Good news and bad news!

Wow, what a week! First we will start off with how great all the babies have done this week! All of them are over 5 lbs and quickly growing day by day. Last weekend I came down with mastitis, which I have never had before. Geez, it was terrible. I had a fever, the shakes and felt like I had the flu. Fortunately I was able to call my Dr and get an antibiotic that night and started feeling back to normal after a day and a half. Unfortunately, due to my fever I had to wait 48 hours before visiting the babies, which broke my heart. Luckily, their good old daddy got to visit and love on them! Tuesday they turned 3 weeks old and was their second day of taking all of their bottles!! So we knew we were getting close to hearing the news that one or both of the boys were getting ready to come home. So by our evening visit the doctor informed us that if the boys did not have any apnea episodes and continued to do well with the bottles that they would be discharged this weekend!!!! What great news, our boys would be home by Christmas!! So knowing this weekend might be it, I thought I better bring Emery into the pediatrician to check her cough she just started having. Thank God I did, because Emery was contagious. So as much as we would love to have the boys home for Christmas, they are safe and healthy in their “hotel" for a little bit longer until we are germ free!! So once again.....we have to patiently wait!! From the very beginning of this journey we have prayed for healthy babies, so waiting a few more days for our prayers to be answered will all be worth it. Chances are we will probably end up bringing them all home at once!!! So we ask that y'all pray for Emery to get over her sickness and we can have a germ free and sick free home until March!!!! We also want to thank everyone again for all of our wonderful dinners! I have been visiting the hospital 2-3 times a day and juggling the girls and their schedule along with Brian putting in his last week of work, the last thing either of us feel like doing is cooking! So thanks again!

Week 2...a little late!!

Better late than never! This week was 2 weeks and on Friday they hit 35 weeks gestationally. Not much has really changed besides the boys are slowly increasing their bottle feedings. Annalee is still on one bottle feeding a day. This is just a slow process and just takes time and for them to be developmentally ready. I visit them every morning after dropping the

girls off at school and then Brian and I go every evening before dinner. For me I'm physically exhausted but I just keep on going. I'm trying to keep the girls on a good routine and yet leave time for the babies. The girls are doing well considering ALL the changes they have gone through in the past 10 months- moving, less mommy time, mommy in the hospital and now leaving them in the evening. Weekends we try to do special activities and give extra attention. It will be another adjustment once the babies come home, but at least we will all be together!!Thank you all for the prayers- continue to pray that all three pick up quickly on their bottle feedings so we can all be home by Christmas! Also a big thanks to the dinners, gifts and diapers that have been given to us!!I feel terrible not having thank you cards written, but for right now I have had no time, just know it is all very appreciated!!

Our Burbrink Bunch is FINALLY complete!!

