13 weeks 4 days: Another Sigh of Relief :)

Brent and I are feeling much better after our appointment with the specialist. We were there for almost 4 hours,  so I apologize for the delayed update!

First we spent at least an hour in an ultrasound with a nuchal translucency screening to check for Down's Syndrome markers since the usual blood tests that assess risk would most likely give a false positive with triplets. Everything measured within normal limits and all babies were first and foremost still alive! They were kicking up a storm waving their tiny hands and feet. You will notice that I refer to Baby A and B as he, and Baby C as she. We DO NOT know sexes. It is just a feeling that I have at this point that Brent shares.  Baby A was the most cooperative and also the smallest located underneath B and C closer to my cervix. According to the doctor, it is common for one baby to be "the runt" and only time will tell if that turns out to be a problem that could potentially result in unplanned early delivery or other issues. Baby B was not so cooperative for the measurements-squirming all over the place before eventually turning his back on us and not coming back even with jiggling and prodding by the ultrasound tech. Baby C was was arching her back and squirming repetitively as if trying to push down on her lower bunk sibling and expand her tiny sac, but eventually gave up and settled down. All three waved their tiny hands to us at one point or another. The ultrasound, though long, flew by because Brent and I would watch them and laugh at their mannerisms all day if we could

In this first picture I labeled my belly with baby locations to help you visualize:

Baby A (heart rate: 141 bpm, length from crown to rump: 6.48 cm)

                     Close up facial profile of Baby A (above) and Reclining (Below)

                      Baby A Waving (Below)

Baby B (141 bpm, 7.45 cm)

                           Only one shot of Baby B who quickly turned his back on us!

Baby C (153 bpm, 7.54 cm)

                            Baby C waving! (above) Reclining (below)

Following the ultrasound we gave our histories to the PA and then met with the specialist who we found to be incredibly friendly and easy to talk to despite her reputation. I had brought a notepad and pen with my questions and notes from home and Brent tried to take it from my lap to take his own notes but I held onto it tightly. The specialist smiled and noticed our tug-of-war and sent her assistant off to get Brent his own pad of paper from the front office :) They were unable to tell the specific cause of the bleeding again, but she said that was not uncommon earlier in pregnancy and frankly did not seem all that concerned about it since the babies appeared to be doing very well. She did say that anytime there is bleeding, however, I should rest for at least a week with no further bleeding before increasing my activity level again. She said that while I am having recurrent bleeds, I will need a rhogam shot every 2 weeks, so they gave me another one in the office today as well as a flu shot. She reiterated that on average triplets are born at 31 weeks and that she considers 35 weeks term for them. She said they would schedule the C section by 35 weeks as long as I haven't had to deliver earlier already for any number of possible complications or pre-term labor that may arise before then.  For those of you who will be able to visit the babies, she emphasized strongly the importance of having a whooping cough (pertussis) booster up to date and flu shot before coming into contact with the babies. Brent and I are both not up-to-date on the booster so will looking into getting that soon. She said that I will not need to see her again until around 20 weeks when they will do a very long anatomy scan and cervical assessment and after that I will see her every two weeks. I assume that in the interim my OB will still want to see me every 2 weeks, and am scheduled to see him again this Thursday too. I am slightly anxious that I won't see her again for 7 weeks, but trust her as she comes with the reputation of being an excellent perinatologist. Their office is definitely busy right now with one other set of triplets, 12 sets of twins, and numerous cases of singletons who are high risk for many other reasons.

Again, thank you all for the prayers. They keep working!