Sixteen years. Sixteen crazy, but amazing years. From their beginning to now, no matter how crazy, no matter how chaotic at times, I still wouldn't trade any of the last 16 years for anything in the world. These three are truly gifts. Three amazingly different personalities wrapped up in three beautiful packages. From their crazy beginning, Amy and I knew things would never be the same for us. These days, their story may not be unique to a lot of people. But for us, it is a story that we love to tell.
Many of you know their story, and many of you may not. Theirs wasn't by any means an easy beginning. But sometimes, good things don't always come easy. Sometimes, you have to pray a little harder for the good things. You see, Amy and I had been trying for awhile to have kids. Amy had been pregnant twice before, but doing things the natural way didn't work out. Amy had two tubal pregnancies. The second, we didn't even know she was pregnant until it was already too late to save it. The second, she almost died.
Amy had woke me up in the middle of the night in extreme pain. I took her to the closest hospital. It was a Catholic hospital. This is significant because of what happened next. Once there, they did a pregnancy test along with a dozen other tests and procedures. They found that she was having another Tubal pregnancy. But because they are a Catholic hospital, they could not abort it. Things would have to take their natural course if we stayed there. Which ment not only losing the pregnancy, but losing Amy too. She surely would have died if we stayed there. So we immediately had her transferred as fast as possible to a different hospital, hoping that the tube wouldn't burst before we got there, and we lost both of them on the trip. Thankfully, we made it there, and her doctor was already there waiting. She took Amy to surgery right away. She tried to save the pregnancy, but but there was nothing she could do. No matter how hard she tried, Amy's tube just kept shredding like string cheese. Amy lost the only tube she had left, and the pregnancy that night. And as upsetting as that was for both of us, I was very happy and greatful that Amy was still alive.
Later the next day, her Doctor came in to talk with us. She was full of hope. She told us that we still had other options to have kids. We could adopt, or we could try again with our own through Invetro Fertilization. Her Doctor was an amazing woman. She was always positive and Amy's biggest cheerleader other than me during those times. I did everything within my power to keep Amy positive. I knew if I didn't, things would be even more devastating than they already were. After a little while and some late night discussions, we decided on Invetro Fertilization to try again. But even that wasn't an easy process.
There was a lot you had to go through to be able to get things going. A lot of preparing. And sometimes, a little painful. It was by no means an easy process. But through it all, we kept focused on what the end result could be. After our first attempt failed, we waited the alotted time frame, and we tried again. Amy remained positive. I was super proud of her. Then came the second attempt. It also failed. At this point, Amy was just drained, tired and was losing hope. To the point of depression creeping in. She began to feel like we were not ment to have kids and that we should just give up. I was not going to let her go down that rabbit hole, because if I did, I would surely follow and who knows what would have happened then! Her Doctor and I convinced her to try at least one more time. That was a hard sell, because like I said, the preparation for this procedure is not an easy process. Amy wasn't sure she wanted to go through all of it for a third time. But her Doctor and I remained positive for her, and we eventually talked her into a third try.
For the third time, we sat down with the Invetro Doctor to discuss our next plan of action to foster a successful pregnancy. This time, instead of putting two fertilized eggs in, we went to three to try and increase the success rate. The Doctor warned us that either one or all could take, or even one or two could split, giving us more! But the odds were pretty high for that to happen, and she thought maybe at the most, two would make it. After the eggs were placed, we had to wait a few weeks to see if the pregnancy took, and if it did, how many of the eggs actually survived the procedure. Amy went in for the test, and we were both nervous. Fingers and toes crossed, the whole nine yards. Then came the Doctor with the news. Amy was pregnant this time! But we'd still have to wait a few more weeks to find out with how many. At that point, we weren't even thinking about that, we were just extatic that she was pregnant! It was definitely a time for celebrating, but we didn't want to celebrate a lot because Amy was still early in the pregnancy, and we knew that still, anything could happen. As the weeks went on, our excitement grew the closer we got to find out how many eggs took. All we wanted was just for one to take and we'd be satisfied!
Finally, the time came! As we sat and waited to see the Doctor, we were quiet. We were extremely nervous. Then, we were called into her office. She said she had some good news. We let out a sigh of relief. She said Amy was definitely pregnant, but there's more. We looked at her a little puzzled. She proceeded to tell us that at this point, we were set to have triplets. All three eggs had took. I can't speek for Amy, but my heart jumped up into my throat. And for the first time in my life, I felt as if I would pass out. The Doctor went on to explain that we were still very early on, and we could still lose one or two. She also mentioned that if we wanted to, we could go through the process of Selective Reduction. Which basically ment that we could abort one or two of the eggs. Then she went on to tell us the dangers involved with a high risk pregnancy such as this. Anytime your dealing with more than one baby, the risks are very high. She gave us a little time to think about it. You only have so long before it's to late to reduce. We told her we would have an answer for her before the end of the week.
The car ride home was incredibly quiet. Both of us were really trying to process all of the information that had been thrown at us. It was a lot. Even once we got home, we didn't speak for a few hours. I knew what I wanted to do, but I was waiting for Amy to come forward first. After all, she was the one who would have to carry them. She was the one who was being put at risk. Whatever her decision, I was going to go along with it, no matter what I wanted. Finally, she broke the silence. She wanted to know what I thought. I told her she needed to go first. She then told me that she felt that there was a reason why all three took, and that she didn't want to do the reduction procedure. I let out a sigh of relief. I told her that was exactly how I felt. There was definitely a reason we were being blessed with all three eggs taking. The next day, Amy called the Doctor with our decision, and we were put in touch with a Doctor who specialized in multiple pregnancies. We were told that he was the best in the area. And they were right.
I went with Amy for the first Ultrasound. It was pretty amazing. And it confirmed that all three babies were there to stay. At this point, there were three heartbeats, but they were still to small to be sexed. That would come at a later Ultrasound. After hearing all three heartbeats back to back, I stepped out of the room for a few minutes to catch my breath. This was really happening. Amy and I were going to be parents of Triplets. And there was no turning back now. I was still in shock, but at the same time, I couldn't wait for them to be born so I could meet them!
Unfortunately, when we finally broke the news to our family and friends, not everyone shared our excitement. Some did. Probably more than I remember. But I do remember the ones that didn't. And truthfully, I found it completely heartbreaking that these people couldn't support our decision. A few of them tried really hard to push us towards Selective Reduction. Siting everything from finances, to the risks to Amy, and even the risks to the babies themselves. Some even told us that we were being selfish by going ahead with a triple pregnancy. We finally had to shut some of them out due to the stress they were putting on Amy. As far as we were concerned, they were harming Amy and the babies more than the babies were! And for that reason, we began screening phone calls and visitors. It was the only thing we could do because these people were doing more harm than good. They left us no other choice.
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