Before I was blessed with my beautiful babies my hubby and I struggled with infertility. Compared to a lot of couples we really had it easy. After 3 years of trying and hearing Doctors tell me "You're still young, give it time" or "Relax, stop trying it will happen" I got fed up and went to a fertility specialist. I found out that that I have polysistic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which was preventing me from getting pregnant.
If you have never struggled with infertility you can't understand how it feels to have every female around you getting pregnant and all you get is your period. You are happy for them but all the while you keep thinking why not me. While we were going to the fertility specialist I found out that my cousin and sister were both pregnant, due a month apart from each other. I was very happy for them but it still hurt. To this day I don't think they know how hard it was for me to be around them at that time. One memorable moment was when my cousin, sis, a close friend and I got together to watch the season premier of Gray's Anatomy. The whole time my sis and cousin were comparing pregnant bellies and talking about being pregnant. I was handling it really well until I went to the bathroom and found I had started my period, alerting me to the fact that I still wasn't pregnant. After that I left in a hurry and on my way home I had to pull over because I was crying so hard I hyperventilated.
On December 12, 2006 we had a procedure done called intra-uterine insemination(IUI) and then 10 days later we found out we were finally pregnant. I couldn't believe it. What a great Christmas present. You are probably asking what brought this subject up. Well I came across this music video and it brought so many memories back. For those of you who have struggled with infertility this video will hit close to home.
Now that I have my babies I couldn't be more happy. I know it sounds odd but I thank God for my infertility. Without infertility I don't think I would truly appreciate my babies and I wouldn't have these babies.
On a different note today D did the cutest thing. She was carrying her sippy cup upside down and it was dripping all over the floor. When I brought it to her attention she got a kitchen towel out of the drawer and used it to wipe up the spill. She then took the towel and and put it back in the drawer. I was speechless. I immediately called my Mom to see if she taught D this and she had not. I have NO idea were she learned to do that. If you have ever been to my house you know that house keeping is something I rarely do, so you know she didn't learn it from me.
Grrrrr, the babies are still sick!!! I am SICK of all of them being sick. It has been 12 days since the first symptom and here we are, STILL sick.
C is getting better but he has a yeast, diaper rash due to all of the diarrhea. So I have been putting yeast cream on his little rear-end and it is already looking a lot better. L is good but is still pulling on his ear and has a low grade fever of around 100. D has been having fever for the last 2 days and at night it has been spiking to almost 104. I called the Dr and she has only one opening tomorrow so see a baby, so it looks like D is the lucky one but I am going to take L with me in hope that she will check him out also.
Well Christmas was interesting. Hubby got the stomach virus on Tues. Our In-Laws that stayed with us started getting the virus Wed morning. It wasn't a pretty sight seeing everyone fighting for the bathroom. I got a touch of the virus but not bad at all, while everyone was throwing up and having diarrhea I just had a sore stomach, thank the Lord!!
Well in this post I have included a picture of C with his tractor he got from his Granny. With all the craziness on Christmas I only got one picture and this is it. Can you believe this is the babies 2nd Christmas and I got ONE picture and just of C. Well I guess you know who my favorite baby is. HEHE!! PS. See the pile of puked on cloths in the background...Yuck!!
On Friday morning when I went to wake the babies I was met with a surprise from C. He had thrown up all in his bed. And then it all began...
C threw up 2 more times before I made it out the door to go to work. Once I got to my Mom's to drop the triplets off I noticed that L had fever and was tugging on his ear. So I put a call in the the Dr and I took them in. They all have pharyngitis and on top of that C had a stomach virus. Great just what I need right before the holidays. Grrrr.
Well as you can imagine this weekend was FUN. All the babies ended up getting the virus so I have spent all weekend getting thrown up on and doing laundry.
L wins the award for having the highest fever it reached 103.4 yikes!! I had to strip him down and put him in a cool bath. Poor baby he screamed and shivered the whole time.
