Mama Bear

Hey, guys! I know I am like a week or two late in posting my monthly blog...sorry about that! Life has gotten just a little bit crazy!

We put our house on the market the first week of July, and accepted an offer just a little over a week after we put it up! It was awesome having it go that quickly, but it was also a little bit insane because apparently there are very few houses in the price bracket our house was in. So there was showing after showing after showing every day for that whole week. I think we had around 15 different people come through the house at least. We also had our sweet doggie Winter stay at my in-laws' place because she sheds like a crazy thing, and I don't have the energy to vacuum her fur off the couch every day. Plus there are only so many places I could take her while people were going through our house. It was really sad being in the house without her, though, like there was something missing in our home. But it was good because, like I said, cleaning up after her would've been exhausting. Even so, cleaning was still a task. Ugh, keeping the toilets dust free, the sinks toothpaste free, keeping the dishwasher empty, making sure our laptops are put away every morning...yuck. Plus I dusted everything just about every other day. That made for an incredibly long week!

So, once we accepted an offer, we began looking at houses to move into. That was incredibly tiring, as well, because my husband is a huge fan of upstairs bedrooms, plus we wanted a basement. So that meant two flights of stairs at every house, plus often times stairs to get to the front door. Seriously, I feel I can walk pretty far for a girl carrying three babies without tiring. But stairs are so much more difficult when you're carrying an extra 30 lbs around!

Yes, I did say 30 lbs. In the 4 1/2 months I've been pregnant, I've gained at least 30 lbs! I actually stopped weighing myself because I get weighed monthly at the doctors'. I also feel like it's just one more thing for me to stress about. Not worth it! As long as I feel well-fed and my babies are growing well, I'm good to go. Those of you who knew the "weigh daily" Margaret know that is like a total change in direction for me. But the scale doesn't hold a whole lot of value to me right now as I purposely make my way back up to the 195 I weighed before SP and maybe even beyond that!

Despite this, I'm still pretty good at keeping track of my food. I feel it's really important to keep a balance between carbs, protein, and fat, and to eat at LEAST 2000 calories every day. When I eat without tracking, I tend to be heavy on carbs and sometimes on fat while being low on protein. But protein is so vital to the growth of my precious babies that I don't like skipping my food tracking too often. Sometimes I do, though. There are days when I just don't want to be tied to the screen of my phone, ya know? I'd rather be enjoying myself and spending time with the people I love.

So yes, also, I've chilled out a LOT on the whole eating 4000 calories a day thing. It was only meant to be until 20 weeks, anyway, and I started feeling too full at around 19 weeks or so. At this point, I know that the babies will get what they need...I've seen quite a few triplet mommas that gain WAY less than the number I seem to be headed towards and end up with relatively healthy babies. Mostly now I eat to keep my energy levels up and my protein levels up, if nothing else.

I did find an amazing group of women on Facebook that have had triplets or are due with triplets in 2015. To say that this group is invaluable to me is an understatement. It is seriously so good to hear about the successes and trials of other women like me. Any time I have a question, they always answer with so much compassion. And it makes me feel much more normal to know there are other women who have gone through what I am going through, and I love talking to the few women who are some weeks behind me (not many, though, since my 40 week due date is December). It is so hard to describe why carrying multiples is so different, but it really is. It's lonely sometimes. It's annoying sometimes when people just don't get it. It's scary much of the time. But to have the support of other people who know what I'm going through, even though it's virtual, is amazing. Those of you who are active with the SP community know how good and helpful even virtual support can be.

Anyway, as far as my pregnancy goes, I feel incredibly lucky. Although my energy levels aren't what they used to be before being pregnant (and heaven knows when I'll be that energetic again, haha), I don't feel all that uncomfortable yet. A lot of girls around my stage are complaining of having a hard time with hips, back, heartburn, etc., and I really haven't experienced much of that. My back DID complain quite a bit when my belly first popped out there, but now I think it's more used to the extra weight. Not planning on it staying that way, though. I'm sure the uncomfortable days are coming...just not yet for me. I have had a bit of heartburn and gas issues, but they only happen maybe a couple of times a week. To me, that's not enough to say I'm just super uncomfortable. Or maybe I'm just less of a complainer, haha.

Oh yeah, so another thing to add into the mix...my husband is currently in India this week and next for work. RIGHT?! Super bad timing! But at least it's now and not in the fall...I'm pretty sure I would not agree to let him go that far much later in the year than this. So since we haven't officially closed on our current house yet, I'm waiting for the word from our realtor that our buyers want to walk through the house one last time before closing. Then I'm going to clean like a mad woman because I got lazy after having to keep the house so freakin tidy all the time while we showed it, haha.

Oh right, so I never finished my thoughts on the house search! Lol, sorry, my brain does not always stay focused these days. So anyway, we looked at 5 houses in one day on the first day of house searching. We ended up seeing one that seemed perfect: 3 bedrooms with the ability to make another in the basement, on a cute little cul-de-sac, gorgeous back yard, well taken care of, and in a good school district relatively close to my husband's work. We put in an offer, although we didn't offer full price for the house based on comps in the area and the fact that it was 15 years old (time for a new roof and furnace in the next 5 years). We found out that there was another offer in that was higher than ours and decided to try again with $5000 more than our original offer. But we were kind of figuring we wouldn't get it at that point...and we didn't. I felt disappointed but at peace with it at the same time. I knew that another house would come along that would be even MORE perfect.

We went and looked at yet another 5 houses on the second day, and found one that was even better. 4 bedrooms plus washer and dryer upstairs, exactly in the city we were hoping to move into, and built in 2008...so pretty new. Plus the basement is completely finished, whereas the other house's basement needed a bit of work. The yard is a bit smaller than we have now, actually, but I think that'll be kind of nice to have less to take care of. And our dog is not much of an outside dog...she usually just goes out and does her business and then comes back in. We will have to put up an electric fence for her, since they don't allow regular fences there. Not my favorite thing ever, but it should be fine. There is also a community pool (paid for with HOA fees), so that means I could put my pregnant belly in the water without having to maintain a pool! There were also a bunch of kids outside playing when we went to look at the house, which was awesome. Definitely seemed kid-friendly. So we put in an offer for that house and found out there were 2 more offers on that house. But, after waiting for a couple of days, they ended up accepting our offer. Yay! So we're planning on moving in by the end of the month.

So yeah, anyway, I counted it out, and the latest I could really feasibly have these babies is mid-November. That gives me 3 months at most to get my act together! Cannot wait to move into the new house and get everything settled. I've been holding back the nesting instinct, but I feel it's going to be coming on strong once we're finally in our new place! I will miss this first little house, though. We've done a lot of work on it and have really enjoyed it for the past 4 years. But it just isn't going to work for us anymore.

The babies and I have been doing spectacularly at doctor's visits. They are all very active with good heartbeats and are on the large side for their gestational age. Baby B is already measuring 1 lb 1 oz! A and C are at 14 oz as of my last appointment on Wednesday. And doctors don't see anything to make them fear that I may go into labor early, so that is very good news. Wouldn't it be great if we could actually make it to November? I'm actually letting myself hope that now after getting such a great report. But, as I've seen in my group, things can change very quickly, which is why they have me come in every other week. I really never know when they might see something that causes them to put me on home bedrest, or worse hospital bedrest. I have to keep myself mentally prepared for that. Life does tend to throw a curveball when we least expect it.

Phew! Sorry for how long that was. That's what I get for waiting an extra couple of weeks. Here's hoping I'll be more on top of things next month! Don't keep your hopes up, though