Blessed with a Miracle

Abigail, Wyatt and Jessy Grace

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Blessed

Lots has happened since I have posted last. I really need to get better at this! Jack and David painted the nursery and finished the guest room. This week trim will go up and I know it will look awesome once it is complete.

Nursery Guest Room

Jack and I went to Arkansas last weekend to have Christmas with his Dad and step mom. The weekend was very relaxing and we had a nice time visiting, being outside and watching movies.









What an awesome Christmas week! Jack and I had our doctors appointment on 12/23 and at this appointment not only measured my cervix but also measured the anatomy of each baby. Let me just say my doctor said and I quote "you are a rockstar!!" It was an awesome appointment and amazing relief. My cervix length has stayed the same and looks great. Each baby measured on track and all of their heads, stomachs, arms, legs, bladder, kidney's, etc were strong. Baby A and Baby C weigh 8 ounces and Baby B, 9 ounces. Right on track during this week of pregnancy, 18 1/2 weeks. So here are the "official" names: Baby A - Abigail Ruth, Baby B - Wyatt Michael and Baby C - Jessy Grace...2 girls and a boy. I go back each week and will start seeing the doctor now every 2 weeks. My belly is definitely getting bigger and really the only complaint I have is my back sleeping at night. I feel so blessed at the babies strength and growth each week.

We left Wednesday after our doctors appointment for East Texas and had a great time with the Kasling family. We exchanged gifts Thursday afternoon and had a wonderful meal and then headed to Candlelight Christmas Eve service. Christmas morning Santa came and brought lots of fun gifts for everyone :) including Abigail, Wyatt and Jessy. Friday we headed to Dallas for the Earle family Christmas and Saturday evening ended with DeWitt family Christmas and an awesome game of Bingo. It was a wonderful time with friends and family and I feel so grateful to have everyone in my life.
Here are a few of the fun outfits the babies received. There are lots more, but Daddy and Aunt Christina gave us these fun outfits!


From Daddy Aunt Christina gave us these that say "just spent 9 months on the inside"

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Weekend update

The weekend was great, very productive and fun. Friday Kathy called and told me about a triplet mom in Dallas who was having a garage sale. I called mom and she went over and had a blast! The mother was so sweet and her babies now 22 months had great gently used items. She also still had her triplet stroller that I planned to get, so we snatched it up! Wow, there is nothing really "cute" about this stroller, however totally functional. It holds the Graco Snugride Infant car seats, so just like the car seats snap into the base of the car, the car seat snaps into the stroller. This should last us for awhile, at least until the babies grow out of the infant car seats. I can sure imagine the looks we will get!



We had our Christmas party with the ladies from church, and let me tell you it was not your "normal" church lady gathering :) I will just keep it at that! Let's just say, people have talents I had no idea even existed....good times!

Saturday Jack and I got up late and lounged around through the afternoon. I had a skin care class and Jack worked on projects in his garage through the day. He builds, welds and designs more than anyone I have ever known. Pretty amazing how crafty and handy he is. Saturday night I had another Christmas party with my cousins and had a blast visiting and hanging out with them. Sunday we went to church and Jack left for East Texas to check out a new hunting lease with guys from church. I spent most of the day relaxing and met Alex (high school best friend) for dinner, Starbucks and Home Depot stop. I got another sample of the "green" paint I plan to use for the nursery. The first sample was too lime-y :) this new color is lighter and I think will work as the color.

I am feeling good. I spent lots of time this evening looking at the Triplet Connection website, reading the forums and other triplet blogs. I have been concerned lately because so many people look at my belly and say "you don't look like your are 17 weeks pregnant with triplets." Well...I am. And I eat! I started checking out other triplet blogs and looking at the archived pictures of other women during the 17-20 week period. Some bigger some the same, but I guess if my doctor is not concerned, I can't be concerned. The babies are getting what they need, obviously because each week they are growing.



I go back this Wednesday and I will mention to my nurse what concern and see what she says. Wow, it is amazing what is to come over the next several weeks. So many changes not only to my body, but also to the babies and how every week is such a huge milestone for them. Needless to say I spent a LOT of time on the internet today. Here is something I was amazed by, the same infant car seat, pack and play and swing were SIGNIFICANTLY less in price at Wal-Mart than Babies r Us. I had originally registered at Babies r Us for all of these items, but when I noticed the infant car seat was $30 less at Wal-Mart, I made the switch. I still have both registries, but gosh those items times 3 add up!

