welcome "asjia simone"

finally, my dream of having a baby girl is answered. i remember the one thought i had when we were told we were having triplets was that i had pretty good chances of having a baby girl like i had always imagined. she was delivered between her brothers...only 1 minute apart for all three. she came out quiet and worried me. she needed a little oxgen but her little face was so beautiful. she was also big and healthy at 5lbs 14oz and had a head full of hair! she was so fun to watch during all of my sonograms. she would always hear our requests for her to nudge kyle and make him move for us. she was smart in the womb and she continues to surprise me with her smarts and intuition to this day. she is my sweet girl, mommie's helper, and someday my little partner in crime...lol

welcome "mason alexander"

oh boy...where do i start with this one. he has definitely been fiesty from conception...lol mason moved and kicked so early and so much throughout my pregnancy that at times i really wondered if i would have excessive stretch marks on his side! like a mommy of triplets has any mercy when it comes to stretch marks, why did i even bother worrying about that? mason kept me entertained. i would often worry about lack of movement and i could always count on a response from him with just a little nudge. he came in to the world screaming and has not stopped since....whew! he is my clown, always a smirk on his face, big flirt, and very healthy set of lungs to let you know when the joke is over!he was smallest at 5lbs 2 oz and i think i will always think of him as the "baby".

welcome "kyle reid"

my sweet kylie bear was the first to arrive in this world. he was big and strong weighing in at 5lbs 15oz. he had a nice hefty cry and then silence.he is my observer. he was such a quiet boy in the womb, and his personality has stayed consistent with that. he had such a beautiful round head and for the first 8 months or so, big blue-grey eyes. i remember having to stretch my arm down very far to rub his part of my belly and give him affection during my pregnancy, i always felt bad that my other two got so much touch. i have since made up for any time lost:)

the happiest day of my life

*writing this in hindsight*

after 3 loooooong months on hospital bedrest, today is the day. i woke up this morning with no idea today was the day. i had my early morning wake up by one of the residents and answered all of the blah blah blah questions. after eating my yucky breakfast, i turned my attention to tv and braced myself for another long day. i was wearing a pair of yellow pj's with cherries all over them that my mom had sent to me. after my first round of monitoring, dr. al-khoutly comes in to check on me. she looked at me symapthetically and said, "you are very uncomfortable aren't you?", of course my answer was yes. not even 30 minutes later she was back to alert me to call my my husband chris, today was the day! a few hours later nurses were in and out of my room moving my decor(i literally lived there) to my new post-pardum room. the whole situation was so sureal. i had prayed, pleaded, and begged for this day and finally it was here. i suddenly was so scared and wanted to get dressed and make a run for it. i wonder if anyone would notice? no one would pay any attention to a woman resembling shrek walking down the street in a hospital gown would they? i seriously considered it...

after a couple of hours in triage, i was wheeled in to the o.r where there would soon be a crowd of more than 15 people. the whole process was so quick and such a blur from that point. i remember pulling my oxygen mask off because i felt like it was suffocating me, i remember them rocking my body back and forth, i can remember the look on chris' face, and then....

the sweet sound of my little angels first cries. what a moment. to see each one come in to the world and hear their cries...nothing can describe this moment. i remember EXACTLY what each one looked like and how they sounded, that memeory is forever.

thank you dearly to God for this tremendous blessing...i often wonder why he chose me? i never felt deserving of such an amazing blessing, but i am flattered. thank you dearly to all of my friends & family who helped me get through such a trying time in the hospital. thank you to dearly to all of the wonderful nurses and dr. al-khoutly who helped me to get my precious angels here safely. and last but not least, thank you dearly to my husband who was there by my side day and night & still somehow managed to function at work and remodel our home while i was in the hospital....you are a rockstar.

we are having TRIPLETS!!!

It was June 16th 2004

I should first start by saying that all I have truly ever wanted in life was to be a Mommy. I have always imagined myself with a big, happy family. For the first few years of our relationship Chris and I had assumed that this just was not a biological possibility for us. I had been married before and never gotten pregnant when most people would have, and with terribly irregular periods I figured something was wrong. I had done much praying about it and always remained hopeful. I always felt so guilty(the Catholic in me*haha*) asking God for this gift knowing that I would have gladly accepted it before we were actually married, and secretly wishing it would happen NOW! I was ready to start a family! We were busy planning our wedding and we decided I should see a fertility specialist since my GYN did not seem to share our concern over my irregular periods- I had not had one in 8 months at that point! I scheduled an appt. and shortly after found out that I was not ovulating on my own. My Doctor put me on a low dose of Chlomid, as well as a horomone to trigger my period to try and jumpstart things. Our plan was to get the eggs flowing & the body regulated so that we could hopefully get pregnant as soon as we got married...if it happened before then we would count our Blessings and still be over the moon.

