30 Weeks

Good news, we have made it to 30 weeks and in only a couple days we will reach the 31 week mark! Dr. Dixon started my visit yesterday by saying that my name is starting to make it's way through the "circles" with a triplet pregnancy making it to 30 weeks without 1 visit to the hospital. However, the information obtained during the visits revealed that this is no longer the "perfect" pregnancy it use to be.

Yesterday, we had two appointments with the Maternal-Fetal Specialists and our OB/GYN. We started with a visit to the Maternal-Fetal Specialist to evaluate their growth. The appointment started as usual, struggles to see Baby A. With the three babies in there, they were unable to fully evaluate Baby A because of his position. They were able to evaluate the size of his head and the flow through the umbilical cord. Both appeared on target and therefore there were no concerns identified with Baby A.

Then, we proceeded to Baby B and Baby C. Both of these boys were able to be evaluated. The appointment proceeded as usual at this point until the doctor told us that the babies weighed 2lb-14oz and 3lb-1oz respectively. While this alone did not cause concern, it was the low growth between their last visit and this visit (4 weeks) that caused the doctor to do some additional testing. Baby B went from the 75th percentile for growth to the 12th percentile and Baby C went from the 43rd percentile to the 15th percentile. The bio-physical profile that he then completed on B and C identified no problems and it appears they are both in good health. However, he wants to keep a closer eye on the babies from this point forward. The boys will now have bio-physical profiles on a weekly basis and they are going to evaluate growth in another three weeks.

In trying to determine a reason for the low growth, they were unable to pinpoint the exact reason but provided some possible reasons. One possibility is that the placentas are starting to struggle in supporting the babies. For this I was encouraged to spend as much time horizontal as possible. He did not prescribe bed rest but he indicated the placentas are at top performance when I am laying on my side. To help out, I am going to start working from home to spend the days in bed. A placenta starting to fail is apparently something that can be common among multiple pregnancies. If this is the reason, they will need to decide at some point if the babies are better off in the nursery than in me.

Other things that could help at this point are making sure my water and protein intake are high. As many know, I have been struggling to eat but I plan to increase my efforts to force it down from this point forward. The last thing that may be a sign of problems is that my blood pressure was 112/96. The top number is fine but the bottom number is elevated. The doctors want to keep an eye on this as well so I will be reporting weekly for blood pressure checks.

My next appointments are next Friday. I will provide an update following the visits. Also, we did not get any pictures from these visits. It really was difficult to see what they were looking at because the baby parts are all over the place.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Take care,

Kellie