D won the award for throwing up the most in a 3 hour period, 13 times. I almost had to take her to the ER Saturday night but at 2 am I was finally able to keep the Pedia-light down her. I let her sleep on my chest that night and at 4 am she woke me up asking me for a "Cracker", after that I knew she was going to be fine.
C wins that award for being the easiest to take care of when sick. He was so sweet. He just wanted to lay in his bed, suck his thumb and sleep.
Well, please say a prayer for my Hubby and I in hope that we don't also get sick before Christmas. I have tried to get as many things done around here so if that happens I will be prepared. And if I don't blog again before Christmas I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!
On Thursday night my Hubby and I felt brave so we took the babies to Outback to eat dinner. I admit I was worried about taking them to eat at such a nice place but they did great(well right up until the end of the meal). As we were being taken to our table we did get a few looks of fear from fellow patrons scared that we would be seated next to them. After we were settled at our table the people sitting in our area started asking questions about the triplets. When the babies were younger I could prevent most questioning from curious on lookers by avoiding eye contact and acting like I didn't hear them but now that the babies are older they tend to stare and wave at everyone they see, so it's making it a bit more difficult to curb the questions. Really I don't mind talking about the babies, it is my favorite subject, but at times I would like to run my errands with out getting the 5th degree. Luckily that night I was in a talkative mood so I didn't mind the questioning: Are they triplets? Two boys and a girl? Do they run in your family? Did you use fertility drugs? Are the identical or fraternal? How do you do it? Do you have a lot of help? Are you done having babies? Those are just some of my favorites. There were two ladies sitting to the left of us that were very friendly and C was really flirting with them. After their meal was over one of the ladies leaned over grabbed my hand and put something in it. She said " I am so proud of you and your family, Merry Christmas". Then she walked away, I looked down into my hand and there was $40. WHAT she gave us $40. I couldn't believe it. I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to do and I admit my face was really red. We have plenty of money but over the last month we have been really stressed with Christmas being next week and C's up coming Cochlear implant surgery. This wonderful lady helped to reopen my eyes, that God is everywhere and he worked through her to release some of our stress.
In other news we went back to the Audiologist to schedule for C's Cochlear implant surgery or that is what I thought but before we can schedule the surgery he has to have some more tests run. On Jan 7th he will be getting a CAT scan to make sure he has all the working parts of the ear. Once they prove he does then we can schedule the surgery. From what the Dr said it looks like he will be having the surgery towards the end of January. I am so ready to have him in the implant, have it working and C hearing but I know it won't be that easy. Once he has the surgery the Dr will let the implant heal for about 10 days then they turn it on. After that C will have to learn to hear through therapy. Before I had C I took my hearing for granted. I try to put myself in his shoes to feel what it must be like to not hear anything. Some days it still hits me that he can't hear and that I have a deaf child. Please pray that this process is as easy and painless as possible.
On June 22nd we took a memorable trip on the Polar Express. Here is was happened in my Mom's words...
This is a true story of our ride on the Polar Express train last night. You honestly won't believe what happened... Miggy, I can't wait to read your story since yall were near the back of the train behind us! I also put in a few of the photos taken during the ride so you can actually see the events unfold!
Love, Jenny
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
The Polar Express..."A Grandma's Story"
"We had a GREAT time... and then we had to get on the train."
Yes...that's a quote from my darling daughter Tanna, about our much anticipated Polar Express train ride last night.
Being in love with the Polar Express book and the movie, we all were drooling at the prospect of going on this fantasy train ride to the North Pole. We have five - one year old grand babies that are looking forward to Christmas this year (ok...maybe they don't quite "get" the whole Santa and his reindeer thing yet but they will) so I gladly paid $22.00 for my ticket since this was going to be a "magical ride we'd remember for years to come.
