It's true. It took me a few weeks to really believe it, but there are definitely 3 babies growing inside of me.
We started trying for #2 a few months after Eleanor turned 1. Nothing was happening on our own, so I went to the doctor and told them we'd probably need fertility treatments again. She agreed, and said we should just do what worked for conceiving Eleanor. What worked for Eleanor was taking Clomid and doing an IUI after a positive ovulation test.
The first month didn't work. The second month I never got a positive ovulation test, so we never even tried. The third month worked, and worked very well.
I started popping out almost immediately. I knew that with second pregnancies you start showing earlier, but I didn't think it'd be as early as 6 weeks! I even told some people that my stomach was already pooching out, but they all told me I was probably exaggerating or something. And just as a side note - the doctors told me that when taking Clomid, you have a 10% chance of twins, and a .3% chance of triplets. I thought those numbers were pretty low, so I never really thought there was more than one.
Because we did a fertility treatment, we had an early ultrasound at 6 weeks. I joked with Spencer in the car on the way there and said "what if there are 4 babies in there?". It was all just fun and games. We got to the room, and started the ultrasound. I immediately saw the 3 sacs, but I tried not to read into it too much, because let's face it, who knows how to read those screens? After the doctor verified that I did take Clomid, I knew there was more than one. And then he said "well, I see 3 sacs".
I freaked out. "THREE? ARE YOU SERIOUS?? OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!!". I looked over at Spencer, and he had his arms folded and just starting straight ahead at the screen. No emotional reaction whatsoever. I tried grabbing his arm, but he didn't budge. The doctor looked in each sac and found a baby and a heartbeat. I really couldn't believe it. I asked Spencer why he was so emotionless about it, and he said he was just taking it all in. Or maybe he said he was crunching numbers.
It took me at least 2 weeks to really believe it. I would sometimes wake up in the morning and think it was a dream. And then I would see the ultrasound pictures and be assured that it was in fact reality. Spencer later admitted that he felt the same way as when we went skydiving...he was super chill about it the whole waiting time - even after we got on the plane. It didn't hit him that he was about to jump out of a plane until he saw me do it, then he freaked out a little. So with the triplets, he said it probably wouldn't hit him until he saw all three babies. I immediately got on to him and said that there is no way he can wait until the babies are here to be emotionally prepared for them! He has since come around and understands the craziness that is about to ensue.
I had ultrasounds about every 2 weeks until 12 weeks. Pretty much every appointment I have, they do an ultrasound, which is pretty fun. The longest I have gone without seeing them is 4 weeks. It is really amazing to see how quickly they are growing! I guess it's not too surprising because my stomach is growing just as fast.
We debated on whether we should surprise our family with the news when we went home for Thanksgiving, but decided that it was just too big a secret to keep that long. So we told our immediate family right away. Slowly we would start telling our friends, and it became one of my favorite things to do. People's reactions to news like this is pretty fun to be a part of. I eventually had to just make an official announcement at 10 weeks because there was no way to hide my growing belly.
The first trimester wasn't as terrible as it could have been. I was extremely tired. I had to take a nap every day while Eleanor napped, and even after that, I was in bed by 9 o'clock. Sometimes earlier. I had no energy whatsoever. I felt pretty crappy, but never threw up. I didn't realize just how crappy I felt until I got into the second trimester and felt amazing. So really, no complaints. My appetite was almost completely gone, but I forced food down because I'm supposed to be gaining a lot of weight in the first 25 weeks(which so far is REALLY hard to do!).
Now I am in my second trimester and ready to party! My energy is back, my appetite is back, and I only have a limited time to do anything before I become a beached whale! I am currently 17 weeks but look about 27 (or more) weeks. I sometimes don't understand how my skin is going to stretch enough for all the growing I still have left. I sleep pretty well at night. I only get up to go to the bathroom once, if that, which is a big improvement from first trimester when I was getting up 1-2 times a night. Really, other than being very large, I feel pretty amazing right now.
People are already asking me when I'm due. When I tell them how far along I actually am, their mouths drop open in disbelief. And then when I explain that it's triplets, it drops open even more. I would have to say the most common response to hearing that it's triplets is "WOW!". They don't even know what to say.
Now for some commonly asked questions:
Do multiples run in the family?
- No, not really. The Clomid is to blame here.
When will they most likely be born?
- A triplet pregnancy is very high risk for several reason. The scariest risk is preterm labor. So, if they are born before 24 weeks, they won't survive. If they are born after 24 weeks, they have a chance of living. The average length of a triplet pregnancy is 33 weeks. My goal is to make it to at least 33 weeks, and keep them in for as long as I can.
Will I have to go on bed rest?
