Monday, December 21, 2009

Our Triplet Journey; Part...Beginning?

I'm going to try to make more of an effort of posting this triplet journey. Even though time seems to be slowly passing and I feel like a beached whale or Jaba the Hut sans metal bikini princess, this whole experience really is going by quickly and before I know it, all three little pink and blue bundles will be here and no sleep will start. Which I am convinced will erase all past brain cells and memory, so I need to back up a little and tell our story.

It will probably be disjointed and possibly out of order, but if I knew someone that was having triplets, I would want to know HOW? WHO? WHEN? WHAT? WHY? HOW? HOW? So here is part of our story with a little commentary and possible soap boxishness thrown in now and then. But I always want to be honest with this process and make sure our little bean sprouts know everything and aren't ashamed of how they joined our family. But instead know they were always meant to be with us!

But first, first. I can't say out loud or in print enough how grateful I am that so many people are praying for and thinking about our babies. I tell them all the time how many people want them to get here successfully and without incident. They think that's pretty cool. Their parents do too.

So our real baby journey starts about 4 1/2 years ago as new husband and wife. Newly married, sharing our dreams and hopes and aspirations for the future, one thing we both agreed on were kids. Right away! Let's not wait! But you don't always get what you wish for. I won't dwell too much on that right now. I know some couples have waited and are still waiting longer than us. But when you are ready, one month of your cycle being closely monitored and checked for four years is an eternity.

Fast forward to a series of events that started last fall that led to a company change and serendipitous change of job location for Chris. There was a little drama involved. (Too much if you ask me - I've never been a big fan of the "d" word.) But despite that, we were headed to Connecticut for the summer where Chris would sell home security systems for 4 months.

Prior to arriving in CT, we both had an experience that we knew, we just knew that there was a doctor for us in Connecticut that would be able to help us. This is probably the most private, most sacred part of our journey. But just believe me when I say that I know I have a loving Heavenly Father that is aware of our family and knows better than me what is best for us.

Enter Dr. Doyle and Dr. Williams of Connecticut Fertility Associates! I was worried how it was going to work with Chris working all the time. But we went early for appointments and I drove myself to a few while Chris worked hard. They ran a series of tests to see if any anatomical problems were obvious that was preventing us from getting pregnant on our own. There were about 5 tests for me, 1 for Chris. (So easy to be the guy in this whole process! Seriously.) A few of the tests were incredibly painful and uncomfortable, but luckily all of them came back with no conclusive results. Meaning, they couldn't see any reason why I wasn't getting and staying pregnant. I guess it was a good and bad thing. Bad because if they found nothing, it could be an 'unexplained' case and we could go in cycles and circles with nothing working and not knowing why.

We decided on the round of treatment that we were comfortable with. We weren't ready for in-vitro. I was just getting comfortable with the idea of western medicine again after a stint of alternative therapies. There were other options before going straight to that. We had already done Clomid (a drug that assists in ovulation) several times without success and wanted to up the ante.

We chose to do IUI (sex-ed terms coming up...just warning you). Which means artificial intrauterine insemination. So, all of the necessary ingredients that are required for making a baby belonged to both of us. Except it was a doctor that put things in place instead of the two of us. Capiche? I should teach this stuff, I'm so clear in my explanations. I'm not going to lie, it's a little awkward being artificially impregnated in a doctor's office. No candles or romance. You know, making a baby is supposed to be a magical, special moment right? This just isn't possible in a clinic. Just you, your husband and a doctor. Yikes. Luckily, Dr. Doyle had a sense of humor. The actual procedure does not take long. In fact, I even said, "Is that it?" when it looked like he was cleaning up his tray. He responded, "Well, most guys don't like to hear that, but yes, that's it!" Funny guy. It helped a little with the awkwardness of it all.

One thing that would go along with this procedure was medication. I had to swallow my whole foods, granola girl attitude of herbs and natural remedy kick I was on and realize that this was a good path for us. We had been brought to this point. I couldn't not try. The drug was called Follistim and it was to be injected every day for 10-14 days during the right time of my cycle. Of course I had to do these injections myself which I was not a fan of. Seriously. It took me 20 minutes to work up the courage to do the first one. I just sat there with the needle an inch away from my skin counting to three. I think I counted to three about a hundred times. I finally worked up the courage and stuck myself. It got a little easier each time, but it was not my favorite thing.

I think it's important to note that the dose the doctor put us on was the bottom dose. He started us at the lowest dose he ever starts anyone. He felt that my tests looked good enough and I was young enough (29) to start where he did. I would also like to confess that I even forgot to do it one night thanks to an impromptu one night stay in NYC. I forgot to pack it. Oops. I had to go in every three days to test my blood levels to see how I was reacting to the medicine. Toward the end, he even cut in half my 'lowest dose'. So you can imagine EVERYONE'S shock, including the staff, that 6 weeks later, 3 little heart beats were beating inside of me.

Geez louise that seems so long ago. I was sick, sick, sick from the beginning. The night we did the procedure, still two weeks from having a positive test, I woke up with such intense nausea, I thought the doctor messed something up. That was fun. (Read sarcasm there.) Then there was the time I almost passed out in my yoga class at the Y. I didn't even get that far into the class. I just started my deep breathing, and I almost blacked out. This was during the two weeks before the positive test as well! Now, today at 26 weeks, I can feel them kick and move around and I have a devil of a time trying to roll out of bed. It's so great. (Sincere. Read no sarcasm with that last statement.)


More later? What more is there? I guess I could tell you about my lemons and necessary 2am snacks. Later...

6 comments:

David and Brooke Gallagher said...

Thanks for sharing something so special and private! We are so excited to meet these special and choice spirits of yours. I will never forget when you brought lemons to me so I for sure wont forget to bring you any!

ps. Thanks for having 3 all at once now each one of our kids will have some one to play with! Nice work you two! Ha,Ha!

Carrie said...

thanks for sharing your story. i'm so happy for you both.

Kim said...

I love reading your stories--I quite possibly say that every time you blog! Yay! :)

michael. mindy. dane. said...

I'm so glad you posted this. I have never heard 100% of the story, and I'm glad I was finally able to.

Keep growing, babies! 9 weeks to go!

Anonymous said...

AMAZING! How fun! Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Mike/Margaret said...

Thank you. We knew you went thru alot, but we didn't want to intrude. Those three babies already know how much they are loved and wanted. Can't wait to hold them.