Rain and Baby Brain

Well, it's been quite a week! I hit 11 weeks on Friday - yay! Feeling great, apart from being super tired and exhausted some days, which leaves me sitting on the couch all day. Those who know me know that that is definitely not what I do! I'm certainly coming to terms with the fact I can't do much, I don't feel as guilty now as I did at first. It's funny, I'm already slowing down when I'm walking too, and get out of breath easily.

Last week Daniel took us up to a waterfall he came across that is in the state forest next to us. A beautiful little place, and only 5 minutes walk from our house. The excess water flows down the hill and into our place, creating a seasonal creek and waterfall in our swimming hole. This is where is all originates.

It was really beautiful and peaceful, we doubt anyone has really stumbled across it before, except maybe the people who have owned our property previously. There are little pools that are perfect for the kids to swim in, a little oasis all for us!

Amali's room is almost finished, Mum has just been painting the door and then she needs her new cupboards installed and done! One room down........

Jordan's room has just been finished - thanks Kerry! Just waiting on the cupboards in there too. Two rooms down.....

I bought these awesome shelves off The Shelving Shop a few months back, it is great to see them finally up, we think they are pretty funky and Daniel didn't even swear or throw anything when he put them up!

I bought Jordan's new loft bed 2nd hand off eBay, only problem was there wasn't any instructions.....but us girls don't need instructions. I was very proud of myself when it all came together. 

Even if Daniel did catch me banging in some little nails with the ice cream scoop....I couldn't find the hammer so it was the next best thing!

  

As it so often does on the Sunshine Coast, it began raining again on Thursday. Anyone who watched the news saw the flash flooding in places like Alexandra Headlands and Mooloolabah. Thank gosh we didn't get the same amount slightly further North. We really do not need any more rain. Once again Daniel tied our paddock basher to his fence to stop the rushing water from taking down his fence (again).

Come Friday morning the rain had eased and Daniel was called to work in Brisbane. Problem was, at 4:30 he couldn't see all that well down the driveway and got half way and had to turn back. The water was too high and began flooding into his car. So our other alternate route is up the hill through the state forest.

However, as it has pretty much non stop rained for the last 3 months, the ground did not like his 4WD trying to take the turn towards our boundary gate and he promptly began sliding backwards towards the creek....

Unable to do anything except hope the car would stop sliding, he then became bogged in the waterlogged ground. Thankfully that stopped the car. After phone calls to his boss he legged it to the top of the hill and was picked up. He said he's never walking up that hill again!

Baby brain has made a huge (or taken a huge) chunk out of my life. Seriously, I barely got it with the other two. I barely remember anything and I'll get asked something and I have to think soooo hard to remember what it is I'm talking about.

Here are a few stupidity examples:

1. Ordering the gyprock to line our office for our new bedroom. Had it delivered and thought how organised I was. Then realised I had forgotten to include enough for the ceiling......

2. Got Jordan to school this morning and saw a child get out of the car next to us dressed in fancy dress. Crap - forgot it was Carnivale day. One of the mums saw me do a quick u-turn and guessed I'd forgotten. Quick drive home, Jordan undressed himself down the driveway with me yelling 'bump'! And got himself dressed as a tiger as we drove back out.

3. Picked Jordan up from school today and totally forgot about soccer training this afternoon.

I'm on a roll.

A FAIL roll!

This week I have grown - lots! But I have also lost my huge appetite. I know I still need to eat good amounts of food, so trying to make the most of this - baked beans, cottage cheese, nuts, fruits, fresh juices, and some choccy added in there for good measure!

I had such a huge weekend away at a hens, sooo nice to have a break from the kids and hubby and be with all my girls. Almost all of us have kids so we didn't know ourselves - we actually managed to talk and finish conversations! Huge night on Saturday night with topless waiters, stretch hummer and a night on the town. I even managed to stay awake until 1am. Was lots of fun watching all my girls drink themselves silly!

Tummy shot for the week:

 

 And the long black dress shot for the week too. I'm also taking nude pics each week - but they're for my eyes only!!

