Not Happy Jan!

So 24 hours has gone past for me to calm down. Off I went to my OB appointment at Nambour Hospital yesterday, armed with 2 pages of questions and 'not negotiables' for him. This was actually the FIRST time I have had a chance to speak to an OB about my care for the rest of pregnancy, labour and birth and all that surrounds triplet babies.

Luckily I only had to wait 10 minutes (what a record!) and then was called by a female registrar (from what I understand, someone who is in training to be an OB - correct me if I'm wrong) - yes a female. Hmmmmm, unless Ted Weaver has had a sex change lately, obviously I wasn't seeing him. Straight away I was pissed off. I mean really pissed off. The first thing I said to her was 'I was supposed to be seeing Ted today'. So she goes on explaining that he was on 2 weeks leave ect ect ect and that she could answer my questions. I had to do a lot of deep breathing to calm down! Now I know that this is how a hospital works. I understand that, but because Ted told me I would be seeing him, and that he had agreed to allow me to birth naturally, you'd think that they would schedule my appointments to be WITH him. Anyway, things started off a little frosty, I'd say I hurt her feelings a bit by asking for Ted straight away. She was fairly frosty back to me, answered most of my questions, and the ones that we thought we may have problems with, what do you know - yup - we had problems! But of course, these weren't Ted's answers. So of course my big question was will he be there for the birth? She gave me the usual crap about how they have an OB on call and registrars always there so it just depended.......but then went on to say that obviously this is a different situation and that they would arrange it so Ted was there. Ummmmmmm, sorry, but how do you 'arrange' it?? I said - you mean induce me? Yes of course she replied. I said - Well, I'm not going to be induced. It is something I am not going to compromise on (cue shocked look from her).

Basically they want to induce me, lie me on a bed on my back, hook me up to machines for the entire time, and put my feet in stirrups to get the breech babies out. Oh, did I mention the epidural? Yup, apparently it is better if I have an epidural. I said - look, what is the point in me not being able to feel contractions - you may as well section me straight away. Oh she went on - well in case anything goes wrong, or they have to internally turn the babies blah blah blah blah.......... I said, well, couldn't I have the line in but with no drugs? oh - what a surprise, she hadn't thought of that. Ever heard of thinking outside the bloody square you idiot!!!!

So you can see that these are obviously her answers, not Ted's, and I suppose I have more of an idea of what I'm up against, so that when (if) I see Ted in 3 weeks  I will know how to go about things. The funniest part of the conversation - when I asked her how many triplet births she had attended. None. I so had to check myself in saying that I probably knew more about them than her! And she told me I wouldn't make it beyond 32 weeks, I told her I was in touch with hundreds of triplet mums world wide and LOTS of them had gone far beyond 34 weeks. Love - I'm going to make it past 32 weeks, just to prove you wrong. 

And thems fighting words.

Pictures of the week below

Eat and Rest, Eat and Rest, Eat and Rest

So I promised myself that once I hit 20 weeks I would develop an eat and rest schedule and try my hardest to stick to it. A couple of days late, I know, but I finally did it today. A typical day looks like this:

6:30am	Kids Breakfast Cup of Tea w/toast House work Make lunches Extra for Soccer
8am	2 Scrambled eggs on toast with bacon, avo and cottage cheese Everyone dressed
8:30am	Jordan school
9:15am	Fruit Snack/water Resting Activity
10:30am	Yoghurt w/Muesli
11am	House work
11:30am	Lunch
12pm	Lying Down Hips Up sleep/read
2pm	Snack/water
2:30pm	House work
2:45pm	Erin Pick up
3:30pm	Protein Shake
4pm	Resting Activity Jordan Training
5pm	Make Dinner OJ and Snack Jordan at Mums
6pm	Dinner Bath Amali
6:30-7pm	Amali Bed/Water
7:30pm	Shower/Rest/Bed

Yes, I know it's a bit anal, but that is me. Today I pretty much sticked to it, I think the only thing I didn't do was have the drink of OJ. Double dose for me tomorrow. And the dreaded protein shakes have made a return. I know they are good for me. But they make me feel so heavy (yes, that is the point) and I feel like I can't fit anything else in for the next few hours (also the point). Yuck Yuck Yuck. All the yellow is eating/drinking and the red is resting. Once I hit 25 weeks the 'Resting Activity' will be a 'Lying Down Resting Activity'. I have been resting with my hips up to take some pressure off my cervix, and I can feel the difference. I have asked lots of HOM (Higher Order Multiples) mummies about their cervixes and I have been labeled as having a 'super cervix' as it was measuring at 6cm long the other day, so hopefully it will keep on being strong and long!

