Doug and Rebecca Walker

Today we snapped a few pictures to mark the 22nd week. I was wearing a dress for church. Already, the dress is getting a little shorter in the front! Oh well, what can I do?

This Sunday was a LONG day. We took a bunch of food over to the church for a pot luck following the service. We had a crock pot, cookies, 4 drinks, chips, cheese, grapes and I’m sure more. I had a rough time sitting through the service. After the service several families from our small group all ate lunch together. Then we headed over to a nursing home to have a mini church service with some of the elderly. I couldn’t make it through all of, but just about. The ride home – almost 45 minutes – was a killer. I came home and napped, but the rest of my day has been taken up with countless changing positions, none of which seem comfy. Strangely, the babies have been very, very active today!

This week, in general, has been very painful. After last Sunday’s strange tearing pain while unloading the dishwasher, I spent several days in misery. When the pain got really bad, I’d start puking like mad. I pretty much stayed confined to the bed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday I began physical therapy. My right ribs still keep spasming. On my left side, I’ve still got this wretched pain from the sciatica and from what the doctor thought was the tearing of a ligament. The physical therapist confirmed some weakness in my left leg as well as some reflexes not responding very well. The therapist noticed how lopsided my belly is, too. I need these babies to better balance the load!

We picked up 2 swings from Craigs list this week. They are in pristine condition with no smell! The lady also gave us a bouncer for free. She had said the batteries corroded on the inside. Because the bouncer looked pretty much brand new, I had hopes of being able to clean the leads inside the battery compartment. But I can’t. I tried.

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I’m now in week 21. Some days I get a look at myself and wonder what in the world I’m going to look like in another 11 weeks. My skin is really starting to get itchy, so I’m thinking, stretch marks are on the horizon. I can’t hardly wrap my mind around what this belly will look like some day….. Doug says all the old stretch marks from Audrey’s pregnancy and the scars from countless surgeries all tell a story. A story of how God used doctors and modern medicine to keep me around as Doug’s wife, Audrey’s Momma, and now Momma to 3 more babies. (That man I married, isn’t he just so sweet and wise!? )

I’ve had 7 endometriosis surgeries, a C-section, my gall bladder removed, and my appendix removed. I’ve had two surgeries on my right shoulder, left knee surgery, a cyst removed from my back, a large spot removed from my chest after biopsied revealed atypical cells. I’ve got scars in my mouth from being attacked by a dog when I was young……these are just the biggies. No one can see all the scar tissue inside my body, but I can tell you all about how they hurt. And I can tell you about the emotional scars of a D&C from losing a baby, and from losing 4 adopted embryos.

A life time battle with weight, crazy fertility treatments that make my hair keep changing color, and surgical scars too numerous to count, I hope will aid me as I teach my children, Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Pretty convicting verse, though. Although I’ve got the ‘beauty in vain’ part down pat, I’ve got miles to go on the ‘a woman who fears the Lord’ part.

Some people have asked if I’m as big now as I was when I had Audrey. Actually, the answer is, not quite! I delivered Audrey at 38 weeks and was pretty big! She weighed 7lbs even. I am pretty close, though. Even though the babies are so tiny right now, once you factor in the placentas and extra fluid, it’s about a 7 lb total, I would guess. I carried Audrey pretty high, whereas I think with the triplets, they are down a smidge lower.

So here are some pics of a thinner, younger version of me. Audrey is now 7 1/2 years old. Since she was born, I’ve taken gobs of hormones and infertility drugs, which I think is the main reason why I’m heavier now and have much darker hair. Yes, my hair was once very blonde like Audrey’s. These were taken 2 days before Audrey was born.

I did have another check-up this today at the doctors. I only had a super quick ultrasound to hear their hearts all beating between 150-153 beats a minute. Another check to make sure my cervix isn’t shortening. Thank the Lord, it’s still holding strong!

Last night I spent a few hours at small group, in various positions of discomfort. I felt so whipped when we got home. I should’ve headed immediately to the tub or the recliner, but felt compelled to do something about the sorry state of my downstairs. It’s a total disaster replacing all our old school room/office furniture and because I had taken a fair amount of food to small group. So I started unloading the dishwasher. I lifted something with my arm extended away from my body and felt a massive tearing, hot burn. I was paralyzed in the kitchen, with my left leg propped up on the lower rack of the dishwasher for about 15 minutes. It’s been burning ever since. The doctor says, “oh, you probably just tore a ligament!” Yeah, that’s all!!!!!

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