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March 23 2006- We went to the OB for our first appointment today. I told her about the bleeding on Monday night and the trip to the ER. I also told her I had
a small amount of spotting again last night. She wanted us to have an ultrasound so we went and ran some errands and came back for our ultrasound.

The tech was very nice, asking how we became pregnant with twins, "was it naturally? Oh, you have Cystic fibrosis, I've heard of that but not too much, why
the IVF?" Very inquisitive (in a good way) and very friendly.

So she starts the scan and immediately sees baby A and the heartbeat. She points it out to us on a screen that is set up so Mark and I can see it. Then she
see's Baby B and points out that heartbeat. She goes back up to baby A and A is dancing around bouncing off the "walls" (it was so adorable). Mark and I
were oohing and ahhhing and talking and laughing and, "oh, they are so cute...."
All through this she's been asking us a lot of questions about the spotting, IVF dates and such, so when she asks "how many ultrasounds did you say you've
had", we didn't think much of the question.

I told her what I had previously said, one in the IVF clinic at about 6 weeks and one this past monday in the ER. She said, "oh, because this is very
uncommon but they missed your THIRD baby both times". Mark and I said "WHAT!!!!!!!!!!, You are kidding right????" She was dead freaking serious.
She went back up to baby A, then down to baby B and then further down to Baby C, who is an identical to baby B but they DO NOT share the same sacs so
there is less risk for complications to the babies. Since we only had 2 eggs transferred, the only logical conclusion is that one of the eggs
split-which is exactly what happened. I just started laughing, like the kind of laughing that they should put me in a padded room for. Mark just kept
stepping closer to the monitor saying, "are you kidding me, seriously, oh my gosh" over and over again. I told her, "I'm sorry, I don't know whether to laugh,
cry or scream so I'll just stick with laughing hysterically". She totally understood.

I'll spare you all the details of the phone conversations to our family this evening, but it took both my husband and myself and about 15 minutes to make my
mom believe us that we were serious and not kidding (Mark jokes around with my mom all the time so it's understandable for her to think it was a "haha, got
ya").

So, we are now going to be parents of triplets. HOLY COW!!!! And to think, in the waiting room before the ultrasound Mark just blurted out, "it's 3 babies
honey". (He still claims he has no idea WHY he said it, it just flew out of his mouth). I said, "Haha, very funny. I think I'll just stick with our twins". He couldn't
have been more accurate.

We are thinking the identical babies are girls and the singleton is a boy, but who knows. We haven't decided if we are going to find out yet. I really want to
know but Mark is pretty sure he doesn't want to know. We'll have to resolve this pretty quickly!!!!

March 27 2006- I went back to work today after a week of bedrest because of the bleeding. I was somewhat expecting that I might be put at the front desk
to check in patients. Instead, I was assigned to 2 doctors today. This one really makes me scratch my head, each doctor has patients every 20 minutes, and
in the afternoon, one of my doctors has female appointments so I have to be a constant standby for that. Not sure how I was going to manage that with 2
doctors???? Although around lunchtime I went to the bathroom, and noticed I had started bleeding... again. I immediately put in a call to my new doctors
office, the doctor who specializes in multiples pregnancies. They wanted me to come in right away for an ultrasound. The babies are fine, heartbeats going
strong and active. They found some areas where the bleeding could be coming from but told me to take it easy and gave me another week of bedrest. Off
to tell work about it.

March 29 2006- No more bleeding, which is great. Just feeling really tired and hungry a lot, but nothing sounds appealing to eat. Actually pickles do sound
good but those are of no nutritional value so I'm limiting myself to a few, as to not fill up on them. My nausea seems to be almost gone, which is really really
exciting. But the aversions to foods are still there. Interestingly enough, or not so interesting for those who know me, I don't have an aversion to any on
particular food item. Rather it changes on a daily basis so i can never predict what I will want to eat.

April 4 2006- I had some more bleeding today. It's not a lot of blood and it's not bright red but it's enough for me to call the doctor. I just talked to one of the
nurse to see if they wanted me to come in or just continue to take it easy. They did want me to come in for another ultrasound so we did that. The above
ultrasound pictures are from that visit. This was a great ultrasound, the babies all looked bigger and were very very active. The sonographer started
laughing so hard because baby C was boxing baby B. Boxing in the sense that baby C should have had some boxing gloves on and been in a
ring. It was so funny, bam, bam, bambabmbam, bam. Poor baby B, just trying to move somewhere to get away from the hitting. I guess we know
who our bully is.

