Third Trimester

The third trimester wasn't a whole lot different than the second.  I continued to go to the doctor, but now I went every two weeks.  The bummer about my appointments was that NSTs (Non Stress Tests) replaced my ultrasounds.  For those who don't know what an NST is, I will explain.  Every doctor appointment, I would waddle myself over the bridge to the hospital and meet with my nurse.  I got to lay on a super comfy bed and exposed my ginormous belly and they would velcro me into four different belts with a monitor on it: one for each baby and one for contractions.  I also had a hand-held button that I would push anytime I would feel any of the peanuts move.  I would sit there between 20 minutes and an hour so they could monitor everyone to ensure their heart rates fluctuated appropriately.  We found it amusing to see the different personalities of the babies come out during this time.  My little man (baby C) did not like the monitor on him.  In fact, he would be the one that typically would try to kick it off.  My little girl (baby B) would typically be the first one to pass her test.  My other little girl (baby A), on the other hand, was just too happy to be sleeping through the whole thing.  The nurse would feed me ice chips, ring bells by my belly, and use this odd vibrating buzzer thing on my stomach by her head in hopes to scare her and wake her up.  She would eventually pass all her tests, but not overly willingly.  

But my doctor was still thrilled with how we were all doing, but here came my next restriction.  No more driving.  WHAT?!  Not that I really could fit behind the wheel, but that was a major freedom that was just revoked.  I did what I was told, but hated the feeling of being "stuck" at home.  Not that I did a whole lot, but I just wanted to know I could if I wanted.  What can I say, I'm stubborn.  So most days I spent my time sitting in my favorite spot on the couch with pillows under my stomach watching my TV line up.  Fox8 local news, Dr. Oz, Say Yes to the Dress, What Not to Wear, as much Baby Story and Making Room for Multiples as any one person could handle (I saw it as research), The Doctors, Ellen, Everyone Loves Raymond, Friends, etc.  

SPEAKING OF RESEARCH!  For those of you out there that don't know my husband, let me tell you a little about him.  He is an absolutely wonderful man who has a big heart and I love him dearly.  But he is an engineer and loves research.  Vacation is a great example.  Me, I see a pretty beach and I say "lets go!" and will wing it when I get there.  Him, on the other hand, I don't see for about two weeks prior to vacation because he sits in front of his computer to find out about every little detail about the place we are going;  weather, restaurants, geographical layouts, costs, etc.  When we found out we were having three babies, I believe the first question he asked when he regained consciousness was "how much are three babies gonna cost per month?".  I think he was online trying to find a monetary figure to base his budget on for most of my pregnancy.  Part of this research, I swear, was finding the most odd-ball shows about babies and making me watch them.  One show followed this little boy who, in utero, absorbed his twin and was now walking around with legs hanging from his stomach.  No joke.  Then he found some documentary about people who were born transgendered.  Not the programs to watch with a hormonal woman carrying triplets!!  

To keep from having to endure any more shows about abnormal babies (I love you, honey!), I did go out as much as possible, but I tired and became uncomfortable quickly.  At this point it became almost difficult to sit upright for long periods of time because my stomach was getting so large.  There was no such thing as crossing my legs and sitting like a lady anymore.  In fact I couldn't even sit with my legs together and was forced to sit like a manly man just so my stomach had enough room so I could breathe.  The last few weeks I swear my stomach and butt fought over viable space on chairs.  I still missed a lot not being able to drive or be more than an hour away, which was not ever easy for me, but I had such amazing support from my husband, friends and family who took turns baby sitting me. 

One example of how awesome my friends are is the introduction of "Flat Anne".  One thing I missed was going to the bachelorette party of my very good friend.  It was over an hour away so even if I had a ride, I wasn't able to go.  I hated missing it!  To make me feel better, my friends got together and decided to make "Flat Anne".  They found a paper doll online, printed it out, and placed a cutout of my head on it and laminated it.  They took "Flat Anne" everywhere and took photos of "me" at restaurants, gatherings, and the bachelorette party.  One of these photos included "me" dancing with a bald guy, which I saw floating around on Facebook.  I had no idea this was going on until I was looking on Facebook and saw "myself".  I laughed myself to tears!  Flat Anne and, well, Fat Anne did meet once.  We did end up making it out for the Cinco De Mayo extravaganza at On Tap with all our friends.  Yes, I know On Tap is about the polar opposite of a Mexican fiesta, but the Mexican restaurant we tried going to across the street had over an hour wait and that's just not good for any pregnant person.  

