0-18 weeks: My pregnancy so far

My husband and I decided that we were going to try for a baby a year after we got married; however, at the time, we did not realise what a challenge this was going to be.

 

From March 2012 to January 2015 the thought of being parents was something that we could only dream about, but on January 25th 2015, a positive pregnancy test made it seem like there was a chance of it becoming a reality. Two days later a blood test confirmed that I was 'very pregnant' and it was three weeks later that we were to find out that there was not one, not two, but three little babies beginning to form!

 

The nurse said: 'how do you feel about twins? Actually it is triplets - there are identicals here and a singleton!"

 

Well as you can imagine I shed tears of joy (I think my husband almost fell off his chair in shock!). I had hoped and hoped to be a mum one day and that I would be lucky enough to have one child, but now this miracle meant the chance of having three! There was a long way to go yet though...

 

My family who had been with us along this journey were so excited by the news and when I told each of them just laughed with joy! They knew how much I had talked and dreamed of having four children but had come to think it was just not meant to be. I had lost my dad only nine months before and therefore, this joy was even more welcome as we all came to terms with living life without him.

 

I know it sounds silly, but I really felt he had a hand in these little miracles!

 

 

Adjusting to the thought of triplets came more easily to me than to my husband as he had hoped for 'minimal impact' and this was likely to bring 'maximum impact' to our social and free time. When we told his parents at about eight weeks and they were so overjoyed, this helped my husband feel more relaxed about the news. We started telling the rest of his family and our friends about 11-12 weeks and again the excitement was infectious. Everyone was so happy as they knew we had wanted a family so much and were just delighted that our perseverance had been worthwhile.

 

At seven weeks I booked in with the GP as friends had talked about 'combined care' with their pregnancies. I told my doctor that I was expecting triplets and wondered about combined care. He just laughed: "you will be wrapped up in cotton wool with three and will be seen by the hospital every time, I can be sure of that!"

 

Three weeks later, after I had registered with The Coombe, I got my first scan appointment. My husband and I went along and after a few minutes of the sonographer checking the babies and saying all looked good, she popped out of the room to get another more senior sonographer as she wanted to check something. Me and my husband were starting to get a bit more excited after seeing that they were growing and that this could all work out. You are very reluctant to get excited when you have been through so much to get to this point and there is a further complication of three.

 

The sonographers came back in and started scanning me again, talking in riddles about something being borderline. Then after a few minutes they said there was a thicker level of fluid behind one of the twins. Within 30 minutes we were in to see a consultant to be checked out again and were sent away with a lot of information about testing for Down syndrome. Naturally this was upsetting but talking it through together, me and my husband decided these babies are moving around, they have good strong heartbeats so we will deal with what comes and we are seeing this pregnancy through without any tests and thoughts of terminating any babies. We confirmed this decision with my consultant at week 12 and the consultant was happy with our decision saying she would monitor it.

 

 

I have been feeling pretty well considering there are three of them. I felt sick on and off but as long as I kept eating lots, it never got very bad. I have always had headaches and restless legs, which have been exasperated during my pregnancy, but so far nothing to complain about. I have to say, I have not done a huge amount of exercise although I was sporty before I was pregnant. I walk and swim a few times a week but decided not to run or do gym exercises. I look forward to getting back to it in the future though.

 

At my 16 week scan I was a bit concerned as I had a small bit of spotting the previous week and had slipped on the stairs. I was so busy watching to check that their heartbeats were okay and that they were moving about that I didn't think about how the fluid was doing. My consultant said that they were all absolutely fine... And the fluid had gone! My husband sent a message to my family saying: 'Good news from The Coombe - Howard (my dad) put a good word in with God and we have three healthy babies... And the fluid has gone!"

 

So now I am 18 weeks, feeling great, not too tired and my bump is starting to grow really well! I will update you again soon with my progress and pictures too.