Week 14

GOOD-BYE 1st Trimester, HELLO 2nd Trimester...thank goodness! So what's going on with babies in week 14 you ask?! Well, according to my little handy book they are about 3.25-4 inches long, weight almost 1 whole ounce and are the size of "my" fist. My fist seems small compared to last week's comparison of a peach...but whatever. I know they aren't the size of Hulk's fist that's for sure. My belly seems to be growing at a horrifically fast speed, but I guess when you put three babies in there things are going to go fast!

As I said in my last post I don't go back to the doctors until Jan. 6th, and I am going through seeing the babies on ultrasound withdrawal. I want to so badly call and ask them just to check them out, but that doesn't seem like the right thing to do! I'll just try to be patient. I do have a follow up appointment with the nutritionist sometime this week. They called yesterday and said I missed my appointment, I thought it was Wednesday, so I may try to get in there today to see how the weight gain is going. According to my Wii Fit, not stellar, but I'll just wait and see how I do on her scale. If I am doing good then I'm probably going to stop going to the nutritionist because it's not covered by insurance and she's already gave me a diet plan...

Other then that things have actually been pretty quiet. I'm on Christmas Vacation...thank you!! So the next two weeks are for relaxing and spending time with family and friends. The only complainant I have about this week is a wicked stuffy nose that sometimes likes to bleed...but hey, I got three healthy babies so bring it on! So, that is that. Really nothing too exciting this week...well, we did decide on names, I dream about the babies all the time, and we did finally agree on a stroller and car seat pattern for the girls, but other then that, pretty calm week. A belly picture is missing, we've been busy, but I hope to get one up soon. And hopefully after we share with are families our names I'll be able to share them with you. We've changed 1 name back and forth, so we are going to see how it sticks this week, but I'm pretty sure we are solid on 3 first and middle (and last too!) names. Thanks for checking in on us! Until next time please keep us in your prayers and always REMEMBER JACKSON!

and babies

13 Weeks and Counting

Well, technically half way through week 13, but it's been crazy and I haven't had a chance to really blog. We've been busy ya know...adjusting to the concept of triplets and everything. According to my "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book the babies are about 2.5-3 inches long, weigh about 1/2-3/4 of an ounce and are about the size of a peach. I've got three peaches in my belly...

Anyway...week 13 is flying by (thank goodness b/c come week 14 I'm on Christmas Vacation...woohoo!). Last week I had not 1, not 2 but 3 different appointments. First, I had to meet with the prenatal nurse (again, nothings change lady) and have all my blood drawn. Nothing too bad. Thursday I had to meet with the nutritionist, which didn't go great or horrible. The one thing I learned from that appointment...Mom's of normal weight and BMI (that's me) who are expecting triplets should gain 36 pounds before week 24. 36 freaking pounds?! Well, I'm down about 2 as of this morning so I need to somehow find a way to gain 38 pounds in the next 11 weeks...ummmm, the healthy way for me and babies, no junk food. So, nice nutrition lady put me on a plan and we'll see how it goes. Dr. Hilton told me not to worry because all babies are growing perfectly and the weight is going to come and before too long I'll be complaining about it. Joseph's solution to me packing on the pounds...

MUSCLE MILK! Watch out Hulkster, I'm going to be huge in no time! So, actually, this is just a protein shake, a Boost (and Slim Fast actually) on steroids. It has 32g of protein per serving, but I'm actually just taking half a serving, so hopefully the extra protein will help me in my goal of freaking 38 pounds...crazy!

So, after my nutritionist appointment I got to see Dr. Hilton who was so excited and happy and supportive of Joseph and I. I did learn that if I can hold these babies in until 32-34 weeks she'll get to deliver them locally and that Piedmont has recently upgraded some and can handle babies for at this time. So...that's my new goal so that Dr. Hilton can bring these babies into the world for us! Oh...and a little plus or two about being pregnant with triplets, EVERYONE knows who I am at the doctor's office so I have tons of people to talk too and it's impossible to determine if you are hearing three different heartbeats...so they just do a quick (FREE!) ultrasound to look for those precious little beating hearts! And then when the ultrasound tech lady is having fun, she measures them, and really takes her time...so nice, only problem, no pictures. But all babies had perfect heart beats and measured exactly on...go babies go!

Surprisingly my next appointment isn't until Jan. 6th, and that's with the specialist, and it's a big one. It'll be a 16 week anatomy scan which they've blocked off A LOT of time (2-3 hours). They will measure each baby and look at all organs and everything. After that scan it's back every two weeks. Pictures to come soon I'm sure.

Anyway...so, that's week 13 in a nutshell. Things are going great here. I'm not horribly tired, a little sick now and then, but overall OVER THE MOON! Oh, and rather large, example below. I'm not sure how I'm gonna grow these babies another 20+ weeks, but I'll do whatever I have to! Thanks for sharing in our journey...it's starting to get extra good. As always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!



and babies

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