 

Most people that know us, know that Friday night is date night.  It's time that just my husband and I go out and spend some quality time together.  What ever we do, it typically includes going out to dinner and we tried to continue this through my pregnancy.  One one of our date nights, we decided to go to Bravo for dinner.  We were sitting there and all of a sudden my stomach tightened.  Didn't really hurt, but it definitely felt odd.  I must have made a noise or something because my husband looked at me and asked if I was ok.  I said I was fine but I thought that I just had a contraction.  His eyes got HUGE and he immediately asked if we needed to go to the hospital.  I kinda giggled and said no and reassured him that Braxton Hicks were very typical.  I had them on and off, but they seemed more prevalent at the end of the day if I was out and about.  I told the doctor about them at my next appointment and he just looked at me like, "Yeah.  And?".  He said that my belly had just gotten so big that it didn't know what else to do anymore but contract.  He continued to tell me that if I ever had more than ten contractions in an hour to call.  Yes sir. 

About a month or so before my due date, my husband was going to be out of town for the afternoon so my mom decided to come and baby sit me for the day.  When he came home, no one felt like making dinner so my mom offered to buy us steaks from Longhorn.  OK!  As we were picking up the phone, a severe weather warning flashed on the tv.  Like normal American's we ignored it and went on our merry business.  It was raining so both my husband and mom went to pick up the food so no parking would have to be done to pick up our dinner.  I was happily sitting in my normal spot on the couch thinking of my yummy steak when I hear the tornado siren go off in the distance.  About 3 seconds after the siren went off, my phone rings.  It's my husband telling me to gather all the animals (we have a zoo - one dog and three cats) and go into the basement because he had just seen the roof of a church that is about a mile and a half from our house blow off!  HOLY SMOKES!  I waddled myself downstairs and all the animals followed without much effort.  Within what seemed like a lifetime, but was only about 5 minutes, my husband and mother arrived at the house and joined me in the basement.  Fortunately the tornado didn't turn into anything severe for most of us in the area and within a half hour, life returned back to normal.  So, my husband ventured back out to get our dinner and life resumed back on the couch.  The only difference was I was noticing that I seemed to be having more contractions than normal, but I was having a hard time counting them and keeping track of the hour.  So I found a contraction app (there IS an app for everything, ya know!) and downloaded it to my phone.  To my surprise, I had 12 contractions in an hour.  So I called the doctor and I was told to head to the hospital.  Really?  We just had a tornado, it's raining, and all I wanted was to eat my steak.  When my husband returned we put our already cold dinner in the fridge and off we went to the hospital.  They monitored me for contractions and asked if my water had broke.  I said no, but then they checked me anyway as well as to ensure I wasn't dilating.  OUCH!!  I thought the nurses arm was going to come out my nose.  I already had so much pressure from the weight of the babies that any extra pressure was just unbearable.  Fortunately it didn't last long and after an hour or two they sent me home.  I followed up with my doctor the next day and he prescribed me some anti-contraction medication.  He said that my stomach had just gotten so big that it didn't know what else to do but contract.  So this tamed things down so I could sleep and go about my normal business once again.      

One of the things that I tried to do on a normal basis was go to the pool.  This seemed to be the only place that would relieve all the pressure and weight and just felt incredible.  I would go anytime as long as I could find a willing body to take me.  Once my mom found out we were having triplets, she started building a house in a development near by.  Fortunately for me this place had a pool.  There weren't very many swimming suits that fit a person my size or shape, but I eventually did find a large enough tent made of bathing suit material that covered all strategic parts.  People were amazed, but I kept attending the pool until I hit 37 weeks.  The day before I delivered, which was Wednesday June 6, I had a few maternity photos taken from a good friend, then my husband and I went to the pool, and then to our final dinner as a family of two.  We went to a small but yummy local place called "The Office".  I walked in and I thought the bar tender was going to fall over from shock at the size of me.   She asked when I was due.  My response was "tomorrow at 11:30".  She laughed from shock that my timing was so detailed.  Then the next typical question:  what are you having?  "Two girls and a boy".  I think she about fell over .  By the end of our dinner, everyone in the restaurant was wishing us luck, blowing kisses, and celebrating with us.  It was a perfect end to an era.  

