During my triplet pregnancy, I started reading lots of blogs from other triplet families. I was fascinated and comforted by their stories, especially from the women who were due about the same time I was. I wish now I had started blogging then, mostly because I have honestly forgotten a lot about that time period. Of course, part of the reason why I've forgotten is that it wasn't terribly interesting to begin with, especially since we had other craziness happening at the same time. So, here it is, 34 weeks, condensed into a couple longish paragraphs.
We obviously freaked in the ultrasound room when Mary, my very favoritist nurse who had been with us through all the horrible years of infertility, told us the news. She had gotten very quiet (never a good sign in the past) and was taking forever. Then the news "umm. hmmm. I'm counting 3". J and I laughed that nervous, sort of crazy laugh and then entered a peculiar world where you are well aware the path you are currently on just ends and there isn't a new one to take. You're in a random place without definition, without absolutes (yes, I realize there are no absolutes in life, just let me run with this), where the answers to your questions are often vague.
We talked to my ob, were given all the statistics (not that great) and sent on our way to just...wait. We called the very few people who knew we even did a FET (frozen embryo transfer), who all laughed the hysterical laugh we did with a few expletives occasionally chucked about.
There were lots and lots and lots of visits to: the specialist (loved him), regular ob (also loved him), the Perinatal Center at the hospital (really loved them), blah, blah, blah. J and I are very aware that we had a textbook triplet pregnancy (if there is such a thing) where there really never was any news or action required. I did develop a mild case of gestational diabetes and got a seriously NASTY rash where I ended up sleeping in the bathtub a few nights. That's about it. The stress of the pregnancy came from: making sure our then 2 1/2-year-old was taken care of, praying I could be at her 3rd birthday party (I was) and, oh yeah, we were putting on a now necessary large addition to the house. I didn't have a kitchen for a few months, or a bathroom on the first floor, or any running water on the first floor. It totally sucked. The good part was that the babies always looked great, I never had any of those major contractions, and was never on total bedrest. I voluntarily, with a lot of whining, finally submitted and checked into the hospital which was the most horrible part of the whole gig. I wasn't at home, AC cried when she and J left that night, I cried and cried and cried. Such a baby. So many other triplet moms would have maimed to stay off bedrest and here I was freaking out after making it to 34 weeks at home, walking around. That was Wednesday, October 17th and my water broke around 2:30 a.m. October 19th. I had rolled over to get out of bed and go to the bathroom when it happened, immediately called the nurse who asked "are you sure you just didn't wet the bed?". What the frick?????!??!?!?! I think a monkey would know the difference between urinating all over yourself and your water breaking. I remember sort of laughing and telling her I didn't wet the bed and, of course, there were several people in my room in 2 seconds. One of the cool things about that night was that an old friend of ours was doing her residency at our hospital and she was on duty that night. It was so awesome to see her walk in. Everything else is sort of surreal from there because it happened so fast. I remember J walking in with the camera bag, finally being allowed to use the toilet (absolute relief), a nurse not getting it that "no, I don't want to keep my pillow from home that has amniotic fluid all over it" (so grody), the nurses messing around with trying to strap on the heartrate monitors for the babies and finally giving up, the wonderfulness of the epidural, and then, by God's grace, my healthy babies arriving:
In order:
Baby A: IV, 5 lbs even
Baby B: EL, 4 lbs, 10 oz
Baby C: MG, 4 lbs, 13 oz
I don't remember too much of the delivery because the epidural meds always make me feel like I'm going to hurl and I couldn't really focus on what was going on. That's a bummer, but I can deal. I felt so bad that they put EL to my face so I could give her a kiss and I couldn't do it because I didn't want to throw up on her. So sad. MG did have a bit of oxygen for an hour (?) afterwards, but that's it and I know how fortunate that they were all relatively large and strong. I really need to write about post-delivery, because that was when life got sort of sucky for a week or so. Maybe in a few days.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
What's Our Co-pay??
What a random day. EL had her 9 month check-up (we took the trips to separate appointments and it was SO MUCH EASIER!), which turned out fine. I felt so bad; she was so happy to have just mommy time, was all smiles for everyone she saw, and then she gets a couple shots. It's funny how they all react differently to shots: AC was just sad, but is now stoic at age 3, EL is heartbreakingly sad, as if we hurt her feelings, IV sticks his lip out and then screams murder, and MG is MAD and starts kicking at the poor nurse. She's got a temper, that one.
Anyway, I finally get home, say goodbye to my friend-I-can't-do-without who was watching IV and MG, say hello to SuperBabysitter M, who was watching AC, go to the minivan to get $ to pay SuperBabysitter, and when I come in IV has a gash above his left eyebrow. He slipped on something and introduced his head to the corner baseboard. Sigh. Off to the ER (and decided 1/2-way there to turn around and go to the nearby Urgent Care - better choice). IV fell asleep along the way with the bloody side of his head leaning on the carseat. At least it stopped the bleeding. No stitches, just some of those steri-strip thingies and a developing shiner. I have the feeling we're going to be regulars at this place...