On Sunday I went to the Plaza to do some baby shopping, then the food shopping. I could hardly get out of the car when I made it home. Geez it was hard. Luckily I was clever and set my baby shower so early on - that means I'll still have a little bit of energy to buy the things that are still on the list after the shower in 1.5 weeks.

We are still not into our 'new room', so now I'm hoping for this weekend. I really want this nursery started asap so it can be finished asap! I have also found the 3rd matching cot, so I am hoping to win it on eBay.

Cumbersome, cumbersome, cumbersome. That is me. And I finally have an outie!!! 3rd time lucky I suppose! You may think it is a very stupid thing, but I have always wanted an 'outie' belly button, and pregnancy seemed the only time that may happen. I came sooooo close with the other two pregnancies, but it just wouldn't pop out that last little bit. At 20 weeks, I now have my first ever 'outie'! I am carrying far more pointy so far, so I suppose that is why. With the other two I was much rounder at the front, so far looking down on my tummy it is almost a rounded triangular shape! But boy do these babies LOVE kicking! It is the best feeling, they are very active during the day and when I'm resting, but quiet as mice when I'm sleeping (lets hope they keep this up until after they are born).

I'll add weekly photos tomorrow :)

Morphology Scan

Lots of things seem to be happening around here lately. Finally. This pregnant lady is starting to get a bit anxious about things not being done fast enough! We have re-written our list (yet again) of priorities, but now the task is to stick to it.

I employed my brother, Nathan, to finish the painting in our new room (previously an office), and he has been plugging away for the last few days getting it done. It's pretty much finished now, the electrician is coming in tomorrow to hook up the down lights and fan, then the carpet will get laid, curtains in and we can move in. Goal is for this to happen by Sunday. Then the nursery can get started. Our friend Mick, who is a cabinet maker has just come back from his honeymoon (bought bloody time Mick!) and can get started on the 4 lots of cupboards that need to go in......and the list continues!

 

My brother mid-painting.

Yesterday I went off for my morphology scan, which is a fairly big one, they measure and check all major structural features of each baby: arm and leg bones, hands, fingers and thumbs, feet and toes, nasal bone, kidneys, stomach, bits and pieces inside each head, heart beats, cord insertion and the list gets a lot bigger! So you can imagine that it is a fairly lengthy scan - for one baby - obviously there are 3, so it took a touch under 2 hours, then they compiled the report and I chatted with Greg Duncombe the OB at RBH. Our triplets have been given a perfect A+ report card! They plotted them onto a graph to see any differences between their growth, but there was pretty much no difference - a great sign so far. It was lovely to see Greg again and be able to thank him for sending me to Ted Weaver at Nambour. Greg wants me back there in 3 weeks and thinks 'it's best if all my scans are done here so that the same person is doing it each time'......secretly I think he doesn't want to loose me and the trio! We'll see what Ted says next week. I really don't want to have to do that drive many more times if I don't have to. It took 2 hours to get home yesterday, instead of one and a bit.

Here are the shots from the scan, I put them in a little collage so it is easy to compare each baby. The order is left to right: A, B, and C

And their 3D shots. When the sonographer was doing the 3D shot of Baby B (boy) I gasped in astonishment as I couldn't believe how much he looked like Jordan. It just blew my mind! She didn't quite capture one of these shots, but now I'm hanging out to see how much he looks like Jordan when he arrives! Baby A has the same nose as Amali, and even the sonographer said that Baby C, our little girl, was far more petite looking than her brothers. However she is measuring the same as the other two.

Here are their measurements as of 19 weeks and 3 days:
Baby A: Measuring at 19 weeks 6 days, 322g (11oz)
Baby B: Measuring at 20 weeks, 332g (12 oz)
Baby C: Measuring 19 weeks 6 days, 322g (11 oz)

This shot just blew me away too! The three lines you see are where the three sacs meet each other in my uterus. I thought it was a pretty cool shot!