Just so you all can reference my size and why I had the reactions I did.  I am 5'-8" and when I got married 5 years ago came in somewhere around 145-150 and wore a size 6.  The day before I delivered, I weighed 235 - which was more than my 6'-2" husband and my stomach measured in at 4'-2" in circumference.  Which is about the size for an exercise ball.  Like I said....ginormous!

I have never felt God so closely as I did during my pregnancy.  He took such good care of me and the babies.  To be pregnant with triplets and never being on bed rest and making it to near term of one baby is nothing shy of a miracle.  Thank you to all my prayer warriors - there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus heard all of them.  Thank you, Lord, for keeping us in the palm of your hand and keeping all of us safe and healthy!

Second Trimester

I could be wrong, but I think most women take a sigh of relief when entering the second trimester since the risk of miscarriage decreases dramatically.  I did not.  I felt like I was wearing a scarlet letter because the label of high risk never left me.  The knowledge if I lost one, I would loose them all just haunted me.  I counted down the days until I knew they had a chance to live.


I have read and heard from people that the second trimester is the nice part of pregnancy.  The feeling of being nauseous fades and energy and appetite comes back.  Like I said before, I was never really nauseous, but I think this was true for me in January and that's about it.  I was still working and was out on a business call near my mother's house. I had called my mom saying that I was going to be nearby and thought I would stop by for lunch.  We decided to go to Longhorn and I had a salad, steak, mashed potatoes, bread, and a rootbeer.  Delicious!  We went back to her house and hung out for a while and about four hours later I was starving.  "Can we go to Bravo for dinner?".  My mother was stunned that I was hungry.  I had another salad, bread with dipping sauce, and a big o' plate of pasta, and a water.  Yum!  Then on the way home I stopped at my favorite ice cream place and had a large hot fudge milkshake.  It was a good day!  The milkshake was close to a daily item for me.  I was supposed to be consuming approximately four thousand calories a day at this point and a milkshake was recommended for both calories as well as calcium.  If anyone knows me, they know this was no sacrifice!  


The first very week of my second trimester I was passed off to a high risk doctor.  I spoke to my normal OBGYN and she felt that I would be in better hands with this man, Dr. Stewart.  I cried (hormones, I swear!) from the disappointment of not seeing her as well as apprehensive since I've never seen a man doctor for girly parts.  I know I'm weird, but the way I figure it is a female has these parts and has more than likely been through most things that I have.  A male has to read about it in a book AND what dude that's not a pervert wants to be in female areas all the time?  That's at least how I felt before I met Dr. Stewart.  My first appointment I was sitting in the ultrasound room and he walked in and said "I hear we have an over achiever!".  I laughed and immediately liked him.  I never felt rushed, I could ask all the stupid questions I wanted, and he would always pat me on the head.  If someone else did that, I would probably be annoyed and feel patronized, but somehow when he did it I felt comforted.  


I continued to go in every three weeks and looked forward to my appointments.  I made friends with all the nurses and staff as well as Dr. Stewart.  I also got to see how my peanuts were doing and how much they had grown.  I always held my breath a little in anticipation of hearing their heartbeats.  Once they were all accounted for I relaxed.  Most appointments at this point run together, but there are a few that do stick out in my head.  I went in for another check up at 17 weeks and I was jumping at the opportunity to find out what we were having.  We were in the ultrasound room and the tech came in.  She asked us if we wanted to find out.  "ABSOLUTELY!".  She laughed at my enthusiasm and said some people like to be surprised.  I responded that having triplets was surprise enough for me!  I am a planner and was itching to start registering for, what we will find out, the entire Babies R Us store.  Baby A's heart beat was doing well.  "It's a girl!".  Baby B's hear beat was also perfect.  "It's a girl!".  Baby C's heart beat was also right where it needed to be.  "It's a boy!".  I was SO excited to have a mix!  I felt like we had our family was complete in one shot.  


