Consultations & decisions

We had our triplet pregnancy consultation yesterday. It was a full day affair, starting with the nuchal translucency ultrasound and an opportunity to spend 20 minutes watching our little fetuses flip and stretch in their individual condos. They were all sleeping when the technician started, but soon woke up and started wriggling. One was curled up on his/her back with fists next to the face. Freaking adorable, I tell you. The results showed no indication of potential abnormalities which reduces my overall risk by 70% which was the best possible outcome.

After a lunch break we went back and spent an hour with the genetic counsellor. She was wonderful, and gave us lots of good information. I was surprised/disappointed to find out that they won't do either CVS or amniocentesis for all three fetuses as the risk of total pregnancy loss is too high. They will test 2/3 which didn't make much sense to us since we were hoping to get definitive information on whether there were abnormalities present that would warrant doing reduction. Next, we met with the doctor who gave us additional reality checks. I was hoping he would consider my specific circumstances and give me an indication of whether or not I was a good candidate for carrying this pregnancy, but he said in his 16 years of experience with multiples, there is no way to judge whether or not someone will have a good or bad outcome. Lots of statistics about risks due to prematurity, it was quite sobering.

After going home and talking it through, we decided that based on the information we have and our good NT results, we will go forward with the pregnancy. I'm still terrified, but it does feel like the right decision for us. My first prenatal appointment will be next week. Our practice delivers 25-30 sets of triplets per year and their average gestational age is 32 weeks. I'm hoping to get to the magical 35 weeks when the babies come home with you from the hospital, which gives us a due date range from the end of January to the middle of February. Which means they have a chance of being born on my 40th birthday, Groundhog Day or Valentine's Day. Hmm...

I have to admit that I am starting to doubt that the second trimester will bring me any relief from the nausea, which seems to be intensifying, especially in the puking department. Seriously, it is really difficult to cope. Twice, I have thrown up so violently that I got nose bleeds - I could actually feel a capillary pop. I wish I was exaggerating, I really do. The only things that get me through the day are eating regularly (although I have zero enjoyment of doing so and never feel hungry) and chewing gum constantly. Sometimes I even go to sleep with a mint in my mouth although I know it's not the greatest idea, it being a choking hazard and all, but you do what you have to do.

I think I'm going to set up a new blog to document our pregnancy. I'd like to be able to print out the blog as a memento for the kids and don't really want all the IF stuff included. Not that I won't tell them, but I don't think it fits into a baby book. I'll keep updating here until I do so.

Holy, holy, we're having babies!