Every day is a blessing

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day , a day bloggers are devoting to the topic. 

There are small moments in time that change your life forever.  The girls have changed my life for the better.

As you already know, since I've mentioned it so many times, my girls were born at 29 weeks 6 days.  Yes, I know, I've thoroughly beaten the proverbial horse to death already.  But, please read on!  When I first found out I was pregnant with triplets, I thought I would easily carry them to at least 34 weeks.  My body seemed to be on board with that plan as well.  I wasn't showing any signs of premature labor.  And, as I've also mentioned before, I was even given the "go-ahead" by my perinatologist to go on a 10 night cruise at 17-18 weeks.  After the cruise, I started to slow down.  It was harder to move around, and I was very uncomfortable, but I still thought I would have no problems carrying them to at least 34 weeks.

Maggie had other plans.  I don't know why, but her sac broke at 27 weeks.  At the time, I did not realize the gravity of the situation.  Even though I was admitted to the hospital, I still had no doubts I would carry them to at least 32 weeks.  The doctors and nurses kept telling me that every day is a blessing.  Every week, a new milestone.  Getting to 28 weeks is a big milestone.  While I was in the hospital, I kept wondering what was going to trigger the girls' birth.  Day after day, they were monitoring me for infection (and they gave me A LOT of antibiotics) and pre-eclampsia.  In my mind though, I was not worried about either of these things.  Somehow I knew that everything would be ok.  I did worry about the amount of antibiotics that I was receiving.  I worried that they would harm the girls.  It's so hard to say no or question the doctors when you're in the moment.  You want the best for your baby(ies), and you have to trust that the doctors and nurses know what they're doing.  Mistakes are made all the time in hospitals, but you just have to hope that they won't happen to you.

When the day finally came, it was surreal.  The NICU was not a scary place for me.  Carrying triplets, I already knew that they would likely end up in the NICU for at least a few days, if not longer.    I had no idea it would be as long as 70 days.  Some days, I'm sad I didn't get the "normal" baby experience.  Before I got pregnant, I had a birth plan.  I would go to a birthing center right next to the hospital (just in case there were complications), I would not have an epidural and I would only consent to a c-section in the most dire of circumstances.  That whole plan went out the window the day I found out it was triplets.  I was still encouraged by my doctor that a vaginal birth was not out of the question.  So long as baby A was head down, it was still a possibility.  Baby A was never head down, and even if I had carried them long enough for her to turn around, she probably wouldn't have had to room to do it.  In some ways, I guess I did get a normal experience in that the girls weighed a total of 8lbs 5oz.  I was as big and as uncomfortable as I would have been with a singleton pregnancy. 


Sadly, I have to admit that I get frustrated with people who claim their babies are premature when they were born at 35-36 weeks.  While I know that they are premature, I wish I had the chance to carry my girls that long.  In my mind, they don't know true prematurity.  I guess in a lot of ways, it's jealousy.  I could even argue that I do not know prematurity either.  I have become close friends with two women who both had twins at 27 weeks.  They have gone through so much more than I have. 

Ultimately, the nurses were right.  Every day a baby is in your belly is a blessing.