And We're Viable!

I am 24 weeks pregnant today and that means we have made it through 2 huge hurdles. We were told that triplet pregnancies miscarry 20% of the time before 24 weeks. Praise God they are all still in there and that did not happen to us.

The second hurdle is the fact that the babies are now viable. All that means is that if they were born now they would make an effort to save them and the babies would have a chance to survive. Of course, it's still really early for any guarentee of survival and we certainly want them to be in there for many more weeks to come! We are praying for at least 9 more weeks.

I have realized as I look back that I have hardly any pictures of Caleb so I wanted to include one now since I think he's so cute. Unfortunately he knows it and will even tell Kirk after his bath that he wants to go see mommy because I will tell him that he is handsome :) In this picture he's in my huge bed rest chair on loan to me from Corey and Kristy for the duration of my bed rest. Unfortunately, Caleb loves it just a bit too much!

5 Months (23 Weeks)

"Research shows that triplets require 200 hours of work a week. That's 30 hours more than there are in a week." Direct quote from Discovery Health's show Baby Baby. Oh great, as if I didn't already think we were in enough trouble!!

I am now officially 5 months pregnant. I guess that's a good thing :) The girls are kicking quite a bit but not all the time. They definitely have their active periods which is kind of neat. I'm exhausted but not as exhausted as I will be when they're actually here.

Caleb enjoys talking to his sisters. Well, today he was yelling at them :) One of them was pushing up and he was telling her to get back in there! I have a feeling he'll share the same sentiment when they come out.

Bed rest is awful. TV gets old believe it or not. I feel like I'm just hanging around waiting for something to happen and it's only just begun. All your prayers are appreciated.

22 Weeks

We are 2 weeks from viable! Lord willing we will go much farther than that but it's exciting to know that we're getting close to the point where all the babies could survive. Keep praying with us that they stay in longer no matter how much I complain about it!

We still have no middle names for Julianna and Abigail. We're still working on it and we'll let you know when we have made a decision :) Of course, baby names are always subject to change until those birth certificates are signed. I mean one of them could still be a boy right? :)

I've spent the last week trying to be on bed rest and it's a huge pain in the neck. Literally. It's harder and more painful than I would have expected. I thought it would be fun for a week or so to just have to relax but my belly keeps getting in the way. Kaitlyn and Caleb are a little confused about the whole thing - esepcially the fact that I can't go up and down the stairs anymore but they're doing well. Allyson and Julia come over and keep them occupied during the day. The four of them together get along really well and are doing great! They are constantly playing silly pretend games but it's adorable.

Right now I'm watching a Discovery Health Channel show (yes, I do like that channel!) on triplets. Three couples having triplets. Seems the average time in the hospital for these couples is just about 2 weeks which isn't too bad. We can pray for that! An interesting statistic that only about 10 to 20% of triplets gets beyond the 34 to 35 week mark - that would put us at very early November. And don't forget - Caleb's 3rd birthday on November 10th - marks my 35th week. It will be fun to find out whether or not he'll be 3 or not when his sisters are born.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayer and support. We look forward to sharing all these girls with you!

And the sonographer was...

Correct :) We are having 3 girls. The sonographer we saw today has been doing these scans for something like 15 years and she has promised us that there are no boy parts in there. Oh well, I kind of hoped that maybe they were wrong about one of them but we are still excited to have 3 new baby girls!

We'd like to introduce:

Baby A: Julianna

Baby B: Abigail

Baby C: Rachel Gabrielle


Sorry there's not a clearer picture of Rachel, but she wasn't as "cooperative" as her sisters. Could she already be developing a personality?

Names are subject to change especially since I'm so picky and worry if I've picked the right one up until the last moment! We have no middle names for Julianna or Abigail but hopefully we will soon.

All the babies look good. Baby C did not seem to have any signs of Down Syndrome, however, baby B had a slight enlargement of the fluid in one of her kidneys which increases her risk for Down Syndrome. Her previous testing showed a very, very slight chance (1 in 494 to be exact) so this just make it a tad more likely but really not much. Our only option would be an amnio and we'd rather not do that so we'll just pray that they are all healthy unless the Lord wills otherwise and we will praise Him for what we have received!

The doctor I saw today said I should be on bed rest now but her version didn't seem quite as strict. Hard to tell. I guess I'll just ease myself into it but I really need to rest more which is hard! I imagine the larger I get the more I'll stay put in bed myself :)

My next appt. is August 30th and we'll have more scans to monitor the babies growth. They'll also be watching Baby B's kidneys to see if there's any more reason for concern.

19/20 Weeks

I'm a little late for 19 weeks and 2 days early for 20 weeks but I'm sure you'll undertand. The triplets seems to be doing really well. They are all kicking at one point or another though at this time it's hard to distinguish one from the other. Well, I can tell when it's baby A because she kicks me at the bottom of my abdomen but baby B and C both are kicking me on top and it's hard to tell who is who.

I also wanted to add another picture. I think I look a little bigger than 3 weeks ago. Hopefully that means things are going well and the babies are growing! I'll write again on August 2nd after our Level II sonogram. We will have them check the sexes again and we should get some new sonogram pictures to post as well.


Not to leave anyone out we want to share a few pictures of Kaitlyn's 6th birthday. We had a carnival party and all the kids seemed to have a great time. The triplets are going to have a great big sister!! (Brother too).





The kitten Kaitlyn is holding is our birthday gift to her. His name is Lollipop and he is fitting in the family really well. We all think he is fun and adorable and we couldn't have asked for an easier going cat. He will be my bed rest buddy!

Kaitlyn is standing on a ladder in front of one of the "carnival" games. We set up 5 around the yard and the kids collected tickets for a load of great prizes. Thanks to all who helped. It was great!

