One Year Ago Today

(My apologizes for the length of this post, but I want to preserve these memories for our family. Skip this one if you only visit for pictures of our trio. :D)

Sunday, October 21st 2007: The day I got to tell Dan he was a Daddy! It was a day I had dreamed of my whole life, and especially since I had married Dan. I so desperately wanted to see the man I admired most in my life to be the father of my children. I had a plan for the ideal way I would want to give him this news, so I was glad I was able to pull it off.

I had a suspicion that I could be pregnant on Friday, the 19th. So, I took a pregnancy test. It seemed like the millionth pregnancy test I had taken in my life(but not really). It was, in fact, the first pregnancy that would be positive!! Unfortunately, Dan and I were heading out the door when I saw that faint line. It was faint enough that I thought I didn't want to get Dan's hopes up before I knew for sure. Sooo, we had a two hour drive to his parent's house where I knew that I was probably pregnant but I didn't say anything.

We spent that weekend at Dan's parents house. I remember having lots of conversations about the possibility of being pregnant. Everyone knew we had a chance because we had been closely monitored by the fertility specialist. A little background (because everybody asks and I might as well explain it once... no, triplets don't run in our family. Please don't ask. I would say most parents of multiples don't like that question. It's very awkward to say no and then answer a bunch more questions about multiples, ect.)

Anyway, we had gone through many rounds of a pill called clomid, which didn't work. I went back in September and they told me I wasn't going to get to try clomid and other oral meds anymore. We had three choices: IVF, a surgery to stimulate my ovaries to work on their own... or better with the medicines, or shots to try to do what the pills were doing, only stronger. We had talked about all these options alot and had decided that we didn't like any of the choices. The scary thing about the shots is that they can cause over-stimulation. When you hear of families with higher-order multiples, it can be from drugs like these (not IVF). The drugs can also cause the ovaries to hyper-stimulate, swelling and sending you to the hospital. It all sounded so scary to us. We didn't like our choices. But, when it came down to it, we decided to give the shots ONE chance.

I had gotten the medicine at the end of September and was taught how to give myself a shot in the tummy each night. The first night I tried to do it, I got scared and couldn't do it. Now, the ONE thing I have ever seen Dan truly wince at is needles... he hates them. But, he totally stepped up and helped me out. He gave me my first shot. It didn't really hurt so after that I did it myself. It was actually kind of cool being able to give myself a shot. I did this for seven nights in a row. The first time I went in to have an ultrasound to see if it worked, they saw two maturing eggs. I was told to come back three days later. This happen to be on a Sunday (Oct. 7 - to be exact :D), but they had me come in early that morning anyway. These things are obviously pretty delicately timed. That morning we had three mature eggs! I couldn't believe it. They gave me my last shot to help the eggs release and the rest was history!

Now when I told Dan that there were three eggs ready to go, he got pretty wide eyed and nervous. But, I was quick to assure him that I had known people that had two mature eggs and only ended up with one baby... so we would probably get one baby... at the most two. It was highly unlikely that all three would take, especially since one was measuring smaller than the others. So, we didn't really worry about it. Silly us. But now I look at our family and wonder who we wouldn't have, and I can't imagine it!

Soooo, fast forward back to our weekend at the Nebelsick's. I was itching to take another pregnancy test, but I didn't have one with us. So, I found an excuse to go to town to Walmart. Back at the farm was positive test #2. I about jumped out of my skin wanting to tell Dan. But, I didn't want to do it any other way than I had planned... so I waited. I had been fibbing pretty badly to everyone about when I could take a pregnancy test. Obviously everyone wanted to know how our round of fertility went but I didn't want everyone breathing down my neck for results before I was ready to share them. So, Dan had no idea that I could even know yet. I don't know that if there had been one baby that I would have gotten a positive so early. But, there were three times the hormones flowing so it worked.

It wasn't until Sunday until Dan and I were home alone again. Of course I took two more pregnancy tests to be absolutely sure. I remember sitting in church that morning praising God for his gracious miracle. I still had a precious secret to treasure and it felt wonderful to keep it stored up in my heart. I wanted to wait until the perfect moment, but unfortunately the Vikings were playing after church. There was no way I was interrupting the game. :) Well, it would have been fine but I didn't want to. Vikings lost and I got to cheer up my husband!

I will never forget the moment I decided to spring the news. Dan had the hiccups. I told him I could scare them right out of him. He didn't believe me. I told him I wanted to show him something. I brought him my Bible and it was opened to a highlighted verse from Psalm 127:

3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Beside that verse I wrote "See Luke 1:24". It states:

After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.


I highlighted the "Elizabeth became pregnant". Dan just sat there like I was crazy. He will tell you that his first thought was I was thinking the Bible was predicting I would get pregnant when I took a pregnancy test... because he didn't know I could even know yet! Finally, I handed him his first arrow for his quiver. Attached was a positive pregnancy test. He was shocked and surprised and overjoyed and the hiccups were gone!! His hands were sweaty too! It was glorious. We took some pictures and talked a lot about how our lives were going to change. We also wondered how many babies were in there! Anyway, I can't tell you how happy we were and shocked that this was finally happening for us!

We weren't able to find out how many eggs took until November 6th, when we had our first ultrasound. Obviously, we got three beautiful babies from our efforts, and although it has been a huge challenge, it has also been a bigger blessing. Many people told us that God doesn't give us more than we can handle, so God must think we can handle a lot. But, something our pastor said this Sunday really struck a chord with me and our situation. Pastor Jeff said something to the effect that God doesn't just give you as much as you can handle. If God just gave us what we can handle, why would we need to call on Him? Sometimes God may put something in our lives that is beyond our abilites to handle without Him so that we can see the Lord's miracles and provision. I truly believe that is where we are. Our family would not be thriving if it wasn't for our angels (aka - family, friends, and church family). We have been given more than we could handle without the Lord and the people He has put in our lives. We thank God for them and all their help.

Here are some pictures from a year ago:

Dan with his gift - his first arrow.


The pregnant parents. I wish I had taken a better picture. Oh well.


Dan studying for his big important professional engineering exam that he had to take five days after finding out he was a Daddy. As if he didn't have enough on his mind!
.

Our itty bitty miracles.


By the way, we saw all three hearts beating at 5 and 1/2 weeks. That's before some people even realize they are pregnant!!