Just a week after my last post, I began having contractions. I ended up in the hospital just a day after my last high risk appointment. I was able to get 2 steroid shots for lung development and discharged after a day. My doctor was going out of town that weekend so I was praying I did not go into labor! I had a shower on Saturday with the ladies from church. It was so nice to have a few hours of distraction from being majorly uncomfortable by this point!! I can't be anymore thankful though, that I only had to deal with about a week of "I can't take this anymore”! Monday morning I went to the Dr and no progression and just sent home to continue Procardia. She said if anything happened that she would be delivering all day on Tuesday to just come in if things didn't get better. I went home that night and had 3 hours of contractions but then was able to sleep all night, I then woke up at 5 am with another 3 hours of painful contractions. I told Brian go ahead and get the girls together and our hospital bags, we need to go in and get checked again. Sure enough I was having contractions every 2 hours. My Dr came to check on me and she said it was time to deliver. Within about 2 hours it was go time!! Kristin was able to come up to photograph the entire birth, and our moms, Brians Aunt and the girls were able to make it!! I was so ready, I had said my prayers and knew it would all work out. When we made it into the operating room, the Anesthesiologist asked Kristin if I was always this calm!!! I am fortunate enough to have had two previous c-sections so I knew what to expect, I also knew my recovery would not be that bad. At 1:10 Elijah was born first weighing in at 4.8 lbs, then came Liam at 4.6 lbs. Our poor little Annalee was born last a 1:11 weighing in at 4.3 lbs! All three were swept away very quickly to be cleaned and evaluated. A few minutes later the nurses and Brian brought all three over for me to kiss and see before they were taken away to the NICU. I was given a few updates for the next few hours saying that all three were doing GREAT! I was wheeled down at 8 pm that night and was able to view them all. That evening all seemed like a blur! The next day I woke up feeling like the old Heather!! I felt amazing not to be carrying around all that extra weight! I scrubbed in at the NICU and was able to get a new update. Liam never needed any oxygen after birth and he was just given an IV for nutrients and then a tube through his nose that was his feeding tube. Elijah and Annalee were on 30% oxygen which is really not much. Every day after was another accomplishment. Day 2 Elijah was off oxygen. Day 3 Thanksgiving Day- I held Annalee for the first time!!Day 4 I nursed Liam. Day 5 I nursed both boys- these are very big steps because they normally wait until gestational age of 34-36 weeks to introduce bottle or nipple, and Elijah was off oxygen. Day 6 Annalee off oxygen!!! 1 week old- All three are in an open cribs, in cute clothes and the boys have met thier birth weights!! From here on out all three just need the practice of bottle feeding. ELijah takes almost all his feedings by bottles at this point! He is most likely going to be our first home. Liam is taking 3 out of 8 feedings by bottle and Annalee isn't ready yet to try!! These babies could not be doing any better, the prayers have absolutely worked!!As for the question everybody wants to know "When are they coming home?", the staff really can't guesstimate, we are always told "By their due date"! Which we know will probably NOT be the case. So for now we just take every single day as such a blessing as they are so well taken care of by the St Tammany NICU staff! Brian and I have enjoyed our visits with the babies but also the conversations the with all the nurses! They have done a great job of informing us, teaching us and really being encouraging! This is a short period of time in the babies’ lives and I know they will be home in no time!! I am doing great! My recovery has been the easiest yet. Mentally I am doing great because I have had the help of my mother in law taking and picking up the girls so Brian and I can visit the hospital in the morning and then my mom comes at 4 after school so we can go back in the evening. There is NO WAY this would all be possible without their help!!!Super Grandma's already! The hardest part for me right now is pumping every two hours during the day for 40 min. so by the time I am finished I have 1 hr and 15 min to do something productive! At night I am allowing myself to go every 4 hours to get more sleep. I am trying to build up a supply for 3!! I feel it is so important for all three to have all the nutrients and benefits of breast milk. So the exhaustion is well worth is for three healthy babies!! Brian and I want to thank all of our friends and family for the help, gifts and words of encouragement, we feel so blessed and look forward to slowly bringing the babies home!!!

As happy as the day we found out we were pregnant!!!!

Today marks 31 weeks and 4 days. We are just shy of the 32 week mark which is "term" for triplets. I was so excited to go to my high risk Dr today, knowing we would find out weights of the babies that we haven't had since 4 weeks ago. Just take a wild guess at what they weigh??? ........Drum roll please....the boys are weighing in at 4.14 lbs and 4.2 lbs (our little runt) and the girl is 4.10 lbs!!! I am carrying around 13.10 lbs of just baby!!!!!! This was just awesome news, they are in the 74th, 65th and 54th percentile for weights for singletons!!! The Dr was so proud and said that I am a poster triplet patient!! Although, he could tell on my face when I came in this morning that it is finally hitting me, which is so true. This week I FINALLY- truly slowed down and asked my mother in law to take and pick up the girls from school and have spent most of my days in bed. With the great weights and growth of all three the Dr said that if anytime from tonight and moving forward if my maternal instincts kicked in and I just wasn't feeling right to go to the hospital to get checked out and most importantly get the steroid shot to develop their lungs. Most likely I will just go into labor on my own and they will not need to stop the labor, that the babies are healthy enough. Obviously, every day is still a growth for them and we will try to go as long as possible but there is little worry from this point on..... For 31 weeks I feel like I have walked on eggshells and have been very nervous that something was going to happen and to hear these words, finally is a huge relief. Our dreams of becoming parents one last time is about to come true!!! I am sooo thankful for all the prayers; I know it has been the support and prayers from my family, friends, my clients and other moms of multiples that have kept me going! Like I said several weeks ago, this is like running a marathon, my body has never been put through so much strain and pain but I am so close to the finish line. By seeing the finish line my body is almost numb and I can keep on going a few more miles for a very sweet VICTORY! I know my husband is ready to have his "wife and partner" back!! Poor guy has been AMAZING!!! It has gotten to the point though, that when I call his name, he turns around with this face “like what do you want me to do for you now"? Normally, it's “can you get me more ice water"? "Can you rub my back"? or "Can you hang or move a piece of furniture for me"? SO .....I have now really tried to make it a point to throw in a few "Can I give you a hug and kiss"? or " Thank you for doing it all, I love you"!!!He said the other day, "Now I know what it's like being a single dad"!!I am so proud of the both of us! This is what marriage is all about sometimes it's not always 50/50, but it is being there for each other when the other one can't be. He will be rewarded in a few years, when he gets unlimited fishing trips with his sons!!!! Once again I have to thank my mom who has been here whenever I have asked her, even after long days of teaching. I am so thankful that she gets to retire in December and become a full time grandma!!! My mother in law has also been a huge help with the girls during the day, allowing me to rest and not have to get out of the house except when necessary. I will leave you with the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4JKwUhgIMI&feature=youtu.be ,to check out a slide show that I put together that shows our journey from begining until now!!! I hope you enjoy and continue the prayers, I hope to have maybe one more update before they arrive! Try these if the other did not work! http://youtu.be/Z4JKwUhgIMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4JKwUhgIMI&feature=youtu.be

