Our Journey

     We've had a long and emotional journey, but are extremely happy and thankful to say that we are expecting! We went through in vitro in May/June - beginning hormone treatment early May, with the egg retrieval on June 8th and the transfer of two very healthy embryos on June 13th. I went in on June 22nd for my first blood test - the same day we left for our Branson family vacation! On our way we got the phone call that the blood work came back positive, with high levels of hCG. I didn't cheat until AFTER I had gone into the doctor's office - but wanted to be prepared... First time I'd ever actually seen a positive test in person! Needless to say we were super excited - yet didn't want to say anything since it was only the first test. After we got back from vacation we went in for a second test and the levels had dramatically increased! We were officially "PREGNANT"... finally!
     We decided to wait until after our first sonogram to tell our parents and family. Boy were we in for the surprise of our lives... our sonogram technician told us to guess how may there were and I guessed one - I'd been feeling really well and knew with twins morning sickness was much worse - and Travis guessed two... our tech told us that we'd "hit the jackpot"!  When we asked what that meant we were informed we were (and are) having TRIPLETS! Needless to say we were shocked, and Travis was quite speechless for the next 15 minutes or so. If someone could have recorded our conversation after that it would have been one for the records - completely uncensored and random! The one conclusion we came to would be to play zone defense once the babies arrived! However, that's still a long way off and so much could still happen. Our official due date: March 1st, 2011.
     Once we got home we started making phone calls - obviously the grandparents-to-be were, and continue to be, extremely excited! They weren't shocked like we were and still kind of are! Since then we've had several additional appointments both with our regular OB doctor as well well as with a couple different specialists. Today we met with our MFM (maternal fetal medicine specialist) that we'll be seeing along with our OB throughout the rest of the pregnancy. We are officially 12 weeks along and things look great! We were able to see the little peanuts squirming, dancing, and flipping all around today. They are each measuring where they should and so far everything is developing as it should. The big news today was that I need to start consuming 4000 calories a day! That's a whole lot of calories - but the doctor did give us some feasible ways of accomplishing this (high protein, calories smoothies here I come)! The doctor also recommended a book: When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads, Revised Edition: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy. The book is already on its way - a friend had recommended it to us last week! Our goal - to carry these babies as close to full term as possible!
     We're so thankful to have so many friends and family praying for us - in fact they did too well! We're thankful that the little ones are growing as they should. Thank you for all the prayers!