Christmas day is especially meaningful to my husband and I because he asked me to be his wife Christmas morning. Two years later Christmas Day became and even more special day for us.  I woke up Christmas morning extra early like I always have since I was little. I absolutely love all holidays and I can never sleep in because I get so excited.  We were on day twelve after the intrauterine insemination (IUI) and I still hadn’t cheated and taken a pregnancy test. I was doing so good, but when I woke up my boobs didn’t hurt anymore and that is what happened during the first cycle of treatment. My breasts were really sore and then the last few days before the two-week blood draw my breasts stopped hurting. I had convinced myself that because I felt the same it meant I wasn’t pregnant so, I was sad. Since I was already sad I decided to take a pregnancy test to confirm it.

I knew I had one pregnancy test left somewhere so I dug through our bathroom and found it. I didn’t want to stand in the bathroom and wait for the disappointing results like I had done every month for the past year. I told myself I was going to enjoy Christmas anyways and put the tea kettle on and started making breakfast. Joe walks out to the living room and we are drinking our Chai Tea. As he heads back to our room to grab a sweatshirt, I yell down the hallway, “Oh I forgot to check the pregnancy test. Will you check it for me?” I sit down on the couch and I’m waiting for him to come back so we can start opening presents. Joe yells down the hallway, “Tina, I think you’re pregnant!” I respond “What? Let me see!” Joe is walking down the hall with a huge smile on his face and the pee stick in his hand. As he handed it to me I could see the two lines. I was absolutely ecstatic and I’m sure my smile was just as big as Joe’s. I wanted to take another one to be sure but, I didn’t have any more tests and it being Christmas day there weren’t any stores open to buy another.

Joe and I were so excited and we agreed that we needed to wait to tell anyone until the blood test confirmed it.  I wanted to tell my mom so bad, but I knew I couldn’t just in case. I had made it until the very end of the day when we were discussing going to the spa for my sister‘s birthday. I made up every excuse I could think of but, they still wanted me to go. Then when everyone left my mom asked me if it was because I was pregnant and I instantly started crying and all I could do was nod my head yes. I am terrible at lying and keeping secrets and sometimes moms just know.

Two days later I went to do the blood test and the nurse who drew my blood asked if I cheated and I said yes. I remember she stopped prepping and looked at me and said “And…?” When I told her all three were positive she was so excited. She called me later that day to confirm my results and she asked if  I was expecting multiples because my HCG levels were three times the normal amount. I said it was possible. That is when I thought “oh my goodness I’m probably having twins!”

Then at five weeks I got morning sickness. I ended up having to call my doctor because I was so sick I couldn’t even keep water down. She ended up giving me a prescription over the phone because I was so sick. (Read my next post on Hyperemesis Gravidarum)

Waiting for my first ultrasound seemed like it was taking forever because I was nervous and excited. I wanted to make sure everything was okay and to see if we were having twins or just one baby.

At six weeks, we had our first ultrasound. When the image pulled up on the screen Dr. S. immediately says, “that’s why you are so sick. There are three babies!” I honestly don’t know what mine or Joe’s reactions were because we were both in shock. Dr. S. was hesitant though because Baby C was much smaller than the other two and said it would most likely “peter out”. Joe and I were like okay, it looks like we are having twins then and we were still so happy.

A few days later I experienced some bleeding and was terrified. I called Dr. S. and she said it was normal and try not to worry about it because it had already stopped and was most likely from the third baby. She wanted to see me again at seven weeks because it was triplets and to check on Baby C. My seven week ultrasound showed that Baby A and Baby B were right on track and it showed Baby C was still growing and it had a heartbeat. Dr. S was still concerned because it was significantly smaller than baby A and Baby  B though. This meant we had graduated from the fertility clinic and we were referred to the San Diego Perinatal Center to see a perinalogist.

Joe and I continued to tell ourselves it was most likely going to be twins still and tried not to worry about Baby C. When my perinatologist told us that all three babies looked healthy we both gave a huge sigh of relief.  I didn’t realize how worried and hopeful I was about Baby C until we found out that it was doing fine. This is when it started to sink in that we were having three babies! We were going to have to figure out how to take care of TRIPLETS and buy everything in threes. We felt that God had blessed us with these three miracles and he would take care of us.