Update in Week 11: How to Pray for the Trips

Baby A, B and C in all their glory

It's been a busy week!  Gearing up for school, Travis got a new job with CarMax (yay stability and benefits!), and had two appointments with two different doctors!

We saw Dr. Dhillon the paleontologist  perinatologist on Monday.   This was the doctor that no one would tell me why I  needed to see her other than the very helpful answer of, "You're having triplets".  I soon found out why they wanted to see me so quickly.  Radiology had sent over my report that the "twins" as we so lovingly refer to them (the babies in the same side) were being reported as something called mono/mono which means that they were sharing a sack and sharing a blood supply.  This is an EXTREMELY rare and dangerous thing, so they wanted to either confirm or deny this right away.  Dr. Dhillon was able to confirm that they are not together in one sack and will therefore not have to battle it out in my womb. PHEW.

BUT, the "twins" are something called mono/di which means they have one blood supply and two sacks.  This makes my already high risk pregnancy a little higher risk.  As my OB so eloquently put it, "There's high risk and then there's you." Awesome my own category!

But anyway, I digress, the issue that could come up with our little mono/di (dye heehee) "twins" is that they can develop something called twin to twin transfusion syndrome.  If you must put it in the Google machine go here http://www.tttsfoundation.org/ instead, good info, not so scary or infinitely crazy as a Google search.  The kids don't have this yet, it's just something that can happen and cause issues for the babies because they are sharing a blood supply.  In fact, as Dr. Dhillon was telling me all of this and I was tearing up she said, "Oh no, your babies don't have this, and I'm not saying they will, they are all beautiful right now and right on schedule, we just need to monitor."

The second appointment was fairly uneventful. They finally gave me a due date of March 7th. Waiting on a due date was like waiting on a 4 year old to solve a Rubix cube I swear, so many factors and people all saying different things...sheesh! They took all my blood, told me I was a high risk pregnancy...again... and sent me packing with a follow up slip for the end of the month in tow.

So with all that said we are asking for your prayers and happy thoughts!
Pray that:

• the twins don't develop twin to twin transfusion syndrome
• Give the doctor's discernment in diagnosis and treatment if the need arises
• that we have a continued attitude of "we'll cross that bridge once we get to it"
• that the Great Insurance Saga of 2015 is over
• that my sickness continues to get better before school starts (Sept. 7)

Hard to tell because of the picture, but the triplets are trying to show
The Dr's say that my belly will probably measure 2-3 weeks ahead of a normal pregnancy

Me, Myself and Leslie Knope

Those that know me, know I have a serious obsession with all things Parks and Rec.  For those of you that haven't watched Parks and Rec...I'm sorry and you should rectify that promptly.  Anywho, Leslie Knope is the main character and she and I share much more than I ever thought. It has become so apparent that I wanted to share my top five reasons why Leslie Knope and I are the same person have many things in common.

1.  We are both having spontaneous, natural triplets.
The episode that she learns this in is aptly called 1 in 8,000 (the odds in which this crazy little phenomenon happens) and her outlook was a little more positive than mine. Mine was more of a "holy crap" moment, BUT I mean I'm excited now.

2. We are efficient in both baby making and life.





She runs the parks department in Pawnee, I run English as a Second Language Programs and by god we do it with pizazz, a passion and efficiency if I do say so myself!  And hey, I don't know about her, but I got all of my offspring checked off the list in one swoop.

3.  Our facial expressions are killer.

Just watch us sometime. Nuff said.

4.  We both have an obscene love for all breakfast foods (especially waffles).
It's so good. Especially the syrup. Just give me the syrup. I have a problem.

5.  Miniature horses are easily our favorite animals.
Little Sebastian was loved and cherished by Leslie.  All other mini-horses are loved and cherished by yours truly.
(I've also realized I have no pictures of myself and a mini-horse...problem)

Thanks for reading my silly post, an update on the latest Dr's visit(s) is coming this weekend! 
*Also sorry for the formatting issues...I'm hoping you still get the gist**

All the Feels

Emotionally I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride.

I assume a lot of it is crazy pregnant lady syndrome hormones but some of it goes deeper than that.

