March 31st - Another Appt and Names

So we are getting used to the idea of having 3 little girls and are excited about how good everyone is doing so far. I went to the doctor yesterday and I am measuring like I am 28 weeks pregnant even though I am only 18. He said I will just 'blow up' from here out, lol great technical terminology there.


This was a new doctor we saw and we really liked him he had a great personality unlike others we have seen and he was upbeat. The nurse spent 20 minutes at the beginning of our visit trying to get all of the heartbeats. She was able to pinpoint baby A with no problems and the heartbeat was 152. Baby B and C were very difficult they seemed to be very close to each other, she tried several times and always got 144 for the heartbeat yet she could not be sure which it was B or C. Finally the doctor came in giggling, he could hear her trying from the hallway. He took a shot at it and he said he could hear the distinct heartbeats of 2 babies but he couldn't tell them apart enough to get a reading. They were not concerned because they could hear them very well, they just couldn't separate them enough to get a good count.

My biggest compliant for the doctor this time was the lower back pain I get every day. I have trouble sitting in my chair at work for extended amounts of time and sometimes retreat to the floor at work to get some temporary relief. The doctor is going to refer me to a physical therapist in hopes that they can give me some exercises to help with the pain and tension.

We are all clear to travel for Easter and then for the week after to Boston to see Scott's family one more time. We are excited about our trip and hope that maybe I will be too big for economy class and must be put in 1st class (lol, we are hoping).

Scott and I have tossed around a lot of names over the past week or so but we have finally decided on names for the girls. It is hard to find 3 names that we both agree on and sound good together. We are almost finished with middle names also but you'll have to wait a little longer to find out those, in no particular order the names are:

Emma
Olivia
Savannah

Having names makes this seem that much more real to us, we are getting attached to our little girls very fast.

Specialist March 20th (Genders Revealed)

Today we had our 16 week ultrasound, this is what they call a level 2 ultrasound where they measure everything on the babies. It is amazing how much they can see and measure. They measured the bones in the arms and legs, the brain, parts of the brain, parts of the heart, the bladder, stomach, etc. It was really amazing. The ultrasound took almost 1 1/2 hours to complete. The first baby they measured was baby C because baby B (yes the usually calm baby was too active) and baby A was asleep (yes that is usually the active one). So they looked at the baby parts and baby C is a girl. I breathed a little sigh of relief that at least we would get one girl. My mom really thought they would all be boys and I was a little nervous about all boys. Can you imagaine 3 boys getting together and coxing each other into doing stuff, my house would be blown up in 5 years with 3 boys, lol. Scott thought that the mix would be A-boy B-girl and C-boy so he was already wrong. My guess was A-girl B-girl C-boy, so I was already wrong as well. The only one still in the running was Stephanie who had guessed A-boy B-girl C-girl.
The ultrasound lady (Tracy) was very encouraging she told us how perfect and excellent and terrific everything looked and how all the measurements were good. This was the first appt were we didn't get the 'gloom and doom' vibe and speech.
The next baby they looked at was baby B, it took a while to get the measurements because this baby was so active today. She let Scott and I try to guess the sex on this one, we both thought it looked like the other one so we guessed a girl. We were right baby B is also a girl.
Baby A sits very far down and finally woke up but was still hard to get, they could tell that everything looked normal but couldn't get all the measurements on this baby. They again let us guess, we were all hoping for a little boy. Scott tried to make out a penis and so he guessed boy, I said it looked the same to me so I guessed a girl. So I was right, it is a girl. The chances of 3 girls (assuming they are fraternal) was like 12% this pregnancy is just full of suprises. Scott said he is going to have them look again next time just to make sure no one grew a penis (good luck honey).
We are so excited that everything is going well. My cervix measured great and so I get a week off from appts :) I will see the specialist every 3 weeks for now.
Here are some ultrasound pictures and a belly shot from today.

March 11th - First Kick

So I got kicked last night, what a suprise. I am about 15 weeks now so it is time for a few random kicks I guess. I got up in the middle of the night to pee and when I went to get back in bed I got a quick poke in my right side, since I was half a sleep at first I thought an organ had broken loss or something bad had happened (that's all I've ever had in there before, organs, lol). I realized it was a kick and woke up scott to tell him, he was not as excited and just went back to sleep. I laid awake a while waiting for another kick but no such luck.
I am also adding a belly picture we took tonight to send to Scott's parents.

March 5th

We saw the OB downtown again, unfortunately we had to see the same one as last time, this visit was not very good. The nurse came in to listen to the heartbeat on the 'baby' I asked her if she meant 'babies' and she said, oh do you have more than 1? Not a good start, then she tried to listen to their heartbeats but it took a while and I still don't think she was able to distinctly tell the difference between them. The doctor came in but just hurried us along and was not concerned when we told him that we didn't think we had heard the heartbeat for all 3. Apparently that was the 'best' they could do (ummm hello ultrasound down the hall). He is not very good at easing our minds but we made sure we will not see him next time.

I have had to go the cardiologist over the past month because of some heart palpatations I have had since around 10w. The cardiologist this week told us that I am experiencing 'early beats' but that this is not a problem and will likely go away after I deliver.

We finally bought something for the babies...bottles. They need the special Dr. Brown's bottles since they will be premature. We went to a moms of multiples sale and bought these along with some gender friendly onesies and some boy outfits with trains (for scott of course). Now we are just waiting to find out the genders so we can start registering and buying a few fun things.

Feb. 23 - The Specialist

So today we got to visit the specialist for the first time. My mom, dad, Scott and I all went to this appt. This was my dad's first u/s experience since we were born, things sure have changed, he was excited to see the babies. They started off with the ultrasound. They were able to tell that all the babies have their own placenta. This is great because the risks are slightly reduced with separate placentas. This also means that they are probably not identical, however the only way to know for sure will be to do a blood test after they are born on the ones that are the same sex. They have labeled the babies now, our wild/active baby is Baby A, and he still living up to his name, we actually have a picture of him kicking me. Baby B, is our sleepy baby, this baby is always sleeping and very calm. Baby C is our biggest baby and moves around some but is not as active as Baby A. The doctor did not spare much details on how difficult this would be for me, it is not easy to carry 3 he said and a lot could go wrong. He emphasized how important it would be for us to make it past 28 weeks. It is hard to hear the gloomy messages yet again and to be asked about reduction. We are asking for lots of prayer as we continue this journey.

Feb. 16

Today we got to see Amy the u/s tech again for another ultrasound. I was anxious to see that everyone was still doing well, it has been almost 4 weeks since our last u/s. When she got the image up I asked her if everyone was still there. She said, I see 3 babies, but we don't know yet if they are ok. Then with a chuckle she said, well that baby is obviously doing fine. She was referring to baby A who was doing flips for us. We lovingly refer to him as wild and crazy baby because he looked like he was doing circus tricks for us, it was very funny. It is amazing that they actually look like babies now, lol. One The other two babies were sleeping at first but woke up and moved around some but not like the wild and crazy baby. The babies heartbeats were 184 (wild and crazy baby), 176, and 164 (sleeping baby). They measured 11w6d, 11w6d, adn 12w which is right on target. They are still unable to tell if 2 of the babies are identical. We are fairly certian that one is fraternal, but we aren't sure about the other two. On another note my belly sure is growing, I look about 4 months pregnant and can't wear any of my old clothes. I have also started experiencing some heartburn I am hoping that this does not continue throughout the pregnancy.

February 3

This afternoon Scott and I went to our first appt with the OB downtown. We didn't learn much from this appt he set us up with our first appt with the specialist for 2/23. We also have another u/s in Matthews on 2/16. I am very anxious to see the babies again. I am a little nervous that something would happen to one of the babies and I wouldn't know so the ultrasounds are a little bitter sweet. The waiting inbetween visits is tough. The dr. was very short with us and did not seem very friendly, we are hoping for another dr. next time.

As for an update on me I am very tired all the time, I sleep as much as possible and on the weekends I simply veg-out on the couch. My morning sickness is still hanging around but is actually around from morning through evening. I try to snack constantly and I know I need to keep gaining weight but it is hard when nothing appeals to me. Scott cooked chicken for us the other night and when I walked in the door the smell made me gag. I felt so bad I had to get away from it and I could not eat it. My sense of smell is very good these days. As for preparing for the babies, we still don't know where to even start.

Janurary 18 - 24

Scott's mom came down to visit us for a belated Christmas. It was a nice distraction for us. We received all kinds of goodies for Christmas including some maternity clothes and a new video camera! We are very excited about all the opportunities we will have to capture on video, and it is so small i can carry it in my purse.

We scheduled our next ultrasound for when Lynn would be in town, so on Monday morning Lynn, my mom, Scott and I headed to the Matthews hospital. We started the morning with an ultrasound. Amy who did our first ultrasound was there for our second and told us how excited she was to be able to do this one, it was the highlight of her day she said. We were able to actually get the heartrates on all 3, they were 154, 154, and 160. The babies measured at 7w5d, 7w5d, and 7w6d.

We also meet with my doctor that afternoon. The first thing he said when he came in was, I guess I can't say I haven't had a patient with triplets anymore. Of course he discussed elimination but we told him it wasn't an option. He then told us we would have to deliver downtown at the main Presby, which meant he would have to transfer me to the clinic they have downtown since those are the doctors that will deliver me. My next appt will be downtown at the other office. I will also start to meet with the high risk specialist.