So Shoe Me

Lies, lies, lies, yeah...

So, I've taken to lying.  You know, to strangers.  Who ask questions.  Because answering their questions ends up getting into some pretty personal, none of their business, awkward conversation-having.  Yes, I see the irony of having this discussion on a public blog, but it is just different than when I'm at a Target, and some random person overhears me say triplets and they come up and say "Oh my gosh are they natural??" 

I mean, I understand the question.  I think most people are hoping it wasn't natural, because if it was, then perhaps their own odds of being struck with triplets increases?  But, really - what does it matter how I ended up with triplets? 

Here's how the conversation typically goes if I let it progress with no lies:

Random Stranger:  Wow - you must be almost ready!  When's your due date?

Me: June 15th.

RS: (horrified and confused look), um, oh!  really?

Me: I know.  I'm huge.  It's triplets.

RS:  TRIPLETS?!!  (insert various response here) You poor thing! / How exciting! / Wow! / Were you surprised!? ....

Then the question invariably is one of two variarions: 1) Do multiples run in your family?  (To which I have started answering... "Now they do"  or 2) ARE THEY NATURAL?  DID YOU DO FERTILITY??

I mean - hello, random stranger... I really don't want to discuss question number 2 with you.  Because, typically, if I give them the real answer?  Immediately, I get the nodding of the head and the unspoken judgment of "well, she asked for this."  So, I've taken to lying to shut the conversation down.  Depending on how nosey vs. nice the person is / my responses to these last two questions have been lately : Yes, multiples run in my family.  Yep they are natural.  No, no fertilty, I'm just old.   The other day, while getting my toes done with my daughter some guy who I did not know asked me if it was fertility treatments... I pretended not to hear him.  He asked again... I pretended not to hear.  He came right over to where Amelia and I were and asked a third time.  I finally said, "I'm kind of having a day here with my daughter... so, I'm not really up to chatting with you about this."

Sometimes, if I'm particularly NOT IN THE MOOD for a discussion with a stranger about my stomach, I just don't even open the door to the discussion:

RS: Wow - you must be almost ready!  When's your due date?

Me:  Next week.  (Fin)

_______

Here's the thing.  I've gotten over the shock.  I've mostly gotten over the panic.  I'm in the point of my pregnancy, where I am absolutely over the moon happy about having these three little boys.  So, part of me wants to tell everyone I run into because, it's pretty freaking amazing.  I just wish that was the response I got, and I might be more willing just to be straightforward. 

And to the lady in the shoe department at Macy's who upon hearing my news said "Oh I am so jealous, I want a little boy and you get three!" ... Thank you.

 

23 weeks.

Another week, another appointment and all continues to go well.  This week, the 3 boys were all conspiring and had managed to get themselves into a position where all of their heads were right together. 

Apparently they are already planning little boy schemes.  Too cute. 

Only Baby B was willing to pose for a photo, as the other two turned away from the camera and were uninterested in saying hi.

I'm continuing to grow daily to the point where almost everyone I encounter thinks I'm due any minute.  (The stupid comments, highly invasive questions and judmental responses from strangers will be featured in an upcoming blog post.)

Here I am today:

I'm pretty much straight out front as you can see from this view:

And from the top?

Where are my feet?  I have to kick them out to enjoy my cute shoes and toes today:

22 weeks

Had our 22 week appointment today and everything continues to progress very well.  The boys are all measuring about 23 weeks big, weighing in at 1.6 lbs, 1.5 lbs., and 1.3 lbs each.  They are all in breech position, apparently liking to be head up.  Since we're not going to be doing a "natural" childbirth, the position in there matters much much less. 

I'm pretty uncomfortable most of the day, cannot tie my shoes and I don't know that Mike will ever recover from seeing me trying to put some socks on the other morning.  When I was pregnant with Amelia, even when I was big, I seemed to have more mobility.  But, I am just so FULL OF BABY, that there is no give when I bend down to try and touch my toes.  Here's some frightening perspective for you.

Me - today - 22 weeks:

Me at 22 weeks 7 years ago with Amelia

I KNOW.... RIGHT?????

I don't even attempt to put those pants on now, and that was not even a maternity shirt. 

We got some sweet baby boy photos today

Baby A

 

Baby B

And Baby C

Baby B and C (left side and right side / upper babies respectively) were hanging out kind of sitting next to each other, and we got a photo of them side - by- side.  This is a ... we .... view from below.

