Our Unexpected News

Well, where do we begin...
On Monday, January 5, Matt and I went down to St. Luke's Hospital for our first visit with the new doctor - our parinatalogist. We were so excited to meet the new staff, get plugged into the hospital that we would give birth in, and most of all, check up on the crew! Our appointment was a set 3-hour appointment, with the first stop being the sonogram room. It was the first time I had an ultrasound from the outside, which was interesting in and of itself. The ultrasound technician scanned the screen and started measuring things left and right. Next, she went down to the "flying solo" triplet to have a look at him/her. We could see the sweet fluttering heartbeat going a mile a minute as well as the little body forming so preciously! It was so neat.
Unfortunately, an unexpected surprise caught us very off guard. She went up to the identical twins and started searching and measuring them. She was very quiet as she was studying the screen. After looking at the screen for a while, Matt got a little nervous and asked, "So what about the heartbeats of the other two?" The ultrasound tech simply turned to look at us, shook her head "No" and said, "I'm so sorry." As she said this, the look on her face was one we will never forget. The precious little angels that were so loved no longer had heartbeats. They still measured just the same size as their brother/sister, so their hearts had stopped beating within the last day or so...it just wasn't meant to be. The ultrasound tech left the room for a little while as Matt and I processed what just happened. Tears instantly fell on behalf of those little ones. It was a very strange feeling to feel such a loss for 2 little babies we hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet. We prayed and we cried...there wasn't any room for anything else. My body went numb as my mind tried to reason with my heart. There was no explanation that we could "blame" or "excuse"...it was one of those moments that you know you'll never forget and yet in the midst of it, you can't remember a thing that's going on around you.
The ultrasound tech came back with a doctor to do some more checking and after everything was confirmed, they gave us the choice as to whether or not we wanted to just leave or if we wanted to continue on with the appointment and treat the rest of the pregnancy information as a singleton birth. We decided to stay simply because we wanted to know as much as possible for the third little angel. I'm not sure I remember two things that were said that morning...
We came home and phonecalls needed to be made and visits had to take place in order to share with our family and friends the sad news. It was a tough day and one that I will never forget. It hurts like crazy to know that triplets are no longer in our future. It was something that Matt and I had completely embraced and were so excited about. But Matt and I are now completely focused on our precious gift of a child and that is our new pride and joy.

Heartbeats

On Monday, December 15, Matt and I walked nervously into the doctor's office.  We wanted so badly to see all three "jellybeans" on that screen.  The doctor even walked in and said he was a little nervous at what we might see...

Blurs were flashing across the screen, and I didn't have a clue what I was looking at at that point.  After a minute, the doctor let out a loud belly laugh!  Matt and I looked at each other and said, "What does THAT mean?!"  So, the doctor started explaining...

The small little jellybean we were concerned about the previous week (and praying for all the time) didn't make it and wasn't going to develop into a fetus...nothing funny about that, so we figured we were in for more.  However, one of the big sacs decided to split into IDENTICAL TWINS!  So, in other words, the doctor told us we were going to have triplets still - one set of identical twins and a third one flying solo.  Trust me, the doctor had to explain this to me multiple times...I just wasn't comprehending.  So now instead of 3 individual sacs, I only have 2 sacs.  However, one of those sacs contains TWO fetuses, creating the identical twins!

The doctor looked at us and said, "Wow, it's been a LONG time (if ever) since I've seen this one!  You were meant to have triplets!!"  We couldn't have agreed more!!

Oh, and maybe most importantly...after we straightened out all the confusion of what I had in the "oven", we got to hear THREE HEARTBEATS!  That was music to our souls!  It was the coolest thing ever - he put the curser over each one of the fetuses and we heard a fast, miraculous thumping coming from all three babies!!  We are really having triplets!!  Praise the LORD for this miracle...or should I say, these three miracles!
Here are our "family pictures" so far...

Below is the ultrasound picture of the identical twins. You can see the 2 little circles in the one sac. That's them! I can tell they are going to be best friends already! HA!


This next picture is of the third triplet - the one flying solo! I bet he or she is loving life right now...it has the whole sac to itself! It better not get used to that...the second it comes out into the real world, it's going to be a drastic change!!


The next three pictures are of the heartbeats!! Underneath each picture, you can see the wavy line - that is their precious little heart, beating like crazy!!

