Our 13 Week Ultrasound

We just had our 13 week ultrasound and received another perfect report. All three babies are measuring at least 13 weeks, have perfect heartbeats, have perfect nuchal translucency measurements, and have no signs of TTTS. So, so far so good.

We are only in the beginning stages of this complicated, scary pregnancy but it is nice to know that everything is looking great so far. The doctors say that if we get to 20 weeks with no signs of TTTS, it is not a guarantee, but we should be in the clear for that. That is our biggest risk and concern. Keeping our fingers crossed.

But of course, once we get past that hurdle, we still have a million others to deal with- like preterm labor, growth restriction, preclampsia, gestational diabetes, and all the other risks associated with triplet pregnancies. But, we are in the hands of the best doctors in the region, so I am just going to sit tight and not think about it. I am giving this all up to the hands of God. God gave us this triplet pregnancy so I am going to let him worry about it instead or else I will go crazy :) 

Our ultrasound took almost two hours! It took FOREVER to get measurements on all three babies. And they were not very cooperative today! All three of them were jumping and wiggling like crazy, especially the identical twins. And Baby A kept chewing on the hand (or sucking on the thumb). It was all so cute.

The identical twins had higher heartrates than the singleton. The saying is that girls have higher heartrates. Grant almost had a heart attack at the indication that we could be adding two more girls to our family :) But then the doctor told us that the heartrate theory is a wives tale and we will find out the sexes at our 16 week ultrasound. Actually, Grant will be thrilled with any sex, as long as the babies are healthy. You should see him with Lauren. She is the ULTIMATE daddy's girl and he is so unbelievably wonderful with her. It is just funny to see him react to the thought of a house FULL of girls, especially cranky, hormonal teenage girls. Hee hee. We will find out soon enough!

As for me? I am still really sick with this morning sickness!! Morning sickness with triplet pregnancies often last far past the first trimester, so we will see if and when this lets up. I am still vomiting a bit, but am also forcing myself to eat a good chunk of good. I have gained about 12 pounds so far. This seems like only a dent in the 50-70 pounds I am supposed to gain but I just need to get there focusing on one pound at a time. Who ever thought that gaining weight would be so difficult!

Now it is time for the 13 week ultrasound pictures.

Baby A (singleton)

Baby A is the thumbsucker. You can see that the hand is near the mouth.

Baby B (identical)

Baby C (identical)

Baby C was not very cooperative and kept wiggling and moving! It made it very hard  to get measurements or a good profile picture.

A Picture of Both Baby B and C (identicals)

Here they are in the same placenta (crowded eh?)

Until next time! See ya,

Kara

11 Week Ultrasound Pictures

Here are our 11 week ultrasound pictures. The doctors label the babies A, B, and C. A is the singleton and B and C are the identicals. In these pictures, the babies are starting to look more human but still have that cute reptilian look.

Baby A (Singleton)

Baby B (Identical)

Baby C (Identical)

First Ultrasound Pictures

Here is one of the first images we saw, where you can immediately see two placentas. You can see the one baby (the singleton) in the lower placenta.

Then, when the doctors looked closely at the upper placenta, they saw two babies (the identicals) in there!

Here is a picture that shows all three. The singleton is harder to see. It is difficult to get all three in the same picture because different babies come into view depending on the direction the ultrasound technician points in.

New Blog

I’ve decided to start a blog. Warning: I am not a blogger. This is new to me. I am doing it because so many people want to know what is going on in our crazy triplet pregnancy and this seems to be the best way to get the word out without having to repeat it over and over. So, here goes:
We found out a month ago that we are expecting triplets. Needless to say, it was an earth shattering shock. The doctors took my first pregnancy test 17 days after conception and my HCG levels were really high (three times as high as they were with Lauren). We repeated the test two days later and the HCG numbers had tripled. So, immediately when I found out I was pregnant, I knew something weird was up. I actually thought for sure that I was pregnant with twins. However, the doctors said we would do an ultrasound at 7 weeks to see what was going on. Between those initial pregnancy tests and the 7 week ultrasound, I developed morning sickness and fatigue like I’ve never had before. We were actually at a friend’s wedding at Door County when it hit like a train wreck and I found myself throwing up almost 6 times on that first day. So, I was convinced at that point that we were indeed having twins.
We went in for our 7 week ultrasound expecting to be told there were twins and lo and behold there were three babies in there. When they started the ultrasound, I immediately saw two sacks (two placentas) and thought “Yep its twins”. Then, the doctor stopped talking, went quiet, and then looked at me and said, “I see two babies in one of those sacks”. He then pointed out to me that there were two in one of the sacks (the identical twins) and one in the other sack (the singleton). I barely remember the ultrasound because it was such a shock. I mostly remember bursting into tears. And I remember Grant sitting there stone-faced.
Am I sad that I am having triplets? Of course not. I have dreamed of a big family but figured I would have no more than two kids. So, why did I cry so much in the beginning? Because I was scared to death for the safety and health of these babies. We always hear horror stories of triplets being born severely premature and it was hard to get that out of my head. However, soon after that 7 week ultrasound, we started seeing specialists and they made me feel much better. They explained that because I carried Lauren full-term and actually had to be induced, that my chances of carrying triplets to 34 weeks is very good. 34 weeks is the modern day full term. If they make it to 34 weeks, it is as good as 37 weeks. Also, in this modern day, medicine has advanced so much that the outcomes are almost always good.
The BIGGEST concern for us is something called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), which occurs only in identical twins sharing a placenta. What happens is one of the twins essentially steals blood and amniotic fluid from the other twin, and it can be life threatening for both of them. TTTS occurs in 15-20% of these types of pregnancies. It can range from mild to severe, with severe cases occurring less than 10% of the time. Because of this concern, the doctors want me to have extensive ultrasounds every two weeks, then every week, and then maybe twice a week.
Today, we had our extensive 11 week ultrasound, where they measured the nuchal translucency to screen for chromosomal defects, serious heart defects, and TTTS. We received EXCELLENT news. All three babies looked perfect. Their risks for these defects is minimized and there are no signs of TTTS at this point. The longer we get into the pregnancy without signs of TTTS, the more our chances of getting a serious case is lowered. Once we get to 24 weeks, we can mostly breathe a sigh of relief. So, this will be something that will continue to be extensively monitored.
In the meantime, all I do is sleep all day and wake up to eat and hope that it doesn’t come back up. Thank god my work is so understanding of this whole thing. I am really hoping that this triple dose of morning sickness eases up soon so that I can have a couple of weeks of relief. The doctors tell me that I will for sure be on bedrest by 18-20 weeks since this is the standard of care. I am 11 weeks right now so this is not that far off. I would love to get just a few weeks of relief!! But, the important thing is that the babies are thriving. As long as I can get them out healthy, I can live with feeling like death during this long winter! But, March cannot come fast enough!
Kara