20 Weeks-Eating!

This past weekend my parents came to visit/babysit me while Dennis was away. Dennis was invited out to Colorado for a ski trip with his cousin Sean and Nick Tino. I encouraged him to take advantage of the airline miles we had and go because he has never been out there before. Plus, it might be a long time before either of us can get away again. He felt bad about leaving me but he had a good time. My parents took great care of me with accompanying me to my iron infusion appt, cleaning our entire apartment, running errands and fixing things around the apartment. A big thank you goes out to them! We had some nice dinners and also picked out the nursery furniture - a crib and changing table/dresser which is being delivered this week. The babies are all going to be sharing the same crib for the time being. I also bought the entire baby bedding set (including a mobile, lamp, curtain, diaper holder, etc.) online which will be arriving this week as well. It may seem early to be doing this but I don't want to risk being in the hospital and not being able to set it up myself. Some people are already hospitalized at this point or on complete bed rest, so I am considered lucky so far.

We are now in a crucial stage of the pregnancy at 20 weeks where they say the majority of complications happen between 20-24 weeks with multiples. So, I am going to be on my best behavior! The goal is still to get to 32 weeks and to avoid any pre-term labor. I have been reading more books about multiple pregnancies and reading forums and articles online. I am really concerned about the weight gain factor because everything says you should gain between 30-40 pounds by 20 weeks. This is important because they will be born premature so the more they weigh the better the outcome for them. They also say the weight gain tapers off towards the end and it is harder to gain weight so you need to gain it earlier to store up for later on. I am really not happy that I have only gained 13 pounds. I think being sick in the beginning and not having much of an appetite and then the flu set me back. I have been eating regularly and healthy but I guess just not enough. I am trying this week to pack on the pounds by drinking Ensure (meal replacement drinks) every day and eating as much as I can. I never thought I would have a problem with eating as much as possible and gaining weight. But, it is hard to force yourself to eat when you are not hungry at times and to try to fit all this eating into the day...it just seems like there is not enough hours in the day or enough room in my stomach for the food to go (it gets really tight and stretched after I eat). Last night Dennis picked up some burgers, fries and a milkshake for dinner from a restaurant close by. I was stuffed beyond belief because these burgers are huge and then you have to deal with the indigestion afterwards but I'm hoping this will help. I'm looking forward to next week when they will weigh the babies and hopefully they are growing at the right pace (as they were before). So, until then I will keep trying to "beef
up".

A Couple Corrections

In one of the first blog entries, I wrote that the babies were positioned with one on top of the other (stacked). I actually misunderstood the doctor at that time and it is actually that Baby A is on the left side of my stomach and slightly lower than Baby B who is on the right side of my stomach. Baby C is on the top. Just thought I'd make that update. Also, several people had mentioned that they were unable to leave a comment. I figured out how to change the settings to allow anyone to leave a comment now (whereas before it required you to have a Google account). Sorry about that!

19 Weeks - A Virus, A Fetal Echo and Growing!

Things have been moving along and I am feeling really good overall. Next week would be the half way point in a regular pregnancy (20 weeks), but I am well over the half-way point for triplets. It is starting to go by very quickly! I guess I'll do a recap of the last 2 weeks.

I picked up a cold over the holidays that progressed into a bad cough and then took a turn for the worse on a Friday night (1/11). I was up all night vomiting, chills, and all that bad stuff. It was at the point where I couldn't even keep a sip of water down, so we called the doctor in the morning to see what he thought and he asked me to come into the hospital so he could check on things. So, we spent the day in the hospital on Saturday but it wasn't too bad. They gave me 2 IV's to hydrate me and ran some tests and did an ultrasound and he prescribed me with an antibiotic and cold medicine. I was starting to feel better by Sunday and was back to myself by Tuesday.

On 1/15 they had me do a fetal echo which is where a cardiologist does an ultrasound to examine the babies' hearts. It was a very detailed exam where they measure the chambers, valves, heart rate, etc. They all looked great and the doctors (there were 2) were very pleased with how everything checked out, so that was great news. They said this now rules out any chance of them having anything wrong with their hearts other than something that could develop after birth like a murmur or something that could happen to anyone. I don't know why they don't do this for all pregnancies, because it is another great reassurance we have that things are looking good for them.

We received our triplet stroller in the mail last week....wow! It is called the "Triple Decker" which is the kind where the infant car seats snap into it. We'll have to post a picture of it at some point. We had a nice long weekend with the Sullivans and O'Loughlins. I got the royal treatment and ate so well all weekend...the babies must have gained a few ounces! We had an ultrasound on Monday where they finished up the "survey-Level II" that they had started a couple weeks ago. They check my cervix each time to make sure there are no changes and all looked good. Babies A and B are now "vertex" (heads down) and baby C is "transverse" (side to side). I told her that when I am sitting down on a hard chair for awhile, my bottom goes numb and starts to hurt and she said this is because of the two being in the vertex position. They don't weigh them every time so they will give us an update on the weights at the next appt. on Feb 4th.