IV and the first of many headwounds
Add the fact that it's as hot at all get-out, AC had a couple freak-outs because she's 3 1/2, and it was a glorious, glorious day. There have been worse...
Anyway, I finally get home, say goodbye to my friend-I-can't-do-without who was watching IV and MG, say hello to SuperBabysitter M, who was watching AC, go to the minivan to get $ to pay SuperBabysitter, and when I come in IV has a gash above his left eyebrow. He slipped on something and introduced his head to the corner baseboard. Sigh. Off to the ER (and decided 1/2-way there to turn around and go to the nearby Urgent Care - better choice). IV fell asleep along the way with the bloody side of his head leaning on the carseat. At least it stopped the bleeding. No stitches, just some of those steri-strip thingies and a developing shiner. I have the feeling we're going to be regulars at this place...
IV and the first of many headwounds
Add the fact that it's as hot at all get-out, AC had a couple freak-outs because she's 3 1/2, and it was a glorious, glorious day. There have been worse...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
So Happy
that R.E.M. was on Sesame Street this morning. Terrible concert (realize I'm dating myself), but great memories of the 80's...plus, MG loved watching them, confirming she's my child.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
How the Circus Came to the House of Laird
I've been thinking about this for a few days and finally decided the story should be told. I'll be as brief as possible. :)
We got married in 1996 and started trying to have kids a couple years later. No pregnancy. I was given the "pcos" diagnosis, probably for lack of anything else. I don't ovulate. Tried a few rounds of clomid, no success. I seriously can't remember year we first did IVF because:
a: it was so freaking long ago
b: I was such a total emotional disaster by then those years are a blur
c: my mind is currently taken over by schedules and simply making it through one more day.
Anyway, it was probably 6-7 years ago and it didn't work. We had three frozen embryos left over, did a FET a few months later which resulted in a pregnancy and early miscarriage. Our next round of IVF was in 2003 and resulted in singleton pregnancy and sweet AC arrived in 2004 (textbook pregnancy). No frozen embryos left over this time, so J and I got greedy for a bigger family a couple years ago and do one more round of IVF. Positive pregnancy test and another early miscarriage, but there were frozen embryos left over (docs and us pretty surprised). We transferred three frozen embryos March 2007 and all three decided to stick around to see how fun it would be to live with us. IV, EL, and MG waited 34+ weeks to make their entrance (I'll do a pregnancy post later, although it's a bit boring).
As any of you w/pregnancy or lack thereof have experienced, the fertility road is long with lots of enormous potholes. I am not pleased with how I handled the first 3 years, becoming someone my husband did NOT marry. Everything changed one day though, when one day (after yet another round of a worthless IUI didn't work) I was crying and praying in our guest bedroom. I hit a crossroads in my faith where I needed to decide that if God was really God, then He is in charge of us having children (or not having children) and it really wasn't my burden. This doesn't mean I didn't mourn any longer, but it does mean the weight and pressure and stress and freak-out of "what if we can't have kids??" was considerably lessened. It was still another 3 years before we would have a pregnancy and the eventual arrival of AC, but those years resulted in great maturity and a renewal of my relationship with J. Did I still cry sometimes? Of course. Did I find an excuse to skip a baby shower or two? Of course. It was just easier. With AC's IVF, I went to just about every appointment by myself (totally relaxed and not expecting J to go with me at all) and felt so sorry for the couples in there, waiting nervously and grade-A stressed out to see how many follicles would be there, if at all, or what the blood test would show. They were so sad, like zombies, and I remember being like that. I'm so thankful we don't have to do that anymore.
We got married in 1996 and started trying to have kids a couple years later. No pregnancy. I was given the "pcos" diagnosis, probably for lack of anything else. I don't ovulate. Tried a few rounds of clomid, no success. I seriously can't remember year we first did IVF because:
a: it was so freaking long ago
b: I was such a total emotional disaster by then those years are a blur
c: my mind is currently taken over by schedules and simply making it through one more day.
Anyway, it was probably 6-7 years ago and it didn't work. We had three frozen embryos left over, did a FET a few months later which resulted in a pregnancy and early miscarriage. Our next round of IVF was in 2003 and resulted in singleton pregnancy and sweet AC arrived in 2004 (textbook pregnancy). No frozen embryos left over this time, so J and I got greedy for a bigger family a couple years ago and do one more round of IVF. Positive pregnancy test and another early miscarriage, but there were frozen embryos left over (docs and us pretty surprised). We transferred three frozen embryos March 2007 and all three decided to stick around to see how fun it would be to live with us. IV, EL, and MG waited 34+ weeks to make their entrance (I'll do a pregnancy post later, although it's a bit boring).