The Doctor Visit

After we got back home to KC, I went and had blood drawn to confirm our 5 home tests! HA!  The doctor called back with the confirmation that YES, I was in fact pregnant!  However, she also said that the count in my blood was quite high and we should come in to the doctor to check out for the possibility of multiples.  Matt and I laughed at the thought of having a bunch of babies inside, but knew deep down it was a strong possibility...and we were thrilled at that possibility. Monday, December 8, we went in to the doctor's office to have an internal ultrasound to check out what we were working with.  Long story short, there were THREE little sacs just staring at us on the screen.  I started laughing out loud (because I didn't know what else to do) and Matt and I just looked at each other - we were about to have TRIPLETS!!! We couldn't believe it!  That being said, we were both so excited!  Throughout this entire process, we have felt so strongly that we were doing what God wanted us to do.  We never felt like we should stop the process and look at other options.  So, this was just the next step - and it's obviously what God wanted for us...so we said, "Bring it on!"

There were 2 larger "jellybeans" and 1 smaller "jellybean" on the ultrasound.  Our doctor said we need to keep an eye on the smaller one (on the far right) to see what he does.  It could have just been the position of the sac or it could be that the next time we went to the doctor's office, he would have disappeared and not developed into a fetus.  We scheduled another appointment for 1 week later to check them all out!  Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen?!

That week we prayed hard for that little one to hang on and catch up with his brothers or sisters.  We were thrilled with the idea of triplets and we didn't want to loose that one, even if it was just a couple of weeks old.  We told our close friends and family and this point, but decided to wait to tell the world until we heard heart beats...

Boy, were we in for a treat...

Thanksgiving Has A New Meaning

For Thanksgiving, Matt and I drove up to Michigan to spend time with my family for the holidays!  During our 10 hour drive up north, we had lots of time to discuss the possibility of the OI procedure working...which would mean a baby!  Needless to say, we couldn't stop talking about that idea.

Our doctor said we could take a home pregnancy test on Friday,

 November 28 (the day after Thanksgiving).  It was  torture!  We were so anxious to see what it said!  We were staying at my aunt and uncle's house (along with the rest of the entire family) that day, so we set our alarms for 4:00 AM that morning...we could hardly sleep.  We tiptoed upstairs while the rest of the house was sound asleep.  T

hat 3 minute wait to see if the "YES" appeared seemed like an eternity!  I couldn't even look.  But, 3 minutes later, the tears streaming down Matt's face said it all...I didn't even have to look.  WE WERE PREGNANT!!!!!!  It was a moment I will never forget.  We jumped up and down and did the "silent scream" so we didn't wake the whole house up.  Not that I would have cared - we just didn't know what to say to them all if everyone came running into the bathroom!  HA!  For the next 2 hours, we just sat in the hallway, staring at each other...pinching ourselves to make sure this was really happening.  Boy, was it ever!

We woke up Emilie (my sister) a little while later to share the news with her.  Her groggy eyes didn't need to adjust too much when we told her!  We told my mom (in the freezing garage on her way to work) that morning and the rest of the family that afternoon.  We couldn't hold it in and what a perfect opportunity to share the best news of our lives with all my family - in person - at one time!  We drove back up to Grand Rapids the next day and

 told my dad and Joyce.  It was a Thanksgiving weekend we will NEVER forget - truly a Thanksgiving where we had EVERYTHING to be thankful for.

The History

Twenty-two months ago, Matt and I decided we wanted to start a family!  It was a very exciting time that we both thought and prayed about...we were finally ready!  However, as we were about to find out, God's timing was slightly different than ours...

After almost a year of trying unsuccessfully to have a baby, we made an appointment with a doctor to just ask some questions.  At that point, we weren't really concerned...just a little impatient.  I was put on some medication and I went through a number of preventative procedures to check and make sure everything was working correctly and there weren't any "roadblocks" in our way.  All tests were coming back normal - and the doctors just said "...to keep trying and be patient..."

After "maxing out our resources" with my OB, we were referred to a specialist in Kansas in early June.  This was a very sensitive time for me and a time when I felt embarrassed, angry, confused, worried, impatient...you name it, I was feeling it.  But, both Matt and I really felt like this is what we were supposed to do and where God was taking us.

For six months, we tried a number of treatments and procedures without success.  We tried artificial insemination 4 times, each time hoping and praying for something to work.  After those did not work, we had to sit down with the doctor again and look at some other options.  Our two options at that point were OI (Ovulation Induction) or IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).  We knew that IVF would be our last option because of the cost.  After praying and talking with our friends and doctors, we decided to try the OI one time.  If that didn't work, we would move on to our "last shot."  

During OI, my body was forced to produce more eggs than the one I was producing naturally.  For a week and a half, Matt had the lovely job of giving me daily shots to help my body produce those eggs.  My body ended up creating 4 big eggs, 2 medium eggs, and 6 small eggs!  I had a dozen eggs!!  

I was inseminated on November 14 and then we had to wait for 2 LONG weeks to see if the OI procedure worked.  What we were about to find out would change our lives forever...