I'm in the 30's!!!!

I did it, I mean we did it, we made it into the 30's and no complications!!!!! (Knock on wood!) I never, ever thought at 30 weeks I would still be getting around, dropping off and picking up my girls, and short trips to target and hobby lobby!! I feel so blessed! I went to the high risk dr this week ( I alternate between high risk and my OB every week. I have probably seen a dr every week for 8 months now!! ). My Dr had asked me to ask him for a c-section date, he was hesitant and said "well you can schedule it for 34 weeks but if you make it there and still look good you need to try to make it to 35"! So he feels I have a good chance of making pretty far which is awesome, but oh my I almost cried thinking about "baking" for another 5 weeks! Really at this point anything can still happen, so I am keeping my goals small and looking forward to making it to 32 weeks! At this point I still feel pretty good, and at my best in the mornings. I have become most annoyed with my hourly, to hour and a half bathroom breaks at night! Other than that, I really can't complain! This week was very exciting for me, as many of you know I love my job of being a photographer and I have not been able to shoot since September. It is killing me missing out on such a busy holiday season along with a busy newborn season, but this week I was fortunate to still feel good to go help my wedding partner and best friend help at my friend Jenny's triplet newborn session!!! It was so great for  seeing Jenny in action and getting a glance of what to expect. She made it look so easy, she was calm,patient and very organized!!! Now the photographing part of all three was not as easy!!! As soon as we would get two settled and perfectly posed the third would get fussy and it was a domino affect!!! All of this inspired me to finish up my "setups" for my trios session!! After Kristin and I saw how this works we have decided it is going to take a few days to get my set ups in! I have a whole list of ideas and we will see what we can get to!! As exciting as it is that this pregnancy is finally ending and my dreams and prayers of becoming a mom one last time are about to come true, I will miss this big ole belly and all the kicks, hiccups and movements!!! Last pregnancy and I went out with a bang! Continue the prayers for these strong healthy babies and for me to keep feeling great and keep on baking!!

Hit another benchmark...28 weeks!

       We have hit a very big benchmark by reaching 28 weeks safely. By making it this far we are almost out of the woods with the risk of twin to twin transfusion. The high risk Dr said he has never seen a case after 28 weeks but will continue to monitor until birth. Also, with each day and week that passes the babies are gaining weight and have a 90% chance of survival at 28 weeks and of those 90% with no issues. Obviously we are praying we won't deliver for at least another 4-6 weeks. Best news yet was that all three were about the same weight, with the twins being 2 lbs and 12 oz and the girl 2lbs and 10 oz. This was 3/4 lb weight gain in 2 weeks! I was very nervous since the previous week my OB had suggested me gaining more weight. I questioned the high risk Dr about this suggestion and he said that actually all three of the babies are in the 68th percentile for the weight of a SINGLETON pregnancy, that they are actually above average in weight than a person carrying one!!!My OB is going to be very happy to hear the news this week. These babies are doing awesome and are just taking everything from their momma!!
         I am still doing very very good, have done more resting this week like I promised myself except a big outing on Thursday with my best friend and fellow photographer, Kristin. We had a very successful day at Jo Ann Fabrics and Marshalls looking for new photography props! Kristin will be taking my friend,Jenny, little triplet girls pictures in a few weeks.It is a photographers dream to do triplets, and the fact that they are mine make it even more special.I have so many ideas and can't wait to show off my sons and daughter!!! Brian and I are predicting that the boys will look like me and Emery and the girl will look like Ava. It is so fun to imagine who and what they are going to look like!

