Just pics...

Pics: While this isn't the best picture of Emma (the flash surprised her), it does show her one blue and one brown eye very clearly. Some people have been curious about that. Kendall having fun in the swing. What a smile! Clark and Miss Jessica having some quiet time. Kendall keeping an eye on her brother and sister. Clark in his cute smart-boy onesie (future astronaut???). Emma, the escape artist, had gotten out of her swaddle and was kicked back during naptime. Emma and Clark watching "Vincent Van Goat" (Baby Einstein video). Emma was getting a good laugh from it.

No time to write. Aunt Tami is visiting us this weekend and we also have a big picnic planned with other triplet families on Sunday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pediatrician appointment today..yippee...

We had a pedi appt today and another round of vaccinations. This is something that's really hard for us to do since there is so much controversy surrounding the risks of vaccinations. As I have mentioned before, we are choosing to vaccinate the babies, but using an alternative schedule. So, we are going in each month for two vaccinations at a time. This way, their systems will not be overloaded, but we will still have them completely up-to-date on vaccinations by the time they start school.

Anyway, everyone is doing great and here are the stats:
Kendall 12lbs 13oz, 22 and 3/4 inches long
Emma 11lbs 10oz, 22 and 3/4 inches long
Clark 13lbs and 23 and 1/2 inches long

In case you didn't get that, Baby C, Clark, has now taken the LEAD. He was born the peanut of the group and has now passed up the girls. We are all surprised that Kendall didn't tip the scales at 14lbs and that Clark is actually bigger than her, but we are excited that the brother is the big kid.

It's been a long day, so I'm going to go ahead and cut this short tonight. I'll be back soon with more pics and hopefully I can even get some video uploaded....but we will see if I can figure out how to select a certain portion of video to use.

Hope everyone is doing well and we thank you again for checking on us.

The day that changed our lives forever.....

Pics: Daddy and Emma hanging out. Kendall and Brandi. Clark in his cute baseball hat. Emma and Kim (not mommy, but a baby helper who is like family to us now).

It was one year ago - TODAY - that Troy and I went to see Dr. Harris to try again to get pregnant by way of an IUI (intrauterine insemination). For those of you who don't know, Troy and I tried to get pregnant for almost three years. During that time, we had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. We were going into this procedure as our third try with this doctor. (We had been with a different dr and gone through the process about 5 times before we switched to a new fertility specialist.)

Anyway, we went through MANY rounds of various fertility drugs, some were oral and some were injectibles. During this particular try, we got our drugs from Europe because the drugs in America are so much more expensive (that is a rant for another time). Troy also had to give me progesterone injections as another part of the process as well. Needless to say, we were both over needles by the time these babies arrived. I had quit drinking alcohol and caffeine. I didn't eat tuna fish (usually). I didn't lift heavy things. I did everything to make my body work the way it needed to - as the "perfect embryo hostess". I wanted to be sure that if I DID get pregnant, I had the best shot at carrying the baby to term. We had been through a big emotional drain after the last try ended in an ectopic pregnancy. We were heartbroken and about to give up on it completely. I don't know that we ever "said" it, but I think this would have been my last attempt. I was physically and emotionally done. And it is also a very big financial drain considering that most health insurance plans (including ours) do not cover fertility treatments. So, I think that I had decided (in my own mind) that if this didn't work, we would have to do something else - adoption, maybe.

So, at this time last year, we were at home wondering if this would be "our time"....? Would we end up pregnant? And, if so, could I carry the baby (THE baby - as in just one) to term? And would everything be OK (since I'm AMA - advanced maternal age - there are a number of additional risks to consider)? How would we stand the wait for two weeks until we would find out? Would we be good parents? What would we do next if this didn't work? Where would we go if it didn't work (because we would definitely be taking a trip somewhere to recover)?

Did we have ANY idea that my body was already busy making THREE incredible beings that would become the best things to ever happen to either of us?!?!?!? Nope. We went into the process just wanting to be parents. We just wanted A baby. One baby. Were there risks of multiples due to the fertility drugs? Yes. But what were the odds? Up until then, we had only been pregnant twice and both times were just singletons (from what we know). We had been told that yes, there was a chance - less than 1%, I believe - that we could get more than two. I think it was a 25% chance for twins and we were OK with that.

Funny thing that we remember about when we went to find out if we were really pregnant. It had been two weeks and I had multiple blood draws to check my Hcg levels (the pregnancy hormone). My level was increasing (good) and it was increasing quickly (good again, but it meant more). We found out that this could just be "normal". We could be pregnant with one and things were going great since the levels were rising. Or we could be pregnant with more than one. At the time, the nurse only really mentioned twins. They didn't really think that the numbers were THAT high to indicate more than one. Well, the night before our ultrasound, Troy and I were discussing how we didn't want to be disappointed if there was ONLY ONE. We sort of had our hopes up for twins and didn't want to seem ungrateful if we were pregnant with one. Can you imagine the surprise when Dr. Harris was showing us the little blobs on the ultrasound screen and said "There's Baby A. And there's Baby B. Oh my, and there's Baby C." ?!?!?!?!? Troy clutched my arm. I didn't know what to do. My mind was spinning. I was already excited and scared all at the same time. THREE BABIES. Wow. But once it sank in, we realized that it couldn't be more perfect. After all we went through to get here, we were having triplets!

We really had absolutely NO idea how much that particular event on that particular day - June 18th - would change our lives. And oh, how wonderful are they?!?!?! I mean, yes, we are tired - REALLY tired. And yes, they do cry - yup, again, REALLY cry. But they are just so incredible. And to think of where we were one year ago today. There were cells just multiplying like crazy at this time last year. Wow. We are SO blessed. God gave us such an amazing gift. Thanks for sharing in our happiness.

