1. How did you find out? I went in for my first sonogram at 7 weeks (August 31, 2006 - I remember the day well!) and was laying on the table. As the lady did the sonogram I could clearly see 2 sacs and she quicky pointed out the two heartbeats. Then she got very quiet, but I was taking in the news of twins, so I didn't ask anything else. She excused herself to get the doctor, saying "They always like to come in for this part." Yeah, right. She returned alone a few minutes later saying he was busy, and she guessed she'd have to tell me herself. She went back to the sonogram machine and pointed out the third heartbeat up in the corner, barely visible, but there!
2. How did Greg find out? Greg was out of town (at the police academy!), so I left him a voicemail. Yes, a voicemail. He spent most of the day thinking it was a joke. :)
3. How much did you eat? For the last month or two, this was my typical day's menu: Breakfast - 2 eggs w/ bacon and cheese, 2 waffles, glass of milk, glass of juice. Morning snack - applesauce w/ vanilla wafers, dried mangoes. Lunch - Full meal (meat, veggie or fruit, bread) and glass of milk. Afternoon snack - yogurt, crackers, juice, dried mangoes. Dinner - full meal and glass of milk. Bedtime snack - sandwich and chips, dried mangoes. Midnight snack - peanut butter and crackers, dried mangoes. Now when I say full meal, I'm talking portion sizes like Greg would eat or more - not like I used to eat. And I drank about 10 glasses or more of water every day (and near the end had to use the restroom almost every 30 minutes!). Sometimes I'd have two midnight snacks! I gained 60 pounds. I had to drink so much water and eat protein throughout the day to prevent contractions.
4. Any reterm labor? My first hospital visit was at 22 weeks; I went in for dehydration (had a stomach virus) which turned into contractions every 2 minutes! We had gone to the closest hospital, which wasn't equipped for triplets, but they treated me and then told me never to come back. Seriously! I was hospitalzed again at 24 weeks, this time for almost a week. This time I was on Magnesium to try to stop the contractions. Magnesium has some wonderful side effects - the one that effected me the most is that you get very very hot. I had on a hospital gown w/ a sheet over my abdomen, but my legs sticking out. Asked the nurses to turn the A/C down as cold as it would go, plus had a large box fan blowing directly at my face. And I was still hot!! Greg came to spend the night and slept fully clothed, with his heavy jacket and shoes on (it was December) and sheets and multiple blankets, and he was still cold! Also, you cannot get up out of bed while on Magnesium because it makes you dizzy. But it works - so that's all that really matters! I went home and was put on an oral medication and a pump medication (given through my leg) to control contractions; I also had to put on a contraction monitor twice a day and send in the results. 2-3 more hospital stays, just for a few hours to a night... Then at 28 weeks I was hospitalized for a weekend, on Magnesium again. Sent home on the pump and oral meds, still having lots of contractions, but they weren't doing anything to progress toward labor, they were just there. This is very typical with a multiples pregnancy. I was already full term size by now and everything was so stretched. At 31 weeks 6 days I woke up and just felt different. I was having more contractions that I acutally felt, and it was just different. I had an appointment with the high risk doctor, and he sent me to the hospital and that night at 7:02 and 7:03 and 7:03 the girls were born! :)
5. The girls were born 2 months early - what problems did they have? Because I had early contractions, I received 2 rounds of steroid shots to develop the triplets' lungs. The first at 24 weeks, the second at 28 weeks. Also, having multiples is a stressful pregnancy (not just on me, but on the babies too!). When babies are stressed in the womb, they tend to mature and develop quicker than a singleton baby. Guess it's nature's way of getting them ready to come out early. Plus they were girls, and girls tend to be a little ahead of boys especially in lung developement. They weighted 3 lb 15 oz, 3-14, and 4-2. They were all on a c-pap to help them breathe for couple days, Melissa a day or two longer; then they were on nasal canulas for a few days after that. But they were breathing on their own. They had feeding tubes for about 2-3 weeks. Babies don't develop a sucking reflex until about 34 weeks. So they had to learn to drink from a bottle. The girls had apnea spells - where they stop breathing, because their bodies just weren't ready to manage everything on their own yet. But all of these things are very normal for babies born at this stage. Claire had a heart murmur which indicated a PDA - a valve that normally closes on it's own in a full term newborn. Hers was corrected with medication. After a few weeks they outgrew all of that. Their bodies began to regulate body temperature and the girls were moved out of their isolettes to one large crib. Then they just had to feed and grow. They were born on February 22 (due date was April 20); Melissa came home on March 28, Claire on March 30, and Amanda on April 4. They all weighed around 6 pounds when they came home.
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