I am certainly feeling this pregnancy well and truly now. I use my legs to get up instead of my back. Sleeping is becoming harder as I find I can't lie in the one place too long. Lying on my back is finally getting uncomfortable. When I roll over in bed I have to hold my bump so I don't get any sudden sharp pains. Each morning I wake up with slightly tingling fingers, and if I type too long at the computer. I looked back through my pregnancy journal with Jordan last night, and I only started getting this at about 37 weeks! I also can feel my feet swelling slightly if I sit still for too long like at the computer or on long drives. As soon as I go and do other things they feel fine again, so I'm not worried yet! I am also having to elongate my spine more (yes, a good thing), as I can feel myself squishing the babies! Oh - and I definitely am waddling now too. It's funny how all these things have sprung up on me in the last week and a bit, another way of warning me that I need to slow down. Again.

Here are the weekly belly shots, I can't see too much difference in the bare belly shot to last weeks one, but I sure do see it in the black dress shot!

We had the kitchen guy come around today - all measured up, so lets see what he makes of the space!

18 Weeks

Another big weekend was had by us! Yes, I know, I WILL slow down. Again. Hitting 18 weeks is exciting. I'm feeling more movement, especially from our little girl up the top. I think she has more room than her brothers so she kicks and rolls and stretches more. The two boys who were side by side, one head down, the other bum down, must be facing in towards each other as I never feel kicks on the side of my belly, just deep inside. I also think that my little princess may be stuck up under my rib a bit as I'm finding I have to constantly sit up tall and slightly to the right to ease the dull ache that is just under my left rib. Sleeping is starting to become an issue. A good sofa bed (that will be my bed in the triplet's room) is the next purchase as Daniel cannot get a good nights sleep with me rolling around all over the place trying to find a comfy spot. My nose and bladder wake me about 2am. Off to the loo I go, followed by about an hour of tossing and turning whilst my nose pours out, and if you've ever heard me blow my nose you know I can not do it quietly.

Also starting to struggle to bend down. Time to start picking things up with my toes again! I the shower this week I also realised I could not see my feet. Oh well, it had to happen some time!! I worked out that at my last weigh in, I weighed 78kgs, which means I've put on just under 10kgs in 10 weeks. It will be very interesting to see how much I've put on next week when I head to Brisbane for my big Morphology scan. And of course great to see the beautiful little ones again.

I finally got off to a yoga class last Saturday morning. It was hard. And not just because we did squats. There was so many poses that I just couldn't do. It was a bit of a bummer, as I'd hoped to be able to do it for another block at least. Nope. Last class this Saturday. Cue sad face.

While I was at yoga, Daniel had taken Jordan to a soccer carnival (his team won all 3 games!), and Jordan even managed to kick a goal and got a medallion- go J!! Then they spent the rest of the day doing 'boy things', which included taking him to see The Avengers at the  movies in 3D. Apparently Jordan only jumped a few times, and that was when the Hulk came out.

While they were doing 'boy things', Amali was spending time with Grandi, and I got to rest......well, sort of. I did rest for about 2 hours, then I had to wash, trim and plait a pony for a competition the next day. I thoroughly enjoyed this time to myself, even though it took 3 hours. It used to take me 1.5 hours, but I have to move a lot slower now! Then I packed the car, picked the float up (thanks Karen!) and went inside exhausted.

An early wake up call on Mothers Day may not be ideal for some, but I loved watching Jordan compete at his last gymkhana (Pony Club competition), so when I asked him if he wanted to go to this one and his little face lit up.....it made my Mothers Day! Luckily for me I had a trusty side kick, Natalie, who is 11, do the leading for me (Jordan is not confident enough to be off lead yet), so I got to take photos and be the 'water boy' for the day.

I was super proud of them, they got lots of ribbons and Jordan even came home with the 3rd place trophy for overall score in his group! He was pretty stoked. I was just super happy that he got (or 'I got') a first place ribbon in Best Presented - which is all about how the pony looks. Nice to know those 3 hours weren't wasted! Mum bought Amali over, and she greeted me with a shouted 'Happy Mothers Day' which was lovely. I think she was more excited about opening the present she made me, than what I was!

After the long day I came home, utterly exhausted and had my mum wait on me with a lovely BBQ. Thanks Mum, you do so much for us!!! xxx

I also came home to a wall gone!!! Daniel spent the whole day tearing the rest of the wall down that Kerry had started for us, and he even vacuumed and mopped afterwards! Here are some before, during and after pics.
 

