One year ago

Last year at this time we made the biggest decision of our lives. It was very difficult for me to talk to people at the time because many people did not understand and it was extremely emotional for me. This year I thought I would share what we went through and what a miracle we have. Since we have had the triplets I have had many people ask how we did it. Many people are just interested, some are nosey, and believe it or not I've actually had people ask because they want to have multiples (just plain crazy if you ask me)! For three years we tried fertility drugs and a round of IUI with no success. After our IUI we discovered I had level 4 endometriosis and had an endometrioma in my ovary (kind of like a large cyst). The only way to get rid of it was through surgery. A month after my surgery the endometrioma had returned so I had to have a second surgery to remove it. After that surgery my doctor recommended that if we wanted to get pregnant our best chance would be to try IVF and she suggest we do it the month following my surgery before the endometrioma had a chance to grow back again. If it came back a third time there was a great chance that I would have had a hysterectomy so Steven and I made a quick decision to go through with the IVF process the month following my surgery. Because of the cost we swore we would never do IVF but I've learned never say never! I began taking 2 shots a day and several pills. Most of these were given to me by a reluctant Steven but after the first few days I think he got the hang of it and started to enjoy sticking me with a needle. Along with the shots I would make trips to my doctors 2-3 times a week for the doctor to monitor my levels, do ultrasounds, etc. I would make trips to both my OB in College Station and to the Woodlands to see my fertility specialist. On October 27th we had our egg retrieval, we were a little disappointed to find out I only had 9 eggs to remove and only 5 were the right size to fertilize. We did a 3 day embryo transfer and on October 30th we had only 3 embryos make it to a transferable size. The doctor asked us how many we wanted to put in and we didn't know what to say. With him being the expert we asked him what he would recommend. Given my history and the number of eggs/embryos we had his famous words were "I would put in three and hope for one". We knew several people that were not successful on their first try at IVF and so what he said made sense to us. After the embryo transfer I was sent home for three days of bed rest to increase our chances of the embryos attaching to the uterus. During those three days I was so fearful that we had gone through all of this and spent all of this money and we would not end up pregnant. I think I prayed so hard that we would be blessed with one child but secretly hoped that with everything we had been through that 2 babies would be such a wonderful miracle. I guess we were a little naive but it NEVER crossed our minds that all three embryos would take. Those famous words from the doctor just made us think it wouldn't be possible, we would be "lucky" to get one! This was only the beginning of our process so I will continue to share what we went through in the coming days.
Steven and I on transfer day!

Birthday, pumpkins and hayride!

My birthday, a visit to the pumpkin patch and a hayride who could ask for a better weekend or a busier one! I share a birthday with my only niece, Tegan. She turned 5 on Saturday and well lets just say I turned a little older than that, ha-ha! Of course I had to take pictures of the babies in the pumpkin patch for their first fall. They were troopers and tolerated me trying to take the cutest pictures. Bryce, Collin and Addison Addison, Collin and Bryce in the pumpkin buckets Collin Bryce Addison loves her hands now! On Sunday some friends of ours had a good ole fashsion hayride. We had a lot of fun and I think the babies will enjoy it even more next year, that's if the Maurer's make this an annual event (hint-hint). I really thought the babies were going to love the ride since they like loud noises and movement but we found out it wasn't as big of a hit as I thought it would be. I had a great time, even though we sat in the "crying" section of the trailer and passed crying babies back and forth most of the ride. Thanks to the Krenek's and others on the trailer for helping out. Kristen Krenek, Colt, Adrienne and Collin Adrienne, Collin, Bryce and Steven
The other hayride trailer . Well it was a great weekend but Steven, the babies and myself were all pretty worn out!

Organization

Being a mother of multiples takes a lot of organization and thank goodness I'm pretty organized. In the evenings I typically get bottles together for the next day. Below is a picture of all 21 bottles we go through in one day. We can go through a can of formula a day and don't forget the 20-30 diapers. It just makes me tired saying it! Organization is even more important now that we have two(Addison & Bryce) congested babies. No more sharing! No one is running fever just runny noses. I called the doctor and got a Rx so hopefully we can nip it in the bud quickly. For now we are confined to the house and focusing on getting better.If you think this looks like a lot of bottles come over about bottle washing time, I think they double then.