      Keep the prayers coming that I have more uneventful weeks ahead and that they go by very,very fast!

Heather

25 weeks and 1 day!!!

I am so blessed to say that the babies and I have hit 25 weeks and 1 day!!Hoping for at least another 7 weeks, so we are getting closer and closer to our family of 5!! There are so many things that happened in the past few weeks, the first being I had a wonderful baby shower that was given by my best friend Kristin. She did a beautiful job of

decorating to match my nursery theme! I hope to have some pictures to share soon. Some of my other good friends helped provide food and drinks and help with clean up. We were so thankful to have such giving family and friends who blessed us with an abundance of boy clothes, wipes and other necessities!I was anxious to go through all of our goodies, that I had both moms come over the next day and help fold and put it all away. Another blessing I had that week was having my best friend, Mara and her two daughters and mom travel all the way from Houston to attend the shower. Not only did she have to travel the whole way in rain and storms but she was about 26 weeks pregnant! I have to be honest she gives the most creative personal gifts and I couldn't wait to see what she had made. It was three blankets in the shape of a football with brown minky on one side and LSU fabric on the other!!Gotta brainwash them young! Lastly, my fellow triplet momma, gave birth to her three beautiful daughters this past Monday!! I have been so thankful to have someone to going through everything that I have been going through. I have asked her a million questions and advice on all the symptoms I have had and now I'm able to question her about the joys and hardships of mommy hood of triplets!! Congrats to Jenny and her husband! Thursday night the weather was finally clear enough to get my maternity pictures taken. These were supposed to have been taken two weeks ago and the weather was just to rainy.I had a vision of what I wanted them to look like and we needed the warm creamy sun. I had thought about just giving up because every week I have been getting bigger and bigger and more uncomfortable and I just don't feel very pretty most days. But luckily Kristin urged me to still do them, and we went shopping and found an outfit that fit and the weather ended up being perfect! I want to thank Kristin for taking our pictures and Dana Reed for allowing us the beautiful location out in Folsom on a horse farm with her sweet horse Bella! I am in love with the pictures and I am glad that I will have them as a keepsake of my last pregnancy! It's bittersweet!The only thing better than feeling these guys move around in my belly all day is seeing and holding them in person!!

Oh Happy Day!

Today was my visit with my MFM Dr,which is always my favorite because it is mainly a very thorough ultrasound and cervix check which are the two easiest ways to see how the babies are doing. So this week (21 weeks and 4 days, the boys have hit 1lb each and the girl is an oz shy of 1 lb!! There was no sign of twin to twin transfusion but will still be measuring for that until 28 weeks. The babies were all very active and I was able to see one of the boys kicking the other one in the face and then the girl was getting it from both of them!! It is always an amazing site to view our babies in black and white and try to guess who they are going to look like. Especially, knowing how opposite Ava and Emery are. Will the boys look like Brian and Ava or will they take after Mommy and Emery??Makes the wait even more exciting!! I was able to record the TLC show, Making Room for Multiples. This morning I watched it with my girls and it gave me good insight on what it will be like in the operating room and life when we come home. I was able to explain to the girls that the babies might be hooked up to machines and they might only be able to view them through a window for a few weeks. Of course I was crying watching most of it, filled with mixed emotions. I am anxious to meet them, nervous about their health and curious to see how we all adjust once home! One thing that always stays constant is my dependence on prayers to God that he knows the greater plan and I trust that we will be able to get through the next 12 weeks and the years following! Oh Happy Day! Thankful for the good results today and already looking forward to next weeks visit!

Bumps in the road!