Keep the good thoughts coming that they just keep growing and doing well, and I find more slip on shoes.

My little Howard Cosell

Watching TV with Amelia is like living with a color commentator - she talks through every show with comments and questions. Watching ice dancing today was no different.

- she didn't fall she meant to do that (and when I challenged her ...) yes, I saw the practice
- so many sparkles! I would wear that every day
-why does that boy have long hair?
- i hope she's not dizzy
- I saw her underwear!
- why isn't anyone dancing to "Moves like Jagger?"
-that dress is too small
- I hope they are married because they are touching a lot

We pause this pregnancy update for a musical interlude.

Most people that know me know that my musical tastes trend towards 70's through 90's.  I rarely listen to new music, and most of my Pandora stations are the ones I probably would have had in high school. (ie: Howard Jones, Oingo Boingo, the Ramones). 

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I've been doing different music every day so the boys can be well rounded.  Amelia listens to what I listen to for the most part in the car on the way to school.  Hearing these songs through her ears does make me realize the ridiculousness of some of these old songs.  This was extremely apparent as I tried to explain to her who exactly were the jealous people in Dimple Tee's Jealous Fellas.  "Who's Jealous Momma?  The singers are Jealous of the Fellas?  Why?  Who is Jealous of them?  Why are they Jealous?  Jealous of their singing?"

The other day driving to school we were listening to a mix CD and some Pandora and her comments were cracking me up:

867-5308/Jenny - Tommy Tutone: "Momma I bet she got a lot of calls after this song.  I think she must be on the phone all the time now."

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen: "I know who is crazy.  The boys are crazy about the thing called love because they have to deal with the girls."

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey: "I love na-na-na songs but they don't say much, do they?"

 

19 weeks.

People at work who don't see me for a few days in a row, say that I am changing on an almost daily basis, so i'm trying to be better about documenting the change. 

Here's a photo Amelia took of me this morning.

Here's my attempt to take a shot of my stomach myself:

I can definitely see the difference since my birthday shot in this mirror...

Weeks 18 and 19 update. Also, I'm officially "waddling."

We've had a couple of big sonogram and doctor visits in the last few weeks, and I continue to grow exponentially as well.  Being on the recommended triplet diet of 3,200 - 4,000 calories a day and 200 grams of protein a day helps pack it on pretty quickly.  Bonus, I can now eat Barefoot Contessa's Mac & Cheese without guilt.  (12 oz of Gruyere?  yes please.)

At 18 weeks we had our big long sonogram where they measure every part of the babies: head, legs, heart, bladder, foot etc. etc.  This is typically a pretty long sonogram to begin with and having to measure all 3 it took well over an hour.  All that laying on my back put quite a bit of pressure on my main vein causing me to get dizzy and nauseous.  But, we got a ton of photos, many of which looked like this:

Yes, yes... we get it.  That's a boy.  And we were already 99.9% sure after the CVS, but if there was any doubt, people we have like 10 photos like this.

Also sweet little photos of teeny baby feet:

And we also got to find out where they are all hanging out.  B and C were head-to-head at the top of the uterus, while baby A was relaxing horizontally at the bottom. Couldn't get a picture of all 3 together, but it looked something like this:

I know, you are in AWE of my sweet drawing skillz.  So, poor Baby A was getting his head stomped on.  At 18 weeks, they were all 9 oz each, and measuring about 19 weeks in size.  Which is great news.

For our 19 week appointment this week we did a lighter sonogram but still got great photos.  This week, Baby B who is apparently the go-between for his brothers was head down and head to head with Baby A.  Here they are:

Look how close their heads are together!  They must clonk each other all the time.

Here's baby C now, just chilling by himself at the top of the uterus:

I'm still working and feeling good.  Pretty tired and sore by the end of the day.  I've gotten to the point where if things fall on the floor, I literally have just said "F**k it, that's where that lives now."  I am choosing a lower heel on a daily basis (sob) and painting my tonails is no longer something I can handle on my own.  I'm taking it easy so that hopefully I can avoid bedrest and be able to still do a few things for myself.  I get out of breath from the smallest tasks (load of laundry, giving Amelia a shower, buckling my seat belt), so Mike gets to do a lot more around the house, but for now at least I can buckle my own seatbelt.   Small victories.

 

The face of 41.

Happy birthday to me.  So far, its been a lovely day, with a decent hair day, high heeled shoes that fit and didn't hurt, and burgers and fries at lunch w/ a wonderful friend.

Here's the face of 41 at 17 weeks pregnant:

and this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As opposed to last year which looked more like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this:

and this:

Both birthdays great in different ways...

 

Ignorance is bliss...

I've worked with doctors, hospitals and hospital systems almost my entire legal career.  I spend a lot of time in hospitals with administrators, I understand the healthcare system fairly well, and I feel pretty comfortable in them.  So, when an opportunity to go and view the NICU with a group of other "Moms of Multiples" came up, it seemed pretty benign. 

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've tried to get as much information as possible about what I can expect from this unique pregnancy.  Books on multiples, reading triplet blogs, joining a multiples group here in town.  So, when the hospital based multiples moms group had a NICU tour scheduled, I of course decided to go in the spirit of more information is always better.

NOT.  TRUE.  Going into the NICU was one of the most overwhelming and heartbreaking places ever.  Impossibly tiny babies, overwhelming medical equipment and struggling families surrounding them.  I had to leave the tour halfway through to avoid crying in front of the rest of the tour.

Whose bright idea was it to take a bunch of hormonal pregnant mothers into that setting?  I normally like to have a good idea of what to expect, but this time, I think I would have been better off not knowing.  I can't get those images out of my mind! 

I know so many friends whose children have gone to the NICU and are healthy happy kids now.  Those are good stories to hear.  Just need to remember those.

Three ... is the magic number..

Well, the news is out there, and I have intended to write this post numerous times.  But then the holidays came faster than expected, I got a terrible cold and all of a sudden weeks and weeks had passed, and I need to update! 

So, yes.  It is true.  We are expecting triplets, and we were so happy to confirm in early December that they are all completely healthy, and they are ALL BOYS.   Here's a photo of all three of them together (probably the last time I'll get them to pose so serenely in a single shot).  We had this done at SF Perinatal where they treated us wonderfully and gave us these great 3D screen shots, after shooting me repeatedly in the stomach with a needle for our CVS testing.  All worth it to know these guys are doing well. 

The CVS testing is recommended for those of (ahem) "advanced maternal age" so, while it is quite a stressful process, the result of knowing so early they are doing well was worth it.  Here's a shot of Baby Boy A sucking his thumb during the procedure.  Unbelieveable how much you can see at only 11 weeks!

We've known since very early in our pregnancy that it was triplets, so we have had a little bit of time to get over the extreme shock.  But every now and then it still hits us the difference we're going to have in our lives.  From our mellow little family of 3 with Amelia who is almost 7, easy going, mostly self sufficient little girl, to doubling the size of our family with 3 babies at once. 

The first question I get whenever someone hears our news is "What was your reaction when you first found out that it was triplets?"  I'm not going to lie, my first reaction was to burst into tears.  It was so overwhelming in so many ways.  I was so excited that we were actually pregnant, but then imagining the risk of carrying 3, the change in our lives, are they all going to be ok, where will they sleep, wait, the car I have doesn't work for 4 kids, how's Amelia going to handle this.... (throat closing up, panic attack taking over...)  It was not prety.  The poor doctor giving me the news during our appointment.  It wasn't just little tears, and holding myself together until I was out in the car.  No, I fully went into the ugly Oprah cry with the sobbing, and the gasping for air.  

Over the next few days, I discussed it with some immediate family and close friends and the reaction amongst all of them was pretty universal:

1) Hysterical laughter & disbelief

2) "OMG are you kidding me?  No, you're joking, c'mon you're not serious?"

3) and a very very few close friends looked us right in the eyes and just said "Dudes, WTF are you going to do?!"

Well, we're going to have three babies at once, of course you amateurs ... baby-havers only one at a time.  HA. 

And, we're moving along.  I'm 4 months now and they are all growing well.  As am I.  I of course didn't take a pre-baby photo because I felt like that would jinx it, so let's just say I looked something like this:

 

What?  She's Brazilian, I'm Brazilian... same-same, tomato - tomato

And now, at 15 weeks at Christmas I looked like this. 

I know, OMG right?  This is apparently what 4 months with triplets looks like. 

This is me wearing this same shirt at Christmas in 2004 when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Amelia.  (Ignore my brother totally photobombing this photo)  As you can see... pretty darned close to my current size, OMG.

 

So, I promise to be better about taking belly pics, keeping you updated on the boys' progress, etc.

Wish us luck!