pregnancy, triplet pregnancy journal

Triplet Pregnancy Journal – Week 23

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Week 23
Well, this is the week where I feel I have officially been forced to slow down.  On the Friday, (by the way, if you are wondering, my new week of pregnancy starts on the Thursday), I was starting to get pains in my lower abdomen. It kind of felt like a very bad stitch after you’ve done a big run. We have started getting a lady to clean for two hours on a Friday to help take some reduce some of the housework load. It is also a good thing so the boys can get to know her before the triplet’s arrive because she will be helping us three days a week doing in home care. This Friday I got her to do the vacuuming (the floors were atrocious as I haven’t been doing them), and I’d been going around picking stuff up off the floor.
I soon started feeling a bit of pain, I had overdone it, so I sat down doing other jobs for an hour while she mopped, etc. J Boy was at kindy, so as soon as she left I put Trent into bed and went to bed myself. Amazingly, Toddler T, who normally sleeps for an hour, slept for 2 ½ hours. Unfortunately when we both got up I still had the pains. That’s a bit unusual, because normally when I have a rest things ease up. I thought, just to be on the safe side I’d ring the doctor and make sure this was OK. He basically said keep resting and hopefully it will settle down, if it doesn’t I was to ring his mobile and he was going to admit me to hospital to rest up.
That was motivation enough for me to get back into bed. If all I was going to do in hospital was rest, I’d much prefer to do that at home. I rang Mum to ask if she could pick up Toddler T. She was in town, but within minutes Dad appeared on my doorstep. My wonderful parents are very committed to ensuring that their newest grandchildren make an appearance as late as possible. I’m very grateful that my sons have such a strong and beautiful relationship with their grandparents. Toddler T had no hesitation suddenly leaving with Grandad and waved enthusiastically as he drove away.
Things were much improved by the end of the day. The Accountant and I had organised an overnight getaway to Brisbane on Saturday night, and since things had settled down the next day, we decided to commit to our original plans. We left the two boys with The Accountant’s mother. I was a little nervous because it was my first night away from Toddler T, but he seemed to have coped very well.
It was a lovely evening away. We decided to be extravagant and went Aria and had a wonderful table overlooking the Brisbane River. It’s been a little dream of mine to go there since watching Matt Moran on Masterchef and hearing that he’d opened a restaurant so close to where we live.

Luckily our luxury hotel was a three minute walk away. I didn’t want to tempt fate by overexerting myself, so a leisurely stroll was ideal. We certainly don’t frequent fine dining restaurants frequently, but we figured that our dining out experiences are going to diminish for quite some time, so we may as well have a strong memory of our ‘last supper’ before the triplets arrive. And for sure, the meal is certainly the most memorable that I’ve ever consumed. Even the service was fantastic, the staff were friendly and very attentive. Spending time alone with my super hubby without the children was pretty special also.

We had a trip to Ikea before heading home. We were particularly searching for more storage for the triplet’s room. We found 2 possible candidates. The first was a darling little set of wall shelves. But alas, when A went to get them, he discovered they had been sold out. The second was a set of drawers. However when we considered the layout of the room, combined with the fact that we didn’t know how big the cots are and how they are going to fit, so we chickened out. We walked away with a few little bits and pieces and contented with our Ikea experience, despite not achieving our goal. It certainly is a challenge fitting three babies and all their paraphernalia into one small room.
Dr G rang up to check on me on Monday.  He gave me a little lecture on not doing too much and getting help with the children. He has warned me that as far as hospital goes, it’s not if I have to go, it’s when. I’m determined that as far as I can help it, I will do anything to stay out of hospital as long as possible in order for things to be as easy as possible on the boys. So, on Monday and Tuesday the boys spent time with me in the morning and went with Grandma after lunch. I was very appreciative to Mum, she was planning a baby shower for the weekend, and she was really quite ill.

On Wednesday I kept the boys. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Toddler T is chucking a lot of tantrums at the moment and J Boy has still been having several obstinate moments.

