Triple Blessed

My husband and I received the shock of our lives May of 2007. After 17 months of TTC we were finally going to be parents! We went for the scheduled ultrasound at 8 weeks and right away the doctor found two heartbeats, we were thrilled twins, but then the doctor kept probing around and found one more sac and another heartbeat. Triplets!!!! The moment I found out I was having three babies was one of the most exciting scariest moments in my life. Thoughts of how am I going to take care of three babies started to pop in my head, and then thought of how is my body going to handle a triple pregnancy was the next thought. I am my mom's miracle baby. I was born with Tetrology of Fallot ( a congenital heart defect), and underwent two major heart surgeries for repair by the time I was 4 years old. One of the surgeries being open heart. Any pregnancy would be high risk for me, but a being pregnant with triplets was even more high risk. I was the first case of carrying multiples that my cardiologist has treated. So along with the normal doctor's visits that are common among women carrying multiples I also had to go and see my cardiologist.
My heart did great with carrying three babies, but my pregnancy did not escape complications. At 24 weeks I went on hospital bed rest for a week, followed by 7 weeks of strict home bed rest for shorting cervix and contractions. At 32 weeks and one day I underwent emergency c-section to deliver my babies. Baby B's heart kept decelerating, and the doctor's needed to deliver her fast. I was given an epidural, but I was not numb fast enough, so I was put under general anesthesia to deliver my babies. I did not know what I was having before delivery, and was not awake at the time of delivery, so in the recovery room, the nurse had to tell me the sex of my babies. That day I gave birth to two boys and a girl, Aidan Patrick 3lbs 15oz, Tara Kathryn 2lbs 14oz, and Sean Joseph 3lbs and 8 ozs.
Immediately after birth my babies were taken to the NICU. Here they spent the next 21 days learning how to eat and grow. My daughter the trouble makers, was completely oxygen and medicine free in the NICU. The boys however, were on CPAP and medicine for a few days, and also went home on apnea monitors.




I thought having babies in the NICU was hard, but the real challenge was when we brought them all home. It was nonstop feeding and changing babies. Every three hours it was the same routine, day and night. Being a first time mom I did not realize how isolating it can be. It was almost impossible to leave the house with 3 preemie babies. The weather was awful this winter,and it was too overwhelming to even think about going anywhere with 3 babies. Finding the ladies on the Nest, was great. It was nice to knowing there are other moms out there going through the same challenges I was facing and could really relate with my situation.
The first couple months, actually the first 6 months of my babies lives were very challenging for me, but I would not change it for the world. See them all smile and interact is priceless and makes all of the stress, not sleeping, worth it.