My story

As the year comes to a close, I should probably be looking forward. You know setting goals like keeping my house cleaner, losing 10 pounds and folding laundry. But it seems kind of useless to set goals I don't have any current plans to implement. Instead I think I'll look back. Someone posted the other day asking me to share my story so here we go (like my picture posts this is going to be way too much detail but I have never really recorded the story so here goes)...

I'm the second of six kids (4 boys and 2 girls). I had a bit of a sheltered childhood. My parents are still married and still live in the same house I grew up in (except for the 3 year stint in Alabama). I grew up in a cul-de-sac where we climbed trees, built forts on the "mountain" (the desert hill behind my parents' house) and explored the "dunes" (the empty desert across the street). I loved my batgirl underoos and playing Charlies Angels with my friends (although I always had to be Sabrina because I was the youngest). My favorite movies growing up were Grease, Footloose and Paper Dolls. All in all a pretty fun and uneventful childhood so I won't go into any more detail about the first couple of decades of my life.

I met Jeff at the beginning of my sophomore year of college. We married the spring following our junior year and spent the next two years married and in school (we did a five year accounting program and earned bachelor and master's degrees). Those were fun days - we had the same major and even shared a job so we spent the majority or our days together. Following graduation we moved to southern California where we began our "exciting" careers in accounting.

Like most accountants, I had a plan. I was going to work for a year and then get pregnant so by the time the baby arrived I would have the work experience necessary to get my CPA then I would quit and be a stay at home mom to our 4-6 children. I still remember the scheduled October arriving and thinking I would get pregnant the first month. That Christmas I told Jeff and my mom not to buy me clothes for Christmas because I would be getting pregnant any day. I'm pretty sure the "no clothes" rule was in effect for my birthday and following Christmas as well.

After a year of trying, I went to the OB and he told me to wait a few months more. I read Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I charted and checked my temperature every morning. But it didn't work. Then we started testing. Everything seemed fine. I did a few rounds of clomid which resulted in a lot of crying and hot flashes but no baby. I called a reproductive endocrinologist (RE) and got on his waiting list.

Finally, we started with the RE. He did some more testing. I had a laparoscopy. Still nothing major. For our first medicated cycle, he put me on a regimine of pergonal/hcg/progesterone supplements and intrauterine insemination (IUI). I learned to give my self shots and scheduled my day around shot taking time. When it came time to inject the hcg (to stimulate ovulation) there was one mature follicle. I was very disappointed. Follicles don't necessarily equal eggs and eggs don't necessarily equal babies so I was not hopeful. But to my surprise, almost two years later than expected I was finally pregnant. I had some problems with my progesterone levels during the first trimester, so Jeff had to give me shots every night. They had to be given at the same time and I can remember driving over to our friends and interrupting some intense games of Halo so I could get my shot. 40 weeks later at 8lbs 15 oz. Seth was born (we had been married 6 years and I was 27).

When Seth was a year old I decided we better hurry and start trying to have a baby again in case it took another two years. We went back to the RE and we followed the same protocol except I think they started me on a higher dose of the pergonal. This time around when they did the ultrasound before giving me the hcg shot, I had five mature follicles. I kind of freaked out because I had gotten pregnant with Seth the first month with only one follicle. They kept telling me that 4-6 follicles is the "norm," but I was uncomfortable with it and decided to "coast" for a day. When I went back the next day, they did the scan again and there were "only" four mature follicles. We decided to go ahead with the hcg shot and the IUI.

When I had my beta test two weeks later we immediately suspected twins because the numbers were so high. Then we they tripled instead of doubled in a 48 hour period, everyone was sure it was twins. At six weeks, I had my first ultrasound. There were definitely two babies with yolk sacs and then another "empty" sac. The doctor told us it was probably twins but there was a chance that the third sac could just be a little behind and would become a third baby. Somehow I heard that I was pregnant with 2 or 3 babies and Jeff only heard 2 babies. When we went back at 7 weeks and saw three heartbeats, I think Jeff about fainted. We found out they were girls at our 12 1/2 week ultrasound with the perinatologist.