On a brighter note, we had a positive doctor’s appointment. The babies are doing well. I tell you, even though I can feel them moving, and I think they are all OK, it’s such a feeling of relief when you see those three heartbeats beating on the ultrasound. Dr. G has renamed the babies! Triplet 1, the fraternal triplet, (formerly Triplet 3), is the largest of the three, with growth tracking a week ahead of schedule. Triplet 2 (no name change) is right on schedule with growth and size. The other identical, Triplet 3, (formerly Triplet 1), is still the smallest, more significantly than before. T3 is now at least a week behind his age range. Dr. G assures us that there is nothing for us to be concerned about yet though, so that is a relief.
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pregnancy, triplet pregnancy journal, triplets

Triplet Pregnancy Journal – Week 22

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Week 22
Still moving more slowly this week. Makes it a challenge when there’s so much on my agenda.  We had people around for dinner on the Saturday night, which was lovely. I had to give myself a break and not make dinner completely from scratch, which I would normally do when having people around. A packet mix of Mediterrenean Lamb Shanks in the slow cooker came to the rescue. Sometimes us women just need to lower our standards and give ourselves a break. Plus my guests was kind to bring along some side dishes, which made life easier. It all tasted delicious, anyway. I did make a self saucing chocolate pudding for dessert. It was the highlight of my day. Baking and dessert baking is one of my favourite things to do, I hope I will be able to find the time to do this every now and again during the next year of this crazy triplet parenting journey. It will help keep me sane, I’m sure!
Because we had been changing bedrooms for the boys/babies, we had stuff spread all through the house. I thought we were going to eat amongst the shambles, but was happy to have the living areas fairly clean by the time our friends arrived. Plus, it’s always nice afterwards when you’ve forced yourself to do a bit of clean up, especially since we had a busy week ahead.
We had a lovely evening getting to know some new friends. Having a dinner party at this stage was still manageable, but I think it will be the last one for awhile.
Wow, I can’t imagine the change in dynamics when we are ready to have people over again while being the parents of triplets plus two! Because I love entertaining, I’m sure we’ll work it all out! I do know I’ll be on the hunt for super easy recipes though!
On Sunday I had the boys to myself while The accountant and my rev-head cousin  went down to watch the Winter Nationals Drag Races, which had been re-scheduled after being washed out earlier in the year. Naturally the boys and I went to church, which was good. Because of the late night the evening prior, Toddler T slept through the service. Afterwards we went to the hospital for a quick visit with my Grandad.  Afterwards the boys and I had a nice pub meal with Mum and Dad. Mum and Dad took the boys home which was nice, it allowed me to run a few errands in town unhindered and then go home for a quick rest before collecting them.
Monday was J Boy’s 5th Birthday.  Luckily I had kept it very simple, opting to miss the big party with heaps of friends and instead have a family dinner. That left most of the day free to do the cake. In the end, I was doing it later in the afternoon. I still got it done in time to have a little rest before getting ready to go out.

I’m glad I hadn’t spent the whole day trying to make party food, games, decorations, etc. Because even as it was I was utterly exhausted during the evening. The Accountant washed the boys when we got home and put them to bed. I think I was asleep before them. I was very surprised how tired I was since I had been going slow throughout the day and really didn’t have too much on the agenda.

On Tuesday the boys and I had another at home day. J Boy continued to be very much engrossed in playing with his new toys. Mum took the boys into visit my Nana in the afternoon and I made cupcakes for J Boy to take to kindy on Wednesday for his birthday.
The pace was slower for the remainder of the week, which was needed.
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pregnancy, triplet pregnancy journal, triplets

