My Miracle Triplets
by Lorraine Anderson

I dreaded the thought of a natural birth, so when I was told it would be an elective section I was relieved. The decision was taken away from me. The only problem which I anticipated was Graham, he hated hospitals, blood and was the most squeamish person I knew! I made it clear that my mum would be with me but if he changed his mind then that was ok. He was relieved to say the least!

We had tried unsuccessfully for the past five years to conceive and when you are told that it is unlikely that even IVF would work the pain is indescribable. All of the problems lay with me, two blocked tubes, one ovary not working, polycistic ovarires, pelvic inflamatory disease, endometriosis and constant bleeding. My Mum had a hysterectomy young and it looked like I was heading down the same path, but I insisted on trying anything.

I started on CLOMID a fertility tablet to increase the production of eggs but after higher and higher doses over nearly four years along with injections to help release the eggs nothing happened, I never ovulated once. Depression set in, sex was not to be 'wasted' for fun, it was to conceive a baby and nothing else.

Graham was happy to go along as long as I was but we had decided that five years was our limit and this deadline was fast approaching. Also the problems I was experiencing were getting worse and I was advised by the doctors to give up and have a hysterectomy. I was only 27 and this would be the end of babies forever.

Everyone around me was having babies and every waking moment was filled with different diets, techniques, anything which would get me pregnant. Boxer shorts were bought, cold showers, we tried everything.

Eventually I was given fertility injections over the course of six months but every scan revealed yet another disappointment, I really did not know how much I could take.

We decided to go away for the weekend, no temperature charts, no thermometers, just the two of us, on this break we discussed opting for the hysterectomy and we finally agreed that we had tried everything. When we returned we bought a beautiful cream suite for our lounge a new car and booked a holiday abroad, if we were unable to have children then at least we could enjoy life to the full.

I had taken up clay pigeon shooting and whilst there, | began to feel very sick, I assumed that it was a bug and I would quickly get over it. It was not to be, after a week I could hold no food down for longer than a few minutes, I bought a pregnancy test kit and it was negative. I went to the doctors and I was assured that it was highly unlikely that I was pregnant but more likely to be an ulcer. Off I went to the hospital for a scan, which revealed nothing!

I was still very sick so I did another test and the line was so light you could hardly make it out. I took it to the chemist who gave me another kit as he said that it must be faulty, he had never known a test not to be conclusive before. The next test was the same so I returned to hospital for an internal scan, which revealed no ulcer but three sacs with heartbeats!!!!

I couldn't believe it, three! That is when the panic set in, two days later I bled really heavily and I was convinced that I was going to lose the babies, fortunately I didn't but I spent two weeks in hospital due to 'HYPER EMESIS GRAVIDARUM' ( severe morning sickness ). I continued to bleed throughout my pregnancy and had many admissions for the sickness to go on a drip. We were offered foetal reduction, which basically meant terminating one or more of the babies in order to produce a live baby at the end of it. This would not be an option to me and there was still great risk to the remaining child/children, we both decided that it was all or nothing. I do not condemn anyone who choses this method as each case is individual and therefore a personal choice, but it was not right for us.

I was admitted to LGI at twenty weeks for blood loss, sickness and asthma, you soon get used to being sick up to forty times per day, drips, injections and getting enormous, I had a 77.5 inc waist and I only put on two stones and six pounds.

I spent from the start of my pregnancy to the end, twenty two weeks in hospital, a long time, but it was worth it when I gave birth, with Graham there to hold my hand, elective section at 35 weeks to triplets, Harry, Laura & George, weighing in at 4lbs 6oz, 4lbs 3.5oz and 4lbs 12.5oz respectively.

Worth all of the waiting, nothing compares to holding your own babies at the end of a long struggle to have them as it makes them all the more special.

I eventually had my hysterectomy when they were 15 months old, the doctors said when he saw the damage in my insides he was amazed that I had conceived at all!

Harry, Laura & George born 1996