So.. Were You Guys On Fertility?

The question posed by the ultrasound tech puzzled me. I mumbled something about taking progesterone, which I was taking because I had a recent miscarriage. The only fertility treatment I even had knowledge of was IVF, and I would have thought she would have been aware of that...Her next question was, "Do multiples run in your family?", (they do not)to which my brain screamed "Oh my God! Twins!"
But no, it wasn't twins.
"I see three," she said, and that was when the sweating began. My husband, Todd, and I simultaneously poured sweat and nervously giggled for the remainder of the ultrasound session.
See, Todd and I, we're the last people who should have triplets. We're both the youngest of our families; the somewhat flaky, irresponsible kids that the parents have to worry about a little longer than they should. Neither of us had ever changed a diaper before we had our babies. We had only been married a little over a year when we decided to try. We knew we wanted a baby, but three? We are not well off, and had no idea how we were going to do this, but we knew we would find a way.

My OB had told me he would be surprised if I made it past 30 weeks, because I had a LEEP procedure done a few years ago, which could have weakened my cervix. Within days I had read every word written that I could find on the internet about triplets. I read studies, talked to other triplet moms online, watched TV specials on, and bought every book I could find about multiples. I wanted to know what I was up against. Information is powerful, and scary. I knew there was a possibility that I could lose one or all of my babies if my body couldn't handle the physical strain of carrying triplets, and this scared me unbelievably. My pregnancy was not the beautiful experience that many women hope for, not because I had many physical issues, but because these thoughts never, for one minute left the back of my head. I was caught by surprise by my miscarriage and I didn't want to be caught again.

At 33 weeks, I was admitted into the hospital for mild pre-eclampsia. I was there for two very long weeks.. scared, miserable and uncomfortable. I just wanted to keep these babies in as long as possible, and I was so afraid that something would go wrong. But, by the grace of God, my worrying was in vain. I had fraternal triplets, all with their own sacs and placentas, and I carried them to 35 weeks. They spent 6 days in the hospital, which is phenomenal for triplets.
My parents came and stayed with us to help out for the first 4 months of the babies lives. Their presence made a world of difference for us. I had made the decision to pump breastmilk for the babies, which I know wouldn't have been possible if they had not been there to help watch the babies after every feeding so that I could go pump. My husband works very long hours but always comes home and asks what he can do to help me. Financially, we are barely scraping by, but I spend every day, playing with, laughing with, (and sometimes crying with) these three amazing little people. All different, all special, all beautiful; Lily, Ben and Cameron are my world now. I am a lucky, lucky woman.





*I want to say how honored I am to be a part of this blog, and this group of women. Being first-time parents can be lonely, but having come in contact with so many women that have gone through or are going through the same things as I am has helped me immensely. During those extremely difficult, sleep-deprived first months of our babies lives, I often thought of the other triplet moms I "met" on the Nest, (pea-kay, tripletmom, stthomasbride, to name a few) who, somewhere across the country, were getting up in the middle of the night, probably struggling to stay awake through feedings, getting spit-up on, etc, just like I was.