Triplet Pregnancy Journal – Weeks 20 & 21

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Week 20
Had an appointment with Dr. G. All is going well with me. I measure in at equivalent to a 32 week singleton pregnancy. I have also put on the same amount of weight that I totalled for the entirety of Toddler T’s pregnancy. (11kg.)
Despite being so large, (Not that I am concerned about it at all – yet! I have always loved watching my pregnant belly grow. It’s just that this time there is always the sense of foreboding of what is to come.) I am constantly told by other women that I look great, (Why thank-you!) and they were just as large when they were 20 weeks. (I highly doubt it in most cases.) I think when people hear I’m having triplets they expect to instantly see me the size of a whale. When they see that I’m still the size that they once were while pregnant they immediately identify with it. However, if you stand me next to a woman who is 20 weeks, (even if she is carrying at the front), that’s when you notice a considerable difference.
Dr. G has warned me that the likelihood of having bed rest, quite possibly being hospitalised is getting closer, most likely starting in August. The danger zone normally starts around 26 weeks. I am praying that things continue to go as smoothly as possible. Bed rest doesn’t worry me. What does worry me is how my family will function during this time. I know we will work things out, and I am fortunate to have incredible support. However, the longer I can safely delay this, than obviously the better it will be for the family.
The boys and I went out to Moolan Downs. (Mum and Dad’s 10,000 hectare farm.) So the triplets got their first visit experiencing (kind of!) real secluded Aussie country life. The boys had a great time: branding cattle, rowing up the river (compliments of Grandad), exploring, kangaroo spotting, inspecting farm houses, bonfires and generally playing in the great outdoors with their cousins. It’s so great for the kids to experience farm life, since they aren’t growing up on a farm. I can’t wait until I have five little monkey’s running around enjoying the bush.
Week 21
It is really hard incubating three human beings when you are responsible for two live little humans. This has been my challenge this week. For the first half of the week things were going smoothly. I looked after my nieces and nephews one morning. They played beautifully with the boys, and then when they were starting to get sick of one another Grandma came and picked all of them up, including my boys, and I had a little afternoon rest. Then it was the weekend and The Accountant took the boys down to the Rail Museum in Ipswich on the Saturday, (a favourite family excursion) so I enjoyed taking it easy and having the house to myself. Then on Sunday afternoon Toddler T fell asleep at my sister’s during a lunchtime birthday celebration and J Boy was watching a DVD with the cousins so the kids stayed at their aunt’s house for a few hours. I went home for a rest and The Accountant went to pick up the new bunk beds for the boys.
I’d also been having afternoon rests while out on the farm, so it was a total shock to the system on Monday when I had the kids on my own all day. I was exhausted by the afternoon!
I have been working at changing rooms. We are moving the boys into the room that was T’s room. We’ve bought bunk beds. I’m very nervous how Toddler T will go sleeping in there, but I’m sure he’ll adjust. The nursery is going to be J’s old room – next to the laundry. Hopefully they will get used to sleeping while the washing machine whirrs away – especially since I’m sure the washing machine will be getting even more regular workouts once the triplets are here!
My challenge this week has been coping with getting bigger and tired more quickly while coping with two little boys. They have been very full on. Toddler T continually gets into mischief or is crying and dropping to the ground when things don’t go his way. (Which often requires being lifted in order to re-direct him.) J Boy has been quite naughty this week also and is starting to back chat a lot. Of course, this is not at all acceptable, we are dealing with it, but it is so tiring and emotionally draining. I gave up trying to get anything done by the end of the week, and just spent a day spending time with the boys. They loved it – and the housework was still there the next day!
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pregnancy, triplet pregnancy journal, triplets

Triplet Pregnancy Journal: Week 18 & 19

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Week 18
I’m starting to get a little bit more tired and uncomfortable now. I’m still doing stuff all through the day, but I’m even more exhausted by the end of the day and realising that I need to start slowing down a little more. I’ve had a little sleep twice while J Boy is at kindy and Toddler T is asleep. It’s very unlike me to sleep during the daytime.
My belly button has started to pop. Both boys find it fascinating. J Boy came in while I was getting dressed and stared at it, absolutely enthralled. After explaining what a belly button is, he obviously only connected the word “baby” with it, because he leaned in and started using it as a microphone to talk to the babies. “Hello” he said, “This is your big brother speaking. Do you want to come out of there and come and meet us?” I was very hasty to explain that we didn’t want the triplets on the outside yet, they certainly have more growing to do first!
Toddler T was equally fascinated. His intrigue first started when he was sitting beside me and noticed how big my stomach is getting. He patted it, and then lifted up my t-shirt. After giving the stomach a thorough examination, he pulled the t-shirt back. It must have been somewhat enthralling though, as he repeated the process another ten times or so. Suddenly he noticed my belly button. He stared at it, patted it, and without a word closed one eye, and brought the other one towards the belly button and had a look in. Once he established it wasn’t a peep hole, he covered my tummy back up and wandered away. He makes no connection when I say “babies” and point to my stomach. (Why would it make sense to a one year old?) I might have had a chance of educating him had my belly button contained a telescopic lense. Alas, he’s going to have to meet them all in person before reality hits.
Week 19
For some reason I seemed to have more energy this week than last week. Haven’t needed to indulge in Nana naps. It could be that I have had something to do every day of the week so my busyness has masked my tiredness. I am certainly pooped by the end of the day and collapse into our comfy recliner mindlessly watching TV!