Month 1 on Chlomid, Chris and I loose all sight of the fact that we are in the middle of planning our wedding and we continue on having loads of that pre-marriage pre-children sex and just "see if it works". In all honesty, I think we were in disbelief that it would work. We both wanted to have children together so badly and I think somewhere in the back of our minds we thought it would never happen for us.

Beginning of month two, after following close instructions from my Doctor, I waited to see if my period started on its own- it did not. In the case that it did not, I was to take a pregnancy test. To make a long story a little shorter, I did, it was barely positive and we were in complete disbelief. Could the test be defective, possibly on the shelf to long at Target? Could it be true? Could I really be someone's Mommy someday soon???

After confirming the positive reading with a blood test, we were thrilled that our doctor had scheduled us for an early ultrasound. It was perfect, we were a week away from flying out to Las Vegas to vacation with my family andI had always imagined the day that I would surprise my parents with that very first photo of their grandchild. I was diligently planning a creative presentation of our big surprise...

As the sonogram began, Chris moved to my side & the Doctor & Nurse stood together reading the screen.I could barely stand not seeing, all I wanted to do was see something that reinforced thatI really was pregnant...please someone tell me Im not dreaming! so the Doc starts counting 1...2...3..and looks to the nurse. she says yep, that's three. meanwhile, as this was the furthest thing from my mind, Im wondering when they will stop the Doctor lingo and show me something. The nurse looks over calmly and says "your having triplets". Her and the Doc both giggle, and Chris' face looses all color(note-he is a Black Man). I said, "baby, they are just joking...lol" and they both shake their heads no. "We don't joke about things like this" she says. "There are three heartbeats, all beating equally as strong"...That moment was what I imagine an out of body experience to be. I saw myself lying there, but never in a million years believed that what they were saying they were saying about me. ME? TRIPLETS? I always dreamed of having one child, and I thought twins only happened to super lucky lottery winning type of people, but never ever imagined triplets as a possibility for me. Surely this was a mistake...

My Doctor, God bless her, was a bit nervous sending us out of the office. She later admitted her reservations & told me that we were both pale and silent. Chris & I had met eachother that day and driven separate cars. We sat together in the parking lot just staring off, not knowing what had hit us. We parted ways, pretty much silently and drove home. I think we walked around for a good week in complete shock before the excitement began to surface. We would have to hold in the big secret for just a few days longer before we dropped this bomb on the rest of our unsuspecting family!

the story of us

we are asked this question all the time so i figured it was necessary to backtrack and put it in. after all, it is the anchor to this family we have created...

july 4th, 2002

today i received an im from a stranger. my mother taught me well, never talk to strangers, but i am the type to test all boundaries. a few days earlier while being nosey on AOL, i had accidentally come across the profile of a nice looking guy named chris. his profile was charming and his words seemingly genuine. for reasons that i still am unsure of, i felt brave and sent him an "oops, accidentally stumbled on to your profile" email along with a nice compliment. i invited him to email me back or im me anytime. i thought nothing else of it until today when his screen name popped up in my im window. we had a nice chat as i anxiously watched the sky getting darker and darker. i am enjoying the conversation immensely and at the same time watching the clock knowing that i am late in joining my friends for the 4th of july festivities. after about two hours typing back and forth chris asks if he may call me. i am very hesitant. i tell him that i am more comfortable making the call(and blocking my number) and i pick up the phone.on the other end is a thick british accent and i suddenly feel panic. this surely is not the black man that i saw in the picture...surprise...lol. we talked for about 4 more hours, through the fireworks & into the wee hours of the morning. this was the prelude to a relationship that would land me all the way across the country 6 months later. after months of lengthy nightly conversations, thousands of frequent flyer miles, i packed my bags and set out to be with my prince.who would have known that not even three years later he would be my husband, and i would be giving birth to our three beautiful children....wow.