With unplanned pregnancy I am guessing lots of women feel this way. This way meaning:

• Guilty
• Stressed
• Inadequate
• Sad
• Out of Control

These feelings make you inadequate to be a good mother right?  You feel all of these negative emotions about these gifts you've been given.  People keep saying they are excited and happy and they run the gamut of happy human emotion, so why am I not allowing myself to totally jump into this joy?  I want to. I just haven't been letting myself.

I haven't been letting my inner self experience these happy emotions because I know what my body has done is going to cause extreme change, stress, and even hardship on myself and my husband.  Because this wasn't the plan. Because I don't know if I can be trusted to handle three lives and guide and steer their paths towards their Creator. 

BUT before you click the back button and leave this blog because things just got real weird  ...wait.

After allowing myself to feel these emotions and think and pray and talk, I look back at the list of the feels I am feeling and realize that these things though negative are refining me, shaping me.  This is where I am at the moment and that's ok, because I know that my God is with me in all things and that He has a plan for redemption.  These feelings are real, but He is too and I am already experiencing that redemptive love.  God has called me loved, and I will walk accordingly.

My husband said something the other day during a breakdown cry session (which he is so patient in btw). He said, "Well I'm happy, why wouldn't I be happy? You're bringing me children. Sure it might be hard but it will be a blessing eventually."  And he's right.  We are going to patiently wait on the Lord and the blessing that these three beings will bring.

AND when I truly stop and breathe and think  and put my worry to rest the feelings I get are:

• Loved and supported by my husband
• Loved and supported by our village
• Loved and supported by my God

...and that's a pretty good place to be.

I'll Just Leave That Right Here...

Sooooo... I'm going to start with the things I know.

I'm Nikki.

I'm married to an awesome guy.

We weren't exactly trying to have a baby.

We weren't exactly trying to have TRIPLETS.

But we are.

Yup, your eyes don't deceive you. That's baby A, B and C happily floating inside me. Just taking up residence in there like "Hey no big deal, just redecorating!" AND that's also "A MESS OF BABIES" typed right on the ultrasound, because that's what I poetically exclaimed during the 3D ultrasound. But I'll stop showing you how weird I am rambling and tell you what has unfolded in life for us in the past 5 weeks.

So by trade I'm not just fertile myrtle, I'm a teacher which means I have my summers free, WHICH MEANS I went and worked 2 weeks of summer camp.  My husband of course has a job that doesn't let you skip for summer fun, so off I went to MO for camp.

Long story short I had some definite awful things  symptoms going on, got a pregnancy test and the moment I peed on that thing the little blue cross lit up like a Christmas tree (and all subsequent tests, it's like a law you can't take just one). I of course freaked out stayed calm, waited until I got home from camp and surprised my husband with the news.  He was excited and happy and supportive and calmed all my fears and yah he rocks.

SO THEN fast forward through another week of camp in Wyoming (puking the whole time) and then my first appointment...

Thank goodness my husband was able to be there.  The doctor came in, started the exam, so much normalcy...until she said the words, "Just what I thought... TWINS! Your levels were so high I expected multiples, you weren't on fertility drugs and this was spontaneous, right?" Just as I was about to answer her 'yes', she said those fateful words..

Wait, there's more

That's when she discovered our third. We went from one child, to two, to three in about 5 seconds.

Thinking back, it still gives my heart that nervous, sick, through the floor feeling.  My bonus father in law once told us that there are few true surprises in life, and we truly experienced one.

Those moments were surreal and precious and scary and beautiful and jaw dropping and again I'll stop rambling.

I don't think we've even quite understood yet this amazing journey we have been thrown topsy-turvy into, but I do know that the Lord is good and works all things to the good of those who love Him, that these triplets and I couldn't have a better man in our lives to love us, and it is seriously going to take a village (like the entire thing). But I like our village, and I'm pretty sure our village likes us.

We had another ultrasound that day with the 3D people, who were total sweethearts, and we saw all of their little hearts pumping, and spines developing and what a wow moment. We found out two were probably going to be identical. And the reality moments of how are we going to do this financially, physically, mentally.  But beyond that worry we have a Hope and we have each other and now we have three little wiggly beings that should be here sometime around March 2016.

Welcome to our journey, I have a feeling it's going to be a wild ride!