At the end of this week my mother, the boys and I drove to Sunnybank, Brisbane for a 20 week morphology scan. (It was the day before I officially hit 20 weeks, so close enough!)
The scan took 2 ½ hours. Quite a marathon! You would think that lying down for that amount of time would not be so taxing, but I was quite exhausted by the end. Lying in the one position for so long was getting quite uncomfortable.
The scanographer, Dr. L systematically looked at each triplet and checked each one of their hearts, kidneys, head, face and lips, arms, legs, fingers and toes. All were given a clean bill of health at this stage. It feels fantastic that they are all doing so well. The triplets are now officially named, “Triplet 1”, “Triplet 2” (Identicals, located left and right in my lower abdomen, and “Triplet 3”, sitting up nice and high. They should stay in these positions now until they are delivered. Dr. L also took measurements and weights. Triplets 2 and 3 have exactly the same weights, about 352g. Triplet 1 is a little bit smaller at 287g. All are within the healthy weight range for their age.

The genders were also confirmed. Dr. G’s speculation from Week 16 was correct. I’m very excited with our family compilation. I know that it is God who has determined what is best for our family, so the distribution of gender(s?) is far more perfect than what I could ever wish for! 
One of my favourite moments during the scan was seeing Triplets 2 and 3 interact. It seemed that Triplet 3 was so far away from the other two, but all of a sudden, in wiggles Triplet 2, and before you know it the little rascal is kicking T3 in the face! Then T2 wiggles a bit further and snuggles its bottom into T3’s face, who valiantly struggling to escape, moving it’s head away from the offending body part!

During the scan, Triplet 1 moved all the right ways so the sonographer could see everything when needed. Triplet 2 was not obliging at all and seemed to deliberately turn onto it’s stomach so we couldn’t see the face at all. I now only have one photo of Triplet 2 on the DVD they gave me of all the best shots. But it’s like T2 was deliberately trying to be unphotogenic! Triplet 3 wouldn’t show the left hand. By the end we got a quick glimpse and the sonographer was pretty sure 5 fingers were counted! While scanning Triplets 1 & 2, the sonographer had to keep flicking between them, just to make sure she hadn’t accidentally drifted over to the wrong triplet.

 At the end, the senior sonographer came in Dr. C. Wow! What a guy! I have never met such a sanguine doctor before! He came in with his big booming voice, chattering away. You instantly felt like you were friends with him! Before long he had uncovered that my father was a farmer, and the friendship went up a notch as he owns some cattle on a farm outside of Noosa. He was a little disgruntled that I said his hands were soft, (I didn’t know he fancied himself a farmer at that stage. What was I to say, he asked me to feel his hands, an

d then asked what I thought?), however he got over it quick enough to talk about his beloved cows and pepper me with questions about my farming heritage.

He was equally enthusiastic about the triplets, declaring them fine looking babies. (I couldn’t agree more) He also went into ecstatics and told me to pass onto Dr. G how I had made his day. Apparantly the identicals have both a thick and thin membrane separating them. Apparantly this is not common, normally it’s one or the other and it is an indication of when the egg split. Also the fluids that surround each individual is different. Also unusual for two babies in the one placenta. I can’t say it excited me, but it was pretty cool to see this funny old doctor going ga-ga over it. He assured me that this is nothing for concern, but everything to be fascinated about, so I was happy to leave the oddities within my uterus to his viewing pleasure.
After Dr. C had an enthusiastic chat to my mother about farming and talked to my son about Thomas the Tank Engine, (how many doctors do you know who will sit down in the waiting room and have a detailed conversation with a four year old about steamies vs. diesels?), we were on our way home. Via the shops of course! Now that I knew the sex of the babies, of course I had to buy them a little outfit each. Such fun!
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God, infertility, prayer, pregnancy

Person Producing Prayer

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If you read my post of how we Announced the Triplet Pregnancy to the Church you would have read the reference to how people were committed to praying for us before we had children. I thought I would share of a few of these little tales, because they are pretty cool as well as being a great testimony of how great and faithful God is.

