What a difference a YEAR makes...

Since it’s been a year ago today since I posted my first blog entry, I thought it appropriate to reflect on that year and remind myself of all that I am thankful for.

My first entry last year was kind of my admission to myself that I was really pregnant again and eventually, I was going to be able to tell some people the news. The blog was not public; nobody knew about it but me. The previous pregnancies had ended by this time (9 weeks into the pregnancy) so it took a while to actually believe it might last. I wanted to covet it a little longer but slowly it was getting more and more exciting and less and less scary. As that happened, I got more excited to let our secret out. And boy, was it a BIG secret since it was TRIPLETS! I had just been discharged from our fertility doctor and was released out into the world of “normal pregnant people”. Well, if you call a triplet pregnancy normal. It was as close to normal as I was going to get and as close to normal as I felt since my journey to have a baby had started.

I went back and re-read my journal entries over the last year. WOW.

Here are all of things I’m thankful for:

-My husband of almost 12 years; we went through all of this as a team and thank goodness he kept me grounded so often; his sons love him so much, you can see it in their eyes every day.
-My beautiful, healthy, handsome boys (I’m a bit biased)
-My little miracle, Calvin, who is in heaven with our other three angel babies, and the one that will always watch over us;
-My Mom – my rock, best friend and supporter;
-Our parents and wonderful Grandparents to the kids who have been nothing but supportive, dedicated, helpful and spoiling us and the kids for months;
-Our siblings who have supported us along the way and showered us with phone calls, helpful hints and unending support;
-Our extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins and other family that have reminded us how important family really is!
-Our amazing nanny, Jessica – she’s awesome and the boys adore her!
-The L&D nurses who doted over me while I was on bedrest in the hospital for so many weeks.
-My wonderful doctors who visited me daily and kept watch over our very delicate situation;
-Our friends who have kept up with us, prayed for us, brought us meals, checked in weekly, sent cards and all of the other thoughtful gestures that made our lives easier and reminded us that we were not alone; including the meals, books, letters, cards & visits while I was sidelined for so long.
-My IF friends who were there for me in the early days of fertility struggles and when I was so freaked out and scared about being pregnant AGAIN. You guys were amazing and continue to be! I will continue to be there for you too.
-Those people that I work with who have pitched in for many months to make sure that everything was covered for me while I was away; and currently, as I work part time at the office and part time at home, the patience and understanding with my flexible schedule is so appreciated!
-The NICU nurses who took such special care of my babies for 12 weeks while they learned how to make their way in the world;
-My digital & video cameras that have enabled us to document all of the special moments that our family has experienced along this incredible journey;
-My kitties for keeping me company while I was on bedrest; and for being such good watch dogs over our babies;
-The steroid shots that I received at 24 weeks that enabled the babies to have better lung development before they were born, so they could live;
-The roof over our head so we are protected, warm and happy as a family;

And most importantly:
Our strong faith in God, and his continuous blessings that he has bestowed upon our family.

Things I’m happy to leave behind:
-The upside down (Trindillenburg) bed
-Magnesium sulfate
-The beeps of the NICU monitors
-Coles oxygen machine and heart/lung monitor
-Hospital food
-RSV Season - it officially ends May 1, yay!

I don’t intend to stop blogging. Although, I will admit, as time goes on, it gets harder and harder to find the time to blog as much as I would like. It’s a true hobby for me so I will never stop completely. It is my hope and my intention that I can continue to chronicle the boys lives so that they have something to look back on someday. Although, they might not really care to read about their childhood, rest assured, someday their spouses will get a big kick out of it!

Here ends the first year of our blog; and what a year it has been!
Blessings to all and a huge thanks for being part of our lives.