1 plus 3 is 4 for me!

Now that the boys are a year old, I thought I would update by sharing the story of our conception and birth ~ how we went from a family of three, to a family of six.


Our story starts not with the boys, but long before that.    As a newly wed couple (and small family including Vi -8yrs at the time), we thought it would be great to wait a year before trying to conceive; get settled and all that jazz... So, in preparation I started taking prenatal vitamins, and switched my birth control so that I would get regulated again.   9 Years of Depo Provera made it so that I had not had a menstrual cycle in all that time.  Several months go by and still no cycle to speak of; so I make an appointment with the OB.  At this point we still weren't trying, we had only been married for a few months, but I just had a feeling things weren't going to be easy.  

She put me on the Nuva-ring birth control and Provera to bring flow on. Provera didn't work 3 out of 4 times. We experimented with various birth controls and such and had minor success; but she said I was mostly not ovulating at this point.  May comes around and it's time for us to actually start "trying" so no more birth control; and I continue to work with the OB.  We try this for 4 months, but with no period to speak of; we knew it was futile...  Introduce Clomid.  Several cycles go by and I feel like I have tried everything!  At this point I am:  Taking my temperature vaginally every morning at the same time, sticking my fingers routinely in private places to test cervical mucous and the position of my cervix, taking vitamins, charting, researching, collecting various lucky charms and idols and strange things to "help".  T has given his sample for testing and he is fine.  At one point I even tried taking something called Royal Jelly that is supposed to help with egg production... that gave me a severe allergic reaction!   Yes, my desperation was showing.


Everyone else around me was getting pregnant, people were asking when we were going to try and I felt such a feeling of failure that it was all consuming and overwhelming.  Didn't help that T was away for 28 days at a time, so we could only try every other cycle.   Even Vi was feeling some of the stress, she knew how much I wanted to have another child; and proved to be so mature and supportive; even wise beyond her years.

Finally T and I go in for an update with the OB and she says that she has confirmed that even with the highest dose of clomid; and via monitoring she can see plainly that I am just not producing eggs; and we are beyond her assistance.   On to the RE.   We go see the RE exactly one year after we started the clomid experiment.  He reviews my file and goes over our history; turns out I have PCOS by the way.  Horay for me!    There was some mention of the long time use of Depo without a break being a factor, but we couldn't say for sure.   This makes sense to me since I was never advised to take a break from the depo, so like 6 years straight probably did me in.      I don't know, but PCOS sure fits the bill.

So, RE suggests we go right to IVF... but T and I both have reservations about this, we were under the misconception that IVF increased the odds of Multiples, so we chose to do IUI and if that didn't work we would adopt.  On to injects and monitoring.   Because we live so far from the RE (who was in Mass, and we are northern Maine) I was able to do my labs and monitoring in Bangor, so only a 2.5 hr drive every other day!       During this time while we were doing IUIs , I had several failed cycles; either from too many follicles, not enough follicles, T being away, weather, cysts etc.   

We made several trips to Lexington over these two years; at least a hundred trips to Bangor.   Frozen samples so we won't miss out on opportunity to do a procedure.   Too many Ultrasounds to count, countless injections, internal exams and more.   What fun.   

May of 2010 we were able to conceive via a frozen sample IUI, but lost the pregnancy early on.  It hurt but we were able to pick up and move on quickly.  We had 2 more failed cycles and had decided that this was our last time; it was too emotional, I was falling apart.  So we chose to finish out this last cycle and move on.  We were told we had two mature follicles, and our chances were fair.  Fair = our sticky BFP!   Yay!!!   

3 days after the IUI I KNEW it was going ot work, I could just 'feel' it.   Not physically of course, but emotionally and mentally.   I just felt it.   Sure enough, I was pregnant.  Me.  Finally!
 

So, I started getting cramps around the beginning of September, not sure why.  Drs were slightly concerned it might be ectopic pregnancy, (though likely too early for symptoms of such) so they send me for an US… 4w5d.  I figured it would be too early to see anything, but the tech was a moron.  She couldn’t even find my ovary, and kept calling me pumpkin and asking me if I was sure I was pregnant.    *roll eyes.    She mentioned a pseudo sac, which can be a sign of ectopic apparently.  Anyway, a repeat scan was scheduled for only a few days later, so at 5w4d I had another ultrasound, at a bigger hospital, with a better technician.  And got the surprise of a lifetime.   

Triplets!   

 I at first thought twins, but then there was one more sac.  My Mum was with me and I kept saying “holy S***’ over and over and over lol.   No heartbeats were seen and they were measuring on time.

Went back for another scan exam 6w4d.  All babies were measuring spot on.   6w1, 6w1 and 6w2. And Saw 3 lil hearts beating away.  We were going to have triplets!  

I made this video to share our news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvlFBgaR4u4

We never dreamed this would happen!  Of course we knew that multiples is a risk with any fertility assisted pregnancy, but we had tried to avoid this by doing IUI and not IVF!   OOPS!      Of course I learn afterward that IUI actually has a higher rate of multiples than I had known!   


The first few months of the pregnancy were the worst; being told of all the horrible things that can and likely will go wrong, our 'choices', and how horrible it will be.  Lovely right?     The whole pregnancy was scary, always on edge waiting for the ball to drop.   Too good to be true; everyone healthy against odds.   At 29 weeks I agreed to be admitted to the hospital "just in case" because we live so far away from the hospital, they felt more comfortable having me there.  Turns out that I did too!   It was amazing, the nurses were fabulous and it was a really great time in my life... I attribute that to being able to go so long in the pregnancy.  I even made friends with another patient down the hall and we are very close now.  T was back and forth, but by 32 weeks things weren't so great, I was frequently sick to my stomach, nauseous and vomiting; my feet were swollen hot and sore.   T had to help me roll over in bed and I would cry in excruciating pain.  I felt "good" overall, but the pain of having such a large belly was overwhelming at times.  I have no idea how women do it with more babies in there!!!     

At 34 weeks we were told we could deliver at 35, so we picked our date!  Yay!   April 1st it was!   I was scared and nervous and nauseous still.  Was great to have my mom and sister and T there; that sure did help a lot.   I kept asking for something for my nerves; to no avail.    We were wheeled into the surgery room and from there everything went so fast!    They did the spinal; and thankfully one of my favourite nurses Paula was there and comforted me through the whole thing.  Then they were testing me to see if I could feel anything and when I said no; they said good cause we've already started... I asked for T as they had Forgotten to bring him in!!   They brought him in and within minutes they were delivering the first baby.

Our boys were delivered on April Fools day, at 35 weeks Gestation. G at 12:32pm, F at 12:33 and H at 12:33.  they were 4.2, 5.8 and 5.3 lbs and healthy!  All great news!   H had a bit of a rough start with his respiratory; most of the first few days was a blur.     2 had 16 days stay in the hospital, and 1 had 26 days.   

Here we are one year later and it's been an amazing first year; I still can't believe they are mine and that our family is now complete.   The first year has been full of love and laughs, and of course some tears; But I wouldn't change a single thing.   I love how 1 + 3 is 4 for ME!