My family and friends were always constantly in prayer for us during this time. One souvenir of this fervent prayer is a beautiful white crochet cot blanket. Alex and I had decided to fast evening meals and TV for a week and spend this time praying together for a baby. We told friends and family what we were doing, and invited anyone to join us if they would like to. My mother spent that week crocheting. Whenever Mum discovered she was having another grandbaby, she would start to crochet a baby blanket for their cot. J Boy’s blanket was made years before he was born. During that week, Mum crocheted the blanket that would later keep our little baby snug and warm. Each stitch that she crocheted she would pray for our family, particularly that we would have a baby.

J Boy with the blanket now.

There was a very dear group of older ladies who used to pray for us regularly on Wednesday morning prayer meetings. When J Boy was born, one of those ladies came up and had a cuddle with him. She looked up with tears in her eyes. “I knew this day would come.” Then a cheeky sparkle came into her eyes. “I knew it would be a boy.” At this point I didn’t think too much about it, lots of people claimed to have predicted the sex. What she said next floored me. “And I knew his name.” I was astonished.

Apparently the group of ladies were starting to get discouraged that they had been praying for so long and there was still no baby. So they decided to have a day where they got together and prayed just for our future family. (I never knew this until the lady told me after J Boy was born.) At the end of the day the ladies started to feel that no matter what, we would one day have children. Before they went home, one woman read a scripture and they felt this confirmed that we were going to have children – particularly a boy. The scripture was Luke 1:60. “but his mother spoke up and said, “No! His to be called John.” Now admittedly, J Boy’s name is not John, however it most certainly is a close derivative to John. And the name was my choice. It’s all a bit to much to be a co-incidence, is it not?

And then there was the incidence where one beautiful woman came up to me one day and let me know that she was praying a lot for me that month. As always it was touching, and I was humbled that people would think of me – particularly for a month. I soon discovered how God was prompting this woman to pray during that month.

“Yes,” she said, “I’m always praying for you every time I go to the toilet.”

Another lesson in humility.

It turns out that this woman’s sons went to the same school I was teaching at. They had hung the school calendar on the back of their toilet door, and on that particular month there was a picture of me with a student.

God works in mysterious ways, yes?

Wherever the various prayers were uttered, I don’t mind one bit! The outcome is a true blessing from God.

If you are believing in God for something and need a breakthrough, let me encourage you. Ask people to pray for you. The power of corporate prayer should not be underestimated.

Have you got your own cool story of answered prayer? 

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church, God, pregnancy, triplets

Announcing our Triple Blessing at Church

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Yesterday I talked about the pleasure when announcing that we are pregnant with triplets.

One of the most fun announcements was to our church family.

When I was 12 weeks and just starting to tell people, our worship pastor asked if I could speak for a few minutes about what a blessing it is to be a part of God’s adoptive family. As I started to reflect on this topic, I saw an instant connect with my current situation. So, I decided that I was going to use this time to make a mass announcement! The fact that it was Mother’s Day was a nice touch also. A bit bold, but why not?

This is kind of what I said:

It is extremely meaningful for me to reflect on  Mother’s Day what it means to be a part of God’s family. I can remember some years ago being up the front of the church and blurting out that my husband and I desperately wanted a family but were having difficulties. At the time I was really embarrassed for my blurting, but it turned out to be such a good thing to share with my church family. This was because so many of you listened to my story and had such compassion for us. So many people started praying for us, even people we didn’t know very well. People would come up and encourage us constantly. It was so good to have others standing in faith for us.

So on Mother’s Day, I feel such a great deal of gratitude to my church family, because I don’t underestimate the power of your prayers, and I consider you a part of my journey to motherhood. I know that a reason I have two gorgeous little boys is because of the prayers offered up on our behalf.

So, it is such a special thing to be a part of God’s family and have people stand with you and support you. We so appreciated it during that time, and I know that if I let you in on a little secret we’ve been keeping, you would do it again.

The secret is: We’re pregnant again. (A gentle “Ahhh”, and some tentative claps are uttered by the congregation.)

With more than one baby. (A louder “Ooooh” and some laughter and clapping is uttered by the congregation.)

In fact, this time I’m pregant with triplets! (Lots of clapping, laughing, a large variety of loud comments, smiles and ruckus erupts by the congregation.)

(When noise settles down.)

So, I’d really appreciate your continued prayers that this pregnancy which is a higher risk than normal pregnancies is carried safely. (Lots of nodding, still some comments.)

But, if you have continued to pray for our family over the years, you can probably stop praying that we have more children!!! (Lots of laughter. I hope they knew I was serious!)

