The Holidays - Part I

The holidays are here and I attempt to shop and make things good with this holiday, but it seems difficult at best. Mostly because the bad outweighs the good this year. The boys came - huge positive - however it was a struggle through the pregnancy (not to diminish this miracle) and then with dad’s unexpected passing, it as just been challenging. I wonder how I will recover, but I know I will. I have a feeling that he is watching over us from above. Having all the kids helps me every day. It has been hard to get into the spirit. Decorating the house has helped. We are trying to make it festive even though there is so much baby stuff taking over the house. The babies are so smiley now. They will smile at us when we talk to them. It’s so cool to see them develop and respond to us.

The girls are getting so excited to get out of school and have Christmas - oops, I need to be politically correct - Winter Break. They will enjoy Colvins coming in to bake lots of Christmas cookies. We are all looking forward to that. Christina has already begun the baking with no bake cookies. We are holding out for expert Christmas baker Celia to lead the charge.

On 12/18 we took the babies for the first outing that wasn’t a doctors appointment. We visited Dr. Bohman and staff and took some great pictures! Unfortunately, our camera card fried and we lost out pictures, but Dr. Bohman’s staff has some too and we hope to get them emailed to us. I will post them as soon as we have them.

Colvins arrived on 12/20 to celebrate the holidays with us. It’s great to see them! They are RVing for the winter, and have offered to stay and help in January too. We feel so fortunate that we have had and continue to have help from friends and family. Fred and Celia drove from Illinois in their new RV. They traded up. It’s so nice and feels incredibly roomy for being an RV that isn’t the size of a tour bus.

The holidays are here! The McVey Family Letter 2007

Happy Holidays 2007

Another year is coming to a close and I don’t know where the time has gone. It’s been so busy that I can’t believe we’re already in December. This year has been so up and down for us, with both incredibly joy and unbelievable loss. This season our letter is much longer than in the past, but there’s been so many events that have impacted our lives.

2007 came in relatively quietly...we were home by ourselves to ring in the New Year. Little did we know that the year would end so differently! We were still doing fertility treatments and not having much success. After 3 years, we finally we took the last chance plunge and did true IVF after 8 failures of insemination and various drug combinations. In January we started the IVF drugs…it was what we had done (amplified) along with some other new ones. Chip gave me daily injections and I sure love needles (NOT). I perfected sitting on a frozen veggie bag to numb up the hip first. He got really good at doing them without hurting me much. In early February our doctor surgically retrieved 22 eggs and the process began. 15 fertilized. They were grown in a Petri dish for 5 days. We learned that we had 7 viable embryos. On day 5 we discussed putting 4 eggs back in. The doctor was hesitant, but agreed to do it. This was do or die for us. It was our last try…we were tired and frustrated and had experienced so much failure. A week later we learned that we were indeed pregnant. It was amazing, unbelievable news. The doctor also told us we had an HCG count of over 700. A pregnancy is considered “valid” with an HCG count of 25. Our doctor immediately prepared us to understand that there was probably more than 1 baby. Hmmm, we were so excited that something worked that we didn’t think much about it. We had to then wait 2 weeks before the next ultrasound. We pretty much held our breath since I had had 2 miscarriages in other pregnancies. We were cautiously optimistic. When we went to the 1st ultrasound appointment we learned that there were 3 little dots on the ultrasound screen. We still were so excited that it worked that it really didn’t sink in that we were having triplets. We called our families and started the process of growing the babies and making it through the first trimester. Not only did we make it through the 1st trimester, we went 33 ½ weeks. I was on bed rest for quite awhile, it was not easy, but the girls and Chip took great care of me! They brought me lots of Krispy Kremes and cheeseburgers! While on bed rest, it finally sank in that triplets were coming in the last 2 to 3 months. By that time I had plenty of time to think about it. There were many ultrasounds and doctors appointments with our WONDERFUL perinatologist, Dr. Bohman. The whole staff at the Desert Perinatology Office was just incredible! Our 3 sons good health was a result of the “village” of people that cared for me, from the medical staff to family and everyone in between who visited and brought lunch in to me…more cheeseburgers!

In July Lin Marx hosted a baby shower for me and it was so much fun! What a fantastic turnout there was! We are so grateful for all the wonderful gifts and generosity of our friends and family. All of the gifts really helped us get a jumpstart on what we needed for the babies to come. Our close friends Christopher and Daniel offer to do our nursery at the baby shower. Bunny came from Florida in July to help decorate the nursery and our guest room. We knew we needed to get one ready since we would need tons of help with the babies. The Hortons would see us frequently this year…we had no idea that it would be so often. On Sept 6, chip and I as well as Dr. Bohman all agreed that these babies needed to come out. I was miserable (and huge) and we had made it past the critical points and the chances of good health and survival were very good. I called my parents two days before the date of the c-section and they hopped in the car and were in Vegas to be here when the boys were born. I had no idea how important this would become. Three little boys came into our lives on 9/8/07, just one minute between each birth. Gary Thomas, Benjamin Isaac and Ryan Charles. All the boys were extremely healthy at around 4 lbs. each. No ventilators or oxygen was needed. We were so thankful that all went well for both me and the babies. Chip is a proud papa who is amazing with these boys! No one could ever guess that he hadn’t spent much time around or caring for babies. It came naturally and it has just made our relationship stronger and I love him more every day as I see him lead our family. The boys needed to stay in the hospital to be “growers and feeders”. Ben and Ryan stayed 17 days and came home on 9/28. Our biggest guy, Gary fell ill while all 3 boys were in the hospital. It was scary to learn he had contracted Klebsiella, a serious blood infection. He had to stay in the hospital for IV antibiotics for an additional 14 days. It was hard to leave each day with any of them in the hospital. Gary was finally able to come home on October 5. My mom and dad stayed 3 weeks to help us and to get to know the babies. It was wonderful to have them be a part of the beginning of the boy’s lives and our life changing to accommodate the needs of 3 babies. Both of them jumped right in to help whether it was laundry or rocking babies. We had no idea what it would be until all 3 were home. Now they are 3 months old and I am back to work. We have had constant help since their birth. We are so grateful that mom and dad, Kari, Bunny & Bill, Fred & Celia and Christina have all spent time with us and have jumped in to help any way they can. Christina is with us until January and is SO patient and wonderful with the boys. There are simply no words to express our gratitude and appreciation for the ongoing help in our home.

Along with the pregnancy, there were other big things that happened this year. During the pregnancy, right before I couldn’t travel anymore I made a trip to Reno to see my parents since my dad was having surgery for cancer. The first surgery was postponed after heart problems were discovered. After stints were put in and medication helped him, the surgery happened on June 11. His hospital stay and attempts to recover were long and painful both physically to dad and emotionally for all of us. Unfortunately I couldn’t travel due to the high risk pregnancy so I couldn’t be there in person which was really difficult. It took so long for dad to be able to go home and then the healing process was very, very slow. Lots of doctors treated him and there would be 2 more surgeries to redo sutures and to take care of infection, both mistakes of the medical people treating him. Finally he was on the upswing and was able to come to Vegas for the birth of the boys. He seemed well and on the mend. Mom and dad left Vegas and headed home for some doctors appointments. Over the next few weeks my dad did not feel well. He was winded and not himself. Fast forward just 2 weeks from being in Vegas and dad was back in the hospital after beginning chemo treatment to control the cancer. He didn’t get to complete the first treatment. He was back in the hospital and the doctors thought that he had pneumonia and then possibly a blood clot. We learned on October 10 that the cancer had come back very aggressively and had spread to his lungs. Within 24 hours he had passed away. It was so quick and unexpected. All of us thought he’d be home in the next day or two after he went into the hospital. I immediately flew to Reno and then drove to Winnemucca and stayed 11 days to help make arrangements and support my family through the funeral. Luckily for us, Bunny flew from Florida again to help Chip and Christina take care of the babies. Christina, Fred and Celia had just arrived to spend some time with all of us. The boys were too small to travel and I had to go be with my family. The funeral was a beautiful event…beautiful because all of our family who could and so many of my dad’s friends attended. The funeral was standing room only and the line of cars to the cemetery was incredibly long…an honor to a wonderful man. Dad is buried in Winnemucca in a beautiful spot that is under a tree and looks out to Winnemucca Mountain. It has been strange to experience such a miracle in the boys being born and such a tragedy with my dad’s passing. I’m thankful that dad had the opportunity to see his grandsons come into the world and be honored by us naming our firstborn son Gary after my dad. I will treasure the time we spent forever. I just wish I could have somehow known what the future would bring…we said tearful goodbyes when mom and dad left to go back to Winnemucca after the birth of the boys, not knowing it would be the last time we would see each other. Mom came back to Vegas with me and is here for the time being. She seems to be doing as well as can be expected. Mom spent Thanksgiving back in Winnemucca and will come back to help us in Vegas soon.

Aside from the 2 very heavy events this year, we had a few other good times in 2007. We made our 3rd trip to Hawaii in May – just the two of us. It was before the pregnancy really overtook our lives. We saw the big Island of Hawaii for the first time. After spending one night in Waikiki and visiting with my coworkers, we headed over to Hawaii. We loved the bed and breakfast we stayed in at Volcano. An amazing little cottage on private grounds with 4 other cottages. We walked for quite awhile and saw the volcano fields of rock. It was AMAZING to see all the stark black rock for miles and miles. The other side of Hawaii – Kona - is volcanic rock and like a desert for miles. In the midst of the desert landscape, we found a beach that was amazing! Mauna Kea. So quiet and beautiful. An oasis in a desert…actually it is in the resort corridor that is a piece of desert that has been made to look like paradise since the beaches are wonderful there. There are very few beaches on the Kona side that are nice and accessible. Chip loved the snorkeling at Mauna Kea. We were close enough to touch some turtles. The wet side with Hilo reminded us a lot of Kauai, which we loved. A very wet, lush place that is small and quaint, but doesn’t have a lot of beaches that aren’t rocky. We were over on Hawaii for 10 days and drove around the whole island. By the time we were on our way back from Hawaii, my body was telling me to slow down. The timing was perfect.

The other bright side of 2007 has been our family life with our girls Kaitlyn and Gillian. They are with us every other week, as they have been for the last several years. Kaitlyn started middle school this year and is enjoying not having a uniform policy. We are all adjusting to the new schedule and format. She has gone with the flow and seems to be in the groove. Along with school, Kaitlyn keeps busy with girl scouts, a few different clubs in school and gymnastics. Gillian is in third grade this year and has a full schedule too. She does girl scouts, soccer, gymnastics and very recently the chess club. Both girls are on the honor roll and are doing so well in school and out. They enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa too when they came to be with us when the boys were born. It was time they had never spent with them. Again, I’m grateful for the time they had with grandpa…we never would have guessed that things would take a turn for the worst after visiting with us. When grandpa passed, their dad drove them up to Winnemucca for the funeral. It was not easy for any of us…definitely not the grandkids, but I am so glad they could be there to say goodbye to Grandpa too. It’s a relief that they could lean on the adults as well as comfort each other.

We are also enjoying the boys as they grow. They are now 3 months old, smiling and are awake longer. The girls LOVE being big sisters and we are so happy about that. Both Kaitlyn and Gillian are great little mommies. They help with everything and love the boys so much. It’s so sweet to see them talking to them and kissing them goodnight before the girls jump into bed themselves. I never imagined they would love each other so much. Both Chip and I just smile when we talk about it.

Chip is still contracting to Verizon and I am back at work with Orbitz. Time seems to be flying…especially when I had to go back to work on Nov. 9. I wondered where the 12 weeks had gone. Luckily both Chip and I work at home and it is the best possible situation it could be. Chip and I wander out of the office to help when we can. Christina and my mom helping us has been such a blessing! Christina is a natural with the boys and she has spent endless hours feeding, diapering, burping and dressing these little boys. I watch her interact with them and I am beyond amazed at how much she’s doing for us and how she just jumps in and does it. What a great girl! We love her so much and wish she’d stay to help for eternity. Somehow I think her international travels are much more interesting that the boys. Really though, Christina is an amazing woman! I can’t imagine life without her. We’ll have to figure it out in January when she jet sets off to Australia. Egads! It’s right around the corner. She’ll have a fabulous time and we will miss her more than I can say. I’m not sure we can find someone as good as she is to help us after she leaves us.

Thanksgiving was indeed a day of thanks…Bunny and Bill Horton came out from Florida again to cook dinner here on turkey day. They arrived and Bunny made the most scrumptious turkey I’ve ever eaten. The kids (boys and girls) loved spending time with Aunt Bunny, Uncle Bill and cousin Danny especially since Danny will be off to college next year. Time passes so quickly! On top of the goodies we put on the table, we were also thankful that we could be together that day with our good friends Carlos and Deann, who joined us for the 2nd year for Thanksgiving and lots of good wine. That’s never a bad thing! The conversation and company is always good when all of us spend time together. It was fun to share our home, food and our new family life with Deann and Carlos. I hope they will spend more time with us and we didn’t scare them off since our house is being taken over by baby gear. We’d love to get out, but boy it’s an operation with the boys and the girls to go anywhere! So far, we’ve never been anywhere with all 7 of us. The boys have only been to the doctor and then home since they’ve been born. It’s just too risky to their health. We’ll feel better about it when they get bigger but I just don’t know how we’ll go anywhere with all of us!

Right before Thanksgiving my sister Kristy came to visit. It was her first trip since the boys were born. She had been down to visit for the baby shower and then again to deliver a bunch of baby stuff that was given to us by Abby. What a sweetheart she was to pass on some very useful baby stuff, but Kristy was also so nice to drive it down to Vegas from Winnemucca. For the first time her husband was able to come and visit too. It was great to see them! Her hubby Jeff is the BBQ master, so he whipped us up some great food. We enjoyed our visit so much! We had no idea that Kristy would visit 3 times in a year! This last trip she flew down by her self and loved up on the boys as well as met the Florida Hortons. It was really nice to see our families from both sides come together. We sure wish all of our family could be closer, but we love all of you and anyone is welcome to come out to see us any time!

So here we are, staring Christmas in the face and we’re so not ready. We’re still finding our groove with the schedule for the boys and also mesh that with the girl’s busy schedule. Slowly it’s coming along. I can’t believe how fast each day passes. The boys are three months old now and Kaitlyn is getting ready to turn 12! Gillian is growing right up and is halfway to 9 years old. This year has been so mixed up with all that has happened. One thing that we’ve come to realize is that life is too short to spend a moment in a place or situation you don’t want to be. Take a chance, take a risk, do what makes you happy. Be close to your loved ones, tell them how important they are and hug them often. To all of our friends and family…thank you for the love and support since our babies arrived. The gifts, calls and emails have been so meaningful and appreciated. We wish you happy holidays to you and yours and a wonderful 2008.

For updates with our family, we have a family blog site. The address is www.metaforge.net/mcveyfamily or we can be emailed at sherri@metaforge.net and finally, just give us a call! We’d love to hear from you.

Love and hugs,
Chip, Sherri, Kaitlyn, Gillian, Gary, Ben and Ryan

Pediatrician Update - 3 Months Old

Boys went to the pediatrician on 12/10 and are SO healthy! Their weights were great! Ryan weighed, Gary weighed 11lbs. 7oz., Ben weighed 11lbs. 12 oz., and Ryan weighed 12lbs. 14 oz. WOW. We couldn’t believe it ourselves. They also had their first “round” of vaccinations. It is never easy for us, but they did really well. Ryan is being referred to a heart specialist for a slight murmur, but Dr. Conti doesn’t seem to be worried about it. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll probably do that the first of the year.

We’ve also been given the green light for the Synagis injections to keep RSV risk to a minimum. It’s taken 2 months to get it approved by insurance. The injections are $1500.00 per injection (per child) per month. Our portion is apparently less than $20.00, but the insurance can’t decide who is going to administer it. It’s gone from a company coming to our house, to the pediatrician doing it to training us to do it ourselves at home (SO NOT GOING TO HAPPEN). Finally we’ve found a lung specialist that the insurance company that will authorize.

On 12/11 we finally took the boys to Children’s Lung and Heart specialist for the Synagis RSV injections and boy was that a scary experience. The nurse didn’t seem to take any interest in the boys, which was bothersome. I asked if she could bypass weighing them since they were just at the pediatrician the day before. Nope, we had to do it again....hmmm...very annoying. We went into the exam room and the doctor came in and checked them over, commented on them having lots of ear wax (WHATEVER) and then told us the same nurse would return to do the injections. I asked him if he was sure she was the right person for the job and his response was “Let’s not get into that”. OH MY GOD, I was just flipping out internally. I then asked him if it was important to him to let him know if we thought his staff wasn’t up to par, and then he proceeded to talk about her 20 years of experience and her handicapped son. I so didn’t want to hear her personal stuff, but did feel better when he said she was very experienced. So the doctor left and she returned and began with the injections. As soon as the first little guy was getting the injection, I could hear in the cry that it was very painful. Then it was Gary’s turn, same pained cry and finally Ryan, who was lucky enough to need two injections because of his weight. I was just infuriated by the whole situation. After she was done with the injections, she was leaving the room and said “schedule next month’s appointment on your way out”. I nodded and she left. Chip, Christina and I were still soothing babies and dressing them. I calmly but sternly told both of them that we wouldn’t be scheduling today. So we went home and then me and my team from Orbitz had scheduled to deliver holiday gifts to partners. While I was gone the lung specialist office called and demanded to know why we hadn’t scheduled the appointment for next month. Needless to say, I was furious when I returned home and heard about the call. I said to Chip “ummm, no, we won’t be going back there and we won’t be doing the injections again”. End of story. The only reason the doctors told us we needed them are because the babies were preemie and could have lungs that were more susceptible to infection, not considering the fact that none of our boys needed oxygen or were on ventilators when they were born. Christina, Chip and I all had a cold for a few days and they didn’t get sick. I feel it’s overmedication and I’m willing to take my chances. I guess that’s enough said about that.

I am posting pictures of the boys, however it is not as recent as we’d like. We’ve lost a bunch of pictures we took due to a faulty memory card. It’s very sad and we’ve learned that pictures must come off of the camera immediately.