I had a check up today at my GP and got my referral for my bloods and 12 week scan. Can't wait until next Wednesday - it is so far away! This time I don't feel worried that something has gone wrong, and if it has, there is nothing I can do about it hey? Daniel seems to be going great with the whole concept, which I'm pretty amazed at. He's only concerned about how it will all affect my body and if they will be ok after they are born. I can clearly see myself getting to 35 weeks and having 2kg+ babies, so hopefully that is where I get too, but that's a long way away.

Once I have my 12 weeks scan and am referred to the RBH (hopefully they'll take me) at least I'll have more of an idea of where I'm heading. At the moment I feel a little abandoned and want to be able to get answers to all my questions........

Porcelain Doll

'Porcelain Doll'? Some of you may ask. What on earth has that got to do with anything?? Well, a lot! You see, at the moment I feel exactly like that - a Porcelain Doll. I'm not allowed to do anything. I am such a fragile little thing. Sure, some of you may think that is awesome, but not me. Those who know me know that I am go go go go all the time. I'm the 'busy' mum. But not now. I'm not allowed to bog, sand, paint (did this with both my last two and they came out alright), carry heavy things (mum tried to stop me carrying a washing basket...?), stay on my feet too long, ride the ride on down the bumpy driveway or in the bumpy paddock, vacuum, and the list goes on......
I am allowed to do the dishes, sweep the floor, do the washing, mow the yard on the ride on, and cook dinner. How boring. I know, I should be resting. I am trying - but it is so hard going from busy busy busy to doing nothing. The other change is in my husband. He is a typical male - cannot make up his mind - and normally tells me I do to much ect, then, when I am relaxing he tells me I should be doing something.....but now, wow, what a change! He wants me to rest, put my feet up, take a break, and most of all, not do anything. I complained about not being able to do anything and feeling useless to him the other night. He shocked me with his response -
"Well babe, it's not about you anymore, it's about those babies."
Anyone who knows Daniel will be just as shocked as I was!
The last 6 days have been anything but restful though. I have had the busiest week since finding out I was pregnant, and my body has certainly been telling me to slow down. At least I know from this early stage what I can and can't do to my body.

The boys - Daniel and Kerry (my step dad) have started the renovations and they are off in full swing. After the office was gutted last week we bought a window to replace the yucky sliding door, and they (mostly Kerry) installed it the other day. It is so nice to see things being prepared - even if I can't help. I am REALLY good at going to Bunnings though. I swear we only seem to renovate when I'm pregnant. I wonder if it's a ploy to keep my brilliant renovating mind out of the action?

 

 It still needs a lot of work, but you get the general idea. Daniel also did a great job on the prep for Amali's room. He did a bit of painting, including the roof, but sorry honey, it really isn't your forte. Kerry soon took over, with the help of Mum too and they got the room looking beautiful. I haven't a picture to show yet as she is asleep now and Jordan's bed is in there too as we have now started prepping his room.

 Amali's room before painting, and with a coat on the ceiling and first lot of cutting in done around the cornice.

 

On a super cute note though - look what started hatching on Wednesday!! This little guy is a cross between our (now deceased) Aracana rooster and a big Sussex hen. She has another two to hopefully crack open, and one of our Reds is sitting on about 10, so we'll see what happens over the next few days....

 I got to get all dressed up on Wednesday night for the annual Prep Mums Dinner for school. This is another of my Coles clothes purchases, I think I'll go back and get the blue one too. Super comfy, made of a wool type materiel and very, very stretchy. You'll be seeing this a lot more often!

 It was a lovely night, yummy food and lots of laughter with about 40 mums letting their hair down. I even got a cuddle and a kiss from the principal after she found out I was having triplets! I think she is a tad excited that there will be triplets at her school in 5 years!

So today I hit 10 weeks - yay for me! Still feeling excellent, so many people comment on how good and happy I look, which is so nice. I have days here and there where I feel a bit off, but eating small and often all day helps that heaps. I am far more tired than with the other two, to be expected though. I can feel my boobs growing again (yay says Daniel), and cannot wait to feel the babies start moving. (I'm sure I'll get over it though when they are bigger and playing soccer with my intestines)

 So here is the 10 week belly shot. Pardon it being so blurry, I was using the self timer and couldn't get it to focus. It sure is getting bigger! As you can see from this shot, I really have no room between my hips and my boobs, not sure where all these babies are going to fit!

