Hospital bed rest day 43 W26D4: There a growing baby elephant on my belly!

They don't seem to be too diligent on monitoring my weight here in this hospital. The weighing scale in my ward is not working and I have no idea how much weight I have put on since my 22nd week. I had just asked DH last night to bring our weighing scale from home so I could monitor my own weight. Anyway, today my favorite nurse in the ward decided to weigh me, so here are my stats:

   My pre-pregnancy weight was 48kg.

   My weight at the most severe part of my OHSS when I was in hospital was 57kg. There was an additional water retention of 9kg inside me!

   My weight after being discharged after 10-days of hospitalization in January was 46.6kg. Since this weight can still be considered average (on the borderline for my height, 5"2), I've used this weight as my baseline.

   Today I weigh 63.2kg.

Which means Ive put on 16.6kg (36.5 lbs) since then!

My FM specialist was back from his holiday last week, so although my next scan was scheduled for the week after, I had a surprise scan last Wednesday (W25D7).  The babies weighed:

  Baby A: 892 g (2 lbs)
  Baby B: 786 g (1.7 lbs)
  Baby C: 854 g (1.9 lbs)

So if the total weight of the babies are less than 3kg, i.e. the average birth weight of a singleton, what does the rest of my weight gain get attributed to? Well, I'm carrying three times the amount of placenta and ammonic fluid inside me :)

My cervix is 3.6 - 3.7cm!  I guess it wasn't even an issue because my FM didn't even bother to disclose the length to me until I asked him.

I've been carefully trying to eat enough and eat correctly to reach the biweekly target weight for triplet mothers in Dr. Luke's book and I've been fairly proud of myself for my weight gain at 22 weeks. The weight gain from proper nutrition for a triplet mother-to-be is essential for a healthy triplet pregnancy, because this means heavier babies at the premature birth, which can happen anytime. A heavier premature baby has a higher survival rate and less complications. Proper weight gain also helps to reduce the risk of very early premature birth.

How does it feel to be pregnant at 26 weeks with triplets? Well, it's like a baby elephant that is stuck to my belly that growing at a very fast pace! I remember complaining about the discomfort as early as 22 week, not being able to stand, sit, lie or walk for long. Funny though it seem, I've learn to adapt to the discomfort of the weight in my belly. And now that my Prenatal cradle has finally arrived from Amazon.com, I can walk comfortably enough up and down the ward without having to hold my belly!

I know it's going to get worse once I reach my third trimester, so I'm trying hard not to complain too much now. I'm just hoping the babies would be able to make it to 1kg at my next scan, where I'll be around 28 weeks!