19 weeks

Still feeling great with the exception of the occaisonal mild GI upset and a strange taste in my mouth that will not go away. I'm in full time maternity clothes now and loving every inch of my baby bump: my husband says it grows bigger every day and is just as enamoured with it as I am. He loves to say hello to his girls and we've spent many an early morning talking about potential names and wondering just who these babies are. Friday night I was knitting on the sofa and definitely felt baby #3 (top right) move and called him in, but of course it's still too early to feel anything from the outside. It was pretty amazing; it felt just like I was being lightly tickled from the inside. There have been a few other times I thought I felt some movement, but wasn't sure until this most recent occaison. I was told I would feel movement later than usual becasue the positions of all three placentas are on the anterior of my uterus, providing an extra layer of insulation between me and the babes. Yup, they are already locked in their rooms with the doors closed :)

It was a beautiful weekend here. Sunday we went for breakfast at our favorite diner and then managed to get out later in the day for a walk in the woods. It was much harder than the last hike we did, but I just took it slow and accepted a little help up the steeper parts from my husband. We came across a family with two little girls and my husband commented that he couldn't wait to hear his three calling "Daddy, Daddy." So sweet.

Hopefully I'll be able to make a trip out to see my family in the next couple of weeks, but I would really like to get an H1N1 vaccination before I travel. Unfortunately, due to the limited supply, I haven't yet reached the top of the priority list at my doctor's office. I'm torn, I really don't think I'm in any greater danger getting on an airplane that I am going about my daily life at home, but my husband is feeling very protective and doesn't want me to take any chances. We'll see what they say when I go in for my weekly ultrasound tomorrow.

Care to join the sorority?

There are currently four members, though I'm the only one who seems to have any actual responsibility, you could call me the house mother. For the other three it's just party, party, party and non-stop skinny-dipping. No alcohol allowed and we haven't finalized our name, though ABC is what we're going with for now. My husband is feeling a wee bit left out and really, who can blame him? It's not like he took to his bed in despair (it was just a short nap) or expressed any misgivings about missing out on the full experience of parenthood (?) or suggested there might be a fourth child in our future (when Hell freezes over) or anything like that. He's already rising to the occasion; calling out "where are my girls?" whenever he enters the room and banning cheerleading in favor of soccer and music lessons.

Three perfect baby girls, can you believe it?

18 weeks

It's hard to believe I have summitted the half-way mark in this pregnancy. I just stopped feeling horrible all the time, my bump has only been getting attention from strangers for a couple of weeks, how can I been on the downward slope already? It reminds me of one of my friends who had her second son at 30 weeks lamenting "I was barely pregnant." At least in my situation, I know the numbers going in and have some time to prepare for our three little premies. And nesting I am. We have a call in to a contractor to have a few long-standing items on our wish list taken care of. Upgrading our basement bathroom to accomodate my MIL when she comes for an extended stay to help with the babies, stuff like that. Nothing that absolutely has to happen, but things that will make life more comfortable with a house full of people.

Overall, I've been feeling great. Lots of energy, good appetite and the desire to plan meals and cook again. Still some lingering nausea (Saturday was bad) but I'm definitely having more good days than bad. There was an incident last night involving too much tofu eggplant stir-fry (the stuff is crack to me) that I am still paying for, but I can't blame pregnancy for that one. I went to yoga last week for the first time in many moons and it was hilarious. So much harder to negotiate poses with an unyielding baby bump, I must have looked ridiculous. Regardless, it felt so good to stretch that I'm heading back this week for more.

I've submitted to maternity pants even though they don't quite stay up yet because my regular pants are just too uncomfortable. Underwear was a challenge until I discovered the GAP hipsters and they are just right. It was horrifying to discover how many truly ugly and ill-fitting maternity undies are out there, and how much they cost. And I'm not even talking about the maternity thongs which, in my opinion, are just plain ridiculous.

Tomorrow is our first fetal survey; the ultrasound where they will take a look at all the organs and see how our little babes are developing. I say first fetal survey because, at my monitoring appointment last week, the ultrasound technician was of the opinion that the babies would still be too small to see everything this week. Fingers crossed that we'll at least learn the sexes; the suspense is killing me. Plus, people are offering us all sorts of baby items and I don't want to accept a bag full of pink frilly clothes if we are having all boys. I don't have any sort of feeling about who is hanging out in there, but I was at a "Ladies Night Out" event last week and had a tarot reading in which the psychic told me I was having two boys and a girl. We shall see (and soon, I hope).

17 weeks

Our first monitoring appointment last Wednesday went perfectly. The babies looked great, they are all measuring the same and keeping pace with their gestational age. The ultrasound technician tried to determine their sexes, but 2/3 were non-compliant and the technician only took a quick peek at the third so I'm waiting for further confirmation before I'll believe it. My cervix hasn't changed and all of my vitals were normal so I was in and out of the office in short order. I also had my cardiologist appointment where baseline data were collected, again all normal. I'll go back for follow-up in a couple of months and have an echo-cardiogram done. The number of ultrasounds that I'll have accumulated of my various body parts by the time the babies get here is quite astounding. Still having more good days with less nausea and I've regained my nearly normal pre-pregnancy appetite. My beacon of hope through these past 11 weeks of feeling craptastic has been the knowledge that I would once again be interested in eating lobster (my absolute favorite treat) and I think I'm nearly lobster ready, so progress is definitely being made.

We celebrated our friends' son's third birthday on Saturday which was lots of fun. They are expecting their second son in three weeks and the mom looks and feels fantastic, which was encouraging. Also at the party were a couple with a 5 1/2 week old baby boy who I was able to snuggle with for a good long time (I may have monopolized him just a little). He was so tiny and still at that floppy newborn stage but starting to make eye contact and smile. He is a very relaxed baby, hopefully some of his easy-going vibes made their way to my little ones when I was holding him. I had a bit of a shock when I realized that at 9.5 pounds, he was twice as big as our babies will be when they are born - yikes.

