Ok, at some point of life I’m going to be more consistent
with this blog, but let’s be honest – raising children can be the most
wonderful kind of exhausting. Two years
ago today, Brian and I had THE ultrasound with the most beautiful shock of all,
and that must be shared…..
October 29, 2012, Brian and I got the call we hoped and
prayed for – after a successful round of IVF, we were pregnant! Since our nurse left a voicemail with the
good news, she called later that night to congratulate us. She mentioned that because my beta number was
so high, there was a chance of multiples.
After two more rounds of blood work with an elevated level, we scheduled
our first ultrasound for Thursday, November 15.
The two weeks and three days following the news of possible multiples
before the ultrasound were so very long.
The excitement of pregnancy, as well as the sickness of pregnancy,
preparing for a baby, possibly two……but at no point of those two weeks and
three days did the thought of triplets float through my mind. I focused on and talked about A
child. After trying for so long and what
we went through in hopes of a child, there was no room for thoughts of “just
one child” after the ultrasound.
November 15, Brian and I had an appointment after work. We spent the day texting and emailing a
countdown to the ultrasound, looking forward to seeing our sweet baby. We met at the doctor’s office and settled
into our room. While we waited for the
doctor, we heard a nurse say outside our door “I think it’s twins” - the same
nurse who told me the week before that they were fighting over who would be in
the room with us for the ultrasound. Our
doctor came in and got down to business.
During the ultrasound, the monitor was faced towards him. I was unable to see, but Brian and the nurse
were able to. After a few minutes I
heard our doctor say “huh”. So many
questions went through my head! I
immediately looked to Brian. His face
was as red as it could be, mouth dropped, pure joy. I then looked to my nurse who was taking
notes, holding back a smile, and gave me the same comforting wink she had given
me so many times over the past few months.
Our doctor then turned the screen around to me. What happened after this is a haze to me
now…..but I do remember him showing us two little people, then scanning around
to show us another little person, and spending an embarrassing amount of time
calculating 2+1=3. TRIPLETS. I’m not going to lie, what followed was an
“OH” followed by an expletive, backed by a combination of shock, fear, and
utter happiness. (Give me a break, I
just found out we were expecting THREE BABIES).
My mind was filled with thoughts of three babies – THREE BABIES, the
risks involved, I will never be able to tell these little people apart, I’m
going to have to quit my job and become a stay at home mom, how are we going to
afford to take care of three babies, and bouncing back and forth between the
fear of three babies and thrilled over three babies.
When we got it together and left the room, a majority of the
staff already heard the news. After
several hugs and congratulations, we were on our way. I headed home, and bless his heart, Brian
went to class – and actually stayed through the entire class. I wasn’t out of my parking spot before I was
on the phone with my sister Allison – my personal life coach, keeper of my most
juicy secrets, and speaker of the truth.
As soon as she answered the phone I remember telling her that I needed
her to be Polly Positive, because I was freaking out enough for the both of
us. Her first question was “is
everything ok”, and I hit her with the news.
She thought it was a joke. After
I finally convinced her that this was not a joke and I actually had an
ultrasound showing three little people sitting beside me, we had a
rollercoaster conversation that could convince anyone we were absolutely
insane. How hard triplets will be, how
much fun triplets will be, how blessed we are, and all the many reasons we
should be stressed out right now. She
summed it up perfectly when she said “I am so scared, but grinning ear to ear
right now”. Several times during the conversation
and since then, she mentioned that if anyone was capable of raising triplets,
it was us. As soon as I got off the
phone with her, I then talked to Brian’s first phone call, Jon, who was more
than thrilled. While talking to Jon, I
was at least a mile up the highway before I realized I completely missed the
turn for our neighborhood. When I finally made it home, I immediately walked next
door to see my friend/neighbor Vedrana, with a stream of ultrasound pictures in
my hand. I showed her the picture of the
two babies (who we now know as my boys Jackson and Jonathon). She was thrilled over twins…and then I showed
her the single baby, and she cried. I
also talked to my friend Lauren, who responded with dead silence and a “WHAT?!” Everyone’s response was similar – shock,
excitement, and the reassurance that Brian and I could handle this.
After the initial shock wore off (for the moment), I was a
mess of emotions. Grateful that after
what we went through in hopes of one baby, we were blessed with three. Fear of raising three babies, and how we
could afford the mountain of necessities.
Overwhelming joy we would experience.
Anticipation of our trip home to Alabama the following week to tell our
family that not only were we expecting, but also what we were expecting. The stress we would experience raising three
babies 8 hours away from our family. The
wonder of the genders, personalities, would Brian get the mini-Maryann he’s
always wanted, and would I get the mini-Brian I always wanted. The high risks surrounding my pregnancy, for
me and the babies. Appreciative for the
amount of time we tried, and our experience with IVF, because even though we
were facing a high risk pregnancy, and life as we know it had flipped upside
down and inside out, I valued and cherished this wonderful, wonderful gift God
had given us so much more because of it.
Even on our worst day, if we were able to go back to the day
of transfer and have the doctor tell us that one embryo would give us our
Jackson and Jonathon, and the second our sweet lady, I would – without a doubt –
choose this wild, but wonderful, life of ours.
