Blue

This week the theme at Trendy Treehouse is "Blue."  I took this photo last November on South Beach in Florida.  It was an incredibly hot and humid day.  We stayed overnight in South Beach before the start of our South/Central American cruise.  I loved seeing all of the cruise ships in the distance.  I was 17 weeks pregnant with the triplets when this photo was taken.

Shades of blue:

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September 22, 2009

September 22, 2009 is like my D-Day; it is my "day which will live in infamy."  I shall call it T-Day.  It is the day my life changed forever.  That's right - it's the day I had my first ultrasound and found out I was pregnant with triplets.  Today is the first anniversary of the day that changed my life forever. 

I was scheduled to have an ultrasound at 9 weeks, which apparently is rare.  The doctor decided to code it as "viability" because I had some minor spotting that was concerning.  For the first ultrasound, they like to have the father present to go over genetic history.  At first, Robin didn't want to come - he didn't think it was necessary, but I convinced him to come.  I'm so thankful he was there.

I'm on the table looking up at the ultrasound on the monitor.  I have no idea what I'm looking at or looking for.  The ultrasound tech is very quiet, but I don't get the vibe that anything is unusual.  I think she's just checking everything out.  I'm not sure what can even be seen at such a early stage in the pregnancy.  The first words out of her mouth are, "were you taking fertility drugs."  I'm completely taken aback.  I have no idea why she would ask such a question.  The obvious answer doesn't even occur to me.  I so "no" in a tone that probably expressed some offense.  Now, you have to remember, she hasn't said a word yet - maybe some small talk like "is this your first pregnancy", etc., but nothing about the baby.  Immediately after I said "no," she said, "well, you're pregnant with triplets."  Boom, pow, punch to the stomach.  What?!?!  Within seconds, the image of a huge stroller pops into my head, and I burst out crying.  My husband started laughing.  And, just like that the ultrasound was over. 

I can't even really remember too much after that.  I'm not sure if she had someone else come in to confirm or not.  I do remember being taken to another room where a doctor came in (I'd never met this doctor before) to "answer any questions I might have."  She also informed me that they cannot see me because they do not handle higher-order multiple pregnancies.  I was directed to see Dr. Kent Heyborne at Swedish.  As we left, I felt like all of the staff was staring at me.  I was still crying.  I'm sure the people in the waiting room thought that I had lost a baby or something. 


I'm so glad that Robin was with me that day.  I thought I was having a bad dream or an out of body experience.  I'm not sure that I would have believed that it really happened had I been there alone.

I had planned to not tell ANYONE about the pregnancy until we hit the 12 week mark, which is when the chance of miscarriage dramatically drops.  This news, though, I could not keep to myself.  In the car ride home, I kept trying to call my mom, but she wasn't answering.  So, I called my dad.  Then I tried my mom again, but she still wasn't answering.  So, I called my good friend, Erica.  I've known her since we were in junior high.  She knows me well, and she started laughing.  Of all the people she knows, I was the last one that would/should have triplets.  Karma got me that day.  I was very sad.  But, don't get me wrong, I'm so happy today.  I don't know what I would do without my girls.  They light up my life, and now, instead of making me cry, they make me smile all the time - especially when they smile.  It melts my heart. 

7 Months

The girls are seven months old today.  As always we did a photo shoot.  I normally go to trivia with some friends on Wednesday nights, but the group fell apart tonight.  I really missed my margarita - but I got to cuddle with my Margaret instead!

Katherine:

Margaret:

Isabella:

The group:

In other news, the girls have started doing some new things.  I had all of them weaned off pacifiers.  When they were really small, we bought the WubbaNub pacifiers because the animal attached to the pacifier is supposed to help keep it in their mouth by acting as a weigh on their chest.  Fail!  Well, I kept the WubbaNubs in their cribs, and now that they are playing with toys more, I started giving them the WubbaNubs to play with.  It only took Margaret a few minutes to realize that there is a pacifier attached.  Now, she scoots around her crib, finds the WubbaNub and puts the pacifier in her mouth.  She's a very smart girl!

I also recently decided that the girls should have cuddly blankets.  I was looking on amazon.com for some that aren't too expensive, when I saw one that looked familiar.  It suddenly hit me that the Learning Curve had sent me three free loveys when the girls were born (they send Lumpy, Pooh and Tigger).  Thank you Learning Curve!  I couldn't remember where I stashed them, but it only took me a few minutes to find them.  The girls love them - especially Isabella.  I've gone in to check on her when she's asleep - I moved the lovey away from her, then when I go back to check on her again, she's still asleep but she's holding the lovey again.  Hmmmmm.

Isabella has been getting her knees up under her when she's on her belly, and then she rocks back and forth.  Uh oh - I hope this doesn't mean she's going to crawl soon!  She has mastered the backward crawl/scoot.  It's so cute.  She also loves being with her sisters, and she moves around just to be near them.  As I've said before, she will definitely be the cuddly one.