As for me, I've gained 13 pounds so far which I thought seemed low (for 3 anyway) but when I asked if that was enough they said it was fine and didn't seem concerned about it. So, I guess we'll just keep doing what we're doing. I cannot believe how much my stomach changes each day. It is funny how I look more like 8 mo's pregnant vs. almost 5. I am starting to feel more uncomfortable and noticing that it is harder to maneuver myself around. I am definitely feeling more strange things in there which must be them moving around. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers!
Love, Jen and Dennis

Here we are at 17 weeks and Jen is growing right before my eyes. She's getting bigger and bigger by the day (in a good way of course). I still find it amazing that she's carrying 3 people in her little frame. It's all very surreal.
Getting around outside the house is becoming a little more complicated because she's supposed to stay off her feet as much as possible so where we used to be able to walk to places I'm now having to drive. Not that I'm complaining though (except for the parking in Hoboken, or lack thereof!). She's carrying precious cargo and we want them to stay inside as long as possible. If our grocery shopping experience this past weekend is any indication of what’s in store for the next few months then we’re in for a treat. By the way sorry to the old folks and invalids who were looking for the motorized shopping cart at the A&P in Jersey City on Sunday but Jen needed it for about an hour. But don't worry; she won't be using it again, especially on a weekend, until she takes a driving course. So it looks like I’ll be doing the shopping alone from here on out.
Yesterday we had another round of ultrasounds done (a level II I believe it was called) where they were looking for arms, legs, feet, hands and everything else and so far so good. It looks like everything's there and and nothing extra. The nurse said the 3 are very 'active'. I guess I would be too if I was cramped into a womb with 2 other people. I'm sure there's a lot of pushing and shoving going on. Their weight as of Jan. 8 were 7 o.z for baby 'A', 6 o.z. for baby 'B' and 6 o.z for baby 'C'. We've posted some of the ultrasound pictures here.
Now to answer the question everyone’s been asking… Yes I’m excited about having triplets! No not that question, but I have been asked that a lot. The question is the gender of the babies. Are we going to find out what they are? No. We’re not going to find out. Why not? I don’t know, why should we? There aren’t many surprises in life (except finding out you’re having triplets!) and chances are there will be a mix of some sort anyway so it doesn’t really matter. Neutral colors. That’s what I say. Besides, I'm not mentally prepared yet to find out if we're having all girls.

A Day in the Life (Grocery Store) and Iron Infusions:

17 Weeks

Hello and Happy New Year! We've been slackers with the blog lately but should be back on track now that the holidays are over. I am growing by the day and starting to look and feel very pregnant. It is true what they say about the 2nd trimester in that I feel great! I have been feeling really good the last several weeks and am truly enjoying being pregnant. I can say right now that I would love to do this again. It is so interesting to watch how much your body changes and to know that you are carrying a living thing inside of you (or 3 I should say). It is starting to get a bit uncomfortable to get around and to sleep between having to go to the bathroom and having to start sleeping on your left side. I have always been a side sleeper but I always switch back and forth throughout the night and sometimes lie on my back which I have to stop doing. Other than that, I am really enjoying this stage of the pregnancy. The last ultrasound we had at 14 weeks went very well. The babies were moving around a ton and opening/closing their hands which the nurse said is a good sign. She said that when there is down syndrome, they are unable to open and close their hands. Two of the babies weighed 4 oz and the other one was 3 oz. They did a 3D ultrasound where you could really see a lot of detail (still need to scan the picture through to post). It's funny because the nurses get really excited to do my ultrasounds because it is not often that they get to see triplets. They do a lot of "oohing and awwing" at the screen watching the babies and will fight over who's turn it is to do the ultrasound so it makes it fun. Since I last wrote, I've also had a maternal echo where a heart specialist did a lengthy exam of my heart to make sure I would be up for the challenge of carrying triplets. I also had to do a bunch of blood tests and a gestational diabetes test. All of these tests have checked out so I guess I am looking good at this point. I have been good about staying off my feet and Dennis has been dropping me off at the door if we do go anywhere and then I will just sit right away when I get inside. So, going to peoples houses, out to eat and the movies have all been doable up to this point. Although last night was a little nerve wrecking because we went to the movies at a mall. We thought we had it perfect because we parked right near the entrance but when we were leaving they had closed that entrance and we had to walk all the way to the other end of the mall and I was feeling a lot of pressure in my stomach and it was really tight. Dennis said "we won't be going here for the movies again". I find that after a couple weeks of not having seen the doctor I get a little anxious or concerned wondering if everything is okay. So, I am very much looking forward to my next ultrasound on Monday. I've talked to a lot of other triplet mom's that I have been put in touch with which has been very helpful in hearing all the different things to expect with such a high-risk pregnancy and how it is to raise triplets. It seems to run the gamut with some never even having to be on bed rest and going to 35 weeks (the goal with triplets is at least 32 weeks...a normal pregnancy is 40 weeks). Others have had it really rough and have been on bed rest and then hospitalized for 1-2 months before delivering. Some have delivered on the earlier side of 28-29 weeks which just means more risk in the baby’s development and long stays in the NICU. We actually got together with the Brady family over Christmas in Binghamton....Pat and Sean Brady have triplets - Eamon, Kristin and Maura as well as another boy, Miles 4 years younger. They lived down the street from me growing up and I babysat for them. The triplets are now seniors in college and Miles is a senior in high school!!! They are a great close-knit family and it was a lot of fun seeing them now and talking to them about the whole experience. Well, I'll write more after Monday's ultrasound. Thanks for all the prayers and support and all the positive emails/comments about the blog! Here are some pictures from Dec..