I have been put on bed rest until further notice, more as a precaution right now because it is modified bed rest and they can't figure out exactly WHY I am still
having bleeding but rather safe than sorry I guess. So, I'm off to bed now.

April 7 2006- I'm 11 weeks today-yeahhhh. I'm starting to show. Some of my sweats and work out pants still fit, but my jeans, kakhis and other form fitting
pants don't button at all anymore, even sitting really low. I figured my tee shirts might fit for quite a while but alas, they do not!!! Value village has some
great big tee shirts, as does the Seattle Prime Outlet stores down the street from us-for a really low price. It's been difficult to find small maternity pants
though. Oh well, the JOY'S of pregnancy!

April 11 2006- I had some bleeding again last night so I'm going in to the doctor today. Ok, back from the doctor. They seem to have figured out what they
are 99.9% sure the bleeding is coming from. Baby A is really low and the placenta is right by my cervix. The doctor has said this is the most minor case of
placenta previa he's seen, and it will resolve itself as my uterus and the baby grows but that explains the bleeding thusfar. That makes me feel a bit more
relieved, that at least we know what is causing it.

April 20 2006- We had our second "scheduled" and official OB appointment today. They did a Nuchal Translucency test which measures the folds at the
back of the babies neck for probabilities of downs and research has established that fluid retention in the nuchal fold during the 11 to14 week window may
be a marker for Down's syndrome. I guess the doctor said Down's isn't a major concern because of my age, but it's one of the best ultrasounds they can do
for multiples.

April 21 2006- I attended a "budget for baby" class today put on by the military for families expecting babies. I've learned babies go through an average of
7 diapers a day. We multiply that for us and it's 21 a day, times 30 days in a month...that's 630 diapers a month. Holy diaper drive      . I asked our local
grocery store if they would consider holding a diaper/formula drive for us. I mean, when you need help from your community, you might as well ask for it.
The worst they could say was no, and they did, but it was worth the asking. Oh well. I'm going to try and breastfeed, that will cut down on our formula costs
and I might have to supplement but I've always wanted to breastfeed anyways.

We've been very blessed to have some great friends from a website (of all places to meet good friends, these are some of the best I've had!!!) offer to send
their children's outgrown baby and toddler clothes and all sorts of other things we might need. We are so grateful for this because every little bit helps. All
we are waiting for now is to find out the sexes of the babies, although with three babies, I've resigned to the fact that someday, the boy may wear pink,
especially if we have all boys. And someday, the girl may wear blue... that's what happens when you have a lot of babies at once      . We are so grateful
though. Still getting over the shock to be quite honest, but grateful and feel very blessed!

April 27 2006- I swear my stomach grows everyday. I'm going to start measuring it, just because I am curious if it really is growing or I just think it's growing.
I have gained 10 pounds since the start of the pregnancy though. That's good, considering they are telling me to aim for a gain of 70 pounds. I have to eat
200 grams of protein a day and 4000-4400 calories a day. I have to be honest though, a few days I hit 180 grams of protein, but mostly I hover around
140-150 grams. It is really difficult to eat that much. I am very grateful that I am done with my morning sickness though. I was very luck and it was very, very
minimal when it did occur.

I haven't had any bleeding since the 10th of April so I think the placenta has grown away from my cervix, just as the doctor expected. It is a great feeling of
relief because I was so worried all the time that something was going to go so very wrong. I'm still not out of the woods by any means, but am just taking it
easy.

May 30 2006- We went back to the doctor today because she was concerned about the blood flow between the boys who are sharing a placenta and wanted
to do another in depth ultrasound. Much to our relief, everything is fine. Both boys have the same amount of fluid in their amniotic sacs and both boys have
almost the same amount of blood flow (it varies with activities). The outcome of the appointment was great!

June 2 2006- We went to Evergreen Hospital today and had a tour of the NICU. The woman who did our tour was amazing. She had so much information
and took all the time in the world to answer all of our questions. She even took us into the C-Section Operating Room and explained what would happen on
the "big day". We also got to meet another mom who had just had triplets and got to see her babies in the NICU and ask the mom a lot of questions as well.
She even showed us a baby doll that they use for teaching, and explained all of the tubes that were attached to her and what they were for. Mark and I were
so glad that we scheduled this tour.

June 19 2006- We had another OB appointment today, but nothing significant to report. The doctor is very pleased with my weight gain (which is good since
it's been such a struggle for me) and the babies are measuring great. Cassandra weighs 1lb and the boys are right behind her at 15oz each, almost a
pound. We think she'll be the biggest when she's born.

