30 Weeks

Belly: At my appointment with the OB at 29 weeks, 5 days, she measured my belly. Actually I asked her to measure me and she said, “do you really want to be measured?” knowing that the number will be much higher than I actually am since the measurement is for moms having singletons. I really did want to know for two reasons. 1) at 23 weeks I measured 35 weeks and I was curious to see how things have progressed. Once you’re this big it is hard to tell if you are really getting bigger and 2) people have really started to look at me like a ticking time bomb, so I thought I must be measuring at least full term. Turns out, I am measuring 46 weeks. Whoa momma! After I left the doctor, I went to the drug store and a lady pointed at me and said, “twins?” to which I just nodded. See, I knew I wanted to know the truth!

Me on Thanksgiving (what 46 weeks pregnant looks like)

Cravings: Still drinking a ton of milk. Loving all of the Thanksgiving leftovers.

Symptoms: Honestly, I can barely think about pregnancy-specific symptoms right now as I am in the throws of a cold/sinus infection from hell and a delightful Chron’s flare.  I am not sure if those two things are pregnancy related or even worsened by the hormones and such, but either way I just feel bleh.

The only other symptoms I am having are just associated with my large size. I wake up a lot in the night, but am still able to get pretty comfortable with my pregnancy pillow. I am only able to sit at the computer or anywhere for that matter for two hours max and then I have to lay down or stretch or something because it kills my back. 

Activities: At 28 weeks and 6 days, the boys had another ultrasound to check their growth. Once again, they look amazing. After the doctor reviewed everything she came in and said she had accused the ultrasound technician of measuring the same baby three times. That is how close in size they are, which is great news!  As they continue to develop and stay cooking as long as possible, we want them to be close in size so that they are growing together and the doctors don’t have to make difficult decisions about inducing me early/letting me go too long so one can grow, etc. The difference in size from the largest to the smallest is 16 grams, that’s about 16 paperclips. Amazing! The boys are all still ahead of schedule – 6-8 days ahead, which is also amazing for triplets. The other amazing part (and no, I don’t think I’m overusing that word) is that they don’t need to see us back at the specialist for a month! A month! Here I was terrified they were going to put me on all these restrictions or tell us our luck had run out and they said to come back in a month. Hallelujah!

 Baby A's Nose and Lips

Baby A's Profile

Baby B's Face (with his arm over the right side of his mouth)

Baby C's Face (with his arm over the left side of his face)

Baby C's Profile

In the midst of this amazing news, we were in full swing putting the finishing touches on the nursery (see next post). Mom came up again to finalize things for us. We also put together a wreath for the hospital door/our front door when the boys come home with a place for all three boys names.  

The following week was Thanksgiving. Jay and I elected to celebrate on our own, so I could be sure I got plenty of rest throughout the weekend. It was a good thing too since I got an awful cold/sinus infection and took 3-4 hour naps each day. We cooked some yummy gluten free food – turkey, dressing, mac and cheese, squash casserole, caramel pie. We put up the Christmas tree (or I directed Jay and unwrapped ornaments while he put up the Christmas tree).  We even went to the mall on Black Friday night. Jay pushed me around in the wheelchair we bought for his Halloween costume.  We only bought one thing, but it was fun to get out in the chaos for a minute, especially with no real agenda.

On Saturday, we of course, watched the Iron Bowl! It was an exciting game. I don’t think I can take too many more of these close ones in my current state though.  Since this marked the end of the regular season, I decided to chronicle my 13 week progression (from 17 weeks on the left to 30 weeks on the right).

Other than that, I spent my time trying to wrap up the semester. Just teaching class and getting my papers graded takes the life out of me. Plus, Ashley and I have been doing a lot of work to get the CCBD conference off the ground. It is crazy to think that 9 months from now I’ll be carting around 3 little babes with me at the conference center in Atlanta, but I digress. The other good news is I only have two more days of classes to teach, so we are really in the home stretch now.

The Nursery

The nursery is basically done! It was definitely a team effort between myself, Jay, and, my mom. I didn't really want much of a theme, but Jay thought it was be fun to have an 80's themed nursery. So the boys have custom Wayfarer, Rubik's cube, and mix tape mobiles, Star Wars and Top Gun movie posters and a triple Link poster that their dad made, pixelated curtains, an 80's cell phone pillow, some toys from the 80's, and even a Tetris lamp from their Aunt Karen. It is a lot of fun!

 

Collage wall with custom-made art by their dad, plus things we've collected over the years. We wanted to have something Cubs and something Alabama in their room for sure!

Loveseat with pixelated pillows to match the curtains and awesome 80's cell phone pillow. Plus rolling coffee table with storage underneath.

I think we have enough stuffed animals already! There is no where to put them when you have three cribs in one room!

 Custom mobiles in the nursery colors, plus some pink, yellow, and red accents.

28 Weeks!!!

I have been really reflective the past couple of weeks. When you struggle with infertility and think you'll never be pregnant. It makes it hard to believe you will stay pregnant or, especially when your carrying three babies at a time and are super high risk, that you will ever have a baby.  I still look at my belly in disbelief.  This week marks the start of my third trimester, which will be much shorter than the other two since the little guys will come early.  It also marks a point where the babies are almost certain to survive on their own. I can't believe we are here and I can't believe how well things are going at this stage. I feel so unbelievably blessed! Thank you to all our prayer warriors and health care providers.

Belly: My belly is huge! A store clerk yesterday told me I looked like I was about to "explode." Not pop, not even burst, but explode, which is way more violent and dramatic! Just this week my former innie, which was a flattie (if that is even a thing), is starting to become an outie. Still no stretch marks, which is nice and also amazing.  Jay has still been taping my belly about once a week. I'll wear the tape for 5-6 days then take a day off.  Here is a picture of my back all taped up. We took pictures of the front too, to have for posterity's sake, but not sure I want those on the internet.

Cravings: Milk!

Symptoms: Fatigue! Lots of peeing and feeling like I can't empty my bladder. My GI determined that I was, in fact, having a bit of a Chron's flare, so he put me on some pregnancy-safe meds for a couple of weeks, and things are definitely on the mend.

Activities: Last weekend Martin and Paula came to visit. It was great to see them. We had some yummy meals, watched an intense Alabama-LSU game, and I rested while they played golf.  I am quickly realizing, however, that I am not much for company these days. I am either resting or nesting and neither is very conducive to guests. Oh well, we're in the home stretch now.

 27 Weeks

This week I had my glucose test, a pregnancy right of passage. It was actually pretty painless since they let me drink it at home and I didn't have to wait around for an hour at the doc's office to take my blood. I won't know the results until next week, so fingers crossed.  They checked for the boy's heartbeats with the portable ultrasound, and they have moved again, which I didn't think was possible at this point. Babies A and B are both head down (Baby A on the left side) and Baby C is transverse, just kind of lying on top of them with his head on my right side.  Jay said this is the victory formation, but I hope not. We're not ready for you to come quite yet babies.  I go back to the OB in two weeks and after that I'll start going every week.  Next week is our next big ultrasound at maternal fetal medicine, so I can't wait to see how much the boys have grown in the past month.

Other than that, Jay and I are working hard at ticking away at our to do list to get ready for the boys. He is working on designing some stuff for the nursery. I have things pretty much organized in the nursery and the kitchen (bottles, etc.). I also packed a hospital bag of nursing gear and baby stuff (not the official hospital bag with my clothes, etc. but the babies').  We also went to Sam's and stocked up on things we want to have on hand and not have to worry about running out to get. I, of course, can't really walk Sam's anymore, so I hovered around and pointed at things while my darling husband filled the cart. It was quite comical!