Best Laid Plans

When it takes awhile to achieve pregnancy, you've been dreaming of what it will be like for a long time and whether you've actually put it all in writing or not, you've been planning. I can guarantee, when I saw that positive test for the first time there was a plan in action. It started with simple things like eating clean and making sure I wasn't using products that I didn't trust on or around my body. One of the things you learn as you face reproductive challenges is a lot of the chemicals in our world today have been linked to such problems and the last thing you want to start your baby off with is the same challenges you've just overcome. Then it was gearing up to see MY obstetrician/gynecologist (the one I've known for years and trust). Then we found out there were three and this is where it started to get a little muddy and I realized that the plan is probably not going to go flawlessly just because I've been devising it for years.

MY OB doesn't do triplets because the hospital she delivers at doesn't have a Level III NICU.....wait a second, my babies are going to taken to NICU?, I might not get to hold them and cuddle them and take care of them from the start? This was a hard realization, this pregnancy was not going to be normal, this pregnancy was quite likely not going to go according to my plan and the delivery was certainly not going to be what I expected.  After my second visit with the high risk docs (perinatologists) today, I have learned that whether or not my plans are in action, I'm in good hands because they've helped revise the plans of hundreds of women whose plot has taken a serious twist.  We are excited for our three babies to enter this world, but the journey to get them here safe is a little bit more of a climb that what we had planned for.

Plot twists to date:

• I planned a nice all natural pregnancy. I've already gotten loaded up on painkillers while neglecting my prenatals during my little stint in the hospital. (This part of the plan is back on track!)
• I planned to waddle my way through my classroom right up until the day my water broke, every minute of that maternity leave I'd saved up was there for me to spend with my babies. I will probably be done working by 30 weeks if not 24 (earlier than that is even possible, but I just can't face that yet.)
• I planned to have a Natural Unmedicated Birth. I will be having a Cesarean birth to quote one of my docs "You do realize these babies are coming out up above not down below, right?" in response to my question about the possibility of at least having a vaginal delivery. 
• I planned to start breast feeding immediately following delivery. I will be lucky if I get to see my babes before they are whisked away from me and there's a good chance I'll have a very close relationship with the hospital breast pump while I wait for the babies to be ready to be part of the process. 
• I planned to  exclusively breast feed. I'm pretty sure that there aren't enough hours in the day to keep all three babies fully fed without a little help from some formula supplements and someone else's arms. 

So the plans are changing and we're rolling with the punches, because the most important plan is in action: Our babies are growing and healthy with perfect heartbeats that tell me right now they're in charge of the plan, not me. 

We got a shout out!

Thanks to our friend Mandy of DakotaWomen for finding our little adventure interesting enough to share with their blogging circle of progressive women of the Upper Midwest. This is certainly no reality TV gig, and trust me there most definitely won't be one. I think it will be enough of a challenge figuring out how to handle the balancing act that is three infants without cameras in tow, but it is fun to share our story and Mandy did so beautifully!

http://dakotawomen.com/2011/07/25/triple-your-pleasure-triple-your-fun/

Accepting Stillness (among other things)

Anyone who knows me knows I don't spend a lot of my days unplanned, relaxing on the couch. I tend to overdo, overextend and over "yes" myself. Guess what? My body says that's not happening anymore. I'm learning to be still. Growing triplets apparently takes a lot of energy and if I don't give them enough energy, I feel really crappy and land myself in the hospital. They take what they need and leave mom hanging! In the summer, I usually work 2 or 3 days a week at some odd jobs, leaving the other two or three to keep my house clean, run errands, and work in my garden. This usually still leaves plenty of time for lunches with friends, playing in my art studio, yoga, walks with Jovian and lots of other summer fun. This summer I work 2 or 3 days a week at odd jobs and my house is a giant dust bomb, I rarely make a real meal (don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm not fitting in all my calories and fattening those babies up), and the weeds are certainly winning in the garden, because I nap and read and nap some more. I'm learning to accept that this is all OK right now, I have babies to grow and that is where the energy belongs. Tomorrow, I'll be 15 weeks which means we have 20 weeks to go to our goal date. Hopefully accepting stillness will get me there

P.S. Thanks for all the well wishes while I was in the hospital, being home is a much better place and I'm counting on that little stint in the hospital as time served, that means 5 less days in the hospital at the end right?!

50 years of worry ahead of you...

So we do have a few answers and maybe a ticket out of the hospital tonight, although I'm not counting on it until I get it, but right when I felt like we were getting to the bottom of things babies decided to send out a distress signal and send mama off worrying. Well, we've since gotten an u/s and it looks like the babies are still doing just fine. One of them is measuring 13 weeks 3 days, one 13 weeks 6 days and the other 14 weeks. Their heartbeats are 154, 160 and 163. All good as we are 13 weeks 4 days. When I called my mom to give her the update that all is looking good, but "I don't know if I can handle all the worry for the next 20 or so weeks" my mom responded quite wisely: "You think it ends there. You're going to be a parent, you have 50 years of worry in front of you, what do you think I was doing all day today waiting for your update?" She's very right, there will always be something to worry about, but I have to remember there will also always be something to be proud of, always be something to laugh about, always be something to be excited about to hug and  to hold onto. These babies bring plenty of worry, but a whole lot more love and excitement that make every worry worth it! Now no more distress signals little ones, mama needs a little break!

Oh don't I wish I knew!

So after almost 5 days in the hospital we are still waiting for answers so the answer to what brings me here today is: "Oh don't I wish I knew!" On Friday I had a lovely day taking an art class at the Minnesota Center for Books Arts and was really excited about all the new ideas I had to take away but about a half hour before the class was about to be done I started to get really uncomfortable and think, "well sitting on a stool all day hunched over with three little buggers growing inside is probably the cause, so I cut out a few minutes early figuring I'd feel better once I got moving, well the car ride home proved to be even more uncomfortable and suddenly discomfort became pain which became vomiting (thanks Marty for cleaning out my car and Monica for doing my laundry) so off to the ER we headed to get to the bottom of this. Well, since then we've heard about kidney stones and ovarian torsion and hyperstimulation and gall bladder problems. Problem is that none of these things were showing up on any tests to it seemed my pain was a bit better and home we went Saturday afternoon...for about 3 hours before we were heading back with the same double me over side pain that started this all in the first place. The one thing we do know is that the babies are OK! What's wrong with mom, well that is still a mystery so here I sit with my trusty IV and wait for someone to solve our little puzzle. There was a whole team meeting over our case today so I'm hoping that means that the doctor on rounds comes with a teams worth of answers to make up for the very answerless week we've had so far. Hospital rooms certainly seem like they shrink with the increasing number of minutes you spend in them.