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We've made the six-month mark!
I still can't believe how quickly the weeks have flown by. Reaching this stage is regarded as the first major milestone because it's considered the week of viability.
Of course, we're not hoping to give birth this early, but should Mother Nature throw us off course, our babies have a good chance of surviving if given specialised neonatal care.
But we're confident and positive that this will not happen for another eight to 10 weeks.According to my baby app our babies are the size of papaya fruit and weigh approximately 600 g each.
Also see: The baby naming struggle begins: A-Bundlely Blessed Diaries #7
'I forget that there are three tiny human beings actually growing inside of me'
The most interesting development for me, however, was, reading that our babies now have control over all five of their senses. They can now taste, hear, smell, touch and see! How amazing is this?!
Excitement aside, lately I haven't been feeling 100%. After a visit to our GP, we found out that my iron levels are really low. This explains why I often feel weak, sometimes even dizzy.
And all this time I thought it was due to lack of sleep. I'm now on an oral iron treatment for my iron deficiency.
Feeling this way has again made me realise that I need to take things easy. I think sometimes I forget that there are three tiny human beings actually growing inside of me.
But with all the kicks that I'm feeling, I'm consciously becoming more aware of this (ha!). I'm just grateful that the babies are healthy and growing. And besides the iron deficiency, I'm also healthy.
FAQs
And speaking of health, I've been asked these questions so often throughout the pregnancy, so I figured I'd answer them quick:
Do you eat a lot?
Straight answer – no. I did a quick count, and during the day, I have five (small portion-sized) meals. And in-between every meal I'll snack on a fruit or yoghurt.
So technically, I eat as much as any normal person should.
Are you going to breastfeed?
I don't know yet, and I think it's a personal question.
I know there's a lot of benefits when breastfeeding your baby as you give them all the nutrition they need.
However, it's important to remember that not everyone is fortunate enough to breastfeed their babies. This could be down to not being able to produce enough milk or even medical reasons, to name a few.
And I was one of the unlucky ones when Nikolai was born. I made sure that he latched properly. I tried to feed him as often as possible and regularly used a breast pump to help me produce more milk.
But in the end, it still wasn't enough. After a month of trying to breastfeed, my milk supply never increased. And that's when I decided to change to formula.
I guess there were probably more alternatives I could've tried to increase my milk flow, but at the time I was at my wit's end and could see Nikolai wasn't getting enough milk.
I felt guilty because in my mind he must've been hungry all this time and I was none the wiser. Now with the triplets on the way, I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet.
Given the experience, I had with Nikolai, if we were having one baby, or even twins, I would've been more optimistic about trying my hand at breastfeeding again.
Practically, breastfeeding three babies will take up a lot of my time. I think to exclusively breastfeed three babies is not impossible, but it will be challenging and hard work.
I just don't see myself solely feeding three babies around the clock, while also expressing milk in-between. I also have Nikolai to think of, and I still want to make time for him.
In the end, we'll do what is best for us as a family. So, if you've had multiples, please share your breastfeeding tips and what worked for you.
In other news…
I want to say thank you to everyone for sending their baby name suggestions. After seeing so many cute and quirky responses, there's definitely one or even two we're considering.
For the inquisitive and eager ones… you'll have to hold on a bit longer until we're ready for the name reveal!
Until next time.
A-Bundlely Blessed and me.
Follow Chantelle's pregnancy journey on Instagram: @ChantiWhittles.
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