We knew when we bought this new home that it would be perfect for our expanding family, and we were right! Although we had several bumps in the road the first week we have now made it our forever home! Just to name a few of our bumps, I will list them: Night one- Our sewage backs up in our bathroom and flooded ( apparently very common when a home is not lived in for a few months) Night two- Dryer breaks and cannot dry ALL our wet towels we had used the night before AND Emery has fever of 104.1 Night three- Ava throws up for 3 hours in the middle of the night! Things seemed to get better as the week went along, but I have never had such bad luck or timing!Brian is also becoming pretty handy! Now over a week into our new home, almost every room is put together and things are being hung on the walls! I am hoping to start on the nursery next week! Now for the baby news, I am 20 weeks and 4 days! Last Tuesday the babies were all measuring at 11 and 12 oz which is great! I visit my OB this week, in which I will actually be seeing Dr Williams now because my dr is moving to California in October. I've heard great things about this dr and I'm looking forward to being under her care! I hope to have another great update this week!

Moving Week!

Wow, so much has happened all in a month! Funny how some of Gods plans take years to unfold and then others like selling our house can happen so quickly!Glad I did some light packing when we staged our house and then did packing little by little everyday, until just about the past week and a half, because I have really had to slow down and let others help. I cannot thank both of our moms and Alli who have all stepped up and have done a lot of packing. Unfortunately, it's never ending! We are getting very close. I'm ready for the trucks to come on Wednesday and look forward to closing on Friday! Friday will also be 19 weeks for me,Im thankful for every uneventful and healthy week! The babies looked beautiful in my ultrasound today, next week I will get a better idea of their size. This week seemed like a big growing week!Continue the prayers for the babies, but also for me, I have hit an uncomfortable stage and I'm afraid it's only going to worsen!

What life is all about, family, lots of love and surprises!

Yesterday was truly everything I hoped it would be! So much so, I dreamed about it the night before! In life, there are very few surprises. As much as we wanted to wait and be surprised at the party, Brian really wanted to know if he was having at least one son or all 3 girls before the party, so he could have a few days to mentally prepare. Two weeks ago at the ultrasound we explained to the tech, we just want to know if there is one "BLUE" (the girls were in the room with us!)She ended up telling us both twins were boys. Brian, was filming the whole thing and had a big old grin on his face. This is about as excited as Brian typically gets! I think I was more excited than he was. I immediately could picture Brian with his two sons and his dad going out on their boat and fishing! After she told us two of the sexes, I needed to know the third, so I could mentally prepare for 3 BOYS! A few seconds later she whispered "It's a girl"! Then I had a big grin on my face, I get to experience having one more daughter with bows and dresses and tutus!!!! The tons of clothes we already have get to be used again!! It could not have been a better outcome. The boys will have each other and the little peanut will have her big sisters. The hard part was trying to keep my excitement for TWO weeks!!I had to lie to my mom, mother in law and best friends for days!!! So the day had finally arrived yesterday, everybody was so excited. We had my Oma, Grandma Burbrink and my brother and his family on Facetime and Skype, so they could experience it as well. Since Brian and I already knew the sexes, we knew our reactions wouldn't be the best, so we had each of our moms open the boxes ~ from experience they ALWAYS have the best reactions!!!They didn't disappoint!! I have watched the video about 10 times and it makes me laugh and smile every time! I am thankful that the secret is finally out~no matter what the outcome would have been we know the most important part is that we deliver THREE healthy babies! I am 17 weeks, about halfway for triplets. So we will continue to pray for these precious little ones, that they continue to grow strong and big and stay in as long as possible!!They are SO LOVED and we have so many amazing and supportive friends and family that we are thankful for! Our next big adventure will be moving on the 23rd and then preparing the nursery!!!! I am so excited about the nursery; it is a favorite part of being pregnant! Until next time!!!

13 weeks and not slowing down!

      Just when I think I have no time to catch up and blog, 5 am insomnia kicks in~~~

      Life has been very busy since my last post. I flew with both girls to Indiana for a week. When we came home we had decided to put our house on the market, figuring it would be easier to show and sell a home with two kids rather than with 5 little kids! We had already checked out the market to see what was available for us and it seemed like a lot of great options at that time. We figured, why not go for it!!

