My birthday falls near Thanksgiving every year and this particular year it happened to fall on Wednesday - one of the largest party days of the year. My wonderful husband asked all of our friends to help celebrate my first anniversary of my thirtieth birthday at one of our favorite local spots, The Office. We had about three big waves of friends that showed up throughout the evening all wanting to buy me a drink. I tried to pawn off most offers saying that I was getting up early to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, which wasn't an answer that most people wanted to hear. To help matters I asked the bartender to make me a virgin drink that looked de-virginized. So basically I was drinking juice in a martini glass. It was great to see all our friends, but man was I tired.
Most of you multiple moms, and even singleton moms, may hate me. My first trimester was relatively easy. When I found out I was pregnant I didn't show any symptoms. A few weeks into it, the girls were sore but my worst symptom in my first trimester was that I was just exhausted. I really had two bedtimes. The first bedtime was 6pm where I would fall asleep on the couch. My second bedtime was at 9pm, when I would awaken from the couch and take myself upstairs to actually go to bed. I never had any morning sickness and really was never nauseous. I just had to make sure that I ate when I was hungry, which has never been an issue for me!
Thanksgiving is now held at my house every year which I typically really enjoy. But no one knowing your pregnant and fighting through the exhaustion was no fun. Plus people knew we were trying so I felt like I was under a magnify glass. My oldest sister was asking why I wasn't having wine with dinner. I used the excuse that my husband's parents didn't believe in drinking so I didn't want to offend them. My middle sister was the most persistent one always asking me "How should I pray for you?". What she was really asking in code was "So are you pregnant yet?". Even my brother-in-law questioned why I was so tired at the end of the day. I was so happy when Friday arrived. Most people were out shopping and I think I slept most that day to make up for my past two busy days.
My sisters are 11 and 8.5 years older than me, and I consider both of them very dear friends. When my oldest sister became pregnant with my niece, I was 13 years old, my mother bought her a crib and told my middle sister and I that she would buy us a crib when we had a baby. I always remembered that and looked forward to the day of crib shopping with my mom.
The day after our ultrasound, which was the beginning of December, that we found out we were having triplets, I was meeting my mom out for a quick Christmas shopping trip and one of our weekly lunches. She was one of the only people that knew that I was even pregnant and I wanted to tell her about our new discovery. So I casually brought up the idea of her buying us a crib. She casually responded "Of course I will do that. I did with your sister and I will with you too". I then asked "Well, does that mean you are going to buy us three cribs?". She immediately stopped in her tracks and looked at me with her eyes as big as green saucers. "What!?" I think was all she could muster. When it finally sunk in that she may be the grandmother of triplets, I thought she was going to bust at the seams. Every store we went in, she told someone. Now I was still being very cautious because of what had happened before, but her joy and enthusiasm gave me such comfort that day. It was so much fun being excited instead of scared or nervous. I told her during lunch that I apparently needed to be more specific in what I prayed for. I started praying for twins because I didn't want to go through the fertility process again. After we had the miscarriage I yelled at God saying that he took one away and now he owed me one. I feel like He gave me my twins and the one that I was "owed". God certainly has a sense of humor, but now I'm VERY specific in my prayers!
It wasn't until Christmas that I told my sisters and the rest of the family. By this time I was coming close to being twelve weeks and close to the end of my first trimester. I was starting to feel a little more comfortable since every doctors appointment has gone exceptionally well. I took one of my ultrasound photos that showed all three sacks and put it in a mug that said "World's Greatest Aunt" and wrapped it up and secretly put them under the tree saying it was from Santa. It was the last gifts to be opened and my sisters angrily looked at me when my niece handed them a gift and I didn't get one. We had agreed to only buy for the kids and not for each other to save a few dollars. They opened it at the same time and my oldest sister immediately shrieked and tears started to trickle down her face. My middle sister sat there not knowing what was going on or what she was looking at. When I made the announcement that we were having three babies, the whole family erupted! My sister's mother-in-law has become a real part in our family and she took one of the photos and placed it in her bible. She prayed for me and our babies everyday. She has now become an honorary grandmother - who wouldn't want three grandma's growing up?
A few days after Christmas my oldest sister, niece, mom and I went maternity shopping. I wasn't even in my second trimester and my jeans were being held shut by a hair-tie instead of the button. It was another one of those fun days. Everyone's joy and excitement helped me forget about all the nerves. It seemed weird trying on maternity clothes and we were also trying to figure out what size moo-moos to buy. Who knew how big my stomach would get?! I will tell you one thing, maternity clothes are SO comfortable, but I swear that ninety percent of maternity tops have horizontal stripes. WHY?! Is this the time of our lives that we are supposed to look as large as possible? I really didn't think I needed help with that!
We continued seeing our fertility doctor every three weeks through the first trimester. The one cool thing about having multiples is that we had an ultrasound at every visit. It was so amazing watching them grow, listening to all their heart beats and watching them move around. They were all movers and shakers and the doctor was always amazed at how much they were dancing around. At my last appointment, I felt like I had graduated. They sent me off with three silver baby spoons and a whole bunch of pamphlets and magazines and waved goodbye. This was one doctor I hoped to never see again.
New Years came and went. Friends were starting to wonder about me since I was home sleeping New Years Eve at 10pm and I was showing a small baby bump already. We finally started telling everyone, and I'm sure you can imagine the reactions. I think the most common one was "Holy Crap! Are you serious?!".
You made me cry all over again. But what a great story and I am sure that you will help others through the process. Good job Annie!
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