That very weekend, I gathered my mom and sisters to go to Babies R Us to start registering.  Part of this was that I was just so excited to start planning, but the other part was that my baby shower was already being planned.  The idea was to have it in mid-March and it was already the beginning of February.  I know this isn't the typical time for a shower, but there was always a looming fear of bed rest and my belly was growing at such a fast pace that I wanted to be able to enjoy my shower.  We were at Babies R Us for three hours!  We had someone helping me figure out what I needed as well as the quantity.  Twenty-four bottles (just enough to get us through one day of feeding), thirty burp clothes, twelve blankets, three cribs, three bouncy seats, three swings, three car seats, a six foot long stroller, and so much more.  I think the babies were excited about what I was picking out for them because while we were shopping, I was able to feel them move for the first time!  


I felt very blessed and blown away from the generosity of my friends and family at my shower!  It was mid-March and the theme was three peas in a pod.  My sister got me a t-shirt to wear that said "I have three peas in my pod".  I also had a friend that makes fabulous cupcakes and put homemade pea pods made out of fondant that encased two pink and one blue pea.  SO CUTE!  My husband and I were amazed at the gifts that we got and how little we actually needed to fill in.  We packed up everything in our new supersized SUV and brought it home.  Our house looked like a Babies R Us warehouse!  


A lot of people are curious how big I was during my pregnancy, which brings me to another appointment memory.  I went in for my 20 week appointment and did the normal routine.  Chatted with the people at the front desk and got my "pee ticket".  I went into the bathroom and attempted to pee in a cup, which I have to say is not easy when pregnant, weighed myself, and then would be assigned to a room to wait for my nurse.  There I would tell my weight and get my blood pressure taken and hang out until the ultrasound room was free.  Dr. Stewart typically met me in the ultrasound room, but this day he came to meet me while all my stats were being gathered.  He told me to lay back and he was going to take my belly measurement.  "Congratulations!" he said.  I was confused.  "You are measuring full term!".  My first thought was "Wow, if I just had one, this would have been easy and I don't have any stretch marks.".  Then the reality set in that I was only halfway through my pregnancy.... I think I remember looking at him and asking "Are you sure this is possible?".  He laughed, but I was serious.    


At this point I received my first restriction.  I was told that I was not to be more than an hour away from the hospital at all times.  This took out going to my mom's and sisters' homes so all holidays were now at my house.  Like I said before, I was a sales rep so most of my work was now done from the couch.  Most of these things I could handle, but I was suppose to be in a wedding in May and with that comes obligations, like bachelorette parties.  I told Dr. Stewart that I was going to be in a wedding and he laughed and said "No your not".  This I did not handle well.  If anyone knows me, they know I don't like missing anything.  Especially the big day of one of my dearest friends.  As frustrated as I was with this, in a small way I was relieved that I didn't have to push myself.  


The biggest downside to the second trimester was, at times, very painful.  I swear to this day that the peanuts only grew on the weekends.  It seemed like every Friday through Sunday my ribs, hips, back and stomach just ached.  My favorite spot on days like these was on the right side of my family room couch with about 4 pillows surrounding me as well as under my stomach.  I also started taking a 16x16 pillow around with me when I went places to put behind my back.  I also had a special pillow for sleeping.  It was a huge c-shaped pillow that went under my neck, under my stomach, between my legs, and curved up to my mid-back.  Jokingly I named my pillow "Phil" since it took the place of cuddling with my husband.  There was just no way to be comfortable without "Phil" and I don't know what I would have done without him.  Phil has now been passed down to two my pregnant friends and they have fallen in love with him too.


It was amazing to see all the looks that I got when I was out in public.  I looked like I was full term and people would make comments like "Wow!  You look like your about to pop!" or "You must be due any day!".  Every one was amazed when I told them I wasn't due until July and that I was carrying three babies around with me.  Most people, so I'm told, are on bed rest most of their pregnancy so people don't see enormously huge pregnant women like myself wandering around town.  But I felt so blessed to be out and about.  I always thought bed rest would come, so I enjoyed my freedom always thinking it may be the last time I am able to go out.  


I felt like a huge weight had lifted once I hit 27 weeks.  I knew at this point that the peanuts had a good chance of surviving if something happened.  Every day after was just better and better for all of them!   

First Trimester

November fifth is when we got the call from the doctor saying that we were pregnant, which is one day after the anniversary of my husband proposing to me!  I think that's kinda cool.  The only bummer is that my first trimester happened to fall on three of the major holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday.  