 I was lying in bed this morning and feeling my tummy. I got a bit teary as I could actually feel a little rock hard bump poking up. It certainly wasn't there last week. My babies are real! And they are growing!! Woohoo!
When I'm standing I do look like I am pregnant, but most of that is 'left overs' and not really hard yet, like a real baby bump should be.

It was such a nice moment, and one that I think I will cherish always.

A Quick Update

Due to the fact that I have baby brain x 3 (just ask my husband), I finally remembered to pick up my scan films two days after my scan. You saw the latest 'family photo' in my last entry, so here are their 'individual' shots.

 You can just see little arm and leg buds appearing on either side of Baby A! Too cute!

Baby B

Baby C

Measurements:
Baby A - 2.16cm
Baby B - 2.90cm
Baby C - 2.98cm
So far they are measuring exactly correct for the 2 week difference in scans. I can't wait for my 12 week scan, hopefully they will be moving around and looking more like little humans rather than blobs.

On another note, we moved everything out of Amali's room during the wet weather and Daniel has started to do the prep work before we paint it. She is happily having 'sleep overs' in her big brother's room whilst this is happening. Not sure how long Jordan will think it's a novelty for though.
Hopefully it will be painted over the weekend and we can move her back in, then we just need her new cupboard, which a friend is making for us. Daniel is not letting me do any of the sanding, and has since decided I shouldn't be painting either! I tried to argue the fact that I painted throughout both previous pregnancies, but he insisted - 'this one is different'. I got a bit cranky and said 'well, what am I supposed to do then?' His reply - 'you just sit down and keep knitting those blankets'. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Lastly, it's only 4 weeks til Daniel goes to Thailand. A tidy house - yay!

The Second Scan

I have something to admit.....I really desperately wanted another scan this week so we all trooped off to the doctors......and I lied and told her I'd had a small bleed yesterday. Well, they got me in for a scan straight away and low and behold all my little munchkins were there!
What a huge relief :)

 Three little blobs in three separate sacs with three little heart beats. All measuring just over 2cm long and with heart rates of 179bpm. I must admit I had a little teary cry. But the best thing about it was that Daniel got to see them finally! He just rubbed my leg throughout it.

 Here is the next 'long black dress' belly shot. I've had to alter my dates back about 1.5 weeks as I need to go by the fact that I ovulated late. So today the babies measured at 8 weeks and 4 days, so I'm putting my dates to my estimated due date of 12th October. This means I am about 9 weeks.

Mind the undies. I don't mind showing everyone my belly as it grows, but to make it look a little bit nicer I am changing the colour to black and white! This was taken in the morning, but by night I am far bigger due to bloating - very typical in pregnancy grrrrrr!

The rain has stopped for now here, out of our front paddock of about 20 acres we have about 5 that are not under water. The horses are fine though, but the cow is at the other end marooned on the only high spot.
This is our place from the front.

 Apparently the water was over the letter box yesterday evening when it peaked.
At least we tied our bins up this time hey?

The 'to do' List

Well, our list just keeps getting longer.
Everyone has things on their 'to do' list that they never seem to get around to. Like putting together my wedding album. From 2009. And many more random things like this: Tidying the linen closet, going through that box of 'stuff' to see if you really need it. Sewing those horse rugs. Finishing knitting that jumper from 2003. Framing that Starshots family photo. See? I'm sure you are going through your own list in your head as you are reading some of mine.
Well, you know what? There is absolutely no way these things are going to get done after these babies arrive! So best be getting on to them. Except maybe that knitted jumper......
Jokes aside, our real 'to do' list involves much more expensive and larger projects.
Here are a few:

• renovating the office so we can move our bedroom in there and start renovating our (old) bedroom into a beautiful nursery for three little ones
• painting and decorating the soon to be neglected older children's bedrooms. I feel it's important to do this before the babies come along so they have a space that is truly 'theirs'
• purchase new water tanks (as the rain comes down again)
• put new lights up on the back patio - the old ones were taken out 5 months ago honey.......!
• new doors/windows/screens on the office, kids rooms and nursery
• fix the roller blind in the lounge room - it's been broken for 4 months......
• plant the plants we bought with us when we moved - 6 months ago.......
• put the new round yard up - when I finish paying it off!
• brush cut and poison our front fence line as it makes our property look untidy
• get rid of the ridiculously large pile of mulch that has been sitting there for 4 months......