And that is one of the reasons I love being a part of a church community. It’s no surprise that so these wonderful people are praying for the triplets and our family. There are so many who come up to us and love to hear progress reports or tell us that they are praying, or even prays right then and there for us.. It always bring me so much encouragement and peace.

If you want to read more of the story behind people praying for us while we were waiting to have children, click here

If you are a Christian, I’d love to you to share, What does being a part of a church family means to you?

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pregnancy, triplets

Triplet Announcements

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The really cool thing about being pregnant with triplets is the reactions you get when you let people know that you have three on board. Normally the first reaction is an open mouth with no sound coming out.

Then when the person realises that you are serious and that this can actually happen, they will say something incredible meaningful like, “What?”, “Are you serious?”, “Oh my goodness” and then remain in a state of shock for a little while longer before starting to plaster questions. Normally beginning with, “How are you feeling?”, (Very popular question. So far I’m feeling fine. I get tired, but nothing I can’t handle if I take it slowly at this stage), “What are you going to do?” (Um? Survive? I’m sure I will.), “Will you need a bigger car?” (Well, I think so eventually, but The Accountant has a thing about driving a van, and is resisting all talk of car upgrades. So for now we’ll remain with the new car we bought when we thought we were having twins which now will not fit a pram in, so alternate arrangements that include tow bars and little rack things at the back are being planned.), “You’re going to be busy.” (Yes! This is certainly a safe assumption.) “Was this an IVF baby?” (My feelings about this question probably deserve a post of it’s own…)

Of course I’m not trying to sound ungracious, because I could imagine that I would say things exactly like this if I had a friend/acquaintance/met a random stranger who was preggers with triplets also. I mean, you know, it is one of those things that leaves you wondering what to say. Plus, I don’t even know what to say half the time in response to people anyway, so I’m often saying to people, “Yes, so I’ll be busy.” Followed by a feeble laugh, because it even sounds to me like such a lame comment. But True. Oh, it’s going to be so true…

But anyway, as I initally said. It’s fun. I think this is definitely the announcement of a lifetime. I’ll never beat this one. When I announced it on facebook, I had 19 thumbs up and 62 comments as well as many more triplet congratulations postings on my wall. When I posted our ultrasound I had 23 thumbs up and 22 comments. It’s heartwarming that people are so excited for us.

Comments ranged from:
You’re an incredible woman, you’ll be an incredible mother’o’five! Wishing you well 🙂
Woot woo go Caitlin congratulations how exciting!!!!!!
Woah! THREE!!!!! You’ll be amazing, busy, but amazing! Lucky you’re an organised woman!
We are just so incredibly over the moon for you both and certainly always here for you both – whenever you need a hand, an ear or a drink!!! xoxox
OH MY WORD!!! That is incredible! I am thrilled for you. How are you feeling? You are an amazing woman and will do wonders with these precious gifts. Congratulations xoxo
Caitlin….now that I have picked my jaw up off the ground….I am so happy for you and Alex, what an amazing gift! Hoping it all goes well, take care of yourself and Happy Mother’s Day !!!
How incredible! Think a few years back and our issues .. God is good! So happy for you.. mother of 5!!!!!
goodnesss me how did that happen congrats 2 u and accountant
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Congratulations! xo
May the force be with you!
What??????
That isn’t triplets, that’s a litter. Hee hee, don’t hit me.
Biggest congratulations…….wow.…… You guys will be amazing……
Congrats Caitlin, that’s HUGE news!
best status ever!
Very excited for you and Alex!! What amazing news… now for a new pram… oh and at this rate make sure you both have a bus licence!! Seriously… wonderful!!!!
Serious? Wow! Congrats 🙂
Amazing! What a challenge, though. How will you do this? Is your mum moving in?

From what I’ve heard, it’s just the start of a whole heap of attention we will be receiving! What have you had fun announcing before? Have you ever had the pleasure of announcing multiples?

