Kicks and Rolls - 16 Weeks

4 months! Yay! I have been feeling so much better this week. Last week I think my body went 'holy crap - what have you done to me!' But I think it has acclimatised itself this week and I feel great. I haven't been sleeping during the day, just resting by lying down and reading a book. Thank god I've got 13 Wilbur Smith books to read through. I think that every time the babies have a growth spurt, I'll get very tired, then the next week I'll feel very heavy. I'd say that will happen about once a month.....!

I have been feeling so much movement this week, it's been lovely (doubt I will refer to it as 'lovely' in another 2 months!). On Thursday I was worried about not feeling anything for about 24 hours, so my midwife came around with her trusty doppler and found Baby A and C's heart beats, but naughty little Baby B was wriggling around too much by this stage! I'm feeling Baby B far more than the others, probably because it's on the top. I felt it from the outside for the first time the other day, even Mum could feel the big roll it did! Jordan has also felt a little kick from his little sibling - Baby B - and he thought it was pretty cool!

Apparently the babies are about the size of an avocado (about 10cm long), which gives you a good idea of their size - times 3. Plus 3 placentas, which are probably about the size of a fried egg, plus 3 cords and all that amniotic fluid! Sounds like some sort of mathematical algebraic equation!

I have my first 2 hospital appointments on Monday, which I'm really looking forward to, but I am also a little apprehensive as of course I am catergorised as 'high risk'......and all that goes along with that label. It will be good to know where I stand and what they expect of me though, answers to my many questions as to how this may pan out over the next few months.

Lastly, the voting lines are open for the kitchen competition! If you haven't heard, we are one of 5 finalists in a $25,000 kitchen competition! We really need everyone's votes, no matter where they are located around the world or in Australia.

Here's the link:

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

1. Under 'Chenoa', click on the 'Vote for this Kitchen' button,
2. Type my name in the box and click 'Submit'
3. Fill in your name, email address, gender, birth date, home and work postcode and state(don't worry about the rest), interests and tick the two little boxes at the bottom, then click 'Enter Competition'

Do not worry about the sharing of information to a 3rd party box - this is the kitchen company and you can unsubscribe at any time. Unfortunately you cannot vote without ticking these boxes.

INTERNATIONAL VOTERS - please select Queensland as your state and use 4561 as your postcode. The competition organiser says this is ok.....!

Thanks to all who vote, and please share this link with friends/family/work and on Facebook! Voting is only open until Friday next week, so don't forget to vote, and you can vote once from each device - ie: phone, iPad, computer, laptop.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Lastly, I'm sharing a piccy of my cuties eating icecream and watching TV. Just because I can.

Heavy Already!

Yes, the title says it all. I am really starting to feel the weight of these babies. At 15 weeks. Crikey! Only another 15 + weeks to go. Uh-oh. I have taken things down another notch, I feel fairly good in the mornings, so that's when I do most of the things I have to do, then when Amali has a sleep I'm either sleeping or lying flat on my back reading a book. Then I get up and go and pick Jordan up from school and as soon as I get home I have to lie back down on the recliner again. The kids are getting used to this and are really, really good. Daniel has been working til 5:30-6 in the evenings so he's not much help in the afternoons. Then when he gets home he finds energy from somewhere and plays with the kids for a bit while I make dinner (or heat up left overs) and we do baths and bed and collapse on the couch. I've just watched them drive off to take Jordan to his Saturday morning soccer game. Aaaahhhh peace and quiet. Soon I'll be off to yoga, which I class as 'me' time. Very important.

I have finally heard from the hospital, and I'm very happy to say that I'm pretty pleased with their service so far. I already have 3 appointments booked. The midwife made sure 2 were on the same day and even asked me what days were better. How nice. So I have 2 on the 30th April and then my huge 2.5 hour morphology scan on the 23rd of May.

My mind is filled with kitchen ideas at the moment. It's hard not to dream about winning this competition! It is so close I could almost touch it. I'm also thinking of ideas of how to get more votes. I am part of 2 international Facebook groups for triplets, 2 Facebook mums groups, 2 Facebook horse groups, my Facebook friends, and then I have over 100 emails so far from people who have agreed to forward the link on to their email contacts and work places. Then I have the entire Sunshine Coast Pony Club Zone that I can access........and I'll be sitting out the front of Woolworths and Coles here in Coolum, handing out the link and explaining the competition to people. Obsessed. I know. But it's not every day you have the chance of 1 in 5 to win a $25,000 kitchen competition is it? I'll let you all know when I have access to the link.

I'll finish up with my 15 week belly shots.

Yep, the stretchies are making a return.........!

