22 weeks

22 weeks and growing!
Our little princess

Well time is flying by even though I'm on bed rest. After a mellow few weeks, I was back in the hospital again last week. I was admitted Thursday night for contractions and was able to come back home on Monday once they got everything under control. Needless to say I am happy to be home.

Yesterday we went in for our ultrasound and things look good. The stitch is holding my cervix in place so that is good. The babies are doing well. Baby B is still small, but he continues to grow. Baby A is 1 lb 1 oz, Baby B is 11 oz, and Baby C (our girl) is 1 lb 2 oz. They are moving and kicking a lot these days.

I have adjusted to bedrest. While I was in the hospital Scott was so sweet and hunted down an iPad for me. That has been keeping me entertained. During the days when Scott is at work my Mom comes over and helps me out. We have been watching all the seasons of 24 from the beginning. We are currently half way through season 2.

I look forward to posting again after our next doctor appointment.

It's been an eventful few weeks...

The bump grows exponentially!
The front view

Our baby girl giving us the thumbs up letting us know she is doing well!

One of the boys (baby b) He was sitting on his brother's face so we couldn't get a picture of baby A.

2 weeks ago I sat on the couch enjoying the first few days of retirement trying to see if I could feel the babies kick when I noticed that my stomach was sort tightening and then releasing. Concerned that these may be contractions I called my high risk dr after hours (5:30). They called back and said they were still there and to come in right away. I called Scott and told him I'm sure it's nothing so he didn't go with me. Well... I went in to check my cervix and it had shortened from 3.7 to 1.7 in a week and was funneling. In other words... not good. They told me they would be doing the second trimester anatomy scan to make sure all the babies are ok and then I would go across the street to be admitted to labor and delivery. All the babies looked good, now it was a matter of keeping them in.

At the hospital they put me on this horrible medicine called magnesium sulfate to stop the contractions. It basically relaxes all of the muscles in your body so I could barely function. I was admitted Tuesday night and on Thursday, April Fool's day, they did a procedure to put a stitch in my cervix to hold it closed. I was given a spinal and after some tears, I sucked it up and it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I spent another few days in the hospital where they ran various tests and on Saturday afternoon I was finally discharged. That was big news since I had convinced myself I would be spending the rest of the pregnancy there.

At home I have been on strict bed rest. I lay flat all day on my side... even to eat! I'm only allowed up to go to the bathroom and shower every other day. My mom has been great. She comes over every day during the week while Scott is at work to help me out. Scott has been so wonderful especially considering this is his busiest time of the year. Luckily tax season is over this week so Scott will be able to spend more time with me at home.

Yesterday, we had our 19 week check up and everything was really good. My cervix was closed past the stitch at 3.07, which is great. So now I'm allowed to sit up to eat! I still am on bed rest, but he would like me to swim a little every day. So that was exciting. The babies all look great. Our one boy (baby b) is smaller than the other two so we need to keep our fingers crossed that he keeps on growing to catch up to his brother and sister! We go back again next week to check everything, but after an emotional few weeks things definitely look better. We're just taking it day by day and week by week.

16 weeks and 3 days... but who's counting!

My bump as of today :)

Our little girl (the boys weren't very cooperative for their pictures this week)

Today was our doctor's appointment with our high risk doctor, Dr. Mansano. He was pleased to see how well the babies are doing and how well I am doing too. When we go back in 2 weeks we have another big ultrasound that is called the 2nd trimester anatomy scan, where they look at everything in extreme detail again. We look forward to getting another positive report at that appointment.

I am feeling good. I'm starting to seem more like myself, albeit a larger version now. ;) My last day of work is on Friday and I can't wait. Now I can get stuff done before I get put on my unavoidable bed rest. My belly is growing by the day and I still love it! Scott and I are so excited for these babies and we can't wait to meet them!

And the sexes are...

Finally all 3 in one picture! The identicals are at the bottom.
Single Baby

Identicals

13 week bump

Well today was the big day to find out if there was anything wrong with the babies and there was a chance we could find out the sexes. We are thrilled to announce all the babies look great. It is amazing what they can see with this ultrasound machine. They were able to measure the chambers of the heart, the kidneys, the spine, etc. The noses and back of the neck look great which are the two things they check as signs of down syndrome. Also their lips and mouth look great as do all of their arms, legs, fingers, and toes! As you can see we got amazing ultrasound pictures in 3D.