18 Weeks and Triplet Shock!

At 18 weeks the babies are doing really well. We went for an appt. yesterday and all 3 babies looked really good. For that we are really thankful.

We were able to find out the sexes and to say the least we are very shocked! The sonographer was 100% sure about baby A and B and about 90% sure about baby C. Are you ready for a shock? They are all girls! Yep, all 3 of them are girls. I truly expected all boys because Kirk's family history is all boys. I thought that Kaitlyn was just a gift that the Lord snuck in there. I never once imagined that it was actually Caleb!! I am a bit disappointed for Caleb. I truly hoped that he would have a brother and Kaitlyn a sister. I am kind of hoping that the sonographer was wrong about baby C and maybe it's still a boy. We won't see them again until August 2nd and we'll have them check again - all 3 again just to be sure.

Just a note - Kirk is doing really well with the news. I'm the one that's more disappointed that I won't be having another boy. Kirk feels like now Caleb won't get lost in the shuffle being the only boy. Kaitlyn is excited but she feels bad that her brother won't have a brother so she and I are praying that baby C is in fact a boy :)

No, we have no names. This was just so unexpected that we have no idea where to go from here!
Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

Thank You!

As you can see from this picture we have brought something huge back with us from Florida. The babies are still in there - it's the stroller :) Isn't it massive??

A very special thank you go out to Tom and Regina who's 4 year old triplets are now too big for this stroller but have generously passed it on. We are thankful for them and the way the Lord has provided one of the biggest items necessary for this many babies.


We also wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who worked so hard on our house while we were gone. It looks so clean and amazing. I can't wait until it's all in place!! We praise God for the generosity of all of those at Grace church and look forward to spending more time with everyone in the future as well as sharing this crazy experience of triplets with you all!!

July 4th

Happy 4th of July!! We are here on our last day in Florida :( We will surely miss Grandma and Grandpa but we have had a wonderful time. We have spent lots of time in the pool and the last 2 days we've gotten to see a lot of fireworks. Today, Kaitlyn loved the sparklers and Caleb loved the little things that pop when you throw them on the ground. He did NOT like the sparklers except when mom was holding them for him - then he dictated what I should write in the sky.

As for the baby's they are still giving me grief. Daily life is difficult and in the mornings I have trouble with a rapid heartbeat and feeling faint. Fortunately, it goes away by lunch. On a neat note, we were able to feel all the babies last Friday. They weren't kicking (well, I'm sure they were but I couldn't feel it) but we could feel a head or spine of each of the 3 babies in different places. It was pretty neat. I do think I've felt them kick though not on a regular basis. I imagine that will happen soon enough.

16 Weeks

Okay, so I'm a day early on the weekly post but you'll get over it :) Kirk finally took a picture of me and the basketball underneath my shirt!


Here's some pictures of the kids in the pool on vacation. We're having a great time and the kids are having fun in the pool. Kaitlyn has learned to swim without any type of floatation device and is now going under water on her own too! She's doing great. Caleb is learning to swim with just his swimsuit (which has floatation stuff in it) and a noodle. They both go in for hours every day!!

Pre-Travel Check

Went in today for a cervical and baby check-up and everything looks good. My cervix is closed making travel safe (praise God!!) and they found all 3 babies and all their heartbeats :) Yea! No idea about the sexes yet but baby A and C had fast heartrates and baby B was a bit slower. They say fast is girls and slower is boys so we'll see if that holds up. It did for Kaitlyn and Caleb so any guesses anybody??

I have another check-up like this on July 12th and then my big sonogram is scheduled for August 2nd - that's when we'll know how the babies are doing and find out the sexes (provided none of them are shy!).

Keep us in your prayers as we travel and I will get more pictures up soon.

14 1/2 weeks

Sorry I forgot to post last week - I'm trying to keep up every week but I get behind :) Short note today because I'm going to the doctor tomorrow before we travel to Florida. They are going to check the babies and my cervix to make sure nothing is going wrong. I guess if it is I'm stuck here but if everything is fine we will be heading out tomorrow night. Yea!!

We'll also post some pictures soon of my growing tummy. Yikes, I can't imagine what this will be like at the end! But we should also get a few fun ones from Florida. I'll leave that part up to Kirk.

I'll write tomorrow and let everyone know how the appt. went.

13 Weeks

Today is 13 weeks into my triplet pregnancy. I still feel all the first trimester symptoms that I hate - the nausea and exhaustion but I also feel quite large. I will post a picture of me and everyone can see how large I already am! I just can't imagine getting bigger but obviously that is inevitable.

So far, things still seem good as I am officially done with the first trimester and moving into the second. We are praying that all 3 babies do well.

Four more weeks till our next visit - I certainly feel that a lot of my life is now counting down from visit to visit! Hopefully when I can feel them move it won't be as hard to wait. At our next visit they will take a look at my cervix and if it's starting to open they will still be able to stitch it closed. I am really hoping that does not happen because I believe if it does I'm on bed rest from that point and I'm not ready for that!! (Otherwise, it's bed rest at 24 weeks)

12 week sonogram pictures

Here's Scans of the sonograms from the 12 week checkup.

Baby A:




Baby B:




Baby C:




And All 3:

Introduction

I am currently 12 weeks pregnant with triplets :) In a "normal" pregnancy I would be out of the danger zone now but as this is a higher risk pregnancy (not my term!) I'm basically never out of the danger zone. I was given a 20% chance of a total miscarriage before 24 weeks. I have no idea if that risk is reduced now that we've seen the babies so many times and they look good. I imagine it has but who knows?

First Post

This is to simply setup the blog

-kirk