First kicks

The morning of Christmas eve, new stirrings are about. She doesn't know what they are, and the mind reels from fear to surprise. Early contractions? The first kicks promised by the doc sometime around week 20 -- three weeks early? No harm in calling the doc, whose nurse checks the symptoms over the phone and provides re-assuring news, "That's the babies kicking." To the Mom, it feels like a rolling pin being pressed from inside. But a new threshold has been crossed.

Merry Christmas.

With the icy sheen that has descended on the Northeast thawing slightly as the day progresses, at last it is time to hit the road for the folks' for a family Christmas rendevous, and a busy threesome sending their early signals along the way.

Due date

Our due date is June 3. However, rarely do triplets go full-term. Instead, the doctor advises that the longer we (she!) can make it, the better for the health of the children, with 32 weeks being good, 34 weeks being excellent, and 36 weeks being perfect. So our goal is to make it to May, which gets us into the 34-week range, with every week into May bonus time. If we make it to 34 weeks, as I write this, we would now be at the half-way point -- 17 weeks. It's going fast, but the weeks ahead promise to be the most amazing and interesting yet. Wish us luck!

The gender revealed

Yesterday, December 19, we had our most recent ultrasound, and learned that it is very likely we are having one boy and identical twin girls. The boy is definitely (DEFINITELY) a boy. The doc wasn't 100% ready to say the other two were girls, but the best evidence on the ultrasound right now is that in fact that is the case. And since we know for sure there is a pair of identical twins, and it has looked from the beginning like the two closest together are the twins, this is a pretty safe bet. 

This is great news, and we are thrilled. Meanwhile, the visit was encouraging on all counts -- the size (one six ounces, the other two five ounces), heartbeats (first 150 bpm, the other two 147 bpm -- like we said, identical... --), activity level, and the rest were all positive. And they indeed were active the entire time. We couldn't help thinking that at one point a little one gave us a high five. We'll get a picture of that up here soon.

The mother is gaining weight nicely, thank you very much. This is good news, as she has had a rough few weeks of nausea, finally having to go on an anti-vomiting medicine because gaining weight is so important.