My husband Chuck and I met when we were very young. We dated for two-and-a-half years before splitting up for a year. We remained friends and ended up getting back together and were engaged 5 years later. After a year-and-a-half engagement, we got married in June 2012. Three months later, my mother was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. I eventually became her full-time caregiver. Once she passed in 2019, I went through the grieving process. Then the pandemic hit, and we still weren’t pregnant. We decided to meet with specialists who recommended IVF.
We went through our first round of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and had 3 embryos to work with. We decided to roll the dice and implant two. One of the embryos split, and we ended up with a boy and twin girls!
However, due to my age (38 at conception), an IVF conception, and a high-order birth, I was considered a high-risk pregnancy. I was immediately referred to a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor an hour away.
We were going bi-weekly and eventually weekly for ultrasounds and scans.
At 27 weeks, I was admitted to the hospital because our Baby B (Iris) had Reverse End Diastolic Flow. She was not receiving the nutrients from the placenta like her twin sister, Grace. Her weight was very low, and our doctor felt it was best that I be monitored around the clock.
I spent Christmas and New Year’s in the hospital, and right after Christmas, my husband tested positive for COVID-19, and he could not visit me for 10 days. There was a chance I would deliver our babies without him.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. On January 12th, through a scheduled C-section, our trio joined us at 30 weeks and 5 days. Chuckie weighed 3 lbs 10 ounces, Grace weighed 3 lbs 3 ounces, and Iris weighed 2 lbs 4 ounces.
The babies were immediately taken to the Neonatal ICU (NICU) where our family remained for over 130 days. Grace and Chuckie were discharged at 7 and 8 weeks, respectively. However, Iris remained in the NICU for 11 more weeks and was discharged on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend at 4.5 months old.
During their stay, we tracked over 40 conditions. My husband continued to work while the babies were in the NICU. I was exclusively pumping the best I could and would visit every other day to deliver milk and spend time with the babies. After 6 weeks, I stopped pumping. We got the news that Grace was to be released, and Chuckie came home a week later. Once we had two babies home my husband started his 3-month paternity leave. We spent his entire leave traveling to visit Iris and to bring the kids to the abundance of follow-up appointments. We only had one week left of his leave when Iris was discharged.
As of today, February 2024, we continue to follow up with specialists for various conditions Iris is being monitored for. We are truly grateful for the medical community and the support that they have given us. If you were to look at our babies today, you would have no idea of the journey we have been through. They have continued to grow and thrive and hit milestones for their adjusted and actual ages.
My hope for this blog is to provide support, guidance, and validation to the triplet moms and moms of multiples who find themselves on a similar journey to ours. I will be sharing triplet mom advice, NICU Mom support, Mom self-care tips, Mom hacks, money-saving tips, and organizational advice.
Feel free to drop comments on the blog posts. I would love to connect. You can also find our family on Instagram here.