My birthday falls near Thanksgiving every year and this particular year it happened to fall on Wednesday - one of the largest party days of the year.  My wonderful husband asked all of our friends to help celebrate my first anniversary of my thirtieth birthday at one of our favorite local spots, The Office.  We had about three big waves of friends that showed up throughout the evening all wanting to buy me a drink.  I tried to pawn off most offers saying that I was getting up early to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, which wasn't an answer that most people wanted to hear.  To help matters I asked the bartender to make me a virgin drink that looked de-virginized.  So basically I was drinking juice in a martini glass.  It was great to see all our friends, but man was I tired. 


Most of you multiple moms, and even singleton moms, may hate me.  My first trimester was relatively easy.  When I found out I was pregnant I didn't show any symptoms.  A few weeks into it, the girls were sore but my worst symptom in my first trimester was that I was just exhausted.  I really had two bedtimes.  The first bedtime was 6pm where I would fall asleep on the couch.  My second bedtime was at 9pm, when I would awaken from the couch and take myself upstairs to actually go to bed.  I never had any morning sickness and really was never nauseous.  I just had to make sure that I ate when I was hungry, which has never been an issue for me!  


Thanksgiving is now held at my house every year which I typically really enjoy.  But no one knowing your pregnant and fighting through the exhaustion was no fun.  Plus people knew we were trying so I felt like I was under a magnify glass.  My oldest sister was asking why I wasn't having wine with dinner.  I used the excuse that my husband's parents didn't believe in drinking so I didn't want to offend them.  My middle sister was the most persistent one always asking me "How should I pray for you?".  What she was really asking in code was "So are you pregnant yet?".  Even my brother-in-law questioned why I was so tired at the end of the day.  I was so happy when Friday arrived.  Most people were out shopping and I think I slept most that day to make up for my past two busy days.

My sisters are 11 and 8.5 years older than me, and I consider both of them very dear friends.  When my oldest sister became pregnant with my niece, I was 13 years old, my mother bought her a crib and told my middle sister and I that she would buy us a crib when we had a baby.  I always remembered that and looked forward to the day of crib shopping with my mom.  

The day after our ultrasound, which was the beginning of December, that we found out we were having triplets, I was meeting my mom out for a quick Christmas shopping trip and one of our weekly lunches.  She was one of the only people that knew that I was even pregnant and I wanted to tell her about our new discovery.  So I casually brought up the idea of her buying us a crib.  She casually responded "Of course I will do that.  I did with your sister and I will with you too".  I then asked "Well, does that mean you are going to buy us three cribs?".  She immediately stopped in her tracks and looked at me with her eyes as big as green saucers.  "What!?" I think was all she could muster.  When it finally sunk in that she may be the grandmother of triplets, I thought she was going to bust at the seams.  Every store we went in, she told someone.  Now I was still being very cautious because of what had happened before, but her joy and enthusiasm gave me such comfort that day.  It was so much fun being excited instead of scared or nervous.  I told her during lunch that I apparently needed to be more specific in what I prayed for.  I started praying for twins because I didn't want to go through the fertility process again.  After we had the miscarriage I yelled at God saying that he took one away and now he owed me one.  I feel like He gave me my twins and the one that I was "owed".  God certainly has a sense of humor, but now I'm VERY specific in my prayers!  

It wasn't until Christmas that I told my sisters and the rest of the family.  By this time I was coming close to being twelve weeks and close to the end of my first trimester.  I was starting to feel a little more comfortable since every doctors appointment has gone exceptionally well.  I took one of my ultrasound photos that showed all three sacks and put it in a mug that said "World's Greatest Aunt" and wrapped it up and secretly put them under the tree saying it was from Santa.   It was the last gifts to be opened and my sisters angrily looked at me when my niece handed them a gift and I didn't get one.  We had agreed to only buy for the kids and not for each other to save a few dollars.  They opened it at the same time and my oldest sister immediately shrieked and tears started to trickle down her face.  My middle sister sat there not knowing what was going on or what she was looking at.  When I made the announcement that we were having three babies, the whole family erupted!  My sister's mother-in-law has become a real part in our family and she took one of the photos and placed it in her bible.  She prayed for me and our babies everyday.  She has now become an honorary grandmother - who wouldn't want three grandma's growing up? 

A few days after Christmas my oldest sister, niece, mom and I went maternity shopping.  I wasn't even in my second trimester and my jeans were being held shut by a hair-tie instead of the button.  It was another one of those fun days.  Everyone's joy and excitement helped me forget about all the nerves.  It seemed weird trying on maternity clothes and we were also trying to figure out what size moo-moos to buy.  Who knew how big my stomach would get?!  I will tell you one thing, maternity clothes are SO comfortable, but I swear that ninety percent of maternity tops have horizontal stripes.  WHY?!  Is this the time of our lives that we are supposed to look as large as possible?  I really didn't think I needed help with that! 

New Years came and went.  Friends were starting to wonder about me since I was home sleeping New Years Eve at 10pm and I was showing a small baby bump already.  We finally started telling everyone, and I'm sure you can imagine the reactions.  I think the most common one was "Holy Crap!  Are you serious?!".  

We continued seeing our fertility doctor every three weeks through the first trimester.  The one cool thing about having multiples is that we had an ultrasound at every visit.  It was so amazing watching them grow, listening to all their heart beats and watching them move around.  They were all movers and shakers and the doctor was always amazed at how much they were dancing around.  At my last appointment, I felt like I had graduated.  They sent me off with three silver baby spoons and a whole bunch of pamphlets and magazines and waved goodbye.  This was one doctor I hoped to never see again.  

Hello

We will start with the first and most obvious truth - life is busy!  My triplets were born 7-7-11 and I am just now, ten months later, going to try to find moments to write about what life is like being a triplet mom.  I thought this may be interesting to write since the most common comments people say when I'm out with the peanuts are "I can't imagine what life is like with three!" or "I don't know how you do it".


Another odd thing that people ask is "Were you surprised when you found out you were having triplets?".  I can't imagine anyone in this world not being surprised!  I assume most people are like me... you dream about getting married and having children one at a time like "normal" people and don't even think about having a litter of babies.  


Before I was a mom, I worked as an interior designer as well as a sales representative in the design world.  I really enjoyed my job and for recreation my husband and I would play volleyball a few times a week and would travel a few times a year.  We lived life like this for the first 4 years that we were married and then decided it was time to start a family.  Again, we thought we would be "normal" and be able to have children the old fashioned way.  You are programed from the time you're young that when a man and a woman love each other very much, they get married and together, in love, have a baby.  Well...unfortunately it doesn't necessarily work that way.  They don't tell you when you're young that there is a chance that this love they speak of turns into living life around your menstrual cycle and a doctor with a turkey baster.  Not quite as romantic sounding.  In fact, fertility treatment is just down right stressful.  


I figured I would talk about this because other big questions that are asked by random people are "We're you on fertility?" or the more discrete people will ask "Do multiples run in your family?".  I don't know if it's a pregnancy thing or a multiples thing, but for some reason people think that this gives them a right to ask personal questions about your uterus.  So let's talk about it... 


Yes, I was on fertility because my uterine lining was not thick enough for an egg to implant.  After a year of trying and no luck I went to the doctor and got a very painful uterine biopsy done basically for her to tell me what I already knew.  I was sent to a fertility specialist and they ran blood work and another painful procedure to make sure my tubes were not blocked.  When everything came back "normal", they started me on Clomid with a side of IUI.  First of all, Clomid is an AWEFUL drug!  I was so dizzy and light-headed and basically, according to my husband, became catatonic.  I couldn't think straight if I wanted to and felt absolutely miserable.  IUI is a procedure that my husband would drop off his "love juice", coined by my good friend, in the morning and in the afternoon I would arrive and the doctor would use a special baster to ensure all the good sperm is up where it needs to be to meet an egg.  The procedure isn't really painful and it's very fast, but I can't say that it fun by any means.  After that becomes the awful part of waiting for two weeks to see if it worked.  Being aware of every pinch, pain, cramp and waiting to pee on a stick hoping for a positive result.  It's not a way to live.  