June 25-27 2006- My auntie flew in from Utah and my mom and aunt helped Mark and I put the nursery together and paint our dining room as it will now be
the downstairs "baby central". We thought with 3 babies, if we don't have an assortment of supplies downstairs we will be running back and fourth all day
long. So we figured why not put a crib down here as well, and then when they get bigger we'll move it upstairs. So we painted the dining room with paint that
is more kid friendly (AKA: "scrubbable" water wash off paint). We also put an extra shelf in the closet in the babies room and put some hanging drawer/bins
on one side for more organization. We also put up the window coverings that my mom had made. The room is finally looking like a baby room and I am so
excited!!!!!

July 5 2006- We had another great OB appointment today. The babies are getting so crowded though, that they can't really get any good pictures anymore.
Bummer, but the good news is that the babies "look" great (fluid levels, blood flow and all that important stuff). We have another appointment for the
measurement/weight near the end of the month. Maybe we'll get lucky and get some good pictures then!

July 15 2006- At around 4pm today I started having some contractions, and this isn't really unusual as I have been having 1 or 2 every hour for the past few
weeks. But I started to get freaked out when I was having 4-5 every hour. I did all the "things I was suppose to" like get off my feet and elevate them and
drink lots of water, but it wasn't helping. At 11pm I called the doctor and he wanted me to come in and get checked out. In the car on the way there the
contractions were 10 minutes apart. Now I was really freaking out.

We got their and they put me on a contraction monitor. Sure enough, I was having them every 10 minutes. Some were little ones and some were huge, but
nonetheless contractions. They checked my cervix (YUCK!) and the good news was that nothing was changing. It was still long and closed so that was a
relief to us and the doctor. They got heartbeats on the babies, which were normal and then gave me some IB Proufen to relax my uterus. I was released to
go home around 2am and we hit the road for the 1 hour drive back to our house. I was told that from here on out, when I get these frequent contractions to
take the IB proufen every 6 hours and come back if that doesn't help. So far, every night at about 3-4pm I get these frequent contractions. I assume this is
how it will be until the big day, so I'm getting cozy with my IB Proufen.

August 5 2006- We are now the proud new owners of a MINIVAN. YIKES, I'm 23 and driving a minivan. Poor Mark, he wanted an SUV of somesort (manly I
guess) but I never would have been able to get 3 carseats in and out of that. I would have had to dive in with the kids, LOL. So, we went with the Honda
Odyssey. It's great, 2 carseats fit in the back and one carseat is behind the passenger. We are going to remove the captains seat behind the driver so it's
easier to get in and out.

We brought it home at about 9:30pm and I immediately put the carseats in, I was so excited to get everything ready. Mark was laughing, telling me that I
should just do it the next day, but I just wanted to get them all installed and ready to go. I'm so excited!!!!!

August 8 2006- My auntie knows how uncomfortable I am being so very pregnant (her baby was about 10lbs) so she gave me the gift of a massage. The
lady came to my house and gave me a massage. It was so helpful to my hips and my shoulders. My auntie is so wonderful and I love her so much!!!!!!

August 10 2006- We had an OB appointment today, nothing major to report. Everything looks good with the babies and my contractions seem to be ok with
the Advil use every 6 hours. After the appointment we stopped off at the house of a woman who had triplets 3 months ago. It was great to see her and her
husband in action. Mark and I have realized we’ll be lucky if we get time to go to the bathroom!!! They were running all over, changing this baby, feeding
that baby, cleaning up a blow-out diaper, giving medication…. OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH boy. It was so nice to see them though because Mark and I had a lot
of questions, just about schedules, how long the babies were in the NICU, how hard it was to adjust to bringing all 3 of them home… lots and lots more
questions but I can’t think of them now. They also gave us a box of preemie clothes, which is great. We’ll use them and then pass them onto another local
twin or triplet mom. The clothes are SO small, it’s amazing to think the babies will be that small.

August 16 2006- I’m 23 today…. Sometimes that feels so old to me and sometimes it feels so young. We aren’t doing anything special today because our
anniversary is tomorrow and so we are going to dinner for both. I’m so tired today. I’ve slept about 90% of the day. My contractions were kind of strong
today too, not constantly but every few hours I’d have a REALLY strong one. Usually I just have one or two strong ones a day but today I think I had about
15…. The babies get So active at night too, which is when I seem to have more frequent and stronger contractions.

