“The most amazing experience in life is to be a parent and one can only truly sense it by becoming one. The first time you lay your eyes on your child you know deep down inside that your life as you know it will revolve around him or her.”

The above text is a lose quote from my father and being a son I always wanted a child of my own, not to revolve around him but to experience life along side with him or her.

My wife and I met like any other typical couple, a love story at college, fell in love, got engaged and right before we were suppose to get married she was hospitalized, not so typical after all!

She was diagnosed with a uterine fibroid and it was a huge one. After myomectomy, it was discovered that the presence of such a huge fibroid made the uterus totally out of shape and the fallopian tubes were blocked. Thus, conceiving a child naturally was out of the question.

We got married, and took a break form doctors. After two years we got the shape of the uterus corrected surgically. The only logical step after that was IVF which my wife endured and tried for 5 cycles in two years but without success. So we vowed to try one last time and the 6th time was a charm.

After anxiously waiting for fifteen days the dreaded home pregnancy test was taken by her which was positive. We were reluctant to celebrate and waited for the blood test result as it is more accurate.

Once the result was in we were quite excited to begin our journey into parenthood.

The next step was an ultrasound to check for the heart beat of the baby. We went in with the excitement and while waiting I kind of had a flash back of all the movies I have seen in which they have shown couples with a surprised expression while the doctors tells them, “oh I am sorry there seems to be something wrong here”, and you just don’t know what to do because all you see is a ten inch monitor with haze all over it and you wonder how the hell can she see anything in it. So naturally, feeling a little pessimistic I cowardly declined to go in and waited outside and after five minutes I heard two screams one was of the doctor and the second was of my wife. I was frankly, terrified.

At that point I was finally called in and as I entered the room I saw the doctor with a huge smile on her face, that kind of spoiled the surprise and I was sure that we are going to be parents now but I was also wondering what the scream was all about, maybe the baby waved or something. Well than there was a third scream and that was me.

The screams were justified because we were shown by the good doctor, in her tiny machine that we are not only pregnant but pregnant with triplets. Now for some folks that would be lucky or God send but for us it was a miracle. Miracle because only two fertilized eggs were transferred into the uterus and to ordinary folk like us two eggs mean two babies. So the screams were warranted.

After loads of smile and thanks to the almighty we were shoved in to the doctor’s office for consultation. Where we were told that we are one of the lucky ones, only few in a million conceive monozygotic twins, with a dizygotic triplet. Well it all probably sounds gibberish but it is really simple. Dizygotic means, when two separate eggs are fertilized by two different sperms, thus fraternal twins. Monozygotic on the other hand is a mystery of science nobody knows for sure how exactly it happens. In short when a fertilized egg splits in two after a certain time it results into identical twins. Well the detail of the things going wrong with this kind of pregnancies are numerous but we were lucky not to have any, though we had one issue which was quite huge, enough for the doctor to be concerned about. He was to determine at a later stage around the 12th week of pregnancy that whether they were monochorionic or dichorionic twins. Monochorionic are a true rarity in nature and have most of the problems. TTTS and SIUGR being the most common and potentially fatal if not treated or rather managed right. We naturally were blessed to have monochorionic twins, thus putting the pregnancy at a greater risk.

The prognosis was that, we were pregnant with two identical twins and a fraternal twin thus triplets. And my wife was on her way to carry not two but three babies.

A lot of people would agree with me, that the task of carrying a baby is intricate, but to carry three in one go is an unexplainable phenomenon which only a mother who goes through a multiple pregnancy can elaborate.

When I asked my wife after a frown, I got this answer. “The strength comes from with in and one becomes strong and stronger as the days go by. You keep on telling your self, GOD gave them to me so he will decide what to do with them” (A direct quote from my wife).

When you are in a situation like this being close to your faith is the only option.

From that point onwards it was a roller coaster ride; the end of every week was celebrated. We were given goals and some advice. The advice was simple complete bed rest only going to the washroom was allowed (from the beginning) and to eat right (Loads of liquid and high protein intake was stressed). The goal was to pass 22nd week to reach first base (viable age for delivery) second was to reach 26th week third was 28th and the 33rd week was considered to be the home run.

Well, I being a football guy myself found the whole process to be treacherously slow.

We were told to look for different markers in the ultrasounds, which was advised every 2nd week.  At that point my best friend became google. Although it took a lot of research and a lot of hours of reading but I finally understood what was going on. Also at that time I was fortunate enough to find a website by the name of “fetalhope.org”. It had all the answers that I could come up with but I needed some assurance so I wrote to them and I got the reply from them in hours. That was the first time I exchanged emails from Lonnie Somers. His words were like a therapy to my wife and I. He assured us that we are not alone and that we must be strong. He was with us till the end and his kind emails got us through the whole experience with the glimmer of hope.

At the 18th week marker we were told by the doctor that the nuclatranslucansy of one of the identical twins is not right and it is just on the borderline. That in short means that if it does not improve the baby might be born with Down syndrome. Well the news was disheartening but we both kept our faith. I was some what confident that it would be normal at a later stage since in my research I have read couple of articles suggesting that it usually normalizes at the 22nd week marker. At the 21st week marker it was absolutely normal.

Than till the 28th week everything was fine and on the routine check up doctor discovered that mild IUGR is developing in one of the identical twins. IUGR is a growth restriction in the uterus, since the identical twins share the same living space they also share the same source for food in this case the same placenta. IUGR is a condition when the nutrient supply to one of the baby is insufficient resulting in poor growth of the effected baby.  IUGR this late in this pregnancy is some what typical but it can be very dangerous at anytime so constant monitoring was necessary. That means twice a week check up.

Then we crossed the physiological barrier of 30 weeks. That would mean that if babies are born now they have a very good chance of survival and that all the major developments are done. From this point onwards they just need to gain weight. Around this point my wife was advised hospitalization because it was now necessary for her to be monitored along with all three babies. Finally at exactly 32nd week of pregnancy, my wife gave birth to triplets.

We were blessed to have two identical sons and a beautiful daughter.

Now the real test started, all that had happened since the beginning seemed like a walk in the park. At first they never allowed me inside the operation room since it was a risky affair and they had 5 doctors and 15 people assisting them and they never wanted a distraction, which could have been me.

So after 55 agonizing minutes I was made aware by the head doctor that everything went beautifully and that all three babies are fine and the mother is doing great. At that point I was anxiously waiting to see them all and requested to do so but I was told the babies have already been shifted to NICU and the wife is in the recovery room and that it will be a while before I can see them. So after 2 hours of drama I finally saw my wife and after that I saw my babies.

No words can explain and justify what we both went through. When I look back it was an experience which can not be explained. As I entered the NICU I was first met with the team of doctors who helped delivered the babies. There were three teams consisting of three doctors each, one team for every baby. They took turns explaining me what can go wrong with each baby and what challenges they face. The main concern or goal was that the babies don’t catch any infections and that they gain weight. In short the next 24 hours were crucial.

There concern was valid since the birth weight of all the babies was some what low. The birth weight for two babies was 1800gms and 1100gms for the baby boy who had IUGR.

Than after 40 minutes of explaining and assurances I was finally asked if I would like to see the babies.

Finally I got the chance to see my babies. The sight was not pretty they were hooked to different monitors and I.V lines. But they all looked beautiful to me those tiny hands and legs were slowly kicking, they all seemed just as restless as they were in there mothers tummy.

I felt so helpless but I composed my self and asked to see the head of the neonatal department. The doctor was an exceptional human being he sat with me as long as I wanted him there he explained that first and foremost my babies are doing great none of them needed oxygen to support there lungs which is a great sign. And he will release them one by one into the mother’s care after 24 hours. But for the baby who was 1100gms he said though he is fine he would require staying in NICU for 2 weeks, it is a protocol they follow for his weight range.

They next few days were tough the mother was in pain emotionally and physically. I had no clue what to do as of now we hadn’t even touched the babies. Than after 30 hours of birth I finally held my baby girl in my hands. And after 12 hours of that, my son was in my arms. They were a little week and looked tiny compared to full term babies and had a feeding tube inserted in there mouth, since they were not strong enough to suck milk on there own. At this point we opted to stay in the hospital because I wanted my wife to recuperate since she could not have rested at home. Also we wanted to take all three babies home together. Finally after two weeks, with the doctor’s permission, the third baby was released from the NICU. We were eventually on our way home.

Home coming was kind of weird no guests were allowed near the babies because of the infection fear. We hired a professional nurse for a month to train us. I took three months off of work, and we started our journey of parenthood.

It was scary at first. Taking care of three little babies was a task, but our doctor was very supportive. It took us couple of weeks to get a hang of it than it became a habit. Changing nappies became easy and feeding got easier after the removal of tubes in about 15 days.

Changing baby clothes were no longer a challenge and the fear of giving them a bath was overcome by my wife as I was too scared to even be in the bathroom.

It took the babies exactly 2 months from birth to show some improvements and at 3 month marker they looked quite healthy. And after 4 months my baby boy who was 1100gms beat his sister in weight.

And now after 7 months when I look back, I just can’t believe we have come so far. All three babies are in exceptional health, there weight and height are at par to any other baby of there age.

Our advice to anyone who is in similar situation to ours is; have faith and maintain a positive attitude it really helps. We were told from the time we discovered we have triplets that we have a very low chance of success. But we are living proof that miracles do happen if you keep faith. I firmly believe no matter what faith you follow having conviction is the only thing which keeps you going.

I would like to conclude by saying that if you ever face a related condition please make sure you get these four things absolutely correct. First, always plan for a delivery in a well equipped hospital with a record of handling similar cases. Second, Get a Doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies. Third, get the services of a fetal medicinal doctor, it is absolutely essential. Last, Neonatal Doctor should be highly qualified and he or she should be experienced in premature babies. My wife and I were extremely lucky to have gotten all these things right, which in my opinion helped the pregnancy in a big way.