At 20 weeks, I stopped working (I worked part time after having Seth) and went on "modified" bedrest - it's hard to be on bedrest when you are caring for an active 18 month old. Within a few weeks, we had packed up our house and moved in with my parents back in Arizona. Luckily, Jeff was able to transfer with his company. It was much easier to be on bed rest at my mom's as she took over care of Seth and me. I had a fairly uneventful pregnancy. I was hospitalized for a couple of days around 32 or 33 weeks when I became dehydrated from the stomach flu which caused contractions. They made me stay long enough to administer steroids for the babies' lungs and then I was back home.

My girls were born at 35 weeks (my scheduled c-section date). It was was an exciting day for everyone but my doctor who didn't show up. Luckily the perinatologist group I was with had two doctors at the hospital at all times so two other doctors were able to deliver me a couple of hours later than expected.

Ellie 9:06am 5lbs. 6 oz. 17 in.
Paige 9:07am 5 lbs. 13 oz. 17-1/2 in.
Kate 9:10am 5 lbs. 16-1/2 in.

Kate was able to come home with me but the other two were in the NICU for a while due to breathing issues and jaundice. Paige came home at 2 1/2 weeks and Ellie came home at 3 1/2 weeks. Ellie came home on an Apnea monitor which she had for about 3 months.

The girls are extremely healthy and active. Ellie was born with craniosynostosis (one of her soft spots was already fused together at birth). Thanks to Jeff's keen eye we discovered this when she was only a week old (the neurosurgeon is forever in awe that Jeff detected the assymetry in her face as it was very subtle). She had extensive surgery at 6 months old but is doing great. Paige and Kate have some speech delays but are also doing great.

The first year was crazy. It was really a blessing we lived at my parents because Jeff worked a lot of long hours and is pretty useless for middle of night feedings. My mom and I alternated night time feedings in the beginning and then just worked it out the rest of the time. Colleen, my mom's neighbor and our good friend, came over five days a week for a few hours a day to play with Seth, feed babies, etc. As the babies began to sleep better, I mostly focused all of my time on the kids while my mom helped with the kids and did all the cooking, cleaning and washing. Really a good deal for me! By the time we moved out of my parents (right after the girls' first birthday) we could do it on our own. (But, I still depend on my mom a lot).

As the girls got older, I knew I wanted another baby. We had talked about waiting until they were 4 but then I told Jeff we'd have to have two more since the baby would be so much younger than the rest of the kids. He hadn't really bought into this rationale. Around the girls' second birthday, Jeff decided to change jobs. We had been lucky that our employers had both had good infertility coverage. Now that I was no longer working and Jeff was changing jobs we would lose that coverage so we decided we better hurry and get pregnant again while it was still paid for (that's the accountant in both of us!)

I found a new RE and had my initial consultation with him. He agreed to let me skip all of the testing and follow the same protocol as in my previous pregnancies but at a lower dose. However, before we could start the treatments, I got pregnant. I was ecstatic as I had never been able to get pregnant on my own. Unfortunately, I miscarried early in the pregnancy. I was suprised at how emotionally painful the miscarriage was. I had four healthy children but I was still pretty devastated.

Something about the triplets must have knocked my reproductive system back in order because I was able to get pregnant again the very next cycle. 8 1/2 months later Chase was born weighing in at 8lbs 14 oz (38 weeks by scheduled c-section).

That's the medium-length version of how our family came to be. The crazy thing is I am still where I planned to be back in my college days. I have my CPA. I am a stay at home mom to five kids. Nothing went as planned but I ended up where I wanted to be.

Sometimes I think if everything had gone as planned I wouldn't be where I am today. The roadblocks and detours of life change us. Infertility taught me to have faith and to be patient. Seth taught me how much joy there is in motherhood. My girls taught me to go with the flow and to laugh in the midst of chaos. Chase taught me how to enjoy each stage because they get big too fast.

So anyway, that's my story.