My daughters (mothers of twins and triplets) have both been looking feverishly for weeks for matching Christmas PJ's for their little tots. Finally Tara found cute pj's that would be perfect for girl AND boy babies. She also talked about how warm and cozy these candy cane fleece footy pajamas would be since it would surely be frigid on the night of our journey. Tanna decided these still might not be warm enough so she put long sleeved onsies and socks under her three babies jammies just to be safe.
We were to be at the station 30 minutes before time to board the train and all went smoothly. Mommies, Daddies, babies and I all showed up dressed appropriately with warm clothes and coats. Some passengers even had fuzzy hats and gloves on and for an instant I wondered if we were under dressed. Cameras were flashing while we feverishly took pictures of the babies who by this time were having a ball toddling around beside the train admiring each others new duds. There were elves running amongst the passengers which added to the overall effect of this magical event.
Finally, "ALL ABOARD" was heard so we rushed to what was going to be our most anticipated adventure. Tara and Rusty carried Brynly and Breigh aboard the train while I followed with Dakota in my arms. Tanna waited outside with a baby boy in each of her arms waiting for Gary to arrive from work. Yay...he made it on time and I'm sure he was just as thrilled as we were to be there.
As we entered the train we were met with a huge wave of heat...kind of like walking into a man sized oven with the temperature set to "pre-heat." We ambled to our seats where Tara and Brynly sat in the seat by the window, Rusty and Breigh in the middle and Kota and I were on the aisle. Soon Tanna and Gary came in toting the boys and took to their seats right across the aisle from me. We were all atwitter with excitement even though we were all beginning to melt in the heat as we tried to figure out how to pull off a few layers of clothes to cool off.
The train's decorations consisted of a few spindly sprigs of garland and a plastic bell or two (which Kota managed to pull off while later sitting in her mommy's lap) Ok..not exactly the winter wonderland we'd hoped for but we were sure it would get better since there was going to be entertainment.
The conductor, quite nice even though he was NOT Tom Hanks, welcomed us all. As he wiped the sweat from his brow, he grinned shakily telling us the train ride "might roll a bit from side to side and not to worry." Well, we thought, "How bad could it be, for Heaven's sake...and if it did roll a bit, it would just add to the adventure!"
Finally the moment we had all waited for was at hand...the train was leaving the station! We were packed in like sardines in a too small can dabbing at the sweat trickling down our forheads. Choo choo.... we were off! Within seconds I was holding on to the side of my seat with one hand while trying to hang on to Kota so she wouldn't fly across the aisle... um... yes a wee bit of "rolling" indeed!
During all this I was still trying to capture the "magic moment" with my camera which was SURE to happen any second now, when some helpers with "Chef's hats" started up and down the aisle talking to the passengers. Well, one took a liking to our little group and even though Colton would wail and scream every time she looked at him, she was determined to not give up. She was SURE if she got in his face he'd immediately change his mind and fall in love with her.... DIDN'T HAPPEN!!! We didn't want to be rude and just pull him away and cover his head each time she passed so we sat in dread each time she looked our way. Breigh wasn't exactly excited to be held by her either... After a bit, Tara said "There's the North Pole, girls!" We then all looked out the window and saw some elves dancing around and old Santa himself heading to the train. The place was not exactly lit up "north pole" style and the few little sprigs of lights here and there on a few shabby little buildings led us to believe that was the best we'd get. Suddenly we looked up and Santa was on the train! He came out and spoke to each child as he went down the aisle. Surprisingly all our babies liked him instantly, even Colton whose cheeks were still red from his traumatic experience with the chef earlier not to mention the 95 degree heat. Brynly and Breigh were thrilled as Santa handed each of them a Christmas bell. Their little smiles were contagious and I almost teared up with pride just looking at them. Lincoln was grinning up at Santa and shaking his little bell while Colton and Kota also received their bells. Those two were not as thrilled to see Santa as the others but still were very brave. I was one very hot yet happy and proud "Gee."