Against my better judgment, I gave the girls bananas yesterday.  I really wanted to stick with veggies first, but I've been so frustrated with the spoon feeding.  I decided that the sweetness of the bananas might get them to actually eat off the spoon.  It kinda worked.  They seem to like the bananas.  If I can get them excited about spoon feeding, I'm going straight back to the veggies! Katherine seems to get the concept.  Margaret gets really excited about the spoon, but then she can't figure out how to get the food off it.  It all ends up coming right back out.  So frustrating!  Isabella seems to have a big tongue (mental note - ask the pediatrician about this).  She can't really keep the food in her mouth either.

Family Photos

As promised, here are some of the family photos we took last Saturday.  It was such a nice day.  The girls haven't been outside too much, so I think they kept looking up because there was just so much to look at!

Eyes

While in the hospital, the girls all had their eyes checked.  The nurses warned us before the eye doctor came 1. to not be present during the exam because they use an awful retractor to keep their eyes open during the exam and 2. that the results will be "immature - re-check in 2 weeks."  I asked them why they even check their eyes if they already know the diagnosis?  I assumed it's because the doctors like to bill, bill and bill.  The nurses said it's to catch ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) or other eye problems that can present early. 

As directed, I was not present during the girls eye exams, but when I came in later that day, I was told that they all had mature eyes.  The nurses said that such a result almost never happens, and certainly doesn't happen with all three.  I was so excited that their eyes were ok.  We were told to go back to the eye doctor for a six month check.

Today was their six month check.  I didn't really know what to expect, except that I was told their eyes would be dilated.  First up was Margaret - her eyes are perfect.  Next was Katherine - her eyes are perfect.  Isabella went last, and, unfortunately, she is far-sighted.  The doctor said that one eye is worse than the other, which can potentially be a result of not enough of the dilation drops in her eyes.  But, if they really are different, then she can develop a lazy eye because her eyes won't develop equally.  She has to go back for another exam in 1 year.  It's going to bother a lot over the next year.  I hope she won't need glasses at such a young age, but if they are still different in one year, then she will need glasses to prevent the lazy eye.  Katherine and Margaret will be checked again in 2 years.  

Bloopers and Outtakes

This week's theme at the Trendy Treehouse is Bloopers/Outtakes.  This one of the girls makes me laugh.  Isabella decided to pinch Margaret's cheek, but she doesn't seem pleased with the results.  The best part is that Margaret didn't even seem to notice.

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Outing Number 3

Today we decided to take the girls out again.  Initially, we thought we'd go to Wash Park again, but then Robin suggested going to the mall.  I was hesitant, but I hate feeling like I can't go somewhere just because I have triplets, so off we went - to Cherry Creek Mall.  Well, first we took some family photos under the big maple tree in our front yard. 

In order to make the trip to the mall a little easier, we decided to go with a double snap-n-go stroller and Robin carried Isabella in a baby bjorn.  The mall wasn't as busy as I thought it would be on a holiday weekend, which was nice.  Amazingly, not one person said anything to us.  I heard a couple of comments about how cute Isabella is - since she was so visible, but that was it.  Even when we actually went into stores, no one said anything.  It was so nice and refreshing.  It made me feel like I was getting all worked up over nothing.  I definitely think the key is to go with a double stroller and carry one.  It's less "in your face."  The only inconvenience we encountered was CPK not letting strollers in the dining room.  I have always been the person who hates strollers, and would be super annoyed when they were in my way - so I understand.  However, in this situation, they totally could have accommodated us.  They were not busy at all.  It was 2pm in the afternoon, and most of the tables were empty.  I do understand though that if they break the rules for us, then they have to break them for everyone else.  It's just hard when you have two car seats and a third baby (who cannot sit on her own) without a car seat to deal with.  We ended up walking over the Einsteins.  CPK's policy saved us a lot of money!

When we returned home, we had another photo shoot under the maple tree.  We got much better photos the second time - although there isn't one single photo where all five of us are looking at the camera.  I'll post some photos later. 

It was a beautiful, relaxing day spent with my beautiful family.  I feel so blessed.

September 3, 2009

Today, September 3, 2010, is the anniversary of finding out I was pregnant.  We had been trying since the end of January, which, to me, seemed like a long time.  On Thursday, September 3rd, I came home from work and took a pregnancy test.  It immediately showed I pregnant.  It was a store brand test, so I was nervous that it wasn't giving me accurate results (even though I had taken so many before that had all been negative), but I didn't have any more "juice" left in me to take another one right then.  I was so excited; I couldn't believe I was pregnant.

I had to work that night - I had to attend a board meeting 30 miles north of my house.  I went to the meeting, but I could barely pay attention because I was bursting with joy inside.  I didn't tell anyone.  Then, when I got home, I took another test (not a store brand this time) - just to be sure.  I then brought it down to show Robin.  We were both so excited.  I didn't know how far along I was - I assumed 4- 6 weeks, and it was going to be difficult to keep it a secret, but I was not going to tell anyone until I was at least 12 weeks along.  The next day I called to schedule an appoint with my OB/GYN.

To be continued.....