Three Heads Are Better Than One

On tuesday we had another Ultrasound at what is now 15 and 1/2 weeks. The triplets are becoming mighty cramped in their little baby condos. Their full size is about equal to an apple.

While Cathi carries around three little apples in her tummy, my job is to attempt the impossible. A magic trick so mind blowing it would make Criss Angel look like an amatuer (Not that he already doesn't). I WILL ATTEMPT, AT GREAT RISK TO MYSELF, TO COMPLETE ALL OF MY HONEY-DO-LIST BEFORE THE BABIES ARRIVE!!!! I KNOW! AMAZING ISN'T IT?! You know clean the garage, hang some gutters, paint some gutters, paint the Nursery, put up some molding, build a dollhouse, keep the grass mowed, wash all the cars. Cathi has been awesome trying to help, but we all need to make her rest more.

Many do not think it can be done, but I am making an effort.

Enjoy, I will try to post more soon, I have been having computer issues and my photos are not wanting to attach....COMPUTERS!! AAGGHHH!

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

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 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.