Are you Ready?!!!

So...the time is almost here to learn what the babies are. Thanks 4 friends for leaving a comment. Are you ready?! Well...the time has come...we are having:





3 Babies...
have you heard? Ok, ok, ok...we are having...





Either boys, or girls or both, did you know that?
Ok, ok, ok...we are having...





Babies called A, B and C!
Ok, ok, ok...we are having...





TRIPLETS!
Ok, ok, ok...we are having...














AND WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED!




and Joseph and Babies too!

Get Your Votes In...

I'm to excited to keep to quiet the sexes of the babies...which are all perfect. No SMA, no downs, no trisomy 13 or 18, nothing wrong...just 3 healthy babies who I'm excited to share about. So...you have something like 10 hours to vote (and me 10 hours to think of some crafty way to tell y'all) what the babies are. Good luck...not that you win anything or anything, but still...

Nichole and Babies

PS-Any chance you'll leave me a comment telling me how you voted? Just wondering who voted what. Again, like a dork I voted on my own blog, several times-hehe. I voted for 2 boys and 1 girl (home computer), 3 boys (school laptop) and 2 girls and 1 boy (computer lab). I'd just love to hear how everyone voted...

The Most Asked Questions...Answered!

So...the number one question, well questions, I get is where will the babies be born, who will deliver them and what about bed rest. Great questions...no answer, ok just kidding. So, at one of my many appointments I did ask Dr. S (specialist) if she would deliver and she said no my regular OB would deliver, Dr. H. Well, Dr. H only has delivering privileges at Piedmont in Rock Hill and they are not equipped to care for 3 babies, they have a NICU, but it's only to get the baby stable and transferred somewhere else, which they normally send to Richland in Columbia (remember, Jackson was born at Piedmont and transferred that same night). I did ask Dr. S if she could deliver if I was downtown and she said she has privileges at CMC Main, but I would have to switch practices, which doesn't sound very appealing since I've been at Rock Hill for so long! So...right now my thinking (and hoping) is that I can keep these babies in me as long as possible and deliver downtown at CMC Main. Whoever their on-call Dr. is will deliver, but it's not like he'll be alone since they'll be at least 3 neonatologist (NICU docs), NICU nurses, probably some NICU RT's, me, Joseph, delivery nurses, my parents, Joseph's parents, who knows...maybe even a freaking TV crew-HA! And, the great thing about the babies going to the NICU at CMC is the wonderful nursing staff I've already got lined up (that's you Allison, Laurie and Carol, in case you didn't know!). I'm very comfortable with the NICU there and have no worries about the babies going there.

As for bed rest...well that's a tricky question. Many books suggest going on bed rest at 24 weeks...ummmm, not a reality for Joseph and I. My job does not pay for maternity leave, though I will be covered under FMLA for 12 weeks, and I'm looking into short term disability (but that only goes into effect after I've used all my sick days and I've been unpaid for 10 days, and I may have to be in the hospital). So, there are lots of things to worry about, think about, plan for, pray for, hope for...bring on the keep the babies in my belly as long as possible prayers! I did ask Dr. S (she gets a lot of questions, we're good friends, I'll be seeing her every two weeks starting at 20 weeks) if she thought I'd have to go on bed rest and she said every case is different. Here's a big shocker now...not to my advantage, my height (I know, shocking). However, to my advantage is/was carrying Jackson full term and getting VERY LARGE, so my short body can grow like you wouldn't believe! Now...a little bit bothersome is the fact that I've already had to go on a mini bed rest last week when I had some bleeding. But it has since stopped and I need to learn not to push myself too hard.

Alright...that's all for this time around. Oh...well maybe a little bit of a teaser to end with. Yesterday we got back chromosome results for Baby C (all by his/herself) and Baby C is perfect...no Downs, no trisomy 13 or 18, no Turners-NOTHING! And we do know if it's a boy or a girl, but we're not telling, well, not quite yet anyway. Thanks for the love, support and prayers...keep them coming! As always, please Remember Jackson!

Nichole and Babies

Triplets?! How'd That Happen?

So, I know there are lots of questions out there about how in the world Joseph and I ended up pregnant with triplets. So, that is where we will begin. I was once again on Clomid, 100 mg (lowest does is 50, so I wasn't on that much). The chances of having multiples does increase when on Clomid, for example, your chances of having twins is 1 in 10, or 10% (that's an important bit of information for later). So, no, we did not go back to REACH for fertility treatments, no alien abduction (though I feel as though I'm still having an out of body experience)...we did it the good ol' fashion way with a little help from Clomid.

So, here's bit more of how it all went down. I found out I was pregnant on October 7th, which was pretty early. From the beginning I had a hunch it was twins for several reasons...1-I ovulated hard (felt it really bad in other words), 2-I got a positive test so early (26th day of cycle) and 3-I broke out in hives, which is a sign of a multiples (now you see why the hives was such a big incident too, but thankfully they are gone!). I immediately called my genetic lady Jean, who is the best and scheduled the CVS test. Dr. Hilton wanted me to see a specific doctor this time, Dr. Stephenson, who just happened to specialize in twins (that would be hint number 4). Got the test scheduled no problem for the week of Thanksgiving when I'd be 10 weeks. Before going in for my test I had to go in to my regular dr. for a "viability scan." Doesn't that sound nice? All they were checking for was a heartbeat and how far along I was.

So...the scan was scheduled for Oct. 23rd because I was furloughed that day and so off I went to my appointment, alone. Joseph had to work, my mom was sick, but I was fine...I have had a lot of ultrasounds in my day! Go in and we start the scan and the sweet lady says to me, yup there is definitely two heart beats, at which time I clap and say I knew it! She continues looking around and then says "oh goodness". Now, this wasn't an excited oh goodness, this was a concerned oh goodness and I thought something was wrong. I asked her and she told me to just hold on one second, and then she said look here, there is a third heartbeat. So...that's how I found out about triplets, with a shocked little ultrasound tech all by myself. How do you call your husband and tell him it's triplets? Well me, I just cut to the chase...the nice nurse handed me my phone, went to get Dr. Hilton and I called Joseph who may have screamed, cried, yelled and who knows what else.

So, now for the logistics of how in the world it happened, beside by the grace of God of course. If you look at the picture from the post below you can see that there are two babies in one area (these are identical, known as A and B) and then there is C all by their self. Back to the numbers...chances of having twins, fraternal (not identical), on Clomid is 1 in 10, or 10%, which is what I had originally with A and C. However, A got a little funky on us and split into two, or identicals, A and B. The chances of that happening (one egg splitting) is 1 in 250 or 0.4%. So, I "dropped" two eggs, both were fertilized, and then one split, leaving us with triplets, two identicals and a fraternal. Any questions?!


Now for a few more pictures, one of each baby, from the test last week. Which, by the way took 3 hours and 10 minutes. Those little triplets are feisty and it took awhile to figure out the best way to get the samples. Anyway, enjoy these pictures. My next post will be who knows what, but I'd be more then happy to answer any and all questions you have, just leave a comment or email me. Triplets...wow!

Nichole, A, B and C


Baby A


Baby B


Baby C


Here's the latest, and probably last picture of all three together. They are getting too big for one shot. In this picture poor little baby C just gave us a butt shot, but it sure is a cute butt. They do focus more on the identicals because they are more "high risk" with some things that could happen, but we aren't going to think about that. Anyway...

Babies A, B and C

Speechless...Almost

Many have heard, many have not, but Joseph and I are expecting...triplets, sma free, healthy triplets! More to come, very soon, but for now, we are just enjoying the moment. To hold you over until my next post here's a picture of A, B and C (that's orginal right?!) who are all SMA FREE! This picture is from 7 weeks, they are already much bigger. Enjoy, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your love, support and prayers. GOD IS GOOD!



Nichole, Joseph, Babies A, B and C and our angel boy, who's always watching, Jackson Cole

Pins and Needles?!

Have you been waiting on "pins and needles" to hear what in the world is going on with my jacked up body?! Well...I've had to deal with a lot of needles if it makes you feel any better. Here's a break down of how things have played out...

Friday-one little hive pops up on my foot...
Saturday-urgent care, steroid shot
Sunday-Back to urgent care-benedryl IV for several hours
Monday-Regular doctor visit-options 1-steroid pack, 2-hospital for steroid IV (picked 1...)
Tuesday-no needles, but didn't work either
Wednesday-Went to work, had to leave after calling my mom to come pick me up because I could not move. Back to regular doctor, who threw his hands up in disgust, well not really, but he sent me to the allergist. That appointment ended with another needle and 4 vials of blood later. Testing lots of things like lupus and arthritis.
Thursday-no work again
Friday-back to work, somewhat normal, pretty rough night with joint pain
Saturday-pushed through any thought of pain because we threw my parents a 30th Anniversary Party
Sunday-horrible pain in knee, waiting for blood results
Monday-pain moved to elbow, still waiting...
Tuesday-Nurse calls and the doctor needs to see me to go over my blood test, which sends me in a panic because why can't they just tell me over the phone, and I'm going to die, and I don't want to die, and I'm really nervous....(dramatic, I know)

The answer to why Nichole broke out in hives/rash with severe joint pain...........

not sure, but they are pretty confident that it's has to do with my thyroid, big surprise. My blood work showed that my body is making antibodies that are attacking my thyroid, therefore causing my thyroid not to work properly which in turn leads to the rash thing. The solution, even though my thyroid level is "within normal range" they are going to up my medication (goodbye those last few extra pounds-yes, not that I would be happy to use medication to lose weight, but if I have to have something good come out of this whole thing then this has got to be it!) to make my thyroid fight back against the antibodies that my body is making. Confused...me too kinda, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what is happening. But, I did not get out of the office needle free. Another level, my SED rate (which looks at inflammation) was high which could mean a number of things so they took 2 more vials of blood today to run some more test that I should have the results of in 10 to 14 days.

That's all I got people. I'm very over this rash thing, which is still over a good part of my body, but not bothersome or painful. I'll try to do better about updating, but seriously my fingers and wrists hurt so badly that it's hard to type. My next post will be about my parents anniversary...yay! So, as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!

Not the Way I Planned on Getting Back to Blogging...

If you can recall, about this same time last year I was going through a bit of a "mini-hell" when I broke out in horrible hives right before my scheduled cataract surgery. Don't remember, or want to revisit, click here. Well...they are back, the hives, with a vengeance this time around. They are not covering my whole body like last time but seem to be around all my joints causing swelling and a good bit of pain. I've been up all night pretty much popping pills to stop the itching, but it looks like I'm going to have to go in for a shot and some of the stronger stuff. Fun times. So, my welcome back to blogging starts off on a rough note, but is anyone surprised by that?! I'll update about what the doctor says...