The high risk specialist, Dr. Mansano, was great as was the ultrasound technician. They were both very reassuring and I already love the doctor since he said I can email and call with any questions I have. Additionally he wants to see me every 2 weeks... I said I would be here every week if you wanted!

And they were 100% sure that we are having... Identical boys and a little Princess!!! We are so excited! It's a great combination. Now we just need to pick out 6 names!

Welcome to the second trimester

12 week bump

Single Baby at the top of screen (kind of hard to see)

One of the Identicals (head is on the left)

Other identical top of the picture (head is on the right)

So I had to wait a whole week and a half to get today's ultrasound, but I survived and we were excited to see our 3 dancing babies on the screen. We really enjoyed the new doctor and she was very reassuring. She said they all look good. She made both Scott and I get the H1N1 vaccine and she ordered a ton of blood work. They don't do the blood work in the office so we have to go to a lab later in the week. I'm not looking forward to that!

We are looking forward now to Monday when we meet with the perinatologist (high risk specialist) to get a very detailed ultrasound. They expect us to be there for 2 1/2 to 3 hours! The cool thing is part of the test they do in 3D so that will be pretty awesome to see. Expect really good pictures next week. The bump is getting big and it's tough to cover up so we're happy that this is the week we decided to start spreading the exciting news.

We graduated!

Single Baby on the left (hard to get a good pic)

One of the identicals (head is on the right)

Identical baby (Head is on the left)

The belly's getting a little bigger

Today is week 11 and all three babies are doing great! The heartbeats are all in the 160's and they are all measuring perfectly. Dr. Kalan seemed very happy with everything. The babies were doing somersaults and dancing around. One of them was even kicking it's feet! We officially graduated to our new OB and the perinatologist. We will start going to the new OB in a week and a half and then we see the perinatologist on March 1st. It was a bittersweet goodbye, since we loved them, but we are very grateful that we get to graduate.

I'm feeling pretty good and loving my little belly! We are looking forward to sharing this exciting news with everyone after our next doctor appointment. :)

Double Digits

10 week bump! (lucky wanted to be in the picture)

Identical Baby B

Identical Baby A with a long umbilical cord

Single Baby... getting bigger!

Well we have officially made it to week 10 and we are going strong! I had a cold all week, but I was able to look forward to my 2 different doctor appointments this week. My first appointment was with my new OBGYN, Dr. Silberstein, who is out of Tarzana. Debi will be excited to hear that she is orthodox! She has delivered 3 sets of triplets before and they were all perfect. She was really nice and her office is right down the hall from my fertility doctors who we love. She gave me three names of perinatologists (sp?) who are the high risk doctors I will be seeing additionally throughout my pregnancy.

Today we went for another ultrasound and all the babies are measuring perfectly with strong heartbeats. Dr. Kalan says they look great! We were so excited watching them move around and wiggle today. It's really amazing to see. Next week we graduate from the fertility doctors and start with the OBGYN and the perinatologist.

I'm feeling pretty good, just no real appetite. Scott is hoping that changes soon so that we can start going out to dinner again! The "bump" is growing and I am loving every minute of it! We'll see if I'm saying that in 5 months when I'm huge!!!

Week 9!

Baby C (Single baby)
Identicals

Bump!


The week started off rough. On Tuesday I woke up at midnight with excruciating back pain. After 4 hours of pain and knowing it was a sign of a possible miscarriage I made Scott take me to Tarzana ER. They ordered an ultrasound which showed all the babies were fine, but my ovaries are still huge from the fertility treatments and he was pressing so hard that I became sick from the pain I was in. They gave me an IV, a small dose of morphine, and anti-nausea medicine. My doctor was concerned with the pain I was in so they admitted me for observation. I began feeling better and was discharged at 9 pm. I owe Scott big time for putting up with me. :) I took the next two days off of work and just rested.



I am feeling much better today and we went back to the doctor for our 9 week appointment. It was a great appointment. All 3 babies have strong heartbeats of over 160 and they are all growing perfectly! We even saw them moving around which was an amazing thing to see. He normally doesn't see patients in week 10, but I talked my way into an appointment because I worry so much. Then he graduates us at week 11. We plan on telling everyone the last week of February so thank you for keeping this a secret for now. I have an updated bump picture and baby pictures so enjoy!

