Welcome to the Party!
At least that’s what feels like what’s happening around here. We are going from a family of two humans and three dogs to FIVE humans and three dogs. Let the shenanigans begin! I can only imagine right now what our life is going to look like when the babies arrive this summer, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. I’ve found it super helpful to read the stories of other triplet moms as I go through this adventure into first time parenthood, so I thought I might be able to help other moms by sharing my story too. Particularly since mine comes with a few specifics that I haven’t really come across all in one person yet. And there might be more of you out there like me.
First off, I’m 46 years old. I got married at 45 because I never wanted to settle and didn’t meet my person until I turned 44. And he’s 16 years younger than me. But he’s an old soul and I’m an eternal child at heart so honestly we match up perfectly and I feel more youthful and energetic most days than I did in my late twenties when I was struggling to deal with the death of my sister. At any rate, it’s pretty cool to know so many women are becoming moms for the first time around my age. It’s totally doable, and while I don’t always feel so spry these days, hello growing belly, backaches and heartburn, I know I can handle this. Though I didn’t count on growing three little humans at once when I geared myself up to be a middle aged mom.
Second, I’ve had breast cancer. Diagnosed and cured in 2017, thanks to a radical double mastectomy, and an early diagnosis. Stage 1, no chemo, got in all in the first go. But with the cancer went all of my mammary glands, so that takes breastfeeding off the table, unless babies like silicone. It changes a lot about the pregnancy experience and I’ll elaborate in another post in case there are any other moms to be going through the same thing.
Third, I’m an IVF success story, but that kind of success comes with a lot of failures, a lot of struggle, a boatload of patience and more money than anyone would like to think about. For us, it meant frozen eggs that didn’t become embryos, it meant trying to get more from me despite the challenges of harvesting from a 45 year-old. It meant unexpected surgery, a COVID lockdown delay, canceled and failed transfers, extensive genetic tests and the tough decisions we had to make along the way in order to have our dream of a family finally come true. And it meant so many shots. It still does every day to help keep these babies safe. I promise, I’ll tell you more about that too. These are just the highlights. So head on over to my blog posts page on this site for more of how we got here and to follow along as we continue on this journey!
About Me
Hi! I’m Karen. I’m a bereaved sibling and a breast cancer survivor. I’ve battled Necrotizing Fasciitis and live to tell the tale. And yes, bad things do come in threes. But so do good things, I’m coming to learn. I’m 47, found true love after 40, marrying for the first time at 45. I’m an IVF success story, though it wasn’t always easy. And now I’m going to be a first time mom to triplets!