Here is the bed I like and think it may be the one we go with, who knows....I may change my mind :)
http://www.walmart.com/Delta-Canton-4in1-Crib-Espresso/ip/10811674

Friday, December 11, 2009

Bedding

My doctors appointment went great about on Wednesday, I am measuring the same and the babies are great. I head to Mesquite every week and then every 3 weeks to Baylor.

So I have had lots of people ask about the bedding, so here it is. I am going to do the stripes on the outside and the minky green stripe on the inside. The piping for the boy will be the blue paisley and the ruffle for the girl will be the pink paisley. The bed skirt will also be paisley patterns. The walls are going to be painted a light green.







What do you think!?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sorry for the delayed post! It seems like every time I wanted to post after our appointment last Wednesday, something always came up. But, to go back to last week, our appointment was great! I think our doctor was even pleasantly surprised. All three of the babies heart rates were strong, the fluid measured perfect, and they all weighed the same, 5 oz. Dr. Romberg again was satisfied with the report and since my last appointment my cervix length has not changed (which is great) AND I only gained 1 pound. Now this seems crazy to me, because I am much bigger, but I am guessing my weigh is shifting!?!? Who knows, it won't be long though and I will be ridiculously large. I will start going weekly to measure my cervix as this will determine pre-term labor and/or bed rest. The appointment will be quick, but again as a pre-caution and weekly monitoring. I go back for my 3 week appointment on Dec. 23 and at that time they will measure growth and anatomy. I love going these appointments, it is pretty amazing how all the babies are growing!

As for house preparations, they are coming along. I would say they are not as quick as I would like, but I'm pretty sure if I nest anymore Jack is going to go CRAZY!!! I can't help it!!!! I want it all to be done, just in case I go on bed rest. The office/guest room is almost done. I am half way finished painting and just need to put the curtain up. I will before and after soon. Once that is complete I will start on the nursery.

I decided on bedding and am so grateful for Mrs. Katie Fite, who gave me a set of custom girl bedding. I am using the girl bedding and ordering fabric and Mrs. Adelstein (another family friend) will be sewing it for me! It is going to look awesome! Greens, blues, pinks! I am going to paint the walls a light sage green.

I am feeling good and so blessed. I have a lot more energy than the first tri-mester and I am keeping down my food. I do get sick in the morning, but it is not a big deal and really nothing compared what it was before. I am starting to get weirded out by my growing belly. I love rubbing it and thinking about the babies, but it is getting hard to get up from sitting, or get out of bed...those things you don't really think about.

Enjoy the pictures in the previous post, I am so excited for a mixture of boys and girls!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Abigail, Wyatt and.....we think it's a girl!!

I will write more later, but wanted to at least post the pictures. Baby A was being a little stubborn, but we are 90% she is a girl!

Baby A


Baby B


Baby C


Baby A & C

Friday, November 27, 2009

Update....

I have been feeling pretty good the past 2 weeks. Jack and I both got over our colds for the most part, and started getting our energy back. We attended a marriage retreat with some of our church friends in San Antonio 2 weekends ago, and that was a wonderful getaway. Jack has been busy hunting every weekend (except that one) and so far has had luck with 1 deer. He is definitely trying to get all the hunting in before next year rolls around....I think he realizes it will not be as easy to leave this time next year. Oh, and I got a new car!! White Chevy Tahoe....my hubby did so good finding a great deal and working with Sandlin in Mt. Pleasant was easy as ever.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I spent the first part of the week with family in East Texas and really enjoyed seeing friends and family who I had not seen in a while. I was able to see my precious nephew Will and visit with my Dad and Denise. By the way Will calls me "Aunt Sissy" and it has to be the cutest thing I have heard yet! I also got to spend more time with my step sister and she bought me my first baby gift....a diaper bag!! I am so excited to get it in the mail. I know you are thinking "really, you are excited about a bag," but those who know me know I love bags and picking this out was just fun. I decided on a backpack style, as I figured with babies in arms it will be difficult to be weighed down by a bag. This one has major pockets and is not gender specific, it was hard not to go with the pinks!! Here it is!! http://www.shopjujube.com/Product.aspx?l=00010001000000000000&p=JJB01239 Thank you Misty!!

