We ended up going to Kankakee and having both ultrasounds done at once on July 30th. J and I thought it was crazy to do an ultrasound to find out how many sacs there were and then the following week go back and do another ultrasound for the heartbeat. We didn't need to incur any extra expense with taking off work and having two ultrasounds. So, Brian and I were patient for another week.
We received a call from J and M, who invited us down for a cookout prior to going to the hospital for the our ultrasound. We enjoyed a nice lunch and met J & M's three children. Two of the three enjoyed climbing on Travis and wanting piggy back rides. Travis might not admit it, but I think he enjoyed the attention. :) Their oldest son, who is 2 years younger than Travis, had the same love as Travis of building legos and playing WII. So that was nice that they had somethings in common. J likes to decorate like I do, so that was also nice to have that in common. I knew their was that inner feeling when we first met back in October that all of us just clicked and knew J and M were the ones whom we wanted to share our journey.
After lunch J, Brian, Travis and I headed to the hospital and left M to be Mr. Mom and take their kids to a festival fundraiser. Before we walked in the hospital I asked everyone if anyone wanted to place a wager (not literally) how many we had snugged away in J's belly. Brian, of course, quickly said "one". J and I said "two" and Travis said "five"! We all laughed at Travis' response.
After blood work was completed, we walked down to the radiology department and anxiously awaited our name to be called. The time finally arrived and to our surprise they would only allow one of us back at a time. So, of course, mama went back first. We saw one sac and then another. J and I were not surprised to see twins. The ultrasound tech, Bonnie, and J were explaining to me what the "yolk" was and where it was located. I was like "what yolk?" Had no clue. After measurements, we went back to do the heartbeats. As Bonnie was doing the heartbeats (no audio, just visual), she had placed the ultrasound in between the two sacs. As she did that I had asked what a spot was on the screen that was below the confirmed embryo. She was short with her answer and told me "Don't worry about that side, we are done with that side. We are working on the other side". So I just left it be.
Once we were done Bonnie and I went out to the lobby area and got Brian so he could go back for his surprise. Even after he pressed me for an answer of how many, I was proud of myself for keeping a straight face and told him "I'm not telling you. You will have to go back there and find out." Left out in the lobby waiting, Travis started begging me to tell him. So, I couldn't keep in the excitement anymore and told Travis. I think the surrounding area must of heard me. :)
Travis and I waited and waited and J finally came out with Brian and Bonnie trailing behind. My first response to J was "About time, what did Brian pass out on you?" Brian heard me and said "No, but you may pass out". My response back was "Brian, I already know we are having twins." Noticing he had copies of the ultrasound in his hand, I asked him to see them. He said "Yeah, take a look at these." I looked at the first one and then the second picture and my mouth dropped to the floor….A, B, C and the number 3 at the bottom! I couldn't shut my mouth and slowly looked up from the picture and said "What do you mean we are having 3?" They all started laughing at me. I looked at Bonnie and said "See, See I asked you about that second spot." She had found a third heartbeat when Brian went back there. I don't know if she did that on purpose or not so we could both have a surprise since the hospital policy wouldn't let us back there at the same time. What a shock to the system. Especially when the Embryologist at transfer said the chance for one of the embryos to split was slim. I had asked her at the time "How do you know ahead of time if they would split?" She stated that you could tell by the shell of the embryo. Boy, was she ever wrong.
Here I was trying to let Brian be surprised and they pulled a surprise on me! All of us couldn't stop laughing with joy. Our surrogate was a trooper with hearing the news of 3. She had asked me "How do you feel with having triplets?" My response back was "Me? How do you feel about carrying triplets?" Still with all of us still laughing, she said "What are you going to do? You work with what you were given." I completely agree. God had a hand in it ( and maybe my mother and father up in heaven too) and he keeps on putting me through the test. As they say, he gives you only what he knows you can handle. I hope he is right!
