

Total weight gain/loss: nothing yet

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but regular pants are very uncomfortable to wear. I’ve been wearing dresses and tights to work almost every day. I ordered a bunch of maternity clothes this week, too.

Sleep: I’m tired all the time, and am usually in bed or asleep on the couch by 9:00 PM. I don’t sleep through the night that often anymore. I either have to get up to go to the bathroom, or have to eat something to settle my stomach

Best moment this week: Our first ultrasound- we’re having TRIPLETS!!!

Have you told family and friends: We told our families at Christmas (I wrote poems for each family to read on Christmas day). A few people at work know, and a handful of our friends know at this point. We won’t make any big announcement until we know that we’re more in the “safe zone”.

Movement: I can’t feel them moving around, but we could see them bopping all over the place during the ultrasound (especially Baby A!)

Food cravings: I haven’t had any specific cravings, but I’ve been eating a lot of cereal lately, in particular Rice Krispies. Will called the babies “Snap, Crackle, and Pop” the other day, and I love that nickname! It seems fitting since I’ve been eating so much cereal. We now call the babies the “Rice Krispies”

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular is making me sick, but I feel queasy a lot. I pretty much have to eat every couple hours otherwise I feel AWFUL. I have gotten physically sick about once a week since week 6. Most often brushing my teeth is what triggers the puking.

Have you started to show yet: It’s probably bloat but I feel like my belly is starting to show. With triplets being in there, I’m sure I’ll be showing for real any day now. I’m looking forward to having some looser maternity clothes to wear.

Gender prediction: I don’t have any idea! I’m hopeful that we have a combination of 2 boys and a girl or 2 girls and a boy but mostly I just want 3 healthy babies!

Labor Signs: None, and hope to keep it that way for 25+ more weeks!

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I’m all over the place. I can be every emotion imaginable in a span of 20 minutes.

Weekly Wisdom: Take care of myself, so I can take care of all our babies!

Milestones: Our first ultrasound was a milestone that I’m sure Will and I will never forget!

I had a positive pregnancy test on 11/23/2014, and they had me come in for a blood test to confirm. My first HCG test result was 466, which seemed really high but I’ve never been pregnant before so I was just happy that it was positive. I had a feeling from the get-go, though, that we were having twins. 2 days after my initial blood test they had me come back in for a 2^nd draw to make sure the numbers were elevating. On my way to the 2^nd draw I saw a double rainbow, which seemed like a sign. The 2^nd HCG level came back at 1147! Definitely pregnant! I saw another double rainbow when we were in California visiting Andy, Sandy, and the girls over Thanksgiving, and I had several dreams that we were having twins in the weeks leading up to the ultrasound. I was so convinced that we were having twins that Will had to remind me several times not to be disappointed when there was "only" one baby at our first ultrasound!

Our first ultrasound was on Thursday, 1/8/2015. According to my calculations, we were right at 10 weeks along and excited to finally see our little baby! Or, as it turned out, babies! Immediately we could tell there were 2 babies in there, one right on top of the other. I got really teary eyed, and kept telling Will over and over again, “I told you so, I told you so!” Will had a gigantic smile on his face. We hadn’t even had time to process the fact that we were having twins when the ultrasound tech said…”Oh look, there’s another one!” We were FLOORED to say the least! This was not at all something we were expecting! She searched around to be sure that there weren’t any other surprises, but only found 3 little babies. We were pretty speechless the rest of the appointment as she took their measurements and heartbeats. Baby A is measuring 3.91 cm with a heartbeat of 160 bpm, Baby B is measuring 4.06 cm with a heartbeat of 167 bpm, and Baby C is measuring 3.98 cm with a heartbeat of 165 bpm. All growing well with strong little heartbeats! Based on their measurements they moved my due date up to 7/31/2015, which puts me at 11 weeks pregnant.

Here are our first ultrasounds!

Baby "A"

Baby "B"

Baby "C"

The Whole Gang!