August 17 2006- What a day today was. 4th anniversary for Mark and I… time really flies. It’s been an adventurous 4 years too. We’ve lived in Eastern
Washington, California and now Western Washington. He’s finished college and will graduate next month, and we bought a house, a new car last year and a
minivan. Quite the 4 years. Now we are expecting 3 babies.

Our appointment was ok, the babies weight is good. It’s estimated so it can but up to ½ a pound off but here’s what they were. Baby A, Cassandra is 3lbs
15oz. Baby B (either Tristan or Ryland) is 3lbs 5oz and Baby C (Tristan or Ryland) is 3lbs even. So the babies weights are doing well, in spite of the fact
that my eating lately hasn’t been the best. I was doing GREAT for a while, but I seem to be running out of room now!!!

But the BIG BUMMER for today…. I got admitted to the hospital. The doctor was concerned about how frequent my contractions were and how my cervix had
shortened quite a bit (from about 4cm last appointment to 2.9cm this time) and my cervix was also funneling a little. She decided to try a new contraction
medication on me too. Procardia is the name of it (also known as nifedipine). I had a BAD reaction to the terbuteline (Mark says that week reminded him of
the EXORCIST, LOL) so I was scared to try another medication, but this one serves me well. Just a bit of blurry vision and drowsiness, but I can deal with that
just fine!! 

We ordered in for our anniversary dinner. I LOVE my mother, she went to the Cheesecake factory and picked up our dinner and brought it to the hospital
room so Mark and I could celebrate our anniversary. She’s such a great mom and such a great person. She’s done so much for me and for us during this
pregnancy!!!

August 18 2006- Another boring day at the hospital. Mark came and visited at about 4pm so it was nice to see him. His mom also brought some baby
clothes that a friend she works with had given her. It’s great because they have a little girl and we are “short” on girl clothes so this helped out a LOT!!!!
Nothing really exciting, it’s hard to have to ask the nurses to do everything for me. I’m allowed up for the bathroom and to get into the fridge in my room, but
that’s it. Everything else…. I have to ask them. I feel so bad, like I’m lazy or something because I’m use to being so independent and doing it all myself. But I
guess that won’t fly anymore!

August 20 2006- WOOOOOOOHHOOOOO, I’m going home today. Initially they said they were keeping me until Monday, and I was a bit sad because it’s
just so sad and boring and lonely… and NO internet (they have access but the 2 computers they have are in IT repair…. Bummer) so I felt like I was going to
go crazy. It was good because I got to sleep and eat, good “baby growing” things to do, but I was a bit sad too. Mark went to church and by the time church
was over, I was calling him to tell him that I was coming home. My mom took me since he was up north at his grandparents church.

They let me go home because my contractions were under control with the medication and my cervix hadn’t changed at all. And they did an ultrasound of the
babies and all looked well so there was really no reason to keep me. I’m so thrilled to go home!!!!!!

August 21 2006- We went to Mark’s CF appointment today. Everyone was so excited for him to be a dad. It’s funny though because he wouldn’t let me go
with him unless I went in a wheelchair. In hindsight, it’s best because that’s some walk. His visit went good, PFT’s down just a little bit, but it was earlier in the
AM than the last PFT’s. That makes a huge difference in how clear his lungs are and how well he feels. He prefers the later appointments but all they had
was 8am this time.

August 23 2006- We had another appointment today. Nothing major to report. It wasn’t a growth ultrasound so we don’t know the new estimated weights of
the babies. That’s next week. All looks well with the babies and they were even practicing their breathing. We saw all of their chests rise and fall a few
times. It was the neatest thing to see. It really looks like they are running out of room in there though. Only a few more weeks, I can’t wait.

August 24 2006- We made a trip to Labor and Delivery today. I started having some cramping. I thought maybe I needed to go to the bathroom, but that
wasn’t the case. I thought maybe some gas (I know TMI, sorry) but that wasn’t it either. The doctor wanted us to come in so they could monitor the babies
and my contractions, see if I had a bladder infection, see if my cervix had possibly changed…. The good news is that the babies are great, my contractions
are under control with the medication and my cervix hasn’t changed. OH, and no bladder infection. The bad news is that the doctor doesn’t know what the
issue is. So she told me to just keep tabs on I and if it gets worse, I need to come back in. We have an appointment on Monday, a LONG one and we get to
see the babies again. I am so excited to see how much they weigh now!!!!