    Here we are a week later with a very good counter offer! Which is great, except for the fact that I had looked at potentiel houses for us this week and had only found one that would be a possibility. For me being the hormonal pregnant lady trying to control situations I have no control over, I needed to find at least a second or third house, just incase any of the likes had issues. So Brian rushed home last night and we looked at the last 4 houses that our realtor had send us. With the first three homes there were the usual good and bads about every house, until we pulled up to the last house on a beautiful large cul de sac. All of my Autumn Creek mommas- I will finally be in the back of a neighborhood!!!! Yay!! I started imagining all five little kids riding bikes in the drive way and on the cul de sac and me sitting in a chair drinking a glass of wine!!! ( You have no idea how much I have needed a glass of wine this week!) The inside was funtional and the kids bedrooms were very large, much larger than anything we have right now! I just felt at home and all my anxiety about not finding a house went away with this one. This might be a house I would give up living in mine and my neighborhood for! What a great feeling!!
    I forgot to mention, earlier yesterday morning I realized it was Brian and I's 8th wedding anniversary!! I quickly called him, knowing he had forgotten too! We both laughed and said, I guess we have too much going on right now!! After getting off the phone with him, I thought back on our relationship and how we started off so young in high school, and all of the ups and downs along the way to get to where we are now. I didn't need flowers, a gift or even a dinner yesterday to feel loved. We continue to grow and love eachother more and more every year. This past year has been a true test, and I can't tell you how lucky I am to have him and how lucky all of our children are to have two loving parents who will always be together, for our family!
    Lastly, I have to say a big thank you to Jill and Steve who were major helpers in getting our house ready for the market. Jill was a super woman- cleaning, scrubbing, doing our laundry, watching my girls. You name it she did it!! I am also thankful my mom is now back in the states, she has already helped with the girls! We are so thankful and so blessed for such a wonderful day yesterday- to top it all off, I had an ultrasound and got to see three beautiful heartbeats. Two wiggly worms and one little one napping! It is always such a relief every week to see that sight! Keep up the prayers, they are working miracles in the Burbrink household! Stay tuned to see what my next post will say!!

10 weeks update

     I have hit 10 weeks, only 22 more weeks to go!! I had my first visit with a High Risk Dr at Women's Hospital in Baton Rouge. It was very informative, most in which I was prepared for and had already read up on. I started off having an ultrasound. We were able to see all three heartbeats and all three were measuring the same, 3cm. The identical twins do have their own sacs which is great news.  After the ultrasound the Dr came in and did an ultrasound for himself. This is a great feeling to see that I will have two sets of eyes looking at my ultrasounds every time! We then moved into another room to discuss the ultrasound and pregnancy. He started off explaining his top concern which is the identical twins. With all identical twins, they share a placenta which can cause TTS- which means one twin can transfer too much blood to the other twin. There is a 15% chance of this occurring. This process can be slow and seen through ultrasounds. If this occurs there is a laproscopic procedure that can be done. We will cross that bridge if it comes.
   I walked away from this appointment with a lot of knowledge and I feel I have a better idea of what to except. Unfortunately, beside eating healthy and resting- the rest is out of my control! SO ...once again I have to turn to God to help me through the next 22 weeks. I have to pray about all my concerns and worries and have faith that once again he will provide, heal and comfort. I please ask you as well to pray and pray daily for my little babies! Specifically that they do not get TTS and secondly to make it to 32 weeks.
   Lastly I want to brag about the wonderful husband that I have. I knew he was a great guy when I married him, and through the years we have fallen more in love. But through the struggles of the past year and the difficulties of the pregnancy already, he has stepped up and has already become "SUPER DAD"! He works long hard days, comes home takes care of the girls, gets them to bed, brings me water, food, medicine etc. I am so thankful for him, and I try to tell him everyday. I along with everyone else who knows Brian, would have never pictured him with 5 kids, let alone triplets. But these five kids have already made him a great dad and I can't wait to see our love grow! Also, bragging on my family who has stepped up as well and cooked, cleaned and taken care of my girls! It truly takes a village....and I'm forever thankful! I can do this!!! We can do this!!!! Keep the prayers coming!

Thanks,
Heather

Surprise!!!!