 And the belly shots for 18 weeks. I'm stretching more and more, and so are the stretch marks!

 I wonder when I will no longer be able to fit in to my black dress??

A Huge Weekend!

Wow. I am blessed. Lucky. Loved. You guessed it - we won the kitchen!!!!!! What an amazing weekend we had!

Saturday morning saw us off to Jordan's soccer match (which they won - go Coolum Mantarays!), then we headed off to the live radio broadcast from Look Cabinets in Yandina. We were late (as usual) and were listening to the radio station on the way. Mark (one of the announcers) said 'All of the finalists are here aren't they Caroline?' (the other announcer), and of course she replied - 'Umm, no, Chenoa's not here yet'.
How bloody embarrassing!!! When we got there we ate some of the yummy food that the Kleenmaid Appliance ladies had been cooking, and scoped out the other finalists. One lady was there with her daughter - who I taught at Bli Bli Primary in Year 4!

Mum, Kerry, Nana and Aunty Vicki were there as our support team, but I think mum was more nervous than me. Every time we would separate and then see each other again she would grab my arm and let off an excited squeal! Then she kept trying to show me colour charts and ceasar stone charts! Mum - we haven't won it yet! I'm not looking! I think Daniel was more nervous than me. By this stage I was doubting my bravado from the previous 2 weeks, we had heard the day before that a lady was handing out pamphlets at the Plaza (our local large shopping center) to vote for her.......very unnerving!

Of course they made us wait longer than anticipated. My phone was going off with Facebook hits and text messages. Mary Francis from New Jersey, United States, a soon to be triplet mum who is a few days in front of me, even stayed up late after a long week at work, listening to the station live from the US! All my October Mummies Facebook group ladies were either listening in or stuck on Facebook trying to see if I had won! Lots of friends were listening from all over the Sunshine Coast and the country! Finally they told us that there was one more song and then they would announce it. They had us all stand around together and one of the owners of Look Cabinets, Jeff, got to open the sealed envelope. I was holding Daniel's hand so tightly and repeating in my head 'it's not us, it's not us, it's not us'..........and is was!!!!!!!

I jumped in the air - yes jumped!! And then got very emotional (nothing to do with the jumping) and had to compose myself against Daniel's shoulder for a few moments. The announcers came over and were just as excited as us! Jordan and Amali were standing there a bit overwhelmed and I told them and Amali jumped up and down clapping her hands. We were asked lots of questions, and of course, I said 'awesome!' Everyone had paid me out for saying it twice in the initial phone conversation with the radio, so I let it rip again! Because it was awesome!!!!! Jeff offered his hand in congratulations, but I gave him a huge hug instead! Hugs all round for my family, and from the people at 92.7 Mix FM, and Look Cabinets. Even the other finalists came up and congratulated me, which was lovely. One said that when she heard my story she thought 'no way can I compete with triplets!' It was a huge emotional roller coaster of a morning, one that I will not forget in a long time! All I'll have to do is look at my new kitchen!

The moment the winner was announced!

So everyone is wondering what happens next. We chatted briefly with Jeff and Hamish from Look Cabinets before we left, we have a legal cooling off period (like I'm going to say - 'you know what, I think I like my old kitchen'....hehehehehehe!), then they'll come around and measure up the space, get us in the show room to 'pick and choose' what we want and the designing begins. Without checking with the guys at Look, I'm fairly confident to say that the new kitchen will be in before the babies are born!

After we left Look Cabinets, with ridiculously huge smiles on our faces, we rushed home to get ready for our wonderful friends', Skye and Mic's, wedding. And didn't the Sunshine Coast pull out all stops on the weather for such an amazing day! Not a cloud in the sky, over looking First Bay at Coolum Beach with nice sets rolling in, crashing on the sand. Mic was looking very nervous and completely rooted to the spot, I don't think he moved! Skye arrived looking absolutely stunning with her blonde hair in light curls down her back, gorgeous white dress with a train trailing off behind her. It was a beautiful ceremony with a blessing of the rings and sweet vows to top it all off. The bride and groom had a lengthy kiss at the end and were showered with rose petals from the tiny flower girls. I must say that the bridesmaids and head flower girl did an amazing job in their sky-high heels! And they looked stunning too!