4 Month Check-Up

All three babies had a good check up on Tuesday and we made it through the Brenham Clinic without anyone but the doctors and nurses touching or breathing on them so hopefully we avoided any germs. Below are the weights, heights and the percentile for each baby. The percentiles are based on their actual age and not their corrected age. Bryce is doing the best and based on his weight percentile you wouldn't think he was a preemie. Everyone got shots and cried for a short time but they were all okay, thanks to Granny who went along to help out.

Three naked babies waiting for the doctor!
Addison:
Weight: 12 lbs. 8 oz. 30%
Height: 23 inches 10%
Bryce
Weight: 15 lbs. 1 oz. 60%
Height: 24 1/2 inches 30%
Happy Baby, Shocked Baby, Mad Baby!
Collin
Weight: 11 lbs. 15 oz. 5%
Height: 23 1/2 inches 5%

Aggie Football & Grandparents

We bundled up and made another trip to tailgate at the aggie football game. We even attempted to bring the babies up to the stadium this time to watch the flyover before the game. The lead pilot was a very good friend of our family, Lt. Tim Soeken, so we were very excited to see him fly over Kyle Field. After the long hike up to the stadium the weather had other plans and the fly over was canceled. After that was cancelled we quickly got the babies back to Mom & Dad's motorhome and hung out indoors to watch the game. We did get some good pictures while at the stadium so I thought I would share.



The rest of the weekend was spend with my grandma & grandpa Schwartz and my Aunt Kathy & Uncle Larry. We were very excited to see them and introduce them to the babies. My grandpa is still recovering from major surgery so we were thankful that he made the 7 hour trip without too much pain.

Grandma with Bryce and Addison.
Grandma holding Bryce, Adrienne holding Addison, Grandpa holding Collin
Aunt Kathy with a sleepy Addison
Grandpa making Collin laugh!

4 months old

That's right! The triplets are 4 months old. They are getting to be so much fun. They are full of smiles and coo's. Bryce is weighing 15lbs. and Addison and Collin are both 12lbs. They are all doing very well with their cereal at night and have started sleeping a little better. This week they have made it several nights from 10pm to somewhere between 4-5am. The little extra sleep has been nice and we are not complaining! We go next week for their 4 month check up and shots, wish us luck and that we don't get sick from anyone in the waiting room.

For their 4 month pictures I decided to take individual pictures because we want them to have their own pictures one day and know that we think of them each as an individual. I couldn't decide which pictures I liked better so I made a collage of each baby. And of course I couldn't resist a few group pictures too.

Addison

Bryce

Collin

The boys and the triplets

Addison, Bryce and Collin

Our friends Steven and Sarah recently had a precious baby girl and her name is Adyson Mae. We got to meet her for the first time this weekend and she is beautiful.
Adrienne and Sarah with our Addison/Adyson's

Bryce has become such a happy baby now that we have changed to the Dr. Brown's bottles. I finally caught his happy, smiling face on camera.
I couldn't make a post with pictures of Addison and Bryce and leave Collin out so here is a random picture of Collin. He is really starting to fill out. When I weighed them this last week Bryce was 15lbs. and Addison and Collin were 12lbs.

Pretty Weather

We have had some much needed rain the past few days but it has also made it a little cooler outside to take the babies out for some fresh air. On Friday I took the babies for a little walk in the limo stroller. Bryce, Addison, and Collin in the stroller.

We've also spent some time outside on our new swing set. The Maurer's have three little ones who have out grown their infant swings and they have so graciously loaned them to us. The babies love their indoor swings and I'm sure they will enjoy the outdoor swings just as much! Thanks Austin, Avery, and Caleb. Now if I could figure out how to make the swing set battery powered like the indoor ones.Addison, Bryce, and Collin

Bath time

I have had many people ask what bath time is like and the best way I can explain it is it's kind of like an assembly line. Steven gives one bath at a time.

Then he passes them off to me and I take care of diapering, lotion, powder, etc.

Then I pass them off to Grandpa or whoever is there to help out to start feeding them their bottle.

Or we will put them in their chair with the bottle propper!