At the end of my East Texas trip I also got to visit with some of my girlfriends and just hang out. I got some great mommy tips and ideas for the nursery. I also came home from this trip with a day bed and lots of great baby to toddler toys. My Uncle Kemp and Aunt Dana blessed me with some things they had in storage. I am so grateful!! Thank you!!

Thanksgiving was yummy and the food stayed down...success! I had a great time with family and enjoyed watching the Cowboys and the A&M game. Here the picture Jack took before I stuffed my face with Thanksgiving lunch.

And, while the game was not in the Aggies favor, we at least gave t.u a little run for their money. I was a happy Aggie.

I ventured out later in the afternoon on black Friday and started my registries at Babies 'r Us and Wal-Mart. Let me tell you...this was quite the experience. I was at Babies 'r Us for nearly 2 hours just making sure I didn't over scan or under scan...tried to think of needing 3 of everything is quite overwhelming. It was fun though and it is a good start.

We head back to the Dr. this coming Wednesday, and HOPEFULLY find out if we have boys, girls or a mixture. I can't wait! I will post when we get new pictures. Thank you for all the love, prayers and support.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Veteran's Day, A Great Report!

Well we have made it to 12 weeks!!! And what a great day for the veteran daddy to get a good report! The first tri-mester is wrapping up and the chance for miscarriage has dramatically decreased. Praise God!! The first appointment was with the high risk specialist whose main goal was to check for downs syndrome on each baby. The babies checked out great and each has strong heartbeats and measured the proper length. She also measured my cervix which she said look "really strong." Of course with 3 this will be very important because the longer the babies stay in, the better. Unless something comes up during the pregnancy, I will not see the high risk doctor again.

We then headed over to see Dr. Romberg for my regular appointment. We got to see the babies again and Kari, the sonographer took some great shots of A, B and C's profiles! We could see their little hands and watched them move all around. It is amazing they are moving so much and I can't feel it yet. It was awesome. Dr. Romberg scheduled me for the H1N1 shot and told me to go ahead and get a flu shot. I also started getting a head cold this week so she let me know what over the counter medicine's I can take. She was satisfied with my progress and will see me again in 3 weeks. We are hoping we might be able to maybe tell the sexes of the babies then, but it will probably be at our 18 week appointment where we can really see.



We took Jack's granny back home this week, so I can now work on getting the nursery started. I found a baby bed I really like at Lone Star Baby store in Dallas and found precious bedding for a girl. Trying to still figure out if the babies are a mix how to decorate, but I think I am going to go with pink, brown, and green and blue, brown and green mix. Need to still find the bedding, but I think those colors will come together well.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Multiples Manual

Well I have been blessed with about 8 awesome books from a triplet mom in the Dallas area. I am so grateful and have already started reading and learning! Here is a quick fact for you: On average from the time the babies are newborn until potty trained, the household will change 24,060 diapers!!!!! WOW, if that doesn't put it into perspective I don't know what will.

We had a great weekend. I started feeling much better on Saturday and actually got a lot done around my house. I am starting my "things I want to do before the babies get here" list. Like washing windows, steam cleaning carpet, organizing the laundry room, those fun things. Halloween was fun! We took the first baby belly pic, and here is another of our costumes. I was a good witch and Jack was a sniper. We went to our friend Sonya and Justin's and had a cook out, hay ride and tons of stuff for kids! It was a blast.





Sunday was relaxing and again filled with lots of reading. I organized my cook book and them got to meet my high school BFF, Alex, for dinner at Chili's. I got to bed early and hoping for another great week! Our next doctors appointment is November 11th, and we will see our regular doctor as well as the high risk specialist. I am sure I will have fun news to report after that.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Baby Pics


Sorry it took a while to post the new sono pics, but here they are. Babies are much bigger than the 1st picture and I know this week have been growing! I really felt like I was a bad mom becuase I actually misplaced the pictures from Sunday until now. Ahh....the crazy brain has begun.

I am 10 1/2 weeks and doing good. When it gets dark I get sick, but that is ok....for the most part during the day I am good.

I am starting to get a belly, which is fun, but at the same time sad. I like my clothes and finding new ones is never fun. I did find a great pair of jeans, now I just need a great black skirt. I have heard Old Navy and Target have reasonable maternity clothes so I think I will for sure try there first.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Worrying is forgetting about who is really in charge!!

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks already since we found out the Self triplets are on their way. Other than being the lady in town having triplets I think I have come to terms with the fact that my life is about to totally be different in less than 7 months. Over the past 2 weeks I have practically driven my husband to insanity and have probably cried for no reason on average 3 times a day....BUT I will say all in all, the feelings I know are normal and they are getting better and a little less overwhelming. My wonderful s-mom, Denise, called me this week with an awesome quote that I am really trying to hard NOT forget and that is "worry is forgetting about who is really in charge!" WOW, that will make you step back. I know God is in charge and He knew this adventure was going to happen even before Jack called me from Iraq....it is pretty amazing how smart He is :;)

Our 2nd doctors appointment went great yesterday. All of our appointments will be now at big Baylor in Dallas. They have a ultrasound machine that can see triplets best. Our sonographer is awesome! She not only let us see lots of great pictures of the babies, but was able to record on a VHS the entire session. So, we will have each appointment recorded, which is pretty cool. The babies look great! Baby B was super active which was absolutely amazing!!! I am just at 10 weeks and while I can't feel it, their little arms and legs were just movin' and groovin', it was awesome. We saw Baby A and C move as well, but not near as much as Baby B. All three heart rates were different, but all strong. They each measured about the same, Baby A was a little smaller than the other 2, but by about 2 mm.

My doctor was satisfied with how I was progressing so far and really just answered a ton of questions Jack and I had. She is planning for me to see a high risk specialist after 12 weeks and they will run a few tests. Unless anything major changes or happens, I won't have to see the high risk specialist on a regular basis, it will just depend on how the pregnancy progresses. She did inform me that I could be on bed rest as early at January. This is worst case scenario, but I will tell you when she said that I looked at Jack and said "we have to get to work!!!" There is SO much still to do. It is hard though, becuase I really want to find out the sex of the babies before I start planning the nursery! If they are all of one sex, it will be totally different than if there is a mixture. So, we...or really I, am focusing on 1. getting a different car 2. buying a small storage building 3. getting a day bed 4. consolidating my office. If I can check those things off my list, I would be feeling good!!!

Here are some great things though: We are almost through the 1st tri-mester and the babies are GOOD, 3 baby beds will fit in the room we have for the nursery, I found these amazing things called preggo-pops that help with nausea and I have amazing friends and family who are praying for me!!

My scanner is acting up so I will have to add the new sono pictures this weekend, but I will tell you the babies have doubled almost in size, it is amazing!! I can't wait to go back in 3 weeks.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Blessings x 3!



Well as many have heard the Self family is growing from 2 to 5 in less than 7 months!!! We feel totally blessed and at the same time totally overwhelmed with the love, support, joy and all the changes headed our way. We see Dr. Romberg at Baylor Dallas again on Wednesday and will see pictures of the babies again, as well as talk more about "next steps" with the high risk specialist. At our appointment last Thursday, 10/9, the babies were strong and heartbeats racing. Baby A and B had heart rates of 153 and Baby C had a heart rate of 155. All 3 babies measured the same length and overall right now all looks good.

I am feeling pretty good. Other than fatigue and constant nausea, the good Lord has blessed me with a husband who runs to store several times a day and each time I start to get sick asks "Can I get you anything?" I wish I could tell him he could, but nothing helps the tummy.

I have been in touch with 4 families now who are parents of triplets, which is a HUGE blessing. Today I am also reading many posts on Triplet Connection http://www.tripletconnection.org/ and looking at ways we can organize the nursery. Oh, a several blogs from triplet moms, which is quite entertaining.

A new car model is also in order. I am in the process of earning the Chevy Malibu with Mary Kay, however the sedan will not hold 3 car seats! I am going to take the cash option, THANK YOU MARY KAY, and will use that toward our new family vehicle. I have 6 choices ready for Jack when he gets home today...and hoping we will make a decision in the next couples of weeks.

Here is the first sonogram picture from last week.