A few months after moving back home we started trying to have a family. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so easily. Month after month, we were dissapointed as I failed to get pregnant. We underwent tests, I had surgery, none of which explained why we couldn't conceive. I took clomid for a few months and then we underwent interuterine insemination four times and no dice. Finally, after lots of tears and frustration we decided to try IVF.
We chose Advanced Fertility in Gurnee, Illinois to take us on our IVF roller coaster ride. We started the process in May of 2008. Each day I had to inject myself with drugs to first suppress and then stimulate my ovaries. Nearly every other day, I went to the hospital for ultrasounds and blood work. Fortunately I responded well to the medication and Graeme and I wound up having several healthy embryos. Our doctor transplanted two of the embryos and we waited for what seemed liked an eternity to find out if one or two of the embryos would develop into a baby.
Finally, on June 13, 2008 I saw what had been eluding me for for nearly three years, a pregnancy test with two pink lines! A few days later the result was confirmed by a blood test. Although my blood HCG number was strong, we couldn't tell if both embryos had survived or if we just had one little bean growing away. About two weeks after our blood test we had our first ultrasound and were excited to see the first pictures of our baby, or possibly babies!
Immediately when the technician started the ultrasound we saw two gestational sacs. Twins! I was so excited and kind of frightened because of my less than perfect uterus. Then when Dr. West, my OB, came in to check on the progress, he asked the technician to look closer at the sacs to make sure there wasn't more than one baby in each. I was a little speechless, I mean of course there wasn't more than one baby in each sac, right? Wrong. As the tech probed, Dr. West saw two little beans in one of the sacs, with two tiny heartbeats. Just like that, we found out we were having triplets! One set of identical twins and a third fraternal triplet.
As Graeme and I left the Dr.'s office to say we were stunned would be an understatement. I suppose theoretically we knew this could happen, but how could it happen to us? I mean, we weren't sure we could get pregnant at all just a couple of weeks before, so to suddenly be pregnant with three babies was simply overwhelming.
We took the next several weeks as they came, having ultrasounds at 8 weeks and then at 12 weeks to make sure everything was progressing correctly. Each time, I was worried that we would find out we lost one, but each time we saw the triplets they were growing and moving like crazy.
At 12 weeks, our maternal fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Jazayeri, said he thought they were all girls. At 16 weeks we had our anatomy scan to make sure all of their little parts, brains, hearts, etc. were growing correctly. The test results were fine and our doctor confirmed the Rattray triplets were all girls!
Here are pictures at 15.3 weeks:
