Showing off the Baby(ies) Bump

Here is a comparison of Janét showing off the baby bump at 12 weeks and then at again at 20 weeks.
Looks like momma milk snacks are doing the trick, but there is still a ways to go.
As far as fatherly preparation goes I have been doing some: listening to a lot Cat Stevens and Willy Nelson and painting octopus' for the Boys room. Not to mention a lot high fat cooking to beef those boys up in utero.

Phil

Firecracker Babies No More

From about the time I first started feeling the boys kick, every time I sneezed I'd get a response like "quit doing that mom!" because I'd feel several flutters going on in there immediately after. It was like little fireworks going off. They would especially get annoyed if I had three sneezes in a row. But alas I wore them down, after a small bout of allergies and then a nasty short lived cold that made me sneeze every 10minutes, my poor boys gave in and no longer fuss when I sneeze. I think it's good sign that they will be mild tempered like their dad : )

They may not be bothered by sneezing anymore but their kicks are getting stronger and stronger everyday.

JP

Pregnancy Brain and the Boys Goes Fishing

Here are some pics of the boys first camping/fishing trip. As you can tell my face is getting quite plump. It seems like the weight is being evenly distributed all over except in my arms. I've always thought my arms were too skinny, just wait another couple of months and I'll look like a cartoon character, all round with little stick arms : P

Pregnancy Brain:

quotes from camping trip
J: So what time did we come into the tent?
P: 9:30am
J: And what time is it now?
P: 12:45pm
J: So we only slept an hour!?

P: Hey Jan what's the name of the book you're reading?
J: Death of a Dance
P: oh
J: no wait, Death of a Murder....ugh! no wait, Death of a Dream!

most other incidents I just go blank and have to be reminded of what we were just talking about.

I've also been running into things a lot, all body parts except my belly. Wouldn't you assume, since the biggest change is the size of my belly, that I'd bump that instead of everything else? Weird

I think I'll rely heavily on my calculator at work from now on : )

JP

Setting the record straight

Demystifying our pregnancy, all the common things people have asked me:

Was the pregnancy planned? You tell me, I started taking prenatal vitamins three months before and quit drinking alcohol two weeks before (lowers fertility). Now the whole "triplet thing" was definitely unplanned.

Are they natural? 100% organic. What drugs have you heard of that can make identical babies??? Had we needed assistance we would have waited till we were a little older and more financially stable since multiples are more common with fertility treatment.

Did you try for a long time? Getting pregnant was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I way over thought it.

Do you still drink? What?! Why would you even ask?! Of course not, ruining one life is bad enough but ruining three is inexcusable.

What are the odds? I don’t think anyone really knows but they estimate about 1 in 1,000,000 births are identical triplets. I imagine it’s more common in developed countries since we have access to good health care.

They are ALL boys?! I’ve been telling you all along they're identical!

Were you surprised? Considering the chances are one in a million we were actually half way expecting it. Of course we were, duh! A better question would be, what went through your mind or how did you react?
Answer to my own questions: First thing out of my mouth, what do you mean three? First thought, yay I can quit my job now! Second thought, that's kind of cool.

How do you know they are identical? They all share the same placenta. Since baby makes the placenta they have to be clones.

Do twins run in the family? Not really.

Did you want boys or girls? Secretly hoped for boys, I hate doing my own hair and wasn’t looking forward to doing four heads, I'm just not into "girlie" stuff. Phil was also secretly hoping for boys too, he needs them to keep him in shape.

Are you scared? Not really, I feel like this couldn’t have happened to a better couple. I’m actually more freaked out about the epidural I’ll be getting before my c-section. The thought of not feeling my legs for half a day really gives me the creeps.

Are you gonna breast feed ALL those babies? Going to try my best but from the real life experiences I've read about, it'll be impossible to breast feed 100%. We'll just see how it goes.

Are you excited? Very much so, Phil's tells me all the time that he can't wait till they are here. Looking forward to all the great photo opportunities too.

Are you going back to work? Heck no! I'd be paying more for daycare than I'd be making. It was gonna be hard enough working almost full time and raising one kid. So I guess with three and staying home won't be much more work.

Are you having any weird cravings? No

Are you getting rid of the cats? No, but they are taking one for the team, switching from Iams cat food to Kirkland brand “Maintenance Cat.”

Are you gonna have anymore kids? Probably not.

Will the boys have middle names? No, I managed to survive 28 years without one. I think their extra long last name will make up for not having middle names.

Hope that clarifies things! Check out the video below : )

JP

Pickled Pork Skins and 18 week U/S

Here are some pics from ultrasound #5, they are quite photogenic and always seem to do something silly. Something tells me they will probably be goofy like Phil! Boy these appointments keep getting longer and longer. First couple were about 20 min then next one was 45 min and the last two have lasted about 1.5 hours. Only another dozen or so to go by the time the trio is born. Then they make us wait for about half an hour, so that the radiologist can look over the results, just to tell us what we already guessed from talking to the technician, that every thing is normal. But I guess that's better than getting bad news. They have pretty much done all the anatomical measurements that are usually done via u/s, but they'll keep checking hearts and growth, which is standard procedure. They seem to be doing really well, no abnormalities, which I already alluded to. Same-Sames (identicals) have higher rates of club feet, cleft palates and a few other problems, all a consequence of when and how the baby split into three clones. Most of this would not significantly alter their lives and in fact most of these issues are curable/treatable. Today they checked their lips and all is well, no cleft palates. They all weighed in at about 8-9 ounces, their bellies and heads all are measuring ahead of schedule (19.5weeks) and their arms and legs right on schedule (18weeks) which doesn't surprise me since Phil and I are both short and wouldn't expect our babies to be real long. Phil cracked a joke that made the technician laugh, he said it's more probable for us to have identical triplets than to have a tall child.

As an aside, most of you may know or may not want to know that one of my favorite snacks is pickled pork skins drenched in lime juice, hot sauce and lots of salt. Well, I had the preconceived notion that this delicious treat was unhealthy so I would only allow my self the pleasure of enjoying them on special occasions, like when visiting my family, who also like them. So on my quest to look for calorie dense foods I thought this was my opportunity to 'pig' out on pork skins. So when Phil and I went grocery shopping and got to the Mexican isle I went looking for them, I picked up the jar and was disappointed to find out they're actually not that bad for you! A 2oz serving is only 46 cal of which 18 are fat cals. Besides the 2g of protein can't say they are that good for you but at least they are not as unhealthy as I thought. So the babies have now had their first Mexican treat! I hope they like them since I can't get Phil to eat them.

JP

Weight Gain

Thanks to Phil persistantly shoving food into my face, I've exceeded my weight gain goal that my nutritionist set for me (even got a high five from my doc)! As an example 20 minutes after breakfast this morning Phil comes up to me with half a piece of bacon yelling "bacon snacks!" I was so full from breakfast I turned it down but now I wish I hadn't. So prepregnancy I was at 107 lbs, at 12weeks I was 113 lbs and at 16weeks I weighed in at 129 lbs. So that means that in a span of 4 weeks I gained 16 pounds that averages to 4 lbs per week!!! My total weight gain so far is 24 lbs, ONLY 50 lbs to go. Ideally I should gain 60 to 75 lbs by the time the stinkers are born.

JP