One very happy family! Mum bought the kids down to see Skye looking beautiful, then took them home so we could relax xx

We headed off to the reception at Maroochy Surf Club for a night of yummy food, brilliant speeches and some dancing (not me!). I ended up having a lie down twice at the reception - I hadn't lain down all day and my back was aching, not to mention the top of my tummy feeling the weight of 3 babies all day with no rest. In the end though, we didn't end up leaving until midnight!

 Me at 17 weeks, and 1 day!

It was a fantastic day, topped off by a fantastic night!

The Best Day so Far!!

I have had an amazing day! Firstly I got to see my babies at my regular scan, which went for just over an hour. Then I raced up to the hospital to have a super rushed appointment with Dr Ted Weaver....who really made my day!

But I'll backtrack a little bit first........

Monday saw me head off for my first two appointments at the Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital. I had been told to go there to see Dr Carol Portman as she was the most likely to allow me to birth these babies vaginally. With great optimism, I met with a  lovely midwife who was extremely supportive....then upstairs to Maternal Fetal Medicine. They first OB I met with was a dick. It's as simple as that. He had two good looking student nurses with him, so maybe that was his attitude problem. Lets just say that I was ready to punch him in the face. He was extremely arrogant and I could tell the student nurses felt so too. Then he called one of the other OBs in to have a look at the scan and have a chat to me. I liked this guy immediately and once he realised that I knew what I was talking about and had done my homework, he said that if it was up to him, he'd let me birth vaginally...but it wasn't up to him. But he then told me to make sure I get in contact with Dr Ted Weaver at Nambour. Dr Weaver is the head of RANZCOG - the body governing obstetrics and gynecology in Australia and New Zealand. I already new that RANZCOG had no protocols for triplet births, which I was going to use to my advantage....

So on the way home I tried unsuccessfully to reach Dr Weaver, and decided to leave it for a few days. I honestly, seriously had a deep think about home birthing these babies whilst driving. I had to really look deep into myself to see if I could do it, but I decided that I wouldn't feel comfortable.

Tuesday afternoon I received a phone call from Nambour hospital, they still had my referral from my doctor and wanted to book me in. I explained the situation to the midwife and the fact I was chasing a vaginal birth and that Dr Greg Duncan had told me to get in touch with Dr Weaver......she set up a meeting with Dr Weaver the very next day!! Totally unheard of in a public hospital!

I arrived late to the meeting as my scan had run over, and he literally had 15 minutes before he needed to be elsewhere, but he really wanted to see me. I went in prepared for a fight over wanting to vaginal birth, and after a quick general chit chat about the pregnancy and my last two, I began my spiel.......only to be completely knocked off my socks when he 100% agreed with me. He said that as long as I :
1. Make it to 32 weeks plus
2. Baby A is head down (which he is at the moment - stay baby stay!)
3. and that I and the babies are healthy,
Then there is NO REASON WHY I CANNOT BIRTH THESE BABIES VAGINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the capitals, but to hear him say that was mind blowing.

So I have another scan in 3 weeks, then he'll see me to discuss everything. And that was that. Super simple. Amazing.

Oh - and - we are having two boys and a girl!!!!!!!!! Here are some little videos of them:

Baby A: a little boy, who is very clever and already has his head down, presenting 1st, he is on my right hand side. He is measuring right on dates at 16 weeks, 5 days. Heart rate of 153bpm and weighing 183g!

Baby B (who used to be Baby C, but they needed to swap the labelling around so that it went in order of presenting baby first) is also a boy. Dr Duncan said that they are the 'wing men' which is super cute! He is currently bum down, on my left side and I don't mind if he stays that way - I would far prefer to give birth to a breech baby than have a c-section! He is measuring right on track too, has a heart rate of 143bpm and weighs 188g.

Baby C is our little princess, high up on her throne (a throne made of her brothers). She even looks different to her brothers! Again, perfect size for dates and has a heart rate of 160bpm and weighs 186g. In the clip she is lying on her tummy with her little legs tucked up under her. Too sweet.....!

 

If you haven't already voted for us in the kitchen competition - please do so - there are only 2 days left!!!

http://www.mixfm.com.au/itchin-for-a-new-kitchin-vote-now

click on 'itchin for a new kitchen voting' and vote for Chenoa.

Thanks once again!