    
   So I went back for my second ultrasound, I didn't bring Brian because we were thinking we wouldn't be ones with the small chance of seeing anything different.
    I lay on the table while the US tech starts the exam. Immediately I see one large sac on the screen with two circles in it. She begins to explain the two circles are identical twins inside one sac. I start crying, saying I'm just so happy. Both had made it!!!!
    She then continues the exam showing me a second sac with one circle in it!!! OMG I AM HAVING TRIPLETS!!! My hearts starts beating faster and the only thing that came to mind is what is Brian going to say? She did her measurements and said that everything looked great. I walked out of the exam room and waited over and hour to talk to Dr Lu.
    While sitting there trying to wrap my head around three, a million things run through my head. I think back to the day Brian did his spreadsheet that said we had a less than 1 percent chance of triplets. I thought, well we just won the lottery!
    I spoke with the Dr who was a little surprised, and said we have a less than 50 percent chance of all 3 having heartbeats and making it. Well, with our luck, I would think that we have a pretty high chance of having 3 make it! We needed to wait another week to see heartbeats. Waiting never ends!
   We have now since had two healthy heartbeat ultrasounds. It seems as though the twins are growing in their own amniotic sacs, not 100 percent sure, but they feel pretty good about what they are seeing. I have now switched over to my OB and also seeing a High Risk Dr.
   I am now 8 and half weeks pregnant, but look like I am 3-4 months!! This has been a very quick growing process and it's a little bit scary to think what my body will look like in a few months!! I have had nausea everyday, but it seems if I eat frequently it is better. I am also extremly exaughsted!!! It makes me a little sad to not be able to have the energy to take the girls to the park, zoo or even play with them much at home. I feel I am either sick or laying in bed. Luckily, the girls have spent lots of time with the Grandmas and cousins.
   The girls are excited about the babies. I don't think they really understand that there will be 3!! Ava said "that's going to be a lot of work"!! I quickly agreed with her and asked her is she would "buddy" up with one of them and help take care of it. She said she would, but not change poopy diapers!  She is hoping for a boy, and Emery wants a girl. We hope they both get what they want!!!

Dreams and Prayers come true!

 It was my 30th Birthday week- this was either going to be really depressing or the best week of my life. Brian and I went in Tuesday morning for my blood test. It took an hour to get the results. The nurse called us back and I couldn't even look at her face, I was too nervous I would read into her facial expressions. We all sat down and she said " Well just like your HPT tests your are POSITIVE"! So of course Brian looks at me and says, " What? You knew and didn't tell me?". I could not believe it, it was true, after 2 years of trying and about 20 negative HPT, our last resort worked!!!
    Our next question was if they thought both had made it. This can sometimes be seen through the Beta numbers. Mine was 70- which was strong but not a good indication of twins. Of course I googled this when I got home and saw that my numbers were a bit high for single, average for twins, but there are extremely high number like in the thousands. I tried not to think to much into it, we would know more by our first ultrasound a week later. I was just thankful to have one extremely healthy baby.
      The following Tuesday I went in and the US tech saw one healthy sac. A little bummed both didn't make it, but knew there was a reason for it. The Dr said small chance they would see a second by next week, but there is a chance..........