As any of you w/pregnancy or lack thereof have experienced, the fertility road is long with lots of enormous potholes. I am not pleased with how I handled the first 3 years, becoming someone my husband did NOT marry. Everything changed one day though, when one day (after yet another round of a worthless IUI didn't work) I was crying and praying in our guest bedroom. I hit a crossroads in my faith where I needed to decide that if God was really God, then He is in charge of us having children (or not having children) and it really wasn't my burden. This doesn't mean I didn't mourn any longer, but it does mean the weight and pressure and stress and freak-out of "what if we can't have kids??" was considerably lessened. It was still another 3 years before we would have a pregnancy and the eventual arrival of AC, but those years resulted in great maturity and a renewal of my relationship with J. Did I still cry sometimes? Of course. Did I find an excuse to skip a baby shower or two? Of course. It was just easier. With AC's IVF, I went to just about every appointment by myself (totally relaxed and not expecting J to go with me at all) and felt so sorry for the couples in there, waiting nervously and grade-A stressed out to see how many follicles would be there, if at all, or what the blood test would show. They were so sad, like zombies, and I remember being like that. I'm so thankful we don't have to do that anymore.
12 Years
So I previously mentioned J and I went out for wings to celebrate our 12th anniversary and it was good. We aren't overly sentimental...actually we just aren't sentimental, so it was a perfect evening for us. LOTS of conversation, which hadn't happened in awhile and for 4 very cute reasons. This year was understandably challenging for the marriage, but life (read: kidlets) are getting easier every month and sometimes we can use words besides "diaper/formula/bottles/burp cloth/spit-up" and other grunts. Anyway, during the course of our date-night discussion, J and I started talking about being sappy (I am not - I prefer fart cards for valentine's day) and how he wouldn't mind it if perhaps 2% of me was...ummm...hmmm...is affectionate the right word? Why am I asking you? We'll go with affectionate.
Because of that, the following will be an affectionate post for my sweet husband and it is all heartfelt and true:
I fell in love with you when I first saw you. I firmly believe that God had your family move here for such a short amount of time so we could meet and always be together. Every day I am amazed at what God has given me and am so thankful to have someone who mostly understands me and still sticks around for more. You are one of the most intelligent people I know and you absolutely are the most loyal and rock-steady. I love you desperately, even though I'm not cuddly.
Because of that, the following will be an affectionate post for my sweet husband and it is all heartfelt and true:
I fell in love with you when I first saw you. I firmly believe that God had your family move here for such a short amount of time so we could meet and always be together. Every day I am amazed at what God has given me and am so thankful to have someone who mostly understands me and still sticks around for more. You are one of the most intelligent people I know and you absolutely are the most loyal and rock-steady. I love you desperately, even though I'm not cuddly.
Always and Forever,
Kitty
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A little sad (and this is totally pathetic)
J and I celebrated our 12th anniversary a night early and, while we had a great time eating too many wings, it was a little depressing for me to come home. You see, our usual babysitter leaves for college soon and we LOVE HER!!!! She lives right across the street and I can't even tell you how many times I've called her to come over for anywhere from 5 minutes to 1/2-hour. We've been unbelievably spoiled and it's ending. Yes, there are other babysitters in the neighborhood, but no one like M. She doesn't take any junk from the kids (not that the trips offer too much yet, but they don't frazzle her), she taught AC how to write her name in one night, she got AC to go potty at someone else's house (had NEVER happened before), blah, blah, blah. She has a car seat for AC permanently in her car and the two of them will just go on errands together. It's very sad and, yes, I realize I'm being selfish. In fact, a not-so-small part of me wishes M had chosen to go to a school in town (purely for my benefit). But COME ON!!!!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Pics help make it real
MG - 9 months (18 lb and change at her checkup). The pic doesn't show her personality well, but let's just say she has one and it isn't small. Toy thief, jabber box, expert crawler, her sister's favorite, probably b/c they have the same character traits.
EL - 9 months (hasn't had her checkup yet, but she's chasing 20 lbs). Very sweet, can't crawl yet, usually a fan favorite b/c she'll smile for anyone, has the loudest glass-shattering-freak-out screech I've ever heard (and therefore NOT her big sister's favorite).
And finally this is AC, the firstborn, age 3. Loves everything pink, most animals (even bugs *shiver*), salty foods, and dark chocolate (a girl after my own heart). She is precocious, strong-willed, and a bit naive about the world. Makes us laugh almost every day. She has a like/dislike of the triplets, which is understandable. It drives us a little crazy when they're all freaking out, too.
Those are the crumbgobblers. We don't love them for what they do. We love them because they're ours.
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