Prenatal visits with triplets

[lesliesara63]

I've been looking online but haven't found out how frequently I should expect prenatal appointments in a triplet pregnancy. Also how often will I have u/s?

[hergrace]

A lot depends on your care provider and how your body holds up.  I had a pretty highly managed process.  But, it was what I needed to feel comfortable.

I had essentially no prenatal care at all from 10 weeks to 18 weeks, which wasn't ideal, of course.  I, then had care with a perinatologist in a high risk clinic.  Her mid-pregnancy schedule was full u/s monthly and a visit every two weeks.  At the visit where I didn't have a full u/s, she used a quick u/s to check heartbeats and observe movement.  At 28 or 30 weeks, it changed to weekly visits and u/s every 2 weeks.  I think she would have picked up the visits about that time anyway, but I can't remember because 28 weeks was when I started developing complications. I was admitted to the hospital at 32 weeks due to complications and then had u/s every other day during the final week of my pregnancy.

The quick u/s could have been replaced by doppler scans, but the one time we tried that it took ages to be sure we got all three babies.  Despite my concerns about u/s, I was actually grateful for the quick pictures. I couldn't feel the babies movement clearly due to placental placement and I used to panic that I was only feeling 2 of the 3 babies moving.  The u/s always showed 3 active little ones. And I could feel my whole body relax after I saw the scans.

[lesliesara63]

Thanks Kate! I saw my RE/OB at week ago and he did give me a referral to the only high risk ob in the city. I'll be 12.5 weeks when I see him for the first time. I've never had more than two u/s in either of my previous pregnancies, but I'm happy to have them at this point. It was definitely very shocking when we heard that was another baby in there.

[Barefoot Farmer]

In my case, we had more u/s than I can remember.  Prenatal care started at 9 weeks, ultra sounds every two weeks until about 28 weeks and then u/s every week.  Also u/s with trips are a bit different.  Some are quick heartbeat and position checks, others can take a very long time as then try to estimate size and movement of each babe.  As I got bigger, it got harder to lie down for the u/s as there is so much weight on your spinal cord (or whatever), making you feel dizzy and nauseous.  They told me this early on and it didn't happen, until the time it did, and I thought "Damn, I'm going to be sick."  It does help to lay on your side and often technicians can still get what they need from the side position.  Best of luck.