Our Story

Brian and I are High School sweethearts and have been married for 7 years and dated for 4 years before that. We have two daughters, Ava who is 4 and Emery who is 3. We began our journey to grow our family about two years ago. Brian and I figured it would be a similar journey as we had conceived both our daughters very easily within the first month of trying.  We had tried for 6 months with no luck and attributing it to stress of dealing with my moms cancer. I tried to stay stress free as possible and thought I was dealing with it very well. We went to my OB and asked what our options were, she had mentioned the possibility of scar tissue being an issue from two previous C-sections and had recommended a laparoscopic procedure, in which we did later that month. While during the procedure she had seen endometriosis and temporarily took care of it. She gave us three months to get pregnant and also put me on the lowest dose of Clomid.
      I felt positive this would work and was extremely bummed and depressed by the third month. I ended up switching OB's to get a second opinion and see if there was anything she could be missing. I really liked my new OB and she gave us a few new techniques and tests and I so wanted this to work. About 6 months later she had informed us, that she had done all that she could and recommended us to go the The Fertility Clinic in Mandeville.
      I can remember clearly my first visit to the clinic, I was a mess. I NEVER thought this would be me. I had two beautiful children already, what has happened in the past 3 years since we had Emery? I was young( 29 at the time) and Brian had already been tested and was cleared. My diagnosis was endometriosis and PCOS( Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) both which makes it harder to conceive but NOT impossible.  We met with Dr. Lu who is extremely intelligent and knows his statistics.  We started off with a higher dose of clomid for two months, after being unsuccessful we met with Dr Lu again to go over more options. Our first was injections and our second was injections WITH IVF. Once again I was in a position I NEVER thought I would be in. These were our last resorts.
      For those who don't know what injections do- they create more follicles which in return should produce more eggs which then give the greater chance of pregnancy. People choose IVF to have more control over the number of eggs that could end up being fertilized. By just doing injections it is a lot less invasive but a much higher risk of triplets or more. After this meeting we had a month to discuss our option because the IVF clinic was closed for a month. It was perfect timing- we dedicated an entire month to praying about this issue and discussing the outcomes with our family. We knew if we ended up with multiples we were going to need the support of our family and friends and we wanted to make sure they agreed with our choice. 
    Both Brian and I went back and forth the entire month. Brian being the accountant he is, he took out his excel spreadsheet and inputted the odds for singleton, twins and triplets for both our options. With already having two children it was a pretty much no brainer to do IVF. We would have a 60 percent of a singleton, 20 percent for twins and less than 1 percent for triplets. We would fertilize just two and not have any leftover to freeze. This was our last chance, our insurance starts over in July which only gave us time for one cycle. We have insurance coverage and once we hit our deductible we only pay 10 percent!!! We are VERY blessed, this also made our choice easier.
     So at the end of March we went back to the Dr and met with my IVF nurse who gave me a calendar and explained the process. It would be 3 weeks of birth control, followed by about 5-7 days of injections and daily ultrasounds to check follicle growth, then egg retrieval and 5 days later the transfer followed by a week wait before a blood pregnancy test.
    There were two things I was most nervous about- the first and most important was believing that this was still Gods plan and were we following it correctly and the second being the injections. Both quickly subsided because by the time I started taking the pills I felt a sense of calmness come over my body. This followed me through the entire process until the day before my test! The injections were a piece of cake and it was fun to see how quickly my body was reacting.
   On April 25 we were ready for egg retrieval. We prayed that God would be with Dr Lu and the embryologist and keep his hands on the entire process. After the retrieval Dr Lu told us out of 22 follicles only 5 eggs had been retrieved, in which he predicted about 10-12, so about half of what he predicted. This may have been my issue the entire time- not producing eggs every month- let alone every other month. He told us the chances of just fertilizing just two and having two survive was very slim, so we made a quick change and fertilized three.
      We went home and continued praying, had a hard time sleeping and was nervous about our update the following day to see the outcome of the fertilization.  By 2:00 I hadn't received a call from my nurse and I took it as a bad sign. I was shaking when I called and I had Brian in the room. The nurse said- two of the three were fertilized and I would get another update the following day. I immediately started crying. From that moment I felt attached to my babies and felt the need to have them safe inside of me.  So far it had all worked out. We had two embryos and we didn't have to worry about freezing one!
     The next day I was listening to Pandora and the song "How Great is our God" was playing when it stopped and Dr Lu's call was coming in. He said we had two of the BEST rated eggs and I will get another update on Sunday. I fell to my knees and began crying as the song cut back in. Everything was finally working out. I sent out text updates and asked for prayers, they were working.
     Sunday, was another positive call, the cells were dividing and were still graded at the best. We wouldn't get another update until the day of transfer, two days later. So we continued to pray.
    Brian and I went in on Tuesday morning, when the the Dr said the embryos are now graded "good" not "best". He said not to worry- being average is a great thing. Then during transfer my uterus was "great" and he said we have a better chance of success with a great uterus and "good" embryos. He said leave it up to the big man above. This being said we knew none of this has ever been in our hands, but in Gods hands. He has been with these babies every step of the way and will continue through their lives. This was a big relief and help during my 3 days of bed rest that followed. I spent hours praying and imagining the babies growing, dividing and implanting. I received so many texts and messages from my friends and family and every one of them helped me through this extremely tough process for TWO LONG years.
     6 days after the transfer I was reading blogs of people who took HPT test and were testing positive. Of course I was dying to know. I ran to the store and bought two tests. I peed on the first, waited a minute and nothing. I had to leave and pick up the girls from school, so I put the test in a drawer. I picked up the girls, put them down for a nap and had this urge to check the test again. What do you know- a faint second line!!! Well, I was nowhere near convinced, it was over the ten minute time period and was invalid. I had to hold my pee until night time. Once again I tested and sure enough three minutes later there was a faint line. I still did not believe it and did not tell Brian. I didn't want to get excited and have it be a false positive.

      So, I have now caught you up and will continue the rest of our story on another post!