Thanksgiving in JULY!!!!!

Well we are 10 weeks along this week. I am still feeling pretty great. No morning sickness (Knock on wood) even the Doctor’s are amazed. I am getting bigger everyday. I have had a few weird cravings. My first few weeks of pregnancy I craved Lobster Bisque. This week I craved my Mom’s Thanksgiving Dinner. So what does my family do, of coarse we have Thanksgiving in July!!!!! My whole family got together and my mom cooked her fabulous meal. The boys searched for Football on the TV, but had to settle for Baseball. They can nap to any sport. J I ate so much I added another inch to my waist line. I am already up to 41 inches around. The rest of me looks the same, (Thank God).

We will be updating the pictures of my ever growing tummy every few weeks. The babies have really had a growth spurt since the last ultrasound. They have fingers and toes that move and are more defined. We can’t wait till the next ultrasound next week. We are thinking of doing a 4D ultrasound. If anyone has any knowledge on the 4D ultrasounds I would love your help. I know they can be expensive and want to make sure they are worth the money. Thanks again for everyone’s support!!! We are so excited and excited about our growing family…. Cathi

Here We Are!!!

So here is a decent shot of all three of the perfect little miracles that have been blessed upon my wife and I. Both Cathi and I are strong believers that the babies can feel everything that is going on, so I make extra efforts to make Cathi laugh and we always try to stay in a positive mood regardless of the negative things people try to throw at us.

Cathi and I are well aware that this is a high risk pregnancy, but isn't it true that the best outcomes are from those things that involve risks. Not that we purposely tried to have three children, but now that we are, we know that we will have the best three little babies ever made.

I can't wait until the next pictures are taken. We will have some new pictures around the middle of August when we hit the 12 week mark. Keeping checking in for updates as our little miracles grow.

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

See You Soon!

The third little miracle measured 8 weeks also and is anxious to meet mommy and daddy. It is the most amazing thing to look at these photos and to imagine what is going on.

You know the babies don't really know yet, but sometimes you look at the images and swear one of them is waving at you or moving around purposely because they are camera shy.

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

Yes, I Take Up More Room

This little one was measured at exactly eight weeks and appeared to be the largest. The Ultrasound tech labeled this with the quote, "Yes I take up more room." This may be the smartest of the group since this little miracle had the biggest head.

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

Hi Mommy and Daddy

This little one was measured at 7 weeks and 6 days and seems to be the smallest of the three. I did get to see the little toes and fingers that are emerging and the most beautiful heartbeat.

What a miracle!

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

Hi Grandma and Grandpa

Monday was the beginning of the eighth week and it is finally starting to sink in that we are having triplets. The joy and anxiety are overwhelming. Cathi and I nothing but excited about our new family and cannot wait to meet the little ones.

This week the babies are sprouting their little feet and hands and are starting to show the little fingers and toes we will be nibbling on and everyone else will be trying to grab. This picture says "Hi Grandma and Grandpa." Our Ultrasound tech was so nice to give us a ton of pictures with little sayings so we could show our family.

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

KoKo Needs Attention Too!

With triplets on the way, KoKo will unfortunately lose a little bit of the constant attention she gets now, so I am giving her some love by doing a few posts on her. We will be putting more updates on the pregnancy as it goes along, all the way to the delivery and so on, but since there are not updates daily, here are some cute things.

Cathi and I are watching TV last weekend and KoKo starts sniffing around Cathi's tummy. Cathi started giggling because this again is something KoKo has never done. Then out of no where, KoKo steps over Cathi's belly and lays down right on her stomach. I think KoKo is trying to help keep the babies warm or smother them so they don't steal her attention. It was the coolest thing. Dog are amazing!!!

Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. We are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

The Family Pet

I cannot continue this blog without at least mentioning the entire family that is preparing for the triplets. Cathi and I have a beautiful and amazing lab puppy. She is almost three years old and is a little runt. Her name is KoKo and we rescued her form the side of the road when some moron dumped a box of puppies.


KoKo is the best dog on earth; she is great with kids and she loves other dogs. She has always been really protective of us but since Cathi has become pregnant she is crazy. We were at our neighbors the other day just hanging out and enjoying the outside. Our neighbors dog, which is a little Shiba Inu jumped up and put her paws on Cathi's stomach, something the dog has done a million times in the past. KoKo just knocked the dog on the ground and grabbed him by the throat. Cathi and I think she was trying to protect the babies in her tummy because KoKo has never done that before.


Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. We are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

Hot off the Press

United States of America (Press Release) July 8, 2008 -- Cathi and Logan Long are two Clearwater Police officers who met on the job back in 2004. After dating for a year, they married in the Bahamas and immediately began trying to start a family. Cathi and Logan struggled to get pregnant and ultimately tried fertility treatments. After several unsuccessful pregnancies, the couple is finally pregnant and with triplets.The couple underwent and IVF cycle, which resulted in all three implanted embryos taking. The couple recently had their first ultra-sound, which showed three beautiful heartbeats. The doctor's office informs that this is a high risk pregnancy and Cathi will have to be monitored closely. All three embryos are healthy at this point and the Long's are confident that they will be blessed with three beautiful and healthy children early next year. The Long's are excited about their news but know it will be expensive. They are seeking any type of advice or assistance they can get. Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

A Blueberry Farm

The babies have definitely been growing quick; unfortunately Cathi's body is doing everything it can to keep up. We went camping this weekend for the fourth of July and the first night we were out, Cathi had an incredible pain that according to a paramedic who was at the campsite with us may have been one of her ribs moving due to the baby growth. Poor Cathi had to sleep sitting up for a few hours before being able to lie down. The next day we left for home so she could be more comfortable. Cathi and I have been receiving weekly information from babycenter.com and this week is the seventh week of the pregnancy. According to babycenter.com this is what is happening:
How your baby's growing: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry. Cathi and I are very excited about our new family additions. We are both police officers and do not make tons of money. we are always looking for good advice and inexpensive baby stuff. Email us if you have any ideas or suggestions: L2infantry@gmail.com

TRIPLETS!

After the implantation we went to the doctor's office for the first ultrasound. There they are, all three embryos had taken. We go to see the first view of our precious triplets. Enjoy the picture. Words cannot explain our excitement when we saw the three heartbeats on the screen. Now we are just trying to organize our thoughts so we can figure out how to plan for the coming of the three children.
I will post again when we have an update. There will be new ultrasound photos to see and new updates about how we are organizing our home and minds for the coming of triplets. Please share any thoughts or ideas.

Two or Three - That is the question

There we were, in the procedure room, wife's legs up in the stirrups, I'm sitting there waiting to see some amazing procedure, completely ignorant to what really goes on and the doctor asks, "How many do you want to put back in." He had explained to us that we had several pristine embryos that would have a good chance of taking. He then explained that by putting in two there was about a 40% of getting pregnant and if there was three placed back in, then there was about a 60% chance. After trying for almost three years, it came down to a very difficult decision, so what did we do, we said, "You decide doc." The doctor laughed and said, "I don't think so. It is your decision; I cannot make it for you." Cathi and I looked at each other. I knew we were both thinking, let’s just do three and hope we can finally have a child. You have to understand that after seeing so many of Cathi's friend get pregnant and have children over our three years of trying and seeing us fail so many times, we ultimately decided to put three back in to increase our chances of pregnancy. I then watched as the doctor took this ridiculously long syringe looking thing and placed three embryos back into my wife. The cool part is that an ultrasound picture shows the three embryos as a small ray of light. I will post the picture of that soon for everyone to see.

IVF Cycle

I'm not a doctor so you will have to excuse some of my language because this will all be written in simple terms everyone can understand. I also apologize to the women who read this as I am writing all of this from the Husbands perspective and could never understand how it feels as a woman to go through all of this. From what I remember of it, which was only a month or so ago, an IVF cycle is about 45 days from start to finish depending on how the women reacts to the drugs. The way IVF works is that you take drugs to stop your ovaries from producing and dropping eggs. The point is to allow the doctor to control the ovulation cycle so they can create a controlled environment to produce and retrieve the eggs. Initially Cathi had to take drugs to stop her from ovulating, which seems counterproductive to the main goal of getting pregnant. Once the cycle is controlled, then she took injections which made her eggs show up in the ovaries but not drop. So after a week or so of taking these "Stem drugs" my wife produced a solid two dozen eggs. She was the talk of the office. At 30 years old, it is apparently unheard of to produce that many eggs. Cathi and I were excited about all of the eggs we would have to choose from. Once the eggs were made, the doctor went in and retrieved them all so they could be fertilized. Apparently my wife and I are a great match, because my sperm naturally fertilized 23 of the 24 eggs. I could practically make my own army! A quick side note: The process my wife had to go through to make the eggs included injecting herself multiple times with needles full of drugs in both the leg and stomach area. This can be a challenge, especially to those who don't like needles. It is important for the husband to be willing to help with these types of things. After the fertilization period, Cathi and I anxiously waited to hear how many good embryos we would have to implant back into the uterus.

Now What

So after what Cathi and I consider three lost children (The first time we thought there were twins and then the chemical pregnancy) we decided to see a specialist. We sat down and discussed options about what we could be doing as far as fertility treatments. We knew that Cathi could not get pregnant on her own, so we needed something that was effective, but due to our financial situation, also affordable. The doctor explained to us that long-term continued use of fertility drugs actually reduced the chances of us having a successful pregnancy. I guess you can only do so many cycles of the drugs we were using. It would have been great if someone would have told us that! Now we at least knew that the drugs were no longer an option. We then began discussing IVF (invitro-fertilization). While discussing this, we knew there would be a substantial financial hurtle to overcome in order to make it happen. After the doctor explained the procedure, we explained our concern about the cost. The doctor paused for a moment and then told us there was a study happening and if we got in, it cut the cost almost five times. Normally the process is about $15,000, but if we were part of the study it would only cost us $3,000. My wife and I looked at each other and didn't even need to discuss it. We knew this was our only chance now for a successful pregnancy.

The Next Step

After the ectopic pregnancy Cathi and I did not know what to do next. She tried the fertility drugs again, but ended up taking them the wrong away, which was a blessing because she was not ready to try again. My wife is a very loving person and had not yet recovered from the painful loss of the first pregnancy. A year after the loss, we opted to try again. We thought that the fertility drugs seemed to work well and thought, "Maybe we should just try again and see if this time it will go the right way." So, we went to the doctor and got another round of the fertility drugs. Cathi took the drugs the right way this time and we were mentally prepared and excited again about being pregnant. Like clockwork, Cathi took her prescription and we started trying. About a month later, Cathi started to feel pregnant. She had all of the symptoms that women talk about when they are pregnant. Now that she was feeling pregnant, she started to get nervous because she started thinking about the last time she felt this way. A quick pregnancy test confirmed what she was feeling; she was pregnant! We immediately made a doctor's appointment and this time only told close friends and family (We still couldn't hold back the excitement). A pregnancy test at the doctor confirmed she was pregnant, so then we made the follow up appointment. Cathi went in for her second blood work up and later that day received a disturbing phone call. The woman on the phone was very quick and cold about the news, "It was a chemical pregnancy, you are not pregnant anymore." The nonchalant attitude of the women on the phone sent Cathi into tears; we had lost another one. Now I know that a chemical pregnancy in the medical world doesn't count, but to a women who has been trying for years and to a husband who has had to console his wife through emotional nightmares, IT COUNTS!

The Beginning

After my wife and I got married, we decided to start trying to have children. We thought, "This should be easy!" Boy were we wrong. After my wife stopped taking the pill, we tried for almost a year without success. We then visited my wife's OB/GYN to see what was wrong and what options we had in order to make a baby. The doctor suggested that my wife take some fertility drugs in order to force her ovaries to produce eggs. After one cycle of the drugs my wife became pregnant! We were so excited; we started to tell everyone at work and everyone in the family. After my wife got the positive result on the test, we went to the doctor to get her blood work done. The nurse checked the hormone levels and they were twice what they should have been. Now we thought we were having twins. Anxious and excited all at once, we again notified our friends and family of the great news. About one week after the news of possible twins, we went back in for a follow-up. The doctor brought us into his office and began to explain what was happening. The children that were growing in my wife's belly were not growing properly and were most likely in the wrong place. The doctor explained that there was a small chance he was wrong, but according the levels of my wife's hormones, it wasn't going to happen. Hopeful, my wife and I choose to wait out the pregnancy to see what would happen. Unfortunately a short time later, while sitting at home watching a movie, my wife fell to the ground in an unbelievable amount of pain. I rushed her to the hospital were she was diagnosed as having an ectopic pregnancy. My wife was admitted to the hospital were she stayed for several days before receiving a drug called methaltrexate, which ultimately terminated the pregnancy. The experience was painful and tragic.