The Fortnightly Scans Begin

At 14 weeks and 4 days the first of my fortnightly scans has begun. Feeling rather pleased with myself that I have gotten this far, and that I am now enjoying the scans, not getting worried before them. I really wanted my sonographer to try and tell me what sexes they were today, he was a bit reluctant as first but we got a few good looks and could fairly clearly see at least one. He has said that he is no where near confident, but  in saying that,  they all look like boys.....however, before we get too excited I'm fairly sure I saw a flash of girl bits on Baby B, so we'll just have to wait and see in a fortnight!

Here are our latest portraits:

 Baby A's profile and spine, facing away from us. It is actually sucking its thumb in the left hand shot! Baby A is on my right hand side. He said it looked as though it was a boy.

 Baby B's profile and spine shot, facing away with head tucked into its chest so we can't see it. Baby B is lying above A and C, in the middle.

 Baby C's profile and spine shot, again, facing away from the camera. I love how in the second picture you can clearly see the spine and two little pelvic bones at the base! Baby C is not being squashed so much anymore, it has managed to pop out the side a little bit.

Here is the shot of a little (presumably) penis. Its not super clear in the picture, but we got a good look during the scan and I'm fairly confident that Baby C is a boy. The picture is two legs up in the air and you can see a little white circular dot in the middle at the crotch area with a little protrusion sticking up.

 

And this is our trio - the only shot he could get of them all together.

Daniel is home from Thailand, and although I didn't get my iPad, I did get a big suitcase to take to the hospital with all mine and the babies bits and pieces in, and a beautiful Jade necklace which I adore. It is nice to have him home, but the poor thing flew in lunch time Sunday and has had 2 4am starts since....needless to say he is a tad tired and grumpy. And sleeping next to me who rolls around all night and blows my nose and gets up to pee....yep, you get the idea!

Other than not sleeping great (get used to it Chenoa), I seriously feel as though I am only having one baby (apart from the bump). It feels like any normal pregnancy, healthy and wonderful. By the end of the day I feel a bit of pressure in my cervix from the weight, so I just have a lie back on my recliner while the children ruin the house. I definitely slowed down as soon as I found out there were 3 in there, but now I know I have to take it down another notch as I'm getting bigger. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm going to get far bigger, but I'm at least 8 weeks bigger than a singleton pregnancy so it is a bit of a rude shock to my body so soon.

I finally heard from the hospital today. It is a wonder that their tone changed the second they had my referral in their hands. I mean - did they think I was lying?? However, my poor doctor is being told lots of conflicting information and has been told she needs to refer me to Nambour Hospital first.....then 20 minutes later I get a call from a lovely midwife at Brisbane saying they will discuss my case tomorrow in their meeting, as I am outside their normal catchment......She said she'll either call back tomorrow or Thursday, so I'll soon find out either way.

Apart from my exciting scan, we have other exciting news!! We are finalists in the kitchen competition!!! It is on our local radio station, 92.7 Mix FM and it is the chance to win a new kitchen and appliances up to $25,000!! There are 5 finalists, including me. The host is coming to my place tomorrow to interview me and take video and photos of my kitchen. Then once all finalists have had this happen, they put them on their website and the public gets to vote for who they want to win! I'm going to be plugging it everywhere! We honestly have the worst kitchen.....red bench tops, chipboard disintegrating, no space, built in bread board (ewww) and the fact that it is 30 years old! Fingers crossed and I'll let you know when and how to vote.

Weekly belly shots will resume Friday as my faithful camera made it home without a quick dip in the Thai sea.

Second Trimester

I am found quite often, sitting there smiling to myself. These three little babies inside me sure are active. I love feeling them move, I think it is the best moment in anyone's pregnancy when they feel their babies moving. Not just little butterfly flutters, or pops, but I can feel rolling and tiny kicks. The kicks feel like I have a 12 month old baby poking me with their index finger from the inside out. It's very reassuring.

I had a little scare the other night, I just kept getting small cramps (which I never had with my other pregnancies) at the top of my cervix, and of course they were there as I was putting the kids to bed, so I couldn't just lie down. I practically threw them in bed and laid back on the recliner. They stopped within moments. Just another warning from my body I suppose. I haven't had any since, otherwise I would have been worried, but all is quiet on the cramping front now.

Daniel is still in Thailand, spending way too much money of course - he doesn't have his wife there to keep him in check. It was a bit scary with the earthquake and tsunami warning the other night, he was in the 'danger' zone, in Phuket, but they were all evacuated immediately and were kept in the tsunami evacuation zone for 4 hours, then the all clear was given and they were allowed back to the hotel. Problem was, he posted 'Just been evacuated from our hotel' on Facebook. He didn't tell me anything. I had friends ringing and texting, checking on him, but at that stage I hadn't even heard about it at all. Great way to scare a pregnant lady! He comes home Sunday lunch time. I've certainly missed him, but the house has been staying so neat and tidy!!

