Triplets?!?!

I can't believe I haven't posted to my blog since December 4 as soooo much has happened.  The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. 

On Friday 12/14/12 we heard three heartbeats and saw three babies on the ultrasound screen (I know they're technically referred to as embryos still, but that is just weird when it's your own kids).  We were both shocked by this news, although I think Micah was even more shocked than I was as I remembered the doctor saying there was a 5% chance of this happening if we transferred two embryos.  We spent the weekend trying to grasp the situation. 

On Tuesday 12/18/12 we had our first consultation and ultrasound with the high risk specialist.  We learned a lot about how a pregnancy with triplets differs from a singleton pregnancy and what I need to do to keep myself and the babies healthy, and then we found out during the ultrasound that there is a good possibility that two of the babies are in the same sac which would mean a high risk of loss throughout the pregnancy. 

We left the next day and drove to Micah's sister's house in CO so that we could fly out of Denver to MI the next day.  The drive was so stressful as the roads were icy and slick during much of the CO portion of the drive, so unfortunately I started the vacation exhausted.  We had a great time in MI celebrating my birthday and Christmas, and my only regret is that I didn't feel better (nausea, exhaustion, heartburn, and all sorts of pregnancy fun).  We then went back to CO on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with Micah's family and we stayed there until 12/29/12.  I was still really tired and didn't feel well much of the time in CO, but we enjoyed spending time with everyone there including our 3 week old nephew. 

During our entire 10 day trip we were worried about the two babies that might be sharing a sac, so we both spent a lot of time thinking about it and praying for a membrane to show up on the next ultrasound (and I know a lot of you prayed for that membrane as well - thank you!).  Although Micah was still overwhelmed by the thought of a triplet pregnancy and raising triplets, he has said muany times that he is now okay with it as long as everyone is healthy.

Amazingly, when we went back to the high risk specialist on 12/31/12 for an ultrasound we saw two separate sacs for the identical twins!  I was unbelievably nervous going to the ultrasound as I felt like there was just as much possibility that there would be no heartbeats as there was that there would be a membrane between the "twins."  I'm embarrassed to admit my doubt as I know this pregnancy is in God's hands, but I have heard so many stories of "silent miscarriages" and I can't help but worry that this could happen to me since I've never been pregnant before.  Anyway, we were overjoyed to see the little lines on the ultrasound!  Praise God!  They also all had great heart rates between 176 and 184, and they all measured between 8 weeks 3 days and 8 weeks 5 days, which is exactly where they should be at this time (I'm 9 weeks today).

I will be referring to the embryo that split as the twins, as it's just easier when writing and talking about them.  Can you see the faint line above the "B" and "C"...that's the separate sacs!  Those lines will grow thicker over time. 

Here is the "single" baby!  There is a lot of tissue between this one and the other two, so "it" has a nice, comfy environment (I kept referring to this one as "he" the other day and people thought we already found out the genders so I'll call them all "it" until we really know...which will be a couple of more months).  Its head is on the right and it looks like its laying on its back with its feet kicked up - love it :).  It was moving its arms and legs around when we had the ultrasound too.  Amazing to see!

We are very, very thankful that the twins are in their own sacs as this means there is much less risk of loss throughout the pregnancy.  But, since they still share a placenta they will need to be monitored closely as one could get more nutrients and blood than the other, which could be harmful to both of them.  The doctor said that this is partly determined by where the umbilical cords are attached to the placenta and how strong the attachment is for each of them.  We can already see (in other pictures) that the umbilical cords are on opposite sides of the placenta which is great news, but it does look like one of the attachments is at the end of the placenta so hopefully the placenta keeps developing and this changes so that they have an equal chance of getting nutrients and blood flow (prayer request!).  It is truly amazing how much we can already see and how much the doctors know about multiple pregnancies. 

IVF pregnancies definitely show more quickly than "natural" pregnancies due to the hormone injections, but since I am pregnant with triplets my hormones are naturally sky high so I stopped the hormone supplements two weeks ago (yay!).  But, my belly is still growing earlier than normal because of the three little babies growing inside of me :).  I know that NO ONE is impressed by the size of my belly yet, but for me the growth is quite amazing.  I've never been pregnant before and since I am naturally thin and a runner, I haven't struggled much with my weight over the years so I've pretty much been wearing the same size since college.  I thought a picture with my favorite jeans on would help show the belly growth.  Now do you all believe me that it's growing?  There is NO WAY I can buckle these pants, and quite honestly I can't even wear them with a belly band as I have gained 6.5 pounds already and it's definitely gone to the bottom half of my body.

The belly.  It is interesting how it is so much smaller in the morning (this is a morning pic) than the evening...probably because my food is digesting soooo slowly (so all the babes get the nutrients) and my stomach is full of my 6 meals by the end of the day  :).

One thing that is quite stressful right now for me is the eating and weight gain goals.  I know that most people gain 2-4 pounds in their first trimester and they have a total weight gain goal of 25-35 pounds.  This is totally different for triplets.  The main message in "When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads" by Dr. Barbara Luke and Tamara Eberlein is that the triplets will have the best chance if I gain a ton of weight and especially if the weight is gained early on.  My weight gain goal according to the book is 58-75 pounds.  By next Wednesday I'm supposed to have gained 15-20 (I'm at 6.5 pounds) and by week 12 I'm supposed to have gained 18-24 (as compared to 2-4 for a singleton  pregnancy).  Per the book, early weight gain is key since it will most likely be a shorter pregnancy AND later on it will be difficult for me to eat as much since the babies will take up so much room in my tummy, so I need reserves for later.  I know that the weight gain goals early on are a little unrealistic since I didn't even know I had to gain so much weight until a couple of weeks ago, but I still want to do my best as I want these babies to be as big as possible.  I'm supposed to eat 3500 calories a day and they can't be all junk food as so many nutrients are required for the three babies.  Prayers for my eating - that I will feel hungry, that I will be hungry for the healthy foods the babies need, that I will gain weight easily, etc - are greatly appreciated!  Never thought I would WANT to see the scale go up like this :).