As you can see, this is a pretty comprehensive list, and every day we think of other things we could add to it, but we don't as I would probably run out of paper!
You should see our Bunnings list.
Here are the kids room colours. They love them.

Daniel and my step dad Kerry began pulling the office apart yesterday, so now it is an empty shell and ready for new windows and screens, sheeting on the walls, flooring and a lick of paint. That'll probably take 4 weeks if we're lucky.

We decided to move into the office first instead of stressing about getting the extension done by the time the babies get here. Mainly, we realised that we don't have the luxury of a 'standard' pregnancy timeline and I won't be able to do much before long. This way we get out of our room ASAP and can start prepping it for painting and new windows so it can be the nursery.
My best friend drew up our extension plans for me, so as soon as we have majority of the big things on this list done we will begin that in stages. If we get it done prior to the babies arriving, great. If we don' we'll just keep ticking away at it. Here are some pics of what it will look like.

Designed by CKTazco Designs. Look them up if you are needing design work done quick and well. Her hubby is also a builder so they make a great team. Our existing house is all one story, the second story will go above the current carport and we will leave the cars underneath for now. Then when the babies are motoring around we will extend into the car port and put it out the side, like in the plan.

This is me (obviously - duh!) off to pregnancy yoga on Saturday, 9w5d. The tummy is getting much harder to pull in!

The Phone Call to Hubby

After my initial shock of discovering I was pregnant with triplets, I had a few phone calls to make. I walked out of the scan place and dialed Daniel's number.
He picked up and I asked "are you sitting down?"
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap"
"I mean it, are you sitting down?"
"Yes, oh crap"
"Hang on a minute, what are you thinking?" I asked, realising that we had discussed the possibility of twins as they run in our family.
"It's twins isn't it?" He asked, in a very petrified voice.
"Um, actually honey, there's three in there"
Silence.
Then - "are you f$!@ing kidding me!?"
And so the conversation went on with me trying to calm him down but at the same time trying to convince him that I WAS NOT joking and I would never joke about something like that.
I could hear his work mates in the background having a huge laugh at his expense.
Eventually as it started to sink in he went silent. Again.
"Honey, are you ok?"
"I don't think I can eat my lunch now."
I left it at that! Then desperately tried to call my close girlfriends - none of whom answered! Frustrated I started on family and managed to get Daniel's cousin who I am really close too. She said she wanted to cry for me, she was over the moon and scared all at once.
I went to my favourite cafe and ordered the healthiest fresh juice they served.
My mum and step father had taken Amali to swimming lesson that morning, so I headed there to tell them. My mum's first reaction was 'Oh my god. I'm going to have to quit my job', my step dad's was 'I'm going outside for a smoke'!
The best thing about this last week and a half was watching people's responses. Most of them didn't believe us!
When I got back into the car 10 minutes later I had two missed calls on my phone, both from friends who I hadn't even called. I called one back and she was freaking out and saying 'are you serious!?' How on earth did she already know you ask?
Blame that on a very shocked husband who put it on Facebook.
Yep. 8 weeks pregnant with triplets and he put it on Facebook. By the time I got home I was thinking, oh well, I may as well put it on there too. So I think it became the hottest status update that day! A lot of people were commenting about it being a joke - until I posted the scan pictures.
Daniel rang back about an hour later and sounded like he had drunk a bottle of rum - he was blissed out and calm, saying what an amazing experience this was and how blessed we were. And if anyone knows my husband - that is not like him at all!
The last 10 days have been huge for us, and just the beginning too. Many sleepless nights were spent on the couch writing lists and googling triplet pregnancies and gathering information. I came across an amazing, but shocking set of pictures of a woman who had triplets. I suspect that it was her first pregnancy as her tummy was so flat at the start. 

I keep telling myself this should be easier on me as my uterus and skin have already stretched to 40 weeks, so it'll be easier, right?

Here's me at 8 weeks 2 days. It's not really a 'triplet bump', just a 'left over from two previous babies bump'.
Heading to 10 weeks in a few days, and it has certainly gotten a lot bigger now!
More pics to come each week or so.