I alluded to my friend Marie’s second baby shower last Sunday in my 17 week post. I have been meaning to talk about it all week. I just have to share photos of the fabulous decorations Laura & Ashley did! Marie is having a surprise baby, so the hostesses decorated in green, silver & white.
Perfect Sprinkle Decorations
I ended up being the lucky winner of the guess ‘how many jelly beans in the bottle’ game after I super over-guessed & they let me vote again~ exactly 217 jellys! Those Gigis cupcakes were amazing as was the delicious food Laura & Ashley made! Thankfully Laura pinned the punch & buffalo chicken recipes~ I can’t wait to try those on my own.
Suz {at 17 weeks} & Marie {at 33.5 weeks}
So happy for my friend Marie ~ can’t wait to find out if baby J 2.0 a boy or girl in just a few weeks!
I was told this week to put sleep & resting before blogging. With family in town & that crazy awesome NCSU win Saturday, this post is a couple days late. I didn’t take a weekly photo Saturday but shot these two before putting on pjs Sunday evening. I’ll go back to a in-jeans photo this week.
Ignore the squints & no make up & bad hair please.
How far along? Eight weeks Saturday so 8w2d today.
Maternity Clothes? Not quite yet, but soon. I ordered a BeBand from Target online & it arrived Saturday. I think I’ll be wearing pants unzipped with that soon.
Weight Gain? I weighed myself {eekkk!} last week & will do it again this week. Been trying to eat a lot so maybe some gain.
Stretch Marks? No.
Sleep? Now that I’ve been following Dr. Luke’s Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads book & eating every two hours, I sleep better since I don’t wake up hungry/feeling sick in the middle of the night.
Movement? Not yet.
Genders? {I updated it to Genders!} We hope & pray for healthy babies first & foremost. But I’d love to have boy/girl combos.
What I Miss? Not much this week. Just feeling thankful.
Symptoms? Hungry, sore boobs, tired, & my lower belly is definitely hard/bigger at the end of the day.
What I’m Looking Forward to? I’ve been released from the RE & am supposed to hear from my new MFM practice soon to set up an appt. I’m looking forward to meeting the team of doctors who will help me bring these trips into the world. Also looking forward to eating the heck out of Thanksgiving!
Weekly Wisdom? If you find a book that has worked for other friends with multiples & makes sense to you, read it & go with it. Also great to have family read it so they’re on board. Mom read half of it this weekend then helped me be sure to eat enough of the right things often. Oh & on that note, when people offer to help, take them up on it! My mom helped me clean & organize this weekend then yesterday she & my aunt helped me make two casseroles into 6 frozen dinners.
Milestones? My former blueberries are now lentil beans with hands & feet with webbed fingers & toes & eyelids!
Saturday morning at 445a I woke up to use the bathroom {my new normal}. Except this time, there was blood. Enough that I screamed out my husband’s name. He joined me in the bathroom before wrapping his comforting arms around me back in bed. I laid in the fetal position curled around him crying as he googled miscarriage & read the passages. I called & left a message on my RE’s nurses’ line. Too upset to go back to sleep, we read more about bleeding & possible miscarriage in the pregnancy books that now litter the floor in our den. Since I was still bleeding a good amount an hour plus later, I decided to call the on-call doctor’s line.
It was now 6:45a & we remembered the RE opened for IVF & IUI patients Saturday mornings around 7. I showered & we were heading to the office when the doctor called me telling us he’d work seeing us in either right before or after an egg retrieval. The nurse had us in a US room before the office computers were even turned on, so we gave the dr a 10 second history before he started the internal US. Let me say, at this point, I was expecting to see nothing. Or just bleeding or the remnants of embryos. Instead, as soon as Wandy was turned on, I was two sacs. With one quick move, I saw a third & realized I was still pregnant. With triplets. The doctor said aloud what I was thinking. I’d started shaking & giggling too much to even speak at this point. He pointed out each of the sacs & tiny heart flickers. I got myself to stop shaking enough so he could take one group shot & then he zoomed in for measurement {pretty much right on track at 6 weeks with a due date of July 1st}.
Group Photo ~not sure why two in one sac {think it’s yollk}
We left in a shocked high. Too in shock to even ask questions. At the RE’s ok & with a silly grin & a pad for the unknown bleeding, I went off the the NCSU game while Husband went on into work. They changed my US from Tuesday to Thursday for another check.
So after a weekend of phone calls to family & my new triplet mom guru Jenny, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed but even more excited about my new triplet mom-to-be status.
Today’s morning appointment couldn’t get here fast enough. This time we met with our normal RE. He asked how we were feeling. He said triplet pregnancies were rough for mom & can be scary for premature babies. That 32 weeks would be average & at least my goal {I’ve already hopefully marked 34! on my calendar}.
The US or my ute or maybe both were being more tricky this morning. Nothing was as clear as Saturday. We finally saw three sacs {but not a photo of them}. Two of which were more visible & thus we could see embryos & heartbeats in those. One measured exactly right at 6w5d & the other a bit bigger at 6w6d {go big guy}. 😛 RE took super zoomed in photos of each but they look like bloobs to us {not sure what’s sac, embryo, random Suz part}.
That third sac, no matter how much the RE moved Wandy around, how much I tried to wiggle, we couldn’t see the full sac completely. The RE said it was the most deep in & just wasn’t cooperating today. That could mean that there’s no longer an embryo in sac three, or I could once again be following Jenny‘s footsteps, & have a ninja baby of my own. The doctor said we could go to a local radiology place or wait a week & come back. He wanted to see us again next week anyways so we decided to go that route.
So for now, while I wait & pray & ask for your support, I’m still considering myself a triplet mom-to-be until I see/know/hear differently.
I was thrilled to be included in my friend & Chi O sister Kim’s baby shower in Charlotte this past Saturday. Beautiful Kim is happily awaiting the arrival of baby Jack in November after going through infertility herself. I’m so happy for her.
B, along with Sarah & Ashley, were the hostesses and matched Kim’s blue & red whale nursery theme with their shower decor. Kim’s mom, mother-in-law, sister, friends & neighbors {& Jack’s BFF-to-be Liam} enjoyed chatting & cake while Kim opened her gifts. I loved her comments & excited expressions.
I loved celebrating Kim & catching up with my college friends with the uptown Charlotte skyline in the background. Great job hostesses. Congrats Kim! Can’t wait to meet Jack & see all your gifts in action soon.
