Discovery - Triplets
We have been trying to have a baby for just under a year. When I say trying, I mean we have been using a donor and have tried 6 inseminations. For those who have been trying to conceive, understandably this hasn’t been a long road of moving to the next solution and from failed attempts. However, inseminations are expensive and I guess the nature of the conception process may have you concentrating just a bit more on each failed attempt.
Success, however, was here. We had been in our doctor’s office just nine weeks ago and now we were pregnant. I have to admit I wasn't surprised when we took the test at home, or when we were confirmed with the ultrasound at six weeks. I guess I had a feeling this time was it. However, when we heard we were pregnant with twins at our initial visit, I was a bit scared. We were told it was early in the pregnancy and we should return at eight weeks to determine if this was truly a multiple birth pregnancy.
We knew twins were a possibility. Our first insemination was in March 04 and we tried off and on from there. This month, upon consultation we used Clomid, which was only to generate the production of eggs that month since we had a couple of months in which an egg didn't develop. We knew there were two viable eggs prior to the insemination. It wouldn’t be fair to say we were both alarmed, but we had a 7% chance of twins and still only a 25% chance we would be pregnant at all. It didn’t cause us hesitation to proceed.
What had stayed with me the two weeks between our visits was the remark that there was a shadow or possible third embryo. It was quickly dismissed in the room as nearly impossible and our ultrasound photos read baby A and baby B with measurements of this tiny little lives. Apparently it is somewhat common for women to initially conceive twins and still have only one child. The other “fades away” and is referred to as a fallen twin. Most often women don’t ever realize they ever were pregnant with more than one fetus. I thought about that shadow constantly. I said over and over again in my head that I COULD NOT be a successful parent of Triplets. We just weren’t ready financially, socially, or mentally. I couldn’t imagine what I might do. If life were an actual highway we drove along, I would have turned around back to the place where the road turned and taken the other fork. I couldn’t do anything but wait.
I will never forget the second ultra-sound. Yes both embryos were still developing and were developing at a normal rate. What about the shadow…. A nervous, “and there are only two, right?” came from my mouth. The doctor hesitated and said, oh right we had thought we saw something else last time and yes….. yes there is a third. His voice sounded surprised, nervous and detached. Very methodically, in order to somehow eat through the shock in the room, he said you have triplets. He then began to slowly type the word triplet on the screen. I heard “A” take a deep breath. I wasn’t sure I was even breathing. I watched the letters type across the screen and that is how it became real for me. I wanted to stop the letters, as if that changed anything. I was scared. Questions followed on risks, health, odds, etc. A and I barely spoke as we left the room. Reduction was one option and we were directed to a specialist for more information. Our lives completely changed 8 weeks before this moment. We were just told now.