March 3 2006- Dr. Opsahl's office called back and they can get me in this Sunday for our first ultrasound. It's really, really nice of them to do this since it's
not a normal ultrasound day for them. We are SOOOOOO excited. We might be able to see a heartbeat, plus we get to find out if we are carrying 1 or 2
babies.

March 5 2006- Today was the big day. WOW! We both got to see the heartbeat and it was amazing. Mark took this huge gasp and stopped breathing for
a minute, I got some tears in my eyes. Seeing this was so exciting to see, I've never seen anything like it. Here comes the funny part though... after he
pointed out the heartbeat he looked back at the machine, then looked at us, then looked at the machine and said, "you do see, you noticed that there are
two, right?!?!?!? Mark and I both said NO in unison. We didn't really know what we were looking at, but he made it clear to us that it was twins after a few
minutes. We were surprised, we knew it was a possibility but didn't think we would end up having twins. Well here we are, expecting twins. We called my
parents and Mark's parents immediately and told them the great news. We then proceeded on to church with the grandparents where we told them the good
news too.

Mark also called his brother and sister in law. His first words out of his mouth to his brother were, "are you sitting down?" His brother immediately said, "It's
twins???!!??" and Mark said, "yep". His brother kept saying, "you are kidding right, you can't be serious, it's not really twins is it..." He finally believed us
though.

March 7 2006- Some more morning sickness today and exhaustion. I usually nap a lot, just as Mark, but I am so so tired all the time now, even after
sleeping 8-11 hours every night. Poor Mark, I come home from work, fall asleep on the couch or in front of the fireplace. He wakes me up to have me eat
dinner (which he has cooked) and then I usually fall asleep again or we go up to the bed. I am pretty useless around the house lately.

March 11 2006- My mom and I went shopping to look at twin baby strollers today. Mark and I can't seem to find a pattern that we both like, but I found one
online that we both thought looked nice. I really liked the design of the stroller, it's Graco brand, the G collection. It's the stroller that has the carseats which
snap into it. That's going to be REALLY important with twins. We aren't going to buy it until I get further along, but I'll have to bring Mark down soon to see it.
When it's folded flat it looks too long to fit into my trunk but I'll try it out next time.

March 16 2006- Still exhausted and still having morning sickness. I'm told from my fellow pregnant women at work to expect this for a few more weeks at
least, if not a month or two. I just feel bad for Mark, he's doing so much because I'm sleeping all of the time. He's such a great husband!

March 20 2006- We went to Baby USA today so Mark could see the stroller and carseats. He liked the pattern too, yeahhh we finally have a design picked
out that we both like!!!!!! So here's the downside (you figure there's got to be one right), we took the stroller out to the car, it did fit in the trunk but not
without taking off the first tray (which is what the carseat snaps into) and the first canopy. That will get really annoying and time consuming while trying to get
both babies settled in the car and there was NO room for anything else like a diaper bag, groceries or anything. Also, the carseats fit in the car, but Mark is
pretty tall and has the seat of the car (both passenger and driver) scooted back almost all the way. With the carseats behind the driver and passengers
seat, he can't get in the drivers seat at all. His knees are up in his chest. It was really funny to watch him struggle to get in and then get out. He fits a bit
better in the passengers seat but he sure doesn't look comfortable. So.... even though we just bought the Honda Accord last August, we are talking about
getting a Honda Oddsey. We'll have to see what the dealership says though.

For those of you who don't want to hear about some pregnancy complications and details, stop reading on this date HERE and resume on the
next date.

Mark and I took a nap today and then we were going to go to the gym and I was going to swim or do cardio. I got up to go to the bathroom before we were to
leave and I was bleeding. Not a spot or two, but a whole lot. I got really scared so instead of going to the gym, we found ourselves going to the ER. They
saw me pretty fast and did an ultrasound and exam. Both of the heartbeats were visible and the doctor said some bleeding is common during pregnancy.
My cervix is closed which is good, so it could be from a number of things but I was told to take it easy and follow up with my OB. Our first OBGYN
appointment is on Friday the 24th of March.

March 21 2006- I went into work today and had to let my "boss" know that I was in the ER last night. She wanted me to be seen by one of the doctors at our
clinic, as a follow up and to see if they should impose any limitations. The doctors thought it best to send me home for the rest of the week and just take it
easy... so here I am, living on the computer! The bleeding has subsided and I'm not having any cramping so things are looking better. Plus we saw both
heartbeats so that is really encouraging.