One year ago today, our entire world was changed in a matter of seconds. Pixels on a monitor were the culprit, and I’ll never forget the look on the ultrasound tech’s face when she paused and said, “No, there’s 3.”⁣

As triplet parents, we will perpetually be asked a series of questions like “do twins run in your family?” and “did you do IVF?” Many find them cumbersome, but I don’t typically mind answering inquiring minds. The question I do get, however, that will forever haunt me is when people ask, “what was your reaction when you found out?”⁣
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To say I didn’t take the news well is an understatement. Our technician RAN out of our room after I screamed to get them out of me. A team of nurses had to be rushed in to get me somewhere safe, somewhere I could take the time I needed to recover from my panic attack and listen to my husband make the phone calls to our families as I sat looking at my ultrasound in tears.⁣

Instead of being overjoyed with what was supposed to be my one, perfect baby that would make our family complete, I was burdened with thoughts of future financial and emotional struggles. How will we fit 3 car seats into my Camry to avoid having a new car payment? How will I ever fund 3 college tuitions? Will our marriage survive this?⁣
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And how will I ever love 3 babies with all of my being?⁣
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With all of my being, that's how.⁣
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It's in my nature to always be looking to the future and prepare for it in the best way I can, but because of them, that future is so much more fulfilling. I can see three toddlers in bee suits and muck boots, teetering down the 900’ tree lined driveway to the beehive. I can see our boys “helping” daddy build the chicken coop while he so patiently answers their 64,000 questions. I can see our fearless little girl with the scraped up knees finding herself at home, up a tree, like her mama; reading a book like daddy. I can see them running barefoot and wild in our 6 acre forest, or sitting at our kitchen island with dirt-covered feet, legs dangling as they scarfed down lunch in an effort to quickly resume play.⁣
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And now what I can't see is a life without them.⁣