I'm starting to buy a few maternity items and went out to try on a few things yesterday but I'm still at that intermediate stage with the maternity stuff is way too big but I need the longer shirts and lower waists to accommodate my bump. On the home front, we're discussing which room to turn into the nursery. My husband has already turned into super-protective dad and is adamant that the babies are going to sleep in our room because "anything can happen with babies" and he's convinced he won't be able to sleep if they're not right next to us. He's very sweet, but really, it's not like they're going to spontaneously combust.

16 weeks

After 3 days of feeling pretty darn good in the nausea department, I celebrated the 16 week milestone by losing my breakfast a mere 30 minutes after consuming it. I think I have to resign myself to the reality that, unlike the start when I was fine one day and sick as a dog the next, there is going to be no clearly defined end to my morning sickness. It really is getting better, my food repertoire is steadily increasing, my husband no longer has to make coffee in the garage and I'm down to a few mints or pieces of gum per day. I'm just so sick of being sick and fussy about food, I wish I'd wake up one morning and feel normal again.

On Saturday I braved the rain to go look for a fall/winter coat (since I can't zip or button any of the ones in my closet) and headed to a local Gap maternity. It was pretty disappointing, they had only a fraction of the items on their website and no coats. I did pick up a pair of maternity jeans and a sweater that were on sale, but despite my impressive bump (my husband is in awe) it's really too soon for me to wear them. I'm still good with my one size up from usual jeans and long T-shirts. My husband has repeatedly offered to buy me a poncho for the winter and I may have to take him up on it. Ponchos are in again, right?

In other pregnancy news, it's a lot harder to bend over to tie my shoes than it used to be; my mid-section feels rather firm and unyielding. Maybe it's the skin stretching or just the change of seasons and dry air, but my belly is also really itchy. And why did no one warn me about the congestion and snoring? Twice I've woken up to find my husband has defected to the guest bed, even the cats don't want to sleep in the same room as me.

I start my weekly monitoring appointments on Wednesday and can't wait to get another peek at the babies. The appointment with the cardiologist I'm less excited about, but I'm having my husband come with me for moral support so it shouldn't be too bad.

15 weeks

Not much new on the pregnancy progression front; still growing a belly, still nauseous and pukey but eating better (relatively speaking) and easily winded. As in, I walk up one flight of stairs and am huffing and puffing in the most embarassing way. I'm ready for activation of my second trimester super powers any time but they are still MIA. Was I supposed to fill out a form or something?

People have been saying weird things to me. More than one coworker has heard about my pregnancy and approached with with congratulations, which is very nice until they get to the follow-up questions. Just this morning, in fact, I ran into a colleague in our cafeteria who was giddy with excitement (why are 50+ year-old woman so excited about pregnancy? I find it odd and somewhat disturbing). After the usual "how are you feeling, how far along" questions, her manner became very serious and she said "you're going to need help, you know" followed by "there's no way I could do it." To which I replied "no shit, Sherlock yes, we'll probably need a hand" and "I really don't have a choice WTF? seriously?."

It's like people think I'm sitting around eating sushi and soft cheese with a glass of wine while ordering baby Uggs and silver rattles online. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way offended by such comments, I just can't imagine that anyone who knows of our situation would think we were doing anything other than obsessively running through our options and trying to prepare for the parenting tsunami heading our way. Trust me, people who have never been pregnant with triplets, this scares me way more than it does you.

14 weeks

Let's see, where were we? Oh yes, I was still feeling incredibly icky and waking up nauseous and pukey in the middle of the night. Last week was pretty rough and I ended up staying home from work on Friday because I woke up sick at 2 am and then 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. It was so worth a sick day; I slept all morning and then had another nap in the afternoon and felt somewhat refreshed by the evening. It takes a lot of energy to put on a happy face and charge through my day pretending I'm not on the verge of vomiting in front of my coworkers, truly it does.

The weekend went pretty well, I woke up feeling nearly normal on Saturday so we headed out to the Sear's outlet to buy a new refrigerator. Our current fridge was old when we bought the house, the door handle falls off constantly and it's definitely not big enough for a family of five, especially when we have visitors. We found my dream refrigerator (French door, bottom freezer) for 45% off retail price so we bought it and it was delivered the next day. As with most items at the outlet, it is brand new but with some visible damage: fortunately this one just has a few dents that aren't really visible and some scraping on the freezer door handle that we will doctor with some touch-up paint. It is beautiful (I keep sneaking into the kitchen to gaze upon its loveliness) and so much quieter than our old one, which now lives in the garage as our overflow cold storage.

I don't want to jinx things, but I *may* *possibly* be feeling better. Still fussy about foods, still mildly nauseous most of the time, but I managed to go to the grocery store on Monday and actually buy ingredients for a few dinners; actual meal planning, it's progress. Today I enjoyed a cup of black tea for the first time in 7 weeks and managed to go 4 hours without eating anything with no negative ramifications. I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm not declaring myself out of the woods yet.

There has been progress in the baby belly; there is really no hiding the fact that I am pregnant at this point. It's really sensitive, I don't even like my husband touching it. I think I'm at 4-5 pounds for weight gain at this point, but our scale is kind of fickle so I'm not positive. We have been having fun thinking about names, although my husband is not taking the process as seriously as he should. For three girls, he suggested we use the ABC theme and celebrate our three nationalities with America, Bosnia and Canada and he thinks it would be hilarious to have three boys named Jeremiah, Jedediah and Jebediah. All I have to say about that is that the nurses in the hospital will be under strict instructions not to let him near the birth certificates.