I dare say he'll get a rude shock at the size of my belly after not seeing it for 8 days. I know you are probably thinking 'sure, sure, it can't grow that much in 8 days.' Um, yes it can! It's a little scary! Here is a picture of when I was pregnant with Jordan (#1) at 25 weeks.

And then this is me (taken from my phone by Jordan as the camera is still with Daniel in Thailand) at 13 weeks and 5 days.

It's not exactly the same, but you get the general idea.....!

I entered into a competition on our local radio, 92.7 Mix FM, to win a new kitchen up to the value of $25,000. Of course I put in about the triplets, but we really do have a shoddy kitchen! Anyway, the 5 finalists get announced next week. I'll keep you posted!

13 Weeks

Time is seriously flying by. Yes, I know I say that - a lot. But is truly is, I mean, it's April already and I'm hoping to keep these babies in until the start of September. That's 5 months away. It's just mind blowing. I've been up since 3:30am, seems to be a recurrence these past few days. So instead of tossing and turning and then finally getting back to sleep, only to be woken by two little angels 5 minutes later, I got up. I'll feel tired later today but will have a rest.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The best advice I can give any mum to be is to NOT sleep 'extra' in the weeks leading up to the birth. If you think about it logically, why would training your body to have more sleep be beneficial, when it is about to have to cope with less sleep? Your body doesn't build up extra stores of sleep that you can use when the baby comes, all you will end up doing is feeling more exhausted than ever because you have trained your body into getting more sleep. My advice - you are already tossing and turning towards the end, trying to find a comfortable position - Get up. Even if it is for 10 minutes, once or twice a night, your body will thank you for it once baby comes. So, even though I'm only 13 weeks, I'm going to start doing it.

With Daniel off in Thailand with his brother, and a very jealous me at home, I headed off for a weekend with my wonderful friends to Tuan, about 20 minutes south of Maryborough. My best friends parents have a little holiday house there that we have been to 3 years running now. Huge yard, big kitchen, and those that don't fit into the house bring tents or campers. This year we were lucky enough that we persuaded one of the girls to bring her jumping castle. Yep. 4 days of pure relaxation (on my part anyway) whilst the kids jumped to their hearts content. There was also fishing and going to the park, crabbing and lots of scratching. The sandflies were horrendous. I think we just about used all the the 8 bottles of mozzie spray that were taken, and they still managed to get through the thick coating we sprayed on. The adults weren't hit as bad as we stayed around the fire, but the kids copped it. My two came home with perfect little pink circles all over their lower legs and hands and poor Jordan is really suffering. Luckily I took children's antihistamine medicine on the spur of the moment as I was packing. Even one of the adults took a quadruple dose! Apart from the sandflies, I'd say a great weekend was had by all, great company around a campfire - what more can I say? Oh - and thanks to my wonderful friends - I know I pretty much sat of my butt for 4 days and let you entertain my kids. That time I sat on the kitchen floor leaning up against the freezer? Yep - could not get up at all. My body said 'stop and sit', so I did. Thank you all!

While I was away Mum and Kerry stayed at the farm to keep all the animals fed and safe (horses, dogs and chickens). Mum was quite annoyed with herself when I got home earlier than expected yesterday - she hadn't finished all her 'jobs' she wanted to do! They tidied the front fenceline, weeded, brushcuttered (not really a word, I know), poisoned, de-spidered the house, swept, and cleaned the shower, just to name a few. The kids were delighted to finally have door handles again, Amali asked if I was going to lock her in her room. Ah, no honey, I'm locking my door at night - not yours! Needless to say she did not wake up and come in my room last night. A huge thank you to Mum and Kerry for all the work they do :)

Apart from all this, I feel great, quite a bit of energy has returned, although I'm not sure if I'll ever get all my energy back - even after they leave home - but, a little is a lot to me. Before I went, my midwife from Jordan's and Amali's births came over and I finally got to hear those 3 precious heartbeats! She found them right away, I heard all three and three placentas. In case you are wondering, a placenta sound is more of a 'woosh-woosh' sound, whereas a heartbeat is obviously more of a 'thump-thump' sound. It was amazing that when she put the doppler to Baby C's position, I could actually distinguish between that heartbeat and the others. Maybe it has something to do with Baby C's head being squashed by Baby B??? The kids heard the heartbeats too, they thought it was pretty cool and Amali was telling people all weekend about it. So sweet.

I have a doctors appointment on Thursday, so she'll refer me to the hospital and then I'm giving them all of one week to ring me. Then I'm ringing them to get things started. I've had enough of not knowing how things are going to pan out in the next few months! I'm also going to ask for fortnightly scans until I hear from the hospital, so hopefully we can find out the sexes in 2 weeks! My lovely triplet friend from the US has already found out (shes a few days ahead of me) - but she's keeping mum about it. What a strong woman! I'll have it printed on T-Shirts before I know it! While we were away the topic came up and I think there is 3 identical girls in there (as this would be my worst nightmare!) but the kids and a few of my friends say there is 2 girls and a boy. When one of them said this I got a lovely little kick in the side! Maybe an omen.........! I think I'll start a betting syndicate.

