“Journey, Here and Now”
The Bechtel family and their little miracles, Grace, Kate, and Emerson; Lake Mills, IA

As I sit here to begin this essay tears fill my eyes as I reflect upon the last three years, - they have been filled with grief, hope and tremendous joy. I have always known that I wanted to be a mother; I just was not prepared at the time for the journey that was in store… .

It all started in May of 2005, when we went off birth control in the hopes that it would just happen!! After a year of trying and many becoming pregnant all around me, we still were not pregnant. So, this is where our journey began. We did about six months of Clomid and testing to declare that we fell into a very small percentage of couples who have unexplained infertility. Neither one of us had anything that was a medical red flag. As the months passed and we were still not pregnant, I felt that we would never become parents. Prior to initiating our stimulation for our first IUI (intrauterine insemination) life decided to throw us another curve ball, we lost my father in-law unexpectedly to a massive heart attack, so our plans went on hold. This time in our life was very difficult and added to the absolute devastation of not becoming a mom. A few months passed, and we decided that he would want us to continue with our dream to become parents, because he loved and cherished his grandchildren. After three unsuccessful IUI trials with stimulation our OBGYN referred us to Reproductive Medicine and Infertility Associates (RMIA) and Dr. Ricardo Castillo for IVF (invitro- fertilization).

I still remember the day when we met the RMIA team and Dr. Castillo. He told us that he felt he could get us pregnant, little did I know that with the stimulation from Bravelle, Menopur and other medications that our lives would be forever changed. We started our first cycle, which by this time had been two and half years since the journey began. We harvested seventeen eggs at the retrieval and they were able to successfully fertilize five. They watched the embryos develop and we did a day five transfer with two embryos. Prior to the confirmation of us becoming pregnant we received the letter to say that the remaining three embryos did not survive the freezing process. I felt as though I was being punished for some reason and I had done something wrong and that my dreams of becoming a mother were slowly dwindling; if only we had known what God and life had in store for us… We had a blood test to confirm that the embryo transfer was successful and the HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) levels were increasing, they would not confirm we were pregnant until two consecutive blood tests.

We got the call on April 4th, 2007 to confirm we were PREGNANT!!! We now needed to wait for an ultrasound to confirm and evaluate how many embryos implanted themselves. To help facilitate the implantation I continued to receive Progesterone and Oil injections. We had the ultrasound on April 23rd, 2007 and there were two sacs and we were overjoyed at the thought of having twins. But, to our amazement the tech was staring at the screen with a puzzled look on her face, she said that she thought that she saw a third heartbeat. To confirm her assumption she did another ultra sound and sure enough, there were three strong heartbeats. We were shocked beyond words; I was so overwhelmed with the thought of having three babies that another ultra sound tech had to confirm that we were having triplets. We left the appointment in complete awe and astonishment.

After being removed from work at twenty weeks and spending four weeks in the hospital, I developed preeclampsia and gained six pounds of fluid in two days and was started on a Magnesium Sulfate drip to help with my blood pressure and prevent seizures. On Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 31 weeks via a c-section our lives were forever changed… We were blessed with the arrival of Grace Liv at 2 pounds 14 ounces, 16 inches long, Kate Elizabeth at 2 pounds 15 ounces, 16 ˝ inches long and our little boy Emerson Allan 2 pounds 14 ounces, 15 inches long. Our little ones are miracles and are healthy, beautiful and continuing to grow and develop each and every day, they amaze me and I am so very humbled and thankful for them.

If I could have a conversation with myself at the beginning of this journey and process to become a parent,s I would tell myself to weather the storm, the bumps, the craters, and the detours that are thrown your way. To be patient with yourself and allow yourself to be angry, mad and to cry and breakdown at times. I learned a lot about myself during this journey and sometimes I felt as though I was suffocating and I was completely irrational and going crazy, and some days were just painful because I was not a mom yet. Make sure not to forget to laugh and be positive and be still in the quiet moments and more than anything just to stay patient although at times it may be extremely difficult. Learn from the journey, let it build character and make you stronger because when you trust in God, yourself, your husband and medical team anything is possible.

My dreams have come true and I am triple blessed, not only am I a mother but we have amazing children. I am so very thankful for technology, God, our medical team at RMIA and Bravelle/Menopur for making my lifetime dream of becoming a parent become a reality. Words cannot express how thankful we are, we now have a lifetime to cherish and love our children. Thank You for this opportunity….