My Diary of Triplet Fatherhood

Janet is getting big really fast now. Every day her belly seems larger.

Not that suprising I guess seeing as the Consultant told us she would look full term by 5 months… which is only 5 weeks time.

I have been taking pictures every day so we can see how she’s grown. I’ll post an animation here when I have a few more.

Here’s the pictures from yesterday’s scan. The first two pictures are of the baby that was hiding. On the second you can see his (or her) arms and legs (he’s upside down).The third and fourth pictures are the other twin who was hogging the spotlight and moving around so much.The last picture is the baby with it’s own placenta.

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Another scan today. Wow have they ever grown. All three looked a lot more like babies than last time. As the consultant moved the scanner around, I could make out their arms and legs and their ribs and backs. Everything. Even their tiny little toes.

And all three were wriggling around. Especially one who kept flipping over so the consultant got confused and didn’t know whether she’d already measured him. I think that was the baby I’ve dubbed Bruiser because he’s the bigger of the twins and always seems to be pushing Wriggler out of the way. Wriggler was hiding today. It must have taken the Consultant 15 minutes to get a picture of him. Of course, J giving in to needing a wee and not having a full bladder can’t have helped. As usual, Snoozer was lying quietly in his own ‘bedroom’, chilling out.

It’s such a relief to finally be past 12 weeks. I know everything’s not certain to be safe but the chances ARE much improved. At least until 18 weeks or so when we have to worry about premature birth instead.

Today they also told us that the chances of the pregnancy lasting longer would be improved by bed rest so J will have to go to bed at 18 weeks to have the best chance of the pregancy reaching the magic 28 weeks cutoff when the babies’ lungs are well enough developed. That’s TEN WEEKS in bed. Sixteen if she goes to 34 weeks (the best we can apparently hope for).

I think I better get used to cooking, cleaning and caring all by myself. Ah, well, I would’ve had to when the babies were born. This way I get a warm up…

Was it really two weeks ago that we last went to Jimmy’s for a scan? The time has flown. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that neither J nor me are dreading it so much. Three scans no and none have been anything other than awe-inspiringly breath-takingly wonderful.

The first week of waiting for a scan back at the begining of February seemed to last forever. All I had on my mind was the emergency room in Slovenia and the room at LGI where we were told about the miscarriage of our first baby. “I’m sorry,” the nurse said. “This baby’s in trouble. It doesn’t have a heart beat.” Somehow I couldn’t trust that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.

But it hasn’t. Not so far. And there’s no point worrying about things that might not happen. Doing so would mean missing out on the awe and wonder of J being pregnant right now, which I don’t intend to do.

So although I hope with my entire being that tomorrow is OK, today I am happy and optomistic and the time is speeding by between now and when I have children.