No photos this week as Daniel took the camera to Thailand. Jordan told him to make sure he didn't drop it in the ocean this time. Oooops - that was me last year!

12 Week Scan

Words cannot describe how ecstatic I feel at the moment. Its funny, I didn't realise how nervous I was until the sonographer said they all looked fine, with hearts beating. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time. Spending over an hour watching my babies on the screen was magical. Amazing.

They were kicking around, pushing hands through sacs towards each others faces and constantly rolling over. Baby A was not very cooperative, Baby B was in a great position 'I'm the king of the castle', lying on top of its siblings, and Baby C was in a good position all except for its head, which Baby B was squashing!
They are all measuring ahead of my dates, which is obviously due to all that food I've been eating! And the protein shakes. Today I was 12 weeks 5 days and they all measured 13 weeks 1 day.

The only shot I have of all 3, lying straight up and down, so these are their heads A, B and C left to right

 

 This is Baby A, lying facing away from the screen and with its legs tucked into its tummy

 Here's Baby B lying on top of Baby A. Baby B is facing the screen.

 And Baby C, up close and personal, just before Baby B squished its head again!

Measurements are as follows:
Baby A - 158bpm heart rate and 6.92cm in length
Baby B - 161bmp heart rate and 7.09cm in length
Baby C - 155bpm heart rate and 6.99cm in length

And lastly, here are my first trimester time line shots. 6.4, 8, 10, 11.2 and 12.2 weeks from left to right.

It sure is growing nicely!!

End of the First Trimester

Looking back over the last 6 weeks time has flown. These babies are going to be out in no time!

Jordan has finished his first term of big school - only about 47 more terms to go mate! I am a very proud mummy, he is loving school and wants to write every day. This morning I have been teaching him about how to write rhyming words that end with 'at'. After cat, mat and rat he cottoned on and then wrote fat and hat. No help from me. What a clever kid. He also had his first 'real' game of soccer on Saturday and even scored 2 goals! They beat the other team 15 -1!

 That's him on the left - such a little guy!

Amali hasn't been well the last few days, and after taking her to the doctor for the second time, her ear is infected. So she had her first cold last week and an ear infection this week. Hopefully not a sign of things to come.

We have been doing a bit more work around the place, the office (our new room) is now lined thanks to Dad and my brother Nathan - yes I ordered the gyprock for the ceiling, the guy even delivered it for free as I think he felt sorry for me!! Hopefully they'll have that all finished in the next week or so, then we can paint and put the flooring down and move it! Then we'll get started on the nursery.

 

Yes, I know I keep saying 'we', it certainly doesn't include me, but all those Bunnings trips count for something don't they?

I had my blood test yesterday, Amali and Jordan were quite interested and asked lots of questions. A lady on the HOM (Higher Order Multiples) Facebook site had her triplet bubbas yesterday. All between 1.4 and 1.7kg and two were only on oxygen (CPAP) for a few hours and she even got to do some kangaroo cuddling. She was 32 weeks. It is amazing looking at the photos, they are so tiny, but breathing on their own. I showed the kids the photos this morning and explained all the tubes and lines over the baby, so they don't get a fright when they see their little brothers or sisters like that.

I have been feeling great this week, I've even started taking protein shakes every second day. The tiredness get to me though, but, yes, I am listening to my body and resting as much as I can.
My day yesterday was as follows:

• Breakfast/let the children pretend to be horses and jump jumps up the hallyway while I got in my morning Facebook session
• Let chickens and horses out
• Had my blood test done
• Did the food shopping (very slowly)
• Took Amali to the doctor as she had a high fever throughout Woolies
• Home for lunch and Amali's sleep (thank god)
• Washed the dishes
• Put washing on the line and took some off
• Folded said washing
• Sat on the couch looking at said folded washing and could not move
• Drove Jordan to soccer training
• Made chicken and corn soup
• Came home to have a lie down, only to find that the washing machine would not drain as their was something stuck in it. Whilst waiting  for each bucket to fill from the manual drain hose, I sat in the laundry and closed my eyes.

Sad, I know. Yes, it was a busy day. But it's the busiest of the week. Today we are off to Chipmunks play center and I won't be able to resist stopping at spotlight to check out some flannelette cot sheets......x 3

Here are the belly and dress shots for the week. Once again, sorry about the blurry belly one. Daniel got the shits and wouldn't take it so auto focus screwed it up.

Oh - and Dan's off to Thailand on Friday and I'm going away with all my friends for a relaxing easter at Tuan. Bring it on!