Sharing the News

On September 16th, I took a blood test in the morning and then waited for the results.  I got a call at 2:00 that the results were positive, and I was pregnant!  It was a Wednesday, so school had just gotten out.  I left school right away and drove to Senior High to tell Zach.  He wasn't in his room, and he wasn't coming when the office paged him.  Finally we figured out he was in a meeting that couldn't be interrupted.  So, I left this note on his car:

If the test was negative, we would be done with shots.  If it was positive, he would be continuing to give me progesterone shots every night in my hips for a couple more months.  Then I waited for him to get out of his meeting and call me.  He couldn't believe it!

We found out it was triplets on October 8th.

We told Monroe and both sets of parents on October 16th.  They were both in town for Grandparents' day weekend, so it was perfect!
The first video is hard to hear.  We gave Monroe a gift and waited for her to figure out what it meant.

Zach's phone ran out of storage, so the second video shows us announcing that it's three.

In this one you can hear everyone's shocked reactions!

We told the rest of our families and close friends in the next few weeks.  We let Monroe tell a lot of them over Factime.

When I was 12 weeks, Zach and I announced to our staffs at school.

I hung this on the wall, and then covered the tables with Whoppers (packages of 3).

For my students, I did a mini lesson on the word part "tri".  They came up with as many words as they could that meant three.  Then I had them guess which one applied to me.  They couldn't believe it!  For a treat we enjoyed neapolitan (three part) ice cream sandwiches.

We also announced our pregnancy on Facebook that day with this picture.

It was so fun to read everyone's shocked comments!


Here is my 12 week picture.

Our InVitro Story

Monroe was conceived through In Vitro Fertilization on our first attempt in 2010.  After struggling with infertility for three years, we were ecstatic!  When she was conceived, we had five other embryos that were five days old and were frozen for future use.
Last summer we decided it was time to expand our family, so we started the IVF process again.  In July, after preparing my body, they placed two of the embryos in my uterus.  On August 4th, we got the news that it hadn't worked.  It was a big blow!  We decided to turn right around and try it again with the remaining embryos.  We felt this was our last chance.  We found out September 4th, that the result was negative again.  We were a little more prepared this time.  We both agreed that we were done with IVF.  It was emotionally exhausting and expensive.  We didn't want to be on that roller coaster anymore.  

In October, I met with our pastor and my gynecologist and told them each we were interested in adopting.  They both told me (politely) to not get my hopes up.  People don't give up their babies often anymore.  I also called the Nebraska Children's Home and inquired about adoption.  Their numbers at the time were so low that they weren't taking any names of perspective parents until January.  I called back in January and they set us up to attend a meeting in April.
We drove to Norfolk on April 8th.  The room was crowded with couples.  They gave us a lot of information, but we found most of it to be discouraging.  The previous year, the NCH had adopted out 30 children.  At the time of our meeting, there were already 85 couples completely through the process sitting on a list.  On our drive home that night, we decided adoption was not the way we wanted to go.  For the first time in 7 months, one of us brought up the option of IVF.  We agreed it would be no more stressful or emotionally exhausting than adoption.  And, we'd rather spend money than time.

I called the fertility clinic in May and we started the process again in June.  We decided to keep it a secret this time.

We did all of the prep work for IVF in July.  We spent a lot of time in Omaha.  There was one stretch that we were in Omaha every other day for a week and a half.  When they did the egg retrieval on July 29th, we found out they would not be doing a transfer right away because I had over stimulated. They had to bring my estrogen levels back down before they transferred the embryos.  I was really upset about this.  It would mean I would be doing the procedure once school started (harder to keep a secret) and I wouldn't have an April due date (shorter maternity leave).  I was also very worried about the success.  The two frozen transfers we had done before didn't work, and this would be a frozen transfer.  (Monroe had been a fresh transfer.)  They reassured me that the chances were better and that embryos are frozen differently than they were five years ago.   All we could do was trust them.

We did the transfer on September 8th.

These are the two embryos that we put in.
The doctors and nurses were all very positive that day.  We felt like they were almost giddy about the potential for success.  Our doctor told us to expect twins, but I wasn't hearing any of it.  We put in two and got one with Monroe, and then last summer we put in two twice and got zero.  Were we really going to get twins?

On September 16th we found out we were pregnant.   We did it!  I was four weeks along.  At 5 1/2 weeks I started feeling nauseous.  I was sick for 12 solid weeks with Monroe, so I wasn't surprised that I was sick again.  What did surprise me was how hungry and tired I was.  I didn't remember that part.  

At seven weeks (October 8th), we drove to Omaha to find out how many babies we had.  Zach thought it would be one and I thought two because of the hunger.  We were both wrong!  The ultrasound tech came in and started the ultrasound.  As she scanned my uterus, it showed three separate sacks and babies.  She quickly asked, "How many did we put in?"
We answered, "TWO!"  She scanned again and told us there were three, so she left and went to get our doctor.   When our doctor came in, she confirmed that we were pregnant with triplets.  One of the embryos had split, so two of the babies would be identical twins.  They were in their own sacks, which is really good for their survival in the womb.  All three babies had strong heart beats and were the correct size.  We left the clinic that day feeling overwhelmed and excited.

Baby A (singleton)

Baby B (identical twin)

Baby C (identical twin)

I am doctoring with my OBGYN in Grand Island.  There is a perinatologist who will meet with me when he is in town every two weeks.  We have had two more ultrasounds.  The babies look great and are growing at the same rate.

Our first picture of all three together.

  I am due May 26th, but my doctor expects a much sooner delivery.  He predicts that I will be on bedrest at 26-28 weeks (February) in order to get me to 30-32.  If I get to 30 weeks, I can deliver in Grand Island, so that is my goal.

Eight years and four InVitro procedures later, we're going to be a family of six.  Every moment was worth it!

Our News

Monroe is finally getting her wish!  Our family is growing by...

Runcie triplets coming this spring!

Parent Night at Dance

Last Monday, I got to watch Monroe's dance class for the first time.  This year she is doing tap and ballet, so it was fun to see what they've learned with tap.

They were pretending to be different animals.

Stretching

Miss Erin, her teacher, helped with swimming lessons this summer and teaches with Zach.  Monroe really enjoys her.

October Phone Dump

I was apparently really bad about taking pictures in October.

 We watched the Wisconsin game with the Elsburys at their camping spot.  

The kids rode bikes on the trail right by us.

 They all played so well together!

Glow sticks!

I have discovered my new favorite thing - HyVee delivery!  We have ordered on line twice now. It takes me about 20 minutes and then they deliver the next day.

Raspberry fingers

We went to the GISH musical of Little Mermaid.  I had a lot of past students in it with big parts, so it was fun to see them.  Monroe loved the whole thing.  It went until 10:00, but she did great!

 Bubble machine

Halloween

Monroe dressed up as Elsa for Halloween.

We started out at her preschool's Trunk or Treat.  We saw a lot of friends there.

Grace and Monroe

Then we went Trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  We were in Alabama last Halloween, so this was our first time going around our house.  We had a great time.  The weather was perfect, and it was nice to see neighbors.

Showing me her icy magic

At this house, there was a dog barking at her through the window.  She thought it was so funny!

When we got home, we turned on our lights to see if anyone would come by.  Monroe was so excited. She wanted lots of visitors, but it was already 7:30.

We only got a few, but she loved holding the bowl out to them.

It was a great Halloween!