The third trimester wasn't a whole lot different than the second. I continued to go to the doctor, but now I went every two weeks. The bummer about my appointments was that NSTs (Non Stress Tests) replaced my ultrasounds. For those who don't know what an NST is, I will explain. Every doctor appointment, I would waddle myself over the bridge to the hospital and meet with my nurse. I got to lay on a super comfy bed and exposed my ginormous belly and they would velcro me into four different belts with a monitor on it: one for each baby and one for contractions. I also had a hand-held button that I would push anytime I would feel any of the peanuts move. I would sit there between 20 minutes and an hour so they could monitor everyone to ensure their heart rates fluctuated appropriately. We found it amusing to see the different personalities of the babies come out during this time. My little man (baby C) did not like the monitor on him. In fact, he would be the one that typically would try to kick it off. My little girl (baby B) would typically be the first one to pass her test. My other little girl (baby A), on the other hand, was just too happy to be sleeping through the whole thing. The nurse would feed me ice chips, ring bells by my belly, and use this odd vibrating buzzer thing on my stomach by her head in hopes to scare her and wake her up. She would eventually pass all her tests, but not overly willingly.
But my doctor was still thrilled with how we were all doing, but here came my next restriction. No more driving. WHAT?! Not that I really could fit behind the wheel, but that was a major freedom that was just revoked. I did what I was told, but hated the feeling of being "stuck" at home. Not that I did a whole lot, but I just wanted to know I could if I wanted. What can I say, I'm stubborn. So most days I spent my time sitting in my favorite spot on the couch with pillows under my stomach watching my TV line up. Fox8 local news, Dr. Oz, Say Yes to the Dress, What Not to Wear, as much Baby Story and Making Room for Multiples as any one person could handle (I saw it as research), The Doctors, Ellen, Everyone Loves Raymond, Friends, etc.
SPEAKING OF RESEARCH! For those of you out there that don't know my husband, let me tell you a little about him. He is an absolutely wonderful man who has a big heart and I love him dearly. But he is an engineer and loves research. Vacation is a great example. Me, I see a pretty beach and I say "lets go!" and will wing it when I get there. Him, on the other hand, I don't see for about two weeks prior to vacation because he sits in front of his computer to find out about every little detail about the place we are going; weather, restaurants, geographical layouts, costs, etc. When we found out we were having three babies, I believe the first question he asked when he regained consciousness was "how much are three babies gonna cost per month?". I think he was online trying to find a monetary figure to base his budget on for most of my pregnancy. Part of this research, I swear, was finding the most odd-ball shows about babies and making me watch them. One show followed this little boy who, in utero, absorbed his twin and was now walking around with legs hanging from his stomach. No joke. Then he found some documentary about people who were born transgendered. Not the programs to watch with a hormonal woman carrying triplets!!
To keep from having to endure any more shows about abnormal babies (I love you, honey!), I did go out as much as possible, but I tired and became uncomfortable quickly. At this point it became almost difficult to sit upright for long periods of time because my stomach was getting so large. There was no such thing as crossing my legs and sitting like a lady anymore. In fact I couldn't even sit with my legs together and was forced to sit like a manly man just so my stomach had enough room so I could breathe. The last few weeks I swear my stomach and butt fought over viable space on chairs. I still missed a lot not being able to drive or be more than an hour away, which was not ever easy for me, but I had such amazing support from my husband, friends and family who took turns baby sitting me.
One example of how awesome my friends are is the introduction of "Flat Anne". One thing I missed was going to the bachelorette party of my very good friend. It was over an hour away so even if I had a ride, I wasn't able to go. I hated missing it! To make me feel better, my friends got together and decided to make "Flat Anne". They found a paper doll online, printed it out, and placed a cutout of my head on it and laminated it. They took "Flat Anne" everywhere and took photos of "me" at restaurants, gatherings, and the bachelorette party. One of these photos included "me" dancing with a bald guy, which I saw floating around on Facebook. I had no idea this was going on until I was looking on Facebook and saw "myself". I laughed myself to tears! Flat Anne and, well, Fat Anne did meet once. We did end up making it out for the Cinco De Mayo extravaganza at On Tap with all our friends. Yes, I know On Tap is about the polar opposite of a Mexican fiesta, but the Mexican restaurant we tried going to across the street had over an hour wait and that's just not good for any pregnant person.
Most people that know us, know that Friday night is date night. It's time that just my husband and I go out and spend some quality time together. What ever we do, it typically includes going out to dinner and we tried to continue this through my pregnancy. One one of our date nights, we decided to go to Bravo for dinner. We were sitting there and all of a sudden my stomach tightened. Didn't really hurt, but it definitely felt odd. I must have made a noise or something because my husband looked at me and asked if I was ok. I said I was fine but I thought that I just had a contraction. His eyes got HUGE and he immediately asked if we needed to go to the hospital. I kinda giggled and said no and reassured him that Braxton Hicks were very typical. I had them on and off, but they seemed more prevalent at the end of the day if I was out and about. I told the doctor about them at my next appointment and he just looked at me like, "Yeah. And?". He said that my belly had just gotten so big that it didn't know what else to do anymore but contract. He continued to tell me that if I ever had more than ten contractions in an hour to call. Yes sir.
About a month or so before my due date, my husband was going to be out of town for the afternoon so my mom decided to come and baby sit me for the day. When he came home, no one felt like making dinner so my mom offered to buy us steaks from Longhorn. OK! As we were picking up the phone, a severe weather warning flashed on the tv. Like normal American's we ignored it and went on our merry business. It was raining so both my husband and mom went to pick up the food so no parking would have to be done to pick up our dinner. I was happily sitting in my normal spot on the couch thinking of my yummy steak when I hear the tornado siren go off in the distance. About 3 seconds after the siren went off, my phone rings. It's my husband telling me to gather all the animals (we have a zoo - one dog and three cats) and go into the basement because he had just seen the roof of a church that is about a mile and a half from our house blow off! HOLY SMOKES! I waddled myself downstairs and all the animals followed without much effort. Within what seemed like a lifetime, but was only about 5 minutes, my husband and mother arrived at the house and joined me in the basement. Fortunately the tornado didn't turn into anything severe for most of us in the area and within a half hour, life returned back to normal. So, my husband ventured back out to get our dinner and life resumed back on the couch. The only difference was I was noticing that I seemed to be having more contractions than normal, but I was having a hard time counting them and keeping track of the hour. So I found a contraction app (there IS an app for everything, ya know!) and downloaded it to my phone. To my surprise, I had 12 contractions in an hour. So I called the doctor and I was told to head to the hospital. Really? We just had a tornado, it's raining, and all I wanted was to eat my steak. When my husband returned we put our already cold dinner in the fridge and off we went to the hospital. They monitored me for contractions and asked if my water had broke. I said no, but then they checked me anyway as well as to ensure I wasn't dilating. OUCH!! I thought the nurses arm was going to come out my nose. I already had so much pressure from the weight of the babies that any extra pressure was just unbearable. Fortunately it didn't last long and after an hour or two they sent me home. I followed up with my doctor the next day and he prescribed me some anti-contraction medication. He said that my stomach had just gotten so big that it didn't know what else to do but contract. So this tamed things down so I could sleep and go about my normal business once again.
One of the things that I tried to do on a normal basis was go to the pool. This seemed to be the only place that would relieve all the pressure and weight and just felt incredible. I would go anytime as long as I could find a willing body to take me. Once my mom found out we were having triplets, she started building a house in a development near by. Fortunately for me this place had a pool. There weren't very many swimming suits that fit a person my size or shape, but I eventually did find a large enough tent made of bathing suit material that covered all strategic parts. People were amazed, but I kept attending the pool until I hit 37 weeks. The day before I delivered, which was Wednesday June 6, I had a few maternity photos taken from a good friend, then my husband and I went to the pool, and then to our final dinner as a family of two. We went to a small but yummy local place called "The Office". I walked in and I thought the bar tender was going to fall over from shock at the size of me. She asked when I was due. My response was "tomorrow at 11:30". She laughed from shock that my timing was so detailed. Then the next typical question: what are you having? "Two girls and a boy". I think she about fell over . By the end of our dinner, everyone in the restaurant was wishing us luck, blowing kisses, and celebrating with us. It was a perfect end to an era.
Just so you all can reference my size and why I had the reactions I did. I am 5'-8" and when I got married 5 years ago came in somewhere around 145-150 and wore a size 6. The day before I delivered, I weighed 235 - which was more than my 6'-2" husband and my stomach measured in at 4'-2" in circumference. Which is about the size for an exercise ball. Like I said....ginormous!
I have never felt God so closely as I did during my pregnancy. He took such good care of me and the babies. To be pregnant with triplets and never being on bed rest and making it to near term of one baby is nothing shy of a miracle. Thank you to all my prayer warriors - there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus heard all of them. Thank you, Lord, for keeping us in the palm of your hand and keeping all of us safe and healthy!
