My Three Sons!

That's it for today...I'll get pics of the ultrasounds and share the details tomorrow, but I had to share our big news!

Spare me the judgment...

It's funny, I know I'm just as bad and I've done it too, but seriously I'm pregnant, that did not somehow turn my body into community property. Here are just a few anecdotes of the words (or looks) of advice that I've experienced since the world could tell I was pregnant. These all involve food/drink, but I could share plenty of other stories about the things people think it's ok to "teach" a pregnant woman.

At first I found it kind of funny. My husband has a serious Diet Mountain Dew habit and a couple of weeks ago (about the same time that strangers started asking me when I was due) I was picking him up some on the way home and I was amazed at the looks I got as I brought it to the cashier, you would seriously think I had bellied up to the bar and ordered a dirty martini. It's funny that to me that they couldn't fathom that maybe it wasn't for me or that if it was, it's my choice, but still funny.

My next incident (and this one irritated me) was at a coffee shop and it was the other extreme. I saw a blendy coffee drink in the window as I was walking up to the door and thought ooooh, I want something like that, but without the coffee. So I go up to the counter and I ask if they have anything that's like the icy drinks, but without coffee and the woman responds (and this is with a voice that I wish I could represent better in writing) "well we have decaf." To which I reply, but I'm not drinking coffee at all and I would like something besides a fruit smoothy like this other coffee place has a drink that has vanilla beans, milk and ice blended." Instead of sharing their options, which I did finally find out they had, she responds (in that same snarky voice) "it's not like you can't drink decaf when you're pregnant."

My most recent incident, funny enough came from a fellow pregnant lady. I was at a grocery store for the express purpose of a specific sushi roll (pretty much all of my cravings involve some sort of Asian food-different county every day, but always on that continent) they have in their deli. I picked up the package and was very excited to dig in, when the pregnant woman standing next to me, says, "you know, you can't eat that." As you have all figured out by now, I'm pretty well researched and know what is and isn't on the list and there are a few sushi rolls that are allowed because they don't contain raw fish they contain fish/shellfish that has been cooked and then cooled. Not to mention, I do think we are a little overprotective when it comes to certain things in the U.S.-I can't imagine Japanese women in Japan stop eating sushi or French women in France give up their brie-but that's beside the point, because I truly wasn't breaking any of our overprotective American standards. So I responded, "this sushi doesn't contain raw fish so it's ok, I'm sorry your doctor didn't give you the whole story" and I happily walked away with my sushi and devoured it in the car. Guess what, me and the babes are all still just fine!

Super cute baby bums!

So as I said in my last post, we are planning to cloth diaper (or I am and my husband has to live with my choices sometimes) so this belly (19 weeks for those who are counting)

I'm certain contains the three cutest little baby bums ever grown and of course that means making sure they are contained in the cutest way possible! This, of course, is not why we're cloth diapering, but after I finished sewing my first of many diaper covers I couldn't help but imagine how adorable their little bums are going to be. So here it is, the first with some of the fabrics I'm using next.

 

Happy Sunday, I couldn't help but show them off!  

HELP!

Well I really shouldn't have "yelled" that since it's not at all urgent, but that seems to be the question everyone is asking, "What can we do to help?" and we are glad you are all asking, because I'm sure we'll be needing it as time goes on...For right now, I'm feeling good and pretty normal (aside from the big belly with babies trying to escape through my skin), but there are certainly things that will come up I'm sure as time goes on. I'm very independent and like to be busy so it's hard for me to ask for help, but I'm becoming aware very quickly that there is only so much a girl growing triplets can do in one day. So here are a few answers to the question "What can we do to help?"

• Hand-me-downs:  the answer is "yes." We are all about the hand-me-downs and if you have something to share or see something at a thrift sale we'd be more than happy to put it to good use with our little crew. You can check out our registry (Target, Babies R Us, and Amazon)  and see what we've got on there and if you've got the same thing (not the same design necessarily, but the same product--a swing is a swing in my book) in good condition we'll be more than happy to cross it off the registry list and reuse instead! The amount of new plastic/metal/fabric involved in all that baby gear kind of makes me cringe so even though we are more than happy to accept the new stuff, if it's reused, it would help my conscience out a bit! (That even means if you are invited to a shower, I would by no means be offended to open a used version of what you've found on our registries) 
• Diapers-A couple of people have asked about a "diaper drive" (which is a new term to me) and we are certainly going to use a few diapers in our time, but if you haven't already gathered from my earlier posts I'm going to be very picky about what touches our little ones' skin and I'm certainly very product conscious in connection to the environment and chemicals involved. We intend to use cloth with a prefold and cover system as much as possible, but are aware if we have to leave the house with three little ones this might not work out for us so from my research I've chosen Earth's Best and Seventh Generation products as disposable ones that we'll use in a pinch. As for the cloth, the covers I'm making along with a couple of other great seamstresses in my life so we should have those taken care of! So what we could use is prefold diapers in various sizes (these are basically the good old Gerbers that everybody calls burp cloths these days). I've put a couple of different brands of these on our amazon registry so you can check that out for an idea of what they are, but they can be found at lots of different stores. 
• Food-We have a friend that will be starting up a calendar of people who would like to bring us meals sometime after school starts when I hit my wall and can't come home and take care of that, too anymore. (I know, I know, you're all wondering where my husband is in this...he doesn't cook, he has tried, but it is an adventure in the kitchen that may not be equaled, so if we're going to feed me and  the babies anything other than frozen pizza, we could use some help in this area) I'm sure she'll send out a link to the calendar to those whose e-mails we have and if you would like to be a part of it and I don't have your contact info you can send me a message. 
• Chicco carseats-This is a maybe, but depending on how big our babies are and how healthy they are when they arrive we may be able to bring them home from the hospital before they are quite big enough for the carseats that we've chosen. Since we have to get three at once doing it as infants and then again as 1 year olds seemed to be a daunting expense so we decided to go with convertibles that work from 5 lbs. It's possible our babies could be released from the hospital before they reach 5 lbs (which is really scary to me, but something I have to admit) so if that were to happen, we were hoping to find carseats that we could borrow for the first couple of weeks before they reach that 5 lb mark and the trick is that since we aren't going to go to mini van or station wagon land until after we've survived without my paycheck for a while this year, we have to get ones that will fit 3 across in our current cars and it seems that the Chicco Keyfits fit the criteria of a 4 lb minimum and room for three across. Like I said this is a maybe, since I dream of bigger babies, but if you have one that is not in use and would let us know so we know who to turn to in case this scenario were to unfold it would be great to know. It would break my heart to have our babies stuck at the hospital when they are perfectly healthy if they are only a different car seat away from getting home. 

For now that's all I can really think of, I'm sure there will be other things that will help as I get larger and more immobile and definitely once the babes are here, but for now getting geared up is probably our number one concern and, depending on how I feel after school starts, a meal here and there will certainly help out, too. Thanks for all the offers for help and hopefully this helps in answering that question! 

Making their presence known!

This has been another quiet week in pregnancy land. I've been feeling good and laying low, just trying to enjoy the quiet before school gets started! The babies are all officially moving so that I can feel them now which is pretty exciting. Only one of them is making enough of a stir for Marty to feel him. He bulges his little but out every now and then which I find funny it's like he's trying to escape his siblings already. This is the one that on the very first ultrasound was tucked way up in a corner and hard to find. He's our little rebel trying to get away. He's going to get the biggest squeezes when he comes out for real, because if I've learned anything from teaching, it's that those tough, independent ones need the hugs the most!  The other two are still pretty chill for the most part, but they give me a flutter here and there just so I know that they are there, too! 

Other big news this week is a NEW KING BED which I can't wait to sleep in tonight! Marty's kind of been relegated to the couch as more and more pillows (including the now essential full body pregnancy pillow) have become a part of my night time routine. It was definitely time for us to move on from the little full size bed that we've been in for far too long. This also means that, with the movement of  the new big bed into our room, we actually have a real bed in our spare bedroom for the visitors and helpers that will be a big part of our lives after our trio arrive! 

Big News today!

Boys and girls, we've got a boy, a boy and a wouldn't cooperate! Hopefully on the 23rd we'll get to know that one for sure too. The ultrasound tech guessed boy for that one too, but the umbilical cord was right where the girl or boy parts are so we couldn't be certain that it was really the goods or the cord! They didn't print any pics today so you'll have to wait a couple weeks to see a glimpse of our wiggly ones, but their heart rates are all good and I'm feeling much better, too. We're going to give that registry a shot again tonight, too! It's going to be harder not to start buying now that we now what's in there...almost.

I spoke too soon..

Apparently I should have knocked on wood after I wrote that post about our "uneventful week" in pregnancy land as the last 24 have not been that...

So R and I were off to register for the little munchkins and I wasn't feeling my best, but nothing too strange just a little sore back. Well, that sore back got progressively worse as we managed to register for bottles, breast feeding supplies, and a bathtub...that's as far as we made it before that oh too familiar pain that sent me to the hospital a couple of weeks ago crept in and then the hot flash and then the mad dash for the Babies R Us bathroom. So much for our morning of fun zapping all the cute little goodies for our babies. The good side is since I knew what it was this time, I got to weigh the need for pain management against the side effects of pain management so I called the perinatologist on call and she agreed it was ok for me to rest through it at home as long as the pain didn't get worse so yesterday became a day of rest and I'm feeling much better today, but still worn out since eating is not very appealing when I go through these spells so the babies get all the nutrients I can muster and I get stuck with the leftovers.

While resting I've created a little "Ode to my Ovaries"

My dear ovaries, we are so grateful you decided to kick it into high gear and do your job once and for all, 
in fact you did better than we ever could have hoped! 
I'd really be ever so much more grateful if you faded into the background now that you are done. 
We are granting you a very long vacation,
Make that retirement, you did your job so well you are simply no longer needed and it's time for you to rest! 

Any of my music teacher friends who are following along, you can feel free to let me know if I failed at the requirements of an "ode." At any rate, they do seem to be listening and calming back down so I'm hoping to avoid a hospital stay this time around and hoping that the hyperstimulation is soon a thing of the past. I'd really like to focus on the growing babies instead of fertility treatment leftovers!

In better news, we have another appointment tomorrow so I get to see the little beaners again and am hoping for a great report that points me towards starting the school year off without any restrictions....

17 weeks

This has been a quiet week in pregnancy land, aside from the fact that I keep getting bigger (rapidly) there's not a whole lot going on! We had our last getaway for the foreseeable future going up North with Marty's family to a cabin which was a really nice relaxing time. I also got to see my aunt and uncle and their boys who live in that direction as well. The car ride proved to be a bit much on the hips and the back though so, like I said, last get away for a while!

Here's a shot of Marty's favorite find from our trip:

I also attended my first Moms of Multiples meeting this week which I have to say was completely overwhelming---I guess our life is going to change and stuff, but by the end my head was swimming so I didn't really come away with anything practical except the name of THE pediatrician I apparently want for our trio. They are amazing, supportive women though and now that the shock has worn off I'm sure future meetings will leave me in less of a cloud!

Today, I'm off to register with one of my best friends which I'm sure will be another overwhelming task...I usually make it about 5 steps into Babies R Us before I get completely overwhelmed and walk back out the door empty handed and go buy whatever a friend had on their Target registry instead. This time I apparently have to stick it out since rumor has it our house isn't quite baby ready yet!

With that I leave you with the 17 week belly: