11 weeks



Here they are, the stars of our show!

 

 

 

Here's what babycenter says: 

How your baby's growing:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.
She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-11-weeks_1100.bc

 

But lucky us, we don't have to rely on babycenter's generic update, because yesterday, we got to visit with the C Triplets up close and personal.  Woohoo!

 

We started out with Dr. Haeri, the MFM.  I LOVE HIM.  I cannot say how much better it makes me feel just to know this man is on our team.  Incredible, incredible appointment.

 

First, we met with the sonographer, who did a very detailed examination of each baby.  We saw their stomachs, bladders, legs and feet, arms and hands, hemispheres of the brain, and spines.  One of the main purposes of the appointment was to measure the back of the babies' necks, the nuchal fold, to see if it was at all enlarged-- all three had PERFECT 1 mm measurements.  All three also had nasal bones present-- absent nasal bones can be a marker of chromosomal abnormalities.

 

The ultrasound took a long, long time and the sonographer (I really wish I remembered her name, but I don't) told us this would be the shortest one we had.  I've heard twin moms complain about how uncomfortable the ultrasound is, but I'd never appreciated why.  It's hard to be flat on your back for well over all hour while they mash around on your uterus.  And this was without much additional weight.  Add another 40 pounds or so and I can see how it would be awful!

 

The babies looked so amazingly cool, by the way.  Even from the second she just rested the ultrasound thingee (I need to learn the name of that thing!) on my abdomen, we could see all three, just kicking and squirming like crazy in there.  Three completely formed little people.  So wild!  She never told us how they were measuring, but I'm pretty sure I saw 11w3d on each of them when she did the crown-to-rump length.  Looking good!

 

Here are the close-up pics we got:

 

 

Triplet A:

Triplet B:

Triplet C:

So then the FABULOUS Dr. Haeri came in to go over the results with us.  He said that the babies look perfect right now, and that, if it were him making the decision, he would not take even the slight risk of doing CVS when they look so good.  M agreed, so HOORAY!  No CVS!!  I was *dreading* it, so even that news alone made me pretty danged happy.

We went on to talk about all kinds of other things-- many of the same risks we talked about with Dr. Carpenter.  Dr. Haeri said that my being in shape from the get-go is the best gift I could have given him in terms of my care, so that's good.  We will closely monitor both the babies and me-- he said to expect growth assessments (ultrasounds) every 4 weeks, unless something starts to be concerning-- then they'd be more often.  He asked that I get tested for gestational diabetes now (hooray for glucola!  blech!) and then again at the normal 24-26 week timeframe, since if I'm going to get GD, it will be either now or then.  He also recommended I start taking a magnesium/calcium/zinc supplement, which can help prevent pre-term labor.  Will do!

He was enthusiastically supportive of our plans to deliver in Houston.  He still has privileges at Texas Children's, so he said it would be a snap to get all of my information set up there.  He asked me which OB I wanted to see and I said that I'd like to go to Dr. Dryden, but I knew that was unlikely and would require me to beg, since she's very, very busy.  "Damla?  She's a sweetheart!  And a fellow Turk.  No problem-- I'll talk to her and you're in."  Well, ok then!

I also told him he'd think I was crazy, but I'd like to try a vaginal delivery.  "That's not crazy!  Vaginal?  Great!  Do it!"  I have no idea how I lucked into this amazing doctor, but I am so, so thankful.  I left just feeling giddy and reenergized about this whole crazy pregnancy.  We can do this.

Rick and I grabbed lunch at Chipolte and then headed back to the hospital for appointment #2, with Dr. Uribe.  I did not expect the wait to be as bad this time, but it was worse.  75 minutes in the waiting room and then another hour or so in the exam room.  Awful.  The actual appointment was about 5-10 minutes long and very routine.  Highlight was getting pics of all three babies together, since we hadn't gotten those downstairs with Dr. Haeri.  This is likely the last time we'll fit all three in one frame!

My favorite of the three is at the top of the post, but here are the other ones we got:

 

And then, after about five hours of doctor's appointments, we were done.  Just barely in time to go pick up Mariela from school.  Exhausting day-- I won't purposefully schedule two appointments together like that again.  Our next appointments are May 24 with Dr. Uribe and June 7 with Dr. Haeri (for the anatomical survey).

 

So... Thursday was definitely the most eventful day of the week.  Other than that, not much going on.  I still have not gained weight.  This week I weighed 159.8, up 0.2 from last week- ha!  At least I have some assurance that the babies are growing appropriately.  The weight gain will come.  I do think I'm eating better since stopping the progesterone.

 

That's probably enough for now.  Today is M's 37th birthday.  The year he will become a father of 4!  That is just still so wild to imagine.  Crazy, crazy ride we're on.