The jolly old elf finally departed our train. Then a few helpers hesitantly walked out holding some wrinkled sheets of paper with from what I could see, words to Christmas songs. I fleetingly wondered why they weren't more prepared and at least had learned the words to Frosty the Snowman but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and kept quiet. An elf spoke up and said "Who wants to come up and sing with me?" A few brave souls raised their hands and one little girl slowly went forward. The elf began singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." I honestly could not believe my ears... If you can imagine being given a sheet of paper with words only of a song you've never heard in your life and had no idea of the tune... and then told to sing it...this is exactly how she sounded. She began the worst rendition I've EVER HEARD in my life of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. The little girl she'd called up to be her "helper" looked like she was about to cry but bravely stood there and sung along with the girl that sang like the actor, "Boris Karloff" on crack. We in the audience were stunned but tried to sing along. As I looked over I saw Tara hiding behind Breigh trying not to laugh so anyone could see... then there was Rusty who was bravely trying to sing with Brynly but looking a bit confused. Then across the aisle, I spy Tanna laughing hysterically behind Kota's back and Gary who was holding Lincoln, just looked stunned and a bit bored.
Thank goodness we were made to sit through only a few "happy songs." As the train was within 10 or 15 minutes of taking us back home and out of our misery.... the lights on the train started to sputter. A voice nervously told us not to worry...there had been a slight electrical problem earlier but all would be fine. A few more flickers of lights going on and off and then it happened. PITCH BLACK!!! Babies started to bawl and there were moans and grumblings from overheated parents and grandparents wondering what the heck was going to happen next. The little amount of cool air that HAD been trickling into that overheated train ride to...well you know where... stopped and there we were, like trapped rats holding sweaty bawling squirming babies and wondering when it would all end. The conductor came out and plied us with more lies saying that we were only TWO minutes from home. Rusty, by this time was threatening to pull off all his clothes as sweat was pouring from his poor body. The conductor told us they were going to open the doors on the moving train to cool things off and would we please not walk up and down the aisles (as we were pitching violently from side to side) because he would not want us falling off the train. To me...this sounded like a good thing so I briefly considered hurling myself out the door and into cool air... I did however come to my senses because Colton was screaming in Rusty's arms so I traded babies with him as I started to peel off his layers of clothes as I blew air down his little onsie to cool him off. (Colton's not Rusty's)
After being told several times our destination was near, the train finally stopped and we were home! It was still pitch black except for a cell phone light or two and by this time most bawling babies had worn themselves out. As for Colton, now that the scary chef was gone and his Christmas jammies were off, the steam was rising from his little sweaty body and he was grinning from ear to ear! We were told to take our time leaving the train but we leapt out of our seats and dashed to the exits as fast as we could. Immediately the cold air hit us and oh how wonderful it was!
It started out as a night that would start this Christmas season off in fine fashion...and ended truly as one of the most memorable nights of our lives!
Little did I know 2 years ago, today my adventure with triplets would begin. After 3 and a half years of trying to get pregnant on December 12, 2006 we had an IUI (intrauterine insemination -- is performed by threading a very thin flexible catheter through the cervix and injecting washed sperm directly into the uterus). Going into the procedure we had 3 follicles(eggs) and knew there was a 20% chance of conceiving, so we NEVER thought all 3 would take. We had high hopes that it would work and we would be preggers with one baby or twins. I never dreamed that all three would take and I would be preggers with triplets. I still remember the day we found out it was triplets. Gary had to work so my Mom went to Dr appointment with me. As the nurse was examining me she said "congratulations here's your baby". At that moment I remember being sad because there was only one. BUT then the nurse moved over and said "Wait there are two more on this side". I couldn't believe my ears, I was so excited. The nurse looked worried until she could see the excitement in mine and my Mom's face. At that point I was blissfully unaware how scary a triplet pregnancy could be. Today I will remember as one of the most important days of my life. The day the Lord blessed us with three beautiful babies.
Since our baby C has profound hearing loss we have been learning sign language to help us communicate with him. All the babies are doing great at picking up the signs. It is so cute seeing them signing. C is a little behind his brother and sister, but since they can hear it is easier for them to pick it up. They are signing: Bye, Bye Hi More Bit Drink Cookie Cracker Milk Come Here Want Baby Tree Just over the last few weeks they have been really signing. I have noticed that C gets less frustrated with us now because he can communicate.
Well as I promised here are some pic's of the babies with Santa:
L NEVER warmed up to Santa and C was fine with him until he saw Santa's elf (2nd pic he is looking at the elf) and then as you can see he freaked out(3rd pic).
Then here is a pic of D sneaking up behind Santa to steal an apple from his basket. Little thief, looks like she is getting coal in her stocking this year!!
It's December and here in West Texas we don't have snow storms we have dirt storms. YAY!!! Don't you wished you live her too. On my way home from work the winds were gusting at 50 mph causing me to dodge tumble weeds jetting out in front of the car. AND in the midst of all the dirt blowing it rained for about 5 minutes. Just long enough for the cars to get wet so that the blowing dirt could turn into mud and stick to my car. Woohoo, I love it!!
Today we were invited to the ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) Christmas party. We missed last years party, due to the fact the babies weren't very old and I was afraid of them getting sick. So, I was happy that all worked out so we could attend this year. The party was a lot of fun and it was nice to take the babies to see Santa. D and C liked Santa(kinda) but L really disliked him. I was all very cute and as soon Gee(Grandma) emails me the pic's I will post them. OMG, at the party there was a baby there that looked like it JUST left the NICU. I couldn't believe it. The poor little thing was hooked up to an apnea monitor and oxygen. What were the parents thinking??? Then, they let Santa hold her so they could get a picture. WHAT??? After Santa has held all the dirty, germy kids at the party they then let him to hold their preemie baby. I couldn't believe it. What idiots. I'm still dumbfounded. Oh and the parents were in their 40's so they were old enough to know better. OMG only 16 days left until Christmas. I really need to get on the ball and get some Christmas stuff done!!
And then Momma barricaded the stocking so her 3 little monkeys could not destroy them.
I have finally decorated the house for the holidays. As you can see by the pictures I have to block EVERYTHING off to keep them out.
The main culprit is D. She can get into everything.
D has figured how to get in and out of her baby bed. When she wants to, she can climb over the security gate. The other day I looked over and D was on top of the dinning room table just about to stand up. That girl is going to be the death of me. I don't know what to do to keep her from climbing and getting into everything. My Mom keeps the babies for me during the day and she has a baby fence that goes around 3/4ths of her living room and this is to keep D out of everything. Really the fence doesn't stop her they just slow her down. Beside the little toot getting into everything she is talking up a storm. Her favorite words right now are Santa, Clock, Pretty, Up, and What's that. Her favorite sentence is "No, no hot". Which she uses on her bothers to get them to not touch her toys. She is too smart for her own good.
L is doing really good he doesn't say as much as his sister but now when he sees Santa he says He, He, He; which is suppose to be Ho, Ho, Ho. He is a little confused but it is really cute. At this time L may be on Santa's naughty list due to his need to bit his brother and sister. I have tried about everything to get him to stop but nothing seems to work. I hope this is just a stage he is going through but only time will tell.
Big boy C is also doing really well. C has profound hearing loss and in testing we found that he can only hear low loud tones, so in day to day life he can't hear anything. He will be having his Cochlear implant surgery next month. I am not sure of the exact day yet but we go to the Dr on the 16th of Dec to schedule everything. We have high hopes that this surgery will help him hear. To what amount he will hear, I am unsure but the Dr's have high hopes that he should hear at about 80%. He is doing great in his development. He has learned that if we aren't looking at him he need to vocally make a noise to get our attention. He has also learned a few signs. He signs ball, more, cracker, bye bye, hi, and come here. I love seeing him sign, it like hearing him say his first word. L and D are also learning signs but since they can hear, they have picked up the signs a little faster.
The babies are now 17 months old and I don't know were time has flown. L and C are cutting 4 new teeth, two on top and two on bottom. That puts their total up to 16 teeth. D is bringing up the rear with 8 teeth but she is in the process of cutting her jaw teeth so that brings her total to 12.
Well my Husband has taken the boys for the day to watch football at a friend’s house so D and I are off to go Christmas shopping. I am running out of time Eeeeekkkkk.
For those who don't know me I thought I would take this time to introduce myself. My name is Tanna and I have been married to a wonderful man for 5 and a half years. We met when we were both working for a local grocery store over 12 years ago. At the time I was 16 years old and Gary was a little older at 23. For me it was love at first sight, I knew from that moment on I would one day marry Gary. Because of our age difference we didn't have our first date until 3 years later, 2 days before my 19th birthday. After dating for 4 years we married and we started right a way trying to have a baby. Little did we know it wouldn't be as easy to have a baby as we thought. After trying different fertility treatments we found out we were preggers 3 days before Christmas '06. Wow, what a Christmas present. I would have to say it was the best Christmas ever. A few weeks later we found out we were having triplets. We were scared and excited all at the same time. Even though we were scared to have triplets, we were blissfully unaware of how scary a triplet pregnancy could be. I was in an out of the hospital 5 times, with my final stay lasting almost 2 months. In June of '07 we welcomed our babies 11 weeks early. L was first to be born weighing in at 2 lbs 13 oz, C was second to come, weighed 2 lbs 14.4 oz and last was our baby girl D at 2 lbs 10 oz. They were all rushed off to the NICU right after birth and being born at 29 weeks the babies had only an 80% survival rate. The NICU has been described as a rollercoaster ride. We were lucky enough to have a smooth ride, with only a few twists and turns. L had a stay of 40 days while C and D came home after 47 days. Without all the GREAT Doctors and Nurses I don't think my babies would have made it out as healthy as they did. These Doctors and Nurses all hold a very special place in my heart. Today my babies are now 17 months old and you would never know they were born 11 weeks early. They are all healthy and happy babies. L is my sensitive child and has a bit of a biting problem. C, even though has profound hearing loss, is my easy going baby. D is the monkey of the family always getting into something. The Lord has blessed me with a great life and great family. Thanks for stopping by.
Today is the day after Thanksgiving and I am back to work. Yuck!!! I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We had a great one spending lunch out at Me maw and Papaw's (Hubby's grandparents) in DC and dinner with my family at my parents house. I briefly thought about getting up early today to brave the crowds in search for a great deal but when my alarm went off at 5 am I quickly changed my mind and went back to bed. It has never felt so good to not spend $$. Well there has been a little drama today in the B's house. We have now made our 2nd call to poison control. About an hour ago I received a phone call from my Hubby saying that babies are ok (not a good way to start off a conversation) they had figured out how to get the baby lock off the cabinet, which holds some household chemicals. The babies had pulled out the Comet cleaner and were playing in the powder, possibly ingesting some. Poison control said to give the babies a bath and water. WHAT?? Really that it's it, that was their advice??? Well not trusting their advice I have now call the ER, pediatrician, my Mom, My Aunt and My cousin (who is a nurse at the pedi ER). I have now learned that when your baby has ingested Comet cleaner you are suppose to give them a bath and give them water. It doesn't seem quit right in the simplicity of the advice but that it what we are doing. This happened about 2 hours ago and the babies are doing great!! C has thrown up 2 times, early on but now is great. Now we are awaiting for his super powers to emerge. This weekend my Husband and I will be off work, so if everything works out we will be picking out our Christmas tree and decorating the house for the holidays.
Hello, my name is Tanna, I am married to a wonder full man and I'm the mother of BBG triplets. My son was born deaf but now has bilateral cochlear implants. Here is our story.