After three months of that with no luck of pregnancy and the doctor still not happy with my lining, she wanted to start me on injections.  Seriously!?  She informed us that we had about a 2% chance of getting pregnant on our own and a 5% chance on the Clomid.  A "normal" person has a 20% chance of getting pregnant every month.  That's depressing.  I have to go through all this stuff to be "normal"?  I was scared to death to give myself a shot everyday, which goes into your stomach.  Plus, how I would feel on a medication that is considered stronger than Clomid?  Another downer to this medication is that you can't do anything more strenuous than walking.  This medication makes the ovaries so large and heavy that they could twist on themselves and if this happens they need to be removed.  As I said before, my husband and I had played volleyball a few times a week and we were very active people.  I was beside myself.  At this point it was May and I decided to take a break to enjoy the summer.  It felt so good to feel normal and healthy again, but at the same time I felt this uncontrollable guilt that I wasn't doing everything I needed to do to get pregnant.  


August came and I decided it was time just to suck it up and try the injections.  I remember being at home staring at this contraption they gave me that measures out the medication and all I had to do was switch out the needles.  I called my girlfriend because I needed a cheerleader to talk me into my first shot.  I look back and laugh now.  Here I am with my shirt pulled up and my stomach exposed, on the phone, with my other hand shaking with a tiny needle about an inch away from my skin.  My girlfriend decided that she was going to do it with me and got a safety pin and said we were going to do it together.  She started the count down and I was pacing, laughing, and yelling "I can't do it".  She got to one and I closed my eyes and jabbed myself.  It was nearly painless!  My friend, on the other hand, yelped at her prick of the safety pin.  What are good friends for, right?!  I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of side effects from this medication.  Yes, not being able to play or work out was a bummer, but I will take that any day over Clomid!  The first month everything went well and everything looked like it should.  I went in for my basting and waited two weeks.  Eagerly, I peed on a stick because "the girls" were sore along with other normal pregnancy symptoms.  Nothin.  I didn't believe it and called the doctor for a blood draw.  The next day they confirmed I was pregnant!  We told EVERYONE!  So exciting!


Six weeks in the pregnancy I was sitting on the couch and suddenly started to get major cramping and started to spot.  I called the doctor immediately and they said this could be normal.  I didn't believe them and I went in.  It was too early to see anything on the ultrasound so they drew more blood.  I miscarried that night and they called to confirm what I already knew in the morning.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone!  I have never felt so devastated and angry.  Not only do you have to mourn the loss of that child, but now you have to un-tell everyone you told and relive that pain every time it's brought up.  We had to be off a month of fertility to allow my body to heal before we could start treatment again.  I don't think I could have jumped into another round after that anyway.  I had the help of my family, friends, and pastor to get me through the pain.  But even now, I wonder about that child and I look forward to meeting him or her in heaven one day. 


October rolled around and we start another round of fertility.  I was on the same amount of medication that I was before and my body reacted like it was crack.  I was producing 6 follicles (eggs).  The doctor lowered my medication so that only a few would mature.  At the point of the basting, I had three perfect eggs and once again I waited those excruciating two weeks.  I called the doctor and said that I was sick of peeing on a stick and just wanted to come in for a blood test.  I honestly didn't think I was pregnant since I wasn't feeling any symptoms like I did during my first pregnancy, but I went in anyway because I didn't want any false information.  I was called the next day, November 5th, with the excitement that we were pregnant and my hormone levels were already better than they were before!  We didn't tell anyone, except my mom, until I was able to go in for my first ultrasound.  My husband and I both went for the ultrasound and I think we were both holding our breaths that everything looked ok.  I remember laying there in the darkened room and the doctor came in and started.  I couldn't see the screen yet, and then she started counting.  "There is one....there's two...."  Holy crap she's still counting!  "There's three".  PLEASE STOP COUNTING!  She stopped after three.  Thank God!  I looked at my husband and he was standing up leaning against the wall with no expression.  Not even blinking.  I looked at the doctor and she started to show me everything.  There is the first sack and a peanut looking thing was in it.  Same with the second sack.  Third sack was visible, but we couldn't see a peanut.  She told me that she thought we would be having twins because she was not seeing anything developing in the third sack, but we would know more on our next ultrasound in three weeks.  The drive home was a blur.  I remember just being full of excitement and my husband was still staring.  I told him I wanted to keep them all.  I didn't want to loose another baby.  


Three weeks later we went back.  Not only was the third sack still there but a peanut was developing and was the biggest one of all three! The doctor told us not to declare from the mountains that we were having triplets because we were now entering the door that was marked "high risk pregnancy".