19 Week Ultrasound

We had our 19 week ultrasound this week. All good news!

They first checked my cervix to make sure it is holding up and staying strong. Apparently they wanted my cervix at this appointment to be at least 2.5 cm and closed. When the ultrasound tech first looked she was AMAZED because mine was 3.7 cm and closed. They told me that is really really good and above average. I have already spent a TON of time during this pregnancy in bed or laying on the couch due to horrible morning sickness and fatigue and the doctors think this has kept so much gravity off of the cervix and prevented it from shortening.

Our clinic typically places triplet people on bedrest between 18-24 weeks but I have not heard them mention this to me yet. I am hoping that because I am already spending so much time lying down and my cervix is so long that they might delay bedrest for me. That would be so nice. Not looking forward to being entirely immobile- although I am not very active right now.

Also, my morning sickness is 100% gone! I feel like I can eat like my old self again and have not had any bouts with gagging recently. That is such a HUGE relief I can't even tell you.

The ultrasound tech also scanned for signs of TTTS and there were none. Earlier in the week, I started having random anxiety about TTTS. I have been searching lots of Mothers of Multiple sites for a night nanny for when we bring the babies home and came across several moms recently diagnosed with TTTS and it started to really scare me. However, the doctors told me that based on everything they have seen on my ultrasounds, they have reduced my chance of getting TTTS from 15% to 5%. That was such a HUGE relief for both Grant and I. This has been such a huge learning experience for me, as I had no idea before this pregnancy that identical twin pregnancies are the highest risk pregnancies you can have, because of TTTS. It is one scary monster. But, so far so good!

And now for some pictures! The babies were at good angles today so we got some good profile pictures too.

Baby A

A profile picture of Baby A.

Baby A hangs out at the bottom of my tummy and always tickles me in a certain spot at the bottom. The ultrasound tech caught a shot of his hand right as he was tickling me. Here it is!

Baby B

A profile picture of Baby B.

Here is a really cute Halloween-like picture of Baby B holding both of his hands up to his face.

Baby C

A profile picture of Baby C with his mouth wide open.

And here is a picture of Baby C's arm.

Next week we have our detailed 20 week ultrasound where they take a million measurements. I told the doctor I was nervous for it but she told me that our detailed 16 week ultrasound indicated that we should not worry about anything with the 20 week ultrasound. So, that relieved me. I will have more pictures to post after next week I am sure.

Until next week,

Kara

18 Week Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound last week. This time, they didn't take measurements of the babies but they primarily scanned for signs of TTTS and for general health issues. They didn't find any! All babies look great! And yes they are still boys- we checked!!

My mom and Lauren got to accompany us to this ultrasound. Lauren got to see her new brothers on the screen for the first time. However, I have to admit that she was only remotely interested in the screen and was more interested in roaming the ultrasound room in search for doctor equipment. After awhile my mom took her out to the lobby where she took her Wheels On The Bus book to a strange man and begged him to read it to her. Our little girl is not shy that is for sure.

Our daycare also takes Lauren for visits to the baby room at our daycare to expose her to babies in anticipation of the arrival of her new brothers. She has been more interested in stealing the babies toys than actually interacting with the babies themselves. This could make for an interesting spring :)  The crazy thing is she is so young herself, not even 2 years old yet, so we are going to have our hands more full than anyone on the planet except for Octomom and Kate Gosselin :)

Here are a few face pictures of the babies. They each stared straight at us so we captured pictures of their faces. The pictures, while adorable, also look very Halloween-like!!!

Baby A

Baby B

Baby C

And here is a cute profile picture of Baby C. We can't always get profile pictures of each baby at these ultrasounds because it is getting crowded in there!

Cheers,

Kara

BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Tuesday, we went to the hospital for our 16 week ultrasound. As we pulled up to the valet parking stand, I suddenly had a wave of serious anxiety. I told Grant "I think I am getting sick to my stomach." He was like "Its okay your fine let's just go to our appointment." I was like "No I am really getting sick." We got out of the car and I pulled a Stan from Southpark. I projectile vomited onto the street in front of all the valet parkers. Grant started laughing hysterically because he said its rare you see someone projectile vomit out of anxiety. So, that is my humor for the day. It had been three weeks since our last ultrasound and I guess I was just really nervous about how the appointment was going to go and whether they would see any signs of TTTS or whether my cervix was shortening ect.

We finally made it into the ultrasound room and my anxiety was completely unfounded. All three babies measured perfectly, had four chambers of the heart, and there was no signs of TTTS. And my cervix was long and closed. So, great news on the health front. But, we of course are still not out of the woods yet. From this point on, I will be having an ultrasound every two weeks to look for TTTS. Once we reach 20 weeks, we can breathe a little. Once we reach, 24 weeks, we can really breathe. But, the doctor says the fact that they see no signs so far is definitely encouraging. Severe cases of TTTS tend to start a little earlier.

So, for the crazy news. We asked the ultrasound tech to tell us if she saw any boy/girl parts. She first scanned over the identical twins and sure enough, saw very clear boy parts. We were immediately excited because Grant wanted a boy so bad! Then, I was like "Oh my god what if the singleton is a boy too." She then scanned over the singleton and immediately said "Oh boy." Sure enough, there was another very clear boy part. At that point, we were a little shocked and awed. Never in a million years did we think they would all be boys!!!

Also, because they are all boys, there is an outside possibility that they are all identical. One of two scenarios happened during implantation:

Scenario A (most likely): two separate embryos implanted and one of them split late in the implantation process. Because the embryo split later, the split embryos share a placenta. The unsplit embryo has its own placenta. In this case, the boys sharing the placenta would be identical and the third with its own placenta would be different.

Scenario B (least likely): only one embryo implanted and immediately split early enough so the split embryos formed their own placentas; then, one of the split embryos split again, but was late enough that the third split embryo remained in the same placenta. In this case, all three boys would be identical.

We started to get excited about the boys and for the first time in the pregnancy, we started talking about names during the down moments in our three hour office visit. As we were talking names, we joked that we should name one "Stan" in honor of my projectile vomiting. (No-Stan is not one of our names). We took turns saying names and either agreed or nixed the name. For one of the names, I gave the name and Grant looked at me with shock on his face and said "That was the next name I was going to say." Needless to say, that name is one of our names! By the time we got home, we had all three names set in stone. We pretty much did the same thing with Lauren immediately after our 20 week ultrasound with her. We are really easy with the name decision-making!

And here are the pictures:

Baby A

Baby A's profile picture:

A picture of Baby A's boy parts:

Baby B

Baby B's profile picture:

A picture of Baby B's boy parts:

A picture of Baby B's arm:

Baby C

Baby C's profile picture:

A picture of the Baby C's boy parts:

Finally, here is a picture of Baby B and C with their heads together:

Finally, the here is a little chart that shows how much the babies weigh and how they are all lying in my belly:

As for me, I am starting to feel better with the morning sickness. I still have it and throw up almost every day but it is very very little compared to earlier on. I have gained 17 pounds at this point, which is just okay. I really need to pick up on the weight gain so I can make it to at least 50 pounds. Thank god the Holiday season is approaching so I can have my family wait on me and bring me unlimited fattening holiday food :)

We have our next ultrasound in two weeks. I will post again then.

Cheers!
Kara

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