Expecting Triplets....

[momtoafireteam]

Hi everyone, 

We found out about a month ago that we are expecting triplets! My 40wk due date is in mid Sept, but of course it will be more like August or possibly July (hopefully August....) 

These will be our 7th, 8th and 9th children. Right now I am just feeling very very scared and overwhelmed, extremely worried about the pregnancy mainly. My DH is quite literally beside himself and is convinced (thanks to a terrifying appt with our high risk Doc) that I am going to die. Thats not an exaggeration either, the Doc just spent 60 minutes talking about hemorrhage and rupture (I have 4 previous c-sections) and pre-E etc and really made it sound like I am a time bomb ready to explode at any minute. Poor DH..... :( 

I am hoping that the shock wears off soon and I can breathe a little and enjoy it. I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi! I see there are some other triplet Moms here, I am sure I will be bugging you soon with questions!! 

[Red Pajama]

Blessings to you!

[mamalovex3]

Wow, congratulations!  I can't imagine what a shock that would be.  I have seen a few other triplet moms around so you'll be in good company.

[mylilmonkeys]

Wow!  Congratulations!  Our 11mo twins are our 7th and 8th.  

[BigMamaBear]

I'm just lurking here but had to chime in to say congratulations! Oh my, I thought I had my hands full! I guess I have it easy comparatively! You deserve a medal. I hope your DH is able to feel more at peace and that you both have lots of support, and I wish you a very healthy pregnancy. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at that ultrasound!

[Emaya]

Welcome! Exciting with another triplet mama here. I have 7 week old triplets (identical boys and a girl) who were born in week 36 (planned c-section) after an uneventful pregnancy and they needed nothing more than love at birth. Don't let the doctors scare you, things can go wonderfully. They are doing great, we are doing great, and things have gone so much more smoothly than I feared. I'm actually more rested than I was with DD because I'm pumping and supplementing with formula so I take a 6-hour stretch of sleep at night (8:30 p.m. -2:30 a.m) and my husband takes his 6 hours from 2.30-8:30 a.m. It makes all the difference. Of course, you have six other kids...

Do be in touch with any questions and wonderings. The mamas on this board helped me so much.

[lesliesara63]

Congratulations! I have 8 mth old GGG and did recover from the shock of having them. I don't get on here often, but please feel free to email me [e-mail]

[yellow73]

Hi, I have no personal experience, just wanted to share this because I thought it was one of the coolest things ever :)  Wishing you all the best!

http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/atlanta-mom-births-triplets-via-vbac.html

[lesliesara63]

Originally Posted by yellow73 

Hi, I have no personal experience, just wanted to share this because I thought it was one of the coolest things ever :)  Wishing you all the best!

http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/atlanta-mom-births-triplets-via-vbac.html

 

Wow thats incredible! I did deliver my trips vaginally but that had never happened at our hospital before & probably won't again.

[Emaya]

Yes, that was an awesome story. And Leslie, how wonderful that you got to deliver yours vaginally! Do you have a birth story written up and posted here somewhere? I would love to read it (and live vicariously...). In the end, I accepted a planned cesarean, and it was much better than I ever expected. But I did fight pretty hard in the months leading up to it to have a vaginal birth (everything looked good with the triplets, we went to full term - for triplets, I had had a natural uncomplicated birth before, and baby a and b were head down - until the end when baby a flipped in week 34 or 35 -- how he had the room for that manouver is remarkable). There were a some other factors (mostly having to do with how the medical system is set up here in Sweden, but also not finding an experienced and willing doctor, and my family not being supportive of the idea) that made me decide to put down the natural birth banner this time...

[lesliesara63]

Here is my story http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1318000/my-triplets-are-here I really did expect to have a planned section & I'm more ok with that now than I was. It made me crazy when I was pregnant though. If the on call dr hadn't asked what my plan was, then it would have been a csection. It just happened that I ended up with a dr who is experienced in breech deliveries.  I've had a few people since then make me feel like I took too much risk with my babies lives, which wasn't my intent at all. I felt like I had their safety first & foremost in my mind. My MFM would never have agreed to this. I've had a lot of help in order to make breastfeeding happen. Now at nearly nine months old I'm starting to find it stressful to be IT for feeding them. I think that there are different stresses in parenting triplets but breastfeeding just has been taking its turn lately. How are your babies doing?

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by lesliesara63 
Now at nearly nine months old I'm starting to find it stressful to be IT for feeding them. I think that there are different stresses in parenting triplets but breastfeeding just has been taking its turn lately. How are your babies doing?

I have been struggling with this same feeling with my twins!  Since about 9 months, if one is nursing, they both want to nurse, even if one was just fed.  It's crazy-making!  My grandma mentioned how draining she felt while tandem nursing her twins, and now I think I understand what she meant.  Mine are rapidly approaching their first birthday, and they're starting to take finger foods, so we're finally getting to the point that I can sit them in their high chairs, put some cereal and diced veg or fruit in front of them and they will do something besides nurse all day. 

[charis4]

Congrats!! Our GBG triplets are 13 mo. We were originally planning a vaginal birth with our dr's full support, but one of the babies ended up having growth problems that turned into heart problems, so we had to have a cesarean at 29wks. 2.5 months in NICU, but they're all doing great now, happy, chubby little babies with no long-lasting effects of their prematurity. :) One of the babies has a syndrome that causes tongue abnormalities so she wasn't ever able to nurse from the breast except for comfort and another had severe reflux that caused latch issues so I mostly had to pump for 11 months. The other two I fed from the breast some, but found it more doable to pump and bottle feed them all most of the time. To be quite honest, I didn't really enjoy the breastfeeding relationship with the tripets like I did with my other kids, but I got through it and got them bm as long as I could.

The triplets are my 4th, 5th, and 6th kids. I have an older dsd, but my younger ones were 2.5 and 4.5 when the babies were born. Its been a challenge balancing the babies needs with the older kid's needs, but it was doable....most days. :) My kids LOVE the babies and are great about helping me keep them entertained if I'm in the middle of something. Hopefully your older kids will be able to help you out some with the younger ones.

I see that you already have twins, so having multiples isn't foreign to you, but I can certainly understand being overwhelmed by triplets on top of all your others. The best advice I got was to do everything that I could by the time I was 20 wks because after that you just need to rest so much. I hit a wall at 20wks and was glad I had so much done to prepare before.

Good luck and congrats!!

M

[momtoafireteam]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. I am now almost 3 months and in the last few days have noticed a shift from constant panic to excitement. Still a little panicky, but finally glad to have some joy as well. I think it was something I had to kind of.... move through... emotionally. IDK. 

Charis, your last paragraph was helpful! We really need to get serious about this, we have absolutely NOTHING (we thought DD4 would be our last and gave away/ sold everything accordingly as she outgrew it) and need to stop being in denial! :) 

I am sure I will have lots of questions for you awesome trip mamas as the months go by!

[~bookcase~]

Originally Posted by lesliesara63 

I've had a few people since then make me feel like I took too much risk with my babies lives, which wasn't my intent at all.

i have found this with my twins' vaginal births too. it reflects what society feels about multiple births doesn't it, not safety at all

[13pumpkins]

Congratulations!  We received the same shock 5 days after you ;).  Still we're thrilled.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you along the way!  Huge congrats!