My husband Steve and I tried for 5 years before starting IVF. We always said no blaming each other. We had questions so we went to a fertility doctor. Turns out my tubes were both no good. The doctor said they were blocked. We started the long journey towards parenthood. I blamed myself for not being able to get pregnant. When we started IVF, I was very careful to follow all of the doctor's instructions. The first cycle I set an alarm so all drugs were at the exact time needed.

Unfortunately, I had the flu and was unwell the whole time. Tragically our embryos didn't survive. We had one embryo transferred but it died a few days later. The other two embryos died during unfreezing. This was crushing because I was sure I was pregnant at first after the transfer. I believe animals have a sense of things. At first our cat, Cashmere, wouldn't leave me alone. However, day-3 post transfer she refused to come near me. We think that's when we lost the baby. Steve and I were absolutely shattered because we had our hopes on IVF working. It never occurred to us, it wouldn't. We were truly devastated as we didn't think we could do another cycle. We decided that it was so heartbreaking we had to have one more cycle.

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We were sure that was it. In Australia IVF is very costly and insurance doesn't cover the costs. We somehow managed to scrape enough funds together enough for another try. My second attempt at IVF, I was down the whole time. This time I was sometimes a few minutes late with my needles. In hindsight, I know I should have taken time to get over Junior, the name we gave our first embryo. However, I wasn’t late with the trigger needle, with that, I was on time.

The second round of IVF, I made it through stims somehow. But there is one funny story to share. As part of my protocol, I needed the extra hormone. Steve was at a Golf day and I was getting things ready to go to a work function. It was time for the extra hormone injection. I packed it away. When we got to the function we went to take the extra needle. Steve knocked the water vial on the floor, and it smashed. I asked what are we going to do now? He went into the toilets (restrooms) and used the tap water. Then I realized I had left the small needle at home. He had to jab me really hard to inject me.

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Despite the debacle with the dropped medicine, I fortunately made it through egg retrieval, and to the transfer stage. We spoke to our doctor, and we requested to transfer 2 embryos. Steve and I discussed that due to the cost, approximately $10,000 plus $2,000 for the extra hormone that I required, we weren’t taking any chances. We knew that even if we had worked hard to save it was never going to happen again. This second round, I was nervous as part of me thought it wouldn't work.This time Cashmere our cat seemed to have a sixth sense. Cashmere was all over me again, giving me affection. Could I be pregnant? I refused to believe it.

Two weeks after the transfer, I went for a blood test. I got a call at 9pm. The woman on the phone told us not all the results were back but what was back showed I was clearly pregnant!

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I had a challenging early pregnancy. I was bleeding every morning, which was very scary. If I was not bleeding in the morning, I was at night, which was also scary. Part of me was scared it wouldn't end well. I think this was because I was still getting over sadness of the first cycle. Also, the bleeding was scary.

We found out about Triplets at 12 weeks, at an ultrasound. At the appointment, the ultrasound tech asked how many babies I thought I was expecting. I said, “Two?” She said, “No, there are three babies here!” I was shocked as I was sure there was only 1 baby in my uterus. I proceeded to say every word that should not say. My brain was in a fog, and I also forgot what three babies in a single birth are called. Steve was like, “Triplets! We need a bigger car, a bigger house, we need to move! “

The pregnancy continued to be very scary as I continued to bleed up until the 16 week mark. After I woke up on Christmas eve everything went smoothly. The doctor told us we were having 3 girls.

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Our triplets were born at 32 weeks gestation. On the morning of birth we were anxious but excited. I was given my epidural which scared me as I'm terrified of needles. When I was wheeled into the operating room I was scared. To make it worse two staff were fighting. The anesthetist apologized to me before telling them off. The rest of the delivery went well. I was awake during the c-section, and the doctor showed us each baby as they were born.

After they were born, the doctor informed me I had given birth to two girls and one boy! When I was in the NICU and I took the nappy off the babies I exclaimed to my husband, “He is a boy, not a girl!”. The little boy is our dear Cooper.

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The worst moment came when we nearly lost Cooper. On the day our son nearly died Steve woke up and said I don't want to go to work today. Thankfully as he was there when we nearly lost him.The allure of triplets was drawing in visitors and one of the visitors coughed on Cooper. He quickly got sick and was put on high flow oxygen. As we gave him a bath and we could hear him wheezing.We told the doctor and he said he was OK just oxygen. I took a quick break to the toilet and when I arrived back to his bassinet, doctors and nurses were all around him. His heart rate rose to over 200bpm, oxygen 74% and his breath rate I can't remember.

I said we didn't think we would be bringing him home. The doctor said he was sure he was going to pass away. To our great relief, the doctors stabilized him.

In total, the girls, Sapphire and Brianna were in the SCN (Special Care Nursery) for 5 weeks and Cooper was admitted for 9 weeks.

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Despite all trials and tribulations, thankfully everything worked out and our three healthy children are turning 14 in a few weeks. I was two months shy of turning 35 and Steve was 50 when the triplets were born.