Daddy's First Father's Day

Pics: Kendall. Emma. Clark. All three and Kendall decided she was over it. And, for the record, these were not necessarily the "best" of the pictures, but I thought they were cute or you could see their outfits, etc.


Troy finally had his very first Father's Day. Who would have expected the first one to include THREE babies?!?!?!
Anyway, I'm including some pictures here that our friend, David Scott, took of the babies a couple of weeks ago. I was working on getting pics for Troy as part of his gift. David was kind enough to come to the house and is interested in photographing the babies as they get older. If you are in need of a photographer, please get in touch with me so that I can provide you with David's contact information.

Kendall is still growing like a weed. Yesterday she even ate 7 oz of formula (normally she eats 6 oz, but apparently she was hungry). She has become the "rolling over queen". Often you can barely get her on her tummy and get situated before she rolls over which can lead to bumped noggins when her siblings are on the floor with her. Kendall is also still proving to be the most challenging as she continues to have fussy times (colic?) between 7p and 11p. She is also not a big daytime sleeper, but she sleeps like a rock through the night. We think she would go 8-10 hours if it wasn't for her sister and brother.

Emma remains our little peanut. She also rolled over last night (though it was not Mommy or Daddy who saw it). She's been working pretty hard at that trick, so I was glad that she was successful. Despite the improved disposition of Emma, she still has the loudest voice....whether happy, sad or mad....she can really belt it out. Some people have asked about her eyes and yes, she still has one blue and one brown eye.

Clark has hit a much fussier period lately. He is not quite as easy to feed. He is also much less predictable as he seems to have figured out that the best way to get attention is to scream and cry. I keep trying to explain that he is not allowed to do this since I have enough trouble managing Kendall and Emma. I go to him when I just need to have some quiet reflection....but not any more. Despite all of that, he is also a giggler these days. Funny faces or noises can bring about a laugh from him which is just so awesome.

All three have really become more interested in toys. They grab and hold toys and really light up when they can get noise or motion. We have started using Bumbo seats (they help the babies learn how to sit up) and also the exersaucers (like walkers, but without being able to move around). I'm glad that we can introduce new activities because I'm always concerned that they will get bored with the same old thing every day.

I really need to get some sleep while they are in bed, so I'm going to cut this short. Hope that daddy's out there had a wonderful day. We are very thankful for our dads and the example that they set for us as parents.

18 wks: Time flies, but sometimes the days are a little long.....

Pics: Kendall sharing her best smile with us. Emma in her cute capri pants (but I couldn't get a picture of her while she was awake). Clark hanging out in his bouncy seat and looking particularly cute. All three on Thursday watching a Baby Einstein video, plus Timber relaxing with them and Teddy in back.

Well, we are still moving along. I can't believe that they are 4 and 1/2 mos old already. But the days can be a little long for me at home. I'm thankful to be the primary caregiver, but it is a much more demanding job than I could have imagined, despite what other triplet moms were telling me. The babies are more active each week, so it takes a lot of energy (and I'm no spring chicken) to keep up with the things to be done for them and the household and also try to keep the little ones entertained. It seems that it should be easy to keep an infant entertained, right? I mean you can just look at them and make a goofy face and often you get a smile or a laugh. But keeping them entertained day in and day out... that's a different story.
I'm so lucky to have found Brandi, our "mother's helper". She's 15 and has been a lifesaver this week. I'm hoping she will be here 3 days a week for a few hours a day, but we will have to see whether we can keep that up. She's able to play and /or snuggle with the babies and also do some "baby work" - like laundry, bottles, etc. Of course, often, it's still a two-person job (or more) when more than one baby gets fussy, etc. But it's so nice to know that she is here.
We seem to be going through a strange phase this week where all of the babies have been a little more...umm, challenging, shall we say? Feeding them can sometimes be a little difficult with one baby (who shall remain nameless). But for the last week, it's been hard with all three. No one seems to be able to burp like they did just last week. And they have these little outbursts about halfway through the bottle. Even quiet, zen-like, Clark. I've even begun to wonder about the formula - did I get a bad batch? Are they having trouble with it and we should consider a switch? Are we leaving soap bubbles in the nipples or the bottles and its getting in their milk?
So, we are working to resolve the issues - or at least find the fastest way to remedy the problem as it happens. One aspect of it that makes it a little harder is explaining the different ways to soothe them and how to continue to try to feed them to the various people helping me feed them all day. But we will get through it....and hope that next week will be just a little bit smoother when it comes to mealtime.
I had a chance to get to my triplet group dinner tonight (thanks to Nana, Aunt Karen, Jessica and Connie who babysat). It was one where the dads are invited as well (though Troy had to work) and it was great to be around people who sort of understand what we are going through. There was also a couple there who is 18 wks preggo with their girl-girl-boy triplets and it was nice to feel like I had information to share. I wish that the group (dads too) could get together more often because it really is nice knowing others who have survived this "parenting of triplets thing". And it's just fun to talk about the dynamics of life with triplets and hear about how the kids interact once they are older, etc. It makes me excited to see how our babies end up once they are toddlers.
I guess that is about all for now. Sorry that I'm not full of fun tidbits about the babies this time. They are doing well and still impressing us with all of the new things they come up with each day.
I'll be back again as soon as I can. As Tigger would say...."TTFN"..."ta-ta for now". Hugs and kisses from Kendall, Emma and Clark.