Flash Back: First Ultrasound

My doctor originally scheduled my first ultrasound for week 10 but called around week 8 to see if I could come in. Once again, we should have known. Oblivious, we went to our appointment with excitement and some notion that it could be twins (the word triplets wasn't even a part of my vocabulary. Besides, how many people do you know with multiples.) As we stared at the screen, we began to count all the tiny circles and the doctor said, "this is what I was afraid of." I wasn't exactly sure what this meant, but I knew it wasn't good. He went on to explain what we we were looking at. We were looking at three and a possible fourth which seemed to be smaller than the other three. After I dressed, the doctor came back in to paint the grim picture. The one thing I had always appreciated about our doctor is that he had always been straight with us and this was no different. In his opinion, a pregnancy of four would be almost out of the question. He would strongly recommend that we consider selective reduction to two. He said a pregnancy of three would most likely include bedrest, possible hospital stay, preemies with lengthy hospital stay, and all the complications that come with preemies. He even went on to say that carrying two would be difficult but obviously not unheard of. I am an extremely emotional person. I cry at books, television, songs etc. I can shed tears when I am happy, sad, mad...you name it. However, at this moment in life I was just stunned. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If you know Rick, you know he is rarely at a loss for words but this was one occasion where we were both almost afraid to speak. I remember getting in the car and looking at the backseat and thinking, where would I put that many kids. Rick finally said, "I'm not sure I want four babies." He was just being honest and trying to process what we had just heard. I felt like I was going to disappoint him again and I just couldn't fathom how I could carry multiples, so I felt that the pregnancy was doomed and we would have to start the process all over again.
For lunch, we went to McDonalds and joked that this would be the only place we would be eating as we wouldn't be able to afford anything else.
The rest of the week, we sort of just went through the motions of life, still trying to process things. On Saturday afternoon, I began spotting. The doctor told me to drink water, put my feet up, relax and reminded me that this could be normal or just the fourth embryo. I wasn't overly worried and by that evening I was fine. During this time period it seemed that we had so many things go wrong. Sunday evening, our dog required an emergency run to the vet. The roads were icy and Rick ended up in an accident. Monday morning, I went to work with quite a bit of snow on the ground and after taking about three steps from my car, I slipped and fell. By mid morning I began to experience bleeding. This was much more than the previous incident. I was instructed to go home, relax and call the doctor the following morning. This time, Rick and I were scared beyond belief. This was definitely one of the longest nights of my life. I can honestly say, I prayed most of the night. Even though you are not suppose to bargain, I kept saying I would follow doctor's orders and try to be the best parent possible.
By morning, the bleeding had stopped and I went in for an ultrasound which revealed that I indeed had lost the fourth embryo. However, the other three looked perfectly fine and this would mean we would not have to make a decision on selective reduction which I was grateful for.
From this moment on, Rick and I began to prepare to be parents of triplets. We discussed finances and began to form our plan which included getting second jobs and selling our vehicles to get something bigger to reduce our payments. In the end, Rick was the only one who got a second job as the reality of pregnancy set in and I could barely hold down one. We also began to discuss names and logistics like most parents. Somehow, I had a renewed sense of calm. I knew that somehow God was going to see us through this pregnancy. And, that he did.

First Visit to Build A Bear

Animal selection: This was easy. Delaney's friend, Emily had a monkey. That pretty much says it all.
Giving her monkey a heart; She passed on any sound. She was saving all her money for accessories. I'm not sure where she gets it! If you can't tell, she's having an absolute blast.

A little fluff....

Clothing Selection: Very difficult! Wow, I thought we were NEVER going to find an outfit for this monkey. I thought I would make it easier by saying I would pay for the second outfit but it really didn't. She decided on one but then couldn't seem to decide between pajamas or another outfit. Finally, here she is trying four different outfits on the monkey to see which was the best. I can't even complain because this is SO ME. I have a horrible time making decisions about purchases.

Meet, Pinky!

The boys day didn't quite work out as planned. Rick had been talking up Laser Quest the past few days, so the boys were super excited for the action. However, when they got there they were all booked for the day. The boys were beyond devastated. Rick offered to take them bowling but they were still in tears. They were so disappointed. In the end, Rick took them to Wal-Mart and they picked out a Wii game.

Valentine's Day 2009

Rick decided that he needed to get the kids something for Valentine's Day just from "him." So, the night before Valentine's Day, he made a run to Wal-Mart for special purchases. He soon found that purchasing gifts for our kiddos can be harder than it seems and I have a feeling he'll be leaving it up to me once again. He was probably gone over an hour and spent half of the time on the phone with me. He can make a run to Wal-Mart with a long grocery list quicker than this particular evening of shopping. In the end, he did well. He picked up these Star War's Storm Troopers costumes for the boys, which they thought were pretty cool and a leapster game for Delaney.


Delaney is our difficult child to buy for right now. She has lots of dolls which she loves and what she really wants now is a real baby! She's just so grown up, which kills me. I gave her a gift card to Build a Bear. She thought it was a credit card which thrilled her to no end. I explained it's purpose and she is very excited about going to pick out something.
Since the boys are in love, which is stating it mildly, more like obsessed with all things Star Wars, they really wanted Star Wars shirts. They had told me many times about another kid in their class with one. So, when I found these on clearance at Wal-Mart, I had to get them. Here they are proudly displaying their shirts. Rick calls them little nerds!
And, here they are cheesing it up displaying their gifts for us that they made at school. Life is so fun!

The Fun Parent

Probably six months or so ago, Rick came up with the fictional character Zork from the planet Dork, who talks weird, likes peanut butter, and chases the kids. The kids absolutely love for Rick to be Zork. In fact, they beg for him to be Zork and scream with delight when he agrees. Zork hasn't been around for a while and out of the blue Delaney negotiated with her dad that she would give him a kiss and in return he would have to be Zork. She's learned at a very young age how to get what she wants. I really don't know where he finds the energy to handle all three of them as they jump all over him. Sometimes as he holds one of them down the other two are beating him with light sabers or swords. Such a good daddy!

Flash Back: Answered Prayers

Six years ago today our prayers were answered. After taking a blood test early that morning, a nurse from the doctors office called to inform me that I was very much pregnant. I was so excited to hear "pregnant" that I didn't really catch the "very much." She proceeded to tell me that my hormone level was at a ???. (I can't remember the exact hormones that she was referring to and I can't remember the exact number. I do remember calculating it much later and it was 4 times the normal amount.) At this time, I was in a state of euphoria and had lost all common sense. I asked her what that meant and she said, "Well, we could be looking at more than one," and she stated the normal range. I thought more than one.... she must be referring to twins. We scheduled my first ultrasound appointment but then she called back shortly after to tell me that Dr. Sims said he wanted to see me as soon as possible and we scheduled the ultrasound for around week 9. Honestly, none of this alarmed me. The bells just weren't going off.

We quickly informed our family of our news and shared that there was a possibility that it could be more than one. Our family was more than thrilled with the thought of twins, but I kept saying, "Let's just pray for one; I just don't think I can carry twins." I guess God was going to teach me the lesson in "can't." So, for the next few weeks we would live in oblivion and enjoyed the excitement of having A baby.