- I don't know yet. They will be checking my cervix at every appointment from now on to see if it is shortening or opening. Some women don't have to go on bed rest...the lucky ones. Other women may have to be on bed rest for months! So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to(for long anyway).
Will we have help when the babies come?
- Yes. If I go on bed rest (even if I don't go on bed rest - let's face it - how productive can I be with a massive belly!?) Spencer's dad is going to come out to help take care of Eleanor and do household duties. Once the babies are born, my mom will come out to help. Then a few months later we will move home with my parents and have lots of round the clock help!
Does Eleanor understand what's happening?
- A little. If asked if there are babies in mommy's belly, she says yes. She kisses my belly 3 times, one for each baby. She kind of gets it, but I don't think she'll really get it until she sees all three. And I have a feeling she's going to love these little babes.
Are we excited?
- YES! Very! It is so interesting, because I don't think ANYONE wishes for triplets. But once you see them on the screen and hear their heartbeats, you know they are yours. After the first appointment, Spencer turned to me and said, "ok, you have to keep all these babies alive." The pressure, right?! But really, we already loves these little babies. We don't want to come home with anything less than all 3, healthy and happy.
Are we scared?
- YES YES YES! I'm actually terrified. Eleanor was a hard baby. She cried and cried and cried for the first 3 months. When I imagine 3 crying babies, I get knots in my stomach. I think about all the sleepless nights we'll have, the transition of having so much time with Eleanor to not having as much, feeding times, blow out diapers, etc etc etc. Yes, it is safe to say we are scared. Especially since Spencer will be leaving for A YEAR in October. I know I'll have my parents, but they both work, so I'll be doing a lot of the work myself. The good news is I've been through one baby before, so I know that things just get easier every day. That will be comforting to have that knowledge.
Do we know the genders?
- I'll wait until I get a confirmed answer at my next ultrasound. We do have an idea though, and if it's true, it's pretty exciting.
Have we thought of names yet?
- Still a work in progress. Nothing set in stone. That's a lot of names to think of!!
I think that about sums it up for now. I'll try to write more often to keep people updated with our progress. And now for some pictures:
We started trying for #2 a few months after Eleanor turned 1. Nothing was happening on our own, so I went to the doctor and told them we'd probably need fertility treatments again. She agreed, and said we should just do what worked for conceiving Eleanor. What worked for Eleanor was taking Clomid and doing an IUI after a positive ovulation test.
The first month didn't work. The second month I never got a positive ovulation test, so we never even tried. The third month worked, and worked very well.
I started popping out almost immediately. I knew that with second pregnancies you start showing earlier, but I didn't think it'd be as early as 6 weeks! I even told some people that my stomach was already pooching out, but they all told me I was probably exaggerating or something. And just as a side note - the doctors told me that when taking Clomid, you have a 10% chance of twins, and a .3% chance of triplets. I thought those numbers were pretty low, so I never really thought there was more than one.
Because we did a fertility treatment, we had an early ultrasound at 6 weeks. I joked with Spencer in the car on the way there and said "what if there are 4 babies in there?". It was all just fun and games. We got to the room, and started the ultrasound. I immediately saw the 3 sacs, but I tried not to read into it too much, because let's face it, who knows how to read those screens? After the doctor verified that I did take Clomid, I knew there was more than one. And then he said "well, I see 3 sacs".
I freaked out. "THREE? ARE YOU SERIOUS?? OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!!". I looked over at Spencer, and he had his arms folded and just starting straight ahead at the screen. No emotional reaction whatsoever. I tried grabbing his arm, but he didn't budge. The doctor looked in each sac and found a baby and a heartbeat. I really couldn't believe it. I asked Spencer why he was so emotionless about it, and he said he was just taking it all in. Or maybe he said he was crunching numbers.
It took me at least 2 weeks to really believe it. I would sometimes wake up in the morning and think it was a dream. And then I would see the ultrasound pictures and be assured that it was in fact reality. Spencer later admitted that he felt the same way as when we went skydiving...he was super chill about it the whole waiting time - even after we got on the plane. It didn't hit him that he was about to jump out of a plane until he saw me do it, then he freaked out a little. So with the triplets, he said it probably wouldn't hit him until he saw all three babies. I immediately got on to him and said that there is no way he can wait until the babies are here to be emotionally prepared for them! He has since come around and understands the craziness that is about to ensue.
I had ultrasounds about every 2 weeks until 12 weeks. Pretty much every appointment I have, they do an ultrasound, which is pretty fun. The longest I have gone without seeing them is 4 weeks. It is really amazing to see how quickly they are growing! I guess it's not too surprising because my stomach is growing just as fast.
We debated on whether we should surprise our family with the news when we went home for Thanksgiving, but decided that it was just too big a secret to keep that long. So we told our immediate family right away. Slowly we would start telling our friends, and it became one of my favorite things to do. People's reactions to news like this is pretty fun to be a part of. I eventually had to just make an official announcement at 10 weeks because there was no way to hide my growing belly.
The first trimester wasn't as terrible as it could have been. I was extremely tired. I had to take a nap every day while Eleanor napped, and even after that, I was in bed by 9 o'clock. Sometimes earlier. I had no energy whatsoever. I felt pretty crappy, but never threw up. I didn't realize just how crappy I felt until I got into the second trimester and felt amazing. So really, no complaints. My appetite was almost completely gone, but I forced food down because I'm supposed to be gaining a lot of weight in the first 25 weeks(which so far is REALLY hard to do!).
Now I am in my second trimester and ready to party! My energy is back, my appetite is back, and I only have a limited time to do anything before I become a beached whale! I am currently 17 weeks but look about 27 (or more) weeks. I sometimes don't understand how my skin is going to stretch enough for all the growing I still have left. I sleep pretty well at night. I only get up to go to the bathroom once, if that, which is a big improvement from first trimester when I was getting up 1-2 times a night. Really, other than being very large, I feel pretty amazing right now.
People are already asking me when I'm due. When I tell them how far along I actually am, their mouths drop open in disbelief. And then when I explain that it's triplets, it drops open even more. I would have to say the most common response to hearing that it's triplets is "WOW!". They don't even know what to say.
Now for some commonly asked questions:
Do multiples run in the family?
- No, not really. The Clomid is to blame here.
When will they most likely be born?
- A triplet pregnancy is very high risk for several reason. The scariest risk is preterm labor. So, if they are born before 24 weeks, they won't survive. If they are born after 24 weeks, they have a chance of living. The average length of a triplet pregnancy is 33 weeks. My goal is to make it to at least 33 weeks, and keep them in for as long as I can.
Will I have to go on bed rest?
- I don't know yet. They will be checking my cervix at every appointment from now on to see if it is shortening or opening. Some women don't have to go on bed rest...the lucky ones. Other women may have to be on bed rest for months! So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to(for long anyway).
Will we have help when the babies come?
- Yes. If I go on bed rest (even if I don't go on bed rest - let's face it - how productive can I be with a massive belly!?) Spencer's dad is going to come out to help take care of Eleanor and do household duties. Once the babies are born, my mom will come out to help. Then a few months later we will move home with my parents and have lots of round the clock help!
Does Eleanor understand what's happening?
- A little. If asked if there are babies in mommy's belly, she says yes. She kisses my belly 3 times, one for each baby. She kind of gets it, but I don't think she'll really get it until she sees all three. And I have a feeling she's going to love these little babes.
Are we excited?
- YES! Very! It is so interesting, because I don't think ANYONE wishes for triplets. But once you see them on the screen and hear their heartbeats, you know they are yours. After the first appointment, Spencer turned to me and said, "ok, you have to keep all these babies alive." The pressure, right?! But really, we already loves these little babies. We don't want to come home with anything less than all 3, healthy and happy.
Are we scared?
- YES YES YES! I'm actually terrified. Eleanor was a hard baby. She cried and cried and cried for the first 3 months. When I imagine 3 crying babies, I get knots in my stomach. I think about all the sleepless nights we'll have, the transition of having so much time with Eleanor to not having as much, feeding times, blow out diapers, etc etc etc. Yes, it is safe to say we are scared. Especially since Spencer will be leaving for A YEAR in October. I know I'll have my parents, but they both work, so I'll be doing a lot of the work myself. The good news is I've been through one baby before, so I know that things just get easier every day. That will be comforting to have that knowledge.
Do we know the genders?
- I'll wait until I get a confirmed answer at my next ultrasound. We do have an idea though, and if it's true, it's pretty exciting.
Have we thought of names yet?
- Still a work in progress. Nothing set in stone. That's a lot of names to think of!!
I think that about sums it up for now. I'll try to write more often to keep people updated with our progress. And now for some pictures:
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| 6 week belly - before I knew it was triplets! |
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| 3 sacs. 6 week ultrasound |
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| 7 weeks |
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| 7 week ultrasound |
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| 8 weeks |
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| 9 weeks |
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| 10 week announcement picture |
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| 10 week ultrasound |
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| 14 weeks |
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| 16 week ultrasound - 3 heads |
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| Baby A |
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| Baby B |
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| Baby C |
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| 16 weeks |
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| Still can't believe it. |
3 comments:
Congrats so happy for u.
Seriously. Excited for you guys.
I love reading yours and Spencers feelings about the whole thing. I felt like I was sitting with you and even got emotional. haha. I wish I could be close to help with those 3 babies...such an incredible thing, seriously. Thanks for sharing!!!
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