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pregnancy, triplet pregnancy journal, triplets

Triplet Pregnancy Journal: Weeks 16 & 17

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Week 16
The long awaited doctor’s visit is here – Hurrah! And it was indeed hurrah, because  all three bubba’s were tucked away safe and sound. Three strong heartbeats were detected, they all were moving and looking very adorable. I had been praying that we might be able to detect the sex at this early age. Alas, only one of the three was completely shameless and immodest exposing ?His/Her? genitals to us! (The Accountant wants to keep it a secret for now.) The big question was whether our little flasher was the identical triplet, because if it was we would know the sex of two. At first Dr. G said he didn’t think it was. However by the end of the session Dr. G was fairly certain upon closer examination that it was the identical triplet. So looks like we do know the sex of two of them. He briefly thought he may have also seen the sex of the fraternal triplet, but he couldn’t get a good enough angle to confirm it.
Jonty came along to watch this scan. He was very excited. He has been hoping for a girl. When Dr G was searching to discover the sex, he was muttering, “I want a girl, I want a girl, find me a girl.” Boy or girl, I know he’ll be a great big brother, with the customary extent of annoying big brother thrown in for good measure. He also thought the babies looked like dogs on the ultrasound. Very flattering. We haven’t taken Toddler T to a scan yet. Mum was quite happy to babysit, which truthfully is easier than trying to keep Toddler T still! When we came home J Boy asked why some babies were white and why some were orange babies. I had to explain the difference between the regular ultrasound and the 4D ultrasound and assure him that all three babies are really regular baby colours. 

My uterus is now the size of a 24 week pregnancy and I have put on 8kg. (I put on a total of 11kg with Toddler T and 2 weeks before he was born I stopped weighing myself at 18kg with J Boy, because I didn’t want to see when the scales told me I had put on 20kg.)

Week 17
I have been feeling fluttering now since about 15 weeks. It has been different to the previous two pregnancies. Once I felt something with the first two, each day I felt more flutters and it just kept getting stronger. This time I might feel something, but then nothing for another couple of days. Some days I feel quite a few flutters, then nothing. It is a bit odd. I can’t remember what week it was when I first felt the boys move, so maybe this is just because I am feeling it a bit earlier.

This week the movements have been getting more consistent. I can now feel movement each day. It’s always comforting. I can’t distinguish which triplet is moving yet, and sometimes the movement is confined to one area, so I’m presuming I’m only feeling one child at those times.

I taught a day this week. I discovered that the teacher’s aide in the prep classroom I was teaching in was also 17 weeks pregnant. We asked the children why they thought my tummy was bigger. One boy helpfully suggested that the baby had kicked my stomach out, another thought I just had a bigger baby (Imagine me, with such short stature giving birth to a giant!). Her bump was barely perceptible. I looked enormous comparatively.  I consoled myself that, (apart from the fact I have three), she is a very tiny person and it is her first pregnancy!
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Housework, pregnancy

Pre-Triplet Nesting Instinct – But Oh Dear, I Hate Organising.

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I’m very happy to report that for me the nesting instinct has kicked in early during this pregnancy with triplets. With the other two pregnancy’s I’ve always had a huge list of what I want to get done, but I rarely get motivated until towards the end. (Which may have nothing to do with nesting, but rather my inclination to procrastinate and tendency to perform best before a deadline.) I guess I know in the back of my mind that the chances of getting anything done towards the end will be just wishful thinking.

I’ve been noticing as I browse through random housewives blogs that there is a often a theme. It seems that the average, (although I’m desperately hoping it’s not the average, because it makes me look bad), housewife domestic engineer is enthusiastic to proclaim her love of organising. She will have a wonderful selection of ‘before’ pictures of her already tidy cupboards and house and then ‘after’ pictures where minor improvements have been made, which really do make it look better. Now don’t get me wrong. I am in awe of these women, they astound and amaze me. I even subscribe to some of their blogs in the hope that something will rub off on me. (If it were only that easy, but sometimes I do pick up a good idea or two.) I love looking at their pictures, it’s like a fantasy land for me.

As inspired as I am after visiting a tidy persons home (real or virtual), the reality remains.

I want a clean house. I hate housework.
I want to be organised. I hate organising.

There is no buzz for me while I’m cleaning or organsing things. I can remember The Accountant’s Grandma being absolutely astonished once when I shared my strong dislike for housework. Listening to her talk gave me a glimpse of why her house was always immaculate. She was passionate about housework and sincerely enjoyed it, even loved it! She is the type of woman I will never be, but will always wish to become by some miraculous transformation! Of course when the task is complete there’s the buzz of satisfaction, so I’ll share with you some of my recent efforts. But the process of getting there. Ugh.

The first jobs I have been tackling has been my cupboards. They have been steadily getting more disorganised, and really needed attention. Because the desire to clean struck me so suddenly I don’t have before pictures, which probably saves me a bit of embarrasment anyway. However, if you look at my ‘after’ picture of our wardrobe, I’d say it would look like a ‘before’ shot. That’s because you didn’t see before where the floor was so cluttered that you could hardly walk in safely.

Hopefully this will be just stage one of walk-in-robe organisation. I’ve got to sort the shelves. Of course I have a dilemma here. To make it look asethetically pleasing I think I need to get rid of clothes so they look pretty in a single stack, but I don’t want to. Plus I don’t think my clothes would ever look particularly pretty on the shelves. I mean how do you make a stack of shorts look good? The next move would be cane baskets. Still, I don’t think I’ll get as much storage space. Plus, finding the right sized baskets is incredibly hard! Ah. Dilemma’s. Feel free to offer suggestions if you are a domestic goddess.

What I am proud of is the re-organisation of shoes. This shoe rack used to be in the garage, however, the lower shelf never seemed to get used and shoes tended to pile up everywhere. I had been storing my shoes in their boxes. Which should work well, except I rarely put them back in the boxes and was more likely to have a pile of shoes on the floor. Now, I just have my boots in boxes, as they tend to get dusty, and don’t fit on the shelf anyway.

And this is our new alternative in the garage. The Shoe Shelf. Cheapest book shelf we could find. Much easier to shove shoes in there. I like that we used some excess carpet as well. That way our tootsies don’t get cold when we pad out onto the cement to retrieve our shoes.

I’ve sorted the playroom cupboard as well. But even the memory of the experience is exhausting me, so I’ll share that some other day. Plus, true to form, there is housework that needs to be done. The floor is in need of a mop and I have my book club meeting here tonight. I really need to stop procrastinating, otherwise I’m going to disgrace myself by the time they arrive!

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pregnancy, teaching

Aspiring Gynaecologists

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I taught my doctor’s son in year 2 & 3. He is now a young man in year 11, which makes me feel quite old.

I was remembering the other day a writing task I set in year 2 at the conclusion of a unit we were completing called, “People Who Help Us”. The task was simple. Write about what profession you would choose to be when you grew up. Once we established that being a princess or a super hero could not be considered as a viable occupation for most people, the children began to deliberate and write about the range of professions we had discussed over the prior weeks.

Doc’s Son was a very studious young man, and being particularly bright was one of the first finished. He joined the line at my desk to get his work edited. Unfortunately he was standing next to a rather rambunctious young man who decided to have a chat about their chosen professions. When Doc’s Son shared that he wanted to be a gynaecologist little Master Rambunctious questions, (at the top of his voice) “What’s a Gynaecologist?” Of course this line of enquiry instantly gained the immediate attention of the rest of the class, and various members of the class also wanted to know the meaning of such an impressive big word. (Because up until now the only long worded profession of interest had been a palaeontologist.)

I was suddenly put on the spot. Being in the middle of a whole heap  of fertility treatments, I was far to familiar with varied roles of the gynaecologist, and I was a bit lost for words. In that moment of confusion I asked Doc’s Son to explain to the rest of the class what a gynaecologist is. I immediately realised that this could go very badly and crossed my fingers as the little guy started responding.

“A Gynaecologist,” he seriously stated, “Is a doctor who helps ladies have babies.”

Phew. Crisis averted.

Kind of.

All of a sudden the majority of the female members of the class wanted to change their chosen professions. It now seemed that Gynaecology was in vogue, and babies were far more interesting then chef’s, nurses and air hostesses. Even a few boys were ready to drop their dream of being a fire fighter, police officer or digger driver to join the medical profession. I was getting multiple requests to spell ‘gynaecologist’ on the board. Of course I did what any good teacher would and shut it down. (Considering the lack of ob/gyn’s in my town now and other regional centres, this may have been a hasty move.)

Of course I was met with all types of whining, “But Mrs. T I really want to be a gynaecologist” or “I’d be a great gynaecologist, I love babies” etc. etc. To which I insisted that they should be almost finished their writing and no one was going to change at this stage of the process unless they wanted to finish it during their lunch hour. Of course no one wanted to pay such a high price to change occupations so they resumed writing about their first choices.

Luckily they had all forgotten how to pronounce “gynaecologist” by the end of the day and I got no puzzled questions from parents wondering what I had been teaching their children.

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