Week 8!

You can start to see the bump (Well it use to be flat so I can tell!)

(Identicals) Baby A is on the left and Baby B is on the right

Baby C (You can see the little hands! The head is on the right)

Today is week 8 and we went back to the doctor for another ultrasound. I LOVE going every week. I know I can't have one every week, but it's fun for now. It's amazing how much the babies have grown since last week. They are starting to look like babies. Babies A & B are the identicals and they are measuring at 8 weeks 0 days, which is perfect. Baby C, the single baby, is measuring 8 weeks 1 day which is also great! Baby C had an awesome heartbeat of 163, Baby B's was also great at 153, Baby C at the first reading was only 109, but he tried again a few minutes later and it was up to 133 so hopefully it continues to get strong. Baby A is the baby that was smaller last week and we heard it's heartbeat for the first time last week so hopefully it will catch up. The doctor was happy with the size of all three and he did not seem overly concerned. He says everything is looking great and I will go back next week to have another check up! OH! The other good thing is that the identicals have their own sacs inside of the amniotic sac which is a good thing with identicals so he was really happy about that.



My morning sickness has not been too bad. It comes and goes, but I don't have a big appetite. The only thing I like eating is oatmeal with cheddar cheese. I know it sounds gross, but it's so good!



Also we have the first sighting of the baby bump! The nurses confirmed it really is a baby bump and even though it's early, I have 3 babies in there! We will be looking for some maternity pants this weekend or at least a band to keep my normal pants on properly so that I don't walk around with my pants unzipped all day!



I look forward to next week when we get to see our babies again!

Over a year later we finally hear 3 beating hearts

Single Baby
Identicals

So here's the beginning of our journey...

Scott and I have been trying to get pregnant for over a year. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which basically means I make a lot of eggs, but none of them could get big enough on their own to be released. We resorted to basic fertility drugs that you take orally, but after 4 failed rounds of that we moved on to a fertility specialist.

Right away we felt extremely comfortable with this group of three doctors. We began by doing injections only, but the first round didn't work. We had to wait a month because I developed large cysts. So towards the end of November we began injections again (3 a night!) and we planned to do IUI (insemination). I know you are all shocked that I have been able to do injections nightly and having blood drawn every few days. Trust me I surprised myself and never passed out, thank you very much! However, I didn't respond well to the lowest dose and when they upped it the slightest degree I produced way too many eggs. They said we could either cancel the cycle or convert to invitro (IVF). We chose the later. They retrieved 13 eggs and fertilized 10 and we transferred two grade A embryos (yes they really give them grades) on December 16 and hoped for the best.

On December 23 (2 days before my pregnancy blood test) I was experiencing abdominal pain and my stomach was swelling up. I had a reaction from all of the fertility meds. They said it would be uncomfortable for a few weeks (which it was), but it would heal itself eventually. Luckily it was winter break so all I did was lounge on the couch. While I was at the doctor's office that day, I was joking with them wishing I could find out that day if I was pregnant and they decided to go for it. At 4 o'clock that evening I got the phone call from the doctor and I said "good news or bad" and he said "good news... you're totally pregnant!" I was in shock and so excited. We went back on the 26th for another blood test and my levels went up just as expected which was great. We would go back in two weeks for our first ultrasound.

On January 8th I was exactly 6 weeks pregnant and nervous for the ultrasound. He found one little heart beating and we were so excited. Scott and I both said "is that it?" He said no it looks like we have another one over here and another heart beating! We were both excited that we were having twins. This is what Scott has wanted even before the fertility meds. Thinking it was over the doctor continues... "well this is unique". It turns out one of the embryos split so there are identical twins also. There is a 1% chance of this occurring. We did not hear a heartbeat on that one, but we knew it was still early. In shock and thrilled we made our appointment for the following week.

On January 15th we went back and sure enough we heard all 3 heartbeats! We are so excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. We will go back next week to track the progress. I know triplets can have complications, but we will be under good care from many different doctors. So far I have been feeling pretty good, a little nauseous and very tired, but I'm doing well.



I would love to use this blog to update everyone so that you can all join us on this crazy journey.



Thank you for all of your support!