SOOO....What's It Like Carrying Triplets?

Carrying triplets is probably the scariest endeavor I have ever endured. In the beginning, of course you find out that you are pregnant and you haven’t any clue that there is more than one tiny person growing inside.

Because of my prior health problems, my doctor decided to do an ultrasound at 9 weeks out. Because of a previous miscarriage, I was worried about the doctor not finding any heart beat. Little did I know, that lab tech would find not one, but THREE tiny heartbeats!

What a shocker! No, I didn’t faint or pass out, although it did help that I was already lying down. But then again, that lab tech was too surprised to say anything more than, “ How many baby’s would you like?”

All I could say was, “How many baby’s are you seeing?” Of course we now know the answer was “THREE!” So there I was, not expecting one viable heartbeat, only to find that I was supporting THREE!

The doctor & the lab tech (after much oh my goodness-ing) printed out many pictures of my tiny trio so that I would have the undeniable proof of existence when breaking the news to my family. After all, who would believe I was carrying triplets?

Funnier still, I had to have the office worker write me a letter saying that I was carrying them so that work would believe me!

Next, it was on to the specialist’s office for my 12 week introductory visit. They don’t want to see you before 12 weeks because anything less than that may not be a viable multiple pregnancy. That was frightening.

I had gained 4 pounds by this point and was starting to feel my jeans tighten at the waist. The specialist turned out to be very nice, however you get to have this consultation in his office where he gets to tell me that I am much to short to be carrying triplets and that my chances for successfully carrying them are very slim. I looked him in the eye and told him, “We’ll just see about that!”

This is the point where selective reduction is implied/offered, which in my case just wasn’t an option. So,  I left my first big appointment with my specialist armed with a list of stipulations: mandatory full bed rest at 5 months, a list of foods that you should and shouldn’t eat, explicit instruction to find, identify and eliminate all sources of stress from my life, and a term date of 34 weeks. The 34 week goal is the scary part, even though the stress elimination was a close second.

I decided to approach this rather like a game. I had a starting point which I had already managed to get past (conception-passed that test with flying colors!) and now I had a set end point to strive for.

After having been told that most triplet pregnancy’s never make the 34 week mark, I decided that we would hit it right on target. The doctor just smiled.

Little did he know that he would find himself writing my OBGYN a letter stating, “Please deliver these triplets the moment Mimi is officially considered 34 weeks. Not a day before, or a day later.”

Much to my doctor’s surprise, after a pregnancy of no complications, I would walk to labor and delivery from the Schumpert parking garage and check myself in for my very planned c-section after the most frightening 34 weeks I have ever sustained!

Originally published TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2007 by mimi Rankin Webb