When Saagar and I found out we were expecting triplets we were overwhelmed. We didn't know how to handle one baby let alone three. This anxiety and fear quickly turned to joy. We were elated to become first time parents and couldn't wait to welcome our little girls into this world. The doctor warned me that carrying triplets was high risk and that I would need to take it easy. This meant no running for me, which was hard considering I enjoy running marathons. I took the doctor's orders, though, and took it easy. My pregnancy was going fantastic. I was getting ultrasounds every two weeks and the doctor told me the girls were healthy and growing well. All of this changed in an instant. On February 3, 2010, I had spotting while I was at work. Saagar and I went to the ER for what we thought would be the doctor telling me I needed to go home to get some bed rest. We were wrong. When the doctor examined me they told me I was fully dilated. They told me I was going to give birth to the girls that day. How could this be happening? I was having such a great pregnancy. I was only 25 weeks pregnant! I was rushed to the high risk unit of the hospital, where they placed me in the inverted position, and gave me magnesium sulfate and steroids to help build up the girls lungs and brains. The neonatologist came in and talked to Saagar and me. He gave us the doom and gloom. Babies born at 25 weeks gestation only have 50% chance of survival. Every single day I could hold off birth increased the girls’ chances of survival, but he told us time wasn't on our side. As doctors they would do everything they could to help our odds, but if our girls did survive they were going to have a tough road ahead of them. Babies born at this gestation aren't fully developed. Four days later on February 7, 2010, I gave birth to three beautiful baby girls. Shyla weighed 1 1/2 lbs, Aliya weighed 2 lbs, and Reena weighed 2 1/2 lbs. The first 72 hours were the most critical. The doctors told us there was still a chance they might not survive. These were the longest and hardest three days of our lives. Luckily our girls survived the odds and made it through this critical time, but they still had a long tough road ahead of them. They all required several IVs, assistance breathing, feeding tubes, jaundice lights, several blood transfusions and monitors to monitor their breathing and heart rates. They didn't look like normal babies. They lived in a little incubator that would be their home for the next several months. The excitement of our days was during the girls cares which were every 4 hours. We got to change their diapers, take their temperature, and feed them through their feeding tubes. In the beginning they were fed a half a teaspoon every four hours. If they were having a good day one of us could hold them for a half hour. Some days we didn't get to hold them at all. The doctors told us there would be good days and bad days. For every two steps forward, they would take four steps back. At three weeks of age, Reena was transferred to AI DuPont hospital for heart surgery to correct a hole in her heart and at two months of age, Aliya had to have eye surgery to prevent blindness. Our smallest daughter, Shyla, was not able to breathe on her own and required ventilation for 4 months. She had 9 blood transfusions and battled pneumonia while in the NICU. Because of the tube going down her throat we couldn't even hear our baby girl cry. I had heard of the March of Dimes, but never knew what their cause was. I quickly found out. The March of Dimes became a family to us and made us feel comforted when we felt helpless. The NICU support team gave us a book on prematurity when the girls were first born. This book provided us with all the terminology and conditions that go along with babies born prematurely. It also included all the important questions we should be asking the doctors. Not only did the March of Dimes help educate us on our daughters’ conditions, they also provided us and other NICU families with monthly dinners, family support groups, books to read to our girls, and special gifts for the girls during the holidays. They tried to make a cold dreary hospital feel like a home as much as possible. Everyone told us our girls were fighters and that we would get through this. It didn't feel like it at the time. Thanks to the March of Dimes and their support for our family they made things a lot easier. After 68 days in the hospital we were able to bring Reena home. Aliya came home two days later. Shyla was not as fortunate and required several more Shyla was not as fortunate and required several more months in the hospital. On June 11th, 124 days after giving birth to the girls we were finally able to bring Shyla home. Our family was finally together for the first time. Today